Tales from the Road

Spent the weekend in New Hampshire "the liquor granite state." Not my first choice of how to spend a weekend. I much rather would have taken the time to futz around in Cambridge, to explore, to maybe get some work done. Could have re-dyed my fading hair. Might have shopped in cute little stores. Possibly even started something with all the yarn I brought with me "just in case." May even have speculated about going out on a weekend night (extremely unlikely). But no, I was compelled to go to Mount Washington and the like where I spent the entire day in the visitor's center. Long-time readers know that I hate travel and hate vacations; this was a mini-vacation inserted in the middle of extended travel. The only thing it had going for it was that it was work. From time to time there were things I needed to do, mostly involving the logistics of charter buses and glaring at people who were late. (When I say, "The bus will leave without you," I am not lying. The buses left without people and they had to wait until someone with a car could get them.) Getting caught in the rain today made me appreciate the outdoors so much more.

It wasn't a particularly restful weekend. According to a radio program I was listening to, you don't sleep as well the first night in a hotel because you're worried about being eaten by predators. Not sure if biting flies count as predators (probably more as parasites), but it seems that there was reason to be worried.

Probably I should have been a better sport about the whole thing, but my veneer of sociability is fairly thin, and I was grumpy because my back (and knee) still hurts from when I fell down the stairs last week. And, of course, the back pain is the same pain that I had from when I was hit by a car, so my neurotic self worries about how much I reinjured myself and whether the pain will ever go away. Also, I felt numbness in the foot on that side, so I worry that I might have done something to my sciatic nerve. I really need a G&T. Or some Xanax.

On the whole, griping aside, the weekend wasn't that bad. One of my coworkers sat with me on the bus and kept me entertained (and 'fessed up to being one of the people around here who has seen this blog, so I will be extra careful to only say nice things).

I had internet (via EDGE) most of the time but was unwilling to tap out blog posts on the iPhone keyboard. And unlike at MIT, I had several bars of cell phone coverage most of the time and could send and receive calls at my convenience.

Right now I'm planning on making a list of things to do this week; I'm hoping that this week will be super-productive. Already planning on having someone else field the grumpy phone call that I'm expecting Monday morning from the home office. There were problems on Friday, and I'm going to make someone much more involved do the explaining.