Notes to my traveling self

There seem to be things that I systematically forget, to my traveling detriment, so I will try and enumerate them for further remembrance:

When traveling in a pair, the other half needs at least a half an hour to get going at any godforsaken hour in the morning. Seriously.

Try not to eat out the night before an early departure. If you must, try not to eat: too much, anything greasy, anything extraordinarily spicy.

Driving to/from BWI really only takes 55 minutes when there is no traffic. CALM DOWN.

The Daily lot at BWI is worth the extra $2/day.

Gold (lot) 21. It's where the family parks at Dulles!

There really isn't any significant wait for security at BWI at those ridiculous hours of the early morning. Heck, the lines to use the boarding pass kiosks at Southwest aren't all that bad, either. Still, it's nice to try and remember to check in (and print out the boarding pass) as close to 24 hours ahead of time as possible to get a better line assignment.

Eating McDonald's breakfast is delicious and extremely filling.

Eating McDonald's breakfast makes me feel greasy and slightly ill.

Fear not, there are Dunkin's at the MHT airport, both before and after security.

Especially for morning flights, do not count on Southwest to be running late.

For Southwest flights, STOP WORRYING that's you'll miss the flight. Worst-case scenario, they put you on the next shuttle. All other airlines, keep worrying away!!'

(When I started this post I didn't intend it to be a BWI/SW commercial, but I've had some wonderfully smooth experiences with them lately. They still can't do anything about the screaming babies, though.)

Marriage: Challenge edition

I can't believe you made me eat your fart!

AGAIN.

Speaking of memories

Heh, the title on the last post reminds me of how, after I graduated with my masters degree, I kept going around telling people I was now a Mistress of Science, dreaming up business cards with said title, thinking of using it professionally (what profession, exactly??!!)...it seemed really funny at the time. Once a dork, always a dork, I suppose. At least I can amuse myself!

Mistress of pain

He drilled into my tooth and I didn't even flinch!! No Novocaine or numbing agent of any kind, and, while I was gripping the chair so tightly that I expected to see marks on the plastic and my body was so tense you probably could actually bounce things off of it, I didn't so much as wince. Am stoic and Vulcan-like!

Of course, he was operating on one of my dead, way-post-root canal teeth. He and all the staff kept saying how it couldn't possibly hurt, since the nerve had been long removed; they wouldn't be touching my gums; using a pain blocker would freeze up my nose for hours (itching that can't be relieved is a serious threat!!), but I Did. Not. Believe. As I am the queen of referred pain and have an extremely sensitive hurt = thrashing! reflex, and having experienced the ways of this particular dentist before (his track record to date is exactly 100% breaking promises of "it won't hurt a bit," and tends to giggle nervously -which is NOT reassuring - when you inform him that it does, in fact, still hurt like a sunuvabitch and thus are demanding MORE NOVOCAINE. NOW.), I told them to just shoot me up with the usual double dose. After a chorus of protest I did let them go for a trial drilling, sure I would be proven painfully right. Happily, I was wrong and so let them finish the job.

I'm glad I didn't force the issue (I'm not really sure I could have, anyway, but it was nice to try), but it was still very stressful. No matter how pain-free the procedure, having someone manhandle your gums, feeling a tool rooting around your mouth that screams like an army of cracked-out, pissed-off mosquitoes (nothing like the sound of the drill in your body to cut though the brain straight into the fear center), smelling the stink of metal-pulverized enamel, all the time anticipating a lance of white-hot nerve fire that would cause me to toss my head which would cause the doctor to drill my tongue and would...you get the idea - not fun. If I need any more incentive to floss every night and brush several times a day, I only need reflect on some of these not-at-all-misty-colored memories in the chair of (most of the time) pain.

I am Very Important - 3/27/09

I only took two meetings today and they were both about food. Mine is a good workplace.

Selection - 3/25/09

After much dithering, the location has been selected. I'd promised to go on a "vacation" without much "travel," so the general locale - either Mexico or the Caribbean - was already set. We just needed to pick a specific place. There are so many all-inclusives!! And based on sketchy Internet self-promotion it is very hard to tell which are good and offer the things we want. Sure, they might claim to offer all sorts of activities and edibles, but who really delivers? We spent a great deal of time on Trip Advisor, scrolling through a slew of mini reviews in a wide range of helpfulness.

Puerto Vallarta/Aruba? Our final choices. Not a terrible decision to make, but one I wanted made sooner than later. This whole putting off decisions that could be made NOW was making me nervous enough to make it into my dreams.

Hotel and airline points/cash? Again, not a terrible question, and even having the option is very nice, but still another consideration to factor in.

Layover/not? Not sure I want to leave large swaths of my honeymoon up to the whims of the air-traffic gods. And yet, there aren't that many places you can fly to directly from here. Especially for a reasonable price.

All-inclusive/ALL-inclusive? This one was pretty easy. Our Belize trip taught me about the many ways you don't want your all-inclusive vacation to be. Namely, having set meal times and limited menus and one place to eat and having to sign for every blessed morsel. Also, only offering rum, cheap vodka, and more rum to drink, and again, only at specific times/places. I like me some sparkling wine! Preferably available morning, noon, afternoon, and night. In multiple locations. Such as wherever I happen to be.

Lazy/super lazy? I was a little nervous at the prospect of not scheduling any activities. I like being active and seeing new things, and wasn't sure that an entire week of lying sopped on the beach, participating only in the sport of gluttony, was going to cut it. I wanted at least the option of off-site activities that I would want to do, just in case I couldn't take all the relaxation and would have to leave the reservation, possibly at short notice.

After all that deliberation, we chose...

Sandals Jamaica.

Cheesy? Oh yes.

Expensive? A bit.

Creative? Not at all.

Does it look like they will take care of us completely? OH YEAH :)

I'm trying to stack the odds in favor of my liking a "vacation." Here's to hoping it works!!!

Never say never

I couldn't help myself.

I think I should quit again.

Procrastination reinforcement

I've put off getting my work computer serviced for ages. It might have been a year...plus since I noticed that my battery dies after more than 10 minutes aways from a power source. I've just shrugged it off and made sure that I always carry my power cord around so I can feed my greedy vampire laptop at any given time. Didn't want to spare the 30 minutes or so that I would have to surrender my answer box! Well, now there's been a recall for stupid batteries Just Like Mine and we can get it replaced for free!! Our IT guy is very happy with me. So pleased, in fact, that I'm getting a wide- & flat-screen monitor to replace the behemoth that sits, unused, on my side table (they're going to haul the box monitor away as well) and I can bring my personal skinny monitor that I've been using back home. There it shall be used to play immediately many Netflix. Huzzah!

The politics of grinding - 3/22/09

I thought the whole point of having a garbage disposal was so you could put things like eggshells, vegetable peelings, scrapings from a burned-out pot, and leftover rice down the drain. Churn 'em up, flush 'em down, no harm, no foul, and no fuss. It's the least you can do while living in an urban area where rats take the fun out of composting, right? I also know that oil and grease aren't supposed to go down the drain, but comes from the well of professional knowledge more than any specific homeowner knowledge.

Well, turns out that is all WRONG (except for the O&G part). Rice (!!), pasta, and starch, as well as vegetable peelings, shouldn't be sent down the drain. (Erm, so what is a garbage disposal for, exactly, in that case?) So sayeth the guy who got to shove a giant snake (Huge! Dwarfed our little guy!) using a turbo motor down our drain about 30 feet to clear a rather unpleasant blockage. Of course, this guy also said to pour undiluted bleach down the drain, so I might take his advice with a grain of salt, or three.

Boom. Pow! Crash.

My, my, it's certainly been a fruitful summer movie season. There's been:

Star Trek
Wolverine
Terminator Salvation
Angels and Demons
Transformers 2
Up
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
GI Joe

That is not to say, however, that this summer's movie fruit has been beautiful, juicy, or delicious. What it has been is LOUD. With plenty of CGI. And not so much cohesive plot.

Star Trek was an extremely promising opener. It far exceeded my admittedly meager expectations, and I left the theater full of hope and optimism about the upcoming movie season. Little did I know, however, that the peak had already come and passed. Lots of this summer's movies can be described as whirly/peoplerunning/explosions!/kissing/betrayal/dizzying odes to somewhat controlled chaos.

It's been fluffy and fun, but I have to praise the heavens for student night and Entertainment book coupons. Without those price deferments, I might be less stoically philosophical about the disappointing blockbusters and slightly more bitter about the our significant time investment. I think I'm going to wish that 2010 is more like 2008, with fewer, but far awesomer bang-crunch movies like the Hulk, Iron Man, and Batman. Of course, 2010 will probably be an actual reprise of summer 2008, so I guess I should be hoping for good sequels...

Springtime in a bowl - 3/18/09

I adore the hearty, savory fare of the colder months, but the advent of springtime means

colors! Delicious colors!!

Closeout

or double hat trick.

I attended the entire season of performances at the Shakespeare Theater Company! They are so good to us. $10 can't even get you into a movie these days except on student night (love student night! Love even more that I legitimately claim student night!!), let alone in the presence of some of the finest actors of the day.

Romeo and Juliet - all boy edition. Weird at first, especially when the actors came out to do the chorus sections with dresses and makeup on but sans wigs. Once we got used to it, it was enjoyable and eminently believable (they ARE actors, after all) and definitely the most kinetic R&J that I've ever seen. The fighting scenes were extremely...vigorous.

Ion - happy, happy, all the day! Aren't Greek plays usually tragedies? This happy-go-lucky tale was easy to watch and enjoy. Not bad!

The Dog in the Manger - dark, brooding, angst of spiteful Spanish aristocracy. Interesting, but not really fun.

Twelfth Night - I love this play, almost best of all the comedies, and this was a beautifully designed set piece. The actors were all very pretty and the story is so FUN! What a wonderful way to ring in the New Year.

Design for Living - Oh my, slutty people in great costumes (the woman, especially, just looked like a flapper)!!! You wonder, are they going to go there? And yes, why yes, they are!!! Taken aback is a good way to describe my reaction. Another interesting, but strange play.

King Lear - Holy depressing Batman!!! Even if there weren't a 5-minute dirge section not-so-subtly mourning the casualties (in this case bodies. Lots of bodies. Piles of bodies of adults and tots, manhandled into a pit. It was a lot to take.), the outbreak of war and destruction and death of the entire principal cast is...daunting. No whistling of jaunty tunes on the way out of this one!! An impressive and apropriately weighty close to the season, though.

I'm feeling full, nay stuffed with culture!!!

Well-played, TSA - 3/15/09

NOT.

I haven't traveled in awhile, but it seems to me that, if they are going to bother to have those ridiculous restrictions on liquids, they should at least be enforcing those rules. I didn't mean to sneak these aboard in my bags, but inadvertently sneak them I did. If only I could be as confident that they would miss my bottles of wine...

Speedy

August may be miserably hot and humid, but there are compensations. The comparatively traffic-free roads make for short drive times and on-time (who, me??!!) arrivals. The light volume allows for stress-free zipping along and allows for more sleeping in before morning appointments (if you remember to factor it in). Whee!!

Still going

It's funny posting all these old entries from the throes of LASIK and my recovery from the surgery. A little while ago I was tugging on a bag and caught the rebounding edge right in the eyeball. It HURT!! I wailed and clutched at the eye socket area for awhile, but the amusing aspect of the situation was that I first screamed (6+ months later, after the eye has completely healed, and thus there is no flap):

Ahhh, my flap!!!!

Sc(h)arf it - 3/10/09

For some reason (snort) I thought Scharffen Berger chocolate came from Germany, but I was very pleased to learn that it is actually an American product. Specifically, a fine chocolate produced in what I term the new land of artisanally treated cacoa - the Bay area. Being able to choose from Ghiradelli, Guittard, and now, this, means that I will have no problems loading up on sweet treats to make up for not being home. I passed a Scharffen Berger stall while wandering about SF and couldn't resist:

They were absolutely delightful.

My favorite is the semisweet. The texture is slightly chalkier than some other brands, but the explosion of flavor is pure and intense. They didn't last long.

OW MY FLAP!!! - 2/28/09

What do with soap in the eye when you:

can't rub you eye (don't disturb the flap!!!)

can't wash it out (don't get non sterile water on the flap!!!)

can't squirt saline at it (don't apply ANY pressure at/near/on the flap!!!)

Pretty much the only thing you can do is cry it out! Natural and/or artificial tears are permitted, at least.

Lucky (under the) stars

It's always somewhat of a crapshoot, buying lawn seats at Wolf Trap in advance. With my super extra special early sale NSO tickets, however, the price is so low that it's not much of a risk. This year we booked two shows again in March for July, otherwise know as thundering gods' month.

The first night (Carmina Burana and assorted music from Fantasia) we got really, really lucky. A friend, at last minute, was not able to go, and offered up her Extremely Nice box seats (my favorite!) indoors. An upgrade of a lawn ticket got all of our party of three under the roof, not in time to miss the first, brief downpour (to which we sacrificed two blankets of longstanding, bye poor blankets!), but in good time to miss the steady deluge, accompanied (most theatrically) with thunder and lightning, appropriately enough, throughout most of the oratorio.

A week later, we were due on the lawn again. Despite obsessive hour-by hour updates from the Weather Channel, I wasn't sure we were going to make it and wasn't keen on getting wet again. We were, however, to meet others at the park, so didn't feel right backing out in short order. And, as it happened, the rain pushed back till the middle of the next morning, leaving us with muggy air and formerly heat drenched ground that was still good for a dry picnic under plenty of stars. Beethoven's Pastoral is always a delight (I see flying pastel ponies!), but the experience is particularly soothing when you are outside :)

Soothing breakfast - 2/27/09

Turns out that just a sh*t load of sugar (and maple syrup and cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves and vanilla) makes the steel-cut oatmeal go down, in the most semi-delightful way!

I wish I didn't know - 2/24/09

that the ENT (ears, nose, throat) system is actually the EENT (eyes, too) system. How do I know? I thought I was nuts, but the LASIK people confirmed that the vile, poison-like (not medicinal, which was another reason I was confused) taste in the back of my throat was caused by my many eye drops, none of which had been formulated, more's the pity, with a pleasant cherry flavor. Apparently, the eye drops (and, naturally, other eyeball secretions) can travel from your eyes to the back of your mouth in a matter of minutes. Yummy.

Chemical soup: LASIK edition - 2/22/09

Before the surgery, I couldn't wear glasses for a month!! Ugh, there are definitely downsides to going with the most conservative surgeon.

Also, there were:

- drops to irritate my eyes so they'd produce more tears: effect, I was constantly "crying" (bonus: I can always complain that you are makin' me cry!)

- ointment to...tighten? the surface of my eyeballs, to prepare it for THE LASERS

- drops to lubricate my eyes and prevent dry patches

- steroid drops to...plump up my eyeballs? no clue what they did

- antibiotic drops

- healing-promoting drops

- still more drops for lubrication

The best part was, for the first few days, I had to use several of them every hour. I set my phone alarm and was seriously startled by how often that darn thing rang. It was like feeding a demanding baby (keeping in mind, to my great dismay, that a baby takes considerably longer to feed than putting in a few eye drops) or a mean gigapet. An eyeopening (har har) experience.

They burned my eyes with LASERS - 2/20/09

and it felt mostly...odd.

I was pretty nervous going in. I sat in the waiting room all curled up upon myself, trying to be as ball-like as possible. The lady who came out post-op didn't help my anxiety. She was wearing the shades, leaning heavily on (I assume) her husband and son, groaning, staggering, grimacing, and begging for a drink. Just as my fear spiked, I was called.

First, they gave me a Xanax. Wonderful! Except that, after a very short consultation and the application of numbing drops (5-10 minutes at most) they were ready to go. There was no time for the drug to work! In addition, the surgeon actually made fun of me, laughing and promising blandly that it wouldn't hurt, I had nothing to worry about, etc., all the while dismissing the fact that he'd never had LASIK or even worn glasses (No, my eyes are GOOD, quoth the jackass).

The surgery suite was cold, as I'd been told it would be, but I did recognize the assistants as a couple of the girls who had administered my pre-op testing. It was very, very nice to see familiar, smiling, and sympathetic faces, especially since I was contemplating kicking my surgeon in the knee. They gave me a large, soft teddy bear to hold. It felt a little silly, but I buried my nose into his plushiness and calmed down. Marginally.

The jock, I mean, surgeon sat by my head and began fiddling with my eyes, poking them with tiny sticks (not kidding) to see if they were adequately numbed. I was startled when he began manhandling my eyeballs, and asked him "if he needed to be all up in my face." He laughed AGAIN (seriously, jackass!!) and snidely told me that the surgery would consist completely of him prodding and then cutting(!) at my eyes. Somehow, I'd managed to block out that reality in my imaginings of the process. Of course, the consultation managers only ever described the actual surgery in the vaguest of terms. All the talk centered around pre- and post-op routines and the results! The amazing results! Almost, but not quite guaranteed! Very little time was spent discussing the slicing and dicing of eyeballs. On purpose, I suppose.

Luckily, my eyes are not like my teeth, or he took me seriously when I asked for lots of numbing agent. He futzed around and I felt a great deal of pressure and some disorientation, but not actual pain. Just discomfort. Oh, and fear. Tempered somewhat, however, by the need for me to perform the vital task of staring straight ahead. I'm not sure if that is a necessary function or it just gives the patient something to do to feel like they are contributing to the process, but it did help.

About 10 minutes later, he leaned back, smiled (suddenly) benignly, and we were done! My eyes were liquid-y and felt strange, but it was nice to be released from the clamps and headgear. A quick check through the optometrist rig and we were all out the door. I expected to stand around a bit, talking post-op care or sitting in the dark and resting, like I'd heard from a friend. Instead, they popped on my sunglasses and hustled me out the door, telling me to go home NOW and sleep. I tried to protest, but they were fairly implacable, saying to just call after my nap if I had any questions or concerns...or pain. It wasn't terribly confidence inspiring, nor did it feel like there cared about me at all. More we have your $, we did your procedure, now go away.

However, about this time the Xanax did kick in, so I left without raising much of a protest.

I went home.

I slept (with eye guards taped onto my face, like an insect mask).

I woke up.

My eyes felt gritty and weird, but didn't actually hurt.

I could see!!!!!! Granted, it was through a haze of mucus-like gunk, but I could see the clock!

It was pretty neat :)

Stay cold! - 2/10/09

It's been a gratuitously cold and wet February. Just a little longer, and I don't have to worry quite so much about rubbing open my to-be flap. Itchy eyes, itchy eyes, stay away! What was I think about scheduling my surgery for the end of February (aka, the start of allergy season)??!!

Close call

My parking space is directly under a tree (white car, gummy tree, sigh), so I'm used to seeing leaves and other detritus (Bird. Poop.) on the car in the morning. Yesterday I noticed that there was a bit of leaf under the door handle, but I didn't think anything of it (I usually pull the junk off my car after work), got in, and drove to work.

On my way home, when I reached for the door handle, I noticed the leaf again. I went to brush it off and saw that

AH! EEK! A GIANT SPIDER! AIEEIEIEIEIEIE!!!

Good camouflage, that.

I screamed a bit, danced around, cursed, and thanked the heavens that I didn't actually GRAB A SPIDER thinking it was a leaf. I found a stick and encouraged the spider to take up new residence Far Away from my car, making sure to cut all cobwebby lines that would anchor it to the door handle and checking for an egg sac. I got in and imagined all the way home, itching, that I was crawling with baby spiders.

Ugh, I can still feel them now.

You're welcome!

Center Stage part deux

We've gone from shouting at the TV,

Don't do it, Jody Sawyer, don't get on the motorcycle!!!

to

That's right, Kate Parker, you let Cooper Nielson ride off into the night All By Himself!!

Looks like someone was listening after all :)

Chemical soup: sinus edition - 1/28/09

On top of the usual, plus residual anti-itching stuff, to combat a sinus infection, add:

Sudafed

Afrin

acetaminophen

Dayquil

Nyquil

Then, try to sleep. Good luck.

Not mites - 1/25/09

Thank god. The first doctor was concerned that we might have chiggers or some other Central American burrowing things. AEIIIEEEEEEE!!!!! Being itchy is bad enough. Being itchy and having to imagine TINY ANIMALS under my skin would be too much.