Random ramblings ~ Just because I can

Happy Birthday, Big Sis! I hope you're not working too hard today.

Lots of birthdays happening in this two-week stretch. Brother-in-law, nephew Drake, Marriott, Kyle. We're hosting a 40th-birthday party for Kyle tomorrow night. Tying it in with The Guess Who performing at one of the local summer festivals.

Went to a Jack Johnson concert last weekend at Alpine Valley in Wisconsin. Remember that place? It's where Stevie Ray Vaughan's helicopter crashed back in 1990.

Never going back to Alpine Valley for a concert. Two hour drive, and the most unholy system of getting people out of there. Took over an hour to exit, most of which was spent in total bash-your-head-repeatedly-against-the-dashboard gridlock. Didn't get home until 3 a.m.

The show itself was good, though. I'm not the big Jack Johnson fan in the family, but I enjoyed his performance.

Driving up to Milwaukee Summerfest this afternoon. We have tickets to see Rush tonight. I've lost count of the number of times I've seen Rush over the years. Probably about 10 times since Power Windows came out back in the late '80s. Hmm. I think I have that Power Windows T-shirt still. I might wear it.

There's a comic book convention in town. I passed the Green Lantern on the way to work. Nice costume.

I've been really busy at work this week, wrapping up a test plan. Writing test plans is my least favorite part of my job. Thankfully, that's over now -- until next time.

Had some lumps checked out on both dogs. Since Loki had a mast-cell tumor removed last fall, we've been really careful about having the vet look at anything suspicious. He told us that everything looks benign. Whew.

Ted Nugent and Joan Jett are both playing Naperville Rib Fest next weekend. I think we're in for both of them.

Not doing so well reaching my writing goals. Sunday will be my first opening in the itinierary to sit down at the computer. Pencil me in.

Guitar Hero Aerosmith comes out Sunday. Picking up a copy for myself and as a gift for my nephew. It'll be good to have some new songs to work on. Maybe I'll master the hard difficulty level yet. Really want Rock Band for the Wii, but can't justify the expense right now.

I've been listening to an audio course on the History of the English Language. Really enjoying it. Did you know your body is your bonelocker? And your mind is your wordhoard? To unlock your wordhoard is to speak. There were some fun words in Old English.

So I conducted this poll on preferences in reading. The poll is closed. Not sure what I'm going to do with the results yet.

I've been looking at my site stats again. Surprised at the number of people looking for photos of Lindsay Wagner. People with a lot of celebrity news must get a lot of Google hits. I'm intrigued, through, at the person who was searching "demonstration speech on how to stack a dog". How do you stack a dog? Why would you stack a dog?

Finally got new sofa cushions installed on our sofa. A certain dog managed to vomit on one of the cushions three months ago. It soaked into the core and could not be cleaned. Fortunately, we had bought the upholstery protection, so the cushions were covered. Oh, the joys of dog ownership. :)

And now to totally bring things down...

Good friends (the Hillies) had a fire at their townhouse last night. Their grill started it. Everyone, even the cats, got out OK, but there's lots of damage. Like total loss between the smoke and the water damage. Husband's with them this morning helping where he can. That's all I know for now.

Life: Where no eardrums were damaged, I think

I'm a little late with this karaoke party rehash. I know that most have you have been biting your nails in anticipation. Sorry. :P

Overall, I'd call the night a success.

Here's a link to the photo evidence, and here's the short version of what happened:

We had about 25 guests.
Many dressed in '80s inspired clothing.
Party ended at 5 a.m.
The police were not called.
I played DJ until 3 a.m.
Between 9 p.m. and 3 a.m., people requested and performed to at least 60+ songs.
We bought 25 songs on the fly through iTunes.
From 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. was the open-mic, all-sing, free-for-all.
From 3 a.m. to 5 a.m. you couldn't pull me away from the mic.
No, I was not drunk.
My husband and I were out of bed the next morning by 10 a.m.
The house was clean again by 1 p.m.

Here's the playlist as I logged it at the time. There are probably errors of omission and errors in song titles. This is exactly as I wrote it down. And it's a good thing I wrote it down, too, because there were a few times as I was typing this when I said to myself, Really? I sang that? Oh, yeah, I remember now!

Stars (***) denote an award-winning performance as determined by our panel of judges. Awards were for '80s songs performed before 11:30 p.m.

Erasure -- Dave and Kyle
Walk Like an Egyptian -- Haley and JC
Rock this Town -- Mark
Welcome to the Jungle -- Lara***
Just a Girl -- Ladyknyght
Love and Affection -- Tom
Superstitious -- Hilly
Like a Virgin -- Joanne
The Logical Song -- Haley
Tainted Love -- Mark and Kelly
Let's Go -- Kyle
Ballroom Blitz -- Lara
True -- Ladyknyght
Stop Draggin My Heart Around -- Mike and Kelly (aka M-elly) live
Every Rose Has Its Thorn -- Dave and Paul***
She's Out of My Life -- Tom
Just a Gigolo -- Hilly and Wook***
Stray Cat Strut -- Hilly, Mark, Mike, Paul and Mario
White Rabbit -- Lara
Careless Whisper -- Joanne
{Something I failed to log} -- Dave and Kelly
Devil Inside -- Ladyknyght
Jesse's Girl -- JC, Haley and Kelly
I Won't Back Down -- Hilly and Mike
Cracklin Rosie -- Mark
Green, Green Grass of Home -- Mark
Killing Me Softly -- Mike and Kelly (aka M-elly) live
Sharp-Dressed Man -- Hilly
Candy-O -- Paul
A Piece of My Heart -- Lara
Kiss Me Deadly -- Ladyknyght and Haley
Semi-Charmed Life -- Dave and April
Rock Me Tonight -- Kyle
Ring of Fire -- Eric
Alicia Keys If I Ain't Got -- Joanne
She's Like the Wind -- Tom
I've Had the Time of My Life -- Mark and Kelly
Purple Rain -- Hilly and Mark
Love Vigilante -- Mario
Bring Me Some Water -- Ladyknyght
Black Dog -- Lara
Verve Pipe Colorful -- Paul
Fun, Fun, Fun -- Haley and Paul
Brian Wilson -- Dave and Mario
Money for Nothing -- Mike
Leather and Lace -- Haley and Mike
Why Georgia -- Dave, April and Paul
Come Monday -- Mark
Coin-Operated Boy -- Ladyknyght
Can't Hardly Wait -- Mario
For What It's Worth -- Lara
Du Hast -- Mark
Landslide -- Haley
Like the Way I Do -- Ladyknyght
Overkill -- Dave
Coldplay Trouble -- Wook
Luck be a Lady Tonight -- Mark
Laid -- Mario
No Sugar Tonight -- Lara
Centerfield -- Mike and Hilly
Only the Lonely -- Ladyknyght
Bennie and the Jets -- Paul and Santos (with Mike and Hilly)

{Then the free-for-all, open-mic started}
Don't Stop Believing
3 a.m.
Bohemian Rhapsody
American Pie
Sympathy for the Devil
If I had a Million Dollars
Switchin to Glide
{log stops here...}

If you read my pre-party post last week, you'll know I was really nervous about my two duets.

Mike and I were supposed to sing Leather and Lace live with Mike playing the guitar, but, fortunately for me, he broke a string before we had a chance to perform, so we just sang along to the Stevie Nicks/Don Henley version. People said that if we'd sung it earlier in the night, we might have been up for an award.

Mark and I had talked about singing Suddenly together. I knew it was going to be a disaster for me because Olivia Newton-John's part is too high for me. When I asked Mark about it at the party, he said the male vocal was a little challenging for him, too, and he hadn't practiced much. We were going to let it slide, but then some time around 3-4 a.m. we decided, What the heck!, and sang it anyway. At that hour of the morning, it didn't matter how atrocious my singing was.

Oh, yeah, in case you're wondering why we quit at 5 a.m.? One of our friends suddenly remembered that her alarm clock was set for 6 a.m. and she wanted to make sure she was home to turn it off before it woke up her son. Their departure turned into the signal to shut everything down. Otherwise, who knows when we might have stopped...

Life: The karaoke train-wreck to come

Two years ago I did something I never thought I'd have the courage to do, I got up in a bar and sang a karaoke song solo. And I didn't suck.

People who know me in real life were shocked that I got up and sang. I have a well-deserved reputation as being the quiet/shy/reserved person in the group. In fact, shortly after Marriott first met me, she expressed concern that I was being left out of conversations because I wasn't talking much.

"Really?" I said. "I don't feel left out. I'm participating in my head."

And it was true, I had all sorts of comebacks and comments swirling in my head, but I don't always like to compete to be heard. Plus, sometimes, truthfully, all I'm doing is listening and there's not much else going on at a conscious level. Just processing. (Sounds a little vegetative, I know, but sometimes I just don't have anything to say.)

One thing that I have been vocal about with friends, though, is a fear of public speaking. It's kind of a nuisance, actually, because I'd like to be able to present workshops and the like some day, so every once in a while I do something totally scary just to shake things up. Like taking an acting class, or allowing myself to be brought up on stage, or singing karaoke.

Yes, back to the karaoke.

A few weeks after that first karaoke experience with our friends, we were having a party at our house. At some point, our friend Mike brought out his guitar along with an amp and microphone, and Dave brought out the iPod, and the evening turned into an impromptu sing-along night.

We had so much fun that two months later we planned an official karaoke party. Our friend Rod brought over his mixing board and speakers, we had two microphones, we set up the computer to play iTunes along with a scrolling lyric program called MiniLyrics. There was a lot of good and bad singing, and everyone seemed to have a blast.

A year ago February, we did it again, and all I can say that at 3 a.m., when most people had gone home, I was at the microphone attempting some Fleetwood Mac while Rod disassembled the set-up. And I was 100 percent sober.

Truthfully, I don't have much of a voice, but evidently I enjoy singing. (The church youth choir and the middle school swing choir didn't develop my voice so much as make me acutely aware of when I am flat, which is often.)

Which brings us to today. Less than 48 hours to go until our next karaoke party. Same setup as previous parties, but this year with a theme -- Awesome '80s. Instead of repeating songs from previous parties, we're encouraging everyone to try new material (that was Hilly's idea -- thanks Hilly. I think.)

Unfortunately, I didn't start thinking about what songs I want to sing and practicing until this week. And here is where a few problems come into play.

No. 1 -- I like to sing along to songs by male vocalists, and sometimes that comes across as strange. Past efforts on my part have been Crazy Little Thing Called Love by Queen, Here it Goes Again by OK Go, Mona Lisa by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger, and Love You Madly by Cake. See, all those have been male. Sure, there was the Bree Sharp song, but that falls under problem No. 2 below.

No. 2 -- Some of my favorite songs are more obscure. Did you see the list above? Not many crowd-pleasers in that group. Someday I might have the right crowd for Metallica's version of Astronomy, but I'm pretty sure that only my car upholstery will ever get to hear me sing that. Way too long and niche.

No. 3 -- My favorite bands in the 80s were Rush, Pink Floyd, Guns N'Roses, Rush (again), Yes, Queen, Rush (again) -- you get the idea. Not necessarily the easy-to-sing, karaoke crowd-pleasing favorites, especially when sung by someone of the wrong gender. :)

So what am I preparing and practicing?

I tried to go for a fun song, so I'm working on Walk Like an Egyptian, which might come out OK. And my rendition of The Logical Song isn't so bad (yeah, it came out in 1979, so sue me). And just this morning, my husband talked me into doing Fun, Fun, Fun as a prelude to his Brian Wilson (both not '80s, but that's fine).

Then why do I say that karaoke is going to be a train-wreck?

Two reasons: Leather and Lace and Suddenly.

Leather and Lace is a Stevie Nicks song that I told Mike I would sing with him as a duet. No real recording backing us, though. Nope. Mike's playing his guitar. It's all us. Gulp. Let's just say this song is challenging for me. But that's not even the real train wreck.

The real train wreck waiting to happen is Suddenly. I was dying to sing with Mark (who has a to-die-for Neil Diamond voice) and for some reason agreed to do Suddenly with him. But I am definitely no Olivia Newton-John. It's way out of my vocal range and so far my practice sessions in the car have produced voice-cracking abominations that not even my upholstery appreciates being exposed to. Ugh. I definitely need to call Mark and bag on this -- or drink a lot at the party.

OK, so 48 hours of practice to go. Pray for me. :P

I'll let you know how the party turns out, and whether I bagged on Suddenly. In the mean time, in writing this post, I discovered Last.fm. I made a handy-dandy widget of the songs I've been talking about, plus a few extras that might show up in a sing-along/karaoke post in the future.

Life: A Christmas Village

When we first drove into town at night, my first thought was that Breckenridge looked like one of those collectible Christmas villages. I don't have a good night photo to show you, but trust me on this. As we were sitting in a bar one evening, we ran into some college kids on spring break, and they had the exact same description: Christmas village.

As we wandered around town, the sidewalks full of snow and surrounded by big mounds of shoveled snow, I realized that this is the image that Hollywood likes to depict as a typical Christmas.

Maybe that's because all the celebrities vacation in nearby Aspen and Vail. Or perhaps it was simply because so many Christmas decorations were still up along the street and that was influencing my perceptions.

All I know is that a snow-scene in Breckenridge felt so different from a snow-scene at home in Chicago. First off, there was so much more snow. See our rental house? See the mounds of snow? It was crazy.

And what was even crazier to me was that we would willingly choose to sit outside with this snow while having a drink or waiting for a dinner table. We'd never do that at home.

There was some strange Christmas vibe in the air. Even in March. Perhaps it was the altitude.

Life: Where I didn't break anything

With a grand total of four hours of practice on a snowboard under my belt, I was a little nervous as we set off for the slopes on our first morning in Breckenridge, Colo.

The hills at Wilmot in Wisconsin are nothing compared to The Rocky Mountains. Plus, I'd never even made it off the bunny hill at Wilmot. I'd never even been on a chair lift with a snowboard. Did I even remember how to stand up on the thing?

Can you feel my sense of panic?

So, I took a deep breath, then walked over to one of the instructors and asked about beginner adult lessons for snowboarding. Just my luck, they were starting immediately and they had space for me. I didn't have time to think. I just ran over, paid my money and joined a class.

Day One and traversing on my toes

Since I was a little late, the manager of the snowboarding instructors met me in the corral where the classes meet.

After a basic interview about my experience, she asked: "Have you ever been on a ski lift?"

"No."

"Do you know how to stand on your board?"

"Yes."

We walked over to the beginner/beginner area.

"Show me."

"Right here?"

"Yes. Climb up to that spot on the hill. Strap your left foot into the binding. Rest your right foot on the board and glide down to me." (She was more nurturing than that, but you get the idea.)

Gulp. There was a steep drop-off to the parking lot behind her.

"OK."

So, I strapped in, glided down to her and stumbled to a stop.

"Great. Do it again."

I repeated my glide, and managed not to fall.

"Great. Let's do the chair lift."

OK...



She talked me through the chair lift. Helped me get on. Rode up the beginner hill (Dyersville) with me and we both exited without falling. Wow. Things were looking good.

Then, she introduced me to another instructor who had only one student. The student was in a similar situation to me. He took one day of lessons last year and hadn't been on a snowboard since. She left and I was now part of a two-person class.

Our goal was to learn to go down the hill on our heels. It's a basic "stop" position. Master this and you can get off any hill safely. Face away from the mountain, dig both heels into the snow and slide forward.

Except, for the life of me, I couldn't seem to stand up in that position, let alone get going. The new instructor took a different approach. Forget the heels with me. Let's try toes. Face the mountain, dig both sets of toes into the snow and slide backward down the slope.

For some reason, I could do that. Great. All I needed to do was add some directional leaning to that and I was traversing down the slope on my toeside. Of course, there was a lot of falling involved, but I made it down twice this way before we broke for lunch. At this point, I was exhausted and drenched in sweat. (And also thankful for having a helmet, wrist guards and a tail-bone guard!)

After lunch, we regrouped into another class. Now there were five of us of similar skill level. Except everyone else had mastered their heelslide and heelside-traverse, and I was the “freak” who'd mastered my toeslide and toeside-traverse. (Apparently, most normal people prefer going down heelside and resist toeside.)

The new instructor was determined that I learn heelside traversing, and after one run with the new instructor, I was going down the slope on my heel side.

The advantage was to me, as I was now comfortable on heelside and toeside.

The next two runs were with yet a new instructor, and he had us quickly trying J-turns. Straighten the board, then go heelside, straighten the board, then go heelside, repeat several times. Then straighten the board, then go toeside, straighten the board, then go toeside, repeat several times. It forms a "J" if you can visualize the movement.

We were just starting to link the heelside turn with the toeside turn, which is called a C-turn because of the shape of the movement, when the day ended.

I made it home on the shuttle bus, stumbled in the door, changed my clothes and discovered a light bruise forming on my knee.

Day two and the "double-diamond" green

At this point, I'd talked my husband into taking the class with me. He was a master of heelside traversing and "falling leaf", but he couldn’t do his toeside. (This was good enough to get him through several green runs the day before, but is an exhausting way to snowboard because the same muscles are engaged all the time.)

We signed up for an after-lunch class, and soon we were both doing heelside and toeside J-turns, and even linking them together into C-turns. If you string enough of them together, you start creating S's.

The class ended with about 20 minutes until the lifts closed. I was feeling brave, and agreed to try a new lift and new run. We were still planning to be on green (easy) runs, but were going to take a long series of runs from Peak 8 to the bottom of Peak 9.



We met Kly, Wilko and Elle at the top of Chairlift 5 and start with the 4 o'Clock run.

Since this was all new to me, I took it very cautiously and instead of doing a lot of turning, I mostly traversed from side to side down the slope.

And here's where a little reconnaissance would have helped. It turned out that to get from the Peak 8 slope to the Peak 9 slope the way we’d planned, you had to do a little bit of a trail called the Crosscut. It's still green, but it's really steep and there was an injured person in the middle of it waiting to be stretchered away. (Really, there was an injured skier.)

In retrospect, we like to call that part the "double-diamond" green. It was hideous for a beginner. Even Kly and my husband, who had been on various green slopes for two days thought it was a killer. (Wilko and Elle were experienced skiers and agreed that it was tough for a green.)

We made it and survived, but then found ourselves in a new kind of hell. A stretch of the hill that was virtually flat. Those people on skis could use their poles to propel themselves like going cross country, but if you were on a snowboard and didn't have momentum going into it, you had to detach a foot and skate. Me? I took off my board and walked.

By the time we got to the sloping part of the hill again, I was so exhausted I was constantly falling. At one point, after catching a toe edge and falling on my knees again for the umpteenth time, my husband had the temerity to say, "Don't do that." Since my bruised knee was really hurting every time I fell, it was all I could do to keep my reply to a polite "I know." (Or something like that.)

Day Three and the heavenly massage

With almost every muscle aching and a nice big bruise on my knee, I took the day off from snowboarding.

In fact, I moaned and groaned so much, my friends shuttled me off to a spa for a massage. When the woman saw my knee, I swear, she said, "Wow. You're crazy."

Day four and a lack of confidence



Despite my new set of knee pads, for some reason I was really nervous today. I managed two runs down the beginner (Dyersville) slope, then two runs down the Springmeier (green) slope. Every run, it was a real feat to talk myself into getting going.

Kly brought his camera, and we got some fun photos. I’m even smiling in some of them.

But after four runs, when the guys suggested trying a new chairlift and new slope, I decided I was too tired for something new and agreed to meet them at the bar. There was a glass of wine waiting for me. Bonus: The bartender carded me and told me I look young. :)

Day six and the beginner blue slopes



After another day off we met Wilko and Elle at the VistaHaus for lunch. It was at the top of a new lift for me, but today I was feeling rather brave. Especially because the only way out of the VistaHaus required, at the very least, a blue (intermediate) run. Granted it was the easiest of the blue runs on the mountain, but it was still blue.

And I made it. Falling leaf the whole way, but I made it. Fortunately, the blue run turned into a green fairly soon, which was a relief.



The five of us stuck together for the afternoon, and took a different path to get to Peak 9. After our second blue run, though, I had to beg for a green run. The blues were just too challenging for my skill level, and therefore not as much fun.

For the final run of the day (and trip), my husband and I took a green run down Peak 9, while Kly went with Wilko and Elle to do a blue/black run (the easiest of the hard runs).

My triumph? I was actually linking my turns on that last run and starting to look like I knew how to snowboard. And I was having fun.

Unfortunately, by that time, the trip was over. And since the season is over here in the Chicago area, that means the end of snowboarding until next year.

As a handy-dandy reference for myself next year, here's my suggested packing list:

• helmet
• goggles
• snowboarding pants
• kneepads
• wrist guards
• tail-bone guard
• Under Armour shirt
• zip-up fleece
• winter jacket
• ski gloves
• sun screen/moisturizer
• sun screen/lip balm
• athletic watch
• bandana or hat to cover the “helmet hair” when finished
• (and, obviously, snowboard and boots)

Where I didn't get hurt snowboarding...

I tried snowboarding for the first time in January. People said I did well, but one bad fall on my tailbone left me in pain for the next two weeks. I begged off the next few opportunities to go, but with our Colorado vacation fast approaching, Friday night I decided it was time to give snowboarding a go again.

This time I was a little better prepared, with my new oh-so-sexy, grandma-panties tailbone guard. (Just what a girl wants -- padding to make her butt look bigger!)

So, Friday after work, we headed back up to Wilmot in Wisconsin. I was nervous, and the conditions were really icy. Let's just say I got off to a very hesitant start. There was probably even a little cursing at my husband and Kyle over their persistent offers of advice. The fun quotient started out at virtually nil.

But at some point in the evening, I loosened up and actually had a little fun. Bonus: I actually came down the learning hill executing something that resembled the beginnings of turns and stops. And most importantly, my falls were controlled and there were NO INJURIES.

There may be hope for me yet.

The best part of the night was the après-ski. And who knew that après-ski translates to "cheap buzz"? I do now.

Where I think I'm a 13-year-old boy...

First I start playing World of Warcraft, then I take up Guitar Hero III, and now I try snowboarding. What am I, 13 years old?

Snowboarding! What was I thinking? I have a sore tail bone that's been reminding me all weekend that it's been 25 years since I was 13.

Let me back up. We're planning a week-long vacation in Colorado. Doing the whole rent-a-chalet-for-a-week-with-friends thing. So, Kyle says: Why not snowboard? I'm thinking that it's been 20 years since I tried skiing, and that didn't go so well (big dramatic wipeout on an intermediate slope, which I only tried because it was the easiest way to get back to the lodge), so why not snowboard, indeed?

Kyle has been snowboarding half a dozen times. Dave has been twice. Both warned me that learning involves lots and lots of falling. It's just the nature of the beast. I'm prepared for that...

Friday evening after work, we head up to Wilmot in Wisconsin. I rent my gear, and because the last classes have finished for the night, Kyle takes over the post of instructor. We head to a mini hill in the beginner area (really, nothing more that a mogul, at best) and Kyle teaches me how to stand on the board and how to slide down the "hill" on the board. Evidently, all the workouts I do with a personal trainer are working, and I have excellent balance. I don't fall. Dave and Kyle say they are impressed.

Then Kyle shows me how to turn to the right. Gulp. OK.

I head down, try to turn to the right, overcompensate and fall backward. Straight backwards. Both feet strapped to a plank of wood, back straight, tail bone and head making contact at almost the same instant. It's a bone-jarring, knock-the-headband-off-my-head, hurts-like-the-dickens fall.

I rest for a minute, then a minute more. Shake it off, stand up, fix my headband, climb to the top of the "hill" and try it again.

My next two falls are a little better coordinated. I remember to bend my knees, at least. And these are in the forward direction, so I don't really hurt myself.

Now it's time for the tow-rope up to the beginner hill. I hate tow-ropes. They suck. Wrench your arms out of their sockets and all that stuff. I somehow make it to the top without wiping out on the tow-rope. Even better, I manage to snowboard to the bottom of the hill without falling, although I didn't do much turning at all.

Second trip up the tow-rope, again I manage to make it to the top without falling (although a few kids on the slopes seem to be having issues in that area). Amazingly, the second trip down the beginner hill goes better than the first. I don't fall, and I manage to turn myself a little bit. The guy operating the tow-rope politely agrees with Dave and Kyle that I'm doing really well for having been on a snowboard for only an hour. I think I fell all of four times total (another one snuck in there when I was just walking...).

At this point, Dave and Kyle decide they want to try the bigger beginner hills (which actually involve a chair lift), and I decide that it's best to quit while I'm having "fun". The place closes in an hour anyway.

So it's back to the lodge to turn in my gear and fortify myself after this grueling workout (it *was* hard work). After a while Dave comes tottering in, ice packs in hand. Turns out he had a major wipeout (lots of air and rolling involved) and his neck and wrists hurt big-time. Evidently, he needs to work on his turns also.

Somehow, we manage to make it home. Both of us feeling decidedly old and achy.

So, all weekend, Dave and I have been popping the Advil at regular intervals. I can't sit in any position that involves lounging (it's either perfectly straight in the chair or totally reclined, no in-between, because that hurts way too much). Dave keeps complaining about tingling in his fingers.

What happens when I walk into work this morning? Kyle asks when we're snowboarding again. And what is my answer? Well, it's not the resounding "No" you would expect.

Um. I think we're busy this weekend. And the next, too. But after that, maybe. By then the aches and pains may be gone, and I might be back to thinking I'm 13 years old again...

Pray for me. :-)

As for my other 13-year-old passions?

In Guitar Hero III, I've finished 14 songs on hard level, with my 11-year-old nephew informing me just this weekend that he's quickly catching up to me. Time to start practicing again.

In World of Warcraft? Lasaire is now a level-70 beast-master hunter on the Proudmoore server (Alliance). I'm saving gold to buy my epic flying mount, trying to get my leatherworking to 375 so I can make nether armor, plus working on getting keyed for Kara. Oh, and Kitty is still my best friend (the pet I first tamed at level 10). I've got alt-characters that include a level-10 mage and a level-10 druid (Alliance side) and a level-19 priest (Horde side). Unfortunately, I've decided that the next character I'd like to level is a priest, but I want to go Alliance, so I have to start over...

My first business trip

I'm about five weeks late with this, but I'm happy to report that I've been on my first official work-related overnight business trip.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. For many people that's nothing to celebrate. Some of my friends seem to spend more time on business trips than they do at home. Really. They travel that much.

But it's been over 15 years since I graduated from college, and not once in that time have I had to travel overnight for business. Sure, there were writers conferences. But those were related to fiction writing, and I have yet to earn money from that, so I don't like to count them as actual business trips. Then there was the Society of Professional Journalists conference in Indianapolis about 10 years ago, but we drove and made it a day trip. Doesn't count.

This trip was three nights in San Antonio helping a software consulting firm administer system testing on one of our regulated products. Bonus -- I got to travel with Kyle.

Oh yeah, we were busy with work. But we also managed to over-eat at a few restaurant, workout at a gym at least once (twice for Kyle), and find time to explore the Riverwalk and see the Alamo.

Some people I know NEVER sight-see when they're on business trips. Too busy. Too drained. I understand, because I was exhausted much of the trip also. But, yet, I was some place new and it would have been against my nature to not get out exploring for at least a few hours.

And now I know how cool the San Antonio Riverwalk is. How pretty the Alamo is lit up at night. And how crazy the spaghetti-bowl expressway system is there, especially when trying to use a navigation system. (There's a story here about a lot of last-minute lane changes, possibly illegal turns, and recalculations by the navigation system, but I won't embarrass Kyle with the details...)

There's aren't any more business trips in my foreseeable future. It's not part of the usual job description of a software quality engineer. But, if there are any trips, I look forward to writing about my second official business trip.

To view the full set of photos from the San Antonio trip, visit my Flickr page.