Happy to hear that the keys were found! To the guy who found them, I'm rolling my eyes. One phone call was all it would take, dammit! LOL.
Slow day around the water cooler sounds like heaven to me. Things have jumped full speed ahead for me. I don't like it. Work trips sound fun at first, until you realize they require a lot more than regular trips: in addition to the itinerary planning, airline/hotel bookings, packing and getting travel medications in order, you also need to prepare conference presentations, draft agendas and 'goals' for any meetings with collaborators abroad, tie up loose ends in the office before you go (there are lots of them!), and keep up with your regular work while you're away. More stress added when the paper you thought would be under review while you were gone is sent back and you have to reformat it for a new journal - which will hopefully send it for review and not just have the Editor throw it back in your face.
Sigh. Despite all this, last night I got straight to organizing my suitcase and fiddled with some travel apps on my iPhone - TripDeck syncs with TripIt to provide your flight schedule on your phone, show flight maps and even sends you notifications if your flight is delayed (I have about 10 flights involved with this trip...eek!). I also have a packing app that lets me make a packing list and organize it by Carry-on, Toiletry Bag and Main Suitcase, then check off the items as I pack them. At a glance, I can see that I need to pick up sunscreen and mosquito repellent, but that I'm good for First Aid supplies and q-tips, LOL. This is but a small dent in my "trip to-do" list, but it helped me relax. Ironic that anal-retentive organization makes me relax.
Yes, yes, stop dreaming, start traveling! But you've done a few cool mini-trips in the last year, so don't discount those (I've never been to the Caribbean, totally jealous!). I want my next trip to be of the non-work-related kind - my ideal option being to pack like those credit card commercials, with the empty-but-for-a-Visa-card suitcase. We need to kick this blog up a notch and start raking in the dough. (Where are you, blog followers? Can't you see how you can't live without reading all about Smarts and Sass? Now click on an advertisement...)
And I know from my spiel above it sounds like I'm dreading this work trip - but I'm not (just wished I had an administrative assistant to handle a bunch of things for me! LOL). In fact, I'm really excited for this trip away, in places I've never been before and are out of the ordinary. Lots of friends keep asking "Aren't you nervous?", "It's a long time away, are you sure you want to go for that long?", and "Aren't those countries really dangerous?". It's making me a bit unsure, but I'm trying not to think like that. This is the trip of a lifetime, both on a personal front and a career front. Just yesterday, a researcher from South America e-mailed requesting two papers I recently had published (how cool is that?). I feel good overall.
I think it is totally OK to go to dance class drunk. In fact, in a recent article in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research, results showed that moderate drinkers live longer than those who don't drink at all (Holahan CJ, et al. Alcohol Clin Exp Res. 2010 Aug 24). And we all know the health benefits of physical activity. Therefore, in my professional scientific opinion: drink away Sassy, and get your dance on - it's for your own good!
Fat kitties. For some reason, I started singing "Fat kitty, warm kitty, little ball of fur..." in my head. Isn't that Sheldon's song when he's sick? Or is it 'soft kitty'? LOL. I love that show. Fat kitties are cuter than skinny kitties. Babies too. Anything that is supposed to be cute looks better on the plumper side, in my opinion, LOL.
The hurricane party sounds fun, now that I know you're not actually going to be hit by it. Scary stuff though. It's all over the news, even here. I think it might hit the maritimes too.
OK. So give me your update on today's day at work. How are things shaping up for the weekend? I've not made any plans, it's like a mental block that's telling me "Deal with duties, not socializing." But it's the long weekend! Hooray! Let me live vicariously through Fun Miss Sassy this weekend.
Talk to you later,
Smarts.
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