I'm Back...
Once again, I dropped off the face of the earth, but I had all sorts of good reasons - really!
First, Mark and I spent a long weekend down on the Outer Banks (barrier islands in North Carolina.) We ate way too much beach food (ah... chocolate and peppermint and cinnamon salt water taffy...) and visited the Wright Brothers Memorial (amazing to think how rapidly air travel advanced!) and drove to the Cape Hatteras light house (or "light station" as they called it in all official publications) and walked on the beach and read and slept and generally hung out without Blackberry reception. (My favorite restaurant: The diner-y dive where we ate breakfast two mornings, called "Bob's Eat and Get the Hell Out." (They were actually much more hospitable than that!))
Then, I was back in town for a few days of work craziness.
Then, Mark and I headed up to New York. Our accountant is in Manhattan, and we needed to get the dreaded taxes done. (Suffice to say, they weren't as dread as feared - we missed a higher tax bracket by $700, meaning that we actually get a small refund rather than owe thousands that I was afraid we'd owe.) Before that business meeting, we saw the new Aaron Sorkin play, THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION (about David Sarnoff, Philo Farnsworth, the invention of television, and man's inhumanity to man - great language, some very interesting staging, not perfect, but well worth the price of attending.) We also went to the BODIES exhibit down at South Street Seaport - a collection of real human bodies, dissected and preserved, to illustrate various body systems, diseases, etc (eerie, gory, fascinating, surreal, and the root of a couple of new stories...) Then, we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge - a stunning excursion, with the cables changing the view around us with every step (after we finally *got* to the pedestrian walkway, which took some meandering across roads where peds were never meant to X.) We ate some great meals, enjoyed the Club Level at the Westin (where I'd received a discount room due to the huge amount of work travel I've been doing - further discounted when the hotel couldn't check us in until 3.5 hours after check-in, due to other travellers stays being prolonged unexpectedly), and generally remembered why NYC is a great place to visit (but still wouldn't want to live there!)
Then, I met with my agent to discuss my Super Secret Project. I've got a few more details to pull together, and then we'll be submitting. It's hard to type with fingers crossed!
Then, I worked in our NY office for a couple of days, including attending a high-end seminar on law library management.
And now, I'm home. Home, with cats glued to my lap. Home, with tons of writing projects piled up. Home with tons of to-be-reads piled up.
But home. Which is a good place to be.
Mindy, sorting out the towering pile of email
First, Mark and I spent a long weekend down on the Outer Banks (barrier islands in North Carolina.) We ate way too much beach food (ah... chocolate and peppermint and cinnamon salt water taffy...) and visited the Wright Brothers Memorial (amazing to think how rapidly air travel advanced!) and drove to the Cape Hatteras light house (or "light station" as they called it in all official publications) and walked on the beach and read and slept and generally hung out without Blackberry reception. (My favorite restaurant: The diner-y dive where we ate breakfast two mornings, called "Bob's Eat and Get the Hell Out." (They were actually much more hospitable than that!))
Then, I was back in town for a few days of work craziness.
Then, Mark and I headed up to New York. Our accountant is in Manhattan, and we needed to get the dreaded taxes done. (Suffice to say, they weren't as dread as feared - we missed a higher tax bracket by $700, meaning that we actually get a small refund rather than owe thousands that I was afraid we'd owe.) Before that business meeting, we saw the new Aaron Sorkin play, THE FARNSWORTH INVENTION (about David Sarnoff, Philo Farnsworth, the invention of television, and man's inhumanity to man - great language, some very interesting staging, not perfect, but well worth the price of attending.) We also went to the BODIES exhibit down at South Street Seaport - a collection of real human bodies, dissected and preserved, to illustrate various body systems, diseases, etc (eerie, gory, fascinating, surreal, and the root of a couple of new stories...) Then, we crossed the Brooklyn Bridge - a stunning excursion, with the cables changing the view around us with every step (after we finally *got* to the pedestrian walkway, which took some meandering across roads where peds were never meant to X.) We ate some great meals, enjoyed the Club Level at the Westin (where I'd received a discount room due to the huge amount of work travel I've been doing - further discounted when the hotel couldn't check us in until 3.5 hours after check-in, due to other travellers stays being prolonged unexpectedly), and generally remembered why NYC is a great place to visit (but still wouldn't want to live there!)
Then, I met with my agent to discuss my Super Secret Project. I've got a few more details to pull together, and then we'll be submitting. It's hard to type with fingers crossed!
Then, I worked in our NY office for a couple of days, including attending a high-end seminar on law library management.
And now, I'm home. Home, with cats glued to my lap. Home, with tons of writing projects piled up. Home with tons of to-be-reads piled up.
But home. Which is a good place to be.
Mindy, sorting out the towering pile of email
Though walking the Brooklyn Bridge is pretty cool--especially late at night--I'm really glad I don't live in New York any more.
I posted about it here: http://mindyklasky.livejournal.com/1313
What did you think?
Our reactions were much the same. Some things worked really well. In general, I thought the first act was better than the second. The puppetry wasn't as interesting in the second act, and I felt Zimmerman glossed over the tragedy.
Edited at 2008-02-28 03:16 pm (UTC)
Those are the best kind.
I'm thoroughly enjoying your X-Files tapes, btw.... there's going to be a reciprocal gift coming your way shortly... ;)
And hooray for Super Secret Project!
Have a lovely day! :-)
I've been reading your accounts of Pixel and - um - is it Charlie? Give it a bit more time. And if you're inclined and have about $25 US, you might try a hormone diffuser called Feliway (available at pet supply stores here in the States and over Amazon.) You add the liquid hormones to a wall-plug unit, which disperses them through the room. We found them helpful at first - and the traumatized "Pixel" of our situation would crouch by the dispenser a lot. We did not refill the dispensers after the first three month course.
Good luck!
We're definitely giving Charlie a much better chance ... in fact, he seems to be a member of the family, now. Pixel has accepted him as a fixture in the household, but they haven't quite made friends. I'm hoping the Feliway will help.
Glad to hear your kitties are getting along now! (I think cats will always "fight", to keep up their skills, if nothing else, but in that case it's closer to playfighting than true battle.)