The Pheonix Chapter

ahhh....blog sweet blog, how I've missed thee!

I noticed today that it's been over twenty days since I've last blogged. 20 DAYS!!?!?! Now, I know that I've have blog worthy thoughts over the past twenty days but I've been quite remiss in sharing them with you oh-so loyal yet forced readers. (Please do note that I appreciate the enthusiasm that each of you muster when I call to berate you for not having commented recently :) Who says that blogging should be free from familial and friendly obligation, complete with a steaming helping of guilt?)

I went the Pheonix, Arizona earlier this month for a work conference. Of note, Phenoix is great for my hair. I felt (and still feel) sufficiently ashamed and embarassed that my first reaction to Pheonix was of all things, hair related. Seriously, I'm usually not quite this superficial or girly. Thankfully, my shame only lasted until the welcome dinner where everyone else with more than three inches of hair was also singing the praises of the arid climate.

Also of note from Pheonix, non-Gators REALLY REALLY HATE THE GATORS. I am, admittedly, a lack-luster Gator fan. I watch the games, but in large part because there's usually food and beer and fun people hanging out during them. I prefer for us to win but really, when all is said and done, it doesn't ruin my week if we loose. According to my friend Stoove, I can be most accurately described as a "non-fan." All this aside, the minute I leave Florida an interesting phenomenon occurs: I become a RABID Gator fan. I abandon all color matching common sense and wear my Orange and Blue with reckless abandon, I seek out games and...wait for it...actually watch them. So, I sought out the hotel bar, ordered some fancy libations (a bottle of Pino Noir all for moi!) and settled in to watch game. I ended up being the only Gator fan in the whole bar, LSU fans yes, but even people who weren't LSU fans would come in and say: "oh, well, it'd just be good to see Florida loose." Eeek. Still, I flew the Orange and Blue and even got to do the happy dance when Florida kicked some LSU booty!

So Phenoix was lovely, from the dry, cool weather, to the Gator win to the fancy schmancy Ritz Carleton they put me up in. When the soap in your hotel room is nicer than the soap in your own bathroom you know that you've been out-fancied. The flight home now, well, that was less than enjoyable.

Some people travel well, things just sort of fall into place and they get to where there going with very little too-doo. I'm not one of those people. I roll with the punches pretty well, delays and cancellations I can usually deal with, but sometimes the punches come from further out than left field. So there I sat in my window seat, reading Twilight on my Kindle (thanks baby!) and just ahead of me I can hear a little kid amping up for an epic temper tantrum. The book seriously came out of nowhere, well not really nowhere, it came from the hand of an autistic little boy flipping his lid in the row ahead of me, but as far as my forhead was concerned it came out of no where. Two barf bags, disgusting closeness with a couple of airport , an interminable jump from Charlotte to Gainesville next to man whose breath smelled like poo and one CT scan later it was confirmed: mild concussion. A mile concussion. Some punches like delays, rude flight attendants and turbulance I can roll with, punches like a concussion? That's just a punch that I never saw coming.

In the end though, I made it home :)