Room with a view

Here's the view from my hotel room balcony. It's looking inside to the Cascades area which is just a very small section of the hotel. The large indoor area is in the Delta section of the hotel which has actual buildings inside the building. There is a food court area, "outdoor" Italian restaurant, a river with boat ride.

Perhaps I will take more pictures later if I stop being lazy.

Moving on up

Our case was accepted by the U.S. Court of Appeals. Oral arguments in November. Yay!

What happens when I get stressed

1. Lose my car. Not my keys, my car. Yesterday I had a meeting and had to park in this massive underground parking ramp. I knew I was on Level E. Yet, it took me a good 10 minutes to find where on Level E my car was.

2. I wake up wanting to vomit and continue this feeling til about 3 p.m. It's called, I probably I have Crohn's but no one will diagnose me with anything but "well..."

3. Write excessively in my planner including things like my flight numbers. Why would I ever need to know my flight numbers?

4. Start taking pills like my chemo pills, Tylenol PM or cocaine.

5. Talking myself out of going to the gym or sleep through my alarm that's waking me up to go to the gym.

6. Begin living in a pigsty, wearing clothes I hate because the ones that are OK are dirty and eating things that only come in plastic cups like pudding or jello because I don't want to do dishes.

7. Wear tennis shoes, jeans and sweatshirts. Note: Sweatshirts. Stupid Minnesota.

Why I would prefer to work with polar bears

1. Polar bears do not bitch, moan or complain even though I think they have plenty of reason to seeing as how they live in the Artic.

2. They understand the concept of tranferring to voicemail if someone is not at their desk. They do not take messages on paper mainly because their massive paws prevent them from writing so they are forced to just hit the transfer button.

3. Since they are unable to do anything but pace in circles (assuming they live in a zoo) or swim in ice cold water, they think you're a goddess for doing all that you do.

4. They could growl with me for necessary stress relief.

5. They could eat the construction men that are tearing up the parking lot five feet from my window, rattling the windows and floors causing nausea.

Five years

Five years ago today I was taking a test in my 8:05 Intro to Mass Communications class in Waters Hall. I was a freshman in college. I took the test and since I got out early, Nicole and I went to the Union to get breakfast and saw everyone crowded around TVs. I saw some Collegian reporters starting to arrive, asking questions. I went back to my dorm only to return immediately to the newsroom to spend the day copy editing and helping with a timeline. I emailed my mom and told her it was "crazy" around here.

I watched TV for days. I cried about a week later while I was driving around listening to the radio. I didn't know anyone in New York and didn't even know anyone who knew someone affected by it directly.

Today, I am in Saint Louis for a business meeting. I flew this morning, at a time five years ago when the towers were collasping, and the only notable changes were I had to take off my shoes, there are more cops, and I had to throw away my lip gloss. I was nervous before I flew but only because it was the anniversary. I have flown on dozens of planes in the last five years and never flinched. I can't really remember anymore what it was like when "9/11" wasn't a buzz word, and CNN actually reported on news that wasn't related to terrorism.

It's my generation's unifying event. But yes, I am sick of hearing about it. I am sick of the war. I am sick of reading "how we have changed" articles. I am sick of politicans fighting about the memorial. I am sick of it.

But that doesn't mean when I read the NY Times "Portraits of Grief" updates this morning that I didn't cry while sitting in the back of an airplane.

Funny WTC ads

http://copyranter.blogspot.com/2006/09/who-cares-where-we-were.html

"Yeah, I was at the gym, and it was the first time EVER that I benchpressed 225, so it was like I KNEW something big was happening. I've never been able to get 225 again. Man, I'll always remember that rep—and, yeah, also those 3,000 dead people."

Something I do like about the Midwest

This morning I went to the gourmet grocery store to get the cake for my co-worker's birthday. While standing in line to check out, an employee came by, noticed my cake was blank and said "Oh, honey, let me have someone write on that for you!" She walked back to the bakery with me, got someone to write Happy Birthday on it and then walked back to the front with me to open a new register and check me out.

Then I went to Starbucks and the employees were talking in Southern accents and joked with me about how I picked the wrong day to come there because they were all being weird. They were actually enjoying their job and on my way out they all smiled and said have a nice day.

There are nice people everywhere but we seem to breed more of them in the middle of the country.

I will still love Thursday despite all this

Thursday is my favorite day of the week. It has the anticipation of Friday but not quite the urgency of Friday when there is no tomorrow to get work done. However, it seems that the stupidest people have decided to attempt to ruin my perfect day, and I just can't let that happen.

I have had this phone call greeting at least ten times today:

"This is Sarah"
"Sarah"
"Yep, this is Sarah"

RIDICULOUS.

Also this email strain:

Email #1 from Bob: When will the awards be announced?
Email #2 from me: On this date
Email #3 from George replying to MY email: When will the awards be announced?

Also I have to buy a cake for tomorrow for a co-worker's birthday. When I am the most motherly figure in the office who remembers these things, there has to be serious problems considering I once made a list of reasons to have children which included tax breaks and someone to do the chores.