Home again, home again

Jiggety-jig.

Wow, I really HAVE been terrible about updating my blog. If you must know, however, it's largely because I have a rather boring life at the moment.

Another reason is the fact that I've been in Tallahassee (Florida) for the past four days, with inconsistent internet access. There was a business center in my hotel, but the hotel also had hundreds of teenaged children (they were hosting some sort of 4H mock legislature convention), so the business center was monopolized by adolescents who were trying to be cool, flirting awkwardly, and checking their MySpace accounts. Ugh.

In the realm of Deb trivia, it was fun to visit Tallahassee, as I almost decided to go there after college for the Ph.D. in Geochemistry program at Florida State U. Obviously, the Lord took me in a different direction, but it was kind of fun to see what Florida is like. On the whole, however, Tallahassee is pretty podunk; it looks kind of stereotypically southern redneck trashy, and the vast majority of people there are associated with either government (as it's the state capital) or the universities (both FSU and Florida A&M are there). Sadly, I didn't get to drive down to the coast (no rental car, this trip), so I didn't get to spend time at a real beach.

I'm back

More or less.

I thought I'd jumpstart my blogging with a list.

Things that make me happy:
Wedding invitations from people I care about
Fuse TV
The Simpsons
Angels & Airwaves
Watching Fuse and The Simpsons, or listening to Angels & Airwaves, with my husband
My kitty cats
Classic movies
Amusing Georgette Heyer books
Gilbert and Sullivan operettas
Getting some good work done
Fashion articles that really are about fashion, and the clothes are cute
Softserve ice cream
The way that your teeth feel after you've flossed them
Singing along to musical theater soundtracks I play while driving
Good theology
Dancing around the house to music in our stereo
Solving a challenging physics problem

Dear Blog

How have I neglected thee? Let me count the ways.

Actually, I've neglected pretty much everybody and everything in my life. I've kept up with work, but that's just about it. Oh, and I've been spending time with Jeff, so that's good.

I'm sorry, everybody!! I really am. I don't mean to be such a horrible, neglectful friend, daughter, sister, and blogger.

I will do better, I promise.

I guess I should finish my tale of travel woes. But I don't feel like it. I'm just feeling contrary this weekend.

Jeff is working on some photos, and I was looking at some old portraits he took of my sister. I'm not over-stating it when I say that Mia is really so gorgeous and photogenic. She is so utterly beautiful, it makes me sick! She could totally be a model. *sigh* It's difficult to avoid being envious.

More Global Nomad

I am cold and tired and miserable and stuck in the Las Vegas Airport for several more minutes. I am in this predicament because my flight from Grand Junction to Phoenix was 30 minutes late (not sure why, since when I checked in, I was told that it was On Time) taking off, so I missed my connecting flight to Fresno. I had to get a flight from PHX to Vegas, and then wait around to get a red-eye to FAT, after which I'll have to drive home in the dead of early morning. I have bitter hatred for America West. I have traveled all over the world, in third-world countries, what have you, in conditions most of you probably cannot even imagine, and never* have I had such horrible airline experiences as I've suffered in the past month. I'm writing America West/US Air a nasty note, and may choose to boycott them if they don't put forth their very best effort to make things right.

I told Jeff that I can't imagine what sins I've committed, to be receiving such hefty karmic retribution. It's a bummer that I can't even remember them; they were probably fun and exciting.

Oops, time to board. At least there is free wireless internet in this airport.

*Exception being that one hour or so in Heathrow in January 2003, but at least it was over quickly, and I had my winter coat and my Jeffrey to keep me warm.

ICE ICE BABY

Dear Airport Management: Sorry, but I forgot to bring my PARKA. Did you notice that it is JUNE and you are in a DESERT?! Maybe you should keep with tradition and be HOT instead of FRIGID. Look into it.

Hey, folks, remember the ice planet Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back? That is what the Las Vegas Airport is like. They have the air conditioning pumped up to a level that even large self-heated people would consider chilly; for a Reynauds sufferer like myself, it is ghastly.

I keep expecting the Abominable Snowman to come sauntering into the waiting area...

Rocky Mountain High

Greetings again from the Global Nomad. I have not yet finished chronicling my previous adventures, and here I am on yet another.

I'm in Colorado. Grand Junction, to be specific. I flew in this afternoon. The flight from Phoenix to Grand Junction was, by the way, the most turbulent one I've ever experienced in the US. I'm so blase about it, though. I always tell myself, "No matter how bad it seems, I've been through worse!" All those years of flying in helicopters, single-prop planes, and goodness knows what they had with Merpati, have definitely provided me with a high tolerance for turbulent air travel.

And speaking of Merpati, I have to say that the Grand Junction airport is probably smaller than even Rendani in Sowi. They seriously have only two baggage claim carousels, and there is no monitor or marquee to mark which flight's baggage is on them. Not that it matters, since there are probably no more than two flights in at any given time, so all a passenger must do is go stand between them and glance side-to-side until his/her baggage is clearly in view.

In summary: Today, I have traveled several hundred miles, completed two crosswords and two sudoku puzzles, and posted on my blog.

Sorry I'm not home right now

I'm walking into spider webs...

Or bears' dens or snakes' lairs.

That's right, I'm going camping. I loathe camping, for many good reasons which I may or may not reveal. The only good aspects of camping are (1) the camp fire and (2) the s'mores. In fact, Jeff persuaded me to go only by telling me that I could be in charge of the fire. Warms my little pyromaniacal heart.

I'm still taking my laptop, but I won't have internet access. *sigh* I'll miss you all. *mwa mwa* Bye!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

A very happy birthday to Firefly cutie Jewel Staite, who is 24 today!
Blogger wouldn't let me load pictures, for some reason, today. So, see Jewel here.

We watched X-Men: The Last Stand on Monday. I loathed it. The best thing I can say about it is that I hated it less than The Fantastic Four. Jeff didn't like it, either, and he says it's because of the director. I think it was just a bad script.

But I found out something: I have my own superhero! One of the mutant people was named Kitty (which is, of course, an alternate spelling of my nickname Kiti), so I looked her up, and she is a popular X-men character, Kitty Pryde, also known as Shadowcat. At last, I have my own superhero with whom to identify. Heheh.

Which leads me to ask, Dear Readers: If you were a superhero, what would your powers be, and what would you name your superpowered alter ego?