Traveling Light
Here’s what you missed from last week’s episode:
1. Got together with the young-at-heart gang from high school. A dose of reality sorely needed. This is the first time I’ve ever got together with a bunch of old friends that suddenly became new ones. Though I worry about my favorite sweethearts with idiot husbands. Astounding to me all the good that men will urinate on. In other news, I got drunk on a Sunday afternoon.
2. I did some work last year on a covert project for an oversized conglomerate in Cincinnati—designing a showroom that sells ideas to sellers about how to sell stuff better so that sellers can sell more of oversized conglomerate’s stuff. Last week I drove an hour or so towards Syracuse to meet up with Eric, an amiable partner on that project, and took the opportunity to meet all the animals on his picture-book farm south of Skaneateles. Goats, chickens, horses, dogs, cats and a couple of eccentric yuppie farmers. Their lovely daughter, Eloise, seemed proud of her mom, in a really embarrassed sort of way. Thank you Amy and your indentured servants for the scarlet cupcake and your Lucky Goat Soap. I used a bunch of it this weekend in the impossibly small bathroom of a Soho walkup.
3. Spent the past week servicing all the Macintosh computers in the house. Sue is a certifiable Apple geek with all different flavors of iDevice, but both she and my dad crash and burn when it comes to actually organizing and maintaining all that technology. Apple TV installed. Airplay enabled. Memory upgraded in the old MacBook and the professor’s MacBook Pro. Snow Leopard, and a nice spit and polish all around. Adobe CS, iLife 11 and Evil Office. As for me, I upgraded to the latest Final Cut Pro (ie. Rough Cut Amateur).
4. Packing a month’s worth of gear and clothing for two drastically different climates into one small backpack and a satchel was challenging despite my extensive packing CV. I had to make some tough choices. The electric razor is in, the power cord is out. The digital camera is out, 50 rolls of film are in. Parka is out, pajamas are in. I’d say I’m ready for luke warm.
5. Weekend in NYC: Diner breakfast with new and old friends. Coney Island. Chelsea highline with gelato. Glass of wine at Jimmy—for the view. Tofu veggie kebabs and peanut sauce on rice. Several slices. Post office. Fax machine. Sneezing fits. Dissing the Oscars. B&H pilgrimage. NJT to Westwood. Laundromat. Trinity church. Contorting myself onto precarious toilet. Good times. Thanks JB.
6. Arrived Cairo safely last night. Had fun navigating the airport madness. Mubarak’s former presidential palace surrounded by tanks and big guys with guns. Watched Manchester United vs. Chelsea game on an outdoor telly in a neighborhood courtyard. Disappointing. Made it back to downtown hotel in time for curfew. Small, dusty room compels me to go outside and see stuff. Not bad for $15 a night.
