Trips & tribulations
So, Friday, August 17th (yeah, yeah, I know I'm like 3 weeks behind with this entry! Deal with it!!) the fabulous Ms.
girlvii invited me to check out some music with her. She said, and I quote, "You are going to LOVE this band! I know you will!" How can you turn down an invitation that's made with such conviction. I couldn't. So, off we went to the Darkroom. And
girlvii was right. I LOVED The Budos Band!!! They were soul, and funk, and Afro-beat! They were incredibly talented musicians that played with joy and seemed to be having so much fun. Thank you,
girlvii. However, we left early. The opening band (and there was absolutely no need for one) SUCKED something awful and just deflated the mood of our evening, the audience, the whole darn room. I was ready to pummel Dekalb / Decatur annoying band's lead singer just to make him shut his whinny-squeaky-voiced self. But The Budos Band were so fantastic!! I love them! Go listen / buy to some The Budos Band...NOW!!
Sometimes what, at first, appears to be a major annoyance is actually a small piece of delight in disguise:
My flight to Philadelphia on Sunday night, August 19, was delayed by almost 3 hours. I was, of course, annoyed at first. Well, I was a bit annoyed from the get-go; it took me almost 45 minutes to check in because the e-ticket kiosks are stupid machines and United has exactly 2 agents working on a Sunday afternoon, and I was forced to remove my paper-thin flats and walk on filthy floors barefoot when going through TSA screening. So, needless to say, I was in a pissy mood even before I found out my flight would keep getting delayed every 20 minutes or so. However, I found myself sitting next a lovely Marine Staff Sergeant. He was a complete hottie with his Marine physique and ice-blue eyes (and probably 10 years younger than I!). He was also extremely bright and funny and the things he said really made me rethink my brief bitching session about the security checks and about being delayed. I realized that I spend way too much time being completely self-absorbed and not looking at the big picture. Here was a man who had just returned from Iraq, where he put his life on the line and where he saw his friends die, and TSA made him go through the most rigorous security check imaginable: he said that he pretty much had to strip down to almost his underwear. I find that a complete oxymoron and pathetically disrespectful of our servicemen and women! How can you tell our soldiers that we trust them to safeguard our country and then turn around and put them through such rigorous security? To me that says that we don't really trust these men and women. Pathetic. In my opinion, a military ID should entitle these men and women to better treatment, at least at the airport.
Anyway, Marine Staff Sergeant Richard and I kept chatting the whole time. About a lot of things and about nothing. I didn't want to ask him about Iraq; it didn't seem appropriate for me to be the one to bring it up. When he called me "Ma'am," I wasn't the least bit insulted, as I usually am. Actually, for some reason, IT WAS HOT!!! Yes, yes, I am a dirty old woman.
As my colleague, Marine Richard and I sat and talked an Elvis impersonator sat down in our waiting area. No, that's not a lead-in to a joke. A real honest-to-goodness Elvis impersonator and his "Priscilla" were waiting for their flight just a few seats down from us. I called Darin and told him (you have to know our Memphis history to understand why I'd call him above anybody else). Darin was very disappointed in my sudden lack of sense of adventure, not asking Elvis for a photo. And he was right: Elvis impersonators LIVE to have their photos take! Right???
Thus passed my 4.5 hours at O'Hare on a Sunday.
Despite the delay and the incredibly rude & unacceptable "customer service" at Budget (I complained to their on-line reps and am currently waiting for all kinds of free goodies!), Quakertown, PA was one of my better business trips. My colleague is a very pleasant and easy-going man and I found traveling with him an uncomplicated affair. The external auditors were a personable group of young men and the plant personnel could not have been more helpful. We found a nice cafe, The Karlton Cafe, in the town center. There were homemade chicken soup and desserts and really good food to be had for lunch. To find a little gem of a restaurant like that in such a small town is a real gift. We ate there 3 times during the week; I had dessert every time. I would have licked the plate had I been alone. No, I have no shame...why do you ask?
The week came to a quick end. However, we got stranded in Pennsylvania until Saturday morning, thanks to United Airlines: they had canceled our flight for no known reason. It turned out to be a good thing. The whole week we had driven by a warehouse surrounded by unusual sculptures. On our way out of Quakertown I suggested that we stop to see exactly what was going on in this nondescript building. I'm so glad we made that stop. We walked around, looking at all of the art, taking photos. Just as we were about to leave, a woman came out and invited us in to look around. This warehouse is one of three studios belonging to an incredible artist, Steve Tobin. His work left me monosyllabic, at first, and then speechless. I need all y'all to start donating to "Hel's Art Purchase Fund" because that's the only way I'll be able to afford the products of this man's overwhelming talent. To say the least, we spent almost 3 hours wandering around Steve's workshop with our guide, Ruth. I'll add a link to the photos I took of Steve's work later (however, the slideshow you see on the home page of his website is exactly what we saw outside of his studio and the photos in the gallery section are what we saw inside).
Being stranded in Pennsylvania also allowed me to finally see the inside of Independence Hall (you know, the birthplace of the USA). It gave me goosebumps. Okay, to be honest, I teared up a little too. Maybe it's because I'm an immigrant and coming to this country was not easy. Maybe it's because my family really wanted to come here, as so many millions have and do. Maybe it's because I feel incredibly lucky to be here, no matter how critical I am of the government (and because I can be vocal in my criticism - very lucky, again). The concepts and ideas on which this country was built were formalized and put down on paper in that little room in Independence Hall. Go there, see it. I bet you that you won't be able to walk out without a strong emotional response.
And if you're ever in Philly, go eat at Zot! It's a superb Belgian "pub". Once again, were I alone I would have licked the plate from my seared duck breast and the ramekin from my Belgian dark chocolate pot au chocolate!! They have a superb selection of Belgian beers and their list of wines is out of this world. Thanks to Zot I'm going to stock up on some Natura Organic Cabernet from Chile...Dear gods, I LOVE FOOD!!!
girlvii invited me to check out some music with her. She said, and I quote, "You are going to LOVE this band! I know you will!" How can you turn down an invitation that's made with such conviction. I couldn't. So, off we went to the Darkroom. And
girlvii was right. I LOVED The Budos Band!!! They were soul, and funk, and Afro-beat! They were incredibly talented musicians that played with joy and seemed to be having so much fun. Thank you,
girlvii. However, we left early. The opening band (and there was absolutely no need for one) SUCKED something awful and just deflated the mood of our evening, the audience, the whole darn room. I was ready to pummel Dekalb / Decatur annoying band's lead singer just to make him shut his whinny-squeaky-voiced self. But The Budos Band were so fantastic!! I love them! Go listen / buy to some The Budos Band...NOW!!
Sometimes what, at first, appears to be a major annoyance is actually a small piece of delight in disguise:
My flight to Philadelphia on Sunday night, August 19, was delayed by almost 3 hours. I was, of course, annoyed at first. Well, I was a bit annoyed from the get-go; it took me almost 45 minutes to check in because the e-ticket kiosks are stupid machines and United has exactly 2 agents working on a Sunday afternoon, and I was forced to remove my paper-thin flats and walk on filthy floors barefoot when going through TSA screening. So, needless to say, I was in a pissy mood even before I found out my flight would keep getting delayed every 20 minutes or so. However, I found myself sitting next a lovely Marine Staff Sergeant. He was a complete hottie with his Marine physique and ice-blue eyes (and probably 10 years younger than I!). He was also extremely bright and funny and the things he said really made me rethink my brief bitching session about the security checks and about being delayed. I realized that I spend way too much time being completely self-absorbed and not looking at the big picture. Here was a man who had just returned from Iraq, where he put his life on the line and where he saw his friends die, and TSA made him go through the most rigorous security check imaginable: he said that he pretty much had to strip down to almost his underwear. I find that a complete oxymoron and pathetically disrespectful of our servicemen and women! How can you tell our soldiers that we trust them to safeguard our country and then turn around and put them through such rigorous security? To me that says that we don't really trust these men and women. Pathetic. In my opinion, a military ID should entitle these men and women to better treatment, at least at the airport.
Anyway, Marine Staff Sergeant Richard and I kept chatting the whole time. About a lot of things and about nothing. I didn't want to ask him about Iraq; it didn't seem appropriate for me to be the one to bring it up. When he called me "Ma'am," I wasn't the least bit insulted, as I usually am. Actually, for some reason, IT WAS HOT!!! Yes, yes, I am a dirty old woman.
As my colleague, Marine Richard and I sat and talked an Elvis impersonator sat down in our waiting area. No, that's not a lead-in to a joke. A real honest-to-goodness Elvis impersonator and his "Priscilla" were waiting for their flight just a few seats down from us. I called Darin and told him (you have to know our Memphis history to understand why I'd call him above anybody else). Darin was very disappointed in my sudden lack of sense of adventure, not asking Elvis for a photo. And he was right: Elvis impersonators LIVE to have their photos take! Right???
Thus passed my 4.5 hours at O'Hare on a Sunday.
Despite the delay and the incredibly rude & unacceptable "customer service" at Budget (I complained to their on-line reps and am currently waiting for all kinds of free goodies!), Quakertown, PA was one of my better business trips. My colleague is a very pleasant and easy-going man and I found traveling with him an uncomplicated affair. The external auditors were a personable group of young men and the plant personnel could not have been more helpful. We found a nice cafe, The Karlton Cafe, in the town center. There were homemade chicken soup and desserts and really good food to be had for lunch. To find a little gem of a restaurant like that in such a small town is a real gift. We ate there 3 times during the week; I had dessert every time. I would have licked the plate had I been alone. No, I have no shame...why do you ask?
The week came to a quick end. However, we got stranded in Pennsylvania until Saturday morning, thanks to United Airlines: they had canceled our flight for no known reason. It turned out to be a good thing. The whole week we had driven by a warehouse surrounded by unusual sculptures. On our way out of Quakertown I suggested that we stop to see exactly what was going on in this nondescript building. I'm so glad we made that stop. We walked around, looking at all of the art, taking photos. Just as we were about to leave, a woman came out and invited us in to look around. This warehouse is one of three studios belonging to an incredible artist, Steve Tobin. His work left me monosyllabic, at first, and then speechless. I need all y'all to start donating to "Hel's Art Purchase Fund" because that's the only way I'll be able to afford the products of this man's overwhelming talent. To say the least, we spent almost 3 hours wandering around Steve's workshop with our guide, Ruth. I'll add a link to the photos I took of Steve's work later (however, the slideshow you see on the home page of his website is exactly what we saw outside of his studio and the photos in the gallery section are what we saw inside).
Being stranded in Pennsylvania also allowed me to finally see the inside of Independence Hall (you know, the birthplace of the USA). It gave me goosebumps. Okay, to be honest, I teared up a little too. Maybe it's because I'm an immigrant and coming to this country was not easy. Maybe it's because my family really wanted to come here, as so many millions have and do. Maybe it's because I feel incredibly lucky to be here, no matter how critical I am of the government (and because I can be vocal in my criticism - very lucky, again). The concepts and ideas on which this country was built were formalized and put down on paper in that little room in Independence Hall. Go there, see it. I bet you that you won't be able to walk out without a strong emotional response.
And if you're ever in Philly, go eat at Zot! It's a superb Belgian "pub". Once again, were I alone I would have licked the plate from my seared duck breast and the ramekin from my Belgian dark chocolate pot au chocolate!! They have a superb selection of Belgian beers and their list of wines is out of this world. Thanks to Zot I'm going to stock up on some Natura Organic Cabernet from Chile...Dear gods, I LOVE FOOD!!!