Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Upholstery reminds me of something...

When first I read this post I couldn't remember exactly what that dress reminded me of, except that I think I might have worn it as a child in the 60s.

Yes, yes! I remember now -- Mom posing us kids one-by-one against a wall or the side of the car so she could capture a picture of us in our Easter clothes. It was a rare treat to have a new dress (especially as I was the youngest and generally wore everyone else's leftovers).

But I do now distinctly remember having more than one Easter dress that I downright despised.

Most of the time, my aversion developed from the itchy netting sewn into the wasteline to make the skirt fuller. However, there was one dress that I disliked for no particular reason. I'll bet that, if I were to dig through photos buried in the depths of time and space near La Grange, Texas, that I would see myself in a dress made from fabric that would have been better suited to covering a 1950s sofa rather than a 7-year-old girl.

The Spanish Inquisition couldn't have tortured me more than those Easter dresses did.

Monday, July 17, 2006

Today's Adventure

Today, the local sales rep and I were supposed to travel from Salt Lake City down to Zion. Tomorrow, we were going to visit customers, and possibly Zion National Park.

That plan went with the wind. Literally.

A forest fire in the mountains along I-15 got a tad too close to the highway. So close, in fact, that the smoke almost completely obscured the mid-afternoon sunlight. Traffic had to be routed back to the north because it was much too perilous for us.

So, here I am...back in a hotel in Salt Lake City. Twiddling my thumbs. And dammit, the A/C won't get cool enough in this room. I can't believe I'm complaining about being hot after getting right in the thick of things down south!

This is what it looked like as we approached the area. That's smoke, not clouds.










Here's a western view of the area just before we slammed on the brakes due to the traffic jam caused by the highway closure.







Here's a view of the area after we turned around and things got even hotter on the east side of the mountains. It hadn't quite looked that "glowy" when we drove past just moments before.


Every day's an adventure. Can't wait for tomorrow: We're heading north.

Sippin' Cider Through a Straw


This post is for the Two Weirdos.

Yeah, you know who you are...

Hot! Hot! Hot!

I hear that as soon as I left Boston, the temperatures soared to Texas levels. Normally, this would annoy me. However, seeing as I'm currently in Salt Lake City, where temps have exceeded 100 the entire time that I've been here -- I'm not complaining.

In fact, I have finally managed to acquire the beginnings of a tan! I'm now sporting light brown skin instead of that pasty Boston shade. The downside: I've applied so much Vaseline Advanced Therapy Moisturizer that I practically own stock in the company.

The view from the hotel is kinda nice:



Most importantly, though, the hotel room itself exceeded my expectations. In fact, its size exceeded my entire third floor! My only regret is that I didn't get to spend enough time in the room except for sleep. Work work work kept me much too busy. Plus eating and socializing with co-workers. And training sales reps. Oh, and some serious pool-side time.

Today, we travel south. I'm sure that more pix will be forthcoming. I seriously doubt, though, that we'll find a hotel as comfy as this one.

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

Heading West

With tunnels collapsing and temperatures soaring (it's all of 85 degrees today) here in Boston, I'm headed West for a week. Ahm a-makin' mah waay to Salt Laake City!

And, for once this year, I finally have everything completed and ready both for the exhibit booth and the sales training that follows. Which means that today, I'm a-twiddlin' mah thumbs.

Really.

I have no idea what I can do to fill my work hours today that won't also be completed before I leave. Because if I start a project but don't finish it by 5 pm, then it's incompleteness will drive me nuts the entire time I'm standing in the exhibit booth through Saturday. It'll be tapping lightly at the back of my mind while I'm explaining the intricasies of product positioning to a bunch of know-it-all sales reps on Sunday. It'll be shouting "hey, look at me!" as the local sales manager and I visit customers next week. And by the time I return, it'll be screaming out my eyeballs -- and I will have way too much piled-up work on my desk to get back to it.

So. I think I'll just play Freecell.

Thursday, July 06, 2006

Just gimme a bib!

For the second day in a row...I've had mexican cornbread crumbs in my bra.

At least I was alone when it happened. Gonna buy a bib this evening, I think. Rather than forgoing the other half of the platter.

At least the fajitas have kept their act together.

Wednesday, July 05, 2006

Thought for the Day

Cornbread will be at its most ineffective when crumbled inside a woman's bra. Especially when it's the moist-full-of-cheese-and-creamed-corn style of mexican cornbread.