Denver 16th street

How shocked I was to fall in love with Denver.



Our hotel was ok but it was walking distance from the Convention Center and the 16th Street Mall. This place is beautiful, the weather was comfortable and the people are gracious. The street is shut down for about 1 mile and a half and the north end is just a hop skip and jump away from the state Capitol which in itself is extraordinarily beautiful. We walked to it one nigth and only were able to press our noses against the huge glass doors (it was dark with limited lighting so no pictures came out from my phone).

You can see the Capitol in the distance in this picture:


While most of the stores and restaurants are chains few have made it to Texas so I enjoyed trying all the new places! There is also a tram that travels up and down the Mall that is free and you can hop on and off most of the day to get to each shop.



I have decided I want to have a girls' weekend there next year. Brown's hotel has a spa and hosts a women's package I think we would really enjoy!

A Man on the Move---following Jason Bourne's tracks

My mother's day gift was the Bourne Supremacy. While watching it I foudn this really neat extra called On the Move with Jason Bourne. Apparently this is on the Ultimatum DVD as well. Much of Supremacy is filmed in Berlin and it was sooo fantastic watching this knowing I will be in Berlin in three short months.

Jason Bourne's Itinerary in the Bourne Supremacy
Berlin coming soon!
Moscow I'm debating this.
Goa India I'm thinking this is not so interesting to me right now.

Jason Bourne's Itinerary in the Bourne Ultimatum

Berlin coming soon!
Paris Check
London Check
New York Check
Madrid most likely 2011
Tangiers most likely 2011 (definitely Morocco but not totally sure where!)

I am so looking forward to this. I just hope we spend a tad less time in train stations than Bourne.

Shoes of the Clueless

How do you know someone has never flown in the last decade? They wear shoes like this to the airport:



seriously who dresses for flight and thinks "buckles! That's what I need to look stylish while balancing on one foot holding up a line of people trying to get thru security."

I think that if you wear buckles to an airport you might as well wear a big hat that screams out "I'm a dumb ass avoid me at all costs as well."

Dodging a Bullet- Airplane style

I love my cell phone. Craig would disagree because I NEVER answer it and rarely seem to actually have it near me but I do love it. I love the convenience and I love that I can keep him updated when I'm travelling so he knows EXACTLY when to pick me up (those stupid online travel updates aren't always correct)

While I love cell phones sometimes I really wish no one else had them. I totally get that the premise that "the plane will fall from the sky if someone has their cell phone on when the doors are shut and the plane is pulling out" is in fact bogus, I just think it is common decency to TURN THE FUCKER OFF while you are trapped inside a tin can with other passengers who REALLY don't want to hear you fight with your boyfriend as we are about to take off.

Scenario:
Flight out of Denver to Memphis (home of the uber-redneck apparently)
Cast: Yours truly, Beefy tattooed university professor (so wouldn't have called that one), Nerdy university professor, white trash ho.
Setting: Seats 16 A and B and Seat 17 A and B.

Beefy is already seated in 17B. Ho walks down the aisle in front of Yours Truly and sits next to Beefy. She is talking on the phone. Loudly.

I shove my carry on in the bin above 16B and take my seat. Nerdy walks down the aisle and looks at his ticket and says quietly. "My seat is 17 but I guess I can just take 16A" So I get up to allow Nerdy to sit next to me. He weighs about 75 pounds and I'll all about not being shoved against total strangers so I was cool. The plane is filling up and the flight attendant is reminding everyone to shut off their phones. Ho is still on the phone. Her conversation is something like this:

"I love you.....I love you....I said I love you...Is that all you are going to say? I said I love you and that is what you say?....That is hateful...why are you sending me these hateful texts?.....I'm about to fly in the air and could die in minutes and you can't say you love me?....Well then go fuck yourself you miserable bastard.....I love you....I love you..."

At which points I am praying like this: "Dear Jesus, my kids love me. Please don't kill me because I have a ho sitting behind me and she wants to teach her miserable whatever a lesson...Amen"

Cell phone clicked shut. Sob. Sob. Sob. Ho calls her daughter(?) to tell her to go get the car from the parking lot and not to let miserable whatever anywhere near the car. Please note that at this point the plane is taxiing to the runway. She is still on her phone. I am praying like this:

"Dear Jesus, thank you for having the ho sit next to Beefy and not me. Amen."

Sob. Sob. Sob.

So I'm trying to read my book (shocker i know) and hear Ho proceed to tell Beefy her life story. And about how nice it is to be married for over 21 years. I am not kidding. And that there is a comfort in knowing someone is there for you. I am not kidding. But it isn't that great because she has had a boyfriend for like 3 years now, but she just broke up with him just then because of the hateful emails he was sending (which she proceeds to read to the whole plane because her voice FREAKING CARRIES). I am not kidding. I wish I were.

So I lean over to Nerdy and quietly say; "Thank you so much for sitting here"

At which he says, "Yeah, you really dodged a bullet there."

Amen.

Dreams I'd rather not intepret

April has been wacky weird for me. So busy we haven't even had a wine club book reading and really when is it too busy to sit around drinking wine pretending one has read a book???

I've been driving around a lot and listening to German on tape so much that the other night I dreamt in German but all I could say was (in German) Where is the train station? and How much for a first class ticket? The Germans were getting frustrated with me until I yelled at them that I hadn't gotten past the second CD yet DAMMIT.

Five days left in April and every one of them is packed.

Wo is der Bahnhof?

Budgets...are made to be broken

How often does your work send you on a trip to NYC and cover all hotel/food/and travel expenses? For me it's every other year. My personal expenses are minimal so that I DO spend money on things I can enjoy only in NYC. Like a Broadway show. Sure they tour but the sheer size and scope of a production never compares to a show on Broadway. Which makes me a little peeved at this point that we are not going to see Mamma Mia because the price point of one person is out of range.

She has the potential of ruining my day and she isn't even here yet! But I shall rise above this. I mean I saw Wicked yesterday and will see Lend Me a Tenor tomorrow. I'm not musical deprived by any means.

One-Quarter of the year is over and here's my first picture (I think)

So one of my resolutions was to post pictures of myself. So here I am on a cruise ship hanging over the balcony of the lowest furthest back balcony room you can get on the Sensation (portside I think)



And here I am right before getting my passport stamped.



This may seem like a minimal thing but last year when I went to the Bahamas with Kathryn I left my passport on the boat (as I was instructed to by my husband's aunt the uber-cruiser). Kathryn however took her passport with her and was able to get it stamped by the customs guy at 11pm 30 minutes before the ship left the port. Getting a passport stamp in Nassau is actually an interesting event as it is not required for entry and is basically hidden in the LAST room on the right after a loooooong empty hallway in a building over my right shoulder in this picture that you can't even see. Craig thought I was nuts dragging him to this place but he got his stamped too.

This weekend when I see Kathryn in NYC she promised to take pictures of me to share here. So of course I'm shopping tomorrow to get clothes that look fantasmic. Can't go to NYC with old clothes ya know.