Thursday, March 27, 2003

post blogger meetup; wearing shorts

Praise God from whom all blessings flow... I'm wearing shorts.

Well, the praise isn't because I've got a gorgeous set o'gams that could stop traffic and guarantee me a pick up when I'm hitch hiking. The praise is for the FACT I can wear shorts today. It is about 70 degrees. I was out with Geoff as he was digging at the last bit of snow and ice in the yard (that shit just won't DIE!!!!) and the dogs took a big, long, active swim in the creek (not yet smelly, it's not that warm out). The flow of water coming from the pond across the street through the drainage tunnel under my street is rather swift. The other day, Jack jumped in and was caught by surprise as the current pushed him rapidly down stream. The look of terror on his face as he swam against it to make it back to shore scared the living bejebus out of me.

But. He survived, and today... he jumped right in, fought the current, made it to the other side of the creek, jumped out, swam back, did it 100 times.

Teaching young dogs new tricks. A beautiful thing.

Kinger on the other hand had no desire to fight the current and went swimming a bit further down stream. When I threw sticks over the rushing water to the calmer pool across the way, Jack swam out fighting to retrieve. Kinger stood waiting, patiently, to steal the stick and run off with it. Jack did all the work. Kinger got the stick.

It is lovely out. Why am I in here? Let's put it this way -- it won't be long. Tess misses me, so I'll do a for real entry and go out and play.


Yeterday's presentation at the college with Prof MF went very well. There were technical difficulties with her laptop which caused the thing to crash and burn mid Powerpoint presentation. Gah. Feh. So we fudged and gabbed and talked. Luckily the people in attendance were people who were either in on the project or interested in it and knew us (except two people from outside the college). The great thing is, she's a Theatre & Speech professor, so she can wing it like a pro. While I rebooted and got the thing back up and running, she talked and talked. The woman doesn't need a powerpoint presentation running behind her -- she's a show in and of herself!

I visited for an hour with the career counselor at the college and her assistant -- two wonderful women who I miss dearly and think about often. Their office was right by the presentation room and I couldn't walk past without spending time. I then spent an hour visiting with my buddies Peg, Ben and Brian as they ragged on Mitt Romney and the fiscal situation at the school, and brought me up to date on all the scandals and gossip which were going down right at that point.

I gave myself just enough time to rush down to Revere to get the blue line to head into the big shitty for my dinner with Mr. Chaos Factor himself, Michael. We had agreed to meet on the train platform. Gave each other brief descriptions of clothing to expect.

I got there at seven on the nose, and looked around for him, and damn if there weren't like four guys who so could have been him just standing around.

I sat, waited and sized the guys up.

None of them were looking for me (or anyone else) in particular. I was absolutely convinced this one guy must have been Michael. The clothes were just right. The hair looked freshly cut... he was listening to his MP3 player and had his gymbag slung over his shoulder...

Then a cute little Asian girl came up and pinched his ass and got a great big fat kiss from him.

Well, that rules THAT guy out! Hee hee. I laughed to myself. And then I coveted his cool shoes, and watched how they touched each other and were so schmoopy while they waited for the next train to come take them away.

That train came and Michael and I saw each other -- and instantly knew... yup. That's you! What a relief. I couldn't imagine sitting there for much longer torturing myself as to whether or not I should walk up to that guy with the khaki pants, black sweater and black jacket with a gym bag over his shoulder and introduce myself.

We had a lovely meal (Indian -- mmmm. Garlic Nan. Gaaaaaaaggghghhhhh...) in Central Square, and talked geocaching and Simpsons, dogs and smelly swamps and creeks. And then we walked down to the Cambridgeport Saloon for the Boston Blogs No. 1 Fun meet & greet.

We were the first people there, and we felt kind of weird -- the same sort of feeling as when I was sitting on the train platform sizing people up. How do I know if those people are THE people we're looking for.

Finally this guy came in and we must have had big signs on our foreheads that said "We're the Bloggers" because he walked right up to us and introduced himself as Rick and we chatted and waited for others to join.

Heath Row was at the bar, and we didn't know he was him, and never would have known if Shannon the Bitter-girl didn't show up and go over to him and then and look right at me and say "Oh! Hi! Christine!"

It pays to have a giant ugly picture of oneself on the front of your page.

So we all got introduced and connected. There were two or three people there I can't remember their names (sorry, Brad?) but it was fun to meet and talk.

[aah. Heath posts all our names in his latest entry, so now I can go and read folks like ole Brad there... which is great because why would you go meet people and then be a brain dead idiot like me and ... not remember their names so you can go read about them. duh? thank you heath...]

I stayed about a bit longer than Michael did, he bailed at about 8:30. I got to talk to the very famous Shannon and learn all about her new bike and her righteously cool boss, her elbow and recovery, and life. It was rather fun to do. I wish there had been more people there to meet... not that I'd remember anyone's name. Heath had a journal on hand and we all signed in, and that was a fabulous idea. Oh, and Heath and Rick both had business cards. I told Michael I'll make him and myself some for next time. The look I got... hee hee.

Thanks for the beer Shannon -- your next round's on me when we meet again! Wooooo!

Walking back to the T I got caught in the rain. From Central Square to Gov't Center it took no time at all, but waiting for the blue line to even show up and then the long ride back to "Last Stop, Wonderland" was painful. I got to my truck at 10pm, got home by 10:30. Checked e-mail, watched "Futurama" on Comedy Central and crashed out. Phew.

Bree didn't get to make it, work got in her way... but perhaps next time. Shannon mentioned that she wanted to have a big bash in April for the 1 year anniversary of Boston Blogs. Heck, why the hell not? I'd go.

I subbed at Geoff's school this morning and got all caught up with the love and affection from 2-4 year old kids that I so sorely missed. I also had a phone interview this afternoon for an HR generalist position at a small company near my house. A friend of mine from church is their payroll administrator and she had asked me for my resume. It's a part time job, mother's hours, and it could be just the thing to hold us over until sunnier times.

We shall see. I keep saying that, don't I?

Anyway -- Geoff has decided he's doing the dishes so I'd best go put an immediate end to that and get him back out to play. We have some seeds to plant and some starter cups. I think today is a great day to do just that. Hurrah! Persephone awakens!

Get out and play.

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