Swept Along for the Ride

And here we go again...

While the first few weeks of getting back on the road for BER were exhausting, frustrating, exhilarating, and stupefying, I didn't feel like getting back to the blog right away. I tend to fall into the trap of complaining a lot when I'm surrounded by inefficiencies, or rather, things that I would do differently. The company is changing up a few practices in the interest of saving money, and my first couple of weeks were sacrificed to the alter of making it work:

I started out the year on the road alone, setting up my seminars and piecing together my paperwork at the agonizingly slow speed that only 4.5 months away from something can provide. As the week progressed, I added a second presenter to the car and therefore a second seminar to my morning responsibility, and nearly melted down while waiting for my voicemail to be set up to ensure I had reliable contact with the office.

The second week out was more or less fine, although the finer points of getting along with a presenter took some refreshing... although the memory that all mistakes are forgiven if you make a Starbucks run was the quickest to return.

This last week, once again burdened with two seminars, I managed as best I could while FedEx attempted to foil me over and over. Problems that I had never run into in the whole of the last year cropped up--the missing tech case, the wrong CEU paperwork shipped to me, and a box packaged inside of another box with all identifying information destroyed. That along with managing the personalities of two male presenters, one of whom was extremely hard of hearing, with two opposing senses of humor was a lot to handle. My sanity was saved in Manchester, at my Hampton Inn with a Sauna and at the best meeting facility in the whole USA--SERESC. There will be future posts about SERESC, perhaps even an ode.

This week, I had already had my Monday seminar cancelled when I got a call Sunday night letting me know that my packing procrastination had paid off--no Tuesday seminar either (sadly, due to a death in the family of the presenter). Two days working in the office in Bellevue, and a flight out tomorrow morning. I only regret the time I didn't get to spend christmas shopping in Manchester.

All in all, I think the complaining can come to a rest now, and I can go back to buzzing around the country marveling at how great life can be. And since my photos from NZ, Fiji, and Sydney are all up on Flickr now, I think I can start taking pictures again. Hope you're all ready for this...

Company Town

One of the tings I do too rarely is celebrate a surprising find around the country. For example, Peoria, IL has some surprisingly beautiful architecture and glorious churches all in a riverside setting with beautiful steel bridges and magnificent sunsets. I drove around town to get a feel for it and as I was exiting I saw a glaring reminder of the recession: an enormous CAT factory.

This is a company town. When I hear about layoffs and losses on CNN, there is no face to what I hear. This town is on the brink of potentially becoming a ghost town... All of those cute little shops and restaurants on the riverfront could close as people lose their jobs and move away. All of the sunny optimism of the weather could be a blank promise of hope.

But the churches are old, older than CAT I would imagine. This town has seen its ups and its downs, and has as good a chance as anywhere to make it. And, regardless of the moral compass or white-breadedness of the town, and notwithstanding the television in the hotel lobby blaring FOX news (which I fear I might rip from it's sockets by the end of the day), I am interested in coming back next year. Plus, there's a great Italian restaurant by my hotel.

The Definition of Silence

I was just driving back from getting a nice Panera lunch in Rockford, IL and I found NPR on the radio. In general, NPR is pretty reliably liberal but evidently when you get out into farm country, all bets are off. I was listening to a segment of Point of View in which a fairly non-radical christian was discussing the idea of gay marriage and the usage of "sexual orientation" in protective laws.

When I first tuned in, they had a weak but almost understandable point that the term "sexual orientation" might be too vague. One of the guy's points was that "there are a lot of really horrible things that people do sexually, and do you want to protect everyone who perpetrates such acts?" which ended up being a rather vague point. Then he went on to discuss how the Boy Scouts are facing the brunt of this law--they are being forced to allow homosexual members or are being forced out of parks since they have a religious mandate that is inherently prejudiced against gays (although to be fair, I have not checked that fact...is that actually true?). Then he went on to say that the media involvement and various laws allowing gay marriage were in fact "silencing those christians who believe in Biblical and traditional values."

He also brought up the recent stupid answer by Miss California USA in the Miss USA pageant (stupid mainly because she never actually answered the question) and even stupider response by Perez Hilton (stupid mainly because the guy is incendiary and not particularly rational in his arguments) as a way to show how any "good girl with values" is turned into a national pariah because of her religious values (I don't think she even mentioned religion in her answer which, included the phrase "Americans can choose between a traditional marriage and an opposite marriage"--both completely false and wtf?! worthy).

Hold the phone... remember this is NPR. NPR!! Oh Illinois... you make me sad today.

Here's why I was bothered by this argument:

#1: Who are you to say what kind of sexual relations are "horrible?" I agree that there are a lot of people out there who take part in various "kink" activities, but who am I to judge when it has no effect on me? Does our constitution and bill of rights not protect our individual rights in our own homes? I'm going to assume that you think that homosexuality is a disgusting, horrible sexual kink, but where do you draw the legal line? Is oral sex a horrible kink that should be considered in job application and other legal circumstances? (Sodomy is outlawed in many states in laws that I think even most "biblical christians" would agree are far past due for repeal.)

#2: To go one step further than your argument against protections for "sexual orientation"... If homosexuality is a part of you from birth, then would you ask for "race" to be repealed from the same laws? If (and in my mind it's just an if to appease those who insist) homosexuality isn't a facet of your innate personality and is in fact a choice, would you also request that "religion/creed" be struck from these laws? Maybe the language is too broad, but then again "race" covers everything from african, asian, jew, norweign, and german and "religion/creed" covers satanists and cultists.

#3: To speak to the Boy Scout point, I'm not so sure that I agree with all of the prosecution against the Boy Scouts, but there are precedents that are allowing these cases to go through. The Boy Scouts are a private organization and have nothing to do with government, but as a private institution they cannot discriminate just the same as any other. Do we allow them to prevent a black boy or a hindu boy from joining or a hispanic man or jewish man from being a troop leader? Then why can we allow them to prevent a homosexual boy from joining, or a homosexual man from leading the group? I like to think that our views of race have changed over time to find the prospect of banning a black troop leader due to his race absurd. Perhaps my argument fails in the backwoods of the country.

#4: My main confusion really boils down to one major question: how does protecting one group of people and affording them the same rights you have silence you? Simply because you allow homosexual couples to have the same rights as heterosexual couples by law and in terminology, how does that "silence" anyone? The act of allowing one group additional rights does nothing to remove your rights. You can still speak out about whatever you want, but you cannot act against a group because of one quality of that group. I pose this question: Would you not hire a Jew? Would you not serve a black person at your restaurant? Would you want the government to not allow inter-racial marriages (oop, depending on where we are, that might be a bad question to pose...)? Have you ever considered that it is your own insecurity with your sexuality and fears about other definitions of sexuality that prejudices you against those of other sexualities much as your own insecurity about your own personal power and fears about other cultures can lead you to be racist?

So yes, there are some things that need to be legislated simply because there are people who are so far off the grid, they refuse to open their minds to other human beings. Laws against racism and religious prejudice are there because there are many, many people out there who would otherwise discriminate. This is simply a law that protects a group of people who are different, whether by their natural condition (race) or their choice of lifestyle (religion), and we are adding another group that fits this law perfectly. If we are going to allow the biblical christians to have their say, we must also allow the homosexual community to have the same rights, not silencing one compells us to not silence the other, and un-silencing one has no bearing on the vocal quality of the other.

Penny For Your Thoughts

$0.01: Sometimes having the nutrition information readily available online is not such a good thing after you caved and got the lunch you most craved because it involved little spiral pasta noodles.

$0.02: Sometimes a 1,000 calorie (not counting the garlic bread) lunch is completely warranted after a loooong morning of "why aren't there any snacks?" complaints.

$0.03: Southern Belles are by far the most annoyingly needy participants EVER.

Ten Things I'm Doing When I "Must Be Sooo Bored"

1. Making money that simply goes straight to my savings account since I have no expenses.

2. Looking up travel plans for my summer--from the scenic byways and national parks of Montana and Wyoming to the kyaking opportunities in New Zealand and eco-resorts of Samoa and Tahiti.

3. Organizing a blog for my fellow co-workers about restaurants on the road, and enjoying some of those tasty treats along the way.

4. Reading more than you'd ever imagine--from YA fiction to the USA today to literature classics to the People magazine forgotten in the seatback pocket.

5. Knitting socks.

6. Rambling around cool parts of towns I'd never thought to go to (yay Bethlehem, PA) and seeing college campuses across the country.

7. Writing blog posts for my friends and family and facebooking to keep in touch.

8. Eating pretzels dipped in peanut butter.

9. The occasional work-related paperwork or random task.

10. Contemplating the vastness of my future and how to manage a life that is outside of the box, and so much more exciting than I'd ever expected.

Yah. Suck it annoying teachers who are just jealous.

When it is Okay to Break the Rules

Break the rules when:

A: You've downed your water bottle upon noticing there was no sink near security to throw out the remaining 16 oz.

B: You purchase and consume a small (since when is 12 oz small?) latte to fill your tummy and power you through the remaining time zone adjustment and afternoon of connecting flights.

C: You board a small aircraft which flies at a low altitude for nearly an hour and a half, running into some rather bumpy air after the first 40 minutes, right about when you start to think about bugging your seatmate to move so you can go to the lavatory.

D: The captain turns on the seatbelt sign, keeps it on for the remainder of the flight, and then proceeds to circle around Cincinatti airport as there is a lot of traffic at the Delta hub, extending the flight by 10 minutes.

Facing a sloshy airplane bathroom and the ire of your not-so-friendly flight attendant is probably better than feeling like your bladder is about to burst as your plane bounces and skitters a landing on the runway. Lesson learned.

Breaking from the Break

{Written in the Atlanta airport yesterday, and posted when I finally got internet access.}

As it turns out, flying cross-country is actually more relaxing than my breaks in town. It’s like being forced to read, sleep, and relax for 4-5 hours. Sure the airports are hell (Atlanta is pretty ridiculous today especially) but when you factor in the numbers of “events” I cram into a week, especially one involving Easter, it’s a bit much. I went over to Pullman to visit my sister with my mom for Mom’s weekend then had multiple lunch and dinner dates, a work meeting, and rock band sessions and even a couple of parties to fill the rest of the week… Sheesh. I drove almost 750 miles in my car over the course of the week I think... but crisscrossing the state and having friends both north and south of the city will do that.

I have to say, I like living restricted to what I have in my suitcase and carry-on bag, my room has so much superfluous crap in it everything just explodes out and all over when I’m home, since I try on about 4 outfits before leaving the house. It’s also nice to be fully allowed and encouraged to wear the same outfit every day on the job. I’ve tried packing a larger suitcase for multiple different reasons, but unless I have a 3+ week stint on the road one of these days, I don’t think it makes sense to pack that much, since 2 weeks in the same clothes doesn’t end up getting that stinky. This week is great, since my suitcase is set to get much lighter after this weekend when I deliver Maureen’s wedding gift. I’m planning a shopping trip post-weekend, the only question remaining is whether I’ll stock up on nutritious foodstuffs, or outfits from Target.

I almost missed flying over that week... quick, somebody snap me out of that! Ahh... Thanks Delta, delay my flight and make me remember why there's no place like home.

Penny For Your Thoughts

When you start to have multiple dreams about your job in the course of one night, you know it's time for a break. Luckily I'm on one!

Vacay for a Day

[So I wrote this Sunday, but lacked decent internets... Here ya go anyways]

My weekends at home are often one big rush to squeeze in as much as I can into one little day. As if I spent the whole time from Friday afternoon to Sunday night in an airport, I end up hurrying up to wait. Even when I’m not traveling, I’m either cramming in seeing as many friends as I can, doing as much laundry and re-organizing as possible, or rushing from errand to errand, inevitably still forgetting one or two. This is why stayovers can be so much better than going home, unless I find myself in a city where I want to see everything in the 36 or less hours I typically have on the ground.

I’m sick of this pattern, so I’m changing the arrangements. This weekend, I really didn’t want to have two long, pointless flight days. Baltimore to Seattle to Milwaukee would inevitably be broken into at least 3 shorter flights, and flying out for a week at a time is painfully inefficient. So instead, I went almost all the way home, and spent the weekend in Phoenix with another PM. It didn’t really save me anything in flight time except that I had two non-stops and didn’t have any packing to do on Saturday.

We agreed to splurge on a hotel and stayed at the Fairmont Princess in Scottsdale thanks to a friends and family discount from a connection. It cost us under $300 each for the entire weekend, including rental car (yay points!) and food. We spent the entire day yesterday lying by the pool doing absolutely nothing and then met up with some of her family friends for a family dinner and a movie rental. It was so nice to be warm (75-80!!) and to finally see some real sun (yes, I’m a little bit pink and crispy today, even with SPF 55).

Then I got even luckier: a non-stop flight from Phoenix to Milwaukee in First Class!! When the only seat left on the only reasonable flight is in first class the company evidently books it for us. There are definitely some creature comforts that make it worth it, but more on that later. I just really enjoyed having a chance to really have a vacation, even if it was only a day.

My latest goal is really to find friends all over the country so that I can have more mini-vacations like this. Anyone who wants to donate a friend to the cause is more than welcome to suggest folks who wouldn’t mind a couch crasher who LOVES to bring wine and cook dinner for her host :).

Seeing the Country in 20 Months

Screw only making it to a reasonable 40 states—I’m going to see all 50 in less than 2 years.

At this point, my only remaining states to get to are as following: Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, Oklahoma, North Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming… At least two of which (Vermont and Maine) that I am guaranteed to get to by the end of May, and one more (Connecticut) that I have a high likelihood of driving through. For BER, I can definitely make it to almost everything that is left on the list, excepting Alaska and Wyoming. With KAL’s help, I hope to make it to Alaska for a short jaunt sometime in the not-too-distant future and I’m contemplating a little road trip to Yellowstone as soon as I get back for the summer this year. So, if you start with October of 2008, when I started this job, by the time May or June 2010 rolls around, all I have to do is go to all the states I am lacking, and add in extra visits to California and Florida to say I did all 50 in about 20 months.

Then you add in that I’ve gone to all of the more southern provinces of Canada west of Quebec and have at least been to Puerto Vallarta in Mexico, and I feel like I’ve covered most of North America. Then count that I lived in Paris for three months, toured Italy, and spent a month in New Zealand and Australia, all before turning 26, and I can hardly believe it myself. Now to just finish making it happen!