I went to Grant and Jordan's seminar this morning, which was about something, obviously. But it wasn't too interesting to me. But it was fun to see Jordan presenting. He has Asberger's and he talked really loud and was unintentionally funny, but he doesn't mind. There weren't too many people in their seminar, but their boss came and some other people from the district.
We packed as soon as we got up, and I love that. We had so much swag, we really had to pack smart and that is a fun challenge. I despise packing when I'm getting ready for a trip, because there are too many fraught decisions about what to bring, but coming back, it's a breeze. It's just about how to arrange everything so it fits well.
On the way here, I was having trouble with the suitcase, trying to walk quickly up a ramp. The wheels went askew and my shoe came off, etc, so Mike took my suitcase for me and was my sherpa (according to the stewardess), ha ha! So this time, going back, I wanted to be more in control. But I let Dave and Mike do the heavy lifting. Mike, especially, is very attentive and thoughtful that way, always making sure I didn't get left behind while Dave barrels ahead. So I packed my suitcase carefully.
it was a quck morning of breakfast and goodbyes and a couple of seminars. When we were waiting for the shuttle, Dave asked some man if he was looking forward to going home, and he said he was, four days was too long to be away from home, and I was about to say, "that's why Dave brings me" and Dave beat me to it, putting his arm around me and saying "that's why I bring my wife." And earlier he told me that it always enhances his trip to have me along. Awwww!
The airport was close, the shuttle trip quick. It was raining, so we stood in rain and walked in rain, but not too much. We saw a billion of our colleages at the airport. We had time for lunch there; it was a leisurely wait. However, the plane ride! The plane was slipping and sliding along the tarmac and seemed to have a little trouble with lift-off speed, and then the turbulance as we ascended was terrible! People were saying WHOA! But I really didn't let myself get nervous, and neither did Dave or Mike, but when we landed everyone was so relieved. The captain had to talk about how to keep yourself from throwing up, ha ha! On the shuttle back, one man said it was the worst turbulence he had ever experienced and he flew a lot!
A quick ride to Mike's car and we were on our way home!
And when talking with his clients or former employees they always have stories of times he saved the day or did something funny or amazing. Everyone has such respect for him. We met this one guy, Thurman (I told him he should have our last name), and he credited Dave with getting him his job. Dave does that, too! He is always on the look out for opportunities for people he knows and likes.
So, the idea of going for a walk or anything like that has flown out the window. I saw Marc very early this monring and we grabbed one of those stand up tables and talked for quite a while together about more personal things and that was great. After a while Eric joined us (a tall stately man who used to work for Mike at the district) and then Steve came (a newer VCCCD employee) and it was fun, the four of us. We talked about a great many things, and I could join in on all of them. This was probablly the highlight of my time there.
Later I went to a seminar on copyright infringement which was very good, except people kept interrupting to ask questions, so the presentation was rushed, which was a little irksome, but I talked to one of the presenters afterwards and got some of my own questions answered.
Then I went to Marc and Shawn's seminar on Pathify (a kind of portal software). I was suppsed to ask a question "out of left field" but I chickened out and asked a real question and then at the end when they said anymore questions? Marc pointed at me with a grin, but I was still too chicken and couldn't think of anything funny, so I just shook my head like a scared rabbit (am I a rabbit or a chicken? both, I guess), and we laughed. I shoud have said "what about the aliens?" but I didn't.
Lunch and dinners that day were open and no one was checking badges, so I ate with everyone else, Mona escorting me around. Dave was mostly with clients, so I didn't see him that much, but I was so busy, I didnt miss him. We met up at the room sometimes and I finished the crossword puzzle I was creating, texted with people (thanks, Sue, Jan and Mom!) and also got a little nap. But this day was the best.
I slept well.
I stayed in the vendor room most of the time, walking around and joking with people and running into so many people I knew. I almost walked by Marc B, but I could feel his eyes on me, and so I stopped and said Marc? and he laughed at me, which is all we do together--laugh and crack jokes. He was one of my favorites back in the day. All the women swooned over him, and were deeply disappointed when we learned he was gay. He's a lot of fun, though, and we always liked each other. He was with Shawn, who took Mike's place at the district, and Shawn is very nice. And then Dean came up, and he is nice, too, although kind of negligible in a way that I don't really understand. He's one of those people who blends into the background too much. Maybe because he doesn't crack jokes like the rest of us.
I had running jokes with some of the vendors, like the one who had a top hat turned upside down to collect business cards. I had looked into it before asking about the rabbit, and then I would walk by and say, "still no rabbit?" and he didn't really laugh, but I didn't care, I thought it was funny. He didn't have much of a sense of humor. And then there was the guy whose swag included green rubber frogs you could shoot at people, and I would say "the froggies!" which wasn't really funny, but made him giggle. And then the Juniper people were nice because I said I would prefer their lanyard over the ubiquitous Ellucian one, which everyone was given at the door. They were so thriled, they gave me a big green beach towel. And there was a nice woman who I had a long chat with, but I don't remember what it was about now, nothing to do with business. Maybe books or something.
And then they brought out more snacks.
That night for dinner, Dave/APOGEE took out the Citrus College people (some potential clients) to a burger place. We all (thirteen of us) walked to it in the cold night air, about a half a mile. Dave did good walking! After San Antonnio where he was almost passing out after walking about 15 steps! Whew, it's gone, whatever that was. I sat next to Allen, whom I know from various other dinners and lunches and such, and a couple from Citrus who had a baby, and that was fun. I did my nonsense syllables with the 10-month-old baby and he stared at me like they always do at first (like they can tell it's not English!) and then he started laughing like he totally got the joke, so that went over well! The restaurant was right next to railroad tracks, like five feet away, and they were constantly going back and forth, which certainly added to the ambience.
Oh, and I tried to create my own crossword puzzle for Dave to do. It's really hard!
I didn't sleep as well that night. Woke too early.
When we checked into the hotel, I told reception that although my husband was attending the conference, I might be spending a lot of time in the room, and was there anything I should ask for? A view or something? He said there were no bay views left (wah), but he could give me a higher floor. I'll take it! Higher floors are better.. If your view is of the parking lot, you at least see over it. We had room 6111, which was easy to remember.
We had a view of the freeway, but also the green hills beyond that. And some car lots. But there were two sets of windows, so the sound was damped. You could barely hear anything. The room was nice, I guess, with flat patterned carpet in a darker neutral color, a king bed, a TV we never turned on, a desk and a sofa. No microwave. The coffee maker was hidden in a tiny closet, the smallest hotel closet I have ever seen. It was a Hyatt. Are they nice? The bed had no comforter or bedspread---none of them do anymore--just a blanket that was double-sheeted. So much more sanitary! And I never once thought oh this bed is comfortable or this bed is hard or anything, we just lounged and slept there without any self-questioning, and i guess that means it was comfy. It was dark, though. That's my only complaint. The bathroom was also not questioned. The whole place was perfectly adequate.
Dave immediately went off to schmooze or go to a seminar or something, so I stayed to unpack, which I really enjoy. There were plenty of drawers (but only fake ones in our bedside tables--okay, that gets an F), so I very quickly dispatched all the clothing from our suitcases and stashed the cases in the tiny closet, which was deep enough for both. Then I thought I would go check out the lay of the land.
The hotel was laid out like an Embassy Suite, with all the rooms on the outer edges of the building, and a big atrium in the center with a glass ceiling which let in a lot of light. If you had an interior room (which we didn't, thank goodness) you could (theoretically) go out on a balcony and look down on the business of all the people in the atrium, people talking and walking and eating and meeting. But I never saw one soul on their balcony, so I bet they were just for looks. But you could look down through the sliding glass window. And we could look up at you. Ugh. No one did that.
So, my plan had been to ride an e-bike along the bay and then take the trolley to Burlingame, whcih was a town about a mile and a half away. Well, I found out they no longer have the trolley (thanks, pandemic!), and the e-bikes are self-service Lime Bikes which means no helmets, and so forget it. Plus it was really cold there.
I went down to the conference, and Dave had given me the badge he procured so I could go everywhere. I looked around for Dave in the various meeting rooms, and saw some of the guys from VCCCD, and they waved me in and we had a chat. Then Dave texted to say he was in the vendor area and would let me in (it was not yet open to the hordes). The vendors were all setting up, and I walked around looking at all the booths. If there was no one at the booth, I read the brochures, trying to get a feel for what was going on in the world of higher ed tech these days. Some of it was fairly obscure to me, software for portals and interconnectivity and security and storage. There was so much! I hobnobbed with some of the vendors, too, if they were there, and that is always fun. I looked at the swag, but didn't take anyting, unless it was pressed upon me, because that is for selling purposes, and I was just an outlier. (Turns out I didn't have to take anything, because Dave later walked around and took a little of everything. He is not shy that way!).
When it was time for dinner, I joined Dave, but they wouldn't let me in. Apparently my badge didn't include meals. Dave got kind of mad and was going to walk off in a huff and eat with me, but I told him to go in and I would get dinner in the hotel restaurant. He needed to network! Plus, I love taking myself out to eat.
The restaurant was in the atrium. The servers were nice to me (they are always nice to singletons, contrary to popular belief!). I ordered ravioli, and it was very good, and I enjoyed eating it. I sent a pic to Dave and he said it was much better than his rubber chicken and the lame comedian they had for entertainment.
We slept quite well that night.
Yes, ma'am, that's a lot of letters. What do they mean? SFO is San Francisco International Airport. So why isn't it SFIA? Because that would be too logical? Just looked it up. Had to have three letters...I mean, what's the X in LAX stand for? So maybe it's San FranciscO. Oh!
Anyway, that's where we are right now. The Grand Hyatt SFO for the CISOA conference. Chief Information Systems Officers Assiciation. Dave used to come to this all the time when he was head of IT at the VCCCD. Now he's here as a vendor. He invited me along. I thought we were actually going to be in San Francisco, and I think he did too initially. But it turns out we're quite a ways away.
I wasn't too nervous about packing and such, and Mike Rose was driving to the airport, so all that seemed very relaxing. But then we left Lemon Wood and were halfway down Wells Road when I realized I had left my phone at home. And my driver license is on my phone. Oh, no! We had to go back. And we had to change our flights. But Dave and Mike were very nice about it (after the initial cries of dismay). And Dave later said we would have barely made the flight as it was. So, whew. I left it in the bathroom, because that stupid toilet always takes two flushes and so I was distracted! Yes, that is my lame story that you needn't share with anyone. 😬
So there was a long time to wait at the airport for our new flight, but we had time for lunch (I had Margherita pizza) (it was okay) (and Dave shared his salad), and Dave and Mike had time for some business chats, and no one was stressed.
The flight was short, a little bumpy, and not very full, so that was good. A man from APOGEE (the company that bought Dave out) picked us up at the airport, and when we checked in Dave had booked it a day too soon and had forgotten to change the reservation, so he made a mistake too, so we were even, which was satisfying. And I was very understanding, Ha ha!
Dave got me a badge (free because of a nice lady who said not to worry about it) so I can join in the festivities if I want to. I know a lot of the people here from parties and dinners and from VCCCD, so that makes it fun. I might take a walk by the bay tomorrow...
Kevin once called me the sparkle fairy, saying that my smile and cheer lit up the neighborhood. It's hard to be the sparkle fairy when my smile is behind a mask, and I can't be among my LW peeps.
I miss people.
Whenever I can't find my phone, I always whine to Dave. "Where's my phoney-phone?" I say, my voice ratcheting up into the high ceilings and then plummeting down to the floor in the familiar pitch pattern of the classic whine. Why is it always getting lost? It has nothing to do with me. It's just contrary that way. The other day I couldn't find my phoney-phone (I only call it that when I lose it; don't ask me why) and after whining to Dave, he called it on his iPhone. I walked around the house and heard it, muffled and weak, somewhere in the vicinity of the bedroom.
"I can hear it," I told him, "but I can't find it."
He came in the bedroom. "It must be outside," he said. (He's probably remembering the time he went outside to see if I left it in my car, and by following the ringing he instead found it on the potting bench. This is why you should never, never put your phone on silent!)
I went outside, but couldn't hear it or see it. I came back inside and looked at the foot of the bed where things sometimes fall into the crevice between the footboard and the mattress, and there it was-- my beloved/incorrigible phoney-phone!
On Saturday, however, it wasn't me who lost a phone. It was Dave. "Where's my phone?" he said in a tone of wonderment as he doesn't often lose it. I spun into action. He always helps me find my phone and maybe this time I could be the hero! I grabbed my phone--I knew where it was, hooray--and called his phone. Nothing. But then, he always has his phone on vibrate. What? Has he learned nothing from my experiences??? It dates from the days when he was in lots of meetings, and everyone always looked askance at the person whose phone was always ringing and interrupting someone's bilious outburst (hm, maybe it wasn't such a bad thing). But anyway, I told him to try the app, "Where's my iPhone," which from experience with my phoney-phone getting lost on a regular basis, I knew would pull up a map that showed you where it was, like the time I left my phone on the floor under the table at Stonefire Grill (not on purpose!).
So he used the app. I thought it might show that it was left at Smart and Final where we had just been shopping, and where Dave, in a rare moment of absent mindedness, had almost left his satchel in the shopping cart. The map pinpointed our house, so we knew it was here. Yet, another comprehensive sweep of the premises availed nothing. Hm. So I got my phone (I still knew where it was!) and dialed his number again, thinking to listen even more carefully for vibration noises. To my surprise, someone answered. A woman. "Um," I said, thinking quickly very slowly, "My husband can't find his phone?" And she said she had it, and I (dumbly) said, "Really?" and she said she was at Smart and Final, would wait for us in the fruit area and was wearing a Patagonia shirt. I was impressed with her acumen. She gave me all the information I would need.
Sure enough, there she was in the fruit section, wearing a Patagonia T-shirt, (and a mask, of course, like all of us) and she was watching for us. I lifted a finger and she nodded and gave us the phone, which she had found in her shopping cart just as I called. She was tall and pretty, a lovely Latina woman with long dark hair. We thanked her. Dave tried to give her a $20, but she refused it. (What a gal!)
It turned out later that when Dave used the Where's my iPhone app, it had found his iPad. We knew where that was!
But apparently not everyone felt this way, because today (not that long since the sign was installed), the pothole has been mended and there is no longer any hole. However, the sign is still there. "Well," said the city council member, "We may as well leave it there. One day there'll be another pothole and we'll be prepared." The other members nodded sagely.
But since there is no longer any pothole, the sign has taken on another meaning. Instead of "beware and slow down, for there is a hole in the road," the sign now seems to say, "Slow down, you pothole," which is a little insulting. Instead of taking it personally, we are using the word as a way of referring to the non-mask wearing public.
"What a pothole," we say, and they have no idea what we're talking about.
I think even after this pandemic ends (unlikely?), we'll wear masks more than we ever did before.
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At Von's, I would say, 99% of people were wearing masks today. And everyone at Smart and Final was wearing masks. When Jan and I meandered through Main Street recently, where they have closed off the street, about 50% were wearing masks. That may have been because people were outside. But it was also before that Emergency Alert went off on Saturday. The virus is seeking those who underestimate its power. That will not be Dave or me.
So, I made my breakfast in the morning. I always have the same thing: A petite bowl of blueberries, covered with about 2 oz of Yoplait yogurt, a teaspoon of psyllium and a splash of museli. I went out on the porch and balanced my bowl on the railing to stand up and eat. There was quite a clamor down the end of the street. The crows were yelling and screeching like crazy. I looked down there, and just as I did a hawk flew by at just above eye level followed by the screaming crows. I could see he had something in his talons, but due to the fact that I was wearing my reading glasses (damn it!) I couldn't tell what it was. A few minutes later, Mary came walking down, reporting that the mother duck was agitated and Mary could only see two ducklings now, instead of the former three. Aw. Maybe I'm glad, after all, that I was wearing my reading glasses. Did I really want to see one of our adorable ducklings being carried off for a hawkling gourmet dinner?
Later in the morning I was on a bike ride with Kevin and Bob and we stopped at the end of the street in the Northbank area. Kevin was riding Bob's bike to diagnose a wobbly back wheel while Bob and I chatted desultorily. Suddenly there was a whoosh, and then there was a huge white owl in the air, leaving the shelter of brush from behind us. We caught a close-up view of his magnificent wing span.
Later that afternoon, I came walking from the clubhouse toward the little bridge over the creek on the way back home. I stopped abruptly before the bridge to let something else pass. A heron. He looked at me and I looked at him, then he stepped his stately way across, as dignified as royalty.
Happy bird day to me! Except for the duckling.
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