3rd House Journal

Rivers and Bridges

[St Johns River, Jacksonville, FL; 10/21/11]

 Last week I flew to Florida for a professional conference, spending most of Wednesday traveling (paying for myself, so flying cheap meant no nonstops). I did opt to shell out $20 extra per night for a riverview room, and it was well worth it. A bit creepy that the 15th floor sliding glass windows opened all the way, with just a little railing across, but it made for great views of the river and a few of its 7 bridges. The guy doling out wine at the hospitality suite that night told me that Jackonville is the largest city in the US area-wise, although well under a million in population. I also found out that nobody walks in this city. In Boston, New York, other Northeast cities, everyone walks everywhere, but in a sprawling place like Jacksonville FL, everyone drives.  I noticed almost a complete absence of people when I took a walk along the lovely Riverwalk from the hotel on Thursday afternoon, though a few more were out on Friday at lunchtime when I strolled down again - a handful of people in the cafes at Jacksonville Landing and a few more walking, though mostly those were visitors on break from the conference.

[Bridges, Jacksonville, FL]

I arrived back in Boston on Friday night and D drove over to pick me up at the airport. I'm still wondering about this woman I met fixing her makeup in the ladies room at the airport who nervously confessed to me that after 25 years of (apparently failed) marriage she'd just flown 500 miles to meet some stranger she met on the Internet. Alas, D was waiting and stalling an airport cop trying to hustle him off, so I didn't have time to watch the scene unfold.

It was good to be home. We hung around the city on Saturday, then took the T out to Jamaica Plain for a party at friends' new place followed by a trek over to the JP Lantern Festival (Universal Hub picked up my photo). And then Sunday was the Head of the Charles Regatta, which somehow I've missed for one reason or another every year. Unfortunately, the weather suddenly turned quite chilly on Sunday, so we only got as far upriver as the start of the race, but not to where the exciting finish happens 3 miles further upstream near Harvard Square. We had no idea what was going on, but it was fun anyway.

You can see more photos of Jacksonville here and more from the Head of the Charles here.

[Charles River, Boston, MA; 10/23/11]

[Rowers, train bridge and BU bridge, Boston/Cambridge]

As for the conference, it was fun and informative and I came back buzzing with ideas and new contacts, but I'm still unsure of my direction. I guess to some extent I'll have to float and see which way the currents take me. But in the meantime I have committed to work on a certificate from the professional organization, with one credit under my belt from a workshop I took at the conference. It's something.

[Note these 3 teams are all headed in the same direction]

Dilemma of Business Travel

Reasons in favor of business travel:

1. Breaks the monotony of the office where one is chained to a desk day after day.
2. Perqs of dinner out on the company's dime.
3. Meeting some of the actual human beings behind "the client" moniker.
4. Enjoying the company of colleagues and getting to know them better.
5. Being a team player, fulfilling a needed role as part of my job.

Reasons against business travel:

1. Inevitably arriving at the destination late, starved, having a big dinner (see #2 above) just before bed, with no time or brainpower left to review the next day's presentation.
2. Inevitably not sleeping well because of late dinner (see prior), overly soft bed, overly stuffed pillows, and the current hotel trend to supply a fat comforter and no blanket so the choice is roasting under the overstuffed comforter or lying like a cold corpse under a sole skimpy sheet. (have not mentioned the new threat of picking up bed bugs...)
3. All the usual herding and prodding at airports, then being squished into tiny airline seats with neither elbow nor leg room and the Russian roulette chance of getting a sniffling/hacking cellmate seatmate for the duration of the flight.
4. Client typically letting slip at the very end of the presentation that the work they want done has some jaw-droppingly impossible deadline that, if accepted, will make your and your colleagues' lives miserable anyway.

I should note that #2 of "reasons against" is, yours truly, the Sensitive Traveler's nightmare and does not apply to everyone. I am the Princess and the Pea. One of the colleagues I traveled with stood with us at Chicago O'Hare last evening in 20-degree weather with no coat, quite indifferent to the cold, and she slept like a baby through the night, too. I had my hat, gloves, coat, boots, a sweater and a coat and I was shivering. I'm the canary in the coal mine, the squeaky wheel - must have food! must have water! must have heat! no, not too much heat! must find a bathroom! must have caffeine! no, not too much caffeine! It's not easy. It would truly work okay, much better, if there were only a little more time allowed, but usually the presentations are still being worked on until the last minute. (sigh) Which is why I don't get out of the office much, I guess.

More scenes from P-town

[Provincetown scenes, August 16-18; click any to see larger]

Adventures in P-town

[Provincetown, from west end; 7:30pm, 8/16/09]

If Cape Cod is an arm in a bicep curl off the coast of Massachusetts, Provincetown is the expressively arced hand curving back in at its tip. "P-town" is a 120-mile drive from Boston, or a 50-mile ferry ride. We drove out on Sunday from Boston just before noon, an hour or so later passing the bumper-to-bumper cars coming the other way, off the Cape, which is typical at the end of any nice summer weekend. They were headed back to Boston's first heat wave of the year (3 days or more of 90+ degree weather) while we were headed out to the usually much cooler air of the Cape.

But it was hot even out in P-town. And soon after we checked into our lodgings, the power went out all across town. We stayed at the far west end, the quiet tip of the tip, only a mile walk into town, but with the heat we decided to drive to the center to walk around. While restauranteurs fretted about the approaching evening dining hour, the gelato shops all offered half-price ice cream before their inventory could melt away. Many stores closed but others stayed open, accepting cash only and writing down purchases on paper to plug into computer systems later.

[Powerless shop, P-town; 6:45pm, 8/16/09]

Most people were taking the temporary glitch in stride, literally, with crowds walking Commercial St from one end to the other, or patronizing the few establishments that had backup generators. Provincetown, in case you're not from these parts, is a major gay tourist town, and this week was the big Carnival Festival. This year's theme: Summer of Love - Peace, Love & Go-Go Boots! Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately because of the heat and crowds), we left the day before the big parade, which is supposed to be a real hoot. The scene was mostly pretty tame and restrained while we were there as people saved their energy for the big pre-parade evening and the parade day itself. Why ruin your taffeta party dress and wig with sweat before the main event?

[On Commercial St in P-town]

The power came back on after 4 hours, just after we got back to our room. So we went for a nice walk down by the moors across the street and stayed to watch the sun set. Then we were ready for dinner, so we headed back towards town on foot to find a place with good food and a view. Which we did, except that the power went out again just as we were asking to be seated. The harried hostess turned us away (we were thinking maybe a salad and a glass of wine?), so we walked back in the dark, got in the car, and drove south out of town in the dark (and it gets really dark out there) until we reached Truro and then Wellfleet, which had electricity, and a restaurant or two still open.

[Sunset over the moors, west end Provincetown; 8/16/09]

More later...

Eating well in Santa Fe

[Jivara Chocolate Palet d'Or - at Geronimo, Santa Fe; 2:45pm, 3/8/09]

Since you asked, yes, I did have fantastic food. I've never had anything but fantastic food in Santa Fe. I noticed when I was there 10 years ago (twice in 1999 - more on that later) that the bar was set very high for restaurants in Santa Fe. I did go to some of the top ones back then - generally Southwestern - but I also remember having the best Chinese food I ever had in Santa Fe. The standards are very high all around.

My first night in Santa Fe on this trip, I brought my book and ate at the restaurant downstairs at the hotel, the Inn of the Governors - the Del Charro, which has a saloon section and a quiet (heated/enclosed) patio where I sat. I had the salmon wrap, which came out on a lovely bed of fresh greens, stuffed with grilled salmon and black beans, artfully drizzled with light stripes of red pepper coulis and creme fraiche, with a side of cucumber salsa, all for $6.

After wandering around town the next day, I went back to the Del Charro for lunch and had a nice tostada before heading off to Absolute Nirvana for a massage. On the advice of several people on tripadvisor.com, I booked a classic massage followed by the rose petal bath (luckily at a winter discount price) that was OMG fabulous. This is actually food related, because alongside the bath you get a pot of Javanese ginger tea, fresh fruit, and an extremely intense chocolate truffle, no doubt of medicinal quality. Wish I'd brought my camera (no, not for the bath!) because the spa is located in a lovely old Victorian inn called The Madeleine, with lovely grounds. The last time I was in Santa Fe, we'd gone up to the venerable Ten Thousand Waves for massages, but I thought I'd try something different this time and it was delightful.

[Cafe Pasqual, Santa Fe; 8:45am, 3/9/09]

Another beloved Santa Fe spot is Pasqual's, which was just a block away from my hotel. I went 10 years ago, but missed it this time on my short visit. One place I did return to was Maria's New Mexican Kitchen, which claims to have the best margaritas in town (hey, mine was good!) and serves great Southwestern food. I had the blue corn enchiladas, which were deliciosas. I went with a friend of a Massachusetts friend of mine, who moved out there a year ago with her husband. We had a nice time eating and discussing the state of the world and the state of our careers, with no conclusions, but when fueled with endorphins set off by chiles and tequila, who needs conclusions. Afterward, I met up with a couple of online friends (one from Santa Fe and another from Texas) at the Pink Adobe's bar, which I'd also been to 10 years ago. (It got to be a bit of a joke, my revisiting old territory, sometimes places that the local person hadn't ever been to. My ex-bf R had been quite the travel guide.)

[My room at the Inn of the Governors]

On Saturday morning, I met up with my online friends at Tia Sophia's restaurant in the plaza (I'd had breakfast at the hotel, since a full buffet came with the price of my room). After wandering around the plaza area and touring galleries on Canyon Road, we took a siesta. The evening's plan - a trip out to Gabriel's Restaurant north of Santa Fe, one of my absolute favorites from a previous trip. They make guacamole tableside the way some restaurants make Caesar salad, and I could have been muy contenta just eating the guac and fresh warm corn chips. But the pollo en mole poblano was rich and delectable, so I'm glad I saved room for it. When we returned to Santa Fe, we went to the piano bar at Vanessie for some entertaining live music and a glass of wine to top off the night.

[Geronimo, on Canyon Road]

On Sunday, the Texans had fled south (as I mentioned, it got pretty chilly in SF, especially Saturday night!). But I got an unexpected call from M asking me if I wanted to join her for lunch at Geronimo, one of the top restaurants in town. I'd been taken there in the evening for my birthday 10 years ago, and it's quite pricey. But for lunch, it's more reasonable, and it was a welcome treat for my last day. I had a corn-encrusted chili relleno stuffed with shrimp and asiago cheese - heavenly. As you can see in the top photo, we split a dessert - Jivara Chocolate Palet d'Or, a flourless chocolate cake with apricot cream sprinkled with a few carmelized rice crispies for texture. Yum.

Did I have some good meals in Santa Fe? You could say that.

Climate change

[Window, Santa Fe; 9am, 3/7/09]

Spring in Santa Fe (if judged by the appearance of crocuses) arrives just ahead of Boston, even though its latitude is over 500 miles farther south. The city (capital of New Mexico, population around 70,000) is 7,000 feet above sea level, and thus 7,000 feet higher than Boston. It's also much drier; the humidity wasn't much above 10%, and that combined with winds gusting into the 50mph range made for fire hazards in many areas.

[Crocuses and cactus; 11:30am, 3/6/09]

The weather in early March in the high desert can reach the 60s(F) during the day, and down into the low 30s at night. The week before I came it was warm and sunny, but turned rather chilly and windy during my visit (it was quite the fun-house ride flying in over the Sandia Mountains into Albuquerque on Thursday!), with a fair amount of clouds. The clouds were often spectacular, though. I'm not sure my photographs do them justice.

[View from the porch outside my hotel room; 6pm, 3/7/09]

Saturday morning, I woke at 6am to the sound of thunder and something pelting the building. I looked out to see hail bouncing off the porch railing, from mostly pea-sized to a few grape-sized pellets. It all melted within a couple of hours and was sunny and beautiful, in the 50s, the rest of the day. Monday morning, the day I left Santa Fe, I woke to falling snow. At the airport later that morning, the security agent looked at my itinerary - connecting through Chicago to Boston, where it was also snowing - and shook his head at me. "In the winter months, you go to Puerto Vallarta, ma'am."

[In Santa Fe, even the snow is artful; 8:30am, 3/9/09]

I didn't mind the chill, or the snow, which was pretty and melted quickly on the ground. The days held plenty of sunshine for me, and it was far far away from work and stress. I had art and nature to nourish the eye, incredibly delicious food to nourish the body, and friends to nourish the soul.

Down from the mountains

[Sangre de Christo foothills, Santa Fe, NM; 11:45am, 3/6/09]

I got home around 11:00 last night, after a slight delay getting in to Boston because of snow here. Much to do today - appointments, unpacking, laundry, etc. - and back to work tomorrow. I will try to spin out some highlights from my trip over the next few days. It was a good trip - rather chilly there, but as beautiful as ever.

[Sanctuario de Guadalupe; 10am, 3/8/09]

Waiting

[In downtown Ann Arbor; 3pm, 12/26/08]

I'm back, albeit without my luggage. As of this morning, the online tracking shows no sign of it. I can't tell you how anxious this has made me, not only possibly losing some nice Christmas presents but also some electronics I was carrying back here for my dad (long story) that I think the airline won't cover if the luggage is gone for good. (I haven't told my father yet because it'll upset him, and my brother who gave him the stuff for Christmas.) But I guess I should be patient - most bags are found, and it's a busy season so it could take awhile.

Despite the weather, my flights were both close to on-time, unlike all those people stuck in airports for days last week. Yesterday, flying over New York and Vermont on my way to the airport in New Hampshire, the clouds far below resembled an endless snow field. Then it began to roll the way ocean swells roll far out at sea. Minutes later, we were diving into it like I used to dive into the waves at the seacoast, the bracing cold of the Atlantic churning around me, stirring up the gravel below. Instead, below these whitecaps were tall, straight pines, a few houses in between, businesses, more stretches of tall pines, then the Merrimack River I once lived overlooking from one side then the other.

---

Update: I finally called the airline and spoke to a human who spoke to another human who said they have my bag, so it should get delivered today. I'm relieved, although now I have to make sure I can get home when it's there so it's not out sitting on my porch. Thanks for your good wishes.

Tamalpais

[Mount Tamulpais, from Maria's back deck; 10:30am, 9/28/08]

I'm still getting around to sorting my photos from the trip to San Jose and San Francisco. This one was taken from my friends' back deck, where I relaxed during their morning activities (I'd been up very early, on just-west-of-east-coast time) and had a few moments to myself to admire the view of Mount Tam as well as the lovely deck garden with its succulents and fragrant orange tree, and enjoy the abundance of bird life, including a hummingbird, a titmouse, mourning doves, and a red-winged blackbird. I'm sure there were others I didn't manage to identify. I envy these birds.

Taking off from the Tomo

[The wall of my room at the Best Western Tomo; 7am, 9/27/08]

When I looked into staying at the Best Western Tomo in San Francisco, the reviews I'd read said only that it was comfortable and located in a nice, quiet neighborhood. And that it is. I had no idea it would be like stepping into a well-appointed anime game. If Napa Valley felt otherworldly, the Tomo was a spaceship to another galaxy.

Located in Japantown, the rooms are all illustrated by Japanese artist Heisuke Kitazawa, who is based in Tokyo and L.A. The funky decor includes a flat-screen LED TV and minimalist Ikea-like (Muji) furniture. The rooms all offer wireless, although my laptop wouldn't connect so I got a cable from the front desk and connected to the port on the desk.

I didn't have time to explore Japantown itself, but we were located just a few blocks from Fillmore Street, which offered plenty of restaurants and activity, including some very cute shops if we'd had time to browse.

We arrived in the city late Friday afternoon, cleaned up, and headed out to find dinner. We landed at Harry's Bar on Fillmore and were just digging into our burgers as the Obama-McCain debates were commencing on the bar's big TV. The bar quieted for about 5-10 minutes, then gradually everyone went back to chowing and chatting. I tried to watch, but it soon became impossible. Oh well. My burger was delicious.

[View from the 8th floor at the Tomo; 7:30am, 9/27/08]