Quick Trip to Portland
/Tomorrow morning I fly out to Portland, Oregon for a very quick meeting with the editor of a vet magazine I'll be writing a humor column for. Once I get in on Tuesday, we'll tour the campus, meet everyone at the magazine, then sit down with the cartoonist for a brainstorming session. Dinner out, more meetings on Wednesday, then I fly out at 6:30 AM on Thursday. Like I said, it's a quick trip.
I'm looking forward to it though. This column is the Pet Horoscopes piece I've mentioned earlier and it's a good bit of fun. I feel so "official" as a writer, being flown out to meet with everyone. I'm more accustomed to the "our accountant ran off with our profits but we're combing the couch in the lounge for loose change to pay you with" kind of set up.
(Wow. A quick aside--it is POURING here. Hail, thunder, black skies. I love a noisy storm. And we need it to get rid of the God-awful pollen that has coated our entire region in yellow. And just like that, it's almost done. While I typed the last two sentences the hail turned to a moderate rain. )
Usually I'm ambivalent about these type trips but rave about them afterward. The fact that I'm so looking forward to this one concerns me a bit--don't want to jinx it.
Here's an ambivalent part - I'm not so wild about getting up at 4 am tomorrow. My flight leaves at 6:30 AM, which means I'll leave the house at 5 (because I like to get to the airport early like they tell you to, that's why), which means I need to be up by 4 to shower and do last minute packing and goodbyes to the cats. I'm wearing business clothes on the plane which means heels which means a loooong flight day. My little tootsies just don't know what to do when confronted with anything over the height of your standard flip-flop.
And of course I'm spending today doing all the "essential" things one does before a business trip - bank, gather important documents, paint the toenails, charge up the cell phone, laundry, laundry, laundry, pet the cats, go through the mail that's been sitting in the inbox for over a week now in case there's any ticking time bomb in there I forgot, e-mail everyone I know that I'll be gone for business for a whole day and a half, blog (of course), finish painting the final trim coat in the bathroom (I won't be able to enjoy my trip unless I know it's done) and myriad of other things.
So I better get back to it. I'm not taking my laptop with me so probably no blog until Friday. I trust you'll all be able to move on with the shattered remnants of your life. ;)
