It’s 11 o’clock on a Friday evening and I’m curled up in bed with some sweet herbal tea, trying to fight off what remains of this horrific bug. It seems that everyone at work has caught some version of it. Some, like myself, were hit harder than others, but I’m confident that I will be fully better on Monday, after a complete weekend of rest.

One thing that will make this weekend more restful also makes me sad – S. is out of town for the next 10 days. He’s going on a pretty amazing trek with some friends for his spring break (which doesn’t align with mine whatsoever). That means I’m on my own. I have quite a few IEPs to write, so I’ll be up to my elbows in work and herbal tea all weekend.

It’s amazing what moments in life can strike you as being “wow” moments. This evening, as S. was packing, he told me that he’s not *excited* about this vacation, but more stressed about forcing himself to socialize, instead of relaxing, or seeing this as a true adventure. Here comes the moment – he said that it would be totally different if I was going. And he actually seemed like he meant it! Either he knows all the right things to say in the right way to make me believe it, or he really is as crazy about me as I am him. I have felt that way about every trip I’ve taken since meeting him. It’s okay, but not the same without him. It’s funny, we’ve been together three years, and we are so very happy and in love. But tonight, he just told me he loves me in the most convincing way possible, without even uttering those three words. And now he’s going to read this and think I’m insane. But really, I love him so very much and he makes my heart melt in silly, sappy ways.

Also, I’m sick – that makes me more emotional (Funny that I feel the need to apologize for emoting. I think that in itself says as much about me as the rest of this post combined).

I am sick. It is not fun.

But there are some things that are still fun, even when you are sick:

1. Wonderful boyfriends who drive you to picnics in the park (even if it wasn’t as well executed as it was in theory).

2. Mango Lemonade.

3. Jon & Kate Plus 8.

4. Hot Bubble Baths.

5. Bad gossip magazines.

6. Not meeting with annoying parents you didn’t really want to see anyway.

I hope I feel better tomorrow :/

I have failed to write about S.’ recent successes at finding employment, because 1. I have failed at writing about anything, and 2. I am afraid to jinx it, because it is just too awesome.

At his particular educational institution, they have a pretty neat system with internships during the summer that are pretty much guaranteed job offers upon graduation. Internships this year have been difficult to acquire, with only 10% of his class entertaining offers a week ago (the economic climate is particularly effecting his industry), but S. has actually done quite well, with three offers on his plate at this moment. Two are quite prestigious firms, offering amazing potential for growth outside of his current specialization, and the third is more industry-centric, offering him growth upon his current trajectory. He is leaning toward one of the first two, and both are flying him out to location to woo him. Both this weekend and next, he flies out, stays in lavish hotels, gets pampered in every way possible, and these companies try hook him. It’s a pretty sweet deal. A lot of pressure for him, but sweet nonetheless.

My favorite thing about all these offers (because really, this blog is all about me :p), is that they all are in fantastic locations. The two larger firms are both in the same Southeastern city in which I attended graduate school, one with an option to live in a city even further South, and the industry gig is in Arizona. I would be thrilled to live in any of the above places. No winter to whine about – yipee!

Okay, that’s it, I just wanted a quick second to brag about how wonderful my man is, and how excited I am about future living locations :]
 

So, this vacation was pretty much amazing. The only thing that would have made it better (and it would have made it 8000 times better) would be if S. had been able to join me. I managed to catch an earlier connecting flight in, which was nice – I got to my hotel around 3, only a little buzzed from drinking a cocktail on my business class flight. My room wasn’t clean yet, so I was asked to take a seat and they’d call me when it was ready. After about 25 minutes of waiting, the woman at the counter looked at me and said “oh no! You’re still waiting!” Apparently she had forgotten all about me. I wasn’t too peeved, because there was another family waiting for the whole time I had been waiting as well. I knew they were completely sold out for the night, and these things can take a while. They however were not pleased that they had left me waiting, so they upgraded me from my king suite with a water view on the 11th floor (which was also an accessible room), to a “more comfortable” 2 bedroom suite on the top floor with a partial water view, partial city view. It was AMAZING. Not only did I have a gorgeous kitchen, living/dining room with a 42” plasma TV, but also a huge bedroom with a king bed, a second bedroom with two queens, but my favorite part of all – a balcony in full sun! Most balconies have people above them, so you only get sun part of the day, but this South facing room was not blocked by any overhead balconies, or tall buildings, because it was top floor. Looking at the fire escape floor plan, there was only one room that was the same size on the floor. They upgraded me to the best room in the hotel! For someone who loves hotels, this is a pretty nice thing to do. As I sat on my balcony, I could see the pool below in the shade, and I was so very pleased that I had full sun. Whoo hoo. Having a hot shot boyfriend who is a platinum hotel member gets you some nice upgrades :] Thanks S.!

The first afternoon I spent sunning myself, swimming in the pool, eating delightful asian food, and ended the day with a stroll down the beach. The next morning I woke up for a repeat, reveling in the greatness of my hotel until 11:58 (there was a 12 o’clock check-out). I spent the rest of the day lounging on the beach (I have the sunburn to prove it), walking through the trendy district of downtown, browsing the fancy menswear stores for ties for S. (why is it so hard to find fashionable thin ties?), and enjoying massive amounts of carbs and a glass of wine at the Cheesecake Factory. S. would be appalled that I ate at chain restaurants, but in a strip of $25 plates, Cheesecake is a nice affordable option.

I spent the late evening in my hotel, watching a documentary on Miami’s drug trafficking history with cool interviews by guys who either spent tons of time in lock-up, or who are still there now. Fascinating. I love tough guys. I would much rather work with the rough-and-tough crowd than the nauseating rich housewives whose internal problems revolve around how to best redecorate, the hardened criminals are just so fascinating (and infuriating), I love a challenge!

I am now feeling totally sunburnt (my poor chest is a deeper red than I thought possible for person’s skin to turn), and I am stupidly happy and recharged! I think I can deal with whatever Puxatone Phil throws at us for the next few weeks :]

Today I having been delightfully optimistic about everything. My taxi was early (and I was ready!), a train pulled into the station just as I was rushing down the stairs, and the nice conductor lady re-opened the doors for me, and everything is just lining up right. I realize most of my elation is my viewpoint (usually I would be groaning that the guy three seats behind me just puked everywhere, but right now I’m happy I was in the lavatory when it happened, my stuff is clear from the splash-zone, and I can’t see it, because it’s back in coach. Whooooo!), but I’m going to grab all the good stuff that I can from this week and bottle it up, so I can survive the few weeks left of winter.

Overall, I live a pretty charmed and spoiled life. This past weekend S. and I went on a Valentines Weekend getaway to New York City where we trekked up the Empire State Building (which after a trip in 8th grade I still refer to it as the Eiffel Tower), saw Bodies: The Exhibition, wandered around midtown, walked through Central Park, and were sufficiently cultured as we explored MOMA. We stayed about an hour outside the city Friday, and Saturday evening, S. used his points to get us a swanky place halfway between Times and the Park. Lovely!

I really love hotels. I never went on family trips where we’d get a hotel – we would typically do the drive-12-hours-overnight-and-stay-with-family trips. Those were our “vacations.” My dad traveled a lot for work, so he came to despise hotels, rather than seeing them as a place to relax. Other than school trips, and my solo excursions outside of the country, I had never been in a hotel before applying to grad schools. That was the start of it – I traveled to interviews and wandered around the respective cities (I was only 20, not yet old enough to rent a car…). Then when I picked a school, my friends and I roadtripped down, not really knowing how to pick a good place to stay. Looking back at it now, I laugh thinking that we just looked for road signs on the highway indicating lodging, then called when we were in the parking lot, asking about rates. Since dating S., who is a hotel guru, I am now a Priceline expert. I know all the tips and tricks to get the swankiest places for the best prices. That hotel outside of the city we scored for 50 bucks. And it was a 3 ½ star fancy thing. Sweet. S. thinks my love for such things is adorable, which is pretty nice. I don’t know what I’d do if he thought I was nuts for bursting into the room, immediately curling up on the bed with the fun book that tells you about the amenities, then doing a mad rush around the room and bathroom admiring the toiletries and the coffee maker. Such luxury!

So, fast-forward to today. Since I’m following a public school schedule, I have a full week off in both February (now!), and in April. Unfortunately, these breaks don’t line up at all with traditional university schedules. S. and I had a three-day weekend together, but now I have all this time, and he is super busy. I had been contemplating taking a trip somewhere with sunshine and beaches, because I really, really, really hate winter. I looked at my miles, examined possible destinations and flights, but when S. and I decided to go to NYC, I kind of threw the idea out the window. I had already spent too much, and I couldn’t put up for another hotel for a few days, even if it did restore my sanity.

However, I have the best boyfriend in the ENTIRE world. He used some of his points and is putting me up in a nice waterview room in Fort Lauderdale for tonight, only a few blocks from the beach, and I am currently cashing in all my miles, as well as a class upgrade that expires today, and am writing this while sitting in first class on my way to sunshine! I’m only going to be there for a day and a half (I get in around 5 tonight and fly out early Friday am), but I am SO excited to get into my hotel, slip into a bikini, jump in the pool, splash around for a while, get all dressed for dinner, go to P.F. Changs on the water, walk along the beach at night, then spend all day tomorrow by the pool and in the sand. Delightful!

I’ll try to remember to update on my flight back, but I don’t know. I may be too happy to think about things like computers and technology…. :p

1. Wall-E is the cutest movie in the entire world. It’s like the creators took all things that are cute (big eyes, running into things, wanting to cuddle, loyalty, perseverance despite all odds), all the things that typically trigger those evolutionary instincts of adorable, and decided to play a game with the audience called “can we make a hunk of metal melt your heart?” They won. Totally. It is a completely uncontrollable response. I can’t help that I am hopelessly in love with him. Yes. I realize this makes me a girl. And pathetic.

2. I think I’m going to download Windows 7 beta and play around with it. I know the license is only good until August, but hey, that means I won’t have Vista for that time period. Yes, I know, everyone groans when I say Vista, but it’s not all bad. Aesthetically I like it enough that I’ve kept the resource hog around. I’ll let you know how the whole W7 thing goes. I’m still in the process of backing up everything before doing a clean wipe. My back-up drive has been clicking lately and that would seriously be the worst thing EVER. Especially since I’m trying to downsize to only one primary computer, and did a clean wipe of my other two last weekend. Maybe I should have done this in reverse order. Oh Well.

I cannot get the song “Mad” by Ne Yo out of my head. It is driving me a little crazy. But also, I like it a lot.

For some reason, my analytics stopped working when I changed up some stuff with my site. I’m going to undo some changes and figure out where the problem is. It would probably be easier to change around some codes manually, but… okay. Fine. Maybe I’ll do that this week sometime.

ps – Today that the weather was beautiful, it was almost 40 degrees, and S. and I were walking around outside. It was sunny, beautiful, and I was still shivering. However, when S. asked me if I was cold I couldn’t have any other response than “compared to what it has been, I cannot complain at all! But… if we were still down south and it was this weather, I would definitely be complaining.” One good thing about being up here – you realize what really is unbearable, and what is cold, but totally NOT complain – worthy.

So, everyone is all excited [or up in arms] about the change of administration today. I’ve always been pretty politically apathetic, knowing that my measly vote will not change anything, nor do I desire to go in to politics with the intent of changing the way the system works. I know a few people who have decided to try to go into politics as a career choice (and even have a friend who worked with the Bush administration and was able to give me a private tour inside the fences in DC this summer), and those who do such may someday enact change within the government. I am also am aware however, that most politicians are puppets for corporations that can line their pockets so they can push some big agenda and squirrel away text into bills that have nothing to do with the original movement [bailout anyone?]. [Another aside - I listened to the How Stuff Works Podcast on Midnight Regulations the other day and I recommend it!].

My point…? For most people, rooting for a political figure is as ineffectual as rooting for the Steelers [I am not a fan, but I had to pick one of the two remaining teams this year, right?]. Unless you devote your entire existence to running back and forth across a field throwing some cone shaped ball, you’re not going to be the one who gets the winning touchdown, or wears a superbowl ring. Same with politics. Getting all weepy when a president gets sworn in, or when “your” teams wins a big game… same silliness.

This will offend some readers, I get it. You’re devoted. You want change. You don’t like current policies. I don’t agree with it all either. But I’m not going to pretend that me rooting for one of the lesser evils to be manipulated by lobbyists is going to make things any better.

On a more positive note, I do like seeing cute couples, and I think the Obama family is adorable. I liked the first dance, and I’m pleased that our current figurehead is all sappy and sweet and in love with his wife.

This darn beeper is annoying. I want it to stop going off. Can families seriously not handle their kids for one vacation day? One! I am so glad I am not currently slated to have the beeper over the longer breaks….