kickin' it geek-style.

I spent the first half of last week sitting in a room full of men talking about theoretical mathematics. It's been an interesting time. The only women at the meeting work for the government. There were guys wearing birth-control glasses, and not retro-nerd-is-now-hip glasses, but honest-to-goodness I-do-not-have-sex-with-anyone-not-myself glasses. Preemptive comb-overs. Socks with sandals. Looking anywhere but the face of the person they're talking to. We're rocking some serious savant-type people skills. It makes for some very awkward silences. On the other hand, they've got kids, which means somewhere there is a woman who let them leave the house like that. Among other things.

I've learned a lot, though. And the meeting was at a resort on the California coast, so, you know, rough assignment.

Sunday drive.

Sunday found me driving north on I-5 from San Diego to Dana Point, CA. We didn't live in California for very long, but there are a few things that flash back every time I'm in this state. Wading in the ocean with my sister and mom (and another adult - Uncle T. seems unlikely, but that's the laugh I remember hearing), the two of us kids running back to splash in one more wave, and Momola racing back down the beach as the water knocked us over. Starfish crawling on my arms. Ice plant. Breaking off segments to play hopscotch by the school, watching the sun shrivel the pieces like raisins in the sun, using the pieces to write on walls. As I pass through town, these memories are juxtaposed by the sight of the Mormon temple, and the picture of me sitting next to Annie as we head to the Whole Foods right across the way when I came down for a visit. We were driving the same car that took us to Whole Foods in Charlottesville, where Em would sample from the bulk bins as we shopped for our nightly haphazard dinners. Dinners consisting of someone making risotto, someone making chicken on the Foreman grill, someone cutting up cheese and vegetables, and everything ending up on bowls of salad - with Em and the other swimmers spearing food from any dish within reach, whether pot, serving dish, or another's plate of food. These are the images that flash through my head whenever I drive through San Diego. It's not a bad mental collage.

polar bear bomb scare

Yesterday as I walked to work, I stumbled across one of those things that makes me smile and glad I live in a city, where madcap things happen. Someone had created a homeless polar bear, and he was rummaging through a trashcan. I smiled, a couple of high school girls screamed, which made me smile more, and then I got on my train and, in all honesty, forgot about it. Until later, when I stopped by the pub after softball. It turns out that my polar bear friend freaked some folks out. Later in the morning they called the cops, and the "unknown" nature of a mannequin dressed as a polar bear looking through a trashcan caused the bomb squad to be shut down. People were moved off the street, the Metro entrance was closed - you could still get on the Metro, but you had to cross the street - and the police dismantled the bear. Seriously. There's a story about it in the local paper. It seems like a slight over reaction.

very bad blogger

It's been a week, I know. Bad me. Even now I'm sleep-deprived and should be walking out the door rather than staring at the laptop. I blame Christopher. Saturday night I went over to his new place, where he and his Jason and I watched The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas and played Uno. He introduced me to On Demand! and I showed him Dr. Horrible's Sing-a-long Blog and The Guild. And then he loaned me a book. I wasn't reading as much as normal for a while, but right before vacation I got back to my usual book-devouring ways. But normally there's some restraint. Christopher loaned me In the Woods, by Tana French and I started it Sunday morning on the super long metro ride into the suburbs. It kept a girl going on three hours of sleep (insomnia, don't ask) and not enough coffee going through the swaying motion of the train, and I was enthralled. When a character claims the desire to "go off on a pedantic lecture on the meaning of irony" I'm in. I couldn't read it on the car ride into the woods (oh, ha), because we were lost and I was constantly waiting for blackberry to refresh it's google map so that I could attempt to tell which was our next turn. Hours of family fun later (I have a grave digger in my family, apparently) as we headed back towards the city, I looked forward to a bath and spending the evening reading my new book. And then I left it in the car as Momola dropped me off. As tired as I was, I was ready to cry. OK, I actually did cry, but not over the book, just sheer exhaustion and the little things that kept going wrong. Momola brought the book to the office Monday morning, and I have spent every waking hour (that I wasn't at work, at the bar, at softball, at poker night) reading not only that book, but when I finished it and had spent an afternoon at the doctor's office and doing laundry I told myself I'd earned it and hopped on a bus to go buy her second book, The Likeness. Murder mystery mayhem, they were lovely. The first was better than the second, but, well, I'm not going to ruin them for you.

So that's been my week, outside of bar, baseball, softball, and poker. PS - I like poker! I showed up last night and beginner's luck was working for me. I'd played once before, when a bunch of us grad students holed up in a condo in Vermont for a wedding and spent a day playing poker. I think I was bad, I know I was drunk, and luckily, we were all too broke to play for cash. Last night, however? Cash. And I won. I totally doubled my money for the evening, and that's including cab fare and booze. It was a good night.

kicking my ass.

This week has been doing just that. I was ready to come back from vacation, and even ready to go back to work, but it's been a pretty crazy week, and I just want to say, well, make it stop. Long days at the office, and lots of meetings have me very glad today is Friday.

I haven't finished writing about Boston - the post is half done - but it was so wonderful, and great to see people I've missed. And it's funny that just as I was realizing that it was people I missed more than the town, that I started meeting people in my neighborhood. Yes, cue the Mr. Rogers soundtrack, I was back at my local last night meeting new friends. I love meeting new friends. Especially funny ones, who make me laugh with mohawks and wisecracks, I even had a conversation about politics that was totally civil. So it's been a good after-hours week, but I'm still glad it's over, and I'm staying in tonight. There's a pair of comfy pants that have been feeling neglected...

beer, bartenders, and a drinking buddy

Twisted Thistle, Alex and Bill, and Rachael. Those are the things I found last night after a rough day back at work after vacation. They all make me very happy. This girl also got kissed last night, but if there's one thing I've learned, it's that boys come and go, but bartenders and drinking buddies are for keeps.