Long beach, CA isn't a beach
After curling up in the most uncomfortable airline seats ever known to mankind for a total of 7 hours and having a less-than-scenic tour of LA and Long Beach and every little town in between, I have made it in one piece to California, and my hotel. I'm here for a conference with a coworker, and I'll be in Cali all week until I leave on Sunday.
Despite the beautiful weather, the swaying palm trees, the sweet hotel, and the amazing food, I've been pretty blah. For one thing, my travel/ visiting plans for after the conference has been in turmoil. Adding to that, my work computer died a horrific, blue-screened death on the airplane, which means I'll be lugging an extra 10 lbs of useless slab of wires when I check out of my hotel. I had plans to work on some random projects/make these pretty poster things for Unity Day on my laptop, and all that has been dashed. What am I going to do at night instead?! Can't go out at night for fear of all the violent things your mother warned you about in a city after dark. TV is an option, but after not watching one for so long, the one in my room gives me headaches. Plus there is nothing on, and the news coverage in Cali is so dramatic and falsely progressive, you'd think you were watching a left-wing tabloid but with video and animated narration. Think "Sarah-Palin-Grows-Fangs-and-Eats-Fetus" kind of news.
Speaking of fangs, what makes me pretty antsy is the fact that Tom got me hooked on TrueBlood the weekend of my birthday, and I haven't been able to get enough episodes to placate my obsession, thanks to the now defunct computer.
Another jab to my already blah mood is that I learned today that my supervisor was accepting a detail in the Administrator's office. This is a huge deal, and I'm really excited for her, but sad at the same time. When my first supervisor left for a position under the CEQ [aka White-House-run environmental gov org, other than the EPA] I was sad because I liked her alot and didn't think we'd get a supervisor I'd get along with. Turns out my current supervisor is also very awesome, and I was happy with the leadship. Now I'm worried about who the next manager will be. Somehow the position in our branch is some sort of charmed spring-board for the ambitious. People should be clamoring for this position: Once you get it, just wait a few months and you'll be promoted to a position connected to the White House. =.= It's pretty irksome that all these "higher" offices are using our office as some sort of talented fishing ground. They suck away all the great people and expect the rest of us to function. Our office seems to be losing mass amounts of institutional knowledge and ability to other offices. [sighdom]
I'll probably post more about the convention [with pictures] when I get back to DC. The Hilton Business Center computers don't let you upload pix...
Despite the beautiful weather, the swaying palm trees, the sweet hotel, and the amazing food, I've been pretty blah. For one thing, my travel/ visiting plans for after the conference has been in turmoil. Adding to that, my work computer died a horrific, blue-screened death on the airplane, which means I'll be lugging an extra 10 lbs of useless slab of wires when I check out of my hotel. I had plans to work on some random projects/make these pretty poster things for Unity Day on my laptop, and all that has been dashed. What am I going to do at night instead?! Can't go out at night for fear of all the violent things your mother warned you about in a city after dark. TV is an option, but after not watching one for so long, the one in my room gives me headaches. Plus there is nothing on, and the news coverage in Cali is so dramatic and falsely progressive, you'd think you were watching a left-wing tabloid but with video and animated narration. Think "Sarah-Palin-Grows-Fangs-and-Eats-Fetus" kind of news.
Speaking of fangs, what makes me pretty antsy is the fact that Tom got me hooked on TrueBlood the weekend of my birthday, and I haven't been able to get enough episodes to placate my obsession, thanks to the now defunct computer.
Another jab to my already blah mood is that I learned today that my supervisor was accepting a detail in the Administrator's office. This is a huge deal, and I'm really excited for her, but sad at the same time. When my first supervisor left for a position under the CEQ [aka White-House-run environmental gov org, other than the EPA] I was sad because I liked her alot and didn't think we'd get a supervisor I'd get along with. Turns out my current supervisor is also very awesome, and I was happy with the leadship. Now I'm worried about who the next manager will be. Somehow the position in our branch is some sort of charmed spring-board for the ambitious. People should be clamoring for this position: Once you get it, just wait a few months and you'll be promoted to a position connected to the White House. =.= It's pretty irksome that all these "higher" offices are using our office as some sort of talented fishing ground. They suck away all the great people and expect the rest of us to function. Our office seems to be losing mass amounts of institutional knowledge and ability to other offices. [sighdom]
I'll probably post more about the convention [with pictures] when I get back to DC. The Hilton Business Center computers don't let you upload pix...
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