My Lovely Assistant

Hi Everyone. Whoa, I didn't realize that I haven't posted since Thursday. That's bad news. Sorry about that. I'll try to make up for it with something extra special tonight. 

For those of you who watch The Office, you probably saw that Michael took Pam with him on a business road trip as his assistant this week. I'm sort of doing the same thing right now. I'm at a conference in Scottsdale, and since Kate is always looking for a good excuse to leave the frozen hellscape that is Central Indiana, she has joined me for a few days in the Southwest.

Now Kate and I have done plenty of traveling together. But this is different. I think this is the first time that she's traveled with me when the purpose is something work-related instead of just vacation. And it does make a difference. Here are the biggest differences:

Room Organization: I'm sort of anal when it comes to my hotel room. The first think that I do when I get to a hotel room is put everything where it is supposed to go. Laptop on desk and turned on. Running clothes in dresser. Work clothes hanging in closet. I'm still following my normal routine here, but Kate is not. My work travels usually don't involve a hair straightener fighting with makeup and a hair dryer for counter space in the bathroom. It does this week. 

Shoes: Okay, I'm going to go on a bit of a rant right now. When I travel, I bring two pairs of shoes. Actually, I pack one pair of shoes, and wear another pair. One for work, one for running. That's it. Kate's here for three days. She has seven pairs of shoes. Please no comments about how girls have more shoes. Just stop it. There can be no justification for this. There are two pairs of identical black flip flops. I was almost okay with this until Kate asked if we could go to DSW. I'm not joking. She wanted to go shoe shopping. When she asked, I think there were three pairs of shoes on my heavenly bed. Those six shoes almost went out the window. 

Entertainment: So this is a good one. Entertainment on work trips for me usually involves a happy hour (or four) and watching sports on TV in my hotel room. With Kate around, we do things like going to Barnes and Noble (actually did that one twice today) and watching a bagpiper perform on the patio of our hotel. Not the kind of things that I'd do if I was flying solo.

Editor's Tangent - Kate and I read a pretty hilarious book together today at B&N: I Love Ranch Dressing - And other things that White Midwesterners Like. I recommend it. 

The Voice In My Head: Instead of just having my own voice in my head, I also have Kate's voice, which says funny things. Like when Queen Latifah got on the stage at the Grammys and Kate said "her skin looks really soft right now." Or when M.I.A. was on stage and she said "Oh my God, I think she's in labor." The lady is like 8 months pregnant and performing on the Grammys, but it was still funny to me.

So that's why I haven't been posting for the last couple of days. I've been traveling with my lovely assistant. Pretty much just sunsets, comments about Queen Latifah's skin, and 14 shoes on the floor. More tomorrow, I promise. Meaning more blogging, not more shoes.