"Fly me to the moon/Let me play among the stars"--Sinatra

I see that look in your eyes and I gotta tell you it hurts a little.

I hate to disappoint you.

Oh, I know. You're looking to me for some righteous indignation. And, usually, I'm brimming with it. Or at least some incredulity at the lunacy that is all around me.

But it's hard to come off vacation and muster up indignation. Mostly, I'm mellow and grateful. I've been lying on a beautiful beach and other people have been fetching me drinks. How much can I really complain?? Add to that that it was a paid holiday. To have money deposited into your account for weeks of paid slackassery, while you are enjoying said slackassery, is truly the best.

Alas, it's over. And I am facing hundreds of work emails and dozens of meeting requests and close to 300 posts in my Google Reader... *sigh*.

And, now, you're giving me that look.

Okay, fine. Here's something I found mildly amusing. Your mileage blahblahblah.

We flew Continental from DC to Houston and from Houston to Puerto Vallarta and did the same gig in reverse when we came home. So we had four Continental flights. They were really everything you'd want in a flight: safe, timely, smooth, comfortable.

That said, every flight began with DVD screens flipping down and a message from the Grand Poobah of Continental, Larry Kellner, saying how great it was that we were flying Continental and how proud he was of Continental's outstanding record and who knows what else he said because everybody was busy craning around trying to determine if the stews were going to serve a snack.

Here's the good part, on the last two flights we took, the DVD screens would flip down and Larry would appear and start his spiel, and there'd be one screen that just wouldn't stay down. It would come down and go back up and come down and go back up, like it was on a cheap knockoff of Viagra, and this must have happened 20 times on the first leg back. Meanwhile, old Lar, is talking about technical excellence.

When it happened on the final flight, on a different plane from the last, I ignored the admonition that all electronic devices must be in the off position because the desire to capture the moment was overwhelming. The screen had been flipping about a dozen times by the time I got my camera going, and, alas, you only see the very end of the flippery but, heaven knows, I tried.

For you.

So let's see a little more gratitude and a little less disappointment, hmm?

Mexico has been good to me

I have yet to have a bad time in Mexico.

Even when I was with my ex, a troll--but without the cool pink hair, I still had a good time in Mexico. After all, it wasn't Mexico's fault that I chose poorly.

I've been to Acapulco, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, and now Puerto Vallarta--all tourist towns in beautiful seaside locations--and I've found that in Mexico they understand the tourist trade. They want you to be happy because they want you to stay, they want you to come back and they want you to tell your friends so that more money is spent in the region. As a result, they go out of their way to make sure you are indeed happy. Pretty basic strategy, right? But we've been a lot of places outside of Mexico where they could care less if the tourists are happy.

It's not all flan and cervezas, though. You do have to convert the money but it's a pretty straightforward conversion and truly a lot of places take dollars. Well, they did until the news hit that the dollar was as valuable as a ticket to a Courtney Love concert.* And, though rarely imperative, it's appreciated if you speak Spanish where you can so it helps to learn before you go, and as you go.

Aside from that, it's very easy. The vast majority of signs are in both Spanish and English (see how thoughtful?) or they use international symbols. We did all right with 99% of them. Then we saw this and scratched our heads for a while:


Apparently, Captain Morgan is prohibited in Mexico.



* Odd little Wiki-bit: Courtney is a mix of Irish and Jewish and describes herself as "a nice Jewish girl." I'll bet her folks are kvelling.

Returning from Vacay

Thoughts you have when you are either very stressed or very relaxed:

• Did I do that or did I just think that?
• Yes, I definitely could use a drink here.
• You got drama? Save it for your Mama.
• Yes, I definitely could use a nap here.
• What the hell, right?

Hello, Beautiful People!

I have been unwinding in lush, tropical Puerto Vallartahhhh, Mexico. We stayed at Dreams which has the gentle Banderas Bay in back and the amazingly verdant Sierra Madre mountains in front. Here's our little slice of heaven... the room view of the bay:



The resort was very nice and very relaxed and the food and service were quite good.

Probably more to come but right now... off to do 11 days' worth of laundry. *waveywave*

"Vacation/All I ever wanted/Vacation/Had to get away" --The Gogos

It's true. I am on vacay.

After this, I will not be blogging. I will be getting some much needed R&R for the next week and a half. I want to melt into a mindless puddle. I want to forget all my passwords. I want to get out of my brain for a while and just enjoy the lush world around me.

My hope is that this will result in me being:

• rested and mellow,
• a little more thoughtful/clever here, and
  
• able to finish long words like vacay.

What's with people that drop the ends off words? How feeble is that?

Whatev.

Miss me if you must but don't sit around moping. Go out and have some fun!

Okay, okay... something for you... let's see... got it. The first three people that write me at lacochran812(at)gmail(dot)com giving me a snail mail address, will receive a cheesy vacay tchotchke.

Hope to see you when I'm back in the blog world. As always, thanks for stopping by and I wish you great big buckets of joy!

"I got to be movin' on"--Steve Miller Band

[Not us. But don't you love the kicky hairstyle?]


We left early Friday for the event that required this and this. I am happy to say that I survived the experience. The official pictures aren't back yet so I may still show up sporting an expression worthy of Jim Carey but I think I did all right. My sister, the hostess for this event, who everyone says looks remarkably like me* tends to put herself in the center of the photograph (yeah, yeah, it's her event, I know) and me at a far end. If you know something about photography you know that even though we are roughly similar in stature, she winds up looking like Angelina Jolie, only thinner, and I wind up looking like William "The Refrigerator" Perry.

Well, at least I was able to improve my arm tone from the previous consistency of yogurt-with-the-fruit-on-the-bottom to the much preferable consistency of butter. Not really, really cold butter, but, you know, that just tears the bread.

Bad parts of looking very much like someone else:

• People insist on telling you that you look exactly like that other person. Repeatedly. Um, yeah, got the memo. Move on!
• People expect you to act like that other person and are disappointed when you don't. My sister and I have extremely different personalities. Again, move on!
• People want to see you next to your "twin" even if it means dragging you away from an interesting conversation. Um, not strictly here for your amusement, people. Move on!
  

* Actually, at her events, they say I look remarkably like her, but I prefer it my way. We are not twins. She is three years older. (+1 for me. ) She is also 3 inches taller. (+1 for her.)