Back on the keyboard

Hi there. No, I haven't been intentionally neglecting my blog. I just happened to have chosen a hotel whose idea of providing wi-fi service means that their guests would have to use the service in the hotel's small lobby (and even then, your IP address needs to start with some other number than what mine or any of my collegues here's start with). I also found that the Borders acrossed the street charges (yes, CHARGES!) $10 for customers to use their cafe's wi-fi. Where am I? Cheapskate city??

Actually, I'm in Northborough, MA for a training workshop on GIS data preparation for use in the USGS' National StreamStats program. It's been very eye-opening and I have a million ideas for me to bring home to the Lansing office....

Okay, enough about work. So, let's go back to Monday. While I don't try to make it my place to trash businesses, note that I will never, never, never call on Lansing's own "Big Daddy Taxi" for a ride ever again. [Attention all non-Lansing-ite; yes, this is really the name of this company....] My Lansing-Detroit flight out of town was for 3:10; so on Monday morning, I phoned the cab company and requested a 1:30 pick-up from home, hoping to get to the airport with time to spare. Okay, if you are from Lansing, I'm sure you're laughing right now b/c that's definitely on the conservative side for time, but hey, I like to be places early.

By 1:25, I received a call from the cab company that their driver was on their way and would be a couple minutes after 1:30. By 1:40, I phoned the dispatcher to find out how much longer it would be and was reassured that the driver was "just around the corner". Well, by 1:50, I was waiting outside my house, hoping to shave a couple minutes off of the pick-up. By 1:55, I was in my own car, driving to the airport and on the phone with the cab company, who still assured me that the driver was "just around the corner". Well, not to be pushy or anything, but isn't it their job to get folks from Point A to Point B when the customer wants to be there? I was peeved beyond belief and am writing them a horrible review on GE. Nonetheless, I made it to the airport and my flight on time. Thankfully, there's not usually a line at the Lansing airport!

The Detroit to Boston flight was interesting. I should've known when I walked up to my seat and one of the people sitting next to me had the Book of Mormon on their lap. Not that there's anything in particular wrong with that, but when every part of any conversation turned to something really off the wall. I ended up getting to the point where I was being very short and giving one word answers, trying to completely immerse myself into the latest edition of Craft:. The other person sitting next to me was a college-age girl who was visiting family in the Boston-area. She's from Minnesota, but had just returned to the U.S. after spending 2 months volunteering in an orphanage in India. That was really interesting and helped focus attention away from "fire and brimstone woman."

Navigating Logan was very easy and getting from Boston to Northborough was a breeze, except for all of the toll stops. So far on this trip, I've done some knitting (now am on the second handle of the Daphne purse), and watched a couple of DVDs I brought (Torchwood, Season 1, Disk 2; and Henry Fool).

Last night, we had dinner at "The Purple Rhino" in Worcester, which I'm told is the 2nd largest city in New England. Tonight, I'm catching up with Jessie in Boston, though the local news is already saying that this afternoon's commute into town will be hectic b/c the Patriots have a home exhibition game and there's also Jonas Brothers concert....Stay tuned. Hopefully, tomorrow, I'll be able to access the airport wi-fi better than any network around here....