Seattle sunblock

So I made it to Orlando... Granted it was 3 days later than originally planned, and I missed out on my dolphin swim, but I got me some vitamin D (minus the sunburn), some new friends, and a poorly drawn caricature.

So the conference itself was a bust. Many of the topics had absolutely nothing to do with me, so I was quite bitter sitting in a dark conference room pining for the poolside lounge chair and Mai Tai that was calling my name.



But once I was out of that dingy prison they called a conference room, I managed to make it to Sea World to see Shamu, and to Wet-n-Wild where I proceeded to relive a little bit of my childhood with some fellow conference goers and a couple resident Floridians, for whom I now have an excuse (besides the dolphin swim) to return to O-town to visit. :)

We also hit up some of the night life in downtown Orlando. Saturday night, post W&W, we headed out to the club which is definitely something I miss, seeing as how I currently reside in a town with limited civilization... And then after we closed down the club, we hit Mc.D's for a late night/early morning snack. We caused a rucus, to say the least... :) I think I got back to the hotel around 4 am... quickly showered, packed my bags and caught the shuttle to the airport at 5 am. :) I was dead to the world as soon as we took off.

And then I stepped off the plane into overcast, 50 degree weather and I immediately wanted to go back.

Government shutdown panic

So have any of you been keeping up on the whole government shutdown talk?? I'm scheduled to attend a conference for work next week, and I'm more than a little frustrated iwth the lack of concrete guidance, not to mention freaking out about the possibility of being furloughed. I am NOT a fan of this mandatory LWOP bullshit... OR the possibility of not getting compensated after the whole thing is over. (TOTAL bullshit) I wouldn't be so upset if I didn't have a non-refundable (although thankfully reschedulable for one time with no fee) ticket to swim with dophins in Orlando on Sunday. So depending on what happens in the next few hours, there are a few scenarios of what might happen. Here are the options:

Option 1 - Congress agrees on something or they pass another temporary CRA sometime in the next few hours and life continues as usual. I get to see dolphins. Yay.

Option 2 - Right now, the conference schedulers have officially canceled Monday's session, but haven't made a decision on the rest of the week yet. If by the end of today I receive instructions from my Commander to cancel my orders, I will cancel all my reservations and not go to Orlando, even if the gov ends up NOT shutting down and the conference is still a go in Orlando, at which point I will be pissed because I will have to reschedule my dolphin swim for who knows when and get my ass to Orlando on my own dime. And breathe...

Option 3 - If I DON'T hear anything about canceling orders, and by the end of today the conference is still tentatively a go for next week, I will get on the plane tomorrow morning and go to Orlando. Even if I have to pay for the hotel myself and turn around and come back on Tuesday. My time won't be reimbursed, but the plane ticket is already paid for and according to the lawyers, I would not be held responsible for paying it back.

Option 4 - No matter the guidance, I reschedule my flight for Monday (the new official travel day for the conference) and rearrange my hotel reservations to arrive on Monday instead of Saturday. Thus giving Congress the weekend to resolve the budget and me a little more time to decide on cancelations. But that means I'd still have to reschedule the dolphins and go to Orlando on my own sometime in the next 12 months (I have to notify of the intent to reschedule no later than COB Sunday - 2p.m. PST).Unless an agreement isn't decided on by Saturday though, in which case the conference will automatically be canceled/rescheduled and I'll hopefully be able to get a time during the rescheduled conference for my date with the dolphins.

Option 5 - the conference schedulers stop yanking us around and just make the decision to reschedule the conference already. I cancel my travel plans and reschedule the dolphins during the new conference dates.

Clearly options 1 (although highly unlikely) and 4/5 are preferred, but all this hinges on guidance that has yet to be announced. It's just a total mess and there's no way I can resemble anything like productive with this kind of uncertainty looming overhead. This not knowing bullshit is painful...

 

slr

THG disaster... please don't be another Twilight

I was/am a Twilight fan. I know, I know. Sometimes I'm ashamed to admit it, just like I'm ashamed to admit I was a massive NSYNC fan in highschool... but we're not talking about NSYNC, we're talking about my YA (young adult) novel craze. Ever since discovering the sacred pages of Twilight, I've been on a YA kick and almost refuse to read anything else. After the God awful movie was release, however, my Twilight fanatical ways came to a screetching hault. The first movie absolutely DESTROYED my spirit and I just can't get over it. (although I still plan to see the midnight premiere of Breaking Dawn...). Recently, however, I've found a new obsession...

The Hunger Games.

Anyone that's ever read this book knows exactly what I'm talking about... I freakin LOOOOOOOVVVVE this book/series. I totally had TEABS (The End of and Awesome Book Syndrome) when I finished the series. WAAAAY more than I EVER had with Twilight.

Now onto the reason for this post. Anyone who's anyone knows that THG the movie is in the works (YAY!) and the cast for the three leads was just announced... but just like Twilight, THG fans are not so happy with the selections...

Katniss -

Strong, independent, and looks 16...

My picks: Danielle Chuchran...

or Willa Holland

Gary Ross's choice:

Jennifer Lawrence

(so NOT 16... although I'm not TOO disappointed with this choice)

Gale -

brooding and way hot...

My pick: Ian Sommerhalder

(swoon!!)

Gary's pick:

Liam Hemsworth

(Ummm, he's gonne need some help on the whole brooding thing...)

Peeta -

sweet, clever, adorable Peeta...

Hunter Parish (PERRRRFECT!!)

Gary's choice:

Josh Hutcherson

(all I can say is WHAT?!?! Soooo wrong...)

I'm going to need a little mourning time and quite a few cocktails before I'm OK with this. This is HUGELY disappointing and I'm more than a little worried this may turn into another Twilight disaster. Seriously, I can't take another broken heart. I just can't. So I'm praying like never before that Gary knows what he's doing...

And this concludes my allotted time for THG discussion...

slr

Oh say can you seeeeee!!

Apparently after my beyond stellar performance at one of last year's games, the Sweets have asked me to return for an encore performance of the National Anthem at a couple of this summer's games. :)

Last year's game was a lot of fun, although quite short - we were rained out by the 2nd inning. We held out as long as we could, but when you can't seen the person next to you because of the rain, it's time to call it quits. The nice part was my sister and nephew were in town for a visit, and we made the best of the torrential downpour with a crazy game night with some of my crazy friends. :) Probably one of the most random, purely comical evenings I've had in a long time.

My nephew, Brady, and I... soaked. :)

Needless to say there's no doubt we will be frequenting many of the Sweets games this summer. With $1 beer nights at all Wednesday home games, it's almost a sin not to take advantage of the dirt cheap entertainment.

And how could anyone say no to Sweet Louie. :)

slr