Bye-bye, work!

Today is my last day at my soon-to-be-former paper The Voice . To bid adieu, I wrote a column.

You can read the entire piece HERE

 

55A

Let's say you're bored between the hours of, oh, I don't know --  noon on Jan. 7 and 4 a.m. Jan. 8 and want to know exactly where I'll be? That's me, seat 55 A.

Notice how multiple rows in front and behind me are empty? Notice how there's no one in the seats next to me? 

Don't be a fool and book 55 B, OK?

Packing

In two weeks, I'm moving to Shanghai. 

There's probably a lot more I could say about that, but I've exhausted myself trying to figure out how to pack. 

What do you pack to move 7,000 miles away? How do you fit it all in one suitcase? 

I did a "test run" last weekend and the results were less than awesome. And since then I've given up. 

And then I bought this book and I keep telling myself it will really come in handy!

{I have a column coming out Dec. 29 that covers the 'why' of moving to Shanghai, I'll link to it here at that time!}

How to condense a three day trip into 1:30

Back from D.C.

Here's our trip in a minute and a half:

Day 1:
DTW to BWI
Shuttle to MARC/Amtrak station
Car ride to Baltimore for crab cakes (uh, at an Irish restaurant..we were tired, OK?)
Back to MARC/Amtrak station
MARC to Union Station in D.C.
Metro at Union Station to Foggy Bottom Metro station
Hotel
Dinner at Luigi's on 19th
Monuments at night

Day 2:
Breakfast
Tried to pick up metro at Metro Center to go to rally
Trains too packed, walked instead
Rally where we had no cell reception
Post rally walk back to hotel with 200,000 other people
Science Club 

Day 3:
Union station to drop of bags and then head to Newseum

Columbia, district of

D.C. in 10 days

We'll rally a little and then dally a lot.

Virginia: The Movie

Short video of my Virginia trip last month. As you can see, most of the time was spent in the car.  

(And most of this is probably Ohio/Pennsylvania, 'cause if you've driven that way out of Michigan, you know about Ohio/Pennsylvania....and how they just never, never end. )

Change -- get it? Get it?

 

{Old 2008 snapshot of Sam Roberts by Kim Scherer when we had a Great Canadian Adventure}

On Saturday, I went to Canada to see this fella by the name of Sam Roberts. He was opening for some band called Weezer. (I know what you're thinking, and it's not the incarcerated rapper with a penchant for women and gold teeth.) We actually left halfway through Weezer.

 While in Canada, I had poutine with my friends Jen and Keith. 

Poutine from a truck, under the bridge, by the river -- 'cause that's classy! And poutine should always be classy!

I made it home with a handful of this: Canadian coins. 

I always think I'm broke when I head home from Canada. Then I find 8 pounds worth of coins in my bag. 

I'm still broke, because I can't use it here, but it sort of makes me feel better about not having spent all my money and I sometimes find places to unload it in the U.S.

I used to live in an apartment complex where the washing machines took Canadian quarters. When I was in college, I also found parking meters that took Canadian change.

I've tried once -- or twice -- to take my Canadian money to my bank and have once -- or twice -- been told that I couldn't exchange foreign currency there. Which was weird because if there was a place you'd think you could exchange foreign currency, it would be a bank.

(Same topic, different story: I was once frowned upon by a Swiss Chalet waitress somewhere outside of Toronto when I asked for "singles" so I could leave her a tip. "Singles?" "Yes, could I please have some singles?" "Singles?" "Yes, singles.....dollars?" "Ohhhhh.")

I hike. For real.

{Photo: Lisa Gervais}

I realized we were going uphill and that’s when I knew I was in trouble. I mean, we were on an incline, and it was relentless.

Here’s some background: I come from a flat area, and while I enjoy running up the really big hill by my house because it breaks up the monotony of a long, flat run, I have no experience motoring up a sustained incline. (My closest experience? The time a friend taught me to snowboard and I couldn’t get the hang of tow rope, so I had to keep walking up the bunny hill, then falling down it, then walking back up.)

So, here I am at the bottom of a mountain in Virginia's Shenandoah National Park.

I think, “Hey, how hard could it be?”

I mean, I can walk, right? Plus, I was told we were taking the back way up the mountain because it was “easier” than the front (I may have confused the word “easier” with “easy.” It’s worth mentioning no one said “easy.”)

Long story short, I am so out of shape.

How out of shape?

I’m pretty sure it took me three hours to get to the top.

I’ve never been a smoker, but I wish I had been. At least that would justify having to lean up against boulders to catch my breath every 10 minutes.

I rarely encountered anyone coming back down while I was on the way up, but oh how jealous I was of them. Taking long strides downhill, their breathing, so easy! Taking in the scenery. Serene, bumbling jerks. Didn’t they know how tired I was? One of them even had the audacity to come strolling around a corner with a kid on her back. A kid! On her back!

{There was a lot of this jumping stuff at the top. Photo: Paul Nagelkirk}

I did, at one point question whether or not the view from the top would be better than anything I could have Google imaged. I mean, the internet is pretty fancy nowadays.

(Also, as a testament to my mind’s ability to wander and to my fierce loyalty to reality shows, I spent a good chunk of time contemplating what exactly Olivia Polermo – Socialite! Star of MTV’s The City! – would wear while hiking)

Once I decided Polermo would be wearing jaunty ensemble mixing Patagonia and Zac Posen, I also decided there was no summit.

The path was narrowing and I had to navigate boulders, but still no summit.

I kept looking up, trying to tell if the trees were ending, and still no summit.

Up, up, up and still no summit.

I had moved to the side of the path to let a group of about 15 middle aged men pass by me on their way down.

One of them stopped and asked, “Are you going up or down?”

HELLO! I’M GOING UP THIS STUPID MOUNTAIN!

“Oh, so you came up the back way?”

YES, YES, HELLO! I CAME UP THE BACK WAY BECAUSE I WAS TOLD IT WAS EASIER!

“Well, you’re not that far.”

{There was a lot of this taking pictures stuff, too. Photo: Lisa Gervais

And this man was not a liar. (Good for him, right?)

I hiked on for a short distance and then came to the summit.

And it was beautiful.

I think it’s some sort of trick that Mother Nature plays.

On the way up, I really hated Earth for making me tired. I was bitter and angry at Earth. Stupid Earth with your stupid inclines!

And then you get to the top and there’s just this beautiful panoramic view of Blue Ridge Mountains, and you think, you know, I’d probably do this all over again. And then you get a nice leisurely downhill hike to think about how beautiful Earth really is.

You’re a tricky one, Mother Nature. Tricky.

Have a nice trip....

{This time last year, I was on vacation in Portland, and this is what happened to me}

{I leave later this week for vacation. Just saying!}