January 11, 2007

I’m officially tired and ready to come home. My feet hurt. I’m on my last pair of clean underwear. I feel as though I have been trudging through some endless desert terrain with only a plastic exhibitor badge and a pocket full of business cards to shield me from the hostile elements (ie, the man who yesterday said to me, “Well, most of my design staff are middle-aged women,” then hurriedly followed up with “No offense!”).

Today I saw a young kid, maybe 10, wearing one of those wireless phone headset thingies I hate. The hell? I guess he needed to be ready to take some important calls. He was with his mom, who stood nearby looking very bored as he told us all about how he owns all of Workplace’s products, and was Product X AppleScriptable because he sure hoped so.

Dear 10-year-old Macworld attendee with Bluetooth headset: please go outside and throw some rocks. Alternately, try making a fort out of some sofa cushions.

It sounds like Riley’s doing a little better after another steroid dose today. JB had a rough night yesterday and has decided there’s no way we can drive the boy down to Coos Bay while Riley’s so sick, and thus I have changed my plane reservations yet again to arrive in Seattle rather than Eugene. I’m leaving mid-afternoon tomorrow to get back home and lend a much-needed helping hand.

Meanwhile, I have developed my own cough, a delightful chest-rattling consumptive sort of hack that occasionally overwhelms me right smack in the middle of a conversation and the only thing I can do is wave apologetically as I attempt to dislodge my lungs altogether, possibly by jettisoning them from my sputtering mouth. Oh yes, it’s very attractive.

Also, my feet hurt. Did I mention that yet?

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Ceiling at the hotel.

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I’m ready to come home, but I will miss the room service dessert options. Can you blame me?

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The phone everyone’s in a lather over.

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Apple’s big fancy booth.

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Another pretty building nearby. San Francisco has a shitload of nice looking buildings.

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Alex
17 years ago

Aw, feel better Sundry! (and that dessert looks *divine*)

angela
17 years ago

1.) Creme brulee is my lover.
2.) Poor Riley!
3.) Lung hacking is sexy. I know this because I do it myself.

jen
jen
17 years ago

I just got over a cold… here’s hoping you and Riley feel better soon!

Claire
17 years ago

I feel you on that cough. I was on the phone with an administrator (I work at a Univ.) and I had a terrible cough to the point where I couldn’t speak to tell her I’d call her back. Luckily she got the message. How embarrassing though. Sending good vibes your kid’s way!

Kaire
Kaire
17 years ago

I realized suddenly how much of a non-techno person I am. I am dreading getting a new phone because I don’t even want it to have a stupid camera! It was hard last time to find one so I guess it’s time to accept I’m doomed and will have a phone that will have 1934232594534 1/2 features too complicated for me to even engage!

Julie
Julie
17 years ago

There’s nothing like a homecoming… You look forward to that like nothing else on earth. You’ll be 3 peas in a pod in no time, taking care of each other. So hang in there… the countdown is on!

Judie Ashford
Judie Ashford
17 years ago

Linda, I am curious about your company, Workplace. Googling, of course, brings up millions of hits. I tried looking at the exhibitors’ list on the MacWorld site, but came up empty. Do you use Workplace just as a code name for your real employer? Could you let me know the real name, perchance?

I have been reading, and admiring, your blogs now for a few months, and am also enjoying your aunt’s blog. We just came back to Arizona from a year and a half in Washington and Oregon, most recently in Sequim. We love it up there – in the summer and fall! ;-> We hope to return this coming summer for another round of amazement at the beauty up there.

Happy homecoming! ;->

Virtual hugs,

Judie

em
em
17 years ago

I love room service. I tried it for the very first time traveling with work over the summer in a moderately fancy hotel. It feels so terrifically indulgent to have someone bring you a slice of cake on a fancy tray (with lid!) with a flower. There was really no option other than to eat it while sitting on the bed in my pajamas, watching HBO.

Ang
Ang
17 years ago

Oh, I know how you feel about READY TO BE HOME. I always look forward to little trips but am more than ready to be home by the end. And, you poor thing, you’ll be home just in time to be sick. ACK!

Glad Riley is on the mend. Love the pictures! Oh, and love creme brule — even looking at it is delicious.

HollowSquirrel
17 years ago

EEEgads does it looks gorgeous in SanFran. Sorry about the hacking cough & missing little Riley. And the feet– girl, you need to be pampered after this!

As for me, I think I may have to cease reading your blog as your gorgeous pictures (even of a phone, albeit a freaking awesome phone) create an increasing desire to RUN to Best Buy and buy that Nikon you own. MUST. BUY.

Mel
Mel
17 years ago

I hope you feel better soon and I’m glad to hear your son is doing a little better. Good luck!

omu
omu
17 years ago

It’s probably not what they were going for, but the phone everyone’s wetting themselves for sure does look pretty in that glass case.

I hope Riley starts to feel better. Poor bean!! And poor JB for dealing with a sick kiddo by himself. No fun!! And poor you for not being able to be there!!

Jennifer
Jennifer
17 years ago

I’m confused by the “middle aged women” comment. Was he saying that you are middle aged thus would fit right in, or what? Sounds weird. Like, why even qualify it with “middle aged.” Why not just say that his design staff is made up of women and leave it at that?

I guess I’m glad I don’t work for THAT guy. And you should be too! See, there’s something positive to take out of all that.

Hang in there, you’re in the home stretch.

Kym
Kym
17 years ago

If your cough is the same as my cough, don’t let it go on too long before getting in to the DR. I started hacking before Christmas and thought it would just “go away”. Well it turned in to 102.5 fever, bronchitis and I also was blessed with an ear infection that caused my left ear to completely close off for 3 weeks. I am so sick of hearing myself talk and chew and breathe inside my head! I am now on my last bit of antibiotics and still get fits of the hack that almost makes me hork on the checkout lady at Rite Aid. Take care of yourself!

Beautiful pictures. I love S.F.

Riley will be so happy to have you home, and of course hubby will, too.

Meg
Meg
17 years ago

Mmmmm, creme bruleeeeee….

I love the advice to the ten yr old kid!

And I really hope you and Riley both feel great soon!

Brooke
17 years ago

“Creme brulee is my lover”. That is AWESOME! I heart creme brulee, too. Mmmm…room serviiiiiice….

I miss SF. I grew up near there, in Redwood City on the Peninsula, and I’d love to go back, but alas! my custody agreement prevents me from moving outside Ventura County.

fellowmom
fellowmom
17 years ago

I had that cough. It sounded like I had emphasema. People at work would come over to make sure I was “OK” and I had to give a dopey thumbs up, because I couldn’t speak. I had the cough for 3 weeks, though mostly just at night the last two. It never got as bad as Kym’s, but I did get some prescription cough syrup to use at night–some combination of vicodin and cough supressant. I highly recommend it. Oh, and drink lots of fluids!

Swistle
17 years ago

Any time I get a “no offense,” I think LATER of an excellent reply. I’m not saying this particular reply would be an excellent one, but I need a spur-of-the-moment example and this is the best I could come up with in the four seconds I’m investing: “Oh, that’s okay. I work with mainly geeky guys who don’t realize they have food in their teeth and shouldn’t wear so much cologne. No offense.”

Swistle
17 years ago

Also, I think I speak for most of us when I say we are mentally on a flight to come hang out in your hotel room and eat desserts like the one shown. THAT is the life.

Lesley
Lesley
17 years ago

In another 10 years, that ten year old will be a contestant on Beauty and the Geek.

If it’s any consolation, my toilet was broken for the last 24 hours due to a wad of pampers stuck in the small pipe. And I don’t even have kids.

Hope you and young Riley are feeling better soon.

dorrie
dorrie
17 years ago

Do you HAVE to show photographic evidence of the creme brulee? Hearing about it was bad enough!

Melanie
17 years ago

Get well soon! (Hopefully in the next day and a half so that you can go home and take care of Riley without feeling like hell yourself, right?)

Carol
17 years ago

Ah yes, the pleasure and the pain of business trips and the downside to having a sick kid…quite often I end up with some variation of the same thing my kid gets…the joys of motherhood, I guess.

GJR
GJR
17 years ago

ack, the conference feet. I am not looking forward to that when I go to a conference next week. I hope you’re feeling better soon!

Christine
17 years ago

By now I’m sure you’re basking in the glow of returning home….and I hope Riley is feeling much better. :)

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