birth day

So here I am in an extremely nice hotel in Palo Alto. I took some pictures of the room but we don't have the cable to download from the camera to la computadora. Let's just say that our suite has a hallway, a sitting room, a huge bathroom with vanity adjacent, a fridge, a kitchen sink, 2 flat panel tvs (1 in the bedroom and one in the living room) and is bigger and nicer than my apartment. Plus, when we checked in, we were told the that the firm is covering everything.We knew they were covering the room (they'd better!) but they also cover food (room service and the hotel restaurant), movies, tips, tax, transportation, etc etc etc. The desk clerk said the words "basically they cover everything you could want except for if you steal a chair or something." So we won't be stealing any chairs this trip. I'm wondering if they also cover the "gift items" in the room like the toy quacking duck for $15 or the bathrobe for $95. Not that I really want those things (although I would take the duck) but I feel I should abuse the firm's generosity.

Introduction over. Craig is right now at a "photo shoot" for all the summer associates, and guests are not invited. So I'm using the free wireless, watching the Tim Burton version of Willy Wonka, eating my very healthy room service breakfast, and preparing to go to the spa -er, I mean shower.

Yesterday was pretty fun. The firm provided car service to the airport and we left at 8:30 in a very nice town car. He got us to JFK in 1/2 an hour which ain't bad. The flight was relatively short, as we arrived 1/2 hour early. There were 8 of us, including me, so the firm had arranged a limo (!) to get us to the hotel. The way we were seated, I was in charge of the radio and all the fun buttons that control lights and colors. The bar was empty except for soda :( but that's ok.

After we got to the hotel, I put on my special bday ribbon that I hadn't worn on the plane for fear of terrorist accusal (I might stab someone with the pin) which would result in the immediate removal and disposal of my special bday ribbon. It did its job well and many a person asked if it was my bday and followed with the obligatory "happy birthday" (You'd be surprised at how many people don't do the follow up, which is most important.) We got some dinner and drinks in the hotel lounge, ("just charge that to my room, i.e. the firm") consisting of a mediocre pizza and a bday strawberry daiquiri for me. Then off to the firm's "mixer" where Craig got to show me off and I got to answer my least favorite question ten thousand times, "and what do you do, des?" I didn't tell anyone I was an astronaut. But I did revel in the fact that I answered every time by saying "actually I'm leaving my job in a month. What am I doing after that? I don't know."

So stand around holding a glass of mediocre wine making boring small talk with people I will prob never see again. Then they brought out the chocolate covered strawberries. When someone told me about it, I played Homer Simpson and took off so fast that only the ghost me was left behind to chat. After that, we went out to a bar downtown that someone from here recommended. They didn't have any daiquiri mix (nobody ever does) so I just went with the old standard, rum and pineapple juice. I also ordered some nachos that weren't very good. (What's with the food here so far?) Plus, I "got" to watch the International Hooters Swimsuit Competition on several tvs, and you can bet that riled more than a few angry outbursts from des, possibly scaring off Craig's mostly male associates.

But overall it was a good bday, until the crappy live band in the bar finally succeeded in drilling a hole into my skull and letting my brains slowly seep out. Combine that with my tiredness from waking up at 6:45 NY time, and I was ready to go to sleep. There were lots of bday wishes and toasts, and I got to follow motto #5, which is to not pay for anything on my bday. I blame the firm for that. :)




ps - While on the plane, we watched "A Mighty Wind" which we had netflixed, and one part made me laugh so hard I choked on my Tofurky Jerky. That really hurt because it was peppered, so I think I caused a nice little burning tear in my windpipe.

And now Willy Wonka is over so I'm totally watching Star Wars.


I'll send more updates when I can.