lonely planet

So this was a good weekend of making myself feel rather grown up, indeed. Also of naps. One is never, I hope, too grown up for naps.

Have I mentioned that I am going away in October and November, like, a lot?

Let's see, there's my

1. Conference in Pittsburgh on the weekend of October 12-14
2. Vacation in NYC (woo!) from the 15th through the 21st
3. Conference in Boston on the weekend of the 26th through the 28th
4. Weekend in Boston to see the Decemberists' Long and Short of It tour (two consecutive nights, November 3rd and 4th)
5. Weekend at a retreat center in Gloucester the weekend of November 16-18

So! I spent some portion of this weekend realizing how scarce weekends like this one are going to be this fall! The rest of the weekend I spent buying terribly grown up things for my business trips and then fiendishly plotting out my attack on the restaurants and museums of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Rhinebeck (yes, knitters, I am going to Rhinebeck).

May I simply say: I love Google maps.

But back to my grown up purchases. To sum up, I pretty much can't get over myself that I am getting sent to a real, live national conference, travel costs and expenses paid by my employer. The last time that happened, I was in grad school, and back then I did not know the value of a freaking dollar, let me tell you. I pretty much took it for granted that OF COURSE somebody wanted to fly me to Vienna, or Banff, or Wales, so I could scamper up and down rocky hillsides and scrounge around for fossils. While staying only at the very best pensiones, of course.

Christ. I was a wee bit entitled-feeling back then, wasn't I?

Well, all those lovely travel perks dissolve quicker than limestone in acetic acid, let me tell you, when you drop out of the enchanted circle known as academe. And my subsequent adventures in the real world have taught me the exact value of a dollar.

(HINT: it's a dollar.)

To paraphrase one of my favorite Bobby Womack (and The Roots) songs, I wasn't just poor, I was PO.

So I am feeling nothing less than giddy and tremendously, tremendously grateful that I am going to this conference in Pittsburgh. The coup de grace? It's a conference on TECHNOLOGY. Oh, yeah, and the arts. Which, ostensibly, is my field. The arts. But HELLO, TECHNOLOGY.

It is going to be all about podcasting and RSS feeds and Open Source and ohmygodIcan'twait.

Y'all who live here on Cape Cod know from what I speak, because you are here, and you are actually reading a blog, that this here peninsula is the goddamn hinterlands when it comes to technology and the use thereof. Bring up blogs or podcasting and the villagers get out the torches and pitchforks.

And a riot is an ugly thing.

WHICH BRINGS ME to my vacation in New York!

Did I mention yet that my birthday present this year was tickets to see a preview of Young Frankenstein? The full and legal title of which is apparently The New Mel Brooks Musical Young Frankenstein?

Well consider it mentioned!

This is basically my all-time favorite movie, and I am expecting to love it no matter how much they butcher it. Which I am not expecting them to have done, actually, since they are counting on geeks like me to embrace it and take it home and bring all my geek friends along next time.

So yes, Young Frankenstein. But before that, Rhinebeck!

But more on that anon. Dinner is almost ready, and I still haven't told you about my Adult Purchases (not THAT kind of adult purchases, not this time)!

Because I have been sadly wilting on the sidelines of life these last few years, I have done very little traveling, and none which required me to pack a couple of suits and several crisp shirts.

Turns out, these types of garments call for a WHOLE DIFFERENT TYPE OF LUGGAGE. Who knew?

So yesterday I bought a glorious, sage green garment bag at Macy's, and while I was there, I found the MOST glorious Nine West "laptop tote" for ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS off the original price.

New and stylish luggage, my friends, is seriously grown up. It's like getting a couch! That isn't from Ikea!

NOW I will truly be stylin' and profilin' in Pittsburgh and Boston. In my spiffy suits and crisp shirts.

Oh, right -- quickly, now, for I am starving -- Boston is also a technology conference, but even geekier! Check it out: Podcamp Boston2. So awesome.

And I've got so many other plans for the NYC trip: Barney Greengrass, and the Met, and the Cloisters, and Prospect Park, and a visit to ETSY HEADQUARTERS.

Clearly, this grown up girl is seriously overstimulated. The thought! of so much! travel! in just! two months!

I need a nap.