No va a NoVa

Okay, that doesn't quite work grammatically but you get the picture. I spent yesterday at a conference in the wilds of northern Virginia. It took for-freaking-ever to get out there. I mean, I do tip my hat to WMATA: this place was 25 miles away and I got there via public transportation for the low low price of $4.70. Still, I had to get up at 5am to ensure that I would make the 8am kick-off and I was not a happy camper.

Plus it was stultifyingly boring. My god. It was an issue area I follow but not too closely, so I figured that the conference would be a good way to bone up on my background knowledge. About 20 minutes in, I realized why I don't spend so much time on that subject. It bores my socks off. I got into a routine where I'd get up every hour and get more coffee or hit the ladies' room or, as the day went on, both. By lunch time, I'd had so much caffeine my skin was crawling.
What really capped it for me was that spring has finally sprung in Washington and I was stuck inside all day. DC's weather can be heartbreakingly gorgeous when it chooses and yesterday was one of those days. So every time we had a break, I would grab my phone or a magazine and go sit outside for a few minutes. Drove the front doorman nuts because he had to let me in and out all day - kind of like the way your cat is never on the right side of the door. Poor J-Dawg and G&T got several phone calls from me. "What are you doing now? How about now? Now?"

Luckily, today seems to be even purtier. I finally got the chance to wear my new flip-flops to work. I don't mean to brag, but they're the prettiest flip-flops ever. A friend gave them to me for xmas and I've been tapping my toes, waiting for the opportunity to use them. They're cherry red with Swarovski crystals on the straps. Really they're more of a night-time flip-flop - I know that rocks during the daytime are passe - but you gotta live a little, am I right?

BTW: It really chafes me to have to refer to them as "flip-flops." When I was growing up, we called them "thongs." Yes, laugh away. I stubbornly continued to call them thongs even when that took on another meaning, but finally had to give up a few years ago. The place where I was working at that time had a function on a weeknight, so most people went straight from the office. But one of my colleagues obviously had gone home and changed first. Making chitchat, I commented, "I see you went home and put on your thongs." HE winced and replied, "I really wish you wouldn't call them that." It was then that I realized that no matter how much I push this, society has decided that thongs are not worn on your feet. Generally I have no problem with raging against the machine but, in this case, I will let it drop.