The (long) weekend in review

[dagibbs]

I posted snippets along the way, but here's looking back at the whole thing.

Friday had only work, dinner, and a shift to a hotel near the airport in Tulsa in a feeble attempt to make Saturday morning less painful.

Saturday morning started way too early, at 4:15am, in order to make a 6am flight. (With not having fallen asleep until almost 2am, this was pretty rough.) I flew Tulsa-Detroit; Detroit-Ottawa and the whole thing went smoothly. I was a bit worried about my luggage in Detroit, since my transfer was less than an hour, but I was relieved to see my luggage sitting by the plane as I boarded for Ottawa.

I got home around noon, unpacked, got a load of laundry into the washer, check email and LJ, laundry into the dryer, then napped. I was back up and re-packed and out the door by about 5pm, getting me to mycrazyhair's party in Toronto shortly before 10pm. The party was a lot of fun, and people finally left around 4am, allowing me to crash out on the couch.

For unexplained reasons, I woke up before 8am, but didn't quite stagger off the couch until a bit later. Another quick check of email and LJ, then onwards to KW, I think I hit the road around 11am. First stop in Kitchener was lunch with horsetraveller, where we went on a restaurant quest, finding our first two choices were closed. We eventually found something acceptable, and had lunch. Ok, maybe not the best restaurant, but the company was good.

I had arranged to meet athena_51 around 3pm, though had warned her that I might be a bit early. (She expected me somewhere in the 2-4pm range.) I did manage to arrive... with unfortunate timing, but we managed to make it through a potentially awkward situation with a surprising amount of comfort and good humour. We found ourselves some dinner (on first try), then got changed and headed out to KNaNo. We had a nice evening together, though again I ended up awake until about 2am and waking up before 8am. (There was quite a set of thunderstorms that night, too.)

Up again, internet again, and on the road for Michigan. I left early enough that I shouldn't have had a problem making it to Ann Arbor for my 3pm get-together with rainbowravenx, but unfortunately construction intervened. There was some on the 401 leading up to Windsor, but it wasn't too bad, just a bit slow. The problem was after the bridge -- routed onto side streets with less than great signage due to the complete closure of that section of I75. Luckily Bella was also running a bit behind, so this was ok.

I had some food with Bella, and hung out for a while, then off to eviljohn's for some gaming. We played a couple fill games of Guillotine, then a game of Leonardo Da Vinci, which I quite liked and have added to my "to buy" list, or maybe my "to buy or to list as a possible birthday/Christmas present list" if it stays on the list long enough.

Back to redrunn & elizilla's place where I was sleeping for the time in Michigan. (redrunn was also at the gaming.) Chatted a bit with them, and did the internets thing, before hitting bed around 2am.

I think I actually managed to sleep in until almost 9am Monday morning, though I may have lain in bed a bit longer not sleeping. Then up and more interwebs, then off to lunch with renniekins. Once again, the joys of construction got in my way -- primary route to her place would have been the (closed) I75, and the back up route was also under construction -- down to 2 lanes (from 4) at what in the best of times would be the worst choke-point along the way. So, a bit later than expected there. We went out to a nice Thai place nearby, and as far as I can tell, had a nigh 100% Alpaca free meal. Then, to avoid the likely mess on the 696 (the westbound had an accident on it in the construction zone that I'd spotted going the other way), I tried an alternate route... only to find that the 11 Mile & Coolidge intersection was under construction and closed to traffic.

So, I ended up meeting Bella & Amy a bit late for climbing. It was ok, as they weren't ready to go yet, anyway. The three of us hit Planet Rock in Ann Arbor, and got in some good climbs.

Then, after dropping them off home and showering, I met CM in downtown Ann Arbor for dinner and coffee. We had some good Indian food, and it was wonderful to get to spend some time with her.

Finally, to round out my quiet day, after dinner and coffee, I dropped by Tio's for an hour or so, to say hello to the people there, and further reinforce the impression that I'm a local who just doesn't get out much. (Or, as redrunn has taken to saying, they lock me away in their basement, and only let me out occasionally.)

Then, back to their place, more internets, and bed around 2am.

Awake, internets, and on the road by 9am today. Drive home was remarkably smooth -- I thought about trying to avoid I94 through downtown Detroit, but the alternatives (e.g. 696) were looking even worse. Luckily, it was smooth fast traffic all the way through Detroit, in fact all the way home. There was one compression slow-down to about 50km/h across Toronto (for only a short bit), but that was the worst I hit.

Then, home and finally some time with gabriel_le. It has been 2 and 1/2 weeks, and I missed her. (And, she missed me, too.) Unfortunately, though, she's got some kind of cold. :(

Now, I expect I'll be awake until 2am (or so). Oh well.

Comments

[eviljohn.livejournal.com]

Actually, because I'm a Mayfair playtester, I can get Leonardo for you for 1/2 off. Would you like me to grab you a copy?

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Evil tempter.

I SO do not need to buy new games right now.

Also, redrunn might have/be doing the same thing. I really don't need two new copies. Let me get back to you on this.

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

Ok, redrunn didn't order me one.

Oh sure, order me one. I'll find somewhere for it on my games shelving. Somewhere.

[eviljohn.livejournal.com]

Chuckle, well - you've seen my teetering games bookcase! ;)

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

That I have.

[eviljohn.livejournal.com]

Oh, BTW - I'm going to Origins in two weeks. Let me know if you want me to buy any games. ;-)

[dagibbs.livejournal.com]

No. No. No. 155 times no.