Has it been three weeks already?

[gridlockjoe]

Then I suppose I should post about my vacation and all the excitement afterwards.

Tuesday 7 October -- flew to Buffalo. As a first experience, Northwest Airlines did ok. Our plane from IAH to DTW had a mechanical problem, so we pulled back into the gate at IAH while they checked things over for an hour. It turns out the indicator light was itself malfunctioning. We were an hour and a half late leaving IAH, but only an hour late arriving at DTW. Unfortunately, I missed my connection, so I was put on the next flight (at 5 p.m.). I was given a meal voucher, 1000 free miles, and a $25 coupon as compensation for the delay. Ate at Max & Erma's -- not too impressed. (photos)

The connecting flight arrived in BUF without incident. I picked up my rental car (thanks Priceline -- a Ford Mustang!) and drove to the Microtel in Tonawanda for the night. The late arrival put paid to my plans to do some early shopping in Saint Catharines.

Overnight I started feeling the effects of a nasty cold. The cold stuck with me the rest of the week and into the following week.

Wednesday 8 October -- My day of exploration in Chautauqua County. I drove down to Mayville and continued to the grounds of the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chautauqua_Institution. I thoroughly enjoyed touring the grounds. One day I would like to come up during the summer lecture season. (photos)

Then it was off to Jamestown to the Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Museum. The museum is in three parts -- the museum itself, the Desilu Playhouse where a number of sets from Lucille Ball's many programs are recreated, and a gift shop. Very interesting tour experience.

Further exploration ensued.

Stayed the night at the Red Roof Inn in Falconer.

Thursday 9 October -- Drove back to BUF in order to meet up with fapiece and ladycrim, who were driving up from Washington. They picked me up, and then we crossed the border without incident or even interrogation. (We were not asked for our IDs.) Lunch followed at Harvey's, then we met up with a traffic jam in Hamilton due to emergency construction. I gambled on an alternate route that's not on the maps (the Red Hill Valley Parkway) and won, and we continued north to meet up with another traffic jam in Toronto. A lot of people were heading out early for the Thanksgiving weekend. We wound up at adc14's, where we met up with ejumean, kalanaiwhoser, and later jeffyb1. chillit arrived later as a surprise. Chilled out for the rest of the evening. (general weekend photos)

Friday 10 October -- Relaxed during the day. fruchick met up with us at dinner at the Willow, and Adria and Lori met up with us afterward. We saw two shows at the Bad Dog: the Slap Happy 10th Anniversary Show and Hot Doctors in Love. Afterwards was karaoke!

Saturday 11 October -- And it's time to shop shop shop! I knocked 8 DVDs off my shopping list, plus picked up all five DVD sets of Corner Gas for my mom. We had dinner at a pub on Danforth, and saw Batleawesome Awesomestar (in which our own ejumean starred as Gaius Baltar) at the Bad Dog.

Sunday 12 October -- Our annual journey onto the stage at the Bad Dog. My cold kept me from being at my peak, but fun was had by all. (photos) Whoser Scrabble later.

Monday 13 October -- Thanksgiving Day. Also departure day. Every year I want to stay so much more. One day I shall. We got the first degree at the border (just lots of questions, the agent was friendly enough), and fapiece and ladycrim dropped me off at BUF for a 5 p.m. flight. Ate dinner at DET and squeezed into my seat for the return flight to IAH -- my center seatmate was about the same size as me.

When I got back to Houston I talked to my mom, who said she really needed to talk with me when I got back to the condo. The tone in her voice made me a nervous wreck all the way home. Turns out she fell earlier that evening and broke her wrist.

Tuesday 14 October and Wednesday 15 October -- didn't feel well enough to go to work.

Thursday 16 October -- Back to work for a day.

Friday 17 October and Saturday 18 October -- Went to Dallas to be with mom for the surgery on her broken wrist. She now has two metal plates in her wrist.

Sunday 19 October -- Back to Houston.

Then worked all last week (my boss was on vacation so had to fill in for some of his duties).

And today I bought a new laptop! An HP notebook, 3 GB RAM, 250 GB HDD, wireless LAN, specs that run rings around my desktop -- and Vista. *sigh* Big Lots had it for $550 -- a steal!