I'm up way too early this morning—I have to go to Birmingham with Cathy today. It's not the "with Cathy" part that I mind—I like her a lot—but the "Birmingham" part. Yukyuk. I've got to train a client today, and to be honest, this is the least favorite part of my job. I'd be happy to be a computer jockey, and keep my client interaction to a minimum.

Tenzing woke me up at 4:30 this morning. Evidently, it was time to be cuddly. It took me a while to go back to sleep, and I was thinking about some of the friends I've gotten to visit. The Typical Geek Complaint, of course, came unbidden into my head:"Oh, if only all of my friends lived in the same place!"

Then I thought about that statement for a while, and realized it wasn't true. I like having friends in different parts of the country. (Yes, Brad, I know you're the exception—I really don't feel like revising that sentence, so hush, you.) It means I get to go to new places and see new things. I'd never have ventured to D.C. alone, much less Vancouver Island or New Jersey or Detroit. This is a good thing; expanding your horizons usually is.

Now…just to get over this discomfort when I'm in large cities. Andy's thinking about kidnapping me during my vacation and taking me to New York City. I felt a bit claustrophobic with the small streets of New Orleans; I can't imagine the scale of my reaction to NYC will be. But I'll go anyway, because under the discomfort is a lot of curiosity. I can always go back home later and curl up in the peace and quiet of rural suburbia.

Besides, that brings me a bit closer to my goal of seeing all the major cities of the States. Granted, "major cities" is subjective. As far as I'm concerned, I lack Chicago (hi Andrew and Joy) and San Francisco (hi Sean) after NYC. I guess I'll have to move on to exploring (as Andy says) Cananananananada next.

My watch tells me that I've got just enough time to post this, water my plants, and head out the door. I fear it's going to be a long day today. I think I'd rather just stick around at work and watch the sean-cam and the brad-cam. Like Heather. *hee*