Since I seem to have activated my away-from-home batsignal, here are the SMS messages I've sent to Twitter in the past 24 hours. My tweets are normally friends-only, but when I'm away from home they're usually more interesting than the usual 'OMG where's my tea?' claptrap, so I've written a script to post them publicly in batches once daily while I'm gone.

We are going to New York.

Jeff and I don't 'vacation' together often. He has the same love for quiet days at home that I do of plopping myself in a new city and learning it by wearing out the soles of my feet. The typical end result (which you will see in December) is of me packing a small bag and Jeff dropping me off to catch a plane heading off to parts unknown.

(...and I don't even like to fly!)

"The bright lights of Broadway are still shining, but the question remains, for how long?

There doesn't appear to be any movement in the deadlock between the stagehands' union and the League of American Theaters and Producers, despite a meeting yesterday aimed at clearing the air.

However, right now there is no indication of a when or if a lockout will take place. Both sides say they have already given their final offers."

What I'm including below is the text of a letter I just sent to Andrew Granade, an old friend of mine. Over the years, when I've gone places, the process of sitting down to tell Andrew about the trip has often been the moment where my thoughts about my traveling experiences coalesced into something coherent and worth telling.

For a bit of explanation—he wanted to hear about my experiences in New York, about Rent (which I saw on Broadway), and my thoughts on finally seeing the Holocaust Museum.

Skyline from WTC1
by domesticat.
The photos are here.

Andrew -
Don't feel bad. If I wanted a big fuss made of my birthday, I would've said so months in advance. :) I try to make it a day (and if I'm lucky, a week) that I do things that I want to do. I'm not much hung up on other people remembering—though it's nice when they do.

I didn't realize how much I needed to get away for a short while. (I had an utterly different start to this, and then accidentally lost it. Then I realized that Andy was looking over my shoulder, so everything I had in my mind has now gone away.)

Lots of thoughts going through my head today. I spent most of the day at the computer, working on things that I wanted to work on for a change. I spent a good hour or two revamping how I do archives here on domesticat, and I'm pleased with the results. While it requires a bit more effort on my part, I think that it will make more sense to you, the reader.