I'm working from our lovely hotel room in Chicago today and right now am doing required corporate training (the very height of boring) while sitting next to a bottle of sparkling wine in an ice bucket. I am a Great American Hero for not pouring myself a glass of it right now. I will abstain so I can get room service oj and make mimosas with my husband tomorrow morning. (If it's raining like it's supposed to be. If it's not raining we need to rent bikes and go for a ride. I don't know what weather to wish for!)

You are a hero, lisah!

I can't decide if I want to take off next Thursday, for no real reason other than I expect to be exhausted and I have no meetings scheduled. Exhausted due to: Going out of town this weekend and getting home late Sunday (unless I decide to spend another hundred bucks for an earlier train), then spending Monday and Tuesday night with my father, then possibly a board meeting on Wednesday night.

I have borne out the adage that women marry their fathers.

My father took off... this could be why I'm not married.

I have borne out the adage that women marry their fathers.

My dad would never ever talk to someone if he didn't have to. Super introverted. While my mother has said that the only thing my husbands had in common was that they were all talkers. She's more than right on that count. I'd say they had nothing in common with dad except that dad was also kinda brilliant.

Timelies all!

Tomorrow will be a half-day at work for me. I'm taking the afternoon off to go to Malice Domestic. In previous years I had taken the whole day off, but since my boss was a pain about me taking time off, half a day it is. I'm taking a four-day weekend in June for the convention we're running. If she doesn't like it, tough.

I used to tease my dad that the reason that I wasn't married was because I was looking for someone as good as he was. It's one of my few regrets with regard to my dad, that he didn't get to walk me down the aisle. But, I also know that he wouldn't have wanted to get married for anything other than being in love.

For people who have normal relationships with sugar, which of the unsweetened True products would be the best one to buy and leave in the office kitchen? I like 'em all, and my entry vector was Lemon. Should I do that one?

My father could talk a blue streak, but he didn't really chat up strangers. My mother will talk at length with any stranger, any place and at any time.

This is my folks too. Mom was joking around with the people in the ER when she was hospitalized for pancreatitis. Though once she settled into her room and the adrenaline wore off, she only wanted me and one niece around her, as she doesn't feel the need to be "on" around us when she's feeling weak and sick.

My mum apparently had pancreantitis and was hospitalized and nobody called me.

The fuck, family?! Will I find out she died by making my weekly phone call only to find out that she can't answer the phone because she's dead?!

I swear, the men in my family are spacier than I am, and that's saying a lot.

My mum apparently had pancreantitis and was hospitalized and nobody called me.

The fuck, family?! Will I find out she died by making my weekly phone call only to find out that she can't answer the phone because she's dead?!

My family totally does this. I'll be talking to my mom and she'll mention it in passing, as a reference to something else. Like, "Oh we finally went to the new Thai place for dinner. Let's see, when did we go? Oh, I think it was the day your uncle had his chemotherapy. The curry was fantastic."

And that will be the first I've heard my uncle has cancer. Because that's how my family rolls.