New York

I’m in NY for several days for a client’s convention. This might be the least favorite part of my job. We have a booth/table at the Exhibit Hall to advertise the client’s insurance program. In my experience, most members – regardless of the client – avoid the insurance booth. So, it makes for a long, boring day. The hours at this particular convention used to be 10 hour days. By myself. Thankfully, this year they scheduled a 3 hour break in the middle of the day. This was likely done because of complaints from others last year. We would be there for 10 hours and the attendees were off touring the city we were in. They were not coming to see the booths! Anyway, that 3 hour break made a huge difference yesterday (the first day).

I used to attend another convention for a large client that wanted (and needed) to have several people working the booth. So, there were others to talk to and do things with in the evenings. Lots of touring the cities we would visit, etc. When I’m by myself, I tend to just enjoy the silence of a hotel room at night; a glass of wine; what I want to watch on TV; room service; and no bedtime battles (or bedtime Olympics, as some of my other mom friends call it).

I got here on Friday afternoon. After checking in at the exhibiting area to make sure all my things arrived, I headed back to the hotel. A nasty rain storm was coming and I had no interest in being out in it. After just hanging out for a bit, I ended up doing the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. (Love that workout…and I’m still a little sore today.) Then, I ordered room service (salad and wine) and settled in for a night of TV. Not very interesting, but quite relaxing.

During the break yesterday, I changed clothes & put on my walking shoes…..and, walked for 3 miles. I was hoping to stumble across a good store to buy gifts for the kids, but didn’t see anything interesting for them. So, it was just a good exercise walk.

Last night was pretty much a repeat of Friday night. There was an opening reception that I had a ticket for, but I never really attend those things. By the end of the day, I’m pretty done with people. And, other than just a couple of people, I don’t know anyone. I probably should go to these things. I feel guilty when I don’t. But….oh well. It’s done now.

We joined Netflix a couple of months ago & it is awesome being able to download movies and TV shows. There wasn’t anything on live TV last night, so I just found things on Netflix.

I got an iPhone last week, so I’ve been playing with that quite a bit. It has something called Face Time, which is basically a way to video chat with others that have an iPhone or iTouch. Since I already had an iTouch…..I was able to chat with Butch & the girls last night. Very cool. I gave them a tour of the hotel room and showed them the view from the window. Lacey loved all of it. Leah was too sad about Mommy not being home to enjoy the call. She just kept telling me to come home.

Still 2+ hours from my break today. I'm planning on walking again. This time I WILL find something for the girls. I have a better idea of which stores I want to go to.