It's been kind of a crazy few weeks! My vacation in Italy was fantastic -- I have pictures and video, but I haven't been able to get everything up. (The pictures and one video are up on Facebook, so that's a good place to start.) I liked the cooking school so much, I think I'm going to back next year. And I'm going to learn some Italian. They're so laid back there that I think it's really good for me.
The villa is about a 40-minute taxi ride away from the Arezzo train station, which is itself an hour train ride away from Florence. The last 15-20 minutes of the taxi ride are up a pretty steep gravel trail (it's really deceptive to call it a road) with many switchbacks, so getting to Torre del Tartufo isn't easy. It's absolutely stunning there -- beautiful views of the mountains and valleys, and the sky was so clear at night, you could see thousands of stars. I only left twice -- once on the excursion that's an official part of the week, and once to get some cash from the closest ATM (30 minutes away). Other folks went to Florence and Arezzo and Cortona during the week, but I had a stack of 6 books to read, and I read them. Heavenly.
I was supposed to go to New Orleans the following week, but when my plane from Florence landed in Paris, I had an e-mail from the W there saying that because of Gustav, they weren't going to be able to honor my reservation. It gave me a chance to clean up my apartment some (not completely -- I hate cleaning) and sleep in some, so that was ok. I ran some errands and slowed down my calorie intake (Italian cooking school is not for people on diets) and got some work done, too, so it was more like my usual staycation.
Sunday, I left for Dallas to spend some time with my parents, Monday I was writing script for Tuesday's meeting, which went well. I had dinner with my parents after the AER on Tuesday, and then jumped on a delayed flight to San Jose. And that's when my plans started to fall apart.
The meeting went relatively well on Thursday, but the IRO for El Paso Energy was there, and he was scheduled to be on the 6pm flight from SFO to IAH (I was originally scheduled on the 6:10am from San Jose to IAH on FRIDAY, but changed it to the 6pm from SFO on Thursday when I started paying attention to Ike). He'd been tracking Ike all through dinner on Wednesday night and all through the first part of the morning on Thursday, and during the break, he informed me that he was now taking the 2pm from SFO to IAH, that he had to leave right after noon, and that I should get on the same plane. I present in both the morning and the afternoon, so that wasn't really an option for me.
After he left, the other 15 IROs and my colleagues all started telling me that I was crazy to try to hurry back to Houston to beat a hurricane. So I switched my ticket to go back on Monday, found a cheaper rental car, and started the search for a cheaper hotel (I don't think the company will cover my expenses).
Luckily, the company has a San Francisco office, and I have two lovely colleagues who work there who happened to be in town. They organized dinner, and then we went to karaoke (SO MUCH FUN), and then we spent Saturday in the Alexander Valley. They both invited me to join them in their plans on Saturday night, but I was tired, and I wanted to watch the Weather Channel obsessively and check in on my friends who stayed in Houston. I've gotten updates from most, but I'm encouraged by what I'm hearing from folks.
I'm not flying to Houston on Monday -- there's no point. My understanding is that they've barricaded the downtown area and won't be starting on cleanup until they've made good headway in the Medical Center (which makes perfect sense). I've called my number, and my answering machine is not picking up, which tells me the electricity is still out (I'm NOT looking forward to cleaning out the fridge and freezer when I get back). And the answering service for the apartment complex is not picking up. I'm just really hoping that my windows made it. If they did, everything will be fine, but if they didn't, I'll have a huge amount of debris and dirty water to clean up, and I suspect I'll have to throw away most of my belongings. Plus, I'll be vulnerable to looters, curfew or not.
Because of that curfew, I'm not sure I'm going to be able to get home on Friday night. My flight won't land at the airport until after 8pm, which is when it starts, and since I'm not certain what I'll be going home to, I'm not sure what to do. Is there any point in rushing home to an apartment where there's no power and water (for whatever reason, if the power goes out in my place, so does the water)?
In any event, I'm happy to be safe. I felt a little guilty while I was having fun with Carlos and Judith on Friday and Saturday, knowing that so many of my neighbors are miserable in the heat without AC. Part of me felt like I should have been there, too, hunkering down and trying to outlast Ike, but the rational part of me (the part that took the advice of all those smart people on Thursday) is really glad to be here in San Francisco, making plans to go karaokeing again tonight.
Depending on what's happened with my place (power? windows? looters?), I'm going to try to get video up this weekend, which I'll post here. I hope everyone is doing well!!
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