the not so glamorous jet-set: tribute to denver

when i used to advise students and they would tell me that the wanted a job in which they could travel, i always used to say "really--are you sure?" travel is fun when you don't have to, not so much fun when you must. and denver always causes me problems in this department.
examples? hmmm, finding my car buried in 4 feet of snow from the snow plow after returning from a conference; getting stood up by rides (multiple times), being forgotten on thanksgiving one year. yeah, love it.
christmas in the iowhat was great, but getting "home" to tacoma was not so much. thank you, denver, for having a snow storm on christmas day. really, i appreciated the four hour delay this caused for the sake of your white christmas. i appreciated the opportunity to hang out with annoying people from nebraska who talked too much. i appreciated arriving at seatac in the middle of the night to get stuck with a shuttle driver who reminded me of an old bad santa. i appreciate how your little weather tricks made getting through the work day such a slog.
once again, denver, you have disappointed me.
you are beginning to make o'hare look good. never thought i would say that.

so its been awhile

heatherfeather wrote a long overdue post, so i thought i'd do the same.
right now, i am in the iowhat. don't worry, it's only for a few days over christmas. it was strange being back at first. i had that same feeling when i moved here before, that is, the feeling that i was yelling at everyone when i talked to them. i guess we are just a lot more straight-forward on "the coasts" as they call it here.
it is really nice to be with the fam i.e. my former housemates. everyone is just happy (though mutti and i are sick with colds) and there is not really any stress, which is such a change from three months ago. i am really glad i moved to washington.
my trip back here was fine, except for having to get up at 2 am and leave at 2:30 am and then when i got to SeaTac, there was a line out the door (at 4 am--really?!) so i was a little concerned, but i made the flight and the next one (yeah, i know, shocker, no direct flights between seattle and dez moinayz).
i saw neener at le continental on thursday night where toddler was tending the bar. it was nice to get a big hug from both of them.
friday was family day. costco, barnes and noble, target..fun times. i hung out with amil friday night which was good.
i kinda miss mj and jillywog.
it was nice to just hang out today. soooo nice.
work is going well. my contract has been extended through the end of february. so i have time to find something permanent while making decent money. and there could be something permanent at the major coffee company, so we will see.
i actually was offered a permanent position with an international PR company. i turned it down. that may sound stupid, but it would have been a HUGE pay cut, even way out of the range i was looking for. and they were not willing to negotiate on anything, so that sent major signals about the company. it was kind of a leap of faith, but it felt so wrong.
so i keep applying for jobs, but i am in such a better place. and i know things are going to work out.
btw, i want an iPhone. blah.
randomness--mutti got a gift-wrapped juicy couture purse from nordstrom today. she did not order it and she called her bff to ask if it was from her and it was not. so, my mother got a random $300 christmas present. weird!