homeward bound

it's my last night of my last out of town work trip for the year. THANK GOD!

i hope my absence doesn't mean i've lost all my readers : )

so--here's a brief run down of my week:

6:30 AM flight saturday. yes friends, i had to get up at 4:30 in the morning. oh, did i mention it was pouring down rain? yep. but it was fine. our connection was through dc--dulles (isn't that the ronald reagan airport?). i called the hubs from there--reagan is his hero of course. i also got him a mccain t-shirt in the gift shop and a little something something from the other side of the aisle for my good friend broad ; )

we got to vegas around noon and had an event at 4:30. after that i drug our crew to the german restaurant here. most of them are not the german fan i am, but they humored me anyway. one of my friends and co-workers told the waitress it was my bday (a few days off but they didn't card me) and so i got a shot of yeagermeister and a spanking. yes, i was totally embarrassed and will seek retribution on said friend. i started my retribution afterwards when we went to a cvs to get snacks for our rooms. i loudly told her that the vagisil and lice shampoo were on aisle 5. if you have any other suggestions on making her life a little uncomfortable (but in a friendly, ribbing way) please share.

sunday was a full, long day. this week at the trade show has involved a lot of walking. the convention center is two floors. 1 million square feet of booths. it is 1/2 a mile from the front of the convention center to the back. i figure i walked at least two miles each day.

monday night we had dinner at one of my other fave restaurants here, mon ami gabi in the paris hotel. you can sit on the patio there and watch the fountain at the bellagio--the only good thing about vegas. so our little work group was sitting there and i think i witnessed my first real spotting of a vegas call girl. this couple walked in and i swear the girl couldn't have been more than 18 (though she drank champagne) and the man was at least 65. she was wearing this shiny, showgirl green dress and when we overheard her speak we deduced that she was russian. ok, i'm not stupid. i know this type of thing happens. i know there are hookers and call girls and mail order brides. i'm sure i've seen them on the street here. but, to have one seated not 5 feet from you and realize how very young she was and how old he was compared to her, it just turned my stomach and depressed me.

last night and tonight i got room service and just vegged. my brain is fried. i don't want to speak to anyone since i've spent the week being "on" and being nice and chatty and all that stuff you do at a trade show.

it's hard to call home from here w/ the time difference, but the other night i did manage to hear the girl playing her viola over the phone. she said it was eidelweiss, which i think is incredibly cool. i could sort of even make out that that is what she was playing.

aside from it being a rough, demanding week for me, i think this trip was rough on the hubs. before i go any further i have to say that he is probably the only man i know that totally handles everything, by himself, when i'm out of town. so many of my other friends who have kids and travel have a parent or friend who helps out while they're gone, or even ships the kids off to grandma's house. not my hubs. he does it all on his own.

when we first had our kids i wasn't travelling, but when i joined this company almost 7 years ago the travel began. he's been so incredible about it. really. about a year ago he started travelling but his trips are generally one night, maybe two, unlike mine that range from 2-5.

i think i'm starting to ramble.

i've seen some interesting things this week though. the trade show is for baby/youth products. i'm talking everything from bibs and breast pumps to cribs and bedding. it's amazing all of the baby gadgets that are out now that didn't even exist even 8 years ago when my baby was a baby. the oddest (and most useless in my opinion) thing i saw was this gadget, about the size of a postage stamp, that you attach to diapers to let you know when the kid pees or poops. really? yes. it monitors the diaper every 8 seconds and beeps and a light flashes when some excrement occurs. what a crock of shit...literally.

and you know what else amazes me? the kids and babies here. the night we went to the paris for dinner we walked across the street to watch the fountain up close. it was like 10 pm here. there were people pushing sleeping babies in strollers. wtf?