Crazy Whirlwind Week

Wow. This week's been nuts. Starting with last Friday, when I got dumped by the guy I'd been seeing for the last ~2 months. That was out of the blue, and I haven't had time to corner him and extract an explanation. We seemed to be getting along well (though it wasn't super passionate), and I guess I wasn't expecting a marriage out of it but I was thinking it would last a little longer... I actually expected it to end up as my longest-running relationship (current winner for that title is tied between everybody-loved-Colin and Fall2001-Chris... oh, maybe hot-steady-Jesse from back in Chicago... I'd need to think about it).

So that dumpage tainted my Friday and weekend (did I mention it was over e-mail?). And then this week just exploded. We've been trying desperately to find a location for this green building technology pilot I'm running... our first several efforts failed due to the cost of integration with the building automation systems of the facilities we were looking at. So Monday rolled around, and we had a promising location in our Atlanta office, so by EOD Monday we decided I needed to fly out to ATL ASAP. Except that Thursday, I was supposed to be in NYC to speak at a CIO roundtable about Sustainability and Green Tech, and Friday I needed to be in SF to do new-hire interviews all day with UCB kids. A lot to do in one week... my bossess wanted me to blow off NYC and the interviews, and I wanted to blow off the interviews... so while I desperately searched for a stand-in to do my interviews, I made a deal with my bosses that if I got the pilot running they'd be cool with me doing the NYC thing and the SF interviews.

So what ended up happening is I flew on a red-eye on Tues night out to ATL, with a one-way ticket I bought 4 hrs before the flight. I left an hour after that aforementioned earthquake. I connected through Chicago at 5am, getting me to ATL at about 10am. I went straight to the office, deciding that I would skip dressing in biz cazh and just go full-out casual. I was in flip-flops, my tan adventure pants from REI, a grey t-shirt, and a fleece sleeveless vest (also from REI). I was super-comfy, and figured if anyone asked I'd just say it was my Halloween costume, and I was going as a French photojournalist whose camera had been stolen by a rebel African army commander.

So anyways. I worked all day Weds, and got the pilot going. It actually was a huge deal that we got it worked out (thanks to Patrick and Andy from the ATL building mgmt team!), and because it was working by EOD Weds it meant I could fly to NYC to speak at the CIO roundtable. So I got online, bought my ticket to NYC, and then jumped in the car and drove to the airport (incidentally, I got totally lost en route and spent a good hour driving through Atlanta's ghetto areas... I'm not exaggerating on that point at all. I also almost got hit by a train... I was sitting half on the tracks and this train rounds the bend a half mile out and is just gunning towards us, and I'm like FUCK what do I do... but the nice lady behind me backs up and I'm able to back off the tracks... and luckily the dingus in front of me who was entirely on the tracks was able to pull forward in time to avoid getting hit as well. Kids, this is why you don't EVER pull onto tracks without knowing you can get all the way across...!!!! My friend Mark was on the phone with me and was like omg you idiot get off the tracks, I can hear the train coming it sounds so close you're going to die... that was fun!).

I got to NYC at 10:30pm, took a cab to my hotel in midtown and was checked in and showered by midnight. Note that this was the first time in 24 hrs that I'd brushed my teeth, showered, or changed out of that French photojournalist "costume". I then proceeded to get totally played by some guy (he's moving to SF from NYC and wanted to meet when I got in; no point in giving details on it since he invited me over and then kicked me out at 3am for no reason I could discern; and no there was no intimate contact at any point in the evening; it wasn't that kind of "date," we were just meeting to talk and get to know each other; but dear not he's now dead to me). Anyways. So I got to sleep at about 4am, and woke up at 10am in time to scramble and pack and jump in a cab over to Brooklyn for the CIO forum.

The cab took 70 mins from midtown to the other side of the Brooklyn Bridge (oy!), and I got there just in time to modify my slides before the CIOs from the city of NYC showed up and we started the preso. Becky was there, as was Kishore and Teresa and others. I spoke on the Green Buildings work I'm doing, and after we all scavanged food from the luncheon and then went our separate ways. I headed back to midtown to meet *another* boy for the afternoon. I know I know, I sound like a slut, but this was also an innocent "date" and since I couldn't see any of my other friends since they were all working (sorry Joe and Mark and Big A!!), I figured I'd do this since my flight wasn't till 8:30pm.

So I met Sean, who turns out to be not only ridiculously gorgeous (if you're reading this Sean, then by ridiculously gorgeous I mean: meh, you're okay), but is super sweet and very smart. He teaches biology at a college in CT, has a great singing voice, has sections of the movie Clue memorized, and is just all around engaging to talk to. He was a tad focused on himself during our "date", and a little too gregarious (kept talking to random people almost to prove that he's the sort of person who talks to random people... even spoke fluent Deutsch with a pair of German ladies), and definitely too cocky about his looks (tho lord was that justified; he's in modeling discussions with an agent for Ralph Lauren types of work)... but his self-focus was forgiveable given he was fresh out of a relationship and needed someone to talk to about it, and definitely needed the emotional boost from self-centered discussion. And since it obviously wasn't a date that had a chance to go anywhere, I was just enjoying meeting him and getting to know him. And to be honest, sometimes I just want to listen and help other people sort themselves out, and not have to talk about myself at all. It was refreshing in that way. The over-gregariousness I think was maybe him being slightly nervous and trying to impress me... maybe. Who knows... who cares. The point is that I enjoyed my time with him tremendously and will spend the next few weeks fantasizing about what could have been. =D I may even try to text/call him on a semi-regular basis... unless that's too weird...?

I cabbed over to JFK, dropping off Sean at Grand Central en route (I feigned tiredness to have an excuse to rest my head on his shoulder in the cab, while he sang/recited half of Mary Poppins to my delight/fascination/horror; and not the parts everyone knows but the obscure end parts with Mr. Banks). In the cab, I got online to buy my ticket home (on JetBlue! my first flight with them evah!!), but it wouldn't go through... so I tried Skyping my travel agent (since my cell was dead) which worked except it was too choppy and I ended up giving up after the 5th "what was that sir? i can't hear a word you're saying". So I got to the airport and actually bought my ticket at the ticket counter only an hour before my flight. Who does that?!?! Apparently me.

And so now, here I am... at JFK waiting for my flight. Tomorrow will be insane... I get in at 1 am, then have to get up at 6 to get to the SF office by 7 so I can have breakfast and remind myself how to do a PFI interview. Then I spend 8am to 5pm doing a super-intense form of interviewing, after which I need to catch up on the week's e-mails and figure out what the hell I missed with all my class projects for school. So if any of you thought you might hear from my this wknd, fuhgeddaboutit.

Good times!!