About a month ago, I was invited to speak at a conference in Europe. I signed and returned a speakers contract and received several assurances that my travel and accommodation would be paid for, only to have the organizers back out of the contract.
Perhaps there’s some confusion as to what a “contract” entails.
Anyway, I’ll be trying to get my money over the next few weeks, but for now, I’ve got a non-refundable plane ticket to Europe.
I take off for six days in Munich on Tuesday, followed by five days in Madrid, five days in Marrakesh, and quick jaunts through London and Paris to say hi to old friends. I’ve got friends (or friends of friends – thanks, Dave and Sandy!) putting me up in every city except Marrakesh and every flight is less than $100, so the trip should be reasonably affordable.
It’s funny, I wouldn’t have taken this trip to Europe if it wasn’t for the conference, which has now completely fallen through. In short, I’ve been forced to take a European vacation. Life could be worse.
I am now the proud owner of a beat-up steel drum. It’s out of tune and in lousy condition, but it’s playable and I can practice on it. If I fall in love, I’ll get something better, but I’m having a great time for now.
I’m going to miss all my instruments while I’m on the road for the next few months. I might bring my bagpipe practice chanter with me.
Craig, Brandon, Alexandra, and I went to the Seattle Spin Girl launch party tonight. I met
Darnell Sue at a networking event a few months ago and ended up with an invite to tonight’s festivities. There was a red carpet, magazine photographers, and a ton of great people.
The nice thing about events like this is that you finish at 10pm, get to go to bed early, and still meet way more cool people than an average evening at a bar.
Plus, the swag bags were great.
We set a record with 21 attendees to this Tuesday’s Groovy Tuesday potluck. A good time was had by all, the last guests stayed until 2:30 in the morning, and we have leftovers for the next week. We win again!
Did I really forget to mention the potato candy? Our neighbor Christina has an old family recipe that involves boiling one small potato. You mash it up, add about a pound of powdered sugar, stir, and the mixture turns into a liquid. It’s amazing.
You then very quickly add another three points of powdered sugar until the mixture turns into a dough, following which you roll it out onto a surface dusted heavily with powdered sugar, smear it with peanut butter, snake it out, and then chop it into little bits that harden quickly into potato candy.
One piece the size of your thumbnail is really all you need. I ate four or five, leading into the sugar low to end all sugar lows and me falling asleep for seventeen hours.
