It's Still Not Here

No sign of my package. And no freaking update on UPS.com. It has "left the seller facility and is in transit". How non descriptive. Where the hell is it?!

Annoying. Sigh.

It only took me 2 months (according to Garren)

to convince myself to buy a kindle.

At first I thought it might be an option for an xmas present, but then we nixed getting presents for each other as we were traveling over the holidays. Then I thought, I don't need one, I'll just get the books I'm dying to read when we go to London. Then the books I wanted to read had not yet been released in the UK.

Then. Then I just got depressed. I mean I have books. Books that have been sitting on my shelf for months. And I bought one or two in London (which I already finished) but there is not a big selection of new choices in Marrakech and I won't have too many trips to London. And frankly with all the weight limitations these days on flights it makes bringing them or buying them kind of a pain.

And then Jade got one for xmas. And I asked her to tell me that she hated it. She didn't. She told me it was fabulous. And then I had to tell myself it was too expensive and remember I had a lot of books on my shelf at home that I could read. And then I remembered all the books I wanted to read and how they are oh so inaccessible. And then I started obsessively reading the reviews on amazon and comparing the kindle to the sony e-reader and trying to decide which one I would get, if I could convince myself to spend the money on it.

And I'm still not sure I should have spent the money on the thing. Garren finally decided for me and told me to shut up about it and buy the damn thing and soon so he didn't have to hear about it anymore. And secretly (Garren says, "Really?! Secretly? Really!?") I'm really excited to get it.

So it's arriving. In 2-6 days. Make it 2! Probably won't be until 6. sigh. And hopefully it's as fantastic as I hope. And I won't curse it for broken non instant access to books I want to read. Hopefully it will be magic instant access to books I want to read.

I'll let you know.

This was built

....in 2000 BC, says Kept Man as we walk towards the St. Vitus Cathedral.

I take a second to contemplate this and then look at him funny.

In defense he says, "Well that's what I remember from the book (Rick Steve's Guide to Prague) so it must be true."

Uh-huh. It's amazing that I ever believe anything that comes out of his mouth.

It's Like walking on Mashed Potatoes

I never knew snow could be so fluffy. Any snow I have ever walked through before has always been very icy (read rock hard) or slushy (read watery coldness the invades your boots). Neither of which are very pleasant. Walking around in Prague in this light airy snow has been cold but fun and it's no surprise that I compared its consistency to some type of food. Obsessed.

Besides mashed potatoes the snow here can also be compared to chocolate chip ice cream. Fluffy snow + grit = chocolate chip ice cream to me. Now if I could just find a spoon.....

Whew!

From a slow paced work environment to the holidays to intense no time to stop 12 hour work days. I'm exhausted. This is the first chance I've had to really sit in front of a computer and not be on go go go mode let alone have slept in and had a leisurely breakfast with the Kept Man.

To tell the truth I can't complain. I love being busy and after five months of barely doing anything in a work day it is satisfying to be needed, feel overwhelmed and know that I am being productive. Weird I know but to me hell would be having to go to work and pretend to be busy all the time. Without internet to distract me. I can barely stand going to work where I don't have to pretend that I'm not busy. And where I have internet to distract me.

Getting to Prague was another adventure. I arrived early for my flight from Marrakech to London. Got checked in, went through security and was quietly waiting to know what gate I would be leaving from while reading my book when I heard via announcement in both Arabic, French and English that my flight was delayed by 2 hours. Now I had a tight turn around in London where I had to collect my bag, go through customs, change terminals and check in for another flight within a 3 hour period. Being delayed two hours meant I was never going to make it.

Also I have a phone that does not call internationally, so I had to call my boss in Marrakech to call my boss at Corporate so that everyone could be aware that I was delayed. However I was not able to contact Kept Man as he was already on his way to Prague and had an international number that I couldn't call at the moment from Morocco. Curses!

After 3.5 hour delay in Marrakech within an insane amount of children on the flight. Get off my armrest!  I made it to London, collected my bag, made it over to another terminal, got in line with EasyJet and managed to get a ticket on the next flight to Prague at 6am the next day. With my handy English SIM card I was able to call my Corporate boss get a room for the night at an airport hotel and call Kept Man to catch up. He made it to Prague just fine and was enjoying our hotel room without me.

I made it into Prague on Tuesday just before another huge winter storm hit the UK. After I arrived at the hotel it was go go go. I checked in, ran upstairs, gave the man a kiss and ran back down to start work. I didn't even manage to step outside the hotel until Thursday when Kept Man and I went to a restaurant around the corner for dinner. Steak and French Fries with insanely yummy mustardy garlic sauce how I love you.

Now with a weekend almost under my belt I've managed to sleep in, relax, see a movie and take a little walk into town. Work is back tomorrow but with all the immediate things taken care of I think it will at least no longer be 12 hour days nor so intense.

So that's it. I've made it Prague. I'm alive. Sorry to all of you who have emailed and I have not responded to. I barely managed a "I'm alive email" to my mom. Be happy I'm awake and coherent.