Friday Five

The Excuse:

None needed!

The Week:

Brace yourself for this one – I was in Houston. Shocking, I know.

And at the moment I’m still here. Sitting in a Starbucks at the moment. Had a small snafu with my flight times. I was originally planning on being in my class until about 5p meaning I wouldn’t be able to catch the 6p flight out of Houston so I booked the 9p flight. Sure enough, the training center I was at was closing at noon on Friday, meaning I totally could have caught the 6p flight. By the time I found this out I had already been upgraded on the 9p flight and there were only middle seats on the 6p flight. It was worth it to me to wait the extra time.

In any event, I was more social this time around than last week. I was able to get together with a couple of friends on Wednesday and Thursday nights. Seeing friends while travelling makes the being away from home part much easier to deal with. My business trips become a mini-vacation in that aspect.

I also wound up in a corporate apartment this week. It’s always a mixed bag when I wind up staying in an apartment. On one hand it’s nice to have the extra space. On the other hand, all the extra space makes it that much more obvious that I’m all alone. Further proof that I could never live alone.

As a side note, I know that I’ve basically only been doing Friday Five’s. That will change. I have about 4 half-written posts that I need to finish off and get up.

The Exercise:

I at least got in two days worth. Slowly getting back into the swing of things.

The Restaurant:

On Thursday night I went out to an Italian place called The Grotto which is over by the Galleria Mall (for those of you familiar with Houston). It is a chain, and although there are only 2 it is owned by a much larger parent company. That said, I have to say I was very impressed with the place. Nice sized bar area when you walk in, a brick oven in the center for their pizzas, and a good sized dining area. As I had pasta earlier in the week I wound up going with a jumbo shrimp that was pounded flat, sautéed, and topped with crab, red peppers and a light wine/lemon sauce. Very tasty. It was served with some potatoes that were rather disappointing, but it didn’t take away from the main dish. The thing that really impressed me about the place is it’s very affordable despite it’s Galleria location. I’ll definitely be back.

The Travel Note:

When I fly I want to be as comfortable as possible. I prefer wearing cargo pants or shorts as the weather allows, but packing becomes an issue. I can get a week’s worth of clothes into my carryon suitcase, but barely. If I want to wear jeans on Friday, I need to wear them onto the plane because I can’t fit them into the suitcase otherwise. What I’d love is to be able to wear my pajama bottoms, but I can’t get away with doing that. I often see girls (college age and younger) at the airport in PJ’s – they can get away with it. I’m guessing if a 36 year old man arrived at the airport in PJ’s he’d be detained for questioning at the very least.

The Five:

1. I have never lived alone. I’ve gone from living at home to having roommates to being married. I have a friend whose philosophy is if you were meant to live alone at some then you would. I don’t know that I necessarily agree with that, but as I mentioned earlier I do know I was not meant to live alone.
2. I’ve brewed my own beer in the past. I did OK at it. Nothing overly fantastic, but good. It is one of the biggest things I’d like to start doing again if I wind up with a job that keeps me at home the majority of the time.
3. There is a significant chance I am the only person on the planet who owns both an iPhone and a Zune. I much prefer the Zune software and player to what iTunes/iPhone has to offer, but I will never go back to Windows Mobile ever again. So – two devices.
4. I have 11 states left to go until I get all 50. The 11 does include Alaska and Hawaii.
5. In the physical world I show basically no organization skills. My digital life, however, is very organized.