Catching up

Last week was a whirlwind of driving, speaking, workshopping, babysitting, networking, researching, etc. It's too much to recall this week since I'm also preparing for vacation. We leave for Florida on Friday morning and will be gone all next week.

Here's the abridged version:

1) OU was great fun and I enjoyed meeting the SPJ students. Can't believe how many PR majors are in SPJ. I popped in on Don Pepper, proprietor of the Crystal Casino where I tended bar and he still remembers me: "Wendy Lewis," he said as I walked in. Seems he's organizing a bartender reunion for Memorial Weekend. Anyhow, his three boys I used to babysit while I was a student are now in their upper 20s. Yikes! And the bar? Well, there are some improvements such as flat-screen TVs, but that same bar smell was there and the floor had its same stickiness.

2) Some day I'll have to look into the story behind the Nelsonville Cross. The sign still reads, "A tribute to God, a memorial to Betty." Twenty years later I'm still wondering, "Who was Betty?"

3) If you ever have the chance to get into a writing workshop, give it a shot. I learned so much about writing from spending two days discussing narrative nonfiction with other KnowledgeWorks storytellers.

4) My niece Natalie drums constantly and with incredible rhythm. She was drumming a syncopated rhythm while singing the "Hokey Pokey" on her little snare drum while I was babysitting her on Friday. Little brother Charlie was yelling in the background and she was utterly undeterred.

5) Staying at my sister, Jen's house beat the pants off spending sleepless nights in hotel rooms. I always require a Tylenol PM to sleep in hotels. I hate the smell of the sheets and I get skeeved out by the bed coverings. Oy! Anyway, Jen has an incredible in-law suite that guaranteed sleep for my busy days. And this phenomenal shower with two showerheads. Aahhh...

6) Columbus is a town for dining out. We had fish and chips at O'Shaughnessy's Public House in the Arena District and Greek at the Happy Greek in the Short North. On Friday I drove around while charging my cell phone and popped in for some wild blueberry and lavender ice cream at the Short North Market. Yum!

7) There is no more boring drive than that 90-minute stretch down I-71 from Columbus to Cincinnati.

8) Just how fast do you have to drive to get stopped for speeding on 71? Best not to think too much of that. Wouldn't want to press my luck. Let's just say that cruise control was set at 80 mph.

9) Enjoyed speaking to a lively group of freelancers, moonlighters and wanna-be freelancers at the SPJ Region 4 Convention. I'm sorry I couldn't stick around longer, but after five days away, I was ready to head home.

10) Cleveland, despite my frustration with its inability to progress to my timetable, is still and always will be...home.