Ike

So our luck seems to have run out in Houston. Ike's intensity sent sea levels to incredible heights while he was still hours away from landfall. He is currently barreling toward us, with disaster on all sides along the way.

I grew up in Texas City, just on the mainland next to Galveston. My family first tried to tell me they would be riding the storm out in Texas City. I was forced to throw a small baby fit, which they only patronized...and then leave them with pure disgust..."You're only hearing what you want to hear, there's nothing I can do about that. Fine." Then I pulled the triple Lindy. I called in a favor from my brother in New York.

He left the art opening he was attending long enough to give them a pretty stern talking to. His initial response back to me was that he was unsuccessful, but I had a feeling my mom would stew over it for a bit. He's quite a force to be reckoned with. I was right, she called me back by about 10pm to tell me that my dad had agreed to head to my house first thing in the morning.

I was still a little uncertain if they were just appeasing me again, or if they would actually come. I finally received a phone call at about 8am when they were already on their way. Much to my relief. By then I had several friends who were very concerned and I was able to send out the all clear to everyone.

So now here we sit...My dad has a handgun because "People are idiots in Houston." And not only does he have it with him, but several times I have had to spin the thing around because he has it pointing toward my guests' heads on my countertop. Now, he's pointing it around and acting like he's shooting.

My mom is wandering around the house finding eleventy billion things for my dad to do. He can change this light bulb, he can clean the lint system in the dryer, he can carry the trash to the dumpster for the 4th time today. All the while, she has cooked 4 meals and set out about 5 snacks throughout the day. We've checked the stations on the radios 3 times and have talked about flashlights through four different cycles.

I do not have a seat in my living room to sit on. Instead I'm sitting at the kitchen table singing my blues. Did I mentioned she brought an Aunt and a cousin with them? It's better than the 8 people she originally intended to bring. Instead the others stayed in texas city and now i'm worried about them.

My friends offered to let me stay with them at their house while mine was taken over. Had I taken them up on the offer, I would be a few blocks away from Anderson Cooper right now. Seriously, he's downtown right now.

I've already jumped up a degree of difficulty on Guitar Hero and I set up domains and accounts for a new business venture. This is going to be a long night....

Canadia!

My Country! It's nice to finally visit the land I've claimed for so long.

So a bit about Calgary. Average age in this town is estimated to be about 34. That estimation came from a 34 year old. I'm surrounded by men. And they are all health nuts. Health nuts, and heavy drinkers.

My project is made up of two of us from the Houston KPMG office and two people from the L.A. KPMG office. They are all guys. I feel inadequate with my clothes and personal grooming compared to the L.A. fellows, but I do not have the bank account to make a run for catching up to them, so I've dealt with that fact already.

The partner has a house on the beach that is filmed in 90210. Don't act like you can't remember that spiral staircase. Come on, here it is for reference:

He is a high-roller who lives on Hermosa beach. He is also one of the nicest guys I've met and he gushes about how great his wife is. Very generous and seems to have an open door policy at their house. Some of the people from the client have visited several times and he's extended the offer to us Texas folks.

The client made us leave the office at 3pm on Monday because it was time to start drinking. Luckily they chose a spot next to our hotel, which made for an easy escape for me when the group decided to go on to have more drinks and a proper dinner (I guess the plethera of appetizers wasn't enough for them). I snuck away and decided to wind down (a 4.5 hour flight is taxing) in my hotel room and unpack. I should say suite, rather than hotel room.

This hotel is super nice! The pool has a water slide. I'd snag a picture of me coming down the slide if it didn't require a coworker of mine seeing me in a swimsuit in order to get the shot. Maybe after drinks tomorrow i'll set up the tripod after hours and snag a shot for you (note: don't hold your breath!).

So during drinks the first night, one of the ambitious workout guys suggested that they go for a run through the city at lunch on Tuesday. It turns out that the company allows them to leave at any point in the day to go workout as long as they get their hours in. Very cool. Also very convenient that their building has locker rooms and showers inside. Well, Tuesday rolls around and they made the partner keep to his word on running with them.

Keep in mind the weather is cold. Very cold. Puddles on the ground are ice. It's very dry, so you don't realize it is below 20 degrees outside when you are walking to the office. So they convince the partner to run after a lengthy phone conversation in which the partner is saying "I only have short running shorts." The two Calgarians (i did not make this term up, despite my title above) convince him that he'll be just fine. So the partner gets to the dressing room and changes, then he looks over and realizes that the two others are covered head to toe! Long spandex running pants, double layer long sleeve shirts, mittens, face covers, AND the hand warmers that you break open for instant warming! And there stands Jim next to them in his tiny running shorts! Oh man. good stuff. He somehow survived the 6 mile run.

I reclaimed my daylight savings hour and since I am from Canadia and all, well I've been working out each morning (look, 2 mornings in a row is big for me...HUGE). I have to considering they made us drink Tuesday night too. I called a quitsy for tonight. I called it first thing this morning. They laughed at me, but I refuse to buckle to peer pressure. They are also scaring me with threats of a big night of drinking tomorrow (i can't imagine what a BIG night of drinking is to these guys compared to a typical monday and tuesday night).

The restaurant next to the hotel has a hot calgarian guy working there who looks important (he wears business casual attire and quality checks all of the dishes going out, oh and he walks around with paper work and a clip board). The guys had me point out my type and I pointed to him. Dark hair, scruffy chin, light eyes... My coworkers are waiting on my go ahead to set me up with him. They are convinced that I'll have no problem landing him if they simply walk up to him and say "hey, she thinks you're hot and she has a room next door." Who was I to argue with them on that notion? So I squirmed out and never gave them a green light.

Ok, so that's a long enough report for the first three days. I have to plan my weekend now. I can't wait to start taking some pics! Oh, and the work is good too...it's a really interesting project.