Kat Dancing

For those who aren't caught up -- largely because we, yanno, never got around to posting about it -- Dan and I are in DC right now on a working vacation, him to do tastings at some of the Whole Foods we're in up here, me to do an internship at the DC arm of Cowgirl Creamery.

This has been high on the vacation and low on the working so far. We drove up Sunday, in the lovely combo of snow and freezing rain that hit Virginia for most of that day. For six hours. The problem was not so much the precipitation -- all the highways were pretty darn clear -- as the lovely salt-mud slurry that passing vehicles constantly threw in your windshield. But we made it and, after a brief but impassioned argument about the directions which I think was some kind of marital obligation, arrived safe and sound at my uncle's house.

Then yesterday -- since Cowgirl isn't open on Mondays -- we did the tourist thing and went down to the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History. This was a blast. I spent a lot of time in the extinct beasties section and now have some fabulous ideas for alien races. It also gave me time to orient myself. I am now confident I can make it to Cowgirl on the bus system, seeing as Cowgirl was a block up from where we got off the bus and all. Also, our stop at somewhere called Cosi's for lunch, while fun and tasty, convinced me to make a second stop at Safeways on the way home and pick up some sandwich-makings, because if I have to eat out for lunch every day I'm here I'm gonna be soooo broke.

Dinners are not so much a problem, since my uncle (who, judging by the contents of his kitchen, regards home as that place one stops for sleep and snacks) insists on paying for us every night. I argue, but since he is a brain surgeon and I am broke and the restaurants are inevitably a hair or two out of my price range, I don't argue much.

Today, I work. Originally I was supposed to go at ten, when the shop opened, but when I called last night my temporary boss said "oh, I'm not coming in until noon -- why don't you wait until one." Damn, I could get used to this work schedule.

Finally, writing. I am trying hard to keep up with my writing. Unfortunately, this means working on a Windows machine and writing in GoogleDocs. After one day, I already want to bite someone. The Windows machine does not seem to understand my need to use the Dvorak layout and switches out of it whenever I open a new window or, you know, whenever it feels like it, and there doesn't seem to be a way to turn this off. And GoogleDocs! My god, it's almost as annoying as working in Word. What are all these stupid toolbars that I can't turn off? Why is my window so small? Will you please stop flickering the stupid timer icon at me with every letter I type?

Plus, no running wordcount, no easy way to reference my earlier chapters, no sidebar to write notes in. Damn, I miss Ulysses. You never realize how much you use all those features until they're gone.

But I am still writing, still alive, and in DC. And now I've actually told people so.