New York City

I'm going to New York tonight, just me. No baby. No partner. No checked baggage. I'm pretty psyched in one way: to be on my own for a couple of days, to meet random people, to not be in charge of anyone.

I'm going for a work conference. It's only about a 36 hour conference so I won't even be gone long and I am going with two colleagues so I won't totally be alone either. This isn't going to involve probably ANY touristy things or even exploratory things; the only free time is the morning and early afternoon of arrival, which after a red eye I'll probably sleep through; and then dinner on Saturday night. I will be there for a VERY short time. The topic of the conference is Lost? 20-somethings and the church. Topically, it should be awesome.

Frankly though, I will miss S (I always do!) and am really fearing the possibility of getting stuck or having flight problems. I am also dreading being surrounded by snow, slipperiness, puddles of floating ice, salty wetness, and just being cold. I've turned into a Seattle-ite I think. I know that I can hack it, after all, I lived in Massachusetts for 4 years, but it's a mentality thing and I'm not mentally prepared to deal with hardcore winter. I would be much more mentally prepared to deal with stifling humidity and heat, my preferred weather extreme. On the other hand I have been cold all day today, so maybe I am getting ready!

We'll see how it goes. I'm looking forward with some dread.