Purple Haze Fills My Brain . . .

This morning I forgot to take my allergy pill, which meant that by lunchtime I was a stuffy, sneezing mess. I keep an over-the-counter allergy pill in my desk for just such an emergency, but the pill always makes my extremely sleepy within a half-hour of taking it. I have to be incredibly desperate to want to take it, and with all of the conference preparations going on, I had to weigh whether or not I’d rather be sleepy or sneezy. I picked “sleepy” and hoped for the best.

Yes, I did stop sneezing, but I also actually almost fell asleep during a conference call this afternoon – one in which I was supposed to take notes for. It was in my boss’s office, which is always a bit muggy to begin with, and I forgot to bring water and some gum with me – my two must haves for keeping me awake. My notes were a smeared, indecipherable scrawl and it was so incredibly difficult to follow what was going on. Not that the topic was all that simple in the first place, but being exhausted didn’t help. Luckily, the call was scheduled for the end of the day, so once my part was over, Mr. Random poured me into the car and home I went, where I promptly fell asleep for two hours. I’m still a bit groggy even now . . . I hope it means I’ll definitely get a good night’s sleep tonight . . .

The weekend was horribly busy – Saturday was spent going to the art supply store to get some materials for an exhibit we are creating for the conference. I didn’t mind terribly since I LOVE art stores and can stare at the pencils and pastels and papers for hours. Afterwards, Mr. Random and I stopped off in Old Town Alexandria to see to see the tall ship, the Godspeed, which came this past week to help commemorate the anniversary of the founding of Jamestown, Virginia. If you’ve never seen an old tall ship before, you wouldn’t expect it to be as small as it is – and then you realize how cramped and scary it must have been to travel across the ocean in such a rickety little thing. It is next heading to Baltimore, Philadelphia, New York and Boston, so if it comes to your neck of the woods and you are into that sort of thing, you should definitely go see it . . .

Last week, we found out that Mr. Random’s mom was laid off from the newspaper she’d worked at for the past 30 years. OK, the official term is that she “was resigned,” since they were trying to not start an uproar amongst the staff and she was planning to retire at the end of this year anyway. In fact, because she was about to retire, the company gave her a much sweeter severance deal than some of the other folks who were laid off. It was still a bit shocking, and Mr. Random’s sister, who also works at the paper, was very freaked out by the news and was quite fearful for her own job, although her own position is safe for now. Mr. Random is worried about his mom, just like I’m worried about my dad, since she has defined herself by her job all her life – especially working for a newspaper, where you are on call 24/7 – and we can’t see her just sitting around and hanging out at the house. She is probably going to get some consulting work from the paper, but for now she is still getting used to the idea of being really retired . . .

As you may know, a lot of other newspapers are laying off or buying out a lot of their staffs. The Washington Post has just let go a bunch of their older employees, many of whose column I always read during the week. I am quite dismayed by the mindset of those who own newspapers these days . . . in the rush to try to get everything online and put all their resources there, they seem to be ignoring the very reason that many of us still read the paper – the content. By letting go so many of their trusted writers, people who have devoted followings of readers and have many years of solid reporting experience, I feel that it diminishes the final product. While I do appreciate that many younger reporters will now get a chance to prove their mettle, it always seems a waste to let people go before their time. Will there be any more like Shirley Povich who made newspapers their life? I may seem overly upset about these things, but I am a great believer in the printed word – while I enjoy reading many blogs and websites, reveling in the opinions of many cool people out there who choose to put their thoughts out into the ether, I have an amazing respect for those who make writing and reporting their career, despite the lousy pay and the lousy hours. (Most reporters don’t make very much.) I guess because I know so many people in the business, I am quite sympathetic . . .

My, I’ve nattered on enough tonight! There’s more going on, but my sleepy brain is going off into odd directions. I hope everyone had a great weekend. Wish me luck this week – come Saturday night, it will all be over and I can finally get some much need rest . . . at least, until the next week, when we start getting ready for another conference in September . . .