We made it back from Florida, and we’re mostly happy to be home. We had a great time, but we were pretty exhausted by the end of the trip. However, the one thing we weren’t ready to be back to is the weather. Seattle is just how we left it — grey, rainy and chilly. Apparently there was quite a storm (or three) while we were gone. High winds, power outages, flooding, the works. Our house is fine, but the yard is a huge mess of leaves and branches and stuff. Joy.

But that’s enough complaining about Seattle. The trip was wonderful! This was a combination business and pleasure trip. I had a couple of conferences to go to, and we decided to make it into a small vacation too. We flew out early Friday morning. Due to the distance and the time change, we didn’t get into Orlando until Friday evening. The first few nights, we stayed at Disney’s Pop Century Resort.

Continue reading “Back into the deluge”

If you live in the United States, you’ve probably seen ads for the Select Comfort “Sleep Number bed.” The claim is that the bed’s firmness is completely adjustable, to give each person their own perfect mattress. The king mattress has independent adjustments for the left and right side, to accommodate couples with different preferences. You have a remote control-like device to adjust the firmness of the mattress, and the control shows a number representing the setting you’ve chosen. Select Comfort says that this number is your “Sleep Number.”

This all sounds reasonable enough, I suppose. Last year when we were looking for new beds and mattresses, Becky and I briefly stopped in the Select Comfort store in a local mall and checked them out. We weren’t terribly impressed, either by the product or the sales staff. We didn’t really stick around long enough to find our “Sleep Numbers.” I thought maybe I hadn’t given Select Comfort a fair trial, but I also didn’t feel compelled to go back.

This week, I’m staying at a Radisson hotel, and the rooms have Select Comfort beds. I have little choice but to give the bed a real test drive, since I’m here for six nights. So far, I’ve tried a wide range of settings, and I haven’t been able to find any that are even remotely acceptable. Yes, it ranges from firm to soft. The firmness isn’t the problem. The problem is that it feels like a cheap air mattress! That’s not very surprising, since it is an air mattress, albiet a very expensive one. They put some padding on top (the more you pay, the more padding you get), but it’s still just an air mattress. If I crank the firmness way up, it loses a bit of the “air mattress” feel, but then it’s far too firm to sleep on.

Suffice it to say, I haven’t been sleeping very well this week.

I made it. I survived three extremely long days at Walt Disney World ? we were in the parks from open until close Saturday, Sunday and today. Phew! It was an absolute blast, but my feet are screaming for relief. My shoes may not have been the best choice, but I don?t know if there is any form of footwear that would have been comfortable after so much walking (if you have a recommendation, please let me know!). For the next four days, I?ll be going to conferences for work.

I?m really glad to have the chance to get out of town for a while, especially since the weather is so much nicer here. When our plane took off from Seattle, it was cold and rainy. When we landed in Orlando, it was sunny and in the upper 70s. Nearly paradise! My only disappointment is that I am missing my last session of Improv 100 while I?m here. I really would have liked to be there for the last class. I hope that a lot of people will choose to continue on to Improv 200. I personally can?t imagine not continuing, but there are probably others who feel differently.

I don?t have anything substantial to say tonight; I just wanted to say a quick ?hi.? I?ll try to post some more pictures and stuff after I get home next week.

A couple of weeks ago, I won James Gunn’s huge blog giveaway. Woohoo! That was the first time I ever managed to win one of those things. Not only that, but I was the first person to post. Amazing!

I got the package from James yesterday, and it was even more exciting than I’d expected! Thanks James!!!

Addictions have a funny way of gradually escalating. You might start with an innocent puff from a friend?s cigarette behind the school, and before you know it you?re smoking a pack a day. One cup of coffee in the morning turns into a continuous supply of double lattes. A single successful snapshot begets $20,000 of photography equipment. I fear my improv dependency is headed in the same direction. If I?m not careful, in a few years I?ll be living on the streets of downtown Seattle, begging passers by for spare suggestions and trying to do Theatresports games with the voices in my head.

Continue reading “Beginning Improv, Part Four: Shows and Playground”