I got to relax this morning. The weekend is finally here. I am packed up with Dominica’s pink High Sierra backpack and nothing else to take on my trip. I am only staying for two nights so do not need very much and we have figured out that we can get my CPAP into the backpack if we are really judicious in the packing.
It was nearly noon when Dominica drove me to the Utica train station so that I could catch my train west bound. She dropped me off about twenty minutes before the train was due but immediately it was running late and I had about a forty minute delay to wait through.
I went outside and walked up and down the platform. I was the only person waiting for the afternoon train so I had the entire place to myself.
When the train came they did not even ask for my ticket, it was quite obvious who I was and they already knew where I was going. I settled into my seat and pretty much just relaxed for the journey. The down time was very nice.
On the train ride I got a veggie burger and had some issues breathing after eating it. I looked at all of the food ingredients trying to figure out what might be wrong. My only real thought is that maybe I am allergic to soy, which is a very common allergen. Going to have to pay attention to this and see if I can figure out if there is a commonality between all of the times that this happens.
Originally Danielle was going to pick me up at the station but she was busy and AJ was in town so he came to the station to get me. We drove out to the east side of the city, to which I have not been for a very long time, I think that we were actually in Webster, and had about an hour or maybe two to kill prior to our SpiceCorps meeting there.
To kill the time we went to Houligan’s, which is new to Rochester since I was in the area, and went to the bar to have some drinks. AJ went through his regular assortment of inappropriately named girly shots (Sex on the Beach, Red Headed Slut and other ridiculous drink combinations) while I had my traditional martinis (gin, of course, or else it isn’t truly a martini and should just be called a vodkatini.)
Danielle ended up meeting us at the bar and after a few minutes we found that our sponsors from Scale were at the bar too and we had a few minutes to get to meet them and make introductions before heading next door to the event venue.
While we were still at the bar, the one engineer and I got to talking. He is a German citizen, born and raised in Germany of Austrian stock, but as we were talking we started to realize how much background we had in common and after a few minutes had managed to identify a common ancestor from the middle eighteenth century! So, strangely we were actually cousins!
From the bar we went up to the meeting venue. Scale did most of the presentation this evening. It was a good event. Not a ton of people but a fair number and very good for a Rochester area event. We had a good time.
Afterwards we went to Houligan’s again and sat out on the patio and had drinks for a while, everyone together.
Late in the evening, AJ drove me down to dad’s house. AJ had nowhere to stay tonight and had asked dad if he could come crash down there. So he was able to drive me right there. Worked out pretty well.
Dad was still up and waiting when we got in. We spent a couple hours hanging out with dad. We were all pretty tired but I have not seen AJ since Austin in September and have not seen dad since before we went to Spain so there was a lot of catching up to do.
I finally got to see and set up the Amazon Echo that had arrived almost instantly after we had left for Spain back in March. We bought the early beta of it which made it very cheap but it had come long before we were ready to use it. Getting it set up was pretty easy and I was able to play with it for a good twenty minutes before going to bed. Just in that short span of time dad thought that it was pretty cool; I can tell that he wants one of these now.
AJ slept upstairs in the living room. I got to sleep on the futon down in the basement. This was my first time in a firm, comfortable bed since leaving the Toccos’ house in Houston in March. Boy did it feel good. So comfortable. My body has been anxiously awaiting this.
I brought the Echo down to the basement with me and hooked it up by the bed. Being able to just ask out loud for the time is pretty neat. Or to ask the weather. And once in bed I was able to just say “Alexa, play a thunderstorm” and the Echo put on my environmental sounds which is perfect for me at night. I have only just started playing with it but so far I am really liking it.