Hiding from the heat-wave in style

Last Friday, B. and. I were among the lucky ones that only lost power for three hours. Many people in the city lost power for 6-8 hours. Furthermore, the weather forecast for the weekend predicted severe thunderstorms. So B. and I, not exactly the adventurous type, decided it was time for a mini-local vacation.  We booked a room at the Westin downtown for Saturday and Sunday (it is the only hotel in the city with an indoor pool in the top floor). We also left laptops and other means of accessing the Internet behind. It was a full weekend of lounging in the pool, reading, and trying new restaurants downtown. I won't lie and say it was cheap, but if you can occasionally afford it, it beats complicated planning for a weekend getaway.

Today we came back to normality and the Internet. What had happened that I missed during the weekend?

- TomKat is no longer an item (earth-shattering, I know)

- Anderson Cooper came out of the closet

- Spain beat Italy 4-0. I didn't even know they were playing, so no big loss.

- I had a request for an encyclopedia entry in my mailbox. I'll do it. 

- a few administrative changes at my institution. They do not affect me directly, but I question the wisdom of such decisions.

Moral of the story: disconnecting is good, and it is not required that you are available at all times. And somehow unrelated, I discovered that my city is able to produce the ugliest sculptures you can imagine. On the other hand, I parked my car at a public parking lot without apparently noticing that that side was going to close for a few days the following day. But instead of just towing away the car, they towed it to the other side of the parking lot. I wanted to kiss the attendant when he showed me where the car was. I love the Midwest!!!