Love in a phone booth, Panic in a parked car

Road blog - Los Angeles, day 1:

Actually today is something like day zero since I have done nothing other than see the kid off to school and then get on a plane, I don't get to begin working until tomorrow morning - which is going to be exciting since the meeting I'm here to run happens a couple hours after my gear is scheduled to arrive by courier. So what could possibly go wrong, right?

More on that tomorrow.

So I started blogging and then dropped off a bit there, things have been a little bit ridiculous....here's why.

This past weekend I was out at the Festival, nothing new there other than maybe being a little blurrier than usual, having just gotten back into the US, and jet lag and an unexpectedly gorgeous day, blah blah blah. The important part is that I was out in Shakopee at the Nerd Parade. Not only that, I was staying the night out at the Nerd Parade - which usually sucks.

I like staying out there on occasion, I used to fight a lot harder to do so but the experience of actually sleeping is always, and has always been, terrible out there.

I didn't notice it as much when I was younger, slept a lot less or those few years when I owned a camper and had something resembling a bed. But the last several years we've been tenting it, and tenting it pretty well I'd say, after inheriting a huge platform that keeps us off the ground and water....anyway.

Sleeping in a tent, always uncomfortable. I used to insist on staying because driving home and then back again cuts out a giant chunk of sleep I could be getting (albeit terribly) if I stay. In recent years I've been putting a much higher value on getting good sleep in a cozy bed than on the lost sleep time itself and just coming home. Other than a few weekends every season where it just makes more sense to stay - like Saturday.

But I decided I wasn't going to be miserable anymore, fuck that!

For the first time I brought extra sleeping bags, a pillow (never occurred to me before, I guess) and an extra air mattress and basically decided, "No, enough being stupid! I'm going to sleep WELL" and sleep well I did.

Then I woke up at 5am with my phone vibrating next to my head - my little boy had been in the emergency room for several hours, unable to breathe, and his mother in a total panic dealing with everything all by herself had been calling and calling and texting and texting while I dozed happily.

I may never fully sleep again.

Anyway, the boy had croup. I left the Festival and missed all of Sunday and spent the day letting mom catch up on rest as she was able and going through all the "what if's" - not least of which was the "what if this had happened when I was out of town. Hell, out of the country??" and it was generally upsetting but the boy was ok.

Then yesterday he woke up with a 102 fever, which is the average for croup according to some online medical info and I didn't think too much of it. His mother took him to the doctor and I took myself to work.

Then, midday (actually mid-meeting) I got a text telling me that Owen has H1N1.

Super duper. I explained to the person I was meeting with, he was frighteningly laid back about it and then I told my boss and co-workers - and was asked to promptly collect my gear and get out of the office. Nicely, but firmly. Understandable.

Then began the process of working backward in my head through all the people I'd come in contact with and feeling guilty - then looking at all the crap I had planned and had to now at least give people a nice warning of "oh, by the way, I've been exposed to H1N1" **

** at this point it's worth explaining that the doctor was very clear that this is basically the flu...with a scary name and lots and lots of hype. Owen is fine. Everyone is fine. It's flu season. People get the flu. The doctor even said we don't need to take Owen's twin brother out of school until he shows symptoms - I'm not sick, I have no symptoms and really am probably no more a danger than I was a couple of days ago, so really I was warning people out of courtesy since people get freaky and it's not up to me to decide how much they want to risk exposure **

I'm making a point to avoid completely people that have kids or are about to have kids and I'm essentially behaving as if I have the flu (EVEN THOUGH I DO NOT - REPEAT, DO NOT) and am generally keeping my distance and not touching people unless I have to.

But I'm still on the road, spent the day in a metal tube with recirculated air and 300 strangers, I'm still going to be in a room with 900 more strangers tomorrow and touch something they'll put in their hands and hold onto all day and I'm still going out with Ray and Mike (who just happen to be in LA at the same time) and meet Matt Donnelly (who also just happens to be here!) at iO (which was built here, it's not that weird that it's here) and see a show and grab a couple drinks.

Everything should be just fine.

Oh.....I keep licking my palms constantly, that shouldn't matter, should it??