Brrrr

This is Lake Michigan. During the summer it's all beaches and people protesting for the right to bathe in the altogether. Right now it's a frozen wasteland. As is much of Michigan. It was bloody freezing this morning as Jude and I battled our way from store to store in a bid to find decent Christmas gifts before one of us lost a limb to frostbite. I honestly can't remember being as cold. And I thought that I'd been in cold.

Of course the truth of the matter is that the lowest we've been so far this winter is -14c (I know, I keep a record) and it's been colder than that. When my parents visited us upstate it was -20c; so cold that when my mom got out of the car and exhaled her breath first misted and then froze to her glasses adding a 'jam jar bottom' look that caused much mirth whenever she walked into a lamppost or small shrub.

Luckily for us the heating in the building is paid for and we have a gas fire that sends flames leaping into the air at the push of a button, all very nice come a winter's eve.

Jude wanted to go swimming this afternoon - but I'm afraid that the thought of being in swim trunks on a day when even the penguins are begging for the right to kill a mink or two in the name of survival was beyond me. We'll do it tomorrow though. IN the morning. Before the brain is engaged.

But first the dog needs a walk and that means me suiting up, wrapping up and getting up. Here we go

One final piece of fuckwittery

Money Trail
Originally uploaded by Big-E-Mr-G

I was supposed to get paid today.
But I didn't.
Final pay is sent by cheque - in the mail.
Nobody told me this.

Nor did anyone put the cheque in the mail.

So instead it's sitting in an empty office (everyone is at a party retreat)
And I'm sitting with no money in the bank and with Xmas fast approaching.

Ok - so I have some money in the bank.
But they don't know that.

And "The cheque is almost in the mail' is a lousy excuse

ho-hum

back at the airport

_MG_9426
Originally uploaded by locaburg

and really early. it was the first time that I didn't hit Mexican traffic and as a result I'm now at the gate of the still new and deserted Terminal Two. It's actually quite eery here, alone, in a vast white building. The stores have yet to be opened, there are staff everywhere but no customers and the whole place has a sense of white elephant about it. It must have felt like this at The Dome come 2000.

Mexico was fun, the hotel rocked and we're in a good place on the project. All that's left now is to find some images and then make the recommendations look pretty. I find that almost everyone responds well to beauty. It's innate - whereas reading is learned.

-10c when I land in Detroit - hope that there are cabs.

Proper entry tomorrow

when you only have a nickle

shoeshine.JPG
Originally uploaded by stevenjude

...get your shoes shined. Unless you're our illustrator who fell for the "Let me shine your shoes down this back alley" trick end ended up paying $20 for a shoe shine on $40 shoes. It would have been more had he not met the aggressive demand for cash with "my best cockney" - a universally understood language of aggression.

Our last full day with clients in Mexico will be spent in a focus group room. It can't be as bad as last night - moderator showed up late, nodded through a briefing, then abandoned the guide within seconds of starting the group with a bunch of show off know-it alls on a brand they didn't know. Just awful.

Still it's free food and the promise of a beer or two for those suffering along with us instead of being at the client Xmas party

So out of touch am I

Little Curry Monster and Little Paprika Monster
Originally uploaded by mashishka

that upon waking this morning I dashed, ran, hurried and generally shifted toward a computer to book "just released" tickets for The Spice Girls. And was amazed at the availability.

For younger readers The Spice Girls were as close to pop perfection as the 90s went. They were sexy enough for boys to like but scary enough to reassure tween girls that their boyfriends had no chance of getting anywhere. Actually that boyband members had no chance of getting anywhere.

Of course it was all image ... as Robbie Williams used to say "I had the good fortune of being in one of the nost successful boyboands of the decade... and in three of the members of the most successful girl band"

These days the girls are older. The Girl Power rhetoric turned down a tad and the whole thing has the right cash to kitsch ratio.

It should be fun. Meanwhile I'm in Mexico and about to head into the morning traffic. Arrrrgggghhhhhh!

Ahhhhhhhhh

After weeks of travel fuckwittery and hotel malady it's good to have some time in a hotel where things work. And even better that Jude (whose flight left and arrived without drama) is here with me this weekend.

Yesterday was canal boats, market lunches, town squares and remarkably cheap transportation (the metro here costs 2 pesos, that's 20 cents or 10p to you Yanks and Brits) === that compared to the $8 that I had to pay to go one stop on the London underground is a bit of a right royal bargain.

Anyway the sun is shining, we have a witch waiting to cast our bad spirits into an egg and I have to catch up with the illustrator this morning so this is qoing to be a quickie.

Research tomorrow, home Thursday. New job next week! Hurrah.