the past few years, i've answered a bunch of questions looking back on the previous year. this year i started to do it, and got bored.

in summary, 2009 was pretty awesome. i got out of the funk that i found myself in during the last half of 2008. we bought a new house. i took another trip to mexico. we had a roadtrip adventure with some of our best friends. adopted a dog from the humane society. visited maui and oahu. sold the condo. celebrated our 5-year wedding anniversary. got through another show season.

life is so good, and i look forward to an equally wonderful 2010.

the adventure begins in exactly one month, when i get on a plane bound for germany.

we are headed for the desert tomorrow for a brief new year's eve trip. hope your celebrations are as oddly entertaining as our's is bound to be!

camilles (9:45pm, 12.30.09)

before i left for florida at the beginning of the month, i received the good news that i had been selected as the employee of the month for december.

along with a certificate, i was granted the double-wide parking spot by the employee entrance. unfortunately, of all the months to be employee of the month, december was the worst for me since i missed out on so many days to get to park in the special spot. traveling for a week and then being closed from the 24th on drastically reduced my opportunities, but i did make a point of riding the vespa one day.

camilles (10:38am, 12.28.09)

typical christmas season crazies around here, but i'm off work until january 4th! hard to believe how fast the time goes by this time of year.

merry christmas to you and your loved ones. best wishes for a safe and happy celebration!

camilles (10:35am, 12.24.09)

what better way to kill one of the last few days of the work year than spending it driving around a race track, practicing lines and identifying apexes?

that's a pretty grimy photo of me, and when i got home, jeff said i smelled like cars.

there are moments where i'll be thinking about these unusual experiences that i've been fortunate enough to have, and all of a sudden it's like, "Whoa! what the heck?"

i know it won't last forever, but i'm going to enjoy it as long as it does.

and then i'll be on to new, unusual experiences.

camilles (10:36pm, 12.17.09)

5 years ago, i would have told you that business travel seemed so cool. flying around to new destinations. getting to stay in hotels. eating in fancy restaurants.

and then reality set in.

jeff warned me that it wasn't all it cracked it up to be...but i just didn't want to believe him.

being gone like this, i miss my sweetie and my dog and my own bed. you don't realize how much you'll miss things like having access to all of your clothes and full sized toiletries.

granted, i DO enjoy being in new places and staying in hotels and eating in restaurants. i DO enjoy getting to spend long hours with coworkers from all around the country (or world!) and the comradery that develops.

it's that sense of comradery that makes me miss my favorite former coworkers. it's a toss up between len and dan of who i miss more, and due to the circumstances that life hands out sometimes, i don't get to see or talk to either nearly enough, but they both impacted my life in positive and mischievious ways. awesome memories.

only have to make it through a one day of tradeshow and i'll be catching my flight back home. thank goodness!!!!!

camilles (10:23pm EST!, 12.9.09)

i flew out of san diego, where it was cold and raining. i had a layover in chicago, where they were actively plowing the runways. i finally landed in orlando, where it was extremely warm and raining.

this morning it was 80 degrees and 99% humidity when i made may way over to the convention center. when i walked through the door to the show floor, where they don't run the a/c for those of us doing the manual labor to set up, it was like hitting an even hotter, even more humid wall.

can't say it was the smoothest setup ever, but we got there eventually. tomorrow there are a few details to go, but getting through today was definitely making it over the hardest part of this last show of 2009.

hard to believe that i'm finishing up my 5th season of trade shows.

this is the first time since 2005 that i didn't extend my trip by at least a day, mainly because i wanted to spend as much time enjoying holiday prep with jeff as possible (and fortunately, i made my trip plans before i knew he was going to be gone to korea all last week!).

orlando isn't particularly well-known for their fine cuisine, but every year i do my best to get out and try to find what is different and good. that usually requires serious scouring of review websites and trying to see through the snarkiness that generally permeates those sites. i have to say my research paid off.

last night i had murgh korma at tabla bar & grill. the korma, chutneys, and even naan were a symphony of bright, distinctly spiced flavors. i couldn't believe what a score this place was, considering it is in a pretty dead area next to universal studios. connected to a cheesy-looking food and souvenier shop, this might have been the best indian food i ever had.

tonight, i made the drive to yellow dog eats, a funny little country store/eclectic eatery and bistro out in windermere. about a 10 mile drive, but sooooooooooo different than the area of orlando that i've been staying in. i got a blue suede shoes, which was a pulled pork sandwich smothered in bacon, blue cheese, onions, and bbq sauce. traded the coleslaw/potato chips for some colorful mustard potato salad and took a yummy brownie home. delicious break from the norm. i also had the pleasure of driving through some interesting parts of town, including what looked like the land of extremely large churches. one after another after another, including a brilliant white castle, which i wasn't at all surprised to discover was the orlando branch of the church of latter day saints.

just a few more nights and i can go home. i've got company starting tomorrow, and really only another 2 days of work before i'm back on a plane and headed back to not-so-sunny san diego.

camilles (9:51pm EST!, 12.8.09)