May Flowers

Last Thursday (April 30th) was the first day of the national American Copy Editors Society (ACES) conference, which was held at the Hilton in Minneapolis. I just joined ACES before signing up for the conference, so I didn't really know much about the organization or its members. The first session I attended was about narrative editing. Then I had two hours to kill during lunch. I had brought food along and it was rainy out, so I just stayed in the Hilton's lobby. I passed much of the time reading Fargo Rock City (which is awesome!), and I also got to talk with my friend Lisa, who is now back from Hawaii, has a baby daughter, and is living with her fiance in Iowa. And I'm going to get to see her in a couple weeks when they come to visit!!! (And I get to be in her wedding next February!) I'm very psyched. Anyway, that afternoon I went to a session about "selling yourself," and I spoke up at one point and talked about freelance editing. For the rest of the weekend, I was bombarded with people wanting to talk to me about freelancing. I get the impression that people working for newspapers are feeling pretty uneasy these days, and they're anxious to see where else they might be able to employ their skills. I went to one last session, called "Editing with Your Mind's Eye," then hung out in the hotel lobby until the opening-night reception began. I got some food, mixed and mingled, then headed home. I was exhausted! But since I'd been sitting all day, I was happy to go for a walk with Tomkin and Chloe and then wind down for the night.
Friday I skipped the morning sessions and headed back to the ACES conference in the afternoon. The first session I attended was called "What Else Can I Do With These Skills?" (similar in tone to the previous day's "selling yourself" session) and the second was "Usability, Data Projects, Flash, S-E-Oh-No!" I high-tailed it out of there, headed home, and then Tomkin and I drove out to the 318 in Excelsior to hear my high school/college friend Eric Kalenze play guitar (and harmonica!) and sing. I'd forgotten what a beautiful voice he has! Such a talented guy. We got to meet his wife and two daughters, which was cool. And it was just great to see (and hear) Eric again. Tomkin and I walked down Excelsior's main drag, checked out the docks, and stopped in an ice cream shop (they actually had sugar-free ice cream!). We don't get out that way too often, so it kind of felt like a suburban adventure.
Saturday was the last day of the ACES conference. Again, I skipped the morning sessions. Tomkin headed off to a Segway event with Kris and Dave, and I went back to the conference for the afternoon. I decided to check out a forum about editing overseas. It was pretty interesting--and didn't make me want to work overseas anytime soon! Then they had a "smackdown" of two grammar titans. I loved this--they talked about things like hyphens, spelling out words such as "gonna" and "wanna" in quoted material, and all sorts of other things that editors can get really worked up about. They wrapped up the conference with a closing session and slideshow. I skipped the post-conference party and headed home. I'm glad I went to the conference since it was local, but overall I thought that too many of the sessions were dedicated to people who work for newspapers. It was definitely interesting, though. Tomkin and I took Chloe for a nice, long walk, and we ended up standing outside, chatting with our across-the-street neighbors Wayne and Sheila. Eventually they asked if we wanted to come in for some wine. So we dropped off Chloe and headed back over. It was fun to hang out and visit with them for a while. Their three kids had friends over, and they all created a haunted house in the bathroom. I loved when they excitedly asked if Tomkin wanted to go in, and he flatly said, "No." (I declined as well.) We did enjoy cuddling with the cats, though!
Sunday was a beautiful day. Tomkin and I walked Chloe down to the Happy Gnome and sat out on their lovely patio (dogs are allowed until 5:00). We ate lunch, listened to live music, then made our way home. We hung out on the front porch and read, and I took a nice, long nap. We exercised to "Rescue Me," and then I watched "Amazing Race." I love a good relaxing Sabbath!
Tomkin headed into the office on Monday morning, and I led a premarital counseling session. I spent about an hour checking/replying to e-mails, and then I went to Target for more than two hours. (Ugh.) Tomkin and I took Chloe for a walk, and then we had our second swing dance class. (I realized that shopping, walking, and then dancing may have been too much for one day....) It was really fun, and we're learning some cool moves. Right after class, we booked over to Pazzaluna to meet up with Helena and Marcus for late-night happy hour. Once again, we closed the place down! It's just so fun hanging out and talking with those two. The conversations are always so interesting, and time just flies!
Tuesday, May 5th, was the one-year anniversary of Scout's death. It was sad, of course, but also nice to reflect on what a character he was. He could be very naughty and mischievous, but he really loved people, didn't have a shy bone in his body, was always up for an adventure, and loved to cuddle (especially under a blanket). He's definitely still missed. It was a rainy day, and both Tomkin and I worked at home. The contractors doing our front steps and patio managed to get a lot of work done before they got rained out. If anyone would like to do some mud wrestling, we've got a nice pit next to our house! Hopefully by the end of the week it'll be filled with cement and bricks. And hopefully we'll have steps again, too, leading from our house to the sidewalk. It's a little treacherous out there right now! Tomkin and I went to take Chloe for a walk, got a couple blocks away from home, and decided that we should head back because there was so much thunder rumbling. Sure enough, we got caught in a downpour about a half-block from our house! We waited a few minutes, and then it cleared up. When we headed back out, it was sunny and warm! A very strange day, weather-wise. I had a premarital counseling session, and Tomkin met with a couple. Then I watched "Dancing with the Stars" and "American Idol." For the first time this season, I actually voted (go, Adam!!!!).
Today (Wednesday) we had an early Mother's Day celebration with Tomkin's parents. They came over about 10:30, and we headed to the Cheeky Monkey Deli for an early lunch. Nancy has been wanting to check out Garrison Keillor's bookstore, Common Good Books, so we went there, and Tomkin bought each of his parents a book. Then we headed over to Tomkin's office. I hadn't been there in a while, so it was fun to see what else he's done with the place--and to meet the office cat, Muscles. We really had a great time hanging out with Nancy and Tom! They're always so much fun.Tomkin headed back to the office to work, and I stayed home and worked on the front porch with Chloe. Later, Tomkin, Chloe, and I went for a walk--it was such a gorgeous day, and everything's finally starting to bloom! Tonight Tomkin headed to his weekly poker game, and I talked to my mom (and her sister Candy, who's visiting for the week). Then I had to watch "American Idol" to make sure Adam made it into the final three (phew!). (Seriously, though, what is the deal with Kris Allen? I've never understood his teenybopper appeal.) Anyway, I hope you're having a wonderful week! Thanks for reading my blog!