Last week, I was in Washington, D.C. for a conference for work. One evening, I was taken out to dinner by a vendor who wants to partner with us on business. They insisted on "wooing" me, even though I told them I think they have a good product and am already willing to work with them.
There were three guys, two married and one who has a girlfriend, so it wasn't a flirtatious encounter, but as I have mentioned before, I really enjoy male company. One of them kept remarking, though, "I don't understand why you're still single!" And, although on the surface this is flattering, it is usually -- as it was this time -- followed up with something like, "Are you too picky?"
How to respond? I usually explain that I am divorced, TWICE, and if I am "too" picky now, that is a good thing!
Later, he said again, "I just don't understand why you're alone..." and it seemed like he was trying to figure out if there's something seriously wrong with me under the surface! Ha! Well, I may be unique (aren't we all?) but I'm not THAT abnormal.
We had a great dinner -- they ordered Cakebread wine -- and then we went to a little bar and danced to 80's music. I got back to the hotel late after begging to go back (most of them kept on going).
I also really enjoyed the conference. It was my first time "tweeting" on Twitter from a conference, and I'm thrilled that my tweets were well received by the Twitter community. Several of my quotes were re-tweeted, and I gained many followers.
I got asked by my colleagues in Toronto to come and speak to them about what I've been doing here in the U.S. I flew to Toronto on Tuesday afternoon, and I was surprised by how quick the flight was. The flight schedule says 90 minutes, but in reality, you're only in the air about 50 minutes. The only other time I flew to Toronto was when I lived in Dallas, and I guess I just have this idea that going to another country should take longer. There's so much about Canada that is so similar to America, but then there are just little things that make you realize you're in a "foreign" country. Like the billboard I saw that said "Now: Nonstop flights to Cuba." You wouldn't see that in the U.S.
I had dinner with my colleagues on Tuesday night, and they asked me so many questions, I was the last to finish my entree. I had work to do that night back at the hotel, and I was up until midnight putting the finishing touches on my presentation. Up early the next morning, I spoke for two hours (8:30-10:30). I hung around talking to them all for just a little longer before heading back to the airport around 11. I realized when I got back to the airport that from the time I landed to the time I took off, I was only there 20 hours. Quick trip! But I enjoyed it.
The pictures are of a beautiful old church near my company's Toronto office, with the CN Tower in the background; a filming we passed on the street of NYC cabs for a movie (Toronto poses as NYC for film crews), and a pub for Canadian beer Molson I found in the airport.
