Message written at 11:59 p.m. from the Hyatt Business Plan Office.
There is just one lone computer available for all the hotel guests, and tonight, ever since returning from the gala concert at 8 (there is a "gala concert" every night of the convention at 8; more on my schedule and the amazing and not-so amazing things I have seen and heard in future dispatches; my joy at having my hands on a computer is right now making me a tiny bit funky. Yes, "funky." My joy also killing my vocabulary), I have been riding the elevator up to the 18th floor (where the lone computer resides) every 30 minutes or so, checking the availability of the PC.
There's also a printer, an electric pencil sharpener, a trash can, and two staplers here. Not sure when I'm going to need any of those items, but the printer might come in handy.
Anyway, until now, the PC has been in use. I had to wait my turn.
...
My trip so far has been a lot of fun. Albuquerque is quite a town; I don't exactly mean that sarcastically. For once, while at a flute convention, I have actually had a couple of opportunities to see the place I'm visiting. When Patty and I arrived on Wednesday afternoon, we had to walk a few blocks to the hotel. My directions were of course taken from Google Maps with the understanding that we would be driving, not walking the streets of downtown Albuquerque, so we ended up taking a few extra steps than we really needed (and it was HOT that afternoon; our trip on the train was fine, but no shower and then a big heavy bag and a long walk in the heat did not make me the happiest girl in town), which was fine, actually, because we were able to get our bearings and look around a little. And then that night, we took a walk (maybe about a mile? I'm not sure) to the supermarket, and we got to see a bit of the area, then.
This hasn't been the trip for me and my electronic equipment - on Tuesday morning, before we left, I went to AT&T and traded in my old mobile phone; my intentions were to only purchase a new travel charger; instead, I was told that I was eligible for a new phone. The guy made it sound like a deal I would be a fool to pass up; and since when do I turn down somebody who calls me a fool (seriously. This is a serious question)? Anyway, I didn't have time to test the charger (and why should I have?), and so, when we arrived, 16 hours later in Albuquerque, I discovered that my charger didn't work, and my phone was dead.
Then, I discovered an even worse, er, discovery. I plugged in my laptop and was all prepared to go online and find the nearest AT&T store... when tragedy struck! (Suddenly! What could be worse than the words I am about to write?)
Apparently more deadly than the blue screen of death: the black screen of no operating system. Here are the four words you should hope to never see:
"Operating system not found."
Yes.
I killed the laptop.
On Wednesday, though, this wasn't a big deal. We had a whole town to explore and a free day to do it in (that never, ever happens for me at the convention), and so I didn't really think about it. I can live without my email, I thought (ha!).
My phone, however, was another story.
On Thursday morning, I checked my book (I'll be talking about "my book" quite a bit while relating these exciting tales from the convention - every convention-goer is provided with a paperback book about the size of Philip Roth's most recent novel, "Everyman," which I was reading while I waited for the computer (OK, I won't lie: I was also watching a very bad Melissa Gilbert TV movie called "Blood Vows." Eileen Brennan was also in it, and she called Melissa "Toots" a lot. It was quite possibly the worst piece of crap ever made; I couldn't take my eyes off of it). Inside the book is a daily schedule of the events at the convention, including concert programs and bios of the performers and composers. It's a handy thing, that book, because every day, at all hours of the day, there are about five things going on at one time, and without it, you'd never be in the right place at the right time, hearing the concert or the performance you wanted to hear. Everyone carries their book around at all times; you know you're dealing with flute convention people by their big green convention IDs and their books), and discovered that if all went well, I'd have an hour and a half free after the last thing I wanted to see/hear and the evening concert. I checked with the hotel concierge, and got the instructions for taking the bus "uptown" to the mall, and I set out.
30 minutes later (I could've taken a cab, but that would've cost me $20 instead of $1 - yes: 1 lousy dollar - and denied me the opportunity of seeing all that Albuquerque has to offer... on the one main street I had the good fortune to travel that day), I found the store I wanted, and traded in my non-functioning travel charger for a functioning one (Jeff, the guy who helped me, was super nice and super quick), walked a bit before finding the right bus back downtown, and made it back in time for dinner and my concert.
However, despite the happy ending on that story, my laptop is still dead. And? I can't live without my email. Here it is, Saturday night, and during most of the intermission of tonight's big concert (Saturday night of every convention is "Concerto Night") I was wondering who might have emailed me and what might be waiting for me in my in-box.
Turns out, not very much, but that's OK.
And now I can at least go to bed and know what's waiting for me, and what's not waiting for me.
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