Hit by a bus - or perhaps a small bakery truck

I woke up this morning, and yesterday too, feeling like I'd been hit by a bus. It's possible that it was more of a delivery truck (and I choose to believe that if it's a delivery truck that it would be delivering donuts rather than office supplies).

It's been way, way too much traveling. Last week was New York, back to DC for about 10 hours, and then off to Los Angeles. Once there, I went to Huntington Beach, back to LA, and then up to Simi Valley to the Brandeis Bardin Institute before heading back to DC on a red-eye.

In California, it was shocking how much of my driving time was actually spent in traffic. And I didn't see one movie star. Not one! Not on the highway, not in the Starbucks, not in the hotel and not on my flights. Evidently they don't fly Southwest or America West, or I'm sure someone recognizable would have been on my flights. Evidently the night I checked out of the hotel to go to BBI, the American Idol "Hollywood Week" began and there were all sorts of folks around.

My flights back were actually interesting. One of my friends (who generally requests anonymity) makes fun of me for talking to people on my flights, but on one flight I sat next to the CFO of ProActiv, and on the next one, I sat next to an ex-marine who now dismantles bombs for a living. In between we had a 2 hour layover in Vegas. There is a decided lack of neon in the airport and we didn't see one Elvis impersonator. Not one!

But I did see a bunch of cousins while I was out there, which was nice. The kids were fun and we went to the beach, which was a first for me on the Pacific side (and I think I've only been to any beach on the Atlantic once, so now they're even).