We really like Vancouver, so much so that we can both imagine ourselves living there. If the Tea Party ever really takes over in this country, we just might do it!

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We hop a northward bound Amtrak train and head for Vancouver, BC to start our adventure.

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Got lots going on between now and the end of the year – all good stuff:

• First weekend in October – San Francisco
• middle of October – Ellensburg, Washington (hi Hollie! :)
• First weekend in November – San Francisco again
• sometime around Christmas – NYC with Jessica

The trip to NYC is going to be awesome… we had our first planning meeting last night. I’ve always wanted to go there when the city is decorated for the holidays, and I’ll finally get to skate at Rockefeller Center! Can’t wait…

Looks like I need to come up with an early December trip just to fill in the gap in my schedule. :)

Oh yea, and I want to start having some dinner parties for local friends, too. I have a great kitchen, and a kitchen full of high-end cooking gear, and yet the only thing I’ve cooked in the last six or so months is grilled cheese sandwiches. That needs to change… otherwise this will be another thing I look back on later and say “why didn’t I take advantage of that while I had it?”.

I had a *great* time at C4, but it’s good to be back. I don’t always feel that way; when we lived in New Hampshire, every time I went somewhere else I hated the thought of going home. This time I actually looked forward to going home, though not necessarily to resuming my daily life. I’m not sure how much of that is due to life being better now, and how much is due to my not having liked Chicago very much. It’s easier to want to go home if you don’t feel any compelling reason to stay there. If I had been in San Francisco, or New York, I think I might have felt a lot differently….

Now the usual pile ‘o tasks I don’t really want to do, compounded by two days away from answering emails. I really need to make some changes in my life; the whole point of being self-employed is so you don’t *have* to be bored! There are interesting things I’d like to be working on (iPhone) but they don’t pay the bills (iPhone) and the boring stuff does (iPhone). So I guess I’m stuck with it for now (iPhone). Can you see where my mind is going??? :)

My hotel charges $15/night for in-room Internet, but the wireless in the lobby is free. So of course every night the lobby, which doubles as the bar, is packed. And everyone with a laptop also has a drink. Hmm… I wonder why they are still charging for Internet when most other nice hotels, even most other Marriotts, have stopped doing that? Hmm….

Post-conference and trying to sample what Chicago has to offer. I rode the L out to the chi-chi shopping district, then walked out to the lake shore. Walked through the zoo but most of the animals were already put away for the night. Took the bus back to downtown and am now awaiting my pepperoni, olive and green pepper pizza at Pizzeria Due.

We used to eat at Pizzeria Uno all the time in SF; the original one is a block from here and this is their first “second” location, hence the name.

Big evening planned; get some snacks for tomorrow at Trader Joe’s, which is right across the street, and then to Border’s. Then back to the room to play on the laptop a bit (I downloaded a bunch of software demos today) and pack. I go home in the morning.

Another boring speaker… time to try out a new blog posting tool, so hopefully this won’t be strangely formatted in any way.

The rest of yesterday went great; very interesting speakers and interesting people at lunch and the breaks, too. We all went to a local pizza joint for dinner (we took the place over :) and then there was a poolside bash last night.

My main reason for coming here was to meet people and I’ve really done that; I’ve even met 4 people who live near me, which is really cool. Those who are used to seeing me be shy would barely recognize me at the parties, talking up a blue streak. Go me! :)

I remain unimpressed by Chicago. The streets are potholey, the architecture seems random and unplanned, things are dirty, drivers are crazy. I did find the Lakeshore trail, finally, and this morning I walked out onto Navy Pier. It was nice to be out over the lake, but all you really need to know about Navy Pier is that McDonald’s sponsors the ferris wheel. That pretty much captures the plastic, artificial, tourist-oriented vibe of the place.

So far, the best part of Chicago is the view from the lakeshore back towards downtown. This is a side of Chicago I can get behind – from a distance! :) But down on the streets, not so much. When I visit a new place I always evaluate it as though I was considering living there, and I really can’t think of any reason to be here. I did talk to a local last night over dinner who swears that his neighborhood is better. I do seem to be in a tourist section, even though there doesn’t seem to be a reason for it; in addition to Navy Pier, on the way to dinner last night we walked past a Rainforest Cafe and a Hard Rock Cafe, both of which tend to be where the tourists are. Oh, and a Hooter’s too! :)

I have seen a number of familiar names; I’m a block away from Nordstrom, PF Chang’s and Rock Bottom Brewery. There’s also a Trader Joe’s nearby. But somehow none of this makes it feel at all like home.

So I’m sitting here trying to listen to a presentation about an obscure programming language that I’ll never use, given by a tech guy from Twitter. Judging from the @c4 tweet reflector, other people here are fascinated, but I’m bored. I already work in an obscure programming language… I don’t need another one! And if I’m not going to use it, I don’t really care to know all that much about it. So, being bored, I’m catching up on posting.

Last night started out with dinner and then we had two speakers, followed by a party. The party was just a cash bar, nothing fancy. I usually wander through these things not talking to anyone, but I’m doing much better; I actually spent several hours in conversation with strangers and for me that’s *huge*. I’m learning that “so, what do you do?” works with just about everyone; as a friend of mine told me recently, everyone loves to talk about themselves. :)

I had a couple of hours to spare between checking in to the hotel and the start of the conference, which I spent walking around and taking pictures. I forgot all about cameras… didn’t bring the G9, or a spare battery for the Powershot I keep in my purse, or the cable to get photos off the phone. So my battery is dead, no more pics, and I won’t be able to download them until I get home. Boo hiss.

Anyway, I took pics of the crazy random architecture, which IMHO makes downtown pretty ugly. I walked out to the lakeshore but I didn’t quite make it to the water; I got stopped by a security gate for a Marine installation (that’s the Marine Corps). There’s an amusement park thing called Navy Pier which looks like it’s right on the water; I’m going to try to get out there before I leave.

Ok, boring speaker done – guess I should start listening again now. :)

I leave first thing in the morning for Chicago, a place I’ve never been before, for a weekend software conference called C4[2], for Mac software developers. I’ll try to both blog and tweet along the way (http://twitter.com/janineanne for those who want to follow the tweets).