Snapshot Chronicles

Susan Getgood's personal blog

“Hey dude, no need to prop your shoeless feet up on the train seat” and other travel inconsiderations

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Seen last Thursday on the 9:07pm Metro North train to New Haven from Grand Central – middle-aged man in the seat across the aisle takes his shoes off and props his feet up on the seat opposite.

Really?

Yesterday on the flight back from Portland Oregon where I was panicking about babies with authors Alice Bradley and Eden Kennedy on their west coast book tour for Let’s Panic About Babies (sponsored by BlogHer) – my seatmate in Row 27 brags to her husband on the phone that she found a space for her carry-on bag in Row 12 and just grabbed it.

And on the flight out earlier in the week, the woman in the aisle seat wouldn’t get out of her seat when the window seat occupant needed to use the lav. I of course was stuck in the middle. Which means we had to crawl over her to get out of the seats. Each time, I retwisted the ankle I sprained a few weeks ago.

Really?

What happened to consideration for your fellow travelers?

  • Unless your leg is broken or some other equally painful foot condition, feet on the floor, people. If you have to prop it up, use your briefcase as a stool or cover the seat with your coat, and for goodness sake, leave your shoes ON!
  • Use the bin space near your seat or check your bag. Don’t steal someone else’s space.
  • And come on, just stand up so your fellow travelers can get out of their seats without tripping or getting entirely too close to you.

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Speaking of Portland, I ate in a terrific restaurant downtown near the Portland Marriott Waterfront – Veritable Quandary. I actually had two meals there while in Portland — dinner with a college friend of my husband and lunch the next day with Eden and Alice. Yes, it was good enough that I was willing to go back when they suggested it for lunch. Recommended: the Almond Pear Galette for dessert.

On a completely unrelated topic, leave a comment on my sponsored post about my dogs and trial feeding them a new food to enter a giveaway for a $100 VISA gift card. Giveaway ends at 5:00 p.m. (PST) May 4, 2011.

Come panic about babies with Finslippy, Fussy and BlogHer in Portland, Seattle and the Bay Area

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BlogHer is sponsoring the West Coast leg of the book tour for Let’s Panic About Babies by Alice Bradley (“Finslippy“) and Eden Kennedy (“Fussy“). We start in Portland Oregon on April 5th, move up to Seattle on April 6th and then down to the San Francisco Bay area April 8, 9 and 10. Alice and Eden will be doing book signings and readings at independent book stores, and we’ll have no-host blogger meet-ups in nearby pubs and restaurants before and/or after the signings.

The full schedule with times and locations is here.

I’ll be joining these funny ladies in Portland, BlogHer co-founder and president, strategic alliances Jory DesJardins will be with them in Seattle and ceo/co-founder Lisa Stone will be at the Bay Area events.

Let’s Panic About Babies is a humorous look at parenthood. Because, really, if you don’t laugh, you’ll often want to cry, and laugh lines are so much more attractive than worry lines.

Every new parent has doubts about the often uncomfortable and frequently scary adventure that is parenthood. And we screw up left and right.  It’s a good thing that children don’t remember much of what happens before the age of 5. It’s like a free pass on the early mistakes; you know that at least those disasters won’t contribute to your child’s eventual psychological problems. After 5 though — yeah, all your fault.

Unless you are prone to frequent psychotic episodes, these doubts will continue well into your child’s adulthood. Unfortunately most advice books tend to take a preachy tone, which only increases our doubts about our capabilities as parents.

Let’s Panic is the perfect antidote to the “What to expect” genre, and should be in every parent’s toolkit for when they run into the inevitable Sanctimommy (©Mom-101).

Will you love every joke in the book? Maybe not. Like most humor, some things will strike you funnier than others. But overall, if you get this book, you will laugh, cry and probably pee your pants. Just a little.

I’m looking forward to hearing them read from the book, and hope you can join us at one of the stops.

Not able to join us? You can of course buy a copy at your online bookseller of choice (my Amazon affiliate link). Even better, BlogHer is giving away 20 copies. Just leave a comment on the Let’s Panic tour page on BlogHer.com for a chance to win one.

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Disclosure: I work for BlogHer, was involved in the planning of the tour and received my copy of the book from the publisher.

Cross posted to Marketing Roadmaps.

 

The Somewhat Sort of Single Mom

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Since January, I have been a somewhat, sort of single mom.

Last Fall, I started working for BlogHer, based in the Manhattan office. Since commuting to Midtown from the Greater Boston area wasn’t realistic, this meant the family had to move. And realistically, put our home in Massachusetts on the market – much as we love it.

Financially, we just couldn’t support another household. The vacation home in Vermont that we’ve been trying to sell for the past 2 years and a principal residence somewhere  is enough of a load, thank you very much. I’m also not the sort of person who likes to be separated from the family. I waited a long time to have my son, and want to be his full-time mom. My pets (especially the dogs) are very important as well. So, a room rental for me in the metro area and commuting back to Massachusetts on weekends was a non-starter.

Since my husband is an independent software and Internet consultant, he can work just about anywhere.  So we began to make plans to relocate. We found a house to rent in CT that was good for  the dogs, cats and Doug. The landlord even let me put in a fenced in yard for the dogs, provided I take it down when we leave. We found a small private school for my son, and after the December holidays, we moved down so Doug could start school after the break.

Except my husband didn’t come. Two months later, he’s still at the old house in Massachusetts and although he hasn’t committed one way or the other, I think he plans to stay there until the house is sold. Which has meant some big adjustments. Doug and I are on our own.

I have a pet sitter who comes around noon to let the dogs out, as we don’t have a dog kennel in the rental like we did at the old house. Four days a week I have a helper who picks Doug up at the afterschool program and feeds the pets, staying until I get home from the city around 7ish (or later for the 2 or so days a month I have to stay in town for something.) When I have a business trip that will take me out of town and can’t bring Doug with me, someone comes to stay so he doesn’t miss school. My mom is covering my trip to New Orleans for Mom 2.0 in April, and since I may have another trip earlier that month, either his father or my brother will come for a couple days.

It’s a bit weird being a somewhat sort of single mom, but we’re managing pretty well with our new routine. Doug seems to like his school and is making new friends, while still keeping in touch with the ones from our old town. He’s even beginning to pull his weight around the house- taking out the trash, setting the table, helping pick up after the dogs, getting his homework done on time, getting up and ready for school on time (most days) so I don’t miss my train. I am very proud of him.

We also have started some new traditions. Every week –usually Friday – we have Family Movie Night. We get our dinner delivered and camp out in the living room watching a movie. We’ve been ordering Domino’s Pizza but I just learned that the local Asian fusion place (Shangri-La) delivers orders more than $15.00, so it’s going on the rotation.

We also try to take an excursion at least once a month. Last month, we went to the Amercian Museum of Natural History, and ate at the now dismantled restaurant Celsius that sits atop the seasonal skating rink  in Bryant Park (near my office). Come warmer weather, we’re planning trips to the zoo (Bronx, Beardsley and Central Park) and I want to do the Circle Line boat tour of the city again. We did it when Doug was about 4 or 5 and I think he would enjoy it much more now.

My husband has been coming down every couple weeks and taking Doug skiing up north. Which was tough the first time, but a lot easier the second, when I actually enjoyed my day and a half on my own. My mom and brother come down to visit about once a month, and now that the weather is getting better, we’ll be taking day trips to finish packing up the MA house to get it on the market.

So, I’m somewhat sort of single right now, but I’m getting to be a full time mom and that’s worth everything to me.