an empty hole

T left this morning.  I got up at 4:30am to see him off.  I went back to bed and slept a bit more.  But I woke up to an empty hotel room which is... for some reason much harder than if he had not come with me at all.  I feel terribly, horribly alone.  

I generally travel alone, but since I didn't have to this time, the transition at this point is much more difficult than if he had just dropped me off that the airport.

I know that all I have to do is get through today, then it will get easier with going to work tomorrow.  It is the getting through today that is difficult.

Deep breaths.

Getting out

I dragged myself out of the hotel today, despite my despondency over T's absence.  In doing so, I learned a few things:

• It is not as easy as it sounds to simply "go walking for a few hours.  Perhaps until it gets dark."  This is especially true if you have spreading blisters over both feet and are still sore from the last five days of walking.  (livingdeb, 15K steps by 4pm.  I may beat you this week.)
• Many shops in downtown Montpellier are closed on a Sunday.  In fact, the majority of shops are closed.  One a few big ones on main pedestrian thoroughfares are open.  That was OK.  I wasn't out for shopping.  Looking, but not shopping.
  
• Far fewer people are out on a Sunday than Saturday, even though the weather is much better today.  Sunny, not as windy.  I kinda like that part, because the number of people yesterday was making me claustrophobic.
• Evidently a woman alone is much more approachable than a mixed-gender couple.  I got approached by no less than three beggars!  Or, at least, I assume they were beggars.  Two of them left me alone when I trotted out my "I'm sorry, but I don't speak French."  The third one switched to English and asked for a cigarette.  Why she thought I smoke, I have no idea.
• All those stories about how French people are rude and hate speaking other languages?  I cannot speak about how true that is for Paris, but I can tell you that for Montpellier, it is totally untrue!  I was pretty worried, when coming here.  But these are some of the friendliest people I have ever encountered.  I cannot even pretend to speak French, and pretty much everyone is very willing to work with me to communicate.  The vast majority of them speak such excellent English that I would call them completely fluent, although they seem to think differently.

Travel clothing

I was surprised while visiting ovrclokd this past year that she travels in business attire, thus saving herself the packing space.  I tried to suggest to her that sweating out one of her business outfits on an airplane was a dubious idea, but she poo-poo-ed the idea.  Since both of us travel so much, I have to think that her attitude is the result of two things:
(1) Most of her travel is domestic, thus relatively short trips.
(2) She doesn't sweat. *grin/duck*[1]

Over the past few years, I have developed a traveling "uniform" that works for me.  Keep in mind that the majority of the trips I wear this for are for multiple flights, with at least one leg being more than 6 hours long.  When I fly domestically, I am also more likely to wear clothing I am willing to be seen in at the other end.

• tennis shoes, regular socks.  Comfy for sprinting across airports, and it means I have something to wear on my feet when I work out at the destination.
• pocket-heavy cargo pants from REI.  Made from thin material that dries quickly.  One of the pockets will perfectly fit a plane ticket and a passport.  I keep kleenex, sleeping mask, sleeping pills, pedometer, and post-it notes in the other six pockets.
• thin, loose, short sleeved t-shirt.  Cool for those times when they turn off the air.
  
• thick, long-sleeved cotton plaid men's shirt with two pockets.  I keep my PDA and ipod in the pockets.  Warm for when they turn on the air.
  

It is the long-sleeved shirt that I have been reevaluating recently.  Duluth Trading company advertises that they make durable ultra-practical work clothing for men and women.  They particularly advertise their business jackets.  For women, they had two I singled out as possible Christmas presents.  T gave me the one with only five pockets (his question was, what could you possibly do with the insane number of pockets the other one has?!).  It is water-resistant, supposedly stain-resistant.  I will say it is resistant to wrinkles (and I have been abusing it this trip).  I LOVE the pockets -- two large internal zipping pockets!  Nothing falls out!  Plus an extra velcro-ed pocket that would fit a cellphone or my ipod (even with headphones coming out of it).  Duluth is really proud of the tailoring -- loose, but still obviously a women's jacket.  They put extra cloth in the shoulders so that even I (who have a tendency to rip out shoulders by raising my arms) feel free to wave my arms about.  I have been wearing it for everything (mostly an extra layer of warmth) I previously wore the long-sleeved plaid shirt.  It looks way more professional than my shirt did -- I even wore it last Friday when evaluating my classroom.  I'm not saying that this jacket is my typical business-wear level of formality, but if I arrived without my luggage, it would do in a pinch. [2]

[1] She later told me that for that particular international messtrip, she totally sweated out her clothes and understood my point.
[2]  From the US, I can travel with carry-on only.  However, the size requirements within Europe are different.  They will take away my US-sized carry-on.  And if I protest, they will weigh my briefcase and take that away.  All bad.  I pretend meekness and pack my briefcase carefully.

Treo 680 case evaluation

A great deal of my opinions are based on having used innopocket's case for Treo 650 for more than a year.  This is my "old case."  My new case is Smartphone Experts Safeguard Metalcase.

Pros:  

• It is incredibly slick looking.  Silver, shiny, pretty.  It looks much prettier than my old case.  
• Thinner.  My old case had SD card slots.  I stopped carrying any cards in it when they started falling out.  This case saved the space and thus is that much slimmer.

Cons:

• I have no idea how dents and scratches will appear on it.  Have not had sufficient to judge.  So far, none have appeared to mar the surface.
• The hinge is sharp.  The hinge on my old case would never catch on anything, was smooth in my hands.  This hinge sticks out and while it has not yet caught on anything, I can see the potential for wear and tear on pockets.
• My old case had a double hinge.  The cover, when open, could potentially bend completely behind the back of my case.  It flopped a bit when I was playing games.  This was lovely for playing sudoku as I am going to sleep. My new case is... not.  It opens like a book.  Which means that the cover sometimes gets in my way when I am holding it open and using the touchscreen while laying on my right side.  
• I could easily open my old case with one hand.  This one... sticks.  And is pokey ( =  hurts my fingertips).  I can open it one-handed, but it is considerably more difficult.  If I was not accustomed to opening a case like this one-handed, I probably would not be able to open this one.

Do I recommend it?  Ummmm...  There is no real full-coverage case competition out there.  While it is the only one, yes.  As soon as one more like my last case comes out, I will replace this one in a heartbeat.

Note:  I believe that the 680 case is also compatible with Treo 750 and 755.