rawr_ima_monster

• It is significantly colder in Michigan than in Los Angeles
• Petting a dog that sheds results in a messy hand, a messy dog, and a messy floor/chair/bed
• If you're taking time off of work, it's probably best not to check in with work and see how the emails look, you'll just end up working on your vacation
• If you had learned to drive a stick shift, then if someone has a car that you could use while you're staying at their home, you'd have more guarantee that you'd be able to drive it.
• If you tell someone you can do something for them while you're on vacation, you should probably remember to pack everything you might need to do said thing.
• Re-recording your office voicemail to give all the information about when and how long you'll be out of the office and who else to contact and how without sounding like a complete goofball jackass is more difficult and time-consuming than you may think.
• Dogs are fuzzy and cute, but occasionally, they enjoy going outside, which might interfere with your plan to sleep really really late if you're the only one home. (Also, playing with them might make your hands smell and cause you to give up and get in the shower)
• Offering to help make a dish for Thanksgiving might constitute a binding commitment to actually doing some work.

-All cynical joking around aside, it's really nice to be out of town for a significant amount of time. Being cold can suck and everything, but bundling up and thawing out inside is nice in it's own right, and it's all a pretty solid tradeoff for actually having recognizable seasons. It snowed a little! yay!
Dave