Not as bad as it could have been for "the most depressing day of the year"

Yesterday, I had to wait over half an hour in the freezing cold (it was probably 15F) for a bus to take me to the place where we had our all-day staff meeting.

That's right, another all day staff meeting.

My mild Renaud's syndrome didn't appreciate the cold plus inactivity, and my hands and feet ached and ached, despite two pairs of gloves and thick warm socks. There was a certain cameraderie, however, in the group of us waiting for the bus - including one girl who wore capri pants, a coat that wasn't zipped up, and no gloves or mittens. I don't know how she made it. I'm usally fine outside in the cold if I'm walking around, but there's only so much moving around one can do while waiting for a bus.

Then I got to trudge 3 blocks through the unshoveled sidewalks to the place where the staff meeting was held. Because yes, it DID snow again this weekend! Just what we needed, more snow. I shoveled our walks on Sunday afternoon but the people in the neighborhood where the meeting was were not so courteous.

The staff meeting was a room full of 55 people having to discuss things like "trust" and "restructuring" - fun, I assure you. At least they fed us. Also, I got to see my Excessively Pregnant Co-Worker, who is supposedly due at the end of March but measuring so big that she and her doctors think he'll emerge a few weeks early. Unfortunately, my head started to ache by about noon, and by 3 PM it was a rager. Finally, the thing was over and I decided to walk back downtown over the new pedestrian bridge that goes over the highway. It was actually pretty cool. I walked through snow and ice and mag chloride sprinkles, took the mall shuttle up to the top of the mall, and went into the gym. My headache threatened migraine menacingly, and I told myself I'd just get changed and go upstairs to see if there were any available cardio machines (by this time it was 5 PM. And a Monday. in January). To my surprise, my favorite be-armed elliptical was available, and as soon as I stepped on the machine my headache disappeared.

I still took it kind of easy, finished up and walked home. My headache returned as soon as I stepped outside again and got worse throughout the evening, until I finally had to take some painkillers. It totally made my day to get so many comments on my blog entry about Pan's Labyrinth, though (and you all should go check out Hulk's review; it's better than mine.)

Then, I woke up this morning and checked out the Oscar nominations, and my dad's cousin got nominated again for Sound mixing for Dreamgirls (he and his team won in 2005 for Ray). Maybe if he wins again they'll let him speak - the guy is about 6'5 and the team of guys he works with are all wee, and they all talk and you can't even see his head because the camera focuses on the person at the mic.

I was also happy to see that so many of the nominations were spread around, and that Pan's Labyrinth got so many - I was expecting Foreign Language but it got several others as well. I still think it's the best movie I've seen in ages.