#WeekendCoffeeShare: Into the desert!

Weekend Coffee Share is a time for us to take a break out of our lives and enjoy some time catching up with friends (old and new)!
Grab a cup of coffee and share with us! What’s been going on in your life? What are your weekend plans? Is there a topic you’ve just been ruminating on that you want to talk about?

All are welcome! Just add your link to the Linky-List, and be sure to visit others and join in their conversations! The link will be open from Friday August 31st at 7am (Pacific Time) until Monday September 3rd at 7pm (Pacific Time) to give us a good range of “weekend”!

If you are unable to post your site into the link-up for any reason feel free to drop it into the comments and I will do my best to add you to the linkup!

I am making this post from my phone -if there are issues with layout or the link let me know and I’ll try to fix it as soon as I can!

—
I would recommend an iced beverage this weekend. It’s really HOT here, and while I recall someone telling me once that drinking warm beverages when it’s hot helps to raise your core temprature so it doesn’t feel so hot I’m not sure I really buy it. Iced coffee it is for me, or maybe some cold brew.

I’m in Scottsdale Arizona right now for a work conference with the National College Testing Association (NCTA), which has been an interesting experience. It’s my first real interaction with people outside of my office that are part of the testing world, and I’m not used to being in a group of people who so easiy toss around some of the acronyms that I use on a near-daily basis.

It’s also very interesting to get to know some of these other testing professionals — this is certainly not the career path I set out for, and I’m not sure it’s where I ultimately will stay, but for now it’s hard to argue the fact that Testing is where I’m currently at — this October will be 5 years since I started working in my office and that is the longest I’ve been at one work location. There have technically been 4 different positions in that time, but even so – I’ve been in the particular job I’m in for 3 years now.

Putting the work thougths aside, it’s also been pretty cool to be at this location. The resort/hotel that is hosting us is FANCY. Certainly the fanciest place I’ve ever stayed, and it’s fun to get a little feel for this kind of thing. Usually my hotel stays are of the “what is the cheapest I can get” variety. This place has multiple pools, live music every night, and a guy from a local wildlife rescue center that wanders the halls with a different bird of prey each day!

So far I’ve met a red-tailed hawk (Choco) and a Great Horned Owl (Maggie). And gotten selfies with them!

I also have certainly put the pool to use – which unfortunately resulted in a little bit of injury for me — I put a little too much power into a handstand jump under water and my face met the bottom of the pool. Nothing too bad, I’ll have a little bruising and a tiny bit of raw skin, but apparently I got some impressive height? It was fun… and I’m being careful with the sunscreen and avoiding swimming during the sunlight hours so have managed to not get a burn yet — hopefully by the time I leave on Saturday I will have been able to keep that true.

Me, my pool injury, and Maggie, the great horned owl.

Thursday night I am going to hit up the local artwalk – it will be fun to see a little bit of the local area, and maybe sneak away into the more historic stuff as well. Saturday, before my flight, I’ll be visiting a museum too — I’m glad I’ll be able to fit in a few local things as well. I always get a bit frustrated with myself when I go to a conference and don’t take the time to see any of the area. This resort is nice in that it does have some nice walking paths, and so I can see some of the cacti and other plants that grow in the area, but it’s still a very cultivated experience.

Sunday I will sleep. Probably while being yowled at and sat upon by a cat. He was rather upset at me when I got home from my camping trip last week — he really didn’t want me to leave again so soon. He will be VERY upset when I pack up a bag again on Thursday and head north to visit family in the Seattle area – but that will be a short trip at least.

What are you up to this weekend? How has your week been? Any plans for the coming week?