Socal Mom by Donna Schwartz Mills

Curiouser and Curiouser

Today began with the news that it was a "reverse minimum" day at school. That means that Megan didn't have to be there until 10:00, which was great from the standpoint that she was tired after our whirlwind trip to the California State Democratic Convention...

... but really put a damper on my plan to get some work and a workout done before I headed out to "Spain" to meet her royal highness, Queen Erin Kotecki Vest (who wrote another kick-ass post today that should be read by everyone of the mommy blogging persuasion).

After our highly charged lunch, I headed back to the Valley, ran a couple of errands, and discovered that the seat belt in my beloved Volvo was locked. It... would... not... budge. After about 10 minutes of trying to move the stupid thing, I realized that I would be late for Megan's pickup, so I drove off -- very carefully.

Megan couldn't get the seatbelt working either (proof it wasn't just me!), so I dropped her off at gymnastics and went straight to the auto dealer (the same one I visited for the car's regular service last week). That's where I heard the words every driver dreads:

"I've only ever seen this happen once before." AND

"We don't even mess with trying to fix this. We need to put in a whole new assembly." AND

"We need to order the parts."

So now I'm driving a rental. (It's too bad I returned the one I used over the weekend for my drive to and from San Jose).

A big problem: I am leaving town again VERY EARLY on Wednesday morning. So if the car isn't done by tomorrow night, it will have to sit at the dealership until after I get back. (AARGH).

Anyway... I am supposed to update the website I maintain for my friend's clothing company, and figured I could do it during Megan's long workout at gym. But by the time I got there, all the seats were filled (and it's kind of hard to work on a laptop standing up). So I decided to go to a nearby Starbucks.

But as I hadn't been online ALL DAY... I had a ton of emails, Twitters, emails and Twitters to go through. And now, it's nearly 7:00 and I still haven't started on the web work.

Oh, and about an hour ago my sister called to tell me she was driving down to L.A. tonight. From Sacramento. And she needs to stay over at my house.

She'll be here around midnight.

Just another day in my life.

Conventional Wisdom

The drive up to San Jose was amazingly easy. We left just 30 minutes later than we’d hoped and made good time, thanks to light traffic and clear skies. We hit Silicon Valley around 11:30, dropped in on our family friends (who are graciously allowing us to use their home as our base), and got to the Convention Center in time to grab some lunch with two MOMocrats extraordinaire: CityMama Stephania Pomponi Butler and Sheila Bernus Dowd (Xiaolin Mama).

One big surprise for my daughter was the news that USA Gymnastics is hosting an international meet here in San Jose, concurrent with the state Democratic convention. In fact, we followed half the likely women’s Olympic team as we looked for a café to eat (and discovered where they are staying).

Megan jumped out of her seat at the sight of Nastia Liukin and Shawn Johnson (her favorites!) and ran out to snap their photo… but was too late.

She spent the rest of the lunch nagging me about getting tickets to see the meet (which is not the reason we came here). I finally relented (somewhat) by telling her that if she finished her project early rather than later – and the tickets don’t cost too much – maybe we would take some time out to go. (Guess you can tell that the material she dreamed didn’t pan out so well.)

We later discovered that the San Jose Convention Center is the site to see the women's and men's rhythmic gymnastics and trampoline events... but the artistic gymnastic team events are over at San Jose State (not far, but not in the same building).

Coming to an event like this one with your family is not the same as when you are alone. I was very much more of a MOM than a blogging Democrat. I knew that would be the case when I decided to bring my daughter. I spent much of the afternoon helping her with her project (which still isn't done, despite those wild dreams of hers).

When she wasn't writing about te life of Cleopatra, Megan was collecting campaign buttons and autographs of Super Delegates (this will be the subject of a post on the MOMocrats, but as it's past midnight now, I'm afraid I don't have the brainpower to do it justice). I left the convention feeling frustrated with technology:

For one thing, the press room in the Convention Center has no wi-fi. Delegates and media can, however, log on from the meeting rooms and ballrooms on the second floor.

Except  for me.

The internet connection in the Exhibit Hall (where Nancy Pelosi gave a rousing speech) didn't like my computer -- or maybe that was the other way around. I would get on and then lose it, only to receive an error message that indicated that the signal was too low, or I was too far away from the router. Stefania and Glennia (one of the other rockin' founding MOMocrats) were live blogging away on their Mac books. I felt like John Hodgman in one of those Apple commercials; stymied by the inadequacies of the Windows system while the Mac users were sailing high.

After such an early start, I was feeling tired. I begged off a planned MOMocrats dinner at Sheila's house, thinking Megan and I could grab a quick bite and return home to my friends' house (where I might be able to steal a little Internet access for the first time all day). This was a HUGE miscalculation, because the quick bite did not happen.

The plan was thwarted, first by the crowd of delegates waiting to dine at the hotel restaurants, then by a parking fee machine that refused to accept my credit card... and finally, by the GPS unit I'd brought with me for this trip, which suddenly stopped giving me directions.

I ended up horribly out of my way - somewhere past the 880 and nowhere near the 101, which is the route I needed to take to get back home. Eventually, we found a shopping center where I felt safe to park, and Megan (of course) showed me how to get the GPS unit talking to me again.

She ended up with a nutritious (ha!) Happy Meal for dinner. I ate two diet protein bars on the drive home.

The one good thing to come out of my technical and social incompetence is that we got back to our friends' house in time to actually socialize with them a little (instead of just using their place as our hotel). I had a little wine... and ended up talking to their youngest son for about 90 minutes, all about the wonders of blogging and social networking.

And so here I am... past midnight... bleary-eyed... ready to go to bed. And still without a convention related post appropriate for the MOMocrats.

There's always tomorrow. And while I couldn't get a table at the restaurant in the Marriott, it looked like they have good, working wi-fi in the lobby.

Do You Know the Way to San Jose?

By the time this post publishes, I should be on my way to the San Jose Convention Center, to attend our state's Democratic convention.

The party offered press credentials to the amazing, prolific, sharpshooting MOMocrats, so we get to take our seats in the hall with the "big boys" (you know, the political bloggers -- and I know those guys will be really happy to see us. Especially when they find out that we were invited to also bring our kids).

That's why I am taking Megan along with me. Aside from the fact that it solves the issue of who will drive her to and from school, I figure she can be my photographer. Her teachers aren't even all that upset about this (in fact, I think one of them is a little jealous). This year's Presidential election is so historic... I want her to have some memories she can bore share with her own children (as I do to her with tales of seeing Bobby Kennedy campaign in LA in '68).

So yesterday afternoon, I rented a car (can't put the extra miles on the leased Volvo), did laundry, packed and bought road snacks... and if Mapquest's estimate is correct (and we left on time and don't make a lot of stops), I should get to San Jose by noon.

If you want to see what we're seeing live, the party will be broadcasting the convention proceedings on their website, here. The agenda includes will include speeches by former President Bill Clinton, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and a dinner presentation from Phil Donahue (who I remember running into, back in my days working at NBC).

Look for my posts here and here.

In Your Dreams

Megan has a social studies project due on Monday, which she claims she'll be able to knock out easily.

I'm not so sure. After all, I have got 52 years of experience that tells me that EVERYTHING takes longer and is more complicated than you think. If you want proof, just look at how crazed I am since I started contributing to a whole bunch of other blogs (I am up to six now that I either write solo or collaborate on). But that's another story (updated below)...

I didn't remember seeing my daughter work on the social studies project last night (and she should have, because Tuesday is her only day without after school activities AND her homework load was light). So this morning, I asked her about it.

"Yes, I did work on it," she said. "Do you want to know what I did?"

Not really. If she said she worked on it, that's all I need to know.

But she was insistent. "No, I want to tell you what I did."

OK.

"I dreamed about it."

Come again?

"I dreamed the whole project. I know EXACTLY what I'm going to write, every word. And there are some supplies I need to buy..."

I know I should be exasperated by this, but I think there might be some validity to her claim. The subconscious works in mysterious ways.

Back when I was trying to make it as a TV writer, I would often wake up in the middle of the night, because the characters in whichever spec script I was working on at the time were TALKING to me. I swear. And I would just grab my pen and paper and the words would pour out of me in one big burst.

So who am I to doubt that something similar didn't happen to her last night?

We are taking a road trip tomorrow, and I told her she will have to work on it in the car. She should have about six hours going up and another six coming back.

We shall see.

Latest posts on those other blogs: FUN Workouts with the newest tool from that famous Japanese game company...Why I think it's good to be a 50-Something Mom... My "career" as a TV extra (an oldie reprinted at Los Angeles Moms Blog)...

Give Your Opinion - Get a Free Book!

It's Los Angeles survey time over at Zagat.com . You have until April 13 to offer your opinions on the restaurants in Los Angeles, Orange County, Ventura, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs and Inland Empire neighborhoods.

Best of all: Everyone who participates in the survey receives a free copy of the book when it comes out!

I rely on these books when choosing restaurants (and have even been known to buy them when visiting a new city).

Go - vote - and give a shout-out to your favorite dining establishment!