Not much going on, but a couple of reflections.

Lost, again
I got lost again yesterday, coming out of the Columbia Mall (I've been there at least 5 times and once before by myself) - the closest JC Penny, where I get my hair cut - it is a half hour drive, and coming back, I chose the wrong highway and didn't realize it until I was on the ramp, and saw the exit I wanted in the distance. It is so confusing - roads that are going south are labeled "east-bound" whatever. You can go north on the west-bound beltway. Most confusing. So, before I ended up 25 miles from home, I waited until I could see an exit where I thought I could get back on, only going the other way. Only this time, there was one of those excruciatingly irritating "traffic calming-driver enraging" circles and I missed the way back to the highway. But, there was a sign for another highway that I thought I knew where it went, and as I was generally headed in the right way, I headed that way. I have a Howard County map, but I didn't dig it out. The upshot is that I finally ended up where I wanted to go, but this is nuts. My reward for finding the shopping center where the grocery store is was a trip to the Barnes and Noble for a Chai tea. I didn't buy anything else, but it was an actual calming moment.

The reflection is also based on something my boss said - one of the reasons people here are so nutsso - there are a dozen ways to get to the same spot. Out west, you have one way to get too and from your destination - go north on Interstate 25 and you get to Casper. Simple. Here, there's this road, and that road, and choices, choices, choices. And, once you've made that choice, how do you know you've made the right one? Maybe if I'd taken 295, rather than 95, it would have been quicker - the Harbor Tunnel or the other one??? Oh, and they call the highways by the name, not the number. Really, the Jones Falls Expressway is highway 83? How long did it take me to realize that? NONE of the roads are straight, and there are things like all the one-way streets go the same way, with the "companion" street that goes the other way about 5 blocks away.

I take one way to work and another way home. You can't avoid the ghetto in any event, but one way passes a grade school and I avoid it in the morning because of all the little kiddos going to school. But the traffic is better there on the way home, because the other route goes past shopping center and apparently everyone in the neighborhood is shopping after work. I have two routes to downtown, but one I only take during the daylight hours. There are three possible routes to Paul's martial arts - and a fourth if you include the beltway. AHHHH!!!!

Preparing for spring
Ironically, I chose this weekend to prepare for spring. There was a skiff of snow Saturday morning, that's the irony. It's a bit like May in Wyoming - cold and windy. In any event, I dug out all the summer clothes. Since I've never really lived where it is hot, I have no summer wardrobe to speak of, and more importantly, I have no summer wardrobe strategy. Let me explain. In the winter, this is the strategy: a turtleneck and skirt with a jacket for interest. Maybe a pin. If the turtleneck, jacket and skirt are all neutral, add a scarf for interest. See, quick and easy. I think of the underlying clothes as a blank canvas for the jewlery, scarf, etc. Most of it is based on the shoes you need anyhow - boots if it is cold, wear dress pants. Apply same formula.

I did decide that "simpler is better" and I am preparing to take about 5 bags of clothes to the charity. Because I have no strategy, I have things I tried, but found out didn't work, things I bought thinking they might work out OK, dresses that are too long (I really need to stop wearing skirts to the ground, but they are so comforting mentally, even if I know I look like a short, squatty pioneer.)

Now, to the heat. I did manage to find some unconstructed jackets (no lining) last summer, once we moved here. I have no formula. I did manage to find some cute skirts, but they don't rise to the level of business suits. I'm at a loss. The material is the issue - I just can't fathom wearing a lined jacket or artificial fabric in the heat and humidity. I really don't like exposing my upper arms, but the options are limited. So, the formula will have to be something like sleeveless shell, skirt and jacket. Take the jacket off to go outside and scandalize the neighbors, put the jacket on in the office. I'm having trouble finding shells that fit right. One thing the women here do is to wear little flippy shoes - very cute - very sensible in the heat. I don't like going without hose, but there is simply no choice once the heat gets too high.

The women in our office are fairly casual without being sloppy, but on the street, I see some pretty formally-dressed women. Almost no one does the most sensible strategy of wearing tennis shoes and carrying dress shoes, which I saw all over Denver. It is true that professional women and men here are more formal. Lots of coats and ties, almost no cowboy boots, etc., which I guess is to be expected! The Sun ran a photo of a "cowboy church" in Texas and I said, "looks like home."

I'm here on some sort of sociological experiment. I wonder how long the fascination will last?