Epiphany Towels

Yesterday, I woke up early and for once, easily bounded out of bed. I be-bopped around my house, getting ready and styling myself for the day. I picked out my very favorite stylish black pumps (I start my suit selection according to what shoes I'm "feeling" that day) and decided it was going to be a great day. Gathering up my bags to leave, I finally glanced outside…to see the six inches of sloppy white snow that fell throughout the night.

So much for those clean, dry roads!

After hurriedly clearing my car off (while totally cursing Midwestern weather) in old, cruddy sneakers, I hit the road. I figured the interstate would be clearer, so I headed that way. As I made use of the infamous Chicago traffic reports, I heard that Inbound Eisenhower was 2.5 hours, the Tri-State was 2 hours, and the Borman Expressway was a parking lot, I quickly decided to turn around and try my luck at the backstreets. After driving on *snot* for an hour and 20 minutes, I finally arrived at work. This was not before I slid through two intersections and almost got T-boned by a stupid semi driver who was TEXTING.

Anyway, the day went well. Several of my meetings were made into teleconferences, namely the four hour Press Ganey training. First there was an executive overview. Then there was a managerial overview. Then there was this session on goal setting (through which I chatted with Nurse Nancy, one of the Directors, for if we didn't know how to set goals, would we *really* be sitting in the boardroom?!). Then there was a session on facilitating. That was actually informative, as I've been through the Press Ganey brainstorming process before. Now I get to lead it. It's a great HR immersion and I'll gobble up that experience for my resume.

So as the day progressed, the weather looked scarier and scarier outside. Being the perpetual boy scout (always be prepared), I threw an extra suit in my trunk. Since I have a standing invite at the Sisters' convent (inside St. Fozzie's), I took them up on the offer. I happily worked into the evening, catching up on a lot of my homework from the other night. As 8pm drew closer and the other "Convent invitees" were meandering through the hospital trying to stave off boredom, Elvis threw an impromptu football party. He has a flat screen tv in his office and Sister, a couple of directors, and me joined him for the National Championship game. It was a weird turn of events, but I think the five of us really bonded as we yelled our way through that poor freshman quarterback's baptism by lava!

After the game, we went to our respective guest rooms. Since I'm a girl, I got to stay inside the actual convent. Boys have to stay down the hall (it's very old-school!). I chuckled to myself when I cleaned up for bed in the personal bathroom off the guest room. They provided Wisemen towels. As in, to celebrate Epiphany. Each towel of the three-piece set depicted the Magi following a star. I felt bad wiping my black eyeliner on the Wisemen and defacing the Epiphany miracle, so I used a wad of kleenex instead. Isn't that counter-productive?

So yes, a terrifying commute, a BCS game at work, and Epiphany towels. All in one day!