Stuck inside a really nice hotel

So, my big plan this week was to tag along to B's conference in St. Louis and spend the days exploring the city, trying cool new restaurants and basically enjoying the utter lack of any kind of "have to," then hang with her at night for more fun. So why is it that when a ginormous thunderstorm (with ping-pong-ball-sized hail) blows into town, I'm suddenly at a loss for how to amuse myself indoors?

If I'm being honest, I'm normally more of an inside-type of person. Yes, I love being outside, especially on vacation, but -- back home, at least -- it doesn't often occur to me to leave any building I'm in. So today, faced with no other alternative than to stay inside the really nice Hyatt Regency with a view of the St. Louis Arch from my window, all I wanted to do was be outside. I even got so desperate for something to do that I sat in on one of her conference sessions. Know what's more boring than a conference session? A session at a conference that isn't yours. Whoops.

Lesson learned.

On the upside, we did have a great where-the-day-takes-you Sunday in St. Louis, wandering through the Landing and ending up in a casino where we played roulette across from Detroit Tigers right-fielder Magglio Ordonez. We must have been the only people in the room who knew who he was. Plus, we won at the tables.

As the sun is peeking through the clouds now, I have high hopes that we'll return to the Landing tonight and try the sushi at The Drunken Fish.

Hello again, outside.

Am I the only person ...

... who pretty much never wants to see a movie with the general public anymore? Or, more to the point, are there any people left who DON'T take their babies to movies ... or text their friends ... or talk through the entire film?

I recognize that I come from a unique position -- generally I'm seeing movies in empty theaters (local press screenings) or theaters filled with other critics (regional press screenings) or on screener DVDs in my basement. So as a result I suppose I'm extra-sensitive to anyone who doesn't sit quietly with his hands folded in his lap in a public theater, but COME ON. Turn your phone off. Pay for a sitter. Leave the crying baby with your mom. Infants and "Monsters vs. Aliens" (in 3-D, no less) don't really mix.

Being disconnected from the work world this week has allowed me to fully appreciate the feeling of disconnected-ness. It's a lovely thing. So give yourself over to "I Love You, Man" for all 105 minutes and see how nice it is to escape.

Diving in ...

Nothing quite like feeling as though you're talking to yourself in an empty room, but here goes. Between the seminars I've sat through this week -- the week of my (first) furlough from Gannettland -- and the reading I've been doing about social media, it seems like it's high time to dive in to this sort of thing.

I guess what I'm wondering about most these days is how thousands of journalists across the country are going to figure out what to do with their lives and their skills as the industry continues to crumble before our eyes. Hence, the foray into social media realms. I've always been of the mind that things will work out for the best because, mostly, they have for me. So do I carry that feeling into journalism's new horizons or do I start looking for a door? Probably most smart journalists are doing a good bit of both these days.

And yet, in the midst of all this, all I can seem to think about is the MSU men's and women's basketball teams playing in the Sweet 16 this weekend. ADD or adept mental multitasking? All I know is I look forward to a whole lot of screaming in the next two days. Happy screaming, that is.