How do I pack?

Tomorrow, I'll head off on my strangest business trip ever. To Minneapolis Tue-Thurs, then Kingston Fri-Sat. I'm putting a lot of trust in my white puffer jacket. It's kept me warm enough during the winter treachery of San Francisco so why not test it out in MN. Then there's friggin Jamaica - who knows what that's going to be like. Ugh, I will just deal with the elements when I get to these places. I mentally cannot pack both a puffer and short summer skirt in the same suitcase. I would be horrible in the Amazing Race.

I am now waiting for my phone to send me a photo I took yesterday during our drive back from Girls Gone Wild Weekend in Tahoe aka Storm Watch 2008. The biggest snowstorm of the year! I had the best time skiing by myself, enjoying the needle-pricking (that's right, I said pricking) sting on my face and the fresh, fluffy powder. My favorite scary moment of the day was when I was riding halfway up KT22 and realized I really do practice poor judgment, given it was pretty much white-out conditions up there + crazy high winds. I blame it on the altitude. It's like your brain goes on leave for a split second. I visualize the search and rescue crew coming to get me and took inventory of the rations I had hidden away in my pockets. Wait, none. Rats. Plus, there was no one else up there, except a few "blurs" of skiers that quickly disappeared down edges that had yellow signs that said "Experts Only" or "Cliff." But most of all I realized, I am kind of a chicken. Fortunately, there was another lady that was probably as bad as a skier as I am but apparently had some sort of confidence in her skiing abilities to get herself down, and let me follow.

So one of the back stories to this weekend was, Laurie (from Minnesota) brought her Saab convertible up which we couldn't find in the parking lot yesterday morning. The chains she brought didn't work and we had to call a tow truck to find her car, tow her car to an area that was plowed so she could actually drive it. While this was all happing the snows gods continued to dump snow on us - as they had all night and all day - two feet of it. Laurie was still thinking she didn't need chains, even though they don't let folks through the pass. Those Minnesotans, they are tough! They can talk the highway mountain pass people that their convertible cars (which by the way, her brakes went out on her the day before) will get them through the mountain pass. I guess it took an SUV spin-out that transpired in front of her car to finally convince her, ok, chains are a good idea. Luckily, we all made it out of there alive, safe and sound. Not so lucky - we all had to show up to work today. And me - figure out what to big on my weird trip this week.