I’m making a note here. Huge success.

Seriously – I’d be lying if I said that my trip to New York City wasn’t the best vacation I’ve had in years, and even that might be understating how wonderful the trip was by some margin. I had an amazing time, and hanging out with Alms and Rae who were both my company and my local guides out and about New York City, and seeing the lovely Dia for a couple of days while she breezed into town and meeting her hilariously funny girlfriend Lauren, all made the trip that much better for me.

I think it helped that I didn’t have a specific agenda in mind when I landed – my primary goal was to spend time with friends and decompress a bit, and I certainly did that. I posted all of the photos I took as I took them over at Lorelei Complex (my moblog) – all the sights I saw, the walk through Times Square I took in the middle of the night and my visit to the Macy’s store window (and the raciness nearby), my visit to Rockefeller Center, the delicious mac n’ cheese at S’mac, the spice table at the Union Square holiday craft market (from which I bought some lovely loose tea), the insides of The Strand bookstore – including the rare books room, everything. I can’t believe how jam packed the trip was with experiences and things to do, and I even got a decent amount of sleep.

I managed to drop by the PC Mag offices to meet up with my editor and go to lunch at a fabulous Vietnamese with her and some of the other folks I work with remotely up there, and I even got a tour of their labs. (seriously, the PC Mag labs are full of amazing shiny devices and are encased in glass walls and doors that remind me of something straight out of Star Trek – when you badge to get into the labs, these huge glass-paned doors slide open to let you pass. It’s awesome, I could live in there) My editor even walked me through an awesome Indian market in the area of their offices, one I would have bought tons of stuff from if I had space in my suitcases to bring the stuff home.

As it was, I already had enough extra stuff to try and get home, but I managed to get back in good shape. The only thing I had to actually carry on the plane back was a very swanky new hat I bought while walking about with Alms, and all of the Pocky and fresh tea I had.

I can’t thank Rae and Alms enough for their hospitality and their company and their love. Words can’t express how welcome they made me feel, and how much I miss them (and their respective families and cats) already.

No sooner than I got back to town, picked up my car (it was in the shop while I was away – somehow I managed to kill 3 out of my 4 engine cylinder coils) and went back to the office did we promptly get something like 12-20 inches of snow. And it’s still falling. It’s bad enough that the major weekend work that I flew back in time to make got canceled (which technically means I could have stayed out the snow with Alms and Rae!) but I managed to stock up on a few supplies before the worst of the storm hit. Right now it’s bad enough that I have no intention of heading out of the apartment for anything.

I finished all of my holiday shopping before I left, and the packages were waiting at my desk at work as soon as I returned, which is nice – ow I just have to wrap up everything, mail some cards, and get ready for the big event next week. I’m looking forward to it – it’s actually surprising how much more festive everything is in NYC – when I flew up from DC, there were no carols being played in the airport, no stores playing holiday music, but as soon as I landed in NYC, the carols were blaring, the trees and ribbons were up, and the Empire State building was lit up blue and white for Hanukkah. Even the lobby of my hotel was incredibly festive – the whole trip really got me into the spirit of the season.

As for now, I finished uploading the last of my pics to Lorelei Complex, updating all of my blogs (looks like WordPress 2.9 is out), catching up on some backlogged writing I missed during the last days of my trip, and watching the podcasts I didn’t have time to because I was out enjoying NYC. I’m glad I’m home, but I miss NYC in ways I can’t describe – and miss the people up there more.

The heart swells.