Travel by train, travel to writers' conference at Colgate U.

    My experience coming here (on the train and on to the writers' conference at Colgate U.) a bit like the movie the Out of Towners. We get on the "Empire" train part of the Amtrak trip and  and discover it is a 'commuter' train, kind of like the one in that movie Unfaithful, with Richard Gere (here I am mentioning movies again-- am too media oriented, as opposed to literature oriented). Well, there is no snack "cafe" car and therefore, no drinks. And in frustration, what do I do-- chew on a salty pretzel. The spouse wanted me to hurry up, though we had like 45 minutes in Penn Station for our train to arrive to go north. So I bought a souvenir and a Daily News, with info on the  cover about crazy killings of soldiers in Iraq, and forgot my watered down soda in the store :( . 
     So I go to the bathroom and lo and behold, there is a faucet,  but an odd one. You push "up" on it. I did that to get some water to put in my water bottle for my poor famished mouth and it started getting warmer. And warmer. And then hot. It wouldn't freaking shut off. I guiltily put a little water in my small stainless steel bottle I got from Big Lots and then, well, I figured I should contact a conductor. I went up and down 2 cars in front and 2 cars in back of ours and told a lady about my predicament in one -- she said the conductor went 'that a way' and if he came back this a way she would tell him my sad story. 
     Now at the writers' conference, I find I have no phone, no computer glasses, no pool, no pets (to quote the song "King of the Road"). You lose things in travel, you know?

Will travel by train, will write

     Dear Blog,
    It's actually been a month since school (college) let out and am preparing now to to go to New York to a writers' conference/retreat at Colgate University, in Hamilton, south of Utica. Writing has been a challenge because I think I'm suffering from this "computer vision syndrome". Well, if you're  55+ and postmenopausal and have some dry eye issues to begin with, how can you  sit for hours and write (and for me) a book?
     But last night I tried some allergy medicine. I think it helped a little with pressure I am feeling above my eyes. I might have a combination sinus pressure and computer 'eye strain,' both of which are highly unhelpful. I am not a fast typist either, making typing, "creating" my book a slow, painful process. I wish I were a faster typist.
     The spouse wants to do something different. So we are traveling on Amtrak  (the train) from Lynchburg, Virginia to Albany, New York, on the way to my writers' conference. I will be at the conference while he visits his brothers and their wives. I wonder what attractions there are from Albany to Colgate U. that we can visit? I will have to find that out later. Need to get back to typing that book!