We got to Pittsburgh from Oklahoma yesterday afternoon.  There was no problem getting to the hotel and checked in.  We went to lunch and did a little bit of shopping, then headed back to the hotel.  My wife went into the bathroom to bathroom things, and to text "someone" back in Oklahoma.  When she came out, she laid down on her bed (seperate beds this trip) for a brief nap.  Before she fell asleep she asked me what I wanted to do that evening.  I suggested going to a comedy club nearby that had a show at 7:30.  She said that sounded fine, then started napping.

I got tired of watching her slumber, so I took a hot, soaking bath, and finished reading the last 400 pages of Stephen King''s Under the Dome.  Then I rinsed off and got dressed again.  I came out of the bathroom to find that it was 8:00, and she was still asleep.  I watched her some more, then woke her up when I ran into a table while walking across the room.  She said she felt better and asked what time that thing was that I wanted to do.  "7:30."

"Oh.  Well, how about we go to a bar and play pool or something?"

"Sounds great."  Even with things as they are, I really enjoy doing things with her.  The problem is that, even on this trip, we are rarely doing things together.  Instead, we are doing things near each other.

We walked through the bitter cold and found a bar called The Smiling Moose.  It had a Hi-Def television showing Conspiracy Theory with Jesse Ventura, and a lot of horror movie memorabilia.  She had a drink.  I had a couple.  We pressed on to another location.

We never found a place to play pool, but did stop in multiple bars for drinks.  At 10:00, she said she was ready to go back to the hotel and sleep.  I have insomnia, so I wasn''t ready to sleep even though we had been up since 3:00am (and I had only gotten an hour or two of sleep even then).  We walked back to the hotel and she went to bed.  I hopped into a cab and had the driver take me to a gentleman''s club.

I spent a few hours talking to a dancer whose name I cannot recall.  It really didn''t matter what her name was, I have no doubt it was false.  I had yet another experience of telling my story about how out marriage has fallen apart, and yet again found myself defending my wife from accusations of selfishness, stupidity, and crazy.  Around 2:40am I had the valet attendant call a cab for me.  By 4:00am the club was closed, and the bouncer had called the cab company two more times.  Eventually he drove me to my hotel himself.  I got to my hotel bed just before 5:00am.

I got up at 8:30, and we went sightseeing and shopping.  It was a lovely day for the most part.  Her hair is long and blonde, and her skin is very pale.  The cold weather really suits her looks, and the reaction of her skin to the chill seems to really bring out the pale blue of her eyes.  She really, really looks amazing.  The only drawback for most of the day was her tendency to take her cell phone with her to the bathroom, and to receive 2-3 texts as soon as she got back from her business.

At least, until the ride back to the hotel.

Once we managed to get within 2 miles of the hotel, we called for the shuttle to come pick us up (no rental car for us this trip).  There were other hotel guests on the shuttle.  My wife sat off to the side and began texting.  The texting was non-stop, back-and-forth for the entire trip to the hotel.  There was a short break while we rode the elevator and walked down the hall, but an immediate resumption as soon as we got into the hotel room.  She took off her boots and hopped on her bed and started texting texting texting.  I may as well have not been there.  I was completely ignored.

It was one of the most openly rude things I have ever seen her do, to anyone.  I tried to read another book, but I couldn''t see the words on the pages.  So I came down here to the lobby to write what I have been up to so far on this trip.  She barely noticed when I left the room.

The game is three hours away.  The 20th is 13 days.