A Crazy Day in Madison

The plan was to have a relaxing weekend with one of my friends in law school. Eat some good food, enjoy some drinks and have a few dance parties. But that all changed when tens of thousands of protesters stormed Wisconsin's capitol.

For a journalist, my little getaway was perfect timing.

We spent the afternoon wandering around downtown Madison, my favorite sign read, "Hey Scott, I wanted to screw my 4th grade teacher too."

The capitol building was packed from top to bottom with thousands of people chanting and cheering. This is one of the pictures I snapped on my tip toes looking down on the crowd.

Come on LaGuardia

For the past 48 hours I was in New York City for a work function and picked up one of those disposable razors you get for like $1 at CVS (which was great by the way).

While repacking to come back to Chicago, of course I was running late, so with a quick swoop, shuffled everything from the bathroom into my toiletries carry-on (including the razor and several of those shampoo/conditioner/body wash freebies...I love those too).

Let me first say I hate LaGuardia's airport. I've spent some time there and it always makes me nauseous. It probably has something to do with the fact I feel like I'm in an underground bunker, that's always 10 degrees too hot, especially for professionals in business suites.

I remembered that razor at the last second and thought about throwing it away but decided to be a little sneaky and see if I could make it through, I mean, I only used it once.

As usual, I sailed past security, I've usually got pretty good luck when it comes to that kind of stuff. The Indian woman standing in front of me wasn't as lucky. Instead of searching my bad ass with a razor knowingly inside my purse they picked on her and her "Henna for Hair" product. Which was shaken, flipped upside down and then just eventually opened.

I decided to keep moving but felt a little guilty about the situation so have decided to dedicate my next shave to that woman...I hope that doesn't sound creepy (I'll keep it rated PG).

How does one recover gracefully from a fall?

I was shooting this heart-shaped hamburger at a restaurant when I slipped on the wet floor, tried to catch myself, but instead totally wiped out.

I've actually had my fair share of spills: A miserable trip during a basketball game in high school when I rolled over the ball; A catastrophe during prom when I tumbled down the stairs in my beautiful full length gown; a messy accident when I got my high heel caught in a crack and plunged in front of a packed restaurant in Las Vegas.

However, I've never seriously injured myself during any of these drops and have to believe they've all built character. But I would like to know if there's a strategy for recovering from these embarrassments gracefully?

Oh Iowa...

I was at the beginning stages of a four hour drive to Iowa Friday night when my radio stopped working. It froze and so did I. I could not imagine 3 1/2 more hours of pure silence. My only distraction was a pitch black road; not exactly how I wanted to start my weekend.

But slowly things started to improve. I downloaded Pandora on my blackberry. I stopped at an oasis for a bag of Munchies (that amazing Doritos, Chitos, Sun Chips, and pretzel mix) and then I spotted something that really cheered me up. Iowa 80, the largest truck stop in the world...or so its neon jumbo sign claimed. It was the first time the whole trip I dropped my speed to 70 mph. I had to take it all in as quickly as I could since I was already running late.

I've been to my fair share of rest stops but I was shocked by Iowa 80's massive proportions. I didn't have time to actually pull in but the next time I'm headed to Cedar Rapids it's definitely going to be on the to-do list.