That's What She Said

Last weekend I had the pleasure of hacking up my lungs in Scranton, Pennsylvania, at the first (of what I hope will be) annual Office Convention, a celebration of all things OFFICE!

I went with my friends Jessie "from the block" Betts and Erin "Ernie" Nash, after months of planning. Sadly, our other comrades were unable to attend because of grown-up things like conferences and work obligations. P-shah, I say!

My most sincere desire was to illustrate this entry with an image of Erin and Angela Kinsey (Angela), but alas Erin has not released that precious commodity into my grubby hands (probably because she knows where it will end up). The photo was taken after the two emerged, with Jessie and Ed Helms (Andy), from the elevator, where Angela told Erin, "Thank you for coming from freakin' Ohio!"

I did not witness this exchange, as I spent most of the weekend mute and prostrate in our hotel room. We stayed at the Radisson Lackawanna Station Hotel in downtown Scranton, which, by the way, is a lovely and friendly small city. Jessie and Erin put up with me while I spewed up phlegm the color of the rainbow and did my best to sound like James Earl Jones.

My companions ran into Craig Robinson (Darrell from the warehouse), who took over the hotel's piano Friday night. He played a mean "Piano Man" before an unfortunate hotel worker asked him to stop because the sound was disturbing guests. Then came the chorus of "boos" more familiar to Philadelphians than Scrantonians.

My future husband, John Krasinski (Jim), didn't make the convention, but I still had a blast. My brush with fame came Sunday morning, when we discovered Bobby Rae Shafer (Bob Vance, Vance Refrigeration) was afflicted with the same disease as I. Erin dared me to throw him a roll of lozenges. I couldn't bring myself to do it, but I did walk up to his table and roll him a bunch. It's a testament to the down-to-earth nature of this group of actors that Bobby thanked me and popped a lozenge in his mouth (as opposed to assuming I was attempting to poisin him).