Been kind of a crazy last 30 days or so around here. Just finally starting to somewhat settle down now, so I’ve got a little time to spare and I’ll spend a few minutes writing something that none of you will read
I don’t travel much… in fact, after mike and sonja’s wedding, I actually went about 13 months without my car leaving the city limits. Didn’t have a reason to travel… or when I had a reason, the weather didn’t cooperate. My work travel comes and goes in spurts. So, I just get used to not going anywhere… June, not so normal… July doesn’t seem like it will be either.
While I started out June with plans for a SF run, that didn’t pan out for some work reasons… needed to be near base for the regular office, and nearby for the family business, and oh yeah, my air conditioner crapped out. Not exactly what I wanted to drop several grand on… Happened about 3 days after I paid off the car. I guess someone didn’t want me to be without a payment for a while… grr.
Then, June 12th comes around, and it’s time for a conference. A professional organization I belong to was having their Western Region Seminar (14 states) in Deadwood this year. Now, I was involved with a lot of the prepwork, event planning, signage, fliers, you name it. But, I did get to attend for free. I had to run the technical gear and do some webcasting, but there were good speakers, good topics, learned quite a bit. I did go out a day early to the family vacation home and chill out, which was nice… absolutely nothing to do, and no way for anyone to get ahold of me if I so chose.
Get back from that, and literally the next day, the boss-of-the-boss-of-my-boss comes over and asks if I’m available to go to Washington DC for another conference. We weren’t paying for any of it, so I had the green light to attend. Of course, this meant the early-bird flight out, 6:05 am… and breakfast was my usual Chili’s in the MPLS airport. Nothing like chips and salsa at 8 am I tell ya. Made it to DC, figured out I stand out like a sore thumb (tall and white), had to translate the shuttle driver into English, and figure out the layout downtown. Pretty hotel on the outside, but $369 a night was a stab in the eye for what you got. I seriously wouldn’t put this place over the SF DT Holiday Inn. For that money, I expect better. But, again, not paying for it. And the location was awesome. Next to the US Mint, so lots of police presence. Did the whole tourist thing, went to the White House, Capitol, Supreme Court, Washington Monument, National Mall…
Then, found the National Air and Space Museum… seriously. Go there before you die. Plan at least 4 hours. If you want to read stuff, 2 days. Hell, you could spend a month in DC just visiting the Smithsonian Institutes (all 19 of them). I only got to one of the Air and Space locations. But, when you walk in, and there is the actual lunar command module from Apollo 11, the backup unmanned lunar lander, a Predator drone, and everything else that is all legit, not replicas, it’s so worth it.
Made it through that, attended a two day conference, had the airport time from hell in DC (not as bad as elmidgeto though), and barely made it home. Spend the next 7 days at work on a massive amount of overtime (and yes, I get overtime when I can bill a grant), barely saw my house. So much of not seeing my house that I missed seeing that my refrigerator compressor died and I lost all the food in there. Fridge, freezer, all of it. Only what was in my chest freezer made it. Of course, this happens during the week leading up to a 3 day weekend. All the appliance repair places are booked until next week. Can’t even get an emergency call-out for this. I’m told that I might get in on Tuesday or Wednesday. That’s it. Well, I leave for Sioux Falls Tuesday afternoon, not back until Wednesday after hours. So, I’ll probably spend another week without that thing. I’m living on my little office fridge, which is AWESOME. Did all the prep work for my annual 4th of July gathering with that as my chiller. Meant all the goodies I wanted to make were out. Oh well, that’s over.
So, now that I have like 20-30 hours of OT, and finally have our grant application in, I can attempt to get back into the swing of things. But of course, all the stuff that I had to put off because of the grant and the travel is being dumped on me at once. A lot of people that just don’t get that their problem isn’t my problem, and are looking to have me be the savior. Just another day I guess.
Anyone possibly up for dinner in SF Tuesday night? Not sure when I’ll get in, or what my schedule will allow if anything, but I’m trying.
Damn this got long in a hurry.