January 16th to March 27th 2010

Well, it has been a while since my last post. It has been quite busy. I have been enjoying working the new job for the past three months. It has been 100% travel and that gets a bit tiresome. I thought it might be 50%; meaning traveling every other week. However, it has been every week.

I had a few weeks in Raliegh, NC and Chicago, IL. I really enjoyed being in downtown Chicago. I love the Blue Line and mass transit system. Chicago is an amazing big city just buzzing with life. I would like to bring Carolina out and hang out in the downtown area.

Most of my travels since the first month have been to downtown Des Moines. It is probably the biggest city in Iowa. I had never been off of I-80 when driving through Iowa. The downtown area has all of the building connected by skywalks. That makes it much easier to get around on foot while the weather was minus four degrees.

Flying in and out of airports gets to be tough at times. Once already, I was at the airport early and didn't want to sit at the gate waiting to board, so I went down the hall to grab a bite to eat. I had pulled out my laptop and worked for a bit. When I got up and walked to my gate for departure, I noticed that no one was around. I said to the American Airlines employee, "hey, I am supposed to be getting on a flight to Detroit from this gate". He responded casually saying that the flight had already departed. Being in a small airport, it was the last flight leaving anywhere that night. I asked him how could I have missed the flight, it was not scheduled to depart for twenty minutes. He said that everyone has to be on the plane twenty minutes before departure and they had just closed the gate.

My plane was sitting there, but I could not get on it. I was so damn upset, and mostly with myself. It was 9pm at night, and I was tired and ready to sleep on a plane while I flew home. I would be stuck there in Des Moines for the enitire weekend. I was 600 miles from home and I wanted my weekend at home.

So, I rented a car, and drank a small red bottle of Energy Drink. I drove 600 miles in less than eight hours. By 5am, I was turning in the car at the rental return in Detroit. Carolina picked me up. I got home and settled down for a conference call at 8am on a Friday morning. After the call I fell asleep and was a zombie the rest of the day. I vowed that I will NEVER miss boarding a flight again.

I have settled into the new role. I am learning a lot. I have learned that it is not what I know but who I know at this company. I am on one of their largest client projects, and my company has put the best of the best on the project team. So, I have a great opportunity to learn and be successful.

On the home front, Carolina has been working her Mary Kay business. However, the first quarter of the year, the goals we set have not been met. I think Carolina is ready for a regular W2 job. However, we both want her to have some autonomy that will allow her to take off in our RV for weeks at a time. With my role, as long as I am near an airport and have a cell signal, I can work anywhere.

We still have to get our arms around eating for life. Carolina is working out and eating right every day that I am gone. I have been eating far too heavy and drinking a bit much while on the road. Typically, at the end of a work day, the project team meets back at the hotel and we have a drink and go somewhere to eat. Being that the client pays for our meals, it seems like we eat at some pretty nice places. I just need to cut back and use the hotel's gym more often.

Anyways, we are a work in progress; as Carolina says to me.

I will have to start journalizing more often and start posting some pictures soon. All is well in our world and we are blessed to live the life we live.