Dallas... Work...

So, I am in Dallas in a beautiful Residence Inn . Yes, so this room has a kitchen and bedroom and living room (well, kind of). Since staying in rooms at the Marriott and Renaissance, this room is nothing like those. It has crappy little TVs that barely work and an uncomfortable bed.

Work has been insane... 15 hour days with no end in sight for my pile of work... Barely 6 hours of sleep a night does not help. I am tired and crabby and forgetful. I like the fact that I feel like I am playing an active role in the vitality of my company. I just wish I had a brief break in work.

The good news is that I may be home next week...before some successive weeks of travel.

I can't wait to go home and see my family.

PIX
So, this is what Dallas looks like from the conference room:
















A nice, closeup view of the the Concrete Capital of the World

Bad Husband

So, tomorrow is my wife's birthday, and I have no card or gift for her. I didn't even mail her a card or a gift. I am the worst husband... We did buy a laptop, but I know that she would have liked a small gift or a card or something. I just didn't plan well. I have been working so much, but I really should have planned better.

Have a Happy Birthday! I will see you soon.

Just realized the famous person...

In all of the times I have gone to SB and LAX, I have only seen one famous person. It was either in February or April and all of this time, I couldn't remember who it was (which is never a good sign for a celebrity). Well, last night I was flipping through the channels and "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" (the movie) was on and the famous person I saw was the coach...

It was... Marc DeCarlo (too bad it couldn't have been J Love or Salma...)

Going to Dallas...

<Cue theme music>

<Show South-Fork Ranch>



Anyone to young to remember, that was the opening for the show "Dallas."



So, going to Dallas this week. It should be a productive week, but I feel very bad that I will miss, not only my wife's birthday, but my eldest's first day of 2nd Grade. Those two reasons will make this week very hard. I will, barring any crazy weather, be home for my littlest one's first day of Kindergarten. My wife and kids mean the world to me so these occasions are special.



So, as I stated earlier, this should be a productive week. I hope, though, that I will soon have a slight slowdown in work. I have, what seems like 300 hours of work to do in a 60 time frame. I really hope that my efforts pay off in some sort of raise or job title move.



Talk to you all soon.

(Oh, by the way, this whole post was done by my Blackberry. Forgive any grammatical/spelling errors.)

Apparently I am the only one in my office not sleeping

Iris and Veronica...

Home This Week

So, I am home 2 out of 3 weeks. How crazy is that?

This blog thing is a little difficult for me. For it to be good, I really need to expose myself (all of you with dirty minds, please say a few "Hail Marys" and "Our Fathers"). I am not very good at letting people see the real me, but I guess that I need to see this blog thing as a cathartic experience just as the whole layoff experience has been. In that case, I was forced to really extend myself and hope that, in the end, that I have been made a better person. So, with all that said, get ready to be the peeping toms to my soul.

I love being home, but I still have not figured out how to manage the work/life balance (partially because I have been home so little). I rarely eat lunch and I often work after my wife and kids go to sleep. Also, I am used to a work schedule that is very "on the road" oriented and my wife is used to a work/life schedule that is the same (i.e. me being on the road). It is hard to figure out how we need to handle this situation, but I know that we will figure it out...15 years together has shown us that we can do anything.

My flight home

So, I flew home last night from SBA via LAX. I love SBA and I hate leaving.
But, going home to see my family is the most exciting part of my travels.

This was a nice week. I had some training and some good bonding with the other BA's, et al.

Plus, the food was outstanding!!!

My flight from LAX was First Class. There were 16 seats in FC. 12 were taken by a family that looked like a stereotypical, Springer trailer park family. Yes, you read this right, the Clampetts took 75% of the First Class seats. And, guess what, they were annoying. They complained and drank a lot. Luckily, I sat next to some executive from a consultant firm. He was really nice.

So, the First Class meal. Ribs, ravioli, spinach, soup, salad and pie (not pictured).

Some more SB pix...

Here is the balcony upon which I eat breakfast. It is on the 2nd floor:

Here is the end of the hall on the 3rd (top) floor of my hotel.
It is right above the balcony.

Some Pictures of Santa Barbara

A View of the Pacific from the Window

The Rooftop Art That Can Be Seen from Another Window

Last Week Home... This Week in Santa Barbara

So, last week, I was able to stay home... Although, I got the message about 4-5 hours before my flight, I was so happy to cancel my trip. Staying home, however, did not mean working less. I still worked 60+ hours.

***

I travelled to Santa Barbara today. I am normally a Monday to Thursday traveller but with my workload and the fact that this week is a training week, I knew I needed to take Sunday as the day to catch up/prepare for the week. Nevertheless, leaving on a Sunday threw me off. I was not as well-prepared as I normally am.

I flew from home to LAX via First Class. Here was my lunch. The food was good. I was able to get some nice soda water to go with the meal and follow it up with a nice scotch and soda while the movie was playing. They played "The Maid of Honor." The movie was good, but the flow of estrogen through my body was a little surprising... LOL Oh, and before I landed, they gave us a nice warm cookie... How nice of them... I would have settled for a smile...