Y4 D311

Home. So nice. I had a pretty good day yesterday. For once it was not a horrible travel day. I was very anxious to leave yesterday and took off around 6am. Got to the metro station and got on the wrong train at first. On weekends they run both the eastbound and westbound on the same track. I realized it after one stop and got right off so no big deal. Ten minutes later I was on the right train heading the right direction. Thirty five minutes later I was at the terminal. My flight didn't board until 8:55 and here it was 6:45. Oh well. 2 hours to kill. I decided to go in and hang out in the Admiral's club. With the combination of it being early on a Saturday and Easter weekend (Yes, happy Easter to everyone who celebrates, happy ISHTAR Goddess of Fertility for those who acknowledge where this holiday originated) I had the entire lounge to myself.

I checked in and asked the woman a couple of questions. One if I had any upgrades left in my account (I didn't). Two if I bought some would it be worth it on my flight (Yes, as I was the ONLY person on the upgrade list). And lastly was there another flight in between my landing time and my scheduled flight (yes, and it was RIGHT across from where I landed one hour departure after I land). Perfect all around. I picked up my upgrades, got on the 'list', and settled in.

Headed to my gate at 8:25. Around 8:40 I went to the desk and told her I didn't want to miss if she called my name for an upgrade but I needed to use the restroom. She laughed and handed me my ticket. She says "baby you're the only on the list, I had it ready ten minutes ago". Nice. We board right at 8:55 and there are a whopping FOUR of us up front. 12 empty seats. Right in the first row of economy are these grumpy old people who keep saying loudly how 'unfair it is that they can't sit in those empty seats'. They are dagger eye staring at the four of us. Tough shit grandma and grandpa. You're old and cranky and can piss off. Had a wonderful breakfast of quiche, muffins, biscuits, fruit, sausage, and home fried potatoes. And I can feel old people staring while we were getting served. Boo-yah.

Landed 25 minutes early. I walk right across to the other gate,  and there's the next flight. There are four or five people on the standby list, but I ask the woman and she looks at my status and says "I will call you in a few". I look up at the board and oh, look who is now at the TOP of the standby list. Boom. This woman who was standing to the side had this perplexed look on her face. I conversationally asked if she was waiting for standby and she was like 'yeah, but I was at the top and somehow got knocked down.' I responded 'yeah, sorry about that'. The look on her face was like "how the fuck??". Priceless.  Got called up shortly after and got offered my choice of four different seats. I took a window right behind the exit (their seats don't recline FYI. if you can't have the exit, get right behind them). We settled in and we're told it will be about a 45 minute delay due to traffic at the destination airport. Okay no biggie. Everyone else is groaning and I am thinking, screw it, I will still be 2.5 hours early so go for it. And I was. The flight was quick. The woman next to me was talky but I handled. She needed to talk and I was cool with it.

Got off the plane, got to the car which the kid had left for me at the train, and was home around 4. When I got off the plane I texted everyone to let them know I wouldn't be at the show because I was too tired. Not at that moment, but I knew I would crash well before showtime. And I was right.  KBF was at the house waiting for the kid to get off work. The house was in pretty good condition barring the 7,000 flies in the house. I dealt.

Around 6 I dragged KBF to get sushi to go so he and the kid would have food for later. She didn't get off until 9 and they had to head straight to the show. He left around 8:30, I watched some TV, talked to B, and was in bed by 11. Perfect.

All in all a darn good day and I am happy to be home.

Y4 D310

In 14 hours I will be home if all goes well. As of right now I will probably skip the show tonight just out of sheer exhaustion. I do not want to be traveling all day and then collapse at the show or be a cranky old fart at the show. God I can't wait to go home. In my time here I have suffered through:

- comic con attendees
- bridge tournament players
- scrapbookers
- youth ministers
- boy scout troops
- high school marching bands
- and the latest, middle school - high school wrestling tournament

I am sure I am missing someone but that's enough. I am ready to get the fuck out of here. Worked from 7-3ish yesterday. We did have a nice lunch. We went to the Fitz Brewing company which is the equivalent of an A&W out here. Except instead of being a corporate monolith like A&W is these days, Fitz is still a small family owned operation that runs a fun diner and brewery and bottling company all in one. Afterwards none of us wanted to go back so we took a tour of St Louis. One of the guys has lived here his whole life and he drove us through some great parts. I actually wouldn't mind coming back and exploring some of these areas.

Got back to the hotel around four and passed out for about 45 minutes. Woke up, got a sandwich and then hung out. I finished watching AHS S1 minus episode 7. Talked to B on and off during the day/night. She worked from 7-10 which made it hard. We have so much easier time talking obviously when I am working from home.

Almost time to leave this place. Sweet baby jesus...

Y4 D309

In 35.5 hours I will be home. No wait, dammit. 37.5. Sigh. It's okay. It's close enough. Close enough I can taste it. I have a show Saturday and right now I am on the fence if I am going. I want to go because I haven't seen anyone in weeks, but at the same time, I will be exhausted from traveling all day. I am going to play it by ear and see how I am doing when I get off the plane tomorrow.

Yesterday went well. I originally scoped this project at roughly 80 hours. As of the end of day yesterday, I was at 76. Granted they only paid for 64, but I knew what this project would take. I came within 4 hours on my scope. Shows that I know what I am doing. By yesterday afternoon we were all in a more casual mode because we saw the light at the end of the tunnel. I honestly am not sure what we need to do today except maybe some final tweaks. I am cool with that.

Came back to the room around 4 yesterday, fell asleep for an hour. Talked to B throughout the day. Around 6 I walked over to this local sandwich shop. Holy crap it was good. Good enough I will go back tonight I am thinking. I have been eating some GREAT food this week. Yesterday for lunch we went to a burger place similar to the one by my house, but with an even broader selection of good burgers. I had the lamb burger which was out of this world.

I just noticed the difference in my writing this morning. I am like happy, verbose, and feeling good. Maybe because I slept well? No. Because I am almost fucking home...

Y4 D308

Awake. Almost home. So so close. Just another 60 hours or so and I get the hell out of here. Worked an 8 hour day yesterday. Had BBQ for lunch on the client. Had leftovers for dinner. Watched Justified and OUAT. Played Civ. Talked to B. Went to bed.

I want to go home.

Y4 D307

I slept in this morning. Shame on me. Oh wait...

I tried to relax last night, I really did. I worked a normal day. Even got a call regarding the emails I sent out being told to not get burnt out and to take it easy. I tried.

I was at dinner last night by myself trying to enjoy it when the kid texts me. Dead battery at work. Sigh. Had to find someone to come help jump her and then her and the boyfriend were supposed to get a new one. I haven't heard back on wether that was successful or not. I also didn't hear that it wasn't so...

Dinner was good. Had Peruvian food. Got back into the hotel, took a bath, and played video games. Was in bed by 11. Talked to B when she got off work. A seriously mellow night. Barring the battery incident.

Y4 D306

Yes, I am up already. Before I get into it...

I NEED A HUGE FAVOR FROM ONE OF THE TWO PERSONS WHO READ THIS WHO KNOW HOW TO DO WHAT I AM GOING TO ASK.

I am currently watching American Horror Story season 1 finally. I THOUGHT I had all the episodes. Well, it turns out for some reason I am missing episode 7. I am right on that episode. SIGH. I don't want to skip over it. SO if one of you can hop on the ftp, see if Season 1 Episode 7 is out there, grab it and either dropbox it for me, or make it available as http that would be great. If it's not, can we find it? Also the latest episode of Justified which will air tonight. Email me if you can do this please?

Now back to why I am up. I went to bed at 11. When I woke up and grabbed my phone to see what time it was, I was created with the number 3:54 AND 9 work emails. I made the mistake of glancing at them and found they weren't just the usual BS to all messages but real ones to me. Fuck me. Of course this snapped me awake and I started reading. Turns out my guys are sort of pissed at me for giving this client way too many extra hours. I have worked 17 hours above and beyond all ready for this client. If I  continue and work just one extra hour per day, then they will have 21 hours above the SOW for free which is not making my guys happy. I knew I should have kept my mouth shut.

Anyway, I just finished sending replies to everyone and there's no way I am going back to sleep. Today I am going to try and be good. I will work 8-9 max. This will also help my relationship with B. I worked 11 hours yesterday and when I got back to the room at 6 we were talking. She said to me that she has noticed me getting progressively crankier for the last week. Yes, I have. Because I haven't been home in three weeks. Because I am tired of being on the goddamn road. Yes, I am getting cranky. I will have spent 23 of 31 days in March on the road. Gee, why am I cranky? BUT it's not fair for me to take it out on her. Which I was doing without even realizing it. My bad. She has challenged me to do something tonight which may be hard - work 8 hours, eat dinner without my phone, take a hot shower, THEN call her. I will try.

As you can see from above, after talking with her, I watched AHS. Fell asleep.

I want to go home.

Y4 D305

Running late but whatever. This isn't a teaching gig so it's not like I have to be there at a specific time. I have been getting in early just to give them a larger portion of my day as a nice guy. Fuck it if I am little later this morning.

B was irked at me yesterday but we managed to be civil to each other for the day. I worked from 11-6 and she had a funeral to go anyway. Got back from the office, had some dinner, got into the room - realized I left my phone charger at the office. F.M.L. Rebundled back up, went back into the fucking snowstorm, and walked back to get my charger. Take two.

Got back and watched some American Horror Story. Got new OUAT thanks to my friend. The ftp just isn't fucking working for me right now and it's driving me nuts. I need to get home so I can catch up on all sorts of shit. Plus there is a missing episode of supernatural that must be viewed!

Off to work.

Y4 D304

I got fucked up last night. Well technically most of yesterday. 9 hours at the bar getting fucked up hard. Spent way too much money and I am feeling the after effects of my 'fun'. I also managed to piss B off pretty hard. I will be amazed if she even talks to me today. Although I am not going to apologize for my behavior. I am a grown man and don't need permission to be on the road and let loose one night. She can be pissed at me for not talking to her when she called last night but she has no right to be pissed at me for having an enjoyable evening to myself.

I did have a good morning. I went to the Arch. I would have felt stupid if I didn't. I am right across the street from it and if I didn't go it would have been ridiculous. It was interesting. I don't know if it is all that exciting but it was interesting. I went through the museum, took the tram to the top, and took some good pictures. It was cheesy and corny, but it is off the list of things I have done. I smiled a bit at the top because I have been in office buildings that were taller. All these people looking out these tiny little windows like ooh ahh and all I can think about is that I have been in an office building where there are REAL windows looking out at a city. Whatever, it is what it is.

Around 1:30 I headed over to the restaurant/bar that I planned on going to already. I sat there from 1:45 until 10:45. I went through three bottles of wine, olives, beet salad, charcuterie, saint angel cheese, and a poached pear dessert. Huh. I probably should have ate more reflecting back on it.

I did see Lou Ferrigno and Billy Dee Williams. They were in town for the comic con. I also was right next to a table of 20 women who were models, designers, and bloggers for St Louis Fashion Week. I out lasted everyone. I went through so many people around me it's amazing. I am not sure how I got back to the hotel but I did. I could have been murdered on the way back but managed to stay alive. Luck. Nothing more. If B is pissed at me for that, then she has a right. I did put myself in a bad spot by being that drunk in an unfamiliar place. No excuses for that.

Sigh. Another adventure. Heading to work in three hours. Yes, I am working today.

Y4 D303

Look out people we have a bad ass over here - sleeping in until 7. Whoo. Especially since I didn't go to sleep until 1 this is an impressive feat. Yesterday I worked from 6 until 6. Got back to the hotel, had dinner, and was in the room by 9. I watched three episodes of JLU and was falling asleep when B skyped me around midnight. We talked for about an hour.

Yeah, that's it. That was my day yesterday. The excitement is overwhelming.

Y4 D302

Yesterday I decided to take a walk and see if I could make an appointment for a massage. There's a four seasons/casino across the street from my hotel but they wanted a ridiculous amount for a massage and facial package. I found one about 8 blocks from the hotel that was 1/3 the price. But when I walked down there it was a little too ghetto for me. Walk wasted. The client offered some suggestions on places but they all require taking the train. I don't know. I am starting to get depressed being on the road. I have reached that point where it's gone from fun to dear god shoot me. I worked almost 12 hours yesterday and will do the same today. They have way too much work for what they can afford. I might be able to get through a good chunk today but no promises.

I do know that this weekend around here will be interesting. I was sitting in the bar last night having dinner when I overheard a couple guys talking. Turns out there is a comic con this weekend basically across the street from my hotel. I looked up tickets and considered going, but $45 just to get in the door for something that holds a moderate interest and that I really don't want to do by myself? Meh. There is only one driving factor and that's James Marsters will be there (Spike). Problem is that $45 doesn't even get me a guaranteed picture with him. That would be another $65. So $100+ just to have a picture? Not worth it.

I will probably just hide this weekend. I am feeling fat and tired. I will just sit in my room doing nothing. I still may go to the Arch on saturday. That's the kind of thing I wouldn't mind doing. Take some pictures, hang out, etc. Otherwise nada.

I got up to the room around 8 last night. Watched Justified (the baddest motherfucker on tv) and went to bed. B went to a concert last night and was busy from 5pm until 1am which means we only talked briefly in the afternoon. I can't wait to see if she had fun. It was a big deal for her. She did the whole meet and greet thing with the artist before the show.

Off to work.

Y4 D301

Went for my first full day onsite yesterday. Worked from 7:15 until 5. Good productive day but tiring. My stomach has been crampy a bit the last couple of days and got really bad last night. The client and day were okay. Part of this session is mentoring, but at the same time, I lost a lot of time having to explain what I was doing while I was doing it. There's part of me that just wanted to say - trust me, this will work - without having to go into the 30 minute explanation of WHY it would work. But that's what they are paying for to have me there so be it.

Two weeks on the road is starting to get to me. My neck hurts, I don't want to talk to anyone, and I am tired of eating at the same place every night. On top of it, I feel fat and bloated. I just want to go home and not eat for two weeks. I want to sleep in my own bed. Too bad I still have 9 more days here. I better get some serious pointage for this shit. 

Got back to the room around 7 and talked to B for an hour on the phone then we skyped for about an hour. Fell asleep around 11. Managed to get a couple of shows I watch thanks to my friend but I am really getting pissed off at the hotel and verizon for not allowing me to get through on port 21 connections. Verizon swears it's not blocked but I have been having shit luck with that. I am going to try again in about 90 minutes. Let's see if it works.

Off to the client in about an hour.

Y4 D300

Sixty five to go this year and we hit Y5. Wow. By my calculations this puts this somewhere around 1400 entries. Wow.

Yesterday was okay. I got up and went down for breakfast. There was a group of youth ministers in the hotel. I guess they were having some pow-wow. But man they were annoying. Hipster douchebags extreme. They had that "Hey kids! Jesus is COOL! You can tell because of my tattoos and skinny jeans and bald head!" look about them. I just want to run through the room screaming I LIKE COCK AND KILLING KITTENS! HAIL SATAN! just to see what they would do. Might make them explode. After breakfast I hung out until my 11am meeting. Met with the client at 11 and got the lay of the land. I should be able to do everything they need in the time frame I have. Should. My main contact at the client and I went to lunch together and he started telling me about his kids. He has one who lives in Seattle with her partner (his words), one who lives in Boston who is working on a flying car with her husband (VERY COOL driventofly.com, check it out), and then his son (italics to indicate the frustration in his voice). Turns out his son is happy just cruising and is a professional waiter. Turns out I know his son. Quite well. We both lived in the same town together. Him and his wife were friends of mine when I lived there. His wife and I made out a few times. After their divorce thank you very much. Not before. But yeah, small world. Explains why this client looked so familiar to me.

After lunch headed back to the hotel and sat at the bar until about 7. Headed over to the grocery store to get some snacks. There is a bridge tournament in town, yes bridge as in the card game, and they were overflowing the grocery store. Old ladies, fat comic book guys, and weirdos. Some scary looking people.

Headed back to the hotel and relaxed in the room until about 10.

Talked to B throughout the day. She was with a friend all day in the hospital. Her friend had major back surgery and B stayed there through the whole thing to make sure everything went well. She was up at 6am which for her is the middle of the night. She did manage to stay up until 10. I was proud of her.

Slept okay. Weird dreams. Nothing out of the ordinary though. Today we start in on the real work. Tonight I think I will do something different for dinner.

Y4 D299

A very long and boring day yesterday. I got up and went to breakfast downstairs in the hotel. Afterwards I decided to go on an adventure. I walked around a few streets. Found a grocery store, a small store that sells rockstars, and a Macy's. That's about it. Not much down here at all except for office buildings. Not even a CVS or a Walgreens. I got an email from a store I shop at in the mall and decided to look up the closest one thinking that maybe I would find a CVS or something similar near it. Turns out it is in a mall about 15 miles away. Okay. Adventure time. I got on the Metrolink and headed off to find this mall. 25 minutes later I found it. Not bad. It was your standard mall, but I did manage to pick up an umbrella, hat, and gloves all reasonably cheap. I also got a couple of the other toiletries I needed like body wash. A pretty successful trip. Got back and waited for housekeeping. I wanted to talk to them about something specific. Since I am here for so long I wanted to show them which parts of the room to ignore and to not change the sheets until the weekend. We are all good. From there I went to the pub. At 1:30. I stayed until 5, had some food. Came back upstairs, did a 1/2 hour conference call, then went back to the pub until 10. Talked to B for a while and then went to bed. That's it. That was my day.

Y4 D298

Here I am in St Louis. My home for the next two weeks. I arrived yesterday about 3pm to 28 degree weather and snow flurries. Whee. B and I got up around 7, had breakfast at the hotel and then just hung out until it was time for me to go. She didn't go with me to the airport because that would have been harder for both of us. Both my flights were on time and not horribly packed. The flights themselves were pretty uneventful. Since I hadn't slept much the night before I slept through both of them. I was going to take the train from the airport but since I didn't know where I was going and it was nasty weather, I decided to take a cab instead. $45 but it was worth it. If I can, I will take the train today to get a feel for where things are since I have to be here so long. The hotel isn't horrible. I have a 14th floor room with a view of the arch and the city. There's also an Irish pub attached to the hotel. Something better than your standard hotel fare. I went in last night and had a burger. It was a little loud for me but it was St Patrick's Day so of course the place was hopping. I stayed for a little while and then went back to the room. Around 9 I started getting a really bad headache and laid down. I can't get on the ftp server I normally use for stuff because the stupid hotel blocks port 21 and it is pissing me off. I tried using an app through the browser but the file sizes are too large and it won't let me download anything. Point? I can't watch any of my shows. This makes me sad. I am going to be like three weeks behind on stuff. Yes, 1st world white whine problems. I get it. B called me around 10 and I remember some of the conversation. Mostly because I was exhausted and crashed out. Woke up this morning around 6 and had breakfast then struck out to find real rockstar. Success on that front. Now? Now I sit because I can't go onsite until Wednesday officially. Tomorrow I am having lunch with the client but it's an unofficial meet and greet.

Y4 D297

Yesterday was filled with ups and downs. As I mentioned we were up at 4. We were up and around 5:30 ended up driving over to the store to pick me up Rockstars and her some eye drops.  She is still fighting a horrible sinus/ear/eye infection. Got back to the hotel and then at 7 went down for breakfast. Got back up to the room and she crashed back out. From 8:30 until 1. Yeah. Her sleep schedule is starting to drive me up a wall. I know that will change of we are living together but at the same time I wanted her on my sleep schedule while I was here. I basically did nothing for five hours except hang out on the Internet and watch Justice League. After she woke up we ended up going to get some lunch. There is a wedding today at the hotel and that meant yesterday afternoon the place started packing up with people. With annoying fucking people. With people who seem to think that it's okay their kids treat the hallways like their own personal playgrounds. We hung around the hotel watching the wedding rehearsal and just having a decent time. Until I had to go to the front desk around 9 to get them to deal with the six boys who were running around like animals. That calmed things down for a while. Then I B's mom showed up. This was planned, sort of. I had planned on meeting her while I was here, but it was supposed to be breakfast. Then lunch. Then coffee. That turned into drinks at the bar at 10pm. We didn't get back into the room until 11:30. We went to bed and tried to have some fun but we were both so wound up and cranky that it turned into a fiasco. Then the neighbors didn't like the fact that we were still talking to each other at 2am and started yelling at us. The two quietest people in the whole fucking hotel. That of course put both of us in a shitty mood. Finally around 3 we fell asleep. And oh look, I am back up at 6:30. Yeah. Ups and downs. The meeting with her mother went well. I think her mother was relieved I am not some crazy rapist serial killer. But it was also pretty anti-climatic at the same time. B was stressing the whole day and then when it was over it was over. I almost wish I didn't see her this weekend because our time together was too short and a bit frustrating. Now today I am off to the airport in a couple hours for two weeks in MO. Fun fucking shit.

Y4 D296

Surrender, surrender, but don't give yourself away. I was listening to that while I was driving to B last night and for some reason it really stuck in my head. I never really thought about the song other than 70s bubble gum pop but yeah, I get it now. I won't give myself away to anyone, but I am okay with surrendering. So anyway...

Taught my class yesterday. Did NOT get through all the material which kind of sucks but I think everyone was happy. It was way too much information for 2 days. The people who picked the topics didn't take into consideration the other 12 people in the room. Gee what a shock. I think almost everyone got something out of the class though which was good. I know I deviated from the standard material a little bit, but I also think I showed them real world practical shit versus some of the demos I skipped over. I as usual gave them my email address so let's see if I get any questions or feedback.

Left the office around 4:45 and was on the road to B by 5:10. With traffic it took me just over 3.5 hours to get to her. Not too bad. It wasn't a bad drive until I got within about 30 miles. That's when the rain started coming down and I had trouble seeing. I am not used to their roads out here where everything is all shiny and reflective. Makes it easier to see in snow but shit to see in rain. Speaking of snow, it's snowing right now. We woke up to about two inches on the ground. We have been up since 4 doing, well you know what we have been doing.

Got here around 845 and settled into the hotel. She is so cute. She met me here about 15 minutes after my arrival and was impressed by the hotel. We are in an Embassy Suites this time around and for her it's 'fancy'. For me it's a decent mid-scale hotel. Wait until next month when she is at the Hilton in Anaheim. THAT is a nice hotel even by my standards.

There is a greek restaurant right next door and we headed over around 9:30. Fantastic Greek plates. I had the combo plate of pastitsio, moussaka, and spanakopita. We also had sagonaki aka flaming cheese. OPA!

After dinner we came back, relaxed, and since she has been sick she needed to take meds and relax. She slept from like 11-1:30/2. I slept from 12 - 4. From 4 .... see above.

Now in 20 minutes it be breakfast time!

Y4 D295

I'm going to say something that isn't going to win me any friends, but so what? When did I ever let that stop me...

I don't believe in 'triggers'. Let me elaborate - I don't believe in triggers in dumb ass middle class white girls looking for attention. I don't think that seeing someone smoke a cigar causes you to flash back to your father who smoked cigars who yelled at  you which causes you to relapse and start throwing up your food. You know who has triggers? Guys who suffered from being shot at in wars. People who get spooked when someone lights off firecrackers because they watched their buddies get torn to shreds by fucking bullets. THAT'S the person who has a fucking trigger. And do you know what the best way to handle something like that is? Therapy to work through it. Not lashing out at other people and continuing to drag up the past. Not by making up lies about people. The sad part is that some people are so fucked in the head that their lies become the reality. They truly believe the bile and hate coming out of their mouths as being the truth. The only that's truth is the truth. When five other people who were in the same room the same night remember it differently, maybe what you thought was true wasn't.

Ugh. Yes, I got dragged into the drama that went down the other day. Don't I always? But this time it was at the request of someone I care about. I was asked to help and I did. Seems that someone is bringing up 8 month old garbage and embellishing the facts of a particular evening causing someone I care about real pain. That is unacceptable. I was on the phone with the hurt party for almost an hour last night because they were crying at what was done to them. And for what? Smug satisfaction? Lack of being able to control your own current environment? Ridiculous. Fucking children.

Taught all day. Big class. 15 people all with varying degrees of knowledge on the product. Good class though. I received many compliments on the way out. Here's hoping today goes as well. Got to the client around 7:40, started class at 8:30, went all the way until almost 5. After class I dropped off my bags and found a decent enough place for dinner. The menu wasn't all that appetizing and with the time change I wasn't all that hungry. Had a couple of drinks and an appetizer while talking to a couple of pilots. It's always interesting to hear things from their perspective. They were based out of NY and it was a nice conversation. Headed back to the hotel, grabbed some nuts and a magazine at CVS. Ironed, talked to my friend, watched JLU, and hit bed. Not a bad day.

Tonight after class I am driving 200 miles to be with my woman. Oh yeah you know what that means...

Y4 D294

On the road again. 5:44am, Columbus OH. Things of note:

- I hate drama. I hate having my name mentioned in relation to drama. I just want to live my life and not be part of any of this other shit. I don't like my name even being inferred in things.

- I wish people would remember when I say I am in a different time zone and not email or text me at 2am local time.

- I wish fat people would only take up one seat on an airplane and not spend 4 hours bitching about how small the seat is. The seat isn't small, your ass is huge. Deal with it.

My flights were uneventful yesterday which is good. Got to Dallas 10 minutes early and OH five minutes early. Made it to the hotel in 15 minutes. Hotel is acceptable. Not as much fun as the one in PA that's for sure. But then again, I was in the room and all shut down by 8:30 so who knows what I might have missed.

Nothing of any real significance to report obviously because of travel. Talked with B as much as I could. We are both happy to be in the same time zone for the next two weeks. Makes things easier for both of us. I see her in two days. Extremely excited. Maybe I should just move to her. Pack it all up and move out here to the east coast. Yeah right. Me in snow. HA. That's a fucking laugh.

Free breakfast here. Going to take advantage of that shit.

Y4 D293

Slept like shit again. This time it made sense though. This was my typical 'oh fuck I have to get up at 2:30' kind of sleep. Ah travel days.

Yesterday had no real issues. I worked on my puzzle, watched a shit ton of Batman Beyond, my buddy got me JLU to keep me busy on the road (5 seasons worth, yeah I am good for two weeks), and I packed. 18 days in one bag. One under seat bag. Beat that bitches.

Talked to B. Neither of us can believe we are seeing each other again in a couple of days. It's very surreal. It doesn't become real until I hit detroit. It's just how we both feel. It's real when it's real.

Made pasta for dinner.

Went to bed at 10, tossed until 11:30, up at 2:30. Four hours this morning for sleep.

Off for 18 days begins... now.

Y4 D292

Slept like shit last night. Don't know if it was because of DST, stress, planning for this trip, boredom, over stimulation or a combination of those, but regardless I slept like shit. I have been up already for about 45 minutes. I went to bed at 11 but laid there until midnight, got up, went in the other room, laid on the couch until one, then tried to go back to bed. Slept until 6. Five hours. Whee. And tomorrow morning I have to travel. Double whee.

Had a frustrating day yesterday. My desktop just about gave up the ghost. I can tell it's on it's last legs. I shouldn't complain - the machine has last 4.5 years. Not bad for any machine I have ever owned. Took me four reboots yesterday to get it to come back up. Right now it is just acting as a media server. Hopefully it will stay up and running while I am gone. The price to replace? $2250 with tax. Yeah. Not happening any time soon.

I was 'available unassigned' yesterday for work because I travel this week. Same thing today too. Which means I didn't do a damn thing yesterday. Today I have to pack. That's my big task. I did manage to watch a LOT of Batman yesterday. I am now officially through Batman Animated Series, The New Adventures of Batman (aka Animated season 4), all the movies, and the first season of Batman Beyond. BB is an AWESOME show. I really love it. BUT now I need Justice League Unlimited to fill in the gaps between B:AS and BB. Some shit goes down that forces Bruce into retirement which is supposedly answered in JLU.

That was my day. I made salmon for dinner. B is still feeling sick. She is doing better (at least as of last night), but still sick. I can't believe I get to see her in a few days. Makes the travel worth it. Man I don't want to pack. 18 days. Six dress shirts. 5 t-shirts. I don't know what else to bring. Socks I will wear, thermals I will wear, coat I will wear. It's the rest. I am going to have to do laundry wether I like it or not I fear.

Time to do morning stuff then pack.

Y4 D291

I hate DST. I get so thrown off for the first couple of days. Weird given that I travel into so many different time zones on a regular basis. I don't know what it is, but I am always out of whack after a clock change in my own zone versus being in a different time zone. I woke up around 4 with this in my head:

You ever think about the fact that some degrees are nothing more than internships you pay for? Think about someone who gets a theater management or theater set degree. They go to school for four years to learn how to do all the things that some one who chooses not to go to college does yet gets paid to do. Seriously. A kid at 17 can go to work for a theater company and by 22 or 23 they have learned enough that they can be a solid person in a union working on lighting, sound, etc. They have gotten paid the whole time too versus the 17 year old who goes to college for four years to learn the same trade if you will and instead has to pay the college. In the end, yes the college student has a broader and wider set of knowledge, but they are doing the same job and one owes 50,000 while one has made 50,000. Interesting eh?

That's what my brain came up with. I of course pondered that and went back to sleep.

I had a fun day yesterday. I decided I wanted ice cream. Not just an ice cream cone mind you, but real ice cream. I hopped on public transportation met up with a couple of friends who live in the city and we went on an adventure. It was fun. They were out shopping and I tagged along. Then we walked to one specific ice cream shop and I had an awesome waffle cone sundae. We headed back down, grabbed a cocktail while I waited for the train, and I was home by 8:30. I fun day. A little kooky, but fun. I walked about 5 miles total which easily took care of the giant sundae I had.

We talked a lot about B. My friend did a similar thing where she moved from MD to out here for a guy basically leaving behind everything. She offered to B that she can call, text, email, whatever any time if she needs a friend or an ally when she moves out here. She wants to make sure that B and I can be happy without B being overwhelmed at the culture shock of moving to a whole new world. Her thing was public transportation when she moved. She had never had to use it and was just freaked out at all the people and the options. It took her a while to get into the groove of things. She has offered to be a friend and mentor to B when she moves. I appreciate that.

Caught up on email when I got home. I had to walk home from the mall as the kid needed the car at work. Not a big deal. I had walked enough yesterday that another 1/2 mile wasn't going to kill me. Grabbed tacos on the way home.

Was in bed by 11. Now today and tomorrow are open but I need to pack. Whee.

Y4 D290

Nothing like waking up and realizing you lost an hour. Whee on DST. Thank goodness today isn't a travel day. I would have been all thrown off. Instead here I thought I actually slept in and was feeling like I caught up a bit but only to realize I actually did sleep, but not as much as I thought. Cest la vie.

So my dreams last night... they are more important than my day. Trust me. I had three very distinct dreams. One of which was so out there I woke up at 1:40 from it and emailed myself so I wouldn't forget. So I was in this diner but it was like a scene straight from Deliverance. Middle of nowhere supposedly, a hot humid feeling to the air, and folks who were just good ol' folks. We were waiting for our order which included lots of bacon. The significant part was when the person I was with was getting ready to leave they knew I was staying. I looked at one of the people who ran the diner and it turned into X1's deceased sister. I asked her if it was time for me to go home yet and she said, it's not time. I needed to stay a while. I needed to stay and take care of things. I felt relieved. There was no computer there, no bills, no nothing. Except the neighbors. The neighbors it appeared were some kind of cult. Both their house and the diner were on some kind of river and the neighbors were having a sacrifice in the front yard. They threw this little boy down a pipe and a raccoon went after him only to have an alligator drag the boy out of the pipe and eat him. I don't know what that part means.

Dream number two I was back in an office setting. I have these on occasion. And they usually are the same - I don't feel like I fit in. Like I am not smart enough, nor can I do enough. That was the case in this one. I was supposed to be testing some new product and it wasn't working out the way I wanted it to. I was behind everyone else, I wasn't comfortable there.

Dream three was a doozy. I was dealing with the death of X2. Yes, her death. Not one of those oh I wish she was dead kind of things, no it was the mundane going to the post office and getting her mail and calling her credit card companies kind of thing.

You go over active subconscious. Have a field day while I sleep.

The day itself was pretty good. I ran some errands in the morning. Went over to Le Target and bought a new lamp for the front room. It's nothing fancy but it throws off a lot of light which was my goal. I then had a new doritos cool ranch taco. Meh.

Hung around the house. Bought a new puzzle. Picked up some fresh fruit and made a thai chicken dish last night with fresh coconut, pineapple, and lemongrass rice. The kid worked from 9pm-3am and I wanted to make sure she ate before she left. Had all that with a caesar salad. Worked on my puzzle. Got the edges all done and one chunk of the sky. Watched a LOT of animated Batman. Finished the last season of the series, watched the Mask of the Phantasm, Sub-Zero, and started Mystery of the Batwoman. I will finish a big chunk today too because I have zero plans. I will be staying in today. Enjoy the house while I can before I am gone for 2+ weeks.

Talked to B all day. She ended up getting sick in the evening. 101 degree fever. Chills. Sore throat. We skyped and texted and I got her through it. She isn't awake yet this morning. I bet she is going to trip when she realizes she has lost an hour too.

The dreams are sticking with me and bugging me for some reason. There's something I am forgetting from the last one that is sticking in my head. Need to see if I can extract what's bugging me from my brain...

Y4 D289

Slept like a fucking log last night. I think it's because despite some setbacks, I finished my training. 180 slides, 22 demos. It's now under review. Hopefully there won't be too many changes. But if there are, they should be minor. Yes, I am up at 6:30 on a Saturday. No, I have nothing to do. I am up because I want to be up and I slept well. So screw it. Hello day, be my bitch.

The setbacks I had yesterday - ah, well that's another story. I helped out a coworker on her first time teaching one of our classes and that meant my system was sucking down resources faster than a fat kid at an all you can eat shrimp buffet. Add to that me trying to do demos, multiple remote desktop sessions, powerpoints, etc and it was a recipe for disaster. My machine locked up three times and at one point I didn't think it was coming back up. When it did come back up as a pre-caution I moved all my work stuff to a backup on my laptop, moved anything important off the local hard drive onto externals, etc. In case this thing dies, I will be okay. I can't complain - I have had this desktop almost four years and in that time haven't had to do much of anything. Better than any PC I have ever owned. But everything has a MTBF and I think my time may be near. The computers. Not mine. My MTBF is a ways off. Trust me.

I have too many things left to do with B. I am so looking forward to when she moves in. I want the normalcy of here being here. I want to have a stupid traditional relationship. Ugh. I can't explain it. I know what I want in my head. Kind of like I will always be jealous of people who had childhoods where they played with the neighbor kids and rode bikes and didn't get beat or sit in the dark because the power was out.

Did all the laundry yesterday too. That felt good. I am still frustrated with the kid. She needs to start doing her own laundry. Three weeks of clothes because I was on the road and not there to do it for her. Her excuse was she didn't know where the laundry card was even though it is always in the same place. Add to that her pigsty of a room and her stupid ass boyfriend and that too is a powder keg about to blow. Luckily in four days I will be gone for almost three weeks. Enough time to cool off about it.

I think I will go to Target this morning. One of my lamps died.

Y4 D288

Frustrating day yesterday. I worked ALL day and I am so close at finishing these demos I can taste it. I have like two more sections to work on today and I can put this behind me. At least for the week. I was going along great until the end when things just decided to slow down to a crawl for no real reason. This of course pissed me off because I can see the end in sight. I will finish this today. That was pretty much my whole day.

I took a break in the evening to go do some grocery shopping. I don't know why I am bothering though. I am going to be gone. I told the kid when I got back from the store that she needs to pony up for these groceries. I spent $140 and I will eat maybe $40 of that. I told her I wanted $50 towards groceries which of course stressed her out. Oh really? But you had $40 to buy a costume for the upcoming show. You need to get your priorities straight kid.

Talked to B quite a bit yesterday. She helped motivate me to keep me pushing ahead with my training. I will say the one nice thing is that starting next week, the next three weeks of my life are controlled. I know what I am doing, I know where I will be, etc. AND in less than a week I get to be with B for 2 days. It's only 2 days but it is better than nothing.

Today I will finish!

Y4 D287

I hate sales people. It's official. Not that this is some kind of revolutionary statement or that I am alone in this, just putting it out there. Why? Allow me to explain...

On Monday I get told to make my plans for MO even though the final SOW has not been executed. "It's a sure thing, go ahead and book and do it as cheap as possible". Okay. So I do. But I decide to be smart and wait until 10am Tuesday to give everyone time to adjust if needed. Then of course YESTERDAY at 1pm I get the phone call. "Um, did you book?" Yes. And I came in a lot less than we quoted. "oh. Well it seems they only have between $2000 and $2500 budget. How much did you spend?" $1900. "Oh."

Yeah so now I am on site for 14 days with a budget of $100 - $600 to last me the whole time for food, transportation, etc. On top of it, I am supposed to sit in the hotel for two days and only go into their office for 8 of the 10 working days. Thanks guys. Thanks a fucking lot. I could have been home for three days. I could have stayed in Detroit three days longer. Whatever. I am going to Disneyland in April. Fuckers.

Worked on demos all day. Almost done. I should have them done today. Finally put this nightmare curriculum I have been working on to bed. Hardest training I have ever written. It's so technically in depth that I keep writing chunks realize it's way to dry and boring and delete like 10 slides in one shot. Then I am starting over. I keep going back and forth on it. I have about 15 more demos to do in it today and that should wrap things up. I just want it done before the weekend. This way I will have Monday and Tuesday to myself to do laundry, pack, and get ready for Ohio.

I am also not feeling great about myself right now. Feel fat and old. Hopefully these trips will actually make me feel better. I call it post training blues. I am so on stage when I train that when I sit the days after I get depressed. I was born to be in the spotlight as much as I am loathe to admit it.

Time to work.

Y4 D286

The whirlwind travel plans are set. I spent the morning yesterday arranging and rearranging flights, cars, and hotels. As of the 13th of this month, I am off for 18 days through three states (six counting layovers). But most important, my Disneyland trip is booked and locked down for 4/18 - 4/21. Paid for thanks to the 18 days on the road I am about to spend. Three nights at the nice Hilton with a Disney park view. B's trip out is all locked down too. I made her flight plans. It's always interesting dealing with someone who doesn't fly regularly. While I don't like short layovers, I can handle them. For her we had to go through the list of flights to find ones that worked. We have her flying from Detroit straight into Orange County. I was able to get her first class for both of her flights to Disneyland at least for the same points as coach. This will be her first time flying this far solo with a layover in a major hub, but I am confident she can do it. Especially since she is in first class and will have food, drinks, etc. Bam baby. Also four scheduled classes from home in April are locked down. I am pretty set for billable hours for at least a month. That's the important part.

Besides dealing with all that, the only other thing I did yesterday was work on some documents and prep some demos for another class.

Caught up on Futurama, watched a couple of episodes of Batman, talked to B a lot. We have moved to Skype instead of text and that's really nice. It's almost like she is here.

I need her to make a decision though. I want her here. I want to start our life together. But she is afraid. Right now it's easy. I am a concept. I am someone who she only has to deal with as she wants. And vice versa. I get that. I am not naive. Romantic, yes, an idiot no. I am going to keep pushing her after these next two visits to plan to move out here in July. There has to be a cut off date. My lease is up in July. I will probably sign another year. That gives us and the kid one year to figure out what we are doing. I want to move back down south. I do. I am happier down there. I am happier being right next door to Disneyland. I think the fact that I am going to spend 18 days on the road this month shows it doesn't matter where I am to do my job. But I will hold that conversation with people until the time is right. Yes, i would be giving up a lot here, but...

More demo development today. Plus comic books I ordered are in. Whee!

Y4 D285

Slept a little better last night. Helped that I had booze in me. Went out to the pub with a friend and we ended up staying later because we babysat our other friend. He once again started drinking at 8 in the morning and was wiped out by 8pm. We put him in his car with the keys locked in the glovebox. I got a text from him at 5:30 this morning saying he made it home. I may be bad, but at least I can keep my shit together enough to get home.

Worked during the day. It looks like my trip to MO is confirmed. This will mean I will be on the road for 18 straight days starting on the 13th. Home to OH, OH to Detroit, Detroit to St Louis, St Louis back home. Two clients, B, and a long time home. I will be so solid on hotel days it won't even be funny. My airline miles won't be as good, but I will definitely be good on hotels. Before the end of April I will be at 28 nights which is 2 away from keeping gold for another year and 20 away from Diamond. If I can't get another 20 nights in 8 months then something is wrong with me.

I have to make a shit ton of phone calls today to see if I can adjust the flight, the car, etc. Not looking forward to that part of it.

But it definitely means a Disney trip in April. Whee!

Off to work, then a 10am conference call to firm all this stuff up.

Y4 D284

Work work work, work work work. Back into the grind of local work. Whee. Yay me. Ugh. I am not 100% today. My neck is killing me. I slept like shit.

I had a mediocre day yesterday. Mostly because of work. I tried to be a nice guy and get my timesheet done along with my expenses from last week. Unfortunately there was a problem and that turned into a 'hey look he's working on a sunday, let's bombard him with 20 other things'. Piss. Off.

Ugh. Whatever. I am just very cranky right now because things hurt. I tried to sleep in a little which didn't seem to help much.

B was having a horrible day yesterday too which translated into just two people being cranky at each other. We both tried to not be cranky because we knew it wasn't the other the crankiness was directed at but in the end it just made for an aggravating day all around.

I am hoping today is better.

Y4 D283

Sunday, glorious Sunday. How I have longed for you.

Yesterday was pretty good. I spent the majority of the day doing errands because obviously I had been gone all week. One brief fun moment was when the kid and I went to the mall for "Platypus Days". Radio Disney was doing a special event with Phineas and Ferb theme. I brought my giant Perry. It was amusing. I slept for a few hours during the afternoon to catch up on sleep which helped too. Ordered a pizza for us to have food pre-show. Headed off to the show around 9:30. Before that I finished up Season 3 of Batman finally. One more season and three movies to go and I will have finished the animated series! The show was a bit stressful at the beginning because people ended up being sick, then I couldn't connect into the theater's sound system, people were drinking too much - aka a normal night. The show itself was fine once things got rolling. It was a special 'geeky' theme show. My costume was the simplest of them all. I was Tallahassee from Zombieland. And that was a decision that wasn't even intentional. I just happened to have on a cowboy hat and it stuck. Yay unexpected costuming. Home around 3:30, in bed by 4.

Today is some cleaning and timesheet. That's about it.

Y4 D282

Yesterday was a complete comedy of errors getting home. Let's see if I can remember all of it because it's a hell of a story.

Woke up feeling a little out of it as I mentioned but managed to get past that. Got to the client around 8am for my last 1/2 day of training. I was already tweaked out about my flights because I had to get to the airport in a small window (so I thought) and then only had 40 minutes between connections (so I thought). Class went very well. I had enough time to show them some stuff outside the regular material plus answer any general questions they had. Full on applause at the end of the day. I finished up around 11:15 which relaxed me slightly as I knew I should have enough time to get to the airport. What I didn't count on was the snow or getting lost. Both of which ended up costing me about 30 minutes. But I was still good. My flight from PA to Chicago was scheduled at 3 and I managed to get to the airport and drop off my car by 1. Good. Two hours to kill. I headed down to my gate and the 12:15 flight to Chicago had been delayed until 1:45. I should have seen that as an omen, but instead I saw it as a positive. I managed to get on that flight and even keep my exit row. While all the original passengers on that flight were frustrated because they were 90 minutes, I was happy because I was now going to be 2 hours early for my Chicago flight. Got there without incident. There was an earlier flight home and I decided to walk to that gate, but I just missed it. No problem. I now have two hours to kill but hey, my flight is still listed as on time. Cool.

Yeah...

The flight was scheduled to leave at 4:25. Now at Chicago they de-ice the planes at the gate instead of on the runway like they do EVERY OTHER DAMN AIRPORT. Which backs up traffic at the gates. I am waiting at my gate and see I am 7th on the upgrade list. Then 5th. I am hoping I can get the upgrade. We have our first delay and don't actually board until about 4:45. At 5 the pilot comes on to tell us we have to de-ice and it will be another 20 minutes. After that he tells us there is a hydraulic problem. I am in the exit, no upgrade unfortunately, but we deal. THEN he says sorry the problem can't be fixed but we found a new plane. At 6, we are all taken off the plane and we wait in the gate for them to tell us okay, new flight, leaves at 8. Sigh okay. I wander around as I now have 90 minutes to kill. When I get back to the gate, I am now 3rd on the upgrade list. But the new time? 8:20. AT 9 we finally board but whoo hoo, I got my upgrade. At least now I am in first class and can relax. Yeah right. Not only do we have to de-ice this plane, but there is another mechanical issue. Seriously. Even the captain is frustrated. BUT WAIT IT GETS BETTER. As we are finally ready to leave, we have to wait again because now the flight crew has exceeded the max work hours for the day. We have to find a new crew. Long story long, we didn't leave until 10, and didn't get home until 12:05am local time. FIVE hours delayed. Five hours, two planes, two crews. Nice. All in all, with time changes and delays, it took me 15 hours to get from PA to home. FIFTEEN hours.

I finally went to bed last night at around 1:30am. Talk about long ass days...

Y4 D281

Had a blackout night last night. Not cool. I don't remember much after about 9 but apparently I talked to B and my director as late as 11. With him I sent a message this morning being honest saying I have no idea what we talked about last night. With her I have to be a little more cautious. No woman wants to hear that her man can't remember what he said. Today is March 1st. I think this is a good random day to stop drinking for a while. I was doing fairly well for a while. But somewhere in the last week I fell of the wagon hard it seems. Not sure why. Nothing has really changed. I think it has more to do with convenience. I am here in a hotel. The bar is here. One thing leads to another and bam it's 11pm and I am blackout drunk. Not making excuses, just stating facts. Luckily class went fine. Students are happy. As long as the client is happy things are good. Today I teach for a half day then fly home. I can't wait to get home. Other than being drunk last night wasn't bad. I got to the bar around 6, was a dumbass, got to the room at about 10:30. Didn't drive or do anything stupid. Oh well. It is what it is.