2001-07-18 - 4:23 p.m.
Sorry for the delay, sportsfans, but I've had a crazy couple of weeks. Finally, I've realized that I can type my entry offline and make it next time I get online. Sheesh, you'd think I was researching the cure for cancer or something, as long as that realization took!
So, here I am sitting in Houston Airport, waiting for my connection to BWI. Yesterday at 2:30, I got told I had to be in Huntsville, Alabama, for a presentation at 10:30 this morning for the Marshall Space Flight Center. Off I was, catching a 7:00 flight last night, then 20 minutes into the flight from Houston to Huntsville the plane had a maintenance light come on, and back to Houston we went to change planes. I got to the hotel at 2:00 CENTRAL time, which made for a hell of a long day for the Q. Then it was back up at 7:00 to meet the account manager to get some more background on exactly what the hell I was supposed to be discussing. We got onsite early and set up, and the presentation went off without a hitch ... end result is that we'll be invited to bid. Great thing, this bidding for opportunities in the federal marketplace. If this was a commercial gig, we'd have just nailed it, but now we have to wait for the whole procurement process. Ugh. Then after lunch, it was back to the airport to try to catch an earlier flight. Amazingly, there weren't any earlier flights from Huntsville to Houston, so I spent 3 hours hangin' out in the airport catching up on work email (hurray for dial-up) and taking a well-deserved nap. Tonight, I'll get back to my place and be in bed by 3:00, back up at 7:30 to be in the office for the management team meeting at 9:00. And this is a typical week. Last week was much the same, except I was in Detriot giving a presentation at the Army Tank, Automotive and Armament Command Conference ... and I had two weeks notice instead of one day. August? I'm out for most of the month .................
Then, on the flight to Houston, I'm reading the current issue of National Geographic Traveler, which happens to have a great article on Scotland's "whisky trail" that is quite appropriate for my upcoming jaunt to Scotland over Thanksgiving. And on page 24 there's this great little blurb on travel statistics showing average annual vacation days taken by various countries throughout the world. The U.S. came in at the bottom, with only 13 days. But, oh my god, the Italians came in on the top of the list with 42 days per year. FORTY-TWO FRICKIN' DAYS OF VACATION PER YEAR! Even when I was in the Marine Corps, I rarely took the 30 days I had available, and that 30 days included weekends and holidays that occur during the vacation period. So, as I'm musing over another article on Mallorca, it starts to sink in that I'm working my ass off, and I'm wondering if it's really worth the money. I like what I do and all, most of which entails talking to people (gee, can you imagine me liking a job that encourages me to talk?), but I spend a great deal of time hovering on the verge of chaos, which is its own special kind of hell. Not to mention I've discovered that it is, in fact, possible to spend that much ... and I've adjusted for that, too. I'm thinking at this point that there's got to be a better way, something more Italian, so to speak. I really LOVE vacations :) Someday I'll crack the nut and figure out how to make even more money while spending less time making it (and legally, too, duh).
And the heavy buying season that is the end of the federal fiscal year has only just begun. Thank god Pennsic is only three weeks away!
Ciao and love! Peace, out...............................
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