Living in a suitcase

So I did escape the conference intact on Tuesday, and had a great evening with the kiddos. Yes, it was staggeringly cold upon my return, but since Dallas had been disappointingly chilly, I didn't feel all that bad about it.

And then it was off to Seattle for one night - it was another of those "CIO Forums" like I did in LA back in December where there is a 10-1 Vendor to Potential Customer ratio... but in this case I had friends at my existing Tacoma client to hang out with, and actually made face time with three potential clients I had done email exchanges with in the past. Hopefully it was business worthy. So NOT a total waste of time.

Speaking of waste of time, the past week has got me addicted to, and then finishing with, the Jack Campbell "Lost Fleet" pulp sci-fi series about John "Black Jack" Geary, frozen in time for 100 years, and unfrozen to lead a changed humanity in one last desperate charge against an unknown enemy... four books, one day each, and no resolution in sight - probably will have 2 more before this sucker wraps up, but now I'm waiting for my April release date on Book 5. It's wonderfully trashy.

Ok, so I got back into town early to spend more kid/family time, had a day of meetings on Friday, and then Pamela and I disappeared to the Graves 601 hotel downtown Mpls: When I married our friends last summer, they gave me a certificate for one night there, so we lived it up, and Tara took care of the kids (and they were thrilled to be having a "sleepover"). We ate room service, brought our own hooch (Baileys, Lagavulin Distiller's Edition), watched some very good movies and got a lot of rest in. Pamela watched "The Duchess" while I exercised today... I remembered I need to teach BodyAttack on Monday AM and it's been over a week since I've taught it, so I need to get back in practice. But I always feel odd doing aerobics in hotel workout rooms - the treadmill people don't really know what to make of that prancing man. Fortunately 10am on a Saturday is pretty "low tide" for the Graves 601 exercise room, so I was free to let my freak flag fly.

Last night we watched a few 30-Rocks (to get her hooked on the funniest show on TV... and I can't get Tracy Morgan/Jordan's way of saying "LIZ LEMON" out of my head) and "Rachel Getting Married" which was an AMAZING movie.

Anne Hathaway was utterly convincing as the recovering addict who is let loose on her funky family gathering. A flash of recognition at the behavior will hit just about anyone who has dealt with this in their lives. But it's not a diva role - there's amazing nuance and depth to what she's doing, and by the end, things have hit a sort of natural equilibrium that gives one hope.

We got home this afternoon to find Isaac had skipped his nap and was out of his mind, and Bella was on an all-day adventure with Grandma and Grandpa... when she came home waves of aroma came off of her: She had been helping Grandpa make his spaghetti sauce, and she was flat out beat from the day. I think the the cumulative effect of the weather for the week, and all of the comings and goings had us all a bit tired. So Bella was in bed by 7, and Isaac too, though as of this writing he has popped up and realized he forgot to eat so has had a bowl of cereal and a handful of crackers. In bed. And no I'm not going to kick him out of bed for eating crackers. It's his bed.

Next week I spend Monday with the family (while my health insurance may not be the best with this new job, at least they have a lot of holidays), then off to Tacoma again, this time with an agenda to put the hammer down and get them moving on the project. No more navelgazing on who the team members need to give input to... we're just moving forward. Like Black Jack Geary of the Alliance. Never Surrender.