Take me home

1) My hotel is on the "other side" of the Convention Center from Center City: To get to my place from the subway, I walk up 12th street, through a full city block-long tunnel, surrounded on both sides and above by the convention center. It's actually quite wide and not claustrophobic, (unless there are lots of buses filled with conventioneers). It's very echoey, which makes the skateboarders and occasional drunkards very audible. On both sides, large windows offer a view into the convention center itself, and I get to see what's being set up.

As I was walking "home" last night, I saw a number of police vans in once side of the center, and several dozen officers walking around in an otherwise empty convention floor. An hour later I walked back
through on my way to dinner, and saw that they had set up a complex set of obstacles: Ramps, stairs, boxes, etc, and this was actually BIKE COP TRAINING! I didn't get to see them going through their moves, but I was excited to see that high curbs, 10 foot stairways, and retaining walls are all things that the Philly PD bike police are trained to handle.

2) On that same walk, I heard a swarm of bees coming up behind me, and turned to find a pack of 12 people on Vespas coming up the road. Walking toward me was a group of 3 moms and 8 kids, and the kids literally started jumping up and down hollering and waving their arms. The Vespas all obliged with enthusiastic beeping and as much of an engine rev as they were capable of. The kids turned to watch them go, literally springing in the air, dancing with excitement. The Vespas passed, the kids passed, and I was alone on the street again. It was fun to have that moment swirl around me.

3) It was a much more effective week for me: Finally FINALLY closed that sale, which will bring a nice bonus around the holidays. Got a lot of work done for both clients. Did some good language learning. Ate some half decent food (no disappointments this week, thank you very much). Got some exercise. Kept a positive attitude. I'm not sure why some weeks feel good and others don't... I think that I do go through cycles - maybe every 5-6 weeks I have a few down days, and they just hit last week. OR maybe it has to do with my excitement at having a week at home coming up.

Yes, I'm working "remotely" next week. Papabam are likely already at the house, we're hitting the State Fair tomorrow, have tickets to see A Prairie Home Companion Friday Night, and then just quality time with the family. I have a lot of writing to do and I'll be on the clock next week... and I have a few site visits set up to see what's working or not for some cardiology groups in Minneapolis, but my nights will be in my own bed, I'll be tucking in my kids, my dog will be on my lap, and thing will be good.

4) I'm on an early flight right now, coming home to take Bella to her open house at school, to meet her first grade teacher. This is big important stuff, and I'm happy I could make it.

Oh: My first week with the MacBook Air has been like some sort of crazy dream. This thing is so light and wonderful. Incredible.