Getting ready for turkey day - we'll be packing the whole family (including Zinsser) into Mister Marshmallow and driving down to Chicagoland for the holiday. I'm looking forward to some time in a hotel room, finally. Wait, what? Isaac remains apparently deathly allergic to cats so we're holing up in a hotel instead of Papabam's house - and Papabam are joining us. And the whole thing will be paid for by points from my "regular" hotel stays. I'll take those perks!
Travel will be getting a bit less for a little while: I had "the Talk" and it went very well actually. We set a few extra deliverable targets and a hope that January will be it. And after the talk, the energy just changed - lots more friendliness, laughter, even a half hearted high five occurred. I think that the fact that I was willing to leave money on the table to do the right thing for the client really impressed him... perhaps he was dreading that I would just burrow in and work out my contract doing little. Anyway, it's good that we set these new expectations because....
I got the big gig: I'll be headed to Cleveland to help plan out a 5 year, $100m project, and if they like what we bring to the planning, we're in for the doing. The work is very strategic and high profile, and they're not expecting to see much of me - I'm budgeted for 5 visits from now through February... I have a coworker who will be my eyes and ears on the ground. And that means I'll be around a fair amount more in the next few months....
Assuming of course that I DON'T get the gig in Fort Myers: They're moving very slow, and they even had a good employee candidate who walked because they moved too slow... so I may go out there, or I may not. At this point, I have a job (3 actually) so if Fort Myers needs to not happen, I'd be ok with that. (See, now I've jinxed it - NOW they have no choice but to need my help).
So that's the work life: I finished the Allentown gig, and it was very fun - they were very receptive to our recommendations, and they are warm people, so it was rewarding to help them out.
Home Life: First off, I'm going to say I AM SORE: We joined a new club, and I went to an 8pm Kickboxing Cardio class, which totally kicked my tail across America. As I said on my Facebook page: 30 min on the hotel treadmill 3 times a week does nothing to prepare you for a non-stop one hour jumping and punching and kicking workout. By the end I was jello. I poured myself into the car and hit the GPS to take me home, as I fell asleep. (wouldn't that be great some days?). That I made it THROUGH is a testament to my not COMPLETELY losing my fitness level from when I had to stop teaching back in May...
By the way, my old club has stopped offering BodyAttack entirely: it was too high-impact for most of their people, and there were several injuries (with the instructors too). That's a total buff-kids class, but I did love it. Speaking of Buff - Pamela has been to 5 personal trainings sessions, and they're working her HARD. After TurkeyDay, I'll be scheduling my class too, so I can work on thickening my neck and increasing my eyebrow ridge. If possible I'd like to get one of those back-of-the-head creases that big guys get. Then I'm going to tattoo my name on my neck. BECAUSE THAT'S NOW HOW I ROLL. They'll love me in Cleveland.
BIG NEWS in the house: Isaac got a Big Boy Bed today. He's asleep in it right now - and he was incredibly happy about it. We got him Lightning McQueen sheets - that boy loves the Cars movie like nothing else. And last week he peed in the potty, but in his own way: He came downstairs from his nap completely naked, took Pamela by the hand, led her upstairs and showed her what he had done. No coaching, no "try!". He just decided to go for it. Didn't spill a drop either. So if that's not Big Boy behavior, I'm not sure what is.
We're 1/4 of the way through ripping up the carpet in Bella's room - we're taking a part-time pace on this. The floors underneath are gorgeous, and will sand up nicely. We're thinking about repainting too. Bella's leaning toward Yellow... But I seem to remember a short story where a woman was recuperating and went mad in a room with yellow wallpaper. I don't really fear for Bella, of course.
And finally, a shout out to Paulie and Melissa, the couple who asked me to perform their wedding ceremony last year: Their son Roman was born on Friday, and we're all so excited! As their Reverend, I had to let them know that I would NOT be performing a Bris, however.
That's enough for now: Can you tell that my mood is lighter?
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