Big storm a-coming. We're all provisioned up, have sufficient taco ingredients for several days of nourishment for Bella and Isaac, and have set up a sizeable fenced in dog run for Zinsser that will allow him to do his business without us having to get the leash out.
So Philly is really really done: After a good transition session on Friday, my email box has been silent as the christmas eve mice, so I'm just going to zip up that project folder and turn my attention to Cleveland. The 4 hours of work I referenced last week turned out to be very successful: Our client is headed off to vacation satisfied that things are on the right track, and his admin just sent out our meeting schedule - and it really will be less than 50% travel through March. I'm so excited.
With me working at home this week, I've had a little "helper" - Bella has been up and out of bed right away upon hearing me wake, and has been shadowing me: She nestles in with me on the couch and watches me work on spreadsheets and review documentation, asking questions about what some words mean, and challenging me as to whether this is "really work". But mostly, I think she's just happy to have me around. We've also been reading a LOT - we're on the chapter books, and she gets mad when we reach the end of a chapter... "But dad, you can't stop THERE - it doesn't make SENSE yet!!!"
On the other hand, Isaac has been a bit remote: He's very focused on his CARS: When he's not watching the show, he's playing with the vehicles. He's not cuddling at all, but he'll wrassle. In general we just need to bundle him up and throw him out in the back yard for a while. Dude needs to burn off energy.
With the weather coming up, I'm happy that we're pretty "under scheduled" for the next few days: We carved out a LOT of just us four (plus Zinsser) family time... so I say "let it snow let it snow let it snow".
Quick media update: I know that nobody actually watches Dollhouse, but I'm just going to be one of those voices on the internet hollering out "THESE LAST FEW EPISODES HAVE BEEN INCREDIBLE" - If they had been this good from the start, we wouldn't be looking at cancelation, but on the other hand, it's pretty remarkable to have 16 episodes of backstory to build on, and then put the hammer down on your last 7 episodes, and treat it as a miniseries with an arc. There are some seriously challenging concepts in there (well, the core concept was pretty challenging to start with... programmable people doing your every whim?), Anyway, I'll be sad to see it go, but I am happy to have it go out WELL: I'd rather have this great story than 4 seasons of meh (like what we have with Heroes).
Other media update: I'm so happy for Russell on SYTYCD: He was wonderful. I hope his leg gets better. I think that of the top 4, he really had the whole package: Jakob was the best dancer, but he was so mild in interviews it was hard to get a read for his personality. Same for Katherine, who was so impressive. Ellenore worked the personality angle, but honestly by the end I was a little weary of her "head tilt" move: But her robot dance with Ryan was just the best, even if Nigel didn't "get it".
Allright, my car should be ready to pick up now, fully winterized for the days to come!
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
I need a break
And I'm going to get one. My work in Philly is basically done as of a half hour ago. Tomorrow is all about packing up and giving hugs. And I'm out. It's strange to have the sum total of what I did here essentially boil down to 6 documents (admittedly, REALLY GREAT documents) that fit into a 3 meg zip file, but that's the information economy for you.
IT helped that the Jersey gig also had a big deliverable this week, which I spent a fair amount of time in Jersey handholding this week, PLUS my second big deliverable for Cleveland. It has been a busy week, with way more billable hours under my belt than I want to see in a single week again in the future.
I'm going to keep this short because I need my typing fingers in full strength: I have 4 more hours of work to do tonight for Cleveland, and I gotta get some food first.
But when I get on that airplane tomorrow.... I get to hang OUT for over 2 weeks. IT WILL BE AMAZING.
IT helped that the Jersey gig also had a big deliverable this week, which I spent a fair amount of time in Jersey handholding this week, PLUS my second big deliverable for Cleveland. It has been a busy week, with way more billable hours under my belt than I want to see in a single week again in the future.
I'm going to keep this short because I need my typing fingers in full strength: I have 4 more hours of work to do tonight for Cleveland, and I gotta get some food first.
But when I get on that airplane tomorrow.... I get to hang OUT for over 2 weeks. IT WILL BE AMAZING.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
I saw a Nook
Having just bought the Kindle DX (and not even having held it in my hands - it was delivered while I was in Philly), I was naturally curious about the competition - setting aside the mythical Apple Thing which doesn't exist, I had to wonder about that new Barnes and Noble Nook: Would it be so cool I'd regret my purchase? Today, I got my hands on a Nook, and I have the answer:
The short answer is no.
The long answer is: If I wanted a slightly heavier Kindle with a cool color screen at the bottom AND I didn't already have a bunch of books purchased in an incompatible format, ok maybe.
The screen is odd, because you use it to select things, but the big screen above is what shows you the options: So the two screens work together, which sounds cool until you realize that the little color screen is fast like an iPhone, and the top screen is slow like the Kindle. The end result was that I was impatiently tapping on the color screen waiting for things to happen, while the upper screen was doing that slow Wipe-Flash-Draw thing that is acceptable when reading a book, but not so much as a computer display.
Plus I have around 80 books of "investment" in the Kindle, which is a closed system (like the Nook), so there's nothing there to sway me across. I'm just excited to see the BIG screen of the KindleDX. It will rock.
The short answer is no.
The long answer is: If I wanted a slightly heavier Kindle with a cool color screen at the bottom AND I didn't already have a bunch of books purchased in an incompatible format, ok maybe.
The screen is odd, because you use it to select things, but the big screen above is what shows you the options: So the two screens work together, which sounds cool until you realize that the little color screen is fast like an iPhone, and the top screen is slow like the Kindle. The end result was that I was impatiently tapping on the color screen waiting for things to happen, while the upper screen was doing that slow Wipe-Flash-Draw thing that is acceptable when reading a book, but not so much as a computer display.
Plus I have around 80 books of "investment" in the Kindle, which is a closed system (like the Nook), so there's nothing there to sway me across. I'm just excited to see the BIG screen of the KindleDX. It will rock.
On Safe Blogging
Sometimes I feel odd about the level of anonymity I try to keep on this blog: I don't use last names, sometimes not first names, and my clients are by city only... which can be tough when in the family we all refer to a family as "The Gustafsons", but in the blog I say "Matt and Krista" (and yes, those are made up too). This paranoia may or may not be justified, but something just happened to a good friend which encourages me to keep it anonymous:
My friend Paul is working for a major entertainment company on a project with a very high profile Property: The exact nature of his work has not even been whispered to me, and I consider myself a pretty good friend. It's one of those "if this gets out..." sort of things. I know enough about it to know I shouldn't know more, and even if I did know more, I should keep it quiet.
Paul got together one night with an old friend who helped him get established in the business, and this friend is something of a high profile guy himself - an 80's pop star (and I do mean STAR) who has reinvented himself as a geek god. The two shared a good bit of wine and swapped stories...
And The Friend posted something on his (quite well read) blog about the evening, using Paul's full name, and indicating a talk about The Property in detail. Now, he didn't reveal more than I already knew, and Paul has kept things close to his vest with ME, but the unmistakable thing gleaned from his posting was that "There's something new coming in this franchise, and Paul told me about it".
The story has been picked up on the interwebs, and I've seen Paul's name on Ain't It Cool, IO9, and others... Poor guy. I am deeply hopeful that he keeps his job, and The Friend posted a retraction a few hours later... but the damage is done: Paul is believed to HAVE TALKED ABOUT THE PROJECT.
And so, I will keep my musings anonymous, if not for my own sake, then for the sake of those I write about. And on my Tales of the 90's blog, while I do use SOME names there, it's all ancient history (over 10 years), and nobody gets in trouble. I promise.
My friend Paul is working for a major entertainment company on a project with a very high profile Property: The exact nature of his work has not even been whispered to me, and I consider myself a pretty good friend. It's one of those "if this gets out..." sort of things. I know enough about it to know I shouldn't know more, and even if I did know more, I should keep it quiet.
Paul got together one night with an old friend who helped him get established in the business, and this friend is something of a high profile guy himself - an 80's pop star (and I do mean STAR) who has reinvented himself as a geek god. The two shared a good bit of wine and swapped stories...
And The Friend posted something on his (quite well read) blog about the evening, using Paul's full name, and indicating a talk about The Property in detail. Now, he didn't reveal more than I already knew, and Paul has kept things close to his vest with ME, but the unmistakable thing gleaned from his posting was that "There's something new coming in this franchise, and Paul told me about it".
The story has been picked up on the interwebs, and I've seen Paul's name on Ain't It Cool, IO9, and others... Poor guy. I am deeply hopeful that he keeps his job, and The Friend posted a retraction a few hours later... but the damage is done: Paul is believed to HAVE TALKED ABOUT THE PROJECT.
And so, I will keep my musings anonymous, if not for my own sake, then for the sake of those I write about. And on my Tales of the 90's blog, while I do use SOME names there, it's all ancient history (over 10 years), and nobody gets in trouble. I promise.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
'Allo Cleveland!!!
Another packed weekend has come and gone: Bella is back in her room, and Isaac is adjusting: He liked having Bella in his room! Isaac is in that horrible period where the nap may or may not be necessary on a given day... he's been VERY tired by the end of the day, and has had some days where that Didda has stayed close at hand all day. He's completely addicted to the Pixar CARS movie, and asks to watch it every day. Lightning McQueen's voice is always in the background it seems these days. Even Bella is getting tired of it, but Isaac can't get enough. HE IS A BOY.
On Saturday, an neighbor had a birthday party at a community center gymnastics room, and Isaac and Bella were incredibly happy, running around, doing somersaults, walking the high beam, bouncing on trampolines... it was a great day. Bella asked to do more gymnastics in the future, so we'll have to see where we can wedge that in! Isaac was fun to watch - he was a total professional with everything, getting a very focused look and determined to do the exercises QUICKLY. We all gasped when he leapt up and grabbed a horizontal bar and swung himself back and forth before jumping off onto a mat... it was quite the show of strength and fearlessness.
Technology News:
Allright, I did it. I got an AppleTV. And I love it... and more importantly, BELLA loves it. She is completely comfortable navigating it, and it's nice to have all of our movies, shows, pictures, and music from the iMac available on the big TV downstairs. And Bella's proud of the fact she can run it all by herself. I was close to just getting a PC for downstairs for this purpose, and I'm glad I went the AppleTV route: Much less expensive and it does what I want it to do.
In other technology news: I have replaced my dead Kindle with the DX model: The bigger screen and support for PDF files is going to be great, especially since my new gig will require that I review huge PDF files filled with Finance-Talk and Technobabble: It'll be much easier to read them on Kindle format than to stare at a computer screen.
The New Gig:
I'm on the final countdown in Philly: I canceled my Zipcar contract, the hotel knows I'm only here for one more week, and I'm making the final rounds of my favorite haunts. After this week there's just 3 more days next week and I'm done. I'm having breakfast with my local friend to see about coordinating some work in mid 2010 perhaps - IN A DIFFERENT AREA.
My first meeting in Cleveland went very well: The sponsors are very engaged, and while we only had an hour on the schedule, they cleared 3 for us so that we could really get into depth. We worked hard this past week to deliver a "straw man" presentation to give them something to react to: The final deck was 50 pages, and they had not only reviewed it, but had great comments on every page. Actually, there was a section I had just fleshed out lightly as a "this is the sort of info that will go in here" framework, with some temporary details that weren't entirely correct, and they latched onto them, until I re-explained that the whole section will be nuked and replaced with the "real" info.... I actually got a little worried... but it ended well. They were very complimentary of our effort, and now I have a big thing to whip up by Tuesday, so I'm getting down to bidness.
The Finance area is in a nice part of town. The IT area, on the other hand, is in a less friendly part of town. A massive converted warehouse that looks like nothing from the outside, but lavishly retrofitted inside with high ceilings and open work areas. But on the way, my partner (the driver) misinterpreted a hand gesture from another driver and cut in front of him... and the gentleman decided to follow us for a few blocks, rolled down his window, and with a disturbing stillness, asked why we had cut him off: We apologized profusely. He stared for a while... then drove off slowly.
And 3 blocks from that very incident, there was a shooting that evening.
But I'm not going to worry (and don't you worry, Mom): There are hundreds of people working at that site, and people take care of each other. And I'm not really working on that site anyway: We established that my work really WILL be done from the home office!!! Yes, I'll be parking on the 3rd floor. We're all very excited. So when I do visit, it'll be for a day of meetings, then back home.
So back to work for me now.
On Saturday, an neighbor had a birthday party at a community center gymnastics room, and Isaac and Bella were incredibly happy, running around, doing somersaults, walking the high beam, bouncing on trampolines... it was a great day. Bella asked to do more gymnastics in the future, so we'll have to see where we can wedge that in! Isaac was fun to watch - he was a total professional with everything, getting a very focused look and determined to do the exercises QUICKLY. We all gasped when he leapt up and grabbed a horizontal bar and swung himself back and forth before jumping off onto a mat... it was quite the show of strength and fearlessness.
Technology News:
Allright, I did it. I got an AppleTV. And I love it... and more importantly, BELLA loves it. She is completely comfortable navigating it, and it's nice to have all of our movies, shows, pictures, and music from the iMac available on the big TV downstairs. And Bella's proud of the fact she can run it all by herself. I was close to just getting a PC for downstairs for this purpose, and I'm glad I went the AppleTV route: Much less expensive and it does what I want it to do.
In other technology news: I have replaced my dead Kindle with the DX model: The bigger screen and support for PDF files is going to be great, especially since my new gig will require that I review huge PDF files filled with Finance-Talk and Technobabble: It'll be much easier to read them on Kindle format than to stare at a computer screen.
The New Gig:
I'm on the final countdown in Philly: I canceled my Zipcar contract, the hotel knows I'm only here for one more week, and I'm making the final rounds of my favorite haunts. After this week there's just 3 more days next week and I'm done. I'm having breakfast with my local friend to see about coordinating some work in mid 2010 perhaps - IN A DIFFERENT AREA.
My first meeting in Cleveland went very well: The sponsors are very engaged, and while we only had an hour on the schedule, they cleared 3 for us so that we could really get into depth. We worked hard this past week to deliver a "straw man" presentation to give them something to react to: The final deck was 50 pages, and they had not only reviewed it, but had great comments on every page. Actually, there was a section I had just fleshed out lightly as a "this is the sort of info that will go in here" framework, with some temporary details that weren't entirely correct, and they latched onto them, until I re-explained that the whole section will be nuked and replaced with the "real" info.... I actually got a little worried... but it ended well. They were very complimentary of our effort, and now I have a big thing to whip up by Tuesday, so I'm getting down to bidness.
The Finance area is in a nice part of town. The IT area, on the other hand, is in a less friendly part of town. A massive converted warehouse that looks like nothing from the outside, but lavishly retrofitted inside with high ceilings and open work areas. But on the way, my partner (the driver) misinterpreted a hand gesture from another driver and cut in front of him... and the gentleman decided to follow us for a few blocks, rolled down his window, and with a disturbing stillness, asked why we had cut him off: We apologized profusely. He stared for a while... then drove off slowly.
And 3 blocks from that very incident, there was a shooting that evening.
But I'm not going to worry (and don't you worry, Mom): There are hundreds of people working at that site, and people take care of each other. And I'm not really working on that site anyway: We established that my work really WILL be done from the home office!!! Yes, I'll be parking on the 3rd floor. We're all very excited. So when I do visit, it'll be for a day of meetings, then back home.
So back to work for me now.
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Oh here I am!
Since the last update, we packed the kids and Zinsser into the car and sped down to Chicagoland for a long Thanksgiving holiday. You'd think that a long holiday weekend I might be able to update the blog or something, but no... I was actually a bit more unplugged than usual this time. Maybe it was because every time I turned around, my niece Lilli had absconded with my laptop and was working her arcane horse configuration and trading network game. But I'm ahead of myself.
I started the week working from home: My Jersey Client has finally knocked loose some decisions so I've been spending time wrangling cats: My project is to redesign the ID badge (for aesthetics AND to add a new id barcode for their patient care systems), and to do this I need to coordinate across HR, IT, Security, Facilities, Marketing, and of course Senior Leadership. There are a lot of technical moving parts to consider as well... so I'm actually pretty busy with them.
My work in Philly is winding down: I've been refining my final deliverables and will likely be completely done before Christmas. It's a bit disappointing to me: They're a hugely dysfunctional organization and I could provide value, but they're overcoming a pretty major "consulting hangover" from overspending the past 5 years, and they need some "personal space" while they get their house in order. What this means is I had hoped to help them outside of the carefully proscribed "box" they had put me into, but my attempts to break out have been stymied. So we're ending it, and I'm feeling good about the deliverables...
A similar organization exists in Minneapolis: I had done a lot of great work over 3 years for them, and they're currently in a complete "consulting shunning" mode, due to overspending a few years back. So it'll be a few years before they're ready to accept help again. I just ran into a few people from there last week, and had that view confirmed. Which means that places like Jersey and Cleveland are going to be my places of work for a while.
Back to Home: We packed into the car and drove to Schaumburg on Wednesday. My traveling life at least affords me the perks of points, and I was able to get two suites at the Residence Inn for us and PapaBam for 3 days away from the allergicness of Papabam's sweet cat. The hotel was also able to accommodate Zinsser, who was a GOOD BOY. Naturally, Portillos was the first meal of the day down there. We swam in the pool and had a general great time.
Thanksgiving was with the German side of the family, and Zinsser was invited! It was a starch fest - Sweet Potatoes with Apricots were my favorite. Bella ate a pound of mashed potatoes. Pamela went to town on the rutabagas. Isaac.... Isaac ate crackers. Crazy kid. They had a fenced in yard too, so we had some great running and chasing of Zinnie.
Alas, I think Zinsser got ahold of some rich table scraps, because at 2 in the morning, we awoke to a whimpering dog who had soiled his kennel and got it all over himself. He was so embarrassed. And we were so horrified.
Friday was a relaxing day - we went for a long walk in Elk Grove, got baked goods from Jarosch, and had a classic Johnnie's Beef. Bella and Lilli went to the stables and rode horses (well, Bella rode a Pony), and they were both beaming when they got back. Bella chilled out to the new Santa Buddies movie (where they "make" golden retriever puppies talk all hip like, and get this, THEY SAVE CHRISTMAS). Bella was all smiles, and Lilli was all rolling eyes at the cheesiness, but Bella let Lilli know SHE was enjoying it, and please don't ruin it. I thought that was pretty bold.
Saturday we packed the kids and Zinsser off to Bailey and Ty's house: We were going downtown for a wedding, and Kari volunteered to watch the little ones. With not a shed tear, the kids barely noticed us leaving (the humans were playing Wii upstairs, and Zinsser was wrestling with Dakota, an old 80 pound chocolate lab who became a good friend). Downtown we stayed on the Magnificent Mile (thanks again, Marriott Rewards points!) and ran off to the ceremony.
This was an Irish Catholic girl marrying an East Indian Catholic boy, and both families were well represented. The Mass was long, as they did both western and eastern traditions - I think they spoke 3 sets of vows! The reception was at a hip latin food nightspot, and they shoehorned all 680 of us in. The mojitos were flowing, the food was amazing, and the dancing was crazy. By 11, we were tuckered out and ready for bed.
Sunday we slept in, got some breakfast, drove back to Palatine, and got the kids: Bella, Isaac, and Zinsser were happy to see us, and according to Kari, they were perfect angels, all of them. Isaac didn't want to go! We were all tired, and I think we all could have gone to another hotel and napped, but no, I insisted that it was TIME TO GO HOME, so we drove home.
We got home around 9pm, and the kids zonked pretty quickly. Bella is sleeping on Isaac's floor, by the way, AND Isaac has his big boy bed, so you KNOW it's hard for them to stay focused and wind down.
Oh - why is Bella in Isaac's room? Well, for the past year, as Bella has been going to sleep, she's had a dry cough. We assumed it was some allergy that being horizontal sort of exacerbated. Maybe we just didn't want to think too hard abouut it, but a couple of weekends ago, we had Jenny staying over, and came to the conclusion that SOMETHING is in Bella's carpet, because Jenny was on an inflate-a-bed and had a runny nose every night. So we decided the carpet must go. We pulled a little up before we went on vacation, and were horrified by the stains and dust that were in there: We steam clean this carpet twice a year, and it was still completely filthy. So once we confirmed it, Bella moved to Isaac's room.
Now, Monday I left as a possible open day - you know how weather can get around the holidays. So I had it as a work from home day instead of a travel day (which was REALLY GOOD because Jersey, Philly, AND Cleveland had major things I needed to manage with them in the day). And in the evening, Pamela and I decided to finish the job of ripping up Bella's carpet.
Remind me to NEVER put carpeting in to a house. It is nasty. Also, those carpet tack boards are evil and I not only scratched my hand on them, but I also have sore palms and forearms from working the crowbar to pry them up. Just don't do it.
So now Bella has unfinished wood floors, which actually look pretty cool. We'll probably have them sanded in the spring, and will drop a rug on there in the meantime.
Today I'm back in Philly, and will be in Jersey Thursday. Cleveland next week for a day, then Jersey and Philly - I'll be a traveling fool. But things REALLY are slowing down on the travel: Philly will be done by Christmas, and the trips I make up to then will be 2 days max - it's all transition now. My trip to Cleveland next week will be the only one until January, and even then, they only want to see me out there 25% of the time - they trust I can do most of my work remotely. So I'll be up on the 3rd floor quite a bit in the months to come, and I couldn't be happier!
One final note before I close out this epic update: The Jimmy Tech Curse continues unabated: A poor decision on my part as to what pocket to store a power adaptor in has led to the crunching of the screen on my Kindle. It is Kaput, and the repair cost is the same as a new one (especially with the lower prices they go for nowadays). So I'm currently Kindle-less, and trying to decide what to do: Part of me wants to upgrade to the larger format edition they came out with. Part of me wants to wait forever for the new Apple Thing that nobody actually knows what it is or when it may come out. And part of me is saying "Jimmy, you're semi-off-the-road for a little while - maybe you don't need a Kindle".
I'll let you know what happens.... if the three people living in my head can come to consensus.
And now it's off to bed.
I started the week working from home: My Jersey Client has finally knocked loose some decisions so I've been spending time wrangling cats: My project is to redesign the ID badge (for aesthetics AND to add a new id barcode for their patient care systems), and to do this I need to coordinate across HR, IT, Security, Facilities, Marketing, and of course Senior Leadership. There are a lot of technical moving parts to consider as well... so I'm actually pretty busy with them.
My work in Philly is winding down: I've been refining my final deliverables and will likely be completely done before Christmas. It's a bit disappointing to me: They're a hugely dysfunctional organization and I could provide value, but they're overcoming a pretty major "consulting hangover" from overspending the past 5 years, and they need some "personal space" while they get their house in order. What this means is I had hoped to help them outside of the carefully proscribed "box" they had put me into, but my attempts to break out have been stymied. So we're ending it, and I'm feeling good about the deliverables...
A similar organization exists in Minneapolis: I had done a lot of great work over 3 years for them, and they're currently in a complete "consulting shunning" mode, due to overspending a few years back. So it'll be a few years before they're ready to accept help again. I just ran into a few people from there last week, and had that view confirmed. Which means that places like Jersey and Cleveland are going to be my places of work for a while.
Back to Home: We packed into the car and drove to Schaumburg on Wednesday. My traveling life at least affords me the perks of points, and I was able to get two suites at the Residence Inn for us and PapaBam for 3 days away from the allergicness of Papabam's sweet cat. The hotel was also able to accommodate Zinsser, who was a GOOD BOY. Naturally, Portillos was the first meal of the day down there. We swam in the pool and had a general great time.
Thanksgiving was with the German side of the family, and Zinsser was invited! It was a starch fest - Sweet Potatoes with Apricots were my favorite. Bella ate a pound of mashed potatoes. Pamela went to town on the rutabagas. Isaac.... Isaac ate crackers. Crazy kid. They had a fenced in yard too, so we had some great running and chasing of Zinnie.
Alas, I think Zinsser got ahold of some rich table scraps, because at 2 in the morning, we awoke to a whimpering dog who had soiled his kennel and got it all over himself. He was so embarrassed. And we were so horrified.
Friday was a relaxing day - we went for a long walk in Elk Grove, got baked goods from Jarosch, and had a classic Johnnie's Beef. Bella and Lilli went to the stables and rode horses (well, Bella rode a Pony), and they were both beaming when they got back. Bella chilled out to the new Santa Buddies movie (where they "make" golden retriever puppies talk all hip like, and get this, THEY SAVE CHRISTMAS). Bella was all smiles, and Lilli was all rolling eyes at the cheesiness, but Bella let Lilli know SHE was enjoying it, and please don't ruin it. I thought that was pretty bold.
Saturday we packed the kids and Zinsser off to Bailey and Ty's house: We were going downtown for a wedding, and Kari volunteered to watch the little ones. With not a shed tear, the kids barely noticed us leaving (the humans were playing Wii upstairs, and Zinsser was wrestling with Dakota, an old 80 pound chocolate lab who became a good friend). Downtown we stayed on the Magnificent Mile (thanks again, Marriott Rewards points!) and ran off to the ceremony.
This was an Irish Catholic girl marrying an East Indian Catholic boy, and both families were well represented. The Mass was long, as they did both western and eastern traditions - I think they spoke 3 sets of vows! The reception was at a hip latin food nightspot, and they shoehorned all 680 of us in. The mojitos were flowing, the food was amazing, and the dancing was crazy. By 11, we were tuckered out and ready for bed.
Sunday we slept in, got some breakfast, drove back to Palatine, and got the kids: Bella, Isaac, and Zinsser were happy to see us, and according to Kari, they were perfect angels, all of them. Isaac didn't want to go! We were all tired, and I think we all could have gone to another hotel and napped, but no, I insisted that it was TIME TO GO HOME, so we drove home.
We got home around 9pm, and the kids zonked pretty quickly. Bella is sleeping on Isaac's floor, by the way, AND Isaac has his big boy bed, so you KNOW it's hard for them to stay focused and wind down.
Oh - why is Bella in Isaac's room? Well, for the past year, as Bella has been going to sleep, she's had a dry cough. We assumed it was some allergy that being horizontal sort of exacerbated. Maybe we just didn't want to think too hard abouut it, but a couple of weekends ago, we had Jenny staying over, and came to the conclusion that SOMETHING is in Bella's carpet, because Jenny was on an inflate-a-bed and had a runny nose every night. So we decided the carpet must go. We pulled a little up before we went on vacation, and were horrified by the stains and dust that were in there: We steam clean this carpet twice a year, and it was still completely filthy. So once we confirmed it, Bella moved to Isaac's room.
Now, Monday I left as a possible open day - you know how weather can get around the holidays. So I had it as a work from home day instead of a travel day (which was REALLY GOOD because Jersey, Philly, AND Cleveland had major things I needed to manage with them in the day). And in the evening, Pamela and I decided to finish the job of ripping up Bella's carpet.
Remind me to NEVER put carpeting in to a house. It is nasty. Also, those carpet tack boards are evil and I not only scratched my hand on them, but I also have sore palms and forearms from working the crowbar to pry them up. Just don't do it.
So now Bella has unfinished wood floors, which actually look pretty cool. We'll probably have them sanded in the spring, and will drop a rug on there in the meantime.
Today I'm back in Philly, and will be in Jersey Thursday. Cleveland next week for a day, then Jersey and Philly - I'll be a traveling fool. But things REALLY are slowing down on the travel: Philly will be done by Christmas, and the trips I make up to then will be 2 days max - it's all transition now. My trip to Cleveland next week will be the only one until January, and even then, they only want to see me out there 25% of the time - they trust I can do most of my work remotely. So I'll be up on the 3rd floor quite a bit in the months to come, and I couldn't be happier!
One final note before I close out this epic update: The Jimmy Tech Curse continues unabated: A poor decision on my part as to what pocket to store a power adaptor in has led to the crunching of the screen on my Kindle. It is Kaput, and the repair cost is the same as a new one (especially with the lower prices they go for nowadays). So I'm currently Kindle-less, and trying to decide what to do: Part of me wants to upgrade to the larger format edition they came out with. Part of me wants to wait forever for the new Apple Thing that nobody actually knows what it is or when it may come out. And part of me is saying "Jimmy, you're semi-off-the-road for a little while - maybe you don't need a Kindle".
I'll let you know what happens.... if the three people living in my head can come to consensus.
And now it's off to bed.
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