The wrapup on this one.

In general, it was a good day. No bodily injury. Work-related things went well, if a little strangely. In Jersey, I confirmed that I really am reaching the end of the project. There were no tears, but there was one final run out to Primo's for lunch, where they bestowed upon me a PrimoDonna-of-the-Month calendar: 18 months of cheesecake Jersey hotties holding sandwiches. Sadly, it stayed in the rental car this evening, so you'll just have to imagine this. If it was a little more self-aware, and a little less "actual sexy pinup", I might have considered keeping it.

As to Cleveland: the pieces of the puzzle are becoming clearer: We truly are in the middle of a massive rescue mission... for a project that is only 3 months old. The clients are very happy for our help and are very supportive. I'm feeling good.

But on to the craziness. Just two things to add to the story today:

As a favor for a co-worker I committed to running a stack of invoices over to the business office in Jersey today. My original plan was to take off around 3:30, drop them by 3:50, then get to the airport (a half hour max) in plenty of time. As you can figure, things got backed up, and I didn't leave for the business office until 4, hit traffic, and didn't head to the airport until 4:30. Still - no problem right? Yeah. That would be two massive accidents on the highways that turned my typical 20 minute drive to over an hour. I was white knuckles on the steering wheel loudly cursing the gods. I even took a whoops-backdoor alternate route - along with several thousand other smart people like me, so I don't think it helped.

I walked into the airport with less than 30 minutes to go to departure, without a boarding pass and not through security. I was OJ'ing through the airport and was the second to last one on the airplane - only the clear acrophobe was behind me, dragging his feet. Yes, my late arrival meant my first class seat was given up. Yes, TSA had set up a substation and went through my luggage and patted down my nether regions.

The flight was on time and uneventful: I sprung for the can of pringles, since my Primo Hoagie was so much earlier in the day AND I had counted on a first class meal... and I watched the Shane Black meta-movie "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" on the computer, with the window shrunk practically to iphone size and my hand shielding the proceedings - there were boobs in that movie I guess. I wanted to be respectful to my fellow passengers. This is where we need eye-phones. I think I liked the movie - some great Robert Downey Jr bits, but also a lot of Whiskey Tango Foxtrot (WTF) stuff. Also, Shane Black is clever and knows it, so perhaps instead of calling it "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" they could have called it "Wink Wink Nod Nod". PS - I made that up - you can use it though.

Upon landing, I found a few messages from Jaguar: They were trying to pick up my car from the airport, but I wasn't there. Of course when I set up the pickup, I was clear: I will be on an airplane until 8:15. Have them come around 9pm. All of the messages were from 8pm, so I'm guessing we had a time zone problem with the pickup scheduling system. Fortunately they sent another truck out to get the car, and it was actually EARLY.

As I rode in a taxicab home, secure in the knowledge that people will be looking after my car, I got a call from the tow truck driver: They didn't want to let my car out of the garage without paying for parking. Also, they didn't let HIM out without paying for HIS parking either. You know, it sure seems like when a guy is getting his car towed, they could cut him a break at the parking lot, but no. They're on the lookout for those scammers - "DUDE, you should park at the airport, and then when you leave, just call a tow truck - you'll get off SCOT FREE". It was resolved with a bit of phone tag, but in the end: Ridiculous.

I got home and Zinsser was totally excited, as was Bella, who was up well past her bedtime waiting for me. We cuddled and she's off to sleep, and I'm just happy to be home.

I think that one night away is actually harder than 3 nights away (FOR ME) in that I'm on the move the whole time: With a multi-night stay, you kind of have a home base and can put your feet up. When you're in-and-out, it's much busier.