Sheep Guarding Llama

I woke up this morning at six forty five, fifteen minutes before my wake up call was scheduled, and so I decided to just get up and get moving.  No use laying in bed for fifteen minutes – always work that could be done.  So I got up and called down to turn off my wake up call, but the wake up call system said that no wake up call was scheduled for me!  That would have been very annoying.  I could easily have slept in until eight or nine as my body is off by an hour.  Close call on that one.  That would have made for a rough morning.

I got up, showered, worked a little and then packed up the hotel room and got down to breakfast.  I just did fruit and yoghurt again today.  I’m being very healthy on this trip.  Everyone else had neglected to pack up their rooms and to bring all of their stuff down with them so I was way ahead on being ready today.  Not a usual situation for me.

We were running a little late getting over to the class today.  There is not that much to cover, though, and we are looking at a rather relaxed day – both in the class and for me back at the office where things are not as crazy today as they were yesterday.

Today’s class went well too.  It was both fun and educational.  I do wish that I had the option not to work during the class but that can’t really be helped and it does help to keep me very busy.  Otherwise it might be too slow and I might begin to drift off or something.

Class wrapped up early but there was really nowhere else to go so Curtis and I just headed back to the airport.  We had to drop off the rental car anyway, but that only takes a few minutes.  We got that dropped off, took the shuttle to the airport and went our separate ways – him to Southwest and me to American.

I was very, very early getting to the airport for my flight.  Well over two hours to kill.  I got through security quite quickly.  This was the first time that I got to see the new TSA “naked” scanners in place.  RDU has the 1mm wave scanner – the one that uses microwave instead of x-ray to look through your clothing.  I offered to get in it for them but they were not inclined to subject anyone to me being naked.

One of the TSA agents complained about the lack of security going on around the new scanners that TSA management is now pressuring the agents to separate people from their luggage and belongings – a security precaution considered pretty basic up until now.  So the scanning situation is dramatically reducing security and providing a system for smuggling things through TSA’s screening process that did not exist previously.  So now it takes longer, violates basic decency and puts us at more danger than before.  Thanks TSA, no safety for Americans nor convenience.

I found a brew pub in the airport and had a few beers and a fish and chips, the crappy frozen kind, while I waited.  I met an MD from Sydney, Australia who now lived in Atlanta and makes EMR software for small doctors’ offices.  We chatted for a while having many things to discuss.  It is amazing how many people you meet in airports.

I went to the gate a bit early.  It turned out to be quite early as the flight ended up being delayed a few times and I just got stuck waiting for about an hour before we got the chance to board the flight.

The flight itself was pretty smooth.  Nothing really to report.  The flight was not completely packed and I got to sit in my usual isle seat (I prefer having a window but will watch out the window the whole time and have a crook in my neck by the time that we land so I opt for the more pedestrian isle seat) and the middle seat next to me was empty.  The window in my row was taken by a guy from south of Tyler, Texas who had just been in Buffalo recently so we talked for probably about an hour.

I worked on my laptop for a bit on the plane and rested for a while listening to my book “The Essential Lewis and Clark.”

We arrived in Dallas just a little late.  Dominica, dad and Liesl picked me up.  Liesl was very excited and pointed to me out of the window when she saw me come up alongside of the BMW.

We went home and still had quite a while to visit as it was only around eight or nine when I landed at DFW.  Go westward is so convenient.

Tomorrow morning dad is flying back to New York mid-morning.  So I am going to work from home for just a little bit until it is time to take him to the airport.

The wake up call came in a six forty fix, eastern standard.  I was pretty sleepy and it took me a minute to remember where I was which is not at all normal for me.  I do not sleep that way generally and almost always awaken completely alert and aware of where I am and what time it is and what is going on in general.  Maybe it was waking to a phone call from a pretty deep sleep.

I had given myself plenty of time to get moving this morning and get down to breakfast.  I was down to meet with everyone at seven forty five.  We had about forty five minutes to eat our breakfast.  I decided to go healthy today and just do a plate full of fruit and a little yogurt along with my usual coffee.

We car pooled over to the Mi-Co offices for training, which is a good thing since I don’t have a car of my own up here. We got in around nine and got a start on the day.

I am all set up in the training room to be online all day.  I have a super busy day at the office so I am going to be going nuts trying to keep up and pay attention in class whenever possible.  Fortunately there is very little, if anything, that is actually meant for me in the class today.  I am just here for general informational stuff.

The day actually went pretty smoothly.  Insanely busy, but smoothly.  It was actually pretty decently easy to get a lot of work done today as lunch was catered (Pizza Hut) at the training session so I didn’t even have to deal with going anywhere for food which was very efficient.  Being on eastern time is nice for matching up with the office too.  Normally we live on central but work on eastern.

After training was over we headed back to the DoubleTree and hung out in the lounge for a few hours.  I had my laptop the whole time so I was able to work all evening.  It was an extremely productive evening.  Having so many people in one place worked out really well.  Lots of time to get discussions in and to get to know people.

I got back to the hotel room pretty early.  Sometime between seven and eight.  It seemed like a late night out but really was not at all.  I must be just really tired from the flight and time shift.  That always throws me off a bit.  It doesn’t make me exhausted, just disorients me a tad.

I worked from the hotel all evening.  The DoubleTree, at least this one, is an excellent place for hotel work.  The setup of the suite is excellent and very comfortable.  Having a full office area, lounge area and sleeping quarters is very nice.

I ended up working around around one in the morning, which is only midnight back home.  Just hard to get myself to go to sleep much earlier than that, especially when there is so much needing to be done.

Went to work this morning.  Nothing much to report there.  My days are not highly interesting to outsiders.  Work is mostly just work.

After work, the family picked me up, right at five on the dot, and we drove to DFW so that I could catch my flight.  There are new TSA screening practices that have started in the last few days and we don’t know if it will take extra time to get through security or not and DFW is always a massive hassle for getting to the right terminal even if it tends to work pretty smoothly once you arrive.

Getting to the terminal was so stressful and difficult that Dominica and I switched drivers in the airport so that I could drive to the final terminal.  Even though DFW finally put up some sort of signage, the existing signs are still wrong, missing critical information or confusing plus the way that the loops work and the lanes change is very frustrating.

Once I got into the airport and checked in for my flight I was through security in no time.  In was only about ten minutes from curb to gate.  I got in and had almost two hours to kill.  So I found a restaurant where I could camp out and kill some time.  Pappadeaux at the DFW airport is a full restaurant down in the basement in what used to be the train station (no idea why the train no longer goes there – that would be incredibly handy!)

I had a crawfish po’boy, it was very good (and big.)  It was nice having a real place to kill some time.  Airports can be pretty boring.

My flight out was delayed by about half an hour due to mechanical problems.  That’s never what you want to hear.  The pilot overslept sounds so much better.

It was after eight when finally got to board our American Airlines Boeing 737 Super 80 (they dropped the 737 and just went to Super 80 at some point to make it sounds newer than it is.)  The flight went pretty smoothly.  Just over two hours.

It was just after eleven when we landed at RFU, Raleigh-Durham, in North Carolina.  This is my first time to RFU since we did an emergency landing here en route from Orlando to Rochester, also on American Airlines, when we thought that dad had had a heart attack nearly twenty years ago.

I didn’t check any baggage, I just have my CPAP and laptop backpack, so I was out of the airport in minutes.  Curtis picked me up and drove me over to the hotel.  I’m staying at the Double Tree, which I have never stayed in before.  They give you a warm chocolate chip cookie when you check in which is awesome.  I’d use them a lot more often if I had known about the cookies!

I have an awesome suite.  A full two rooms with a livingroom and office area that is huge plus a full bedroom with doors separating them.

It was straight off to bed for me after checking my mail and stuff.  Need to be up pretty early tomorrow morning, at six forty five, so I need some sleep.  I am shifting over from central time so that is five forty five to my internal clock which is a bit earlier than I wake up on my own.

Dad came over this morning.  We had a pretty light morning with everyone sleeping in as much as possible and just lounging about at the apartment.  Liesl is so excited to have dad arriving here every morning.  This is a special treat for her.

Maggie came over mid-morning to meet up with dad as they have talked a bit but have never actually met.  We hung out at the house for a little bit then we all went to IHOP for lunch.

This afternoon we had to make sure that I was all ready as I am traveling tomorrow after work and don’t have time to come home after work.  It is going to be a very busy week.

Liesl got a lot of time with pa-pa this afternoon.  Liesl loves getting dedicated time with him in her room playing with her toys.  She is loving having her room back as well.  She really likes having her own space with her own sofa and chair and television and large play space where she can spread out her toys and take up as much room as she wants.  She has been sleeping far better now too that she has her own bed back again.

Luckily this weekend is almost completely free from office worries, which is an amazing change, so I am able to spend time hanging out with dad while he is here in the DFW.  We slept in a little this morning then I drove over to dad’s hotel to pick him up and bring him back over to the apartment.

For lunch we went out to Waffle House again – dad’s choice.  Apparently Waffle House met with his liking.  I knew that he would love southern breakfast cooking.

This afternoon we just hung out and visited at the apartment.  Lots of grandpa (pa-pa) and Liesl time.  They have been having a great time getting to hang out with each other.  Liesl is loving having her pa-pa here.  She makes him go into her room and sit on the couch for hours.  She loves saying “sit!” and pointing to where she wants you to sit.  Then she brings toys or whatever to you.

For dinner this evening we took dad back to La Cima.  Dominica and I had our monthly meals to use so we thought that we should use them tonight as we have no idea when we will use them otherwise.  It was a very nice dinner and a beautiful night to be up in the tower.