Changing Seasons

With every passing year, I'm beginning to feel a little less indestructible. However, in this last year, I've been really feeling it. Until recently, I haven't really needed to follow the cold weather survival guide as closely as I have been during this season. It has been unseasonably cold in places where it really shouldn't be, and my knees and elbows now seem to have the permanent ability to predict precipitation and major shifts in temperature. I guess I could put together a "Stupid Human Tricks" segment for the Late Show or something. Anyhow, my joints ache. Better get an umbrella... See ya.

Time Distortion

It's been a strange month filled with many interesting trips. My time distortion theory was the topic of conversation today. I have this theory that time moves at a different rate of speed while we are in transit, kind of like relativistic time dilation. I maintain that I've aged in dog years while in transit for the last decade. I was never the type to age gracefully. I've been fighting it for many years, and I don't intend to give up now. See ya.

Life Or Something Like It

I actually do have a life outside work these days. I just rediscovered The Sims 2. It's amazing how much a simulation of life can be so addictive. Between that and my volunteer work, I haven't had much time to update all of my blogs. Yes, I do have more than one. Anyhow, I do have the day job, which is taking me to St. Louis tomorrow. So, I guess I had better cut this update short. See ya.

All Patriots Please Rise . . .

Once again, we celebrate our Constitution Day. As I mentioned in last year's column, we've come a long way in the last 218 years. During the turmoil of the last few months and years, we have been testing the principles on which our country was founded. It's been a wild ride, and despite the advent of terrorism and natural disasters, we are still strong.

Lately, I've finally gotten back to my roots by getting back into active volunteering. So, it's time for my soapbox. Got some extra time? Try doing some volunteer work. Within the last couple of months, I've been doing some volunteer work at libraries, museums, animal shelters, and children's shelters. The old adage holds true. You do get back a lot more than you give. There's never been a better time and a greater need, so get on out there!

Anyhow, Happy Constitution Day! Let freedom ring, and let the rantings continue! See ya.

An Order Of Chaos

I won't even pretend to understand chaos theory, but I'll make my crude analogy anyway. The events of the past several years have been really weird. It all started with a random meeting at a shopping center almost three thousand miles from home. If not for that meeting, I would not be involved in this strange dysfunctional family feud once again. I had thought I had left all of this behind a couple of years ago. I might not have moved again, if it weren't for that meeting. I do miss my old house, and I was pretty tired of moving around. Some good stuff came from that meeting, though. I did get to see my cousins for the first time in over two decades. We've had a couple of quick weekend reunions since then.

The big question remains... Was it worth it? I'm not really sure. I'm starting to get a bit set in my ways, and I'm starting to resist any form of change. Maybe this is what it's like to get old, and a bit inflexible. For now, the dysfunctional family feud rages on. Bring on the chaos!

See ya.

Back In Service

Since I'm no longer in hiding from the dysfunctional family, I decided to return to my community service roots. I've done a lot of projects in the past, but had to stop about five or six years ago when the dyfunctional family feud reached new highs (or lows, depending on your point of view).

I got a new assignment to lead a bunch of young volunteers at a museum once a month. I'm thinking of leading a library project once a month also. I've also been getting back into the mentoring programs. Now that I've started to curb the travel schedule, it's nice to be back on all of the projects again. I should have done this a long time ago.

It's back to basics once again, I suppose. I'm determined to get the storm of paperwork under control at the homefront. The scanner project has hit a bit of a snag, since the inbound paperwork seems to be outpacing my processing abilities. By the end of the year, I hope to see the bottom of my desk. Now that would be a major accomplishment. See ya.

Reunion

I spent the weekend in San Francisco at a family reunion of sorts. You see, I've been absent, or in hiding, for the last twenty-three years. I've got a really dysfunctional family that transcends several generations. You see, this was the first time that someone in my generation of the family got involved with the chaos created all those years ago. Since my cover was now blown, I decided that it was time to make contact with the family in San Francisco. For the first time since we were kids, I met up with most of my cousins, and filled them in with the events of the last two decades. The dysfunctional family secrets were now out to everyone in my generation.

Bottom line, I have part of my family back after all these years. Am I going to let the "adults" take over? Have I ever been one to sit on the sidelines when my life is at stake? Of course not. After putting our resources together, I think we can finally win this battle. The dysfunctional family feud rages onward. See ya.

Offensive Strategy

I've been told that people take advantage of my good nature, and I do realize it. For the most part, I really don't mind it. After all, my life has really been about helping people. That's why I chose to work in healthcare in the first place. There have been certain times that I've actually found the need to fight back against the evils of the world. I had a horrible boss in my last company. He took advantage of my good nature, and was sinister and manipulative. I think I have already mentioned that hell would have to freeze over, thaw out, and then freeze over again before I even considered the thought of working there ever again.

For the last couple of decades, I've had the same kind of drama going on in what's left of my dysfunctional family. However, it's kind of gotten interesting. I was in hiding from my crazy family for a really long time. Well, my cover has been blown, and I've been found, so I guess it's only right to rejoin the drama. A decade ago, I didn't have a way to fight against the evils within my family. You'd think I would be satisfied with the fact that the two people that have caused the most problems in my life are already dead. But, even though they are dead, I'm not ready for closure. If I actually listened to common sense, I would go back into hiding. But I've had enough of that over the past several years. It's back to the fight, and I intend to win this time. See ya.

Things To Come

It's been a hectic week at home. Travel and the day job seem to be getting in the way of everything these days. But I digress. I've been burning the candle at both ends for way too long, and I've really been putting my needs so far down on the list that I think they fell into the aforementioned well in the middle of the tunnel with the light at the end from my last post.

I've often considered shutting down my web site permanently, but I just don't think it's quite time just yet. I started that web site as a way to get vent about all of the pesky little problems that arise when you travel on the job. I still travel for work, though perhaps not quite as much as I used to. I'm thinking that I've finally outgrown the need or desire to be out on the playing field.

I'm a lot more tired than I used to be also. Granted, I've been living a nightmare for the last couple of weeks with some of the stuff going on at home. I'm not doing well right now, but I'll get over it eventually. My young friend James reminded me that age truly is a state of mind. I realize that I'm not eighteen any more, but I'm not dead yet either. I seem to rambling on and on a bit longer than I usually do. So I guess I should go to bed. See ya.

Darkness Falls . . . Down A Well

Someone once told me they felt like they are close to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. That's a really nice colloquialism. If I may be so bold, I feel the same way -- almost. The only difference is that I'm stuck at the bottom of a hole in the middle of the tunnel in which you might be able to see the light at the end. I'm still slightly overworked, which I really don't mind. Ever since I returned from vacation, I can't help but feel like I'm missing something or maybe I just feel out of place.

I briefly lost my domain name, and got it back a few days ago. It's nice to be back, not that anyone ever reads this stuff. I haven't been able to shake this ominous feeling for the last several weeks. Maybe it's nothing, but I'm not usually wrong about this sort of thing. Only time will tell. See ya.

Slammed Into The Wall

I think I've been working a bit too hard lately. Falling back into my old patterns, I've known that it was time to slow down for quite a while. This time, though, something is different. I've finally recognized that I have limitations. Who would have ever guessed? Everything finally slammed me against the wall today when I finally gave up at the office. Don't get me wrong. I still like the job, the people, and just about everything else. I just feel a bit overworked at the moment, due to the fact that we're kind of in transition. I'm finding that I'm looking forward to the weekend a lot more, as of late. That's another new experience for me. See ya.

Back To Basics, Once Again

I've decided that it's time to go back to basics. I was reading through my rantings over the past few years. I think I identified that I was falling into a workaholic pattern, and it spiraled out of control due to other factors in my life. I made several changes since then, but I never really filled in all of the spaces until this past month. I had a great vacation, caught up with friends and family, and got back into community volunteer and mentoring work once again. I just spent some time on an outreach project today at the local children's center. That part of my life has been missing for way too many years. I've also started catching up with my blogging again, which has been kind of nice.

I think it's about time I started to got back to some of my original projects. I'm working on organizing this mess that I call my office. I used to be kind of clever with some of these titles. I think Stuck In The Seventies and its sequel had pretty good titles. I started scanning a bunch of documents and throwing away old paperwork. I never really got out of 1978 in that project. The pack rat in me really couldn't part with a lot of this stuff. I do have a goal, though. When I finish this massive cleanup, I will start using my office to work from home every now and then. I think it's about time. See ya.

Jury Duty

I survived an episode of jury duty without getting called. The boredom of the waiting room almost killed me. It was an interesting process, though. We started at an awful hour of the morning with a brief orientation, and the waiting started. Several waves of people were assigned to rooms, but they kept passing me by. I guess they just didn't feel like picking my name today. I don't know if it was a good thing or a bad thing that I had access to my work e-mail in the waiting room. I did get some of the more urgent stuff done, but there's still a mountain of work waiting for me at the office in the morning. It's going to be kind of nice to actually get back to the office once again. See ya.

Reality Takes A Vacation

I just took a vacation, and spent a whole week without calling into the office, checking e-mail or voice mail, or even wanting to go back to work. Highly unusual for a person like me, to be sure. Anyhow, I just spent a short time in Hawaii for a quick family reunion. This has been my second trip into Honolulu this year, and I think there may be one more trip later this year. After that, I spent some time with my young friend James. We went to see the new Star Wars movie, played some video games, went shopping, and ate a whole lot of junk food. I'm sad to see the vacation winding down. The harsh reality came yesterday, when the office called me on my emergency personal phone. This time, though, I'm not going back until Monday morning. Change is good. See ya.

Senseless

It's been one of those months. I did manage to get back into the field, with a vengeance I might add. However, in my travels, I managed to catch some sort of virus that made me lose my hearing for about a week. The hearing is slowly coming back to me at this writing. However, it's been a challenge to keep up with the normal pace of my life with this little problem. In addition to life's little problems, I think I've really started to feel that I've finally hit the wall. Literally. You see, when you keep this pace up for years on end, there is some sort of built-in conditioning that allows you to abuse your own body by bopping back and forth across the country. I've learned the hard way that the zip that I once possessed is no longer good enough to keep my endurance going throughout the same length of time as before. I've always known that age would catch up with me sooner or later. However, I'm not ready to give up yet. I think I still have a few more good days left in me. Until then, I'll still be here, and the rantings will continue. See ya.

Back To Reality

When I started traveling, life was a lot different, as every day became an adventure in scheduling. Between airplanes, traffic patterns, missed connections, and other logistical nightmares, it was an adventure just getting from point to point. Now that I've been on the ground for over a month, I'm starting to slide back into the normal routine of daily office life. I think I've just traded in one logistical mess for another. With all of the corporate meetings, and other strange office problems, I kind of miss the craziness of business travel. I'm solving that problem next week, when I get myself back on the road once again. See ya.

Life Is Like A Box Of Donuts

Today, I spent some time with my friend James. We went mall hopping in Los Angeles, and I introduced him to the concept of peanut butter in a donut courtesy of Stan's Donuts in Westwood. It's been kind of nice for the last few weekends to be able to spend some time with my friends. I never seem to have that opportunity too much. Everyone seems to always be either out of town or busy. When everyone else is free, I seem to be out of town.

I finally realized that I've been missing out on life on the ground for the last few years. My travel schedule usually keeps me out of touch with just about everyone out there. For the last month, I guess I've been overcompensating. Part of me actually likes the lack of travel. Though, another part of me is itching to get back onto the playing field once again.

Maybe it's time for me to start making a few adjustments to my schedule. After all, life is too short to be traveling all the time. See ya.

The Road Less Traveled

You know, when I spend more time at home, I think I seem to have less time to do these little updates. Anyhow, I did spend the majority of the month at home in San Diego. To prevent from going stir crazy, I popped up to the Los Angeles area to do my taxes and to visit a few friends. I saw Jon and Lulu a couple of weeks ago, and then James and I went to the movies this past weekend. Remaining on the homefront seems to be the road less traveled for me. I just can't seem to stand still these days. See ya.

Slowing Down

I've reverted back to my normal schedule for now. But then again, what does constitute a normal schedule? I've gotten back to my 40-hour work week for this one week out of the year. But, I guess with all of the travel, I sort of got used to putting in a 75-80 hour work week. I could get used to this reduced work schedule. But how would I fill the hours otherwise? After a decade of conditioning to work in excess, it's not that easy to throttle back.

Happy Birthday, James! I didn't forget. See ya.

The Ranting Continues

I'm celebrating three years of ranting about my misadventures in travel this week. I guess you can read the main page of my website for the latest rants about my travels. In any event, it's been kind of nice to share these sometimes strange adventures with my readers out there -- all three of you. See ya.

Reunion

I drew tradeshow duty once again. For the first time in many years, I attended HIMSS under the guise of a new company. It was a reunion of sorts for me, as I saw several people that I only see once a year at the show. I think these trade shows are more for the vendors rather than the attendees. There were many people looking for jobs, trying to form strategic partnerships, or like me, trying to catch up on old times. I know I missed quite a few people while on my rounds at the show, so I guess I'll catch up with the rest of you next year. See ya.

Vacation

While on a brief vacation, I was catatonic in front of the television, and saw this weird commercial about taking a vacation. Until recently, I never really took vacations too often. I've found that I've never been good at planning recreational time. I took a couple of days in Las Vegas and Honolulu recently. I think the travel that I do for a living really diminishes the excitement of traveling for a vacation. By the way, the "I want my vacation" advertisement that seems to be running nationally is sponsored by Universal Studios in Orlando. IMHO, these ads are starting to get a bit too abstract. It's back to work for me. See ya.

Back To Work

It's time to get back to work. I feel like I never really left, since I was in the office for the greater part of last week anyway. I've got an action-packed day tomorrow. It's a brief office day in the morning, followed by a gig as a technical instructor in the afternoon, and then a quick flight to Portland in the evening. I'm thinking of taking a few days off in January. Maybe I'll finally get to drop in on my friends in Hawaii for a couple of days. We'll see what happens. See ya.