Living on the Road

When opportunities come around for grabbing solid paying consulting work, I feel I have to take advantage of them. Even when it means living on the road and having little to no time to take a breath, let alone take care of my myriad administrative duties as a small business entrepreneur of sorts.

The weekend seemed to be short to the degree of barely existing. Saturday was about 70% planned, and of course Sunday afternoon meant another flight. So I was able to barely squeeze in the most vital of paperwork in the gaps of a short and busy weekend.

I have to admit to being a bit grumpy this weekend. The commodity I value highly but seem to suffer a lack of lately is sleep. Chris' Saturday evening basketball game, where several unfortunate factors led to his team losing a game they had well in hand in the fourth quarter, made a contribution to my foul mood.

As did getting pulled over for expired license plates. And being unable to squeeze in any time to try figuring out how to recover from losing my office in the Christmas fire at the United Way building. Even experiencing the bizarre disappearance of my socks from the laundry added to my pain.

Then there was the Sunday trip. TSA must not have planned on the number of travelers they would be screening this afternoon, because the lines were long and slow. Then a gray-haired executive type, who happened to show up across from me on my flight, tried to cut the line. I was pleased to see the deft maneuvering of the guy he tried to cut in front of, who managed to position himself in such a way as to deny the jerk his sought-after spot without overtly seeming to be confrontational.

Finally, the woman that sat next to me had to lather up with an extra-pungent hand lotion as we were making our approach. I was only just able to avoid unloading my mostly-digested breakfast into her lap. Seriously, do these people have any clue whatsoever that somebody might not appreciate their fragrant lotions and perfumes? I suspect they might, but simply don't care.

Oh yeah, and the hotel's wi-fi is down. So I just finished emailing my weekend reports using the hotel's "Business Center", which is a wired connection.

A week here in one of the nation's coldest places, then a week back down south, then finally I will get a Monday & Tuesday at home (but with at least a week's worth of work to try to fit into those days).

Yeah, I'm a bit grumpy.