Hectic, Hectic

Now, you are all going to have to bear with me here while I find my blog footing. I've heard through the grapevine that some of you are worried about me when I don't have time to blog, so here are some things to consider before becoming so uptight about my location:

1) I have a completely demanding schedule that has me flying many (if not every) night per 6-day week. Often times, I'm skipping time zones and changing my internal clock to reflect local time which doesn't give me many moments to kick back and blog. (I need sleep, too!)

2) Although many hotels do have internet, some only have DSL (which means you need a cord, most of which are in the rooms, so when I'm at the registration table with nothing to do, I often don't have access to the internet) and some require daily payments of $9.99 or more! I can't expense it if it's not exclusively for work, so I don't even try.

3) When I do get a chance to get free wireless internet (thank you Holiday Inn!) after scenarios 1 and 2 have been cleared, I usually like to check my email first, which has me reading anywhere from 25-40 emails each sitting. Then, after reading, I try to respond to people, but it's hard for me when I typically only have increments of less than an hour to even be on the internet (because of job duties or tiredness). Plus, I want to check my bank statements, get directions for my next destination, and check various other websites that I haven't gotten to view in the last few weeks. It's hard to keep up with things I would normally do during the week, like balancing my checkbook or paying bills!

4) Finally, realize that I am still new at this job and it's going to take me some time to get used to the hours, the responsibilities, the flexibility, and the limits of what I can and can't feasibly do. Know what I mean?

Now, I'll brief you all a bit on what's been going on in the last week and a half...

After leaving Fishkill, we went to White Plains, NY (about an hour north of NYC). That was all fine and good -- quite the good-looking staff at our hotel and I ate like a queen in the restaurant. Delish! I flew back to Seattle that Friday night and got delayed, so I ended up getting home around 1:30am and crashing. I tried to sleep on the plane, but these two hunting goof balls sat next to me and chatted me up for 1/2 the flight. It's interesting the people I meet on the road (see previous post).

The weekend in Seattle was good, but it went hella FAST. Luckily, I had a late flight out to Calgary, Canada on Sunday, so I got to sleep in and walk Greenlake and do normal Sunday things. It was quite nice.

My last week was as such: Calgary, Edmonton (both in Alberta, Canada), Seattle, Portland, and Oakland, California. Interesting moments: To the amusement of other passengers, I worked out in the Edmonton airport (a first for me); I got a little sick last week and presently have a cold sore on my chin (BOO); a colleague and I went out for Halloween in Portland which was a blast (sometimes, people will have "same cities" which means that 2 managers are in the same city and can - of course - see each other); I walked around Portland's beautiful Riverwalk the following day and discovered how gorgeous the city is, especially when the sun in shining and the breeze is cool!

Then, I had my friend Sarah pick me up in south Oakland and we spent the weekend at her new townhouse in Palo Alto. It was so much fun! I had a wonderful weekend of laughter, good food (homemade stir fry, Whole Foods sushi, AMAZING coffee cake), great company, and some unexpected tailgating thrown in there. I'll explain: on Friday night, I was talking to a colleague and we discovered that we were both going to be in Palo Alto that weekend. The UW Huskies were playing Stanford, so he picked me up and we all (his friends were in tow) went tailgating. Super fun! We found ourselves dancing crazily to the UW band and drinking some much-deserved Miller Light in celebration of the Huskies and beautiful California weather.

Finally, today, I had some travel troubles when our plane in San Jose was experiencing some technical difficulties. I had to shuttle it up to San Francisco and fly out later than expected - which meant that I didn't get into NYC until way later. Boo. Plus, I had another 60 mile ride to my hotel on Long Island. Boo. But, I'm here now and I'm happy and I'm tired. Even after Daylight Savings and sleeping on the plane. Go figure.

This week is as follows: Long Island, NY; Norfolk, VA; Richmond, VA; Roanoke, VA. Friday, we have a meeting and a long weekend due to Veteran's Day. I don't fly to Boston until Monday! :) Then, I am in Chicago and Wisconsin next week -- and home next weekend! I'm pumped...it's been 3 months since I've been home.

Also, I received my schedule for January through March and some of you would like to do some weekend trips. I'm going to post my schedule on here and then also email it out so that those of you who'd like to meet me somewhere can look and figure out what you want to do. Unfortunately, I have to get my requests in by Wednesday morning at 8am, so I need your weekend requests by Tuesday afternoon at the latest. I'll list where I start on Monday and where I end on Friday to spark some idea of where we could go...I am on the East Coast a lot, so ideally, I'd like to stay there if possible. I'll also list what I'm thinking of doing for those weekends or if I'm free. Here goes:

Sun, Jan 6 - Sioux Falls, SD
Week: Denver, CO; Grand Junction, CO; Phoenix, AZ
Fri, Jan 11 - Albuquerque, NM
(Seattle for weekend)

Sun, Jan 13 - Allentown, PA
Week: Cherry Hill, NJ; Long Island, NY; Cincinnati, OH
Fri, Jan 18 - Fort Wayne, IN
(Las Vegas, NV with coworkers for weekend)

Mon, Jan 21 - Long Island, NY
Week: Cherry Hill, NY; Providence, RI
Fri, Jan 25 - Hartford, CT
(Seattle for weekend)

Sun, Jan 27 - Nashville, TN
Week: Birmingham, AL; Atlanta, GA; Richmond, VA
Fri, Feb 1 - Roanoke, VA
(DC? NYC? Philly? for the weekend)

Sun, Feb 3 - Hartford, CT
Week: Newark, NJ; New Brunswick, NJ; Atlantic City, NJ
Fri, Feb 8 - Cherry Hill, NJ
(Savannah, GA with coworkers for weekend)

Sun, Feb 10 - Champaign, IL
Week: Indianapolis, IN; Chicago South, IL
Thu, Feb 14 - Chicago North, IL
(Seattle for weekend and week-long break)

Sun, Feb 24 - Albany, NY
Week: Boston, MA; Minneapolis, MN; Madison, WI
Fri, Feb 29 - Milwaukee, WI
(Milwaukee? Sacramento? for weekend)

Sun, Mar 2 - Manchester, NH
Week: Boston, MA; Providence, RI; Newark, NJ
Fri, Mar 7 - Pittsburgh, PA
(Nashville, TN with coworkers for weekend)

Sun, Mar 9 - Richmond, VA
Week: Nashville, TN; St Louis, MO; Kansas City, MO
Fri, Mar 14 - Minneapolis, MN
(Minneapolis, MN for weekend and part of week-long break)

Mon, Mar 24 - Allentown, PA
Week: Philadelphia, PA; Atlanta, GA
Fri, Mar 28 - Birmingham, AL

Phew. There's not many weekends I have available, but I thought I'd at least throw my schedule out there so that y'all know what it looks like. I'll put the rest of my 2007 schedule up tomorrow so you know where I'll be at!

Love from Long Island...