My last two weeks

The last two weeks for me have been quite a blur...  that's what happens when you are traveling like crazy and are juggling about 4 things simultaneously between work, career, social, travel, etc...  It's also meant that blogging time has come at a premium for me.  Since I had a (in my mind) a fairly interesting couple of weeks, I'd imagine that I'd log them.

The Monday prior to Memorial Day...  This was, prior to last Thursday, the last day that I've spent in the ATL.  I had planned my travel around the Memorial Day holiday to fly to Houston from Dallas to see family and friends (and get good Tex-Mex, also at a premium in Atlanta).  Somehow because of some strange reason, I had to go to the Atlanta (aka - John's Creek) office of Teradata to work.  Work went by, as work days do... a few conference calls, time to get deliverables knocked out, etc. etc.  Finishing up the day, I completed the evening by finding a really cool friend to watch my cat while I was gone and ended up using one of my Chili's gift cards to grab dinner and to talk about career stuff.

Tuesday, got up way too stinking early to fly to Dallas for a client engagement.  I got off very late to go to the airport, partly because of all of the busyness from having to drive to John's Creek and the fact that Sherlock (my cat) escaped the condo and I was able to get him back inside.  I got to the counter, with a bag I needed to check, 30 minutes before departure, and praise God that both me and my bags got to Dallas on the flight I originally booked :-).  

Wednesday and Thursday:  Now, when I planned this two weeks worth of activity, I had planned on being in Dallas with this one project team heads-down through Thursday and then fly back and go to Wild West to dance... well, plans change.  Tuesday evening, the lead consultant on an engagement that I've been slated for in Minneapolis called and told me that I should come up there for their Thursday strategy meeting... and being flexible I managed to shift some things around and get a flight to Minnesota for Wednesday night.  I didn't get into my hotel until after Midnight and had to transfer through Houston for the trip and planned to stay in the Twin Cities through Friday (sadly, missing Wild West :-( - cry a tear).  But, I did get a consolation prize and went out to Mall of America (ok - not much of a consolation prize) and did some mall walking (ok... I take that "consolation prize" talk back).  

Friday of Memorial Day Weekend:  Flew to Houston and spent the afternoon with my parents in the Rice Village area... taking a couple of conference calls for work while there.  You know, Houston is HOT... I mean in the heat sense... I walked out of the airport and felt the heat instantly as I got outside... the heat AND the humidity as a massive force striking my body like I was hitting a wall.  It's a feeling like no other and I imagine it's one reason why non-Houstonians talk poorly of H-Town.  HOTlanta is not as hot as Houston.  Later that evening, I hooked up with my brothers and went out to see the new Indiana Jones movie after a dinner at Chuy's.  Chuy's was as great as I remembered... Indy not so much.  It was an entertaining movie but didn't have the same pizzazzz as the previous films.  

Saturday of Memorial Day Weekend:  I stayed with my brother Chuck Friday night (and his two cats Timmy and Loci) and we went out late on Saturday morning to grab breakfast food at Buffalo Grille... another personal H-Town favorite of mine.  I had my fill of the cinnamon roast coffee :-) mmmmmmm..   Later I met up with my friend Brian and we went out to J.D.'s (former roommate) place to hang out and talk about what's been going on.  He's a diligent hard working Senior Accountant and is looking for a job... so both pray for him and pass any leads on to me.  We stayed over at his place for a while... and then Brian and I went back to Chuck's place when I realized that my "brilliant" (aka - cheap) plan of not renting a car and staying with Chuck was very limiting... so Chuck and I went down to my folks' place and the three of us (me, Jon, and Chuck) went out to see Prince Caspian in Lake Jackson... this IS a great movie... it was the second time I saw it and will probably buy the DVD when it comes out.  

Sunday:  I enjoyed sleeping in (thinking that FBC Houston would do church @ 6pm - they didn't :( ) and went up to Houston to go to the Astros-Phillies game at Minute Maid Park that afternoon.  Synopsis on the game:  Chris Sampson held his own through 5 innings and at the top of the 6th inning we were up 6-4 on Philly.  Then Cooper put in the bullpen and well, 2 innings and 11 runs later, Brian, John, and I were ready to leave the game with Philly owning a 15-6 advantage on the poor Stros whose bullpen couldn't have gotten a little league scrub out during those two innings.  Sad.  The one positive, for me, of the game was the slider burgers they were serving down on the 100 level of MMP in the grill stand (on the 3rd base side as you turn the corner toward the Crawford Boxes).  Those were .... goooooood. 

Later in the evening, Brian and I went out to BW3 (I still call Buffalo Wild Wings that) to watch the Spurs-Lakers game 3... the only one the Spurs won.  Oh yeah, I'm rooting for the Celtics in the Finals if you're curious.  

More to come... I think this blog is getting a little long :) - and there's more fun to be blogged.