TGIF

Trip to Fla was FROM HELL -- I am a firm believer that Southwest Airlines really is the best in the business. I fly them all the time, and when I go another airline, I always regret it. This time around, I had to fly Continental to Talahassee. I didn't really have any other choice. I should have known that the trip would suck when I couldn't find a parking place at IAH. Once I finally found one, I found out that the flight was overbooked -- and I didn't have a seat. Lucky for me flights were delayed an hour plus, and a family missed their connection. Left a seat open for me.

Once we got to Florida, though, we found out that Tony (my traveling partner on this trip) made it, but his bags didn't. When we went to the Continental counter, with about half a dozen other folks in the same spot, we were greeted by NO ONE. We couldn't find anyone from Continental -- at all. Finally some generic uniformed airport folks took some info, but Tony ended up having to do our sales call / demo in day-old jeans and shirt.

There were other sucky moments on the trip, but that's over. I got in late last night, and I've already made it known: if we get this gig, count me out! Get someone else to work it!!

I had to go to the office early this morning (8:30) to interview another newbie for a staff postion. Other than that, it's been a pretty even day -- just trying to get the server / performance issues resolved at FSMB. Looks like we're no closer to finding out why it's so slow than we were this time last week. I am starting to get pissed off.

In a couple of hours, though, all that won't matter for a few days -- That's right, it's off to the beach. Find me between the palms next to the sunset. Sipping a beverage. Playing with the boys. Thank God it's Friday!

To Tulsa and Back

Full travel schedule this week, kicked off with a day trip to Tulsa. Met with the IT managers and director at Samson about documenting their IT controls, policies and procedures. I needed to get a feel for where they are in terms of documentation so that we know how big of an effort it will be to bring them up to speed. Seems to be a fair 4 - 6 weeks of work.

Got up at 5 for a normal 6:30 flight to Tulsa. Meetings started around 9 and we were finished by noon. I was able to jump on an earlier flight home, direct, and got back in time to have a 4:30 con call from the house. Missed lunch, but caught it once I got back to Houston (just McDonald's Happy Meal).

Had a good chance to play around with the boys for a bit tonight, which was nice. Porter still wants to be called Spider-Man and was once again wearing his costume / PJs. He cracks me up!

Weekend at the beach

Back at home from a great weekend at the beach. Got down there on Friday afternoon about 6. Katie and the boys went down early and had been playing for a while. They even put the crab traps out. That night we fried chicken and eased into the slow lane for the weekend.

Saturday we got up relatively early -- sun coming through the windows makes that happen -- and headed out to the surf. This was the first weekend that the boys actually played in the waves. It was much more calm than normal, and they just had a blast running out into the little waves -- jumping, splashing -- they loved it! I made sure to tell them that they shouldn't go any deeper than their knee, or they might get out too far.

Saturday morning Katie and the boys checked the traps and we already had 8 crabs. By that afternoon, we had 8 more, and we boiled them up that evening to bring home for crab cakes. I fried fish and shrimp Saturday night for Katie and I.

I had intended to stay up a little late to watch Sat. Night Live, but the power to the whole complex went out at about 10:45 -- I called the office after-hours number and they were already on it. I ended up going to bed pretty much right after that, and it was already getting to be hot inside. A few hours later (I guess) the power came back on, and the fan pointed at Porter and I in the king bed was very welcome.

Boys got up early again this morning and we all had a good breakfast -- Katie made bacon and eggs (mmmm). Played a lot on the beach and with a remote-control car that they have down there. Lots of guys were out fishing, and one of them gave the boys each a speckled trout. I cleaned them up and brought them home. By around 2ish, we were ready to head home -- not really, but we had to, regardless. Katie and the kids took off and I cleaned up a bit. By the time I got home, it was pouring down rain -- big difference from down there! Fish and crab cakes were great tonight -- can't wait to head back down next weekend...

Getting the project rolling

I'm in Dallas most of the week this week (M-Th) getting all the parts of the project kicked off and on track for the Requirements phase. I have basically organized the work into 7 tactical areas of delivery, and created coresponding teams to be responsible for each. Late last week and this week I'm spending most of my time getting everyone level-set as to what the overall goals are for each section, and getting them started working.

We're going to host a happy hour to bring the extended team (us and client staff) together socially for a few hours -- call it team-building. That's tomorrow afternoon. I'm going to get something pulled together at the On The Border just up the road.

For now, I'm still staying at the hotel in Las Colinas -- not terrible, but just another hotel in just another part of town.

Think I'll head into our office this afternoon to catch up on what's going on out there. I need to get with Craig (our PR guy) to put together a pitch for a paper / presentation I'm giving with Jeff in November in Phoenix. Also need to help him with some stuff for the SBTI.com website.

Brothers' Day 2004

We had a fantastic Brothers' Day yesterday -- just a I had hoped! We spent the day letting Jackson and Poter do anything they wanted, making sure that they had every opportunity to enjoy things together -- as best friends -- and share very happy times. Of course it should be that way EVERY day, but starting last year Katie and I decided we'd put aside one special day in July each year to let the boys celebrate each other --

This year we did the Ringling Bros, Barnum & Bailey Circus, then dinner at Taqueria la Tapitia. The boys got up a little early, and Katie took them to get bagels for breakfast. We headed over to the circus about 90 min early so we could go to the animal open house, and see the up-close activities down in the 3-ring area. There were lots of clowns and dancers and they brought out elephants & horses.

When we got there, there were a whole lot of people and the minute we walked into the arena, Jackson just stopped and I could see him shaking a little bit -- "I'm scared," he said. Big crowds bother him. I told him I'd be right there, and that we'd try to get away from the biggest parts of the crowd. He did wonderful. Porter, of course, loves all the activity -- crowds or no crowds!

We had real close seats for the show, so it was a real treat to the boys. They could see everything right up next to them, and I could tell that made it extra special. Jackson laughed like he hadn't laughed in months -- and Porter watched every minute, happy as could be. The boys got cotton candy, a big funny hat, a program (they love reading it the rest of the year), a light-up clown nose, a twirly light toy for Porter and an elephant stuffed-animal (named Asia) for Jackson.

In the afternoon, we all took a bit of a nap -- a well needed rest. When we got up, we went over to the comic book shop to get a few new Spider-man comics (they didn't have the new special series Identity Crisis or Batman ones for me). Then we went over to the Taqueria. The boys were wonderful during dinner, even though it had clearly been a long day.

When we got home, I read their 2 comics to them, then they watched a cartoon before bed. Katie and I capped off the day by watching 'Secret Window' on DVD, then off to bed.

It was a really good day. One of the best. As long as I can, I'll make sure Brothers' Day is a day just for Jackson and Porter. I think I love it as much as they do.

Tingly all over

Well, not really all over, but just in my hand -- mainly my left index finger. I think I pinched a nerve sleeping on the blow up bed at Mom's. I woke up on Sunday night plenty of times with a numb arm, and starting last Tuesday or so, the fingers started going numb. Pain in the shoulder, too.

I really hate the feeling -- it's bad enough that I'm taking as much Advil as I can stand, which helps a bit. Makes it odd to type, and very hard to play guitar.

Hope it goes away soon. If not, I may head to the doctor. Hope it's not something other than a pinched nerve -- if it's something like carpel tunnel, that would really suck.

Free play day

Kyle is spending some time with Carolyn while Tim / Christina are out of town, and since Carolyn had a workshop today, he spent time with Katie and the boys. She took them to the Fan Fun Fest downtown for the MLB All-Star Game. From the sounds of it, they really had a good time -- and Katie really had her hands full!

That meant a Free Day for me -- basically time to do lots of little piddly things that I've been needing / wanting to do. Here's the run-down:

-Haircut
-CompUSA for a laptop mouse
-Guitar Center to research Strats and Guild Acoustics
-Ming's for lunch
-Academy for exercise shoes, etc.
-Watch Astros lose to LA

I also made red beans and rice for us for dinner.

The house painters were supposed to finish today, but looks like they will have to finish up on Monday -- they ran out of white paint for the trim.

I love technology!

So I'm sitting here in the Dallas airport (Love) waiting for my 7:30 flight home; drinking a cold, crisp beer; wirelessly surfing the net, and updating my website -- How cool is that!?!

Long day on the road today -- woke up in Dallas, flew to Tulsa for a few meetings, then back home (with a stop over in Dallas). Looks like leftover pizza for dinner -- not a bad option. Got the boys a few new lovies (buffalo and another horse 'seabiscuit' that Jackson had asked for).

P2 finally got signed today --- WHOOO!! Now I'm set until the holidays with the project -- glad to have that squared away.

I'm looking forward to spending time working from home tomorrow -- it will be good to be home!

Idle Time

Things are slow this week at the project since we're all waiting for the phase 2 statement of work to get signed. Hopefully that happens today or tomorrow, but at the least, client says it should be signed by end of week. That will be key to us being productive next week. Im thinking that this week is blown -- just hang around and provide whatever nominal support is needed, but otherwise work on internal stuff.

I'm in Dallas one more night, then off to Tulsa tomorrow morning for a meeting at Samson -- a pipeline company, I think -- to talk about IT controls. I've got a pretty good set of IT controls and best practices that we can use to put together a IT Governance Program, and they're interested in seeing what we can do to help them out.

Last night Ian, SK and I mainly hung around the hotel -- we're staying at a new place, the Wingate in Las Colinas / Irving area. It's a lot closer to the office than the one in Addison, but I like the Addison area better, at least from what I've seen. Ian and I are looking into getting a corporate apartment, though -- that would be a ton better than different hotel rooms every week. I could leave some books and a guitar there so that life on the road wouldn't be as bad. We could cook and have drinks in the fridge too -- I hate not having DCokes, beer and milk around whenever I want!! Cost would be about the same as hotels...

I didn't get out for dinner last night -- ordered chinese instead. Think I'm going to try to get out for a quick bite tonight, though.

Blow-up beds suck

There's just no two ways about it -- the blow up mattress beds that are all the rage as 'instant guest rooms' suck -- big time. My back is killing me from sleeping on one for 2 nights at Mom's over the 4th holiday. Nothing against her, etc. -- it's just that those things really aren't posture friendly. Nor is sharing one with Katie and the boys. I think I spent more time falling off of it than sleeping on it!

But I don't have to do it often -- so deal with it. We had a good time at the lake seeing everyone. I don't think I have seen my cousins Summer and Joy in my adult life -- and now we all have kids. We spent quite a bit of time in and out of some sort of water all weekend (hot tub, kiddie pool, neighborhood pool, etc.) and we took the kids out for a boat ride.

There were several other kids there ranging from 2 - 4 1/2, so Jackson and Porter had plenty of company. Everyone got along just fine, and it was nice for them to have people to play with. Of course it's always a challenge trying to police everyone, but that didn't seem to be too big of a deal.

We skipped the fireworks on Sat night -- too far away, and I wasn't thrilled to think about driving around late at night with hundreds of drunk people targeting me.

Anyway, fireworks were nice last night -- boys had taken a nice nap in the afternoon, so we figured they could make it. Half-way through, though, they declared they were tired and ready to walk (be pulled in the wagon) back to the house. I knew we had pushed it too far when Jackson just lost it when we were setteling into bed. He cried for 30 minutes -- he was just exhausted and didn't know how to deal with it.

So it's back home now, and back on the road to Dallas for me in the morning. Gotta go pack and put the boys to bed --

WDW and Back

Finally putting the polish on the end of the week -- busy one -- Sunday Katie and I took off for Disney World to attend the Cognos Forum conference at the Dolphin Hotel. It was a great chance to be 'rewarded' with a combo-work/play trip for all the work I've done putting together SOx strategies using our partners technologies and our services. Sunday night was an opening party that should have been by the pool, but due to the rain, they moved it inside the Dolphin's ball-room. Disney really put on a fantastic spread -- and super decoratons! It was a cajun/bayou theme, with camper trailers and bait shacks serving as the bars, boat houses and piers as buffet tables, and a pretty good band.

We headed to Downtown Disney that night to play at Disney Quest -- we did that until they closed at 11, then tried to grab a bit to eat at the House of Blues -- but they were closed. We ended up grabbing some Taco Bell (only thing open) and eating in the room.

Monday I worked the booth at the trade show in the morning and we went to Epcot that afternoon to do the World Showcase half of the park. That night were 2 happy hours, one at the trade show and one over at the Swan hotel in their Italian resturant. Travis and I put the final touch on the presentation for Tuesday, also. Later that night, Katie and I went over to Epcot again for the Illuminations fireworks show, which was SUPER!! Afterwards, we took the boat back to the Boardwalk and had dinner at the Big River brewpub.

Tuesday Travis and I did our presentation, which went over well -- very receptive audience. Hope we get some extended opportunities from that... Later Tuesday we went to the Hard Rock and shopped the City Walk area over at Universal. Tuesday night was a private party for everyone at the convention over at Universal -- they closed the park early and we had a party in one of the TV studios, then over to ride some rides they kept open for us. The Mummy ride was one of the best roller coasters I've ever been on!! Travis and I rode it 3 times in a row -- I could have done it all night!!

Wednesday we hit the parks again -- Epcot future world and MGM. Then home later that night. We picked the boys up around midnight.

Yesterday I spent catching up on all the stuff I needed to get done; spent some time in the Houston office, and caught up with folks on the phone. Today I'm putting together the final financial results from our Phase 1 project so that we can get sign off for Phase 2. I think we'll hang around the house today and get ready to go to Mom's for the weekend -- leave early in the morning.