When the Smoke Clears

Amazing what sort of dreams start cropping up when the stress levels are high and one has not had any time to rest or even collect one’s thoughts between one day’s sleep and the next. I had forgotten how sleep was after working on an ambulance working 24-hour shifts on the days when the calls [...]

The big day hits today. That’s where I have been… and where I will be for the next several days.
Will the 16-hour workdays this week have been worth it? The hundreds of hours I put into all of this? I don’t know. I fear the backlash from those I was not able to assist [...]

FADE IN:
INT. MEDICAL TENT — NIGHT
Crawling into his sleeping system to get settled in for the evening, cold frosty air swirls from RSM’s mouth. On the other side of the tent, a tall pavilion with open doors and no floor, several Young Ones try to find a comfortable place on the bare grass, the 25° [...]

I knew something deep inside felt off today. When you lose a piece of yourself, the missing space left behind never really fills. I can’t feel the hole, but I can feel the muscles in my heart that surround it. Today the edges really hurt though I couldn’t put my finger on why. The cabin [...]

My new office has several whiteboards. Right now they are covered with planning, reminders, notes and blueprints. I’ve been speaking in two phones a lot lately, the last few days worse than ever before. Everything hits next week. People are heavily “spun up” including myself.
When one of the young ones stopped by this evening, [...]

In the midst of the weeds. Every little task is pushing us closer and closer to the big day. Now toss in a few more stars to the mix and we can have a few more complications. But I’m moving forward… somehow. One speaker, just added, doesn’t like laser pointers. He wants a stick. There [...]

As the BIG day approaches, the stress increases. The high-ranking visitors are coming. More stars on shoulders than in Orion. We are pulling this shin-dig off with very little time from concept to execution. What fascinates me is that as we get closer and as we get more and more stressed out, the core group [...]

I’m a sucker for the marketing when it comes to personal cleanliness. A few years ago I read in a Men’s Health magazine that, in a scientific study, among all the soaps tested, women overwhelmingly found men who had used regular Lever 2000 smelled sexier than any other. Ever since, I always have a stockpile. [...]

Cooking is one way I relax. I haven’t had a chance to relax much lately. After this trip, though, I went to play in the kitchen but I wanted something quickly. Also, I rarely follow recipes and have great results in my opinion, but my guests get frustrated because I often don’t remember how I [...]

The redeye home was almost miserable, but at least we were headed home, then a walk from the gate absolutely the farthest from the baggage claim, then an hour-long train ride to the car, then a car ride back to the mountains.
Day after day of briefings and meetings with various officials had some benefit, [...]

Want to avoid lengthy debates and acrimonious discussions when stuck with driving some distance on business with your colleagues?
Bring an iPod heavily loaded with disco, 80s and female country singers and one of those FM transmitters. Crank up the tunes on the rental car radio. They’ll be howling away at the disco and laughing, [...]

When I dream I hope for the comfort of home, seeing the cabin in daylight, having friends around. The original plan for this week was a vacation. No such luck. I am off to California for a few days with just enough time to catch a red-eye back home and crash my way through most [...]

For a weekend that was full of work, it also turned out to be quite social.
Most of Saturday wasted away in the moving of my stuff into a new office. I was also having to handle some digital footage processing. Another department wanted my old office and I wanted off the floor I was [...]

It’s time to regroup.
A friend gave me your new album. I’m always on the lookout for something different that I might not normally listen to. It’s fair enough to say I have never been a big fan, though there are a few songs I like, but lady, to put it bluntly: You need to [...]

– Only worked 58 hours so far this week. Don’t worry, I still have Saturday to go to make up for the rest of the workweek.
– Went to the gym in the mornings, and I’m about to wheedle my way into having PT with some of the young ones. Something felt like [...]