Paper Umbrellas

Most people take real vacations and stay somewhere for a week at a time.  I'm the type of person that gets by on a couple of days in Hawaii to visit family and friends.  In this visit, I have scheduled a little time with everyone, but I often forget the time for myself.

What do I really want out a vacation?  I think it would be a nice relaxing tropical beverage with a paper umbrella.  Of course, it would be nice to be overlooking the beach, with a nice warm breeze, and no access to email or any other distraction. Although, it's hard to imagine life (or a vacation) without my technology.  Maybe I'll try that sometime. 

Later.

Just Can't Get Enough

In an unusual turn of events, I have returned to my old travel schedule for the last month. In an effort to maintain my status on one of the airlines, I decided to take a day off to visit a friend in Honolulu. However, I decided to take the trip via Newark. Yes, it is an interesting routing to go from California to New Jersey to get to Hawaii for a couple of days. However, it actually cost me a couple of hundred dollars less to go through New Jersey than it did to go on the regular routing through Los Angeles. After all these years, I am still baffled by airline fares.

I just got back from a quick business trip to Boston, and I think I now have enough to keep me as a top-tier traveler for one more year. This might actually be the last year I get to do this, unless I can find a travel job in the upcoming year. You never know. After all, I still wonder why I ever gave this up.

Later.

Getting Away From It All

Economic pressures have wreaked havoc with just about every aspect of my life. There have been really tough adjustments at work, and work has picked up at my various volunteer jobs because of external pressures. And so I returned to Hawaii for the third time this year. For the first time in quite a while, I'm spending an entire week on vacation. I'm stepping back to spend some time with friends and family.

For the first time in years, a couple of my friends made appearances in San Diego briefly this past weekend. We haven't been together at the same time in almost a decade. I'm spending some time with friends and classmates from the old days, and will be attending one more wedding. This time it's my cousin getting married.

This truly has been my big chance to get away from it all. My last few entries have highlighted the fact that I really needed a vacation. Even though I've said many times that it isn't a good strategy to do so, I do hope this vacation is enough to recharge my batteries.

Later.

Lost In Paradise

After a couple of trips back to Hawaii in the last couple of months, I've been lost in a daze. Realizing that I am no longer built for the ravages of the overnight flight, I decided to continue to ignore my better judgment and take the flight anyway. There has always been a disconnect between my current physical location and my current mental state. It usually takes my brain a couple of days to catch up, just like my luggage in most cases. These last couple of trips were no exception. I think my brain is still lost in paradise somewhere, sipping that tropical beverage with the paper umbrella.

It's an odd thing to be semi-retired from the travel game. These last couple of trips reminded me that I am starting to lose some of my skills in the field. I accidentally brought a screwdriver (the tool, not the beverage) with me in my computer bag. I still managed to bring it back home with me. I would never have let that happen a few months ago.

Before trade show season starts again, I guess it is time to get back into practice. I've actually got to start packing my emergency backup suitcase again, since I had to use it for the last trip. Good thing the clothes still fit -- almost. I'm home for another month, and then it's time to get back onto the playing field again in April.

Later.

A Time To Heal

I took one final trip into Los Angeles for the year this past weekend. I've not been in the best of health for the last year despite my reappearance in various airports throughout the country, and throughout the world for that matter. For the rest of the year, I'm staying home for some very necessary rest. When rest time is over, I'm starting the year with a quick weekend vacation in Hawaii. It's good to have some time to heal before I have to resume my regularly scheduled role as a road warrior. Later.

Home For The Holidays

There's no place like home for the holidays. Actually, with the mounds of papers and other junk around here, I can honestly say that there really is no other place like it. I'm finally catching up on what I've been attempting to do for the last few years -- all the paperwork. You see, in the last few years, I've spent so much time in the air that I've been ignoring all of the mail and other stuff that has been piling up throughout the years. There's now a visible path between my door and my desk, which hasn't existed since I moved in a few years back.

I did manage to make a couple of leisure trips this month, though. I made it over to New Haven, CT, for a burger. Then I thawed out in Honolulu for a couple of days for a retirement party for one of my friends. Travel is much lighter these days, but the problems still abound. I haven't had a problem-free flight in several months, even though I relented and threw away all of my over-sized tubes of toothpaste in favor of the travel versions. I'm staying home for the rest of the holiday season. Maybe my sensitivity has been heightened or my tolerance has just been shattered, but I just can't get back into another airport during holiday traveler season. If people are going to travel these days, perhaps a little preparation might be in order, you think?

It's been a nice break, but I'll be back on the playing field early next year starting the journey in Delaware. Until then, safe travels to all of you out there.

Later.

Zoning Problems

In the last couple of weeks, I've traveled from Washington, DC to Honolulu, HI, to Erie, PA, back to San Diego, CA. If I calculated this correctly, twelve time zones were crossed in less than twelve days. One of my travel theories states that it takes one day to recover from each time zone traversed. Fortunately, I'm grounded for the next couple of weeks, so recovery should not be a problem. So until next week, at least, I'm out of the zone. That's kind of like being out of synch with the rest of the world. Sometimes, that's not necessarily a bad place to be. Later.

The Pong Generation

I come from the Pong Generation, probably somewhere in that time frame where Generation X intersects with Generation Y. Well, since I brought it up, I'm playing the part of the square dot that goes back and forth between the two tennis paddle things in the game of Pong. Yes, I'm up to my old tricks again, going from coast to coast, and then off to Hawaii for a quick break before heading back to the east coast. I just picked up a quick trip to western Pennsylvania next week, as soon as I get back from Hawaii. I think I'm up for a quick game of Space Invaders. Later.

In The District

These field reports are starting to get a bit rare. I'm reporting from within the beltway. Yes, I'm actually staying in the District. You know, Washington, DC. That's right. I'm back to my old habits. I've probably overextended myself again, and am living on that miracle drug, Dayquil. I decided to try to get back in training again, and overdid it before I got on the plane. I always seem to have that bad habit of forgetting that I'm not eighteen any more. Anyhow, I'm here until Wednesday morning, and back for a couple of days at home before I leave again for Hawaii. I am one of many people in my group from San Diego at this conference in DC. It was strange that we all seemed to take different routes to get here, and we all seem to have different disaster stories of how we all got here. One person connected in Los Angeles, another in Atlanta, someone else in Chicago, yet another in Cincinnati, and someone went through Phoenix. Just about everyone experienced some sort of flight delay. I connected in Dallas without any flight delay, but getting out of the airport was an adventure. Let's just say it involves a minivan and step ladder... Anyhow, this is a long update, so I'd better get some rest. After all, I should probably sleep this cold away. Later.

Launch Points

So I returned from Honolulu from an unplanned trip. For some reason, I decided to fly in and out of Los Angeles. That would be the appropriate thing to do a couple of years ago when I actually lived there. To quote a colleague of mine -- What was I thinking? It's amazing what a difference a couple of years can make. The two hour drive between San Diego and Los Angeles seems to take a little more out of me these days. I had also forgotten the parking situation from LAX, especially in rainy weather. Catching a bus to the remote parking areas in the pouring rain just doesn't get it for me anymore. What was I thinking? The lesson here is to utilize any one of the four airports that are closer to my house.

Come to think of it, I don't have anywhere to go after this trip. Maybe I need to start working on that. Later.

Total Systems Failure

I've discovered that my stamina is not what it used to be. Central Wisconsin is a nice place, but being there in the winter makes me realize how much I needed to get my head examined before agreeing to this trip. And then there was Delaware. Nice place, but there really wasn't much else there. I reached the point of total systems failure somewhere over Chicago, and after all the delays, I realized that maybe semi-retirement might be a good thing after all. I don't remember how I kept up with all of the trips, and how I managed to get up the next day ready to move on to the next city. Well, my next trip is a personal sojourn back home to Hawaii at the end of the week. Later.

Back In Business

It's been a really bad day at work today, but at least I'm getting back on the road once again. I've got some time in Wisconsin and Delaware next week, and then I've got family issues back in Hawaii the following week. So, I'm going to be busy on the road once again. It's about time.

Happy Birthday, James!

Later.

The Marathon Begins

I've started one of those crazy trips that even I can't believe. I'm reporting from the Boston area tonight. I spent the greater part of the day trying to get here. For the first leg of the journey, I've decided not to drive anywhere. For Boston and Houston, I'm catching taxis. Assuming the weather holds out, my journey continues tomorrow in Houston, assuming I don't get stuck in Atlanta for the evening. I'll be home for a few hours, assuming I don't get stuck in Dallas on the way. Then, it's off to Raleigh-Durham, Los Angeles, Honolulu, and Milwaukee, in that order. A standard marathon is a little more than 26 miles. I'm logging a little more than 26,000 miles over the next 10 days. It may seem twisted, but even though I still have the vocal chord problem, I'm kind of enjoying the journey. I'm going to slow down a bit this year, at least on my travels. After all, I have a department to run, and a few other responsibilities these days. Later.

Vacation

I entered the world of the leisure traveler once again. I'm doing this a lot more lately. Anyhow, it was a whirlwind trip to Honolulu. I've noticed that Los Angeles seemed to have a few cutbacks in personnel lately. Even with the cutbacks, the security line seemed to move nicely. The airport in Honolulu seemed to be a bit more problematic. The ticket lines and security lines were reminiscent of an oil painting.

After the trip to Honolulu, I actually spent some time in San Diego. I had a friend over for a few days, and we toured San Diego and enjoyed the fact that we didn't have to be tied to any type of schedule. For the first time in several years, I think I finally had a chance to relax and have some fun. I've been taking myself way too seriously for way too long.

Boycott Continental! I mean it, you know.

Later.

Homecoming

It's been quite a while since I've taken the long trip off the beaten path into the past. I started with a slight detour to Neptune -- New Jersey. Anyhow, I had some business in Durham, North Carolina, one of my former residences. Unfortunately, I had a brief fifteen hours in town, and none of my friends seemed to be picking up their phones that afternoon. I had to rush back to finish up my remaining assignments at the office before I take a few vacation days next week. I'm off to Los Angeles and Honolulu for the weekend, and then it's back home for me.

Boycott Continental. I really mean it, you know.

Later.

Insanity Takes A Holiday

I took a quick vacation as a prelude to the infinite torture that awaits. However, I'm not going to dwell on work right now. I had a nice whirlwind vacation, and I think it was a bit too short. I am experiencing one of the final stages of burnout in my present job. I don't have any kind of motivation to go back to work. That's a really significant thing to hear coming from a person like me. I'm not getting lazy or anything like that. After all, I am a true workaholic, or at least, I was one until last week. But that is a story for another day. I went to Hawaii for a couple of days, but I brought my laptop with me to do some work, so you know I haven't completely changed. Later.

Another New York Minute

I've been neglecting my editorial duties here. I apologize to my readers -- all three of you. Anyhow, the story continues from New York last Saturday, where I met with Denise to work on a project. I got back from New York on Saturday afternoon. I've been on a working vacation for the last several days, and I'm thinking that I need to reschedule my vacation to sometime in March at this rate. I left New York at six in the morning, or as a friend of mine likes to call it -- 'o dark thirty. Now, as you already know, I don't mix with mornings, unless, of course, it is some time around 3 am, in which case you would be catching me right before bed. There were quite a few delays on the journey home, mostly due to the increased security procedures. My flights were delayed in Dallas due to the fact that we couldn't get to the gate because they weren't done getting the other plane out. That was, no doubt, due to the additional searches that they are doing during the Orange Alert. I was a bit zombified **hey, I invented a new word** while roaming the airport gates in Dallas. I got back in one piece, more or less, and to the right airport. How about that! I guess I can do this travel nonsense in my sleep. It's time for a quick trip to Hawaii before Judgement Day, also known as the annual Sales Meeting in Tampa. I'm leaving in a few more hours, so I'll bid adieu for now. Later.

Back Home from Hawaii

I went to Hawaii, came back, and here I am again. I am waiting for the next adventure, but I have four whole days at home, which I haven't had in a long time. After a week back home in Hawaii, I am ready for retirement. However, I know that's not yet possible... at least this year, anyway. My next adventure takes me into the Phoenix and San Diego area later next week. I'll do my next report from the road. In the meantime, I think it's time for more storytelling, so I'll work on my editorials this weekend. Catch you later.