Monday
Left the house around noon to catch a flight to New York City. Rather than getting a direct flight, I flew through Atlanta, which added a few hours to the trip, but the flights were on time, and the connection was easy. The desk clerk at the Hilton New York apparently was in a good mood, and decided to upgrade me to a really nice corner room up on the 32nd floor. Not that I get to spend a lot of time in the hotel room, but it was a nice room and it did bring a smile to my face.
Tuesday
Spent the day in the IBM office preparing for a customer meeting.
Wednesday
Had a quick team meeting in the hotel to do last minute prep for our client meeting, then went to the client's office for a 90 minute meeting. Went back to the office to debrief and work on some customer deliverables, then grabbed a taxi to LGA for the flight home. Once again, flew through Atlanta, and once again, the trip was smooth.
Thursday
Normal relatively long work from home day.
Friday
Another normal work from home day.
Saturday
I spent the morning and about half of the afternoon flying EAA Young Eagles. I had joined the EAA a couple of months ago expressly so I could fly Young Eagles. The Young Eagles program is a great program and gets great support from the local EAA chapter (943). At one point, there were nine aircraft including two C-182, our club C-172, a C-150, a Taylorcraft, a Citabria, a EuroFox and a couple more I can't remember. The weather was a little threatening in the late morning, but thankfully it never got bad, and actually cleared up nicely right towards the end. Altogether, we flew 47 kids, plus a few parents. Mark (another club member) and I split the flying in the club plane and each of us ended up with four flights. I sure hope the kids got half as much out of the day as I did. I just love introducing kids to the joy of flying in small aircraft. And, I got to meet a whole new group of aviation enthusiasts whom I had previously not had the pleasure to interact with at our little airport.
After I got home, Jeanie and I headed off to Jacksonville to see the new movie "Amelia" - a movie about Amelia Earhart - on the big screen. We splurged and split a medium popcorn which I thoroughly enjoyed. The theater wasn't very crowded which made for a great viewing experience. Jeanie and I, unlike the majority of film critics, found the movie enjoyable, with good acting and absolutely gorgeous aircraft.
After the movie, we dropped in to Garden Ridge so Jeanie could pick up some Christmas boxes, then we headed home and watched the pilot of the new USA TV series "White Collar" which we both quite enjoyed.
Sunday
Went to the coffee at the airport as usual. Unlike usual, decided to have a couple of chocolate chip pancakes. They were very good. Talk at the coffee was unusually enjoyable. More talk of airplanes and flying than local or national politics. Highlight of the morning was when a Twin Bonanza taxied up to the ramp to drop off a passenger. It's not every day that you see a Twin Bonanza up close and personal.
Came home and Jeanie made us a nice lunch of salad and spaghetti.
Then we sat and talked for a while, then Jeanie went out onto the lanai to work on the plants and I went into the office to do a mixture of bill paying and work work.
For dinner, Jeanie outdid herself with an amazing dinner of pan grilled salmon and shrimp with her delicious pineapple chutney and homemade mashed potato cakes. Yum!
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Monday
Normal work at home day.
Tuesday
Jeanie went back to her parents to help out. Dogs stayed with me. Normal work at home day.
Wednesday
Got a haircut. Normal work at home day.
Thursday
Normal work at home day.
Friday
Normal work at home day.
Saturday
Gave blood. Blood drive was sponsored by the FB Pirates Club. Had four bloodmobiles. Goal was to get 100 units. Got a nice small cloth bag and a T-shirt. Was a little nervous that my iron would still be too low, but it was 14.4 which was comfortably within their range for men of 12.5 - 19. Guess the iron pills are doing their job. Then went downtown and looked at some of the cars at the cruise in. Then returned home and waited for Jeanie to return from her parents. Around 3:30 PM, headed off to the airport to go flying. Got to play with my new Creative Vado pocket video cam. Used my small tripod which I bungeed to the headrest of the co-pilot seat. Not too bad for $40. Propeller is not totally invisible - exhibits the strange curved appearance you see with video from an iPhone. Sound when you playback on the unit is horrible, but normal when you view on the computer. Output to the computer is really cool. USB transfer yields ready-to-use .avi file. Tried to set it up so I could see both the instruments and outside. Tough for camera to handle both from an exposure perspective - it favored the inside, with the outside usually being overexposed. Flying was pretty good, even though it had been a month, and it was windy/gusty. After flying, I went to Publix to get some hogie rolls and a few other items. While I was on the way home, Jeanie cooked some fake chicken and warmed up the leftover peppers and onions I had cooked earlier in the week. The fake chicken was surprisingly good. Not quite like real chicken, but pretty darn close. Watched a couple of episodes of Glee and then called it a night.
Sunday
Coffee at the airport. Jeanie and I went to Jade's Bistro for lunch then walked downtown for a bit. Came home and expanded the size of the hole on the birdhouse Dad had made. Tried to use a hole saw and just scarred up the front. Tried the carbide ziptool type bit which didn't work that well. Then used a sanding drum on the Dremel which did work well. Used the mouse sander to smooth off the front of the birdhouse. Was able to get most of the scarring blended away. It's not perfect, but it's not too bad. Watched the pilot of "The Good Wife." Better than I had anticipated.
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Monday
Had a couple of work calls in the morning, then packed for my business trip, then drove to visit mom. Okay visit - she spent a lot of time asking if she had been a good parent and trying to justify how she had raised me, then spent time fishing for an "atta girl" about not pitching a fit about neither Jeanie nor I being "there for her" when she had to go to the hospital to get her transfusion. I guess the fact that neither Jeanie nor I were in town wasn't a good enough reason not to be there.
Flew Southwest Airlines to TPA. Was a REALLY good experience. Flight was on time, quick (40 minutes air time), there was room on the plane, both for me and my carry ons. The three seats on my side were empty. Nice leather seats. Floor wasn't too clean, but other than that.
TPA terminal is very nice.
Had to rent from Avis due to IBM policy. Would rather stay with National. With Avis, I received no upgrade, and ended up with a Chevy Cobalt. It was actually pretty impressive for a small inexpensive car, but it wasn't on par with what National keeps on the Executive Emerald Aisle. The key fob worked when I got the car, but then died first time I tried to use it after I had left.
Had dinner at Bahama Breeze: Jerk Fired Shrimp with warm Cuban bread and a Caesear salad. Ate the entire shrimp dish, broth and all, and almost the entire loaf of bread, and over half the salad, then ate the entire DoubleTree cookie.
Desk clerk "upgraded" me to a nicer room that the accessible room next to the elevator that is the standard for the IBM rate. Nice view of the pool and bay.
Tuesday - Thursday
Worked. Most days, got to the office before the sun rose (granted, in Tampa, that wasn't until 7:30 AM) and didn't leave until well after the sun set (which was a bit after 7:00 PM).
The Tampa office is a nice place to work - plenty of availability of conference rooms and mobility cubes, and great 360 degree views of the Tampa area. Conference room we were working in faced the airport, so I got to see the jets take off and land during the day which was nice.
Friday
Ended up having to work past when my flight was scheduled to depart, so I had to cancel the reservation and drive home (there were no later flights on any airline). Got home around 1:00 AM. Even though Avis only gave me the dinky Chevy Cobalt, it really wasn't that bad. Seats were comfortable enough, and it had cruise control and an aux jack for the stereo, so I had a Peter, Paul and Mary marathon on the drive home thanks to my trusty Creative 60GB Zen Nomad.
Saturday
CAP monthly squadron meeting. Jeanie drove with me to return the rental car at JAX and pick up the Durango. On the way to drop off the rental car, we drove to Sam's Club and picked up a jar of Atomic Fireballs and a few other items (the fireballs were the main reason for going to Sam's).
Sunday
Coffee at the airport. Then we drove to Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay so Jeanie could show me the cool thing she had been wanted to show me for a month or two. The cool thing (which really was cool) was the USS George Bancroft (SSBN-643) display at the main gate. From a distance, it appears to be a real submarine breaching the surface. Upon closer inspection, we discovered that the sail is in fact the real sail from the Bancroft, but the "hull" is concrete. We decided that the concrete was actually better; that way people could safely walk on it, and it probably requires less maintenance that if it were the metal hull.
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