Slap, ouch ye mucky raster.

That is the sound of reality coming back after the holiday break.

Sunday: First, it snowed Sunday night – another 2 inches or so. Which meant I had to be up early to check if the busses and schools were on for the kids. Since our sleep patterns were upside down, that meant we went to bed around midnight, sleep around 3am, to get up around 5:20 to check the schools. Schools were starting 90 minutes late, which meant everyone could get a little more time in bed.

Sunday Summary: 2 hours 20 minutes sleep

Monday: My schedule was to wrap some items up, then fly to Detroit, staying overnight, then meeting customers, then off to CodeMash in Sandusky, Ohio.

Check-in at NWA in Seattle at lunchtime is a nightmare. 35 minute wait just to check my 1 bag in that contained my >3oz bottle of shampoo. $15 to check that bag in, then off to the 20 minute wait to get through security. I was in trouble there because I put my shoes on top of my laptop. Apparently American x-ray machines cannot see through shoes, or nylon laptop bags so you have to take your laptop out of your bag. Bad people could easily smuggle guns or something in Nylon bags, they should ban Nylon bags. (Before you start, at Heathrow Airport in London-England, you don’t have to take your laptop out of your bag. I asked them why and they said that x-ray machines can see through bags!)

Detroit: Minus 5 C or something, picked up the hire car and found an Ice scraper in it.

Hotel: Marriott – spent 20 minutes attaching my silver membership to my stay. Found myself in the noisiest room in any hotel anywhere. There was a room fan that was similar in sound to a 747 engine. Then above the room there was some maintenance man hitting something with his hammer, until 10pm. – Did I mention there is a 3 hours time difference. Which meant at midnight, it was only 9pm, and since my bedtime had migrated to 3am PST, that meant I’d be awake another 6 hours before sleeping. That would allow me a good 2 hours sleep :) , actually made it to sleep about 3am, awoke at 7am

Monday Summary – 3 hour time zone change and 4 hours sleep

Tuesday: Ready to meet customers – had to scrap 1/4 inch of ice from the car (that is why they give you an ice scraper). Customer meetings good – next a 2 hour drive to Sandusky. Network broke at home so talked Kate through plugging things back in. Network working.

Note: You will slide on Black Ice if you try to turn, keep going straight.

Prepped for my talks etc. went to sleep around 2am and clock watched from 2:01am

Tuesday Summary – 5 hours of on-off sleep

Wednesday: Talked to folks, Talked to more folks, talked to even more folks.

Wednesday Summary: Slept 6 hours.

Thursday: Hung out at the conference and then drove back to Detroit to catch flight.

Really sick of airport security checks now. Having removed my laptop/coat/shoes/jumper, I forgot about my belt and then watch. Since I had about an hour before my flight, I was quiet possibly the slowest person putting shoes etc back on. Eventually they moved my things to one of the 5 closed checkpoints (they were running 2 with a huge line) so I was not holding everyone up.

The 4 hour 40 minute flight did not include the hour it took to drive to the deicer then queue up to take off. Arrived at Seattle an hour late. I won’t talk about the flight, its soul destroying, nothing to eat, seats are way to small for someone >6ft.

Drove home to see Kate before trying to catch up on sleep.

Thursday Summary: slept 6 hours.

Friday: Day at work – nothing major to report.

Saturday: Dropped Kate and Jonathan at Basketball, then Picked Emma up (who had had a sleepover) and took E and R to a party. Picked K & J up and went for lunch at Quiznos. Dropped me & J at home not feeling well, and K went to pickup E & R. Then D,K & J went to guitar, and REI, AE & Victors for coffee, before returning home. E & R hung out at home. E got ready for her date with BF. Dropped E at pictures, K,D,J & R went to dinner then home. Picked E up at 9:45. Went to bed.

Saturday Summary: It was a blur, but got lots of sleep

Sunday: Up early, Went to Costco, then Victors then Staples then home.

Realized teenage daughter left a trail of destruction when getting ready for date. Also realized that teenage daughter had not been doing chores whilst away, and felt it was our fault she had not got her stuff for her project. Could not be bothered to lecture. (Lecturing to a teenager is simply the act of wasting time whilst getting oneself in a frazzle.) My new tactic requires only 8 mouse clicks and the words "you are grounded and your phone is disabled until next Sunday". Time investment is less than 1 minute, no raised blood-pressure – its great, and it’s likely to be just as ineffective as everything else when dealing with those supreme teenage life-forms.

Things not done:

  • Ride bike :(
  • Fiddle with trains :(
  • Hang out and do not very much

Weight: 253lbs (that is all the weight I lost before PDC back on again!)