Home and Dry

Last week was extremely busy and intense with work, but things ended on a positive note in my corner despite difficult news on the larger horizon But...better days are potentially on the horizon.

It was 67 degrees cloudy as I left and I tried to ignore the too familiar Denver-United announcement of "flight attendants will remain seated due to turbulence but will begin service as soon as it's safe". If it's not safe, then why do we have this plane in the to begin with?

It was good to be home and see Bow so excited and gorgeous local weather as Denver get pulmeted with the above storm that is just beginning. Now it will be exciting to see United deliver my bag sometime between 6 and 10 p.m. tonight.

View from My Room Wednesday Evening...

...and now it's blazing sun and in the 40s.

Brace for Impact

I'm back into heavy travel mode and very challenging work for the next three months. It's not a complaint about my work, just the challenge of finding money in the current environment.

Leaving Bow with her English nanny this morning was difficult, but I take comfort in knowing that she will be in the best possible care.

Despite all the travel and destinations in my many years, descent into two airports -- Chicago and Denver -- typically stress me out the most. I usually know the forecast before I fly and those five letters WINDY did not relieve any stress for this trip, and the ride down was true to leaving most people on the flight either screaming or green faced. And it seems to be a 12 months a year thing for coming into Denver.

I made it, there are remnants of last weeks snow and more coming (twice) before I leave. At least going back up is usually easier than coming down.

I could have been here today

Headlines of the past 36 hours

• I got a customer alert call from Orbitz at 5 a.m. yesterday about the cancellation of all flights through Denver.
  
• I spent most of the next four hours trying to get through to customer service at Orbitz and United. The 5-8 voice prompts all ended with a hang up call.
• I worked with the travel agent who books my business trips on alternates. I often whne that I have to go through an agent instead of just booking it myself. This time, I consider him my best new friend since he finds a ticket, albeit at three times the original cost, 10 hours longer and with 1000 more miles.
• At 7 p.m., I begin a series of flights that take me from Oakland to Portland to Houston to Oklahoma City.
• The slight conjestion I had in the afternoon is developing into a miserable cold as I am wedged into the seat on the long Portland-Houston flight next to a two-year-old boy named Alberto who reaches out for my fingers several times and kisses my shoulder midway into the flight.
• I arrive in Oklahoma at 10:30 a.m. where it is a glorious 28 degress (I'm not being ironic; I'm a winter person) and bright, crisp and clear. If it were like this year-round I would move back.
  
• I arrive at my aunt's memorial service 20 minutes before it starts.