The Monday Morning Epistle

Not much to talk about this week, as I got an all-expenses paid trip to Huntsville, Alabama, courtesy of Uncle Sam. This business trip had been in ‘maybe’ status since before Christmas, and remained so right up until the last minute. When we assembled at the airport early Monday morning, the outside temperature was so cold that they couldn't get our plane started, because all of the American Airlines APU carts were frozen! We sat on the runway for nearly two hours—with the engines sporadically sounding like a '78 Pinto with a dying battery—as the flight crew pleaded with United for help and struggled not to laugh out loud while giving us updates on the ‘situation’. Ironically, we didn't have to worry about missing our connection, because that flight had already been canceled, so instead we spent six hours killing time in Dallas/Fort Worth airport before flying into Nashville and driving a rental car the 100 miles or so into Huntsville.

It was nearly midnight by the time we finally checked into our hotel, at which time my boss reluctantly announced a mandatory ‘breakfast strategy session’ at 6 am the next morning! (At least he picked up the tab…) The rest of the week was a blur of meetings, technical exchange sessions (i.e., “geek bonding”) and too much bad coffee; typically, we would go from the anonymous government facility to a nearby restaurant, and then directly to our hotel rooms to prepare for the next day's ‘death by PowerPoint’.

The one bright side to this trip was that I finally got to see a real Saturn V rocket up close and personal. I'd seen most of one at the Johnson Space Center years ago, but this one is fully assembled and on display just outside the anonymous government agency we were visiting every day. (It's also visible in the upper right-hand corner of this weeks Picture of the Week.)

KidBit: I scored a small parental victory when after weeks of searching, I finally found a ‘Chick Hicks’ (the antagonist in the movie Cars) at a Disney store in Huntsville. Monkey-Boy has been asking for this particular toy since Christmas, and when I presented him with it, he accepted it joyfully, then asked me “Daddy, why did you buy me a ‘Chick Hick’?”

PotW: They're not just colleagues and friends… they're modern day road warriors: (L - R) JR, Will, and Jim all frantically negotiating with corporate HR to replace credentials that mysteriously vanished somewhere between Colorado Springs and Huntsville.

Until next week…Tschüß!

,,,^..^,,,

2007.01.29-11:00