Vacation and Back to Business

I'm finally back after a long absence. I'm sure my die hard, loyal readers have been holding their breaths and eagerly awaiting a new post. Ok, maybe not.

Vacation: As you might have guessed by now, I've been away on vacation. I went home to California to visit the family and didn't get a chance to update my blog. Sure I could have written some updates here and there, but I was too busy eating and resting and relaxing and playing with the dogs. As to be expected it was a wonderful trip and a week always seems too short. But fortunately I'll be going home again in a few weeks for my Christmas vacation.

Adventures in Travel: While the trip home was wonderful, the journey back was adventurous. First of all, my flight was delayed. I think that the delays were caused by bad weather in the Midwest, and somehow the series of delays eventually affected my flight. The arriving plane that was then supposed to take me to Denver was delayed, so I ended up being delayed by about an hour. But it is winter and I expect these things to happen, so I don't let myself get bothered by it...unlike a few other people in the terminal who kept asking where the plane was.

There also happened to be an entire team of teenage girls from some kind of athletic team on my flight. Their presence was both amusing and annoying. Amusing in the sense that I'm so old, I can't even remember what it was like to be that young. Annoying in the sense that they were lying all over the floor around the gate, so people had to step over or around them to get from one place to another.

The one good thing that happened was that I was able to get my bag right away from baggage claim. By the time I was able to get from the gate to the baggage carousel the bags were already coming out. I walked up, looked down, and there was my bag. Wahoo! However, that wasn't quick enough for me to catch the 7:00 p.m. shuttle, so I had to wait for the 8:00 shuttle. Another hour delay, so to speak. I got on the shuttle bus and naturally it was crowded with people coming back from vacation. We stopped near a hotel in Boulder, and they broke us up into smaller vans to take us to different locations. This time my van had only three people, so that wasn't so bad. However, the person who got off the shuttle before me accidentally took my bag. It was an older gentleman, it was dark, both our bags are red, so I can see how that could happen, but that sort of took the air out of the sail of my sinking ship. Fortunately, a neighbor of the gentleman called me and was able to bring my bag to me. So that reinforced my somewhat weakening belief that there are still good people in the world. But by the time I got settled at home it was about 10:00, and I was exhausted. What is normally a five hour travel day, ended up being about a nine hour travel day somehow.

Work: Everything at work seemed to be in good order. My teammates did a great job of babysitting my projects while I was away. But there was a lot to take care of today, and this is going to be a really busy and hectic week. I'm already looking forward to my next vacation!

From Sun to Snow

I haven't posted anything new recently, because for the past five wonderful days I was at home in California. We had a quiet Christmas with the family and the puppies, and that is just how I like it. It is simply nice to take some time off work to relax at home. The weather was beautiful. It was sunny and warm. Many people might think that 65 degrees is cold, but I think that it is perfect, especially when the sun is shining. Unfortunately the trip was a short one, because I had to come back to work this week to send some books to press. Still, any time at home is better than no time.

Wednesday was my travel day and our plane was supposed to leave around 2:00 in the afternoon. But, because of bad weather throughout the Midwest, the plane that was supposed to take us back to Denver didn't arrive in California until 3:45. So we didn't take off until about 4:30. Most of the people, though, were good natured and very patient. The only two people who were visibly annoyed were two younger women who were dressed in tank tops and pajama bottoms. There are two fashion-related things that I do not understand: people who wear their sunglasses indoors and pajamas while out in public. But, whatever. Anyway, after that little delay we eventually made it to Denver. With the weather as bad as it was, there was obviously a lot of missing luggage (or people!), because luggage without owners was strewn along the walls near the baggage claim area. Everyone on our plane waited patiently for our luggage to come out of one baggage carousel that was showing our flight number. Meanwhile the carousel next to us was overflowing with luggage. It took a while before we all realized that that was our luggage that was spinning around. I got my bag and by the time I caught a shuttle and made it home safely, it was already 9:30 in the evening. And I had to go to work the next day!

The weather started to get bad again and it was snowing for most of the night and all morning. Most of the people in the office decided to stay at home because they didn't want to deal with the traffic and nasty roads. The people who actually live in Boulder made it into the office, although that doesn't necessarily mean that the roads in Boulder are clean and safe. Because it kept snowing, they decided to close the office early at 1:00. So I stuffed some work into my bag, and here I sit, warm and cozy in my apartment with a fresh pot of hot coffee. Right now I'm just taking a little break to have lunch and to write this post, but, alas, I must get back to work.

Back in Boulder

I'm back in Boulder after a quick trip home for Thanksgiving. I left really early on Tuesday morning. I wanted to get to the airport at about 7:00 a.m., so I had to be ready to by about 5:30 to catch the shuttle. With it being just a few days before Thanksgiving, I thought the airport would be packed. It was fairly busy, but things went smoothly. It took me only about ten or fifteen minutes to get my boarding pass and to check my bags. So far so good, I thought, but I was expecting a huge line at security. There was a line, but things kept moving and I made it through security in about five minutes. The takeoff was quite bumpy like riding an old, rickety wooden roller coaster, but for the most part the flight was nice...except we didn't get pretzels for some reason...

The time at home was wonderful. I ate a lot of good food and simply enjoyed spending time with my family and puppies.


As with all vacations, the end came much too soon. The flight home was nice, and I had to wait about an hour for the next shuttle back into Boulder. I personally don't mind waiting around the airport, because you always have great people-watching opportunities at airports. I would have arrived home in my apartment at around 7:30 in the evening, but the engine of our shuttle blew up about 15 miles outside of Boulder. Smoke started to fill the shuttle, so we waited outside on the side of the freeway. But then it got too cold and we all got back in. Eventually some other vans picked us up and took us all home. I got home at around 8:30, had some waffles for dinner, then went straight to bed because I had to get up for work today. And as proof that the vacation has officially ended, I brought work home with me tonight. No rest for the wicked.

All in all it was a wonderful trip home. ...even with an 8-hour stay in the emergency room...

Travel Preparations

I'm getting excited about going home on Tuesday morning, and here is my to-do list and what I've accomplished so far:

1. Make a reservation for a shuttle to the airport - check
2. Put a hold on my mail for the week - check
3. Pay necessary (and unnecessary ) bills - check
4. Laundry - check. All I have to do is fold and pack
5. Charge batteries in my camera - check
6. Clean apartment - still to do
7. Shop for any other necessary things - still to do
8. Work - I've accepted the fact that I'll be stressed out tomorrow, but I'll do the best I can to finish what I need to