Saturday, February 04, 2006

Brain Fart

When I first started thinking of having to travel for this audit we are doing, I had visions of being able to blog daily and keep y'all updated on all of my adventures! Yeah! How's that working out for me? As you can tell, not as well as I hoped.

I forgot about the long days when you're on the road. We're on site from 7:00 a.m. until 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. By the time we finish dinner, it's usually 9:00 or so by the time we hit the hotel. By then I'm pooped. It's time for a shower and hit the uncomfortable bed.

I do have a few stories about the past week. My biggest stories seem to be food related. That seems to be all I write about anymore! Keep in mind, the highlight of our morning is discussing where we're going to lunch. As soon as we're on our way back to work after lunch, we're talking about where to go for dinner. Yes, you can tell what's important to us.

I have tried to be out of the box on this trip. I could never take a page out of Michael's book and eat fish head soup, but I have tried a myriad of new and exciting things. I ate Indian and Nepalese food for the first time, and even Japanese and Korean food. We do a lot of walking since parking is at a minimum. In our walks, we see a restaurant that looks good or smells good walking by, we're willing to give it a shot. So far, we have had no regrets in any areas other than price! Not a bad record.

It's been a nerve wracking week though. I am on this audit with my boss. He takes care of the driving duties, and my job is to print out mapquest directions of anywhere in particular we want to go and I navigate.

My boss had a meeting here in town on Friday, so he was flying out early on Thursday. I'd finish up the week and fly out as usual on Friday. And, he has more commitments next week, so he's staying at the local office all week, and I'll be ALONE in Chicago all next week as well.

To get me ready for this huge undertaking, I did the driving all week to make sure I could find my way around. Ugh. I'm ok with to and from the airport. I have troubles in town, like in finding all the areas that house the restaurants we like to go to. And, from there, finding the hotel again. I can go from the hotel to work and back again, no problem. It's any side trips I have issues with.

All week long, the boss showed me how to get to some of our favorite areas. I even had to parallel park the car into a parking spot, of which was successful two out of three times. The third time I said the heck with it and went down a few more blocks to a parking lot. Some days it's easier to walk than to fight into a spot. I thought all was going to be well in my world while on my own. Yesterday was my first solo day, and of course, I got lost on my way to lunch. Dang, it's going to be a long week next week.

So here we are. I am home safe and sound and trying to block out the fact that I go back again on Monday morning! I think I'm ok getting in and out of the airport. But once I'm on site, it will be another story.

You know, they can implant a microchips in your pet's neck. So, if your pet is lost, they scan the chip through the neck and get your info in order to return the pet safe and sound. Do you think I can get one of those implanted in my neck? Maybe when I'm lost, I can go to a some scan station and have them scan me and tell me which way to go to get home. It's either that or I need me a nice pair of size 10 ruby slippers.

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