Colorado

On Sunday, December 15 I found myself on a plane smiling and wondering if the things that happen to me, happen to other people or if perhaps I’m special. I decided I’m not special, at least not in that way, I think I see things a bit differently and I just don’t have the ability to say no. Ron White once said “I was told I had the right to remain silent, I just didn’t have the ability”. I’m pretty sure that applies to me, in most situations.

Here’s how I happened to be on that plane. The following is over text message the week before Thanksgiving:

Friend: Hey girl, I’m thinking about the same surgery you had last year, how long is the recovery?
Me: Best thing I’ve ever done, recovery is 6 to 8 weeks.
Friend: Crap, that’s a long time.
Me: Let me know when you schedule it and I’ll see if I can come out and stay with you, you really should have someone with you around the clock for the first few days.
Friend: Will do, thanks.

2 days later:

Friend: Scheduled for December 16th.
Me: Holy crap that was fast. Let me check my schedule and my checkbook, not sure I can swing that.
Friend: Ok.

2 hours later:

Friend: Frontier has one-way tickets for $84, I’m buying you a ticket and you can drive me and my car back to Minnesota.
Me: Ok, if you’re sure.
Friend: I’m sure.

And that my friends is pretty much how I happened to be on a plane to Denver on December 15th. She’s originally from my home town and doesn’t have a ton of family in Colorado, plus, I had the same surgery last year so completely understand what she’d be going through. Trips out-of-state have been few and far between since the ‘the great job loss of 2012’ so I was happy to get away, even for a few days and even if it was to play nurse.

I arrived Sunday night and we had to be at the hospital by 5:30 Monday morning. 4:15 came early and we headed out in plenty of time. Arriving at 5:15 we were the only ones checking in, for about five minutes. Between 5:20 and 5:30 that place turned into Wal-Mart. Pajama pants, bad hairdos and a severe lack of teeth were suddenly running rampant and I was happy for the ego boost so early on a Monday.

The surgery was a success and the patient did very well, she was home with me by 2:30 PM which is completely crazy to me. I was hoping to have stories from the family waiting room but I worked and napped the entire time so didn’t pay attention to what went on around me. The real fun didn’t start until we got home.

Although Denver was beautiful while I was there, it was an 80 degree difference from Wisconsin, I didn’t enjoy the outdoors….at all. I stayed in, played nurse, worked, chased two cats and attempted to fix the boiler. Yes, I said cats and boiler in the same sentence.

We woke up on Tuesday morning and it was COLD in the house. It became apparent the heat wasn’t working when I looked at the thermostat. It was set on 68 and it was 58 in the house. Ok good. What was really great about this…….it wasn’t her house. She was house sitting for someone while recovering, so that means I was house sitting and playing nurse.

She got the homeowner on the phone and I went downstairs to take a look at the boiler. Pipes cold, yup NOT WORKING. She said she would call the plumber and let us know what the verdict was. The patient then asked “Where’s Danalia (cat)”? I said “I have no clue but I closed the gate when I went downstairs so she should be up here somewhere”. Then the plumber called. He was busy and didn’t really have time to come out so could he talk me through assessing the situation……..my response was “You can certainly try”. Here’s how that went:

Plumber: “Is the pilot light lit?”
Me: “Pilot light? Where exactly would I find that”
Plumber: “Oh boy (he thought that was under his breath I think), ok, look at the front of the boiler, you may have to take a small panel off. There is a little notch and you should be able to look in and see a blue flame.”
Me: “Ok, panel off, give me a second (as I lay on the floor), I don’t see a flame of any sort.”
Plumber: “Are you sure?”
Me: “Pretty sure I know what a flame looks like.”
Plumber: Big sigh. “Ok, find some long matches. I’m going to walk you through lighting the pilot light, it was kind of windy last night.”
Me: “I have trouble starting the sauna but I’ll try. Long matches, long matches……oooh, she has a fireplace, (up the stairs) let’s see…….got ’em!”
Patient: “Everything okay? Can I help?”
Me: “Really? Yeah sure, get off your sorry ass and come and help! Of course I don’t need your help…..dork”
Plumber: “What was that?”
Me: “Never mind, I’ve got the matches.”
Plumber: “Alright, now go down to the boiler.”
Me: “I’m here.”
Plumber: “Ok, there’s a red button, you have to push it in order to be able to get the pilot light lit, then you have to hold it down for at least a minute after it lights.”
Me: Put him on speaker phone, lay it on the floor and I lay on the floor, cold cement basement floor. “Ok, holding, lighting, holding……tell me when a minutes up…….dude, are you still there?”
Plumber: “Yep, keep holding.”
Me: “Feels like an hour, finger is going to fall off.”
Plumber: “No it won’t.”

We went through this three times and the pilot light did not stay lit, there were curse words, 12 matches and a burnt finger. During the third time I hear a MEOW and see a cat out of the corner of my eye. What the!!! Where did she come from??

Me: “Denalia, bad kitty, stay, stay here by me, you’re not supposed to be down here. Naughty kitty.”
Plumber: “Do I dare ask?”
Me: “This *&%^$@ cat is not supposed to be down here and she’s not staying by me so I can take her upstairs when I’m done here.”
Plumber: “Cat’s don’t stay.”
Me: “Thanks Tips. This is not staying lit.”
Plumber: “Ok, I will rearrange my schedule and come out and get it fixed, it needs a (&*&^%#$.” No idea what he said the part was called and at that moment I didn’t really care.
Me: “Ok, thanks, see you later, we’re here all day.”

I then started the first cat search which yielded nothing. After about 10 minutes I gave up and went upstairs. After washing the dirt and soot off me I filled in the patient on what was happening so she could relay the information to the homeowner. I then went back to the basement to find the cat. Luckily I did find a cat. I grabbed the cat, held it out in front of me and brought her upstairs. I presented her to the patient like a gift and said “who is this?” She said “that’s Winks”. Not happy, I was not happy. That meant both cats had made their way downstairs.

I gave up on the cats until after the plumber came and finished the job. Then I gave up on them for a couple more hours. Continually calling them. They don’t listen. Cats do not listen. After a few hours I snuck downstairs and found them both curled up on a bed. Thankfully they didn’t fight me when I grabbed them. No idea how they both got through the gate.

The plumber came and fixed the boiler so we were happy to have heat and thankful it was fixed before we had to leave.

I won’t go into detail about the cats getting into the garage the next day and me having to get them out of there. I am not a cat person and I do not do well crawling on all fours on a garage floor under a 1969 VW Bug trying to catch a cat by its tail. That was a several hour deal and it caused my blood pressure to go up. Did I mention I don’t like cats?

On Thursday we were ready to start the trek from Denver to central Minnesota. The car was packed, and I mean packed, and we were strapped in. For those of you who have been reading my stories know that I don’t sleep well, you probably also know that I have narcolepsy when in a vehicle of pretty much any kind. As the only driver on this trip, I was worried about how this was going to go. The one good thing about it was that I had to stop every two hours for the patient to get out and walk around, which then would allow me to regroup as well.

About ten minutes into the trip I started to giggle. My patient looked and me and asked, “Do I even want to know?” I said “Well, I was just thinking how this story is going to start. It starts with a narcoleptic/insomniac driver playing nurse to her patient passenger who takes an anti-seizure pill, stool softeners, Ibuprofen, an anti-nausea pill and Percocets each day. Oh, and just to let you know, if you have a seizure for the first time in five years I’m going to strap you in the back with all three seatbelts, shove a wallet in your mouth and keep driving.” She said “Don’t, it hurts to laugh” and shook her head at me.

The trip was fairly uneventful. My passenger was craving Taco John’s at one point and found one online for us to stop at. The bad news was when we got there it was closed for their employee holiday party. We stopped and stared in the window for a couple of minutes but that did not deter them from having their fun.

We had several other laughs to make the day go fast. As the driver, I did very well and didn’t fall asleep at the wheel once, I didn’t even hit a rumble strip! It’s the little things.

We made it to Sioux Falls and found a lovely Motel 6 where it seems the only thing they do is leave the light on. Which is unfortunate because then you can actually see what you’re sleeping in. At one point my patient dropped something from her bed and we heard it land on the floor and then hit something under her bed. That was a 15 minute process of extreme laughter and being grossed out because there was garbage under her bed.

The final five-hour leg was sunny and gorgeous with no incidents. My patient actually drugged herself up enough to sleep a majority of the day so I talked to myself and sang. Once we were at her parents her nephew came and picked me up and brought me to St. Cloud where I was meeting another friend so I could get to my car in Minneapolis. I met her and her family at a restaurant. I was a bit early so got lots of looks as I sat in the entry way with a suitcase and a computer bag for an hour. I think the staff started to think I wasn’t meeting anyone and was really homeless.

I made it home Saturday morning in time to work two eight-hour bartending shifts. I was exhausted but happy. My friend has made a full recovery. I’m sure it was in spite of my nursing abilities. That’s not a job I could do. I told her I draw the line at wiping her butt. I said I would just take the garden hose after her. She told me not to make her laugh. I didn’t listen.

Girl’s Weekend

Three of us have been talking about getting in a car, finding a town where no one knows us, spending the night and whoopin’ it up. We’ve been talking about it for a month or more but we keep getting bad weather. Perhaps we’ll be able to go in July at this rate.

Anyway, one of the girls has a really great guy friend and he happened to hear us talking and asked “Why can’t I go on your girl’s weekend”? I should tell you that he is one of those guys you could look at all day. Good looking, great teeth, smiles a lot and is very witty. We call him our eye candy and I am his stalker. I’m okay with that. Back to his question…..it has given us weeks of entertainment. Not only have we been teetering back and forth on whether we should actually put him in the trunk and take him with us but also what would happen if we did.

This whole concept came to a climax on Sunday. The four of us happened to be sitting around chatting and the girl’s weekend came up. We again started in on what would happen if we took the lone gunman with us. Two of us went off on a massive tangent. As you read the conversation below imagine it happening with progressing laughter, at a decibel like non other and us crying most of the way.

Me: “Can you imagine what shape he would be in when we brought him back? You know, dirt smeared everywhere, draggin’ a leg.”

Her: “Oh my, you’re right. A cast on his leg, his pants shredded to the knee.”

Me: “An eye patch, oh yeah, he would be wearing an eye patch!”

Her: “One arm in a sling!”

Me: “Oh, oh, one of those collar things, you know, the things they put on dogs so they don’t lick their wounds!”

Her: “A cone, oh shit a cone, how funny would that be!!”

Me: “Leg in a cast, arm in a sling, an eye patch and a cone!!!”

Her: “Oh, oh, oh, and his shirt buttoned wrong!!!!”

Me: Uncontrollable laughter.

Her: Tears, uncontrollable laughter.

Me: Incoherent English.

Her: Through tears, “He should have something wrong with that pretty face, oh, a rug burn on his nose”

Me: “How did he get the rug burn?”

Her: “Who cares!! He has it and there’s more where that came from!”

Me: Doubled over, can’t breathe, tears streaming down my face.

Imagine the original conversation taking probably seven minutes or so and containing massive fits of laughter. The other two were attempting to set up something on a phone so weren’t paying attention to us completely. When they were done being all techie we reenacted our conversation which took another 15 minutes or more. Our laughter had only intensified during the remake.

I know girl’s weekend will happen. I have no idea whether the lone gunman will come with us. If he does, I cannot guarantee he will return in one piece, or return in the car or the trunk or if he will even be lucid when we drop him off at home. I make no promises other than sore stomach muscles from laughing and that we’ll all make it home, one way or another.

I’m fairly positive I will not be able to write a story about it under my own name.

Writer’s Cramp

Well hello there. I know, it’s been too long. My apologies for that. There are a few things that have hindered my ability to post these days.

I went on a short vacation to meet Idaho. We had a blast, I took lots of notes and plan to write a story or two about our endeavours. You won’t be disappointed, we had tons of laughs and a medical issue on this trip, I knew the healthy streak wouldn’t last long.

Picking up bartending shifts and the two-hour time difference from Nevada has my nights and days screwed up and of course the tiny sleep schedule I do have is completely out the window. I don’t think I sleep at all now and I’ve pretty much stopped eating too. Run for cover, hide the children, call 911! There has never been a time in my life that I don’t eat. As my sister and I say, ‘feed a fever, feed a cold, feed everything’. I’m not holding my breath on actually losing any weight though, I couldn’t get that lucky.

Without an actual full-time day job, the developer of my phone app at a new job which keeps him too busy to do his side work (what’s that all about?) and some newfound determination to discover a dream job, I decided to dive headlong into putting a book together. Not a small project to embark on. I’m making wonderful progress though. I’m pulling particular stories from the blog and also adding new stories that won’t be found here. Sorry, I’ve been cheating on you and writing for my book. It’s just writing, it doesn’t mean anything, don’t be like that. I’m sorry baby. Oh wait…..I think I went off on a tangent there. ….awkward.

I’ve actually been writing quite a bit so I believe the writer’s cramp I’m feeling in my hands is legitimate, bartending is a vacation compared to putting a book together. I never thought I’d say bartending was a vacation.

See you soon!

The First Time

Stop. Not THAT first time, I just threw up in my mouth thinking about having to share that story so that won’t be happening. Ewww.

I leave for Reno in less than three days and I will be going without a computer. I know, therapy is scheduled and TSA has been alerted. Even prior to the days I had my own laptop I traveled with a work laptop. I think there’s only been a time or two I braved airport security and didn’t have to grab an extra bin for my computer in the last ten years.

There are three reasons for me embarking on this new territory:

One, our plan is to be on the bike for a good portion of the trip. This is new for us and I’m super excited to see what sort of adventures it brings. I’m at odds about exactly what attire to pack, should I go with ‘full fledged biker chick’ or ‘first time biker chick’? I’m going to shoot for somewhere in between, I don’t have chaps, I won’t be wearing a bikini top with jeans (ever) and I can’t wear my hair in a long braid with my bandana yet. I know, I know, I’m stereotyping but that’s where I will probably be eventually so I figure I can go there.

Two, a month or so ago my computer started making a sound similar to a loud snowmobile. In order to work on it while watching TV I had to turn up the volume to 47 so I could hear it over the newly added noise. My new roommate has a very nice laptop and was kind enough to say “why don’t you use my computer, that one sounds like it’s going to burst into flames”. I have been very thankful for the offer.

I’ve had my computer since about the turn of the century and as you can understand I have LOTS of stuff saved on it so not to use it is a bit odd. I was working on it last week and it just quit on me, I mean the screen went black and it shut off completely. I hate to admit it but I haven’t had enough guts to attempt to even turn it on since then so I will not be taking it on another trip. Maybe when I get home I will talk nice to it, pray to the computer gods and push the power button.

Three, I DON’T HAVE TO! It hit me that this is the first time I will be traveling where I don’t have to check work emails, be available by cell phone for work or wonder what’s happening with my clients while I’m gone from work. Holy crap, I don’t have a job!! I mean, it’s been very obvious I don’t have a job, but wow is life changing.

Although a portion of my Thanksgiving trip to Idaho was without a job, I still had my computer and still had to tie up loose ends while I was gone. All in all, I can’t wait!!! I can’t wait to see what going away is like without having to bring a computer, check work emails, check-in to make sure everything is okay or take client calls. I’m excited and nervous for my first time.

As I was packing today a weird feeling came over me when I realized I could take an actual carry on with me that wasn’t my computer bag. What do I put in it? How big of a bag should I take? Should I only take a carry on and no actual luggage? Which bag do I use? About that time, I started getting sweaty palms and panicking so I put down all the bags and walked away. I guess this is all a work in progress.

I’m sure I’ll have stories about my first time when I return and I will be more than ready to share them with you. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that I don’t freeze up at airport security because I don’t know how to go through without a computer and not make it on my trip.

Is There Something Wrong With Me?

Please don’t answer that question because I already know the answer is a big fat yes.

There are things I do or say that make people look at me like a daisy just sprouted out of the top of my head. This could be because of habits I have, things I like or don’t like or an opinion I have. I have a few examples:

I love sleeping on the plane: I’ve traveled a lot in my day and catching a 5 AM flight is tiring so catching some zzzz’s wherever I can is a must. Many times I’ve buckled in, crossed my arms and immediately fallen asleep only to wake up when we touch down at our destination. Even with my current sleeplessness problem I can still sleep on a plane. So many of my friends think I’m crazy because they aren’t able to sleep on a plane at all. One time I was leaving JFK and fell asleep on the tarmac and slept hard and long, I woke up and we were on the ground…….I looked at the woman next to me and she said “we’re still at JFK, you’ve been sleeping for an hour and a half”. She was not a happy camper because apparently she did not sleep. The good thing is I missed the entire delay.

Locked doors while I’m home: I lock all my doors a majority of the time when I’m at home. I think ever since the break in I’m even a bit more paranoid but I’ve always been a bit OCD about it. I usually keep my blinds closed as well especially in the summer but that’s because I’m trying to keep the house cool. I guess I’ve heard enough stories about someone wandering into a house even during the day. I have enough issues I certainly don’t need to find anyone hiding in a closet or sleeping on my couch.

Corn dogs, pot pies and fair food: If these were the only foods in the world I would starve. Perhaps this should be the new diet I try because I just wouldn’t eat. I even have trouble eating things that remotely resemble a pot pie such as pasties and calzones. Yeah, yeah, I know, they’re not the same thing. My head knows that but my stomach says ‘oh hell no’. Fair foods which include corn dogs are not something I go wild about either. I hear people talk about not being able to wait to get to the fair because of the food. Gives me the trots (that’s old-time speak for….well, you know) just thinking about it. I go to the fair for a good ego boost, nothing but people watching on my mind.

My toilet paper supply: A friend recently pointed out my toilet paper supply when I had my basement door open. She was laughing because my extra shelf was plump full. I didn’t tell her about my stash under the sink in the bathroom as I didn’t need to hear about that. I did tell her that there’s one thing that I never want to happen and that’s run out of toilet paper. One can work around running out of milk, bread, toothpaste, dish soap, etc. but running out of toilet paper could be completely tragic, especially if it’s while company is in the house. I wouldn’t want it to happen to me or my company. I can’t even imagine either of those scenarios….sometimes it’s necessary for three or more wipes, can you imagine not having enough paper for the first wipe???

I’m sure as people read this I will get notification of other things I do that cause alarm so expect a second installment of this post at some point.

Florida – Remaining Days

Wow is it hard to make (take) time to write when you’re on vacation!

Things went great and there are lots of stories, somehow a lot of the stories I won’t write about here but I think I can give some good ideas as to what’s been going on. If I’m vague, fill in the details as you wish.

Laying by the pool EVERY day.
Grocery shopping, gotta love the people you run into there.
Sunset celebrations by the pool. This is where the guy in the orange shorts was first spotted. Again, people watching at it’s finest. Imagine 15 adults attempting to hula hoop in bathing suits.
Finding a pool hall 10 minutes away from the resort. Score!! Then finding out that Stan from NY hangs out there and he’s full of crap. Story to be blogged later.
Finding dive bars and locals, nothing beats this. They have buckets of beer there too.. what a great concept.
Eating at the worst restaurant in the area. A Dominican place the locals told us about. Bad news, there was nothing good about it but we did find it awfully funny when Idaho was attempting to speak Spanish to them. He really only knows bad words in Spanish.
Hanging out on Daytona Beach while Tropical Storm Sean is brewing. Holy waves Batman!
Hanging out and laughing with a coworker and his wife who live near Daytona. What a great evening.
Watching 3 back to back episodes of Wipeout in the room and laughing until we cried. I know, pathetic but hilarious.
Being sick from the dive bbq place we found…..not so funny but a great way to get to know each other better.
Headaches, a bad back, a cracked foot, bad stomachs, sore shoulder, bruises and bumps. Not funny but funny.
Walking back from the pool, completely sober, going to our room and the key doesn’t work. After several tries each we realized we were on the wrong floor!! Thank goodness the third floor keys don’t work on the secnd floor! No idea what happened here, especially since we took the stairs.

The best thing about the trip was the laughing. Whether it was just us or we were with other people we met. That was the key to our trip. My suggestion: find something that makes you laugh every day.

Florida – Day 1 and 2

Well, we survived the first two days in Florida…..barely.

At 5:00 AM I caught my shuttle bus to the airport. Having gone to bed at 1:00, this was not a welcome scenario. I was tired and looking forward to the drive because it would be a great 2 or more hour nap. WRONG!! I was the only passenger on the shuttle and the driver was a talker. I did doze in and out and hopefully he stopped talking when I started snoring; however, it was windy so keeping it between the lines was a struggle for him. I was being thrown around like the captain of the Titanic. After a stop at Toby’s in Hinckley the trip was pretty good and napping was alright.

The reunion at the airport was great, so good to see him after 10 weeks. Our flight was great and we sat next to someone who was funny and friendly so that was pleasant. Our arrival at the resort was good and without incident. Our room does exactly what it’s designed to do and we’re basically in heaven.

We made our home at the restaurant for food and football yesterday afternoon and evening. Idaho is a talker so I couldn’t leave him alone for 5 minutes without him meeting someone new. We met interesting people from Britain and Washington. So much so we laughed so hard my ribs still hurt this morning. We are also both people watchers and completely find the swimwear and outfits people wear hilarious.

You can find the same types everywhere you go. The couple who has to make sure everyone notices them and their tan perfect bodies with designer swimwear, some plastic surgery and bratty kids. The bratty kids are always the haha moment for me. Then you have the older couple who have been in the sun for the past 6 weeks….straight and their skin looks like it’s made of some old shoe leather. Then you have that group of guys who are on a guys weekend, they’re fun to watch, for a minute or two, and then they’re just annoying. You will then find the best (or worst, however you want to look at it) swimsuits, the oddest outfits and best mullets.

Then we saw it, the best one of the day, the guy in the orange shorts, not a small guy, not a huge guy but somewhere in between, the best part of him was that his shorts were shoved so far up his rear end I think there was a permanent crease in them. This was so good it got us through conversation for a couple of hours. The part of that I love is that he doesn’t care what anyone else thinks, him and his orange shorts are having a blast.

I’d tell some more stories but I’m going to keep this clean and sober, you’re welcome to use your imagination as it probably isn’t all that far off. I do know this, we’ve laughed a lot, had great weather, laughed a lot, had great food and laughed a lot. What more could you ask for on vacation?

Vacation

I leave for vacation in less than a week! For me, that means it’s time to panic. For Idaho, it’s time for him to think I’m crazy. I’ve had my suitcase out for a couple of weeks and slowly started putting items in it. He thinks he might start packing on Saturday, which is the day before we leave!! I believe he may be the one that’s crazy…shhhh…don’t tell him I said that.

Last night I started the anxiety train about ‘forgetting something’ and packed my entire suitcase. I was almost ready to shut it when it hit me that I didn’t put any swim suits in! Seriously, there is something wrong with me, packing and zipping it 7 days before I’m ready to leave, without swimsuits. No wonder I forget stuff.

I used to travel for work and would basically do the same thing, worried I would end up in the middle of New Jersey shopping at a gas station for nylons, black socks or dress shoes. I was meticulous about making sure I had everything, even more so after my coworker packed two different color shoes one trip. She had to borrow a pair from another coworker, they were a bit big for her and we laughed the entire time she had to wear them. I wasn’t about to end up in front of a hundred Financial Advisors in tennis shoes or no shoes at all.

I’m sure I will ‘repack’ several times this week and still forget something. I’m leaving myself little to no room for error this time as I’m taking the shuttle to the airport. There will be no stopping to shop before the airport for sure. Speaking of the shuttle, if you’re on I 35 early Sunday morning and see me walking, please pick me up. I’ve never taken the shuttle before so hopefully it gets me to the airport on time and in one piece.

Here’s to a well packed suitcase, safe travels and a trip full of funny stories I can share.

Dream Job

I used to say that my dream job would be taking vacations for those people who never took them. I’d travel with their family to wherever they wanted to go, take pictures and eat their favorite foods. So many people have no ‘time’ to take vacations and allow their vacation days to expire or just keep rolling them over. I’m a firm believer in vacations but I’ve decided that is not my dream job anymore. Why? Because I’d have to travel with their families, take pictures and eat their favorite foods, that’s why. Thinking about it more in-depth I realized I can’t travel with just anyone and when you find someone you don’t like to travel with it can be miserable.

I traveled for work for about a two-year stretch and traveled with approximately 20 different people (that’s not counting the 45 people I traveled with on a bus to Indianapolis for a trade show, that’s for a completely different post). I would dare to bet that if I had the choice I would only pick 10 to 12 of the 20 to travel with again. Not because I don’t like them, because our traveling styles are completely different.

You find out what people are really made of when you’re stranded at an airport, getting frisked, need help hauling work materials, or driving in traffic. Some of that is very scary. I’ve been in Detroit overnight with a coworker (and a random guy from the re-ticketing line), I’ve had to take off a suit jacket and get frisked in a see-through tank top standing in front of a window where my coworkers were watching, I’ve been left behind because a coworker was more worried about their one bag than the 5 I had to carry containing work materials and I’ve been lost in New Jersey because of bad directions. You will probably hear about all of those things as each one has quite the story.

There are trips that I’ve actually prayed would come to an end because of the sheer misery of the situation and the person I was traveling with. On the other hand there have been trips I prayed would never end because of the fun we were having.

After I traveled for work and couldn’t pick my travel partners was when I decided my dream job was no longer my dream job. I was going to pick the people I take my personal vacations with. It’s time I move on and find a new dream job. I’ll let you know what I decide.