March 24, 1995
Dear Everyone:
I forgot to mention in my last Letter that there would be no Letter last
week because I would be out of town all week, but I figured you people
were smart enough to figure it out. Thank
you to the people who nevertheless did call and sang "Happy Birthday" to
my phone machine.
As for the Business Trip From Hell…
Nine flights in seven days. Four
fun-filled cities (not counting Denver, which was only between planes)
in five fun-filled days. Things
could have gone better, especially if I hadn't come down with a cold on
the first day in “Hobby”.
Mother was inclined to blame the airline, since they cut back on costs
by cutting back on fresh air, re-circulating the existing air, which is
the real reason so many of
them have declared all their flights are "non-smoking".
However, it is a fact that I was
with “Jeannie” on Saturday and “Jeannie” had a cold.
Exactly 48 hours later, I have a
cold. Coincidence?
Or conspiracy?
What do
you think?
We had hoped to stay at the
Four Seasons Hotel in downtown “Hobby”.
It's a genuine 4-star hotel and
you don't even have to go outside to get to Company Tower; you just take
a walkway to the shopping mall and turn right at McDonald's.
Unfortunately, the Four Seasons,
and just about every other hotel in “Hobby”, was booked that week.
Likewise all the rental cars in
town. Why?
The
Sorority Sisters of America were having a convention.
And at their base was at the Four
Seasons, so maybe it was just as well that we ended up way out by the
Galleria.
They must have been having the
Mother of all
Slumber Parties
going on.
However, it meant that we had to drive into downtown “Hobby” on Monday.
It rained on Monday. I mean, it
really rained on Monday.
From my hotel room, I could see
water coming down the street in waves. We
drove through several floods on the way.
We're talking sidewalks with whitecaps here.
Apart from that, the trip was fairly uneventful.
The traditional screaming
two-year-old on the plane. The
parade of hotel rooms, each with their little doll-sized bars of soap,
so practical and yet so irritating. (I
spent five frustrating minutes trying to get the wrapper off one in New
Orleans.) The terry cloth floor
mats that stick to your feet and try to follow you out of the bathroom.
On the other hand, I like having
a TV in the bathroom and particularly liked the TV channels that tell
you what they are, like "02 CBS" on-screen.
Could have done without the cold. Each
time we got to an airport, I'd head for the gift shop for another
"pocket size" package of Kleenex. And
I always seem to run out of Kleenex is in the hotel rooms.
Why is that?
Is there some executive in charge
of deciding what the maximum number of Kleenex is should be for a room,
in fear that a traveler will take more than their share of them?
From a business standpoint, I'd have to say that the trip was a success.
The people we visited all seem to
be happier when we left than when we arrived, so I guess it was worth
it. We came away with a whole
mess of "action items", meaning things for me to do to make their lives
even happier.
I got Monday off as a "Comp Day", meaning a day off in compensation for
traveling all week and on the weekends. And
I felt so cruddy that I called in sick on Tuesday (first time in three
years). So, naturally,
Versatile fell apart and all hell broke loose with all three Servers
in San Francisco. Someone must
have leaked it to the gremlins that I was out of town.
Things are much quieter now, and
I have hopes of getting over this cough and actually getting some work
done next week.
After the Academy
Awards, of course.
Love, as always,
Pete
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