Home

We made it home last night in one piece. Whenever I travel, no matter where, once I am on my way home I just want to get there. Yesterday was no exception. We made good time. Pulled out of the driveway at 3 p.m. on the nose, and pulled into our garage at 8:30 p.m., with a stop for dinner. After some debate, we took the backway out of the San Fernando Valley and avoided LA Traffic.

We were so happy to be home, we brought in the bare minimum, let the dogs out and fed all the pets, took our evening meds and went straight to bed. I think we were out by 9:45 p.m.

Evidently, the pets were happy to see us. I get the impression that while Dave was housesitting, he kept the dogs out of the master bedroom because if they have to go, they go in front of the bathroom door. So the pets hadn't interacted much in a few days. The decided to get reacquainted while we tried to sleep.

Between Rosebud's barking, Thorndyke's leaping over Amy to get at Flo and Flo's whining kept Amy up more than me. The only pet that really isn't on the list is Midge, but even she puked right next to the bed this morning. She stayed under the bed until the dogs were locked out this morning (after their third request to go out in 45 minutes) and then came up on the bed and snuggled with us. Very cute.

Anyway, I locked the dogs out of the master bedroom this morning on my way out, and Amy got about 90 minutes of solid sleep.

Now we get to get our house back in order ahead of Amy going back to work on Thursday.

Thanks to Dave and Jennifer for looking after the pets and the house and we are just thrilled to be home.

What a week - and it's not over yet

I don't think I've been so relieved for the weekend to come as this week. It's been a hell of a week. First, there was the relief of not having to go to India. Instead, it looks like I am going to week of March 11th - that's cool - it works better for me anyhow.

The work on Leni's house continues. Amy's had a ton of help during the week. We knew that our friends Brian and Amanda would be out here for two days and that would be of great help, but Jo, her family and Leni's friend Arlene have been tremendously helpful. While we aren't going to make our overall goal of having the house completely cleaned out, it's in much better shape now and we will be in a position to get it emptied, rehabbed and rented sooner rather than later.

Work has been crazy. I've never been quite so double booked in my entire life. We have two major implementations along with my client commitments. Calls starting as early as 6 and 7 a.m. and the last one being at 4 p.m. makes for some very long days and not a whole lot of work getting done.

Plus, with us being in LA, our time has been split. We want to see friends and family here, but that's balanced with the desire to get work done.

I can't wait to get home...

Ash Wednesday 2007

Well, it's here again. Ash Wednesday. Blech. It's not that I despise Lent. It's a good time of year for spiritual reflection (yes - I do that.) What I despise is the abstinence from meat. That that I am a huge carnivore. I just don't care for fish. Fish and Chips does nothing for me. So I'll be eating a lot of salmon (fish I like), Italian food and peanut butter the next six weeks or so.

This year Keds and I are doing the Lent thing right. We are giving up some additional items this year. Both of us are giving up all carbonated beverages. That'll be a test because it's so easy to have around the house. Keds is giving up fried foods. That'll be tough for her because she's been craving French Fries a lot lately. I am giving up beer. In a way, we are using this to kick start our health kicks. Now that the New Year's Resolution folks have stopped going to the gym, that should be more open as well.

Is anyone else giving up anything good for Lent?

Off the hook

Well, instead of packing to head to the airport and be off to India I am back sitting in our apartment and planning our week out. My client called me this morning with 103 degree fever and he was rescheduling his trip. So I get to stay home and be supportive for my wife as she finishes the horrible task of cleaning out her Mom's house.

Anyway, more later.

Free Fallin'

Everytime we come to Los Angeles, I can't help but think of that Tom Petty song "Free Fallin'" mostly because of the line about Ventura Boulevard. It's a key road through the San Fernando Valley (yes - I married a Valley Girl) and every time I see a sign with it the song pops in my head. That's OK, the Sheryl Crow song "All I Wanna Do" pops in my head every time we drive past Santa Monica Blvd.

Anyhoo, it's been a difficult week here. First, the purpose of the trip is not all that fun. Cleaning out Leni's house wasn't going to be a pleasant task under ideal circumstances, and these circumstances are far from ideal. Between the work done as a group on Saturday and what Amy's been able to accomplish on her own a tremendous amount of progress has been made. Tomorrow should be a highly productive day - we are having a PODS unit delivered today and have a bunch of folks coming to help us load that sucker up. We should be able to make good progress tomorrow cleaning out the non-personal items and items we know are coming back to Las Vegas with us.

Not that this week is completely without drama. The push-pull of the fact that I am working while Amy is dealing with this hasn't been easy on either of us. We were both pretty frustrated and needed to talk it out last night.

No trip to LA is complete without me getting pissed at Jill. Jill is a friend of Leni's who has an opinion on EVERYTHING (I know - it's the pot calling the kettle black.) My favorite line is typically "You don't need to explain yourself to me" as she presses for details and makes you explain yourself to her. In September, Jill pissed me off something fierce, and I don't think I've let it go. Amy tries to protect me by not necessarily giving me details, but they eventually come out and I go off the handle. I realize that Jill is just trying to protect Amy, but it really says that she doesn't trust me. Either that, or she really doesn't have anything else to kibbitz about, so she focuses on other people's issues and makes them miserable.

I should probably get back to work. On Sunday, I'm off to India, but it looks like I am in Business Class at least one direction. WOO HOO!