Moments of Clarity

on the road journal

next stop, charlotte (well not really)on the plane now from des moines to charlotte...only to land, spend the night, and drive to salem VA to go visit a potential client. Then driving to Raleigh, then back to Charlotte and to Des Moines to spend Memorial weekend with our friends.
My travel schedule has really ballooned...almost in direct proportion to my desire to move away from CA (see previous posts). Des Moines seems just as nice as any Midwest town that's slower, smaller, and more "real". Not to mention that we have fantastic friends there that have returned to their roots (after making money in the CA real estate market in 7 years).
Just picked up the Senheiser pcx250 noise cancelling head phones. Nice. I'd recommend them if you're in a silver tube as much as I am lately. This traveling thing is crazy. It goes against what I am...but the response from a visit from me increases the chances of good things happening at my company by at least 50%. I've given Steph the September 30 deadline for this madness. I'll have met my goals for the company and will have been thoroughly exhausted. At that time, I'll reevaluate what I can do to travel less and be home more. My gut tells me that moving is the best option.
I'm now Platinum on American and have reached all sorts of status levels w/the hotels now. I'd rather be typing this from my deck in the wooded back yard in Des Moines versus racking up the miles. I'm no "true road warrior" but I'm scared that I've done what I have.
Ahh, ginger ale and pretzels...the wonderful fare on american eagle. most of my flights these days seem to take me on the Embraer Regional Jets run by American Eagle. These are always crappy because I'm not a small man. Oh well. At least Platinum status gets me the single seat exit row.
As we got on this plane today, I've never seen more people confused over where they were sitting. A family of 4 got on and were convinced they had gotten on the wrong flight (nearly impossible these days if not totally). They were of course looking for the wrong ticket...while some other young people had actually sat in their seats since THEY TOO had looked at their NEXT leg's ticket to obtain their assignments. Jeezus Mother of God. Having just flown w/our 2 wonderful miracles, I picked up their boy and got him out of the way and tried to help. Amazing how your perspective changes when you have your own. I wouldn't care if the kid cried the whole flight...I'd simply try to help.

posted by Doug @ 6:26 PM