Busy, Busy, Busy

Well, I'm back on the road again. It was great the last couple months to spend most of my time at home with only an occassional trip for work. Things have gotten crazy again, and so I am literally scheduled to be on the road every single week through the end of the year. ::Sigh:: No rest for the wicked, I suppose.


Last week was my birthday...happy 36 to me! I had to be down in D.C. for a couple days (including my birthday). I received a call from a head hunter on Tuesday asking if I would be interested in interviewing for a position for a job in Southern CA. Of course, I said "ABSOLUTELY!". The company has already been through a couple candidate slates, and so he's kind of in a rush to provide some more people. He's located in Denver, and I mentioned I'd be out there for a conference this week, but that wasn't soon enough for him. He decided to fly into D.C. and meet me at the hotel I was staying at so we could have dinner there, and he could interview me.


Well, I had made reservations at a hotel that almost no one in my company stays at, but is close to where the meeting the next day was being held. On the flight down to DC on Thursday morning, one of the Directors on the Leadership Team I'm on saw me and switched seats so that we could sit next to each other on the flight down. He happened to mention that he and several others of the team had decided to stay at the same hotel I had chosen. He invited me to join a bunch of them for dinner and drinks that night, but of course, I had the interview.

At about the time I was suppose to meet the head hunter, he called and said his plane had been delayed on a connection and that he wouldn't be in until almost 9 p.m. He finally arrived sometime between 10:30 and 11 p.m. I went down to the lobby to meet him, and told him that a bunch of my peers were in the hotel, and that I felt a bit uncomfortable doing an interview in the bar or the lobby. We decided to go outside the hotel, but everything near by was closed because it was so late. We started walking to a place a couple blocks away when it started to rain, so we were forced to go back to the hotel. We decide to try the bar, and I walk in and there are all my peers. I flip around and tell him that they were all in there, so we wound up in the lobby doing the interview. As we sat there talking, all of my peers walked through and saw me there doing my interview. GREAT! They either figured out I was interviewing or they think I have a thing for men a LOT older than myself. I had to laugh...there are no secrets in my life.

Friday was my birthday, and I had kiddingly told my friend on the team that if they made me be at a meeting out of town for my birthday that I expected them to have a cake for me. Although she couldn't make the meeting, she had ordered a cake to be delivered from a local bakery, and I got my birthday cake! It was fun, AND as luck would have it, I got upgraded to first class on the plane ride home. Happy Birthday to ME! LOL

On Sunday, I decided to get out and go check out Walden Pond. I had gone there when I first moved here, but it was the year we had so much rain, and I couldn't hike any of the trails. It's been a couple years, but Sunday was such a perfect day, that I headed over there and spent the afternoon hiking around the pond. It was so beautiful, I can definitely see why Henry David Thoreau decided to spend a couple years there. There were a TON of people, and let me just say, way too many men in speedos. I haven't seen that many men in speedos outside of a gay community since I was in Europe. The more I walked around, the more I realized that there were a ton of Europeans there, so that explained it, but still...someone needs to let men know that speedos are just not flattering. I think we should start a "Just say NO to Speedos" campaign.

On Tuesday, I flew out to Denver, CO for the annual Raytheon HR Leadership Conference. We usually hold them in DC, but they wanted to shake things up this year. Denver was absolutely gorgeous. As I was standing outside the airport waiting on the hotel shuttle to pick me up, I just stood there and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and weather. I can see why people move there. This conference turned out to be one of the best they've had since I've started attending them. It started out with them giving each of us an 80 GB video iPod with all the presentations uploaded on it. Give me a $300 gift anyday. They bought my affection upfront, which I am totally OK with. Other than that, they brought in several Professors from Wharton Management School (one of the top MBA programs in the country). They really were amazing.

For the fun event they have each year, we went to the Museum of Natural History and Science. They had rented out the museum and had this really great dinner there. Then after the program, we were allowed to roam the museum. They had this an amazing and incredibly moving display on the Titanic. I was actually able to touch part of the Titanic, which was pretty amazing. That was a pretty cool opportunity, which I really enjoyed.


Anyway, the interview I had last week went really well. I got a call on Thursday, and they have me flying to Nashville to interview at the company headquarters tomorrow for a early Monday morning session. I felt kind of badly because I had to ask that they provide me with teleconferencing facilities during the day because I have a big project I'm leading that I have already scheduled an important meeting for, so they are setting me up with facilities to hold my meeting. I also couldn't totally confirm that I would be there on Monday because we have been in negotiations with the union we have in MA, and they were voting today whether to ratify their contract or not. If they voted to strike, I was in charge of the command center, so I would have had to stay in MA through the strike. Luckily, everything went smoothly, and I found out this afternoon that the union isn't striking. With so little notice and rush on their part, they have been kind to be so flexible. Things have worked out, and I'm off to Nashville first thing in the morning. I figured since I had to fly in on Sunday, I might as well go early enough to do a little sightseeing, right? :) Wish me luck on my interview!!


Today, I decided to get out and about and enjoy the fall colors that we're currently experiencing. I found this place called "Garden in the Woods". It is a nature preserve/botanical garden. It was incredibly beautiful to walk the trails and see all the flowers and trees. One thing about New England, it sure it pretty here. I spent a couple hours hiking around checking out the lakes, ponds, and floral & Fauna. It was such a beautiful day to be out and about. After that, I had to go buy a new suitcase. My poor suitcase has worn out with all the traveling I've been doing the last couple years. I actually bought 2 - a smaller one and a really big one so that when I go on my next big (fun) trip, I'll be set. I found them at TJ Max for a steal of a deal. I bought my carry on that I use all the time there, and it's such a great carry on that I got for practically nothing, that I was thrilled to go back and get a couple of larger pieces. Now I'm all set for the next few years! :)

Well, I'd better finish getting ready for my trip tomorrow. I hope you all have a super week!