2002-09-19 - 0:47

There's no such thing as Scotchtoberfest

October is shaping up to be quite interesting. As I mentioned, I booked my flight home for Friday the 4th. Saturday night will be the Cat Power concert, which also equals a chance to see Liam again, for the first time in months.

I'm not sure what I'll be able to get up to during the remainder of the week, since people will be working; but I'll likely stick around until Thursday or Friday, before bussing it to Fredericton. At any rate, it's always good to see family again; and I don't need too much excitement to be content with being home.

Heading to Fredericton at the end of the week will give me a little while to hang out with the crew there, before and after Saturday's wedding. Then, the plan was to get a ride back to Ottawa with Greg and Kelly on the holiday Monday.

So, that was all set, except for the fact that I had also volunteered to tag along with the boss on an upcoming trip--a week-long training session he's conducting. And when did they schedule it to start? The holiday Monday.

I must say, I wasn't so psyched with the idea of now having to pack for more than two weeks and having to cut short my only vacation since I started this job. Luckily, though, after some phone calls, we moved the start date.

So, the new plan is that I come back on Monday, as expected; fly to Phoenix on Tuesday; then stick around to help with training from Wednesday to the following Tuesdsay. That schedule sits much better with me.

When Dr. J first mentioned the training, it was supposed to be a trip to Cali, so I'm not sure how Phoenix came into the picture; but I think it should be fun. Being in a new city with some free time is enough to make me happy. I'm not sure how enthusiastic the doctor will be about exploring; but I'll be sure to get around as best I can.

The training itself should be no problem. The boss is leading the sessions. I'm just there to do monkey work and answer some questions, since he'll be teaching to a larger group than he wants to handle alone. It'll be essentially the same material that we prepared for his Japanese trip, so there won't be nearly as much prep work.

So, that's about two-thirds of October tied up being away. (And you thought that I hardly updated now.) Right now, just detailing the plan was enough to tire me out; but the whole affair should be a lot of fun.

J.