It's been interesting traveling with the company laptop as my only real connection to the rest of the civilized world (read: the internet.) Oh, I suppose you could say that my cell phone accomplishes much of the same, and I guess it does. I can access the web via the phone, too, but.. silly me.. I failed to pack along my battery charger for an 8 day trip. Hahahaha. Bright boy.
(Really, I intentionally left it home, and took my spare battery instead, figuring that between the two of them I could make it 8 days and not have to crawl under my desk to disconnect the charger and then have to crawl under it again when I get back to put it where I had it before I left, see? Except that being on the web really sucks the battery level down fast – about as fast as the 20-somethings in Vegas sucked margaritas down from those neon-colored-plastic-bong-like-tube-with-a-funnel-on-one-end-thingies they carried as they gamboled down the Strip in the wee hours of the morning. Not that I was out in the wee hours of the morning to see this, mind you. They sucked it down pretty well during the day, too. I'm just assuming they repeated the behavior all night until unconscious. Actually, I'm just trying to see how long I can make this parenthetical comment last. Pretty long, I guess. I could go for more, but you're probably already pretty annoyed by it, aren't you?)
So as I was saying before I distracted myself, the company laptop isn't the easiest way to keep up on email and blog entries, etc. It uses a secure VPN, and only certain networks (wired or wireless) meet the security standards. And of those, only a few have made advance arrangements with my company to direct-bill the usage charges. The most ubiquitous of those few is.. Starbucks. L I hate Starbucks! It's big-box coffee, just served in a smaller box. Yucko.
Plus, when you're on foot, and there's no Starbucks near by.. you just do without your bi-hourly webfix, mostly. Or, you pay to use a computer at an internet café. If you can find one. Blog posts, especially, are a pain this way, since I spend so much time rereading and editing. So I tend to (like right now in the Las Vegas airport on Friday en route to California) pre-type them in advance of when I actually plan to post them, save them someplace (like on the thumb drive I carry with me on trips), and put them up when I have a chance, editing a little when I actually do the post in order to exchange anticipated events for what really happened.
So I had this really nice time in California. (I hope...) J
And really, as of the actual time of this posting, so far so good. I have had fun so far, with J1 and Rocket Dog (who still moves his tail pretty well for an old dude. Hmmm… :P Sounds familiar!) just knocking around our old community from.. wow.. 13 years ago now. Jeepers. Back when the whole family lived here, J1 was 11, and I was, um.. more ambitious. ;)
But soon I head home and will have a dire need for catching up across the board. At work, at school, for church (songs to learn for worship team on Easter morning), and in my personal life. At least I've done my required reading for TS502 while on this trip (imagine the chilling effect that reading about the Atonement has on the temptations that face you when you're in Sin City.. this is a good thing!), and am ready for the last night of class Tuesday night. Sure am glad I got that extention on my final paper. Writing that will definitely be taking up my evenings and weekend the rest of this week. After that, Holy Week will be a welcome period in many respects, not the least of which is a break from classwork.
So please excuse the traveling blogger here if the next couple of posts that follow are not really on topic and were written back before I left on this trip. It's the best I've got to offer right now. J
Hey, I think I still have time for a quick Cinnabon before we board. (I have got to stop eating like this. L Traveling lowers my resistance.) When I get back, though.. I'll be catching up on proper eating and exercise, too. I have 20 pounds to lose by the time it's shorts weather. Um, that'd be May (used to be April but I'm a bit more sensitive to cold now.) ;) Two-three pounds a week.. I can do it!
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