JonLowder.com

Running on Empty

I apologize ahead of time for the whining.  This time of year is usually tough for me because there's too much work and lots of stuff going on with the kids, like baseball, soccer, tennis and such.  Truth be told this year feels worse than the last few because, truth be told, I'm not getting any younger.  Right now I'm sitting at the computer trying to wind up my day after getting up at 4:45-ish, heading to the airport for a 6:30 flight to DC, heading straight to SCIP's (my client's) office and I'm still here at 8:30 (that's PM) with another hour of work to do.  I know there are lots of people who have it worse, but I'm telling you my tank's about dry.

I'm hoping to sleep hard tonight, but I'm one of those people who can't sleep well in a hotel so I don't hold out much hope.  The worst part is that this is the first day of an eight day trip.  The last four will be brutal as we put on SCIP's largest event of the year.  Everyone here will be on the clock from 6:00 a.m. until some time after dark, and everyone in SCIP's office has had it as bad (actually worse) than I've had it for the last few weeks.  I wouldn't want to be trapped in a closed room with any of us come Wednesday of next week. The upside is that these are a great group of people to work with and I seriously don't think I'd be doing it if they weren't. 

BTW, if you're in New York next week you should drop by the Marriott Marquis and check out the conference, especially if you happen to be in the competitive intelligence business.  It ain't free, but it's a great conference.  If you're not in CI then maybe you can just drop by and check out the elevators in the place; they're fast and they go way-high (49 floors).

Yep, I'm exhausted because even as I write this I know it's one of the dumbest, most self serving things I've written yet.  I know it's self serving because I've yet to mention what Celeste has to deal with while I'm gone: games that overlap and necessitate scheduling gyrations and begging for carpools, single-handed homework checking, and dealing with two teenagers and one tween for eight days solid.  It'll be a miracle if I don't come home to find her in AA.

But, it beats the alternative of unemployment and everything that comes with it.  With that I declare this whine-fest over.  Everyone have a great week.

Am I Cool or an Embarassment?

So I roll into my driveway last night, or rather this morning at 1:30 a.m. returning from my brief business trip to DC.  I'm up at 5:30 because I have a tight deadline that I have to meet today, and I go out to the driveway to get the paper while the coffee's brewing.  There I find that this little 'ol blog has been profiled in the Winston-Salem Journal, and it includes a picture of the family.  I'm thinking this is kind of cool and I'll bet the kids will love seeing their picture in the paper, so I put it on the kitchen counter and get the two olded up at their usual 6 a.m. to get ready for school. (The youngest is at Camp Hanes with the rest of Lewisville's 5th graders). Here's what happened:

• Neither one of them noticed the paper on the counter.  They're pretty much zombies in the morning.
• I pointed out the article to Michael, my 14 year old son, first.  He says "Cool" and goes to get dressed.
• Five minutes later I pointed out the article to Erin, my 13 year old daughter.  She says "Oh my God.  This is so embarassing.  I'm going to be laughed at at school."  Then she packs her stuff up, gives me a kiss and leaves for the bus.
• Michael says "See ya" and runs out the door after her.

That left me with a cup of coffee and the question of whether I'm cool or an embarassment.  Yep, a normal day.

FYI, Kim Underwood from the Journal emailed me some questions for the profile a few weeks ago and asked for a picture.  I wasn't sure if it would actually make the paper because the other blogs they've profiled involve "missions", or in other words they are written by people doing something good for the world.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out he actually ran the profile since this thing is pretty much random thoughts spilling out of my addled brain.  Make sure you check out next week's Web Sightings since it will feature what I consider the best blog in town, Life in Forsyth.