Travel

Sorry I didn't get the promised music post up yesterday. I'll get it up later this week - it really is a great artist!

I'm on the road most of this week. Yet another rheology paper brought to you by Euphrony, Rheologist at Large. This week I'm in The Big Easy, New Orleans jazz and seafood are floating around me - I like that. A few quick points:

• I miss being elite. I was an elite flier with Continental, owing to a lot of travel in 2007. But 2008 had much less flying and I just lost my elite status. What that means is that I had to pay for my checked luggage, did not get to cut in the security check line, and my bag did not get a lovely sticker that tells the baggage handlers to make sure mine is one of the first onto the belt at baggage claim. Ah, well, such is life among the masses.
• I decided to take the airport shuttle to the hotel instead of a cab, which costs twice as much. In return for being cheap I got to wait 45 minutes for the shuttle to arrive.
• My hotel room is an "Accessible" room, meaning it is made for a person in a wheelchair. They asked if I was okay with that at check-in, noting it would have a shower and not a tub. Sure, I said, no problem. I didn't realize that meant the shower is zero-entry (as in nothing dividing it from the rest of the bathroom). I'm still okay with that - I just wish they had a shower curtain to keep water from spraying the toilet and towels. On the plus side, the towels. Ahhh, so soft. And big, too! I'm a six-foot guy and the towel stretched from my chin to the floor. Now that's a towel!
• The conference this year is one I regularly attend. It's usually in Houston, but they moved it this year (for whatever reason). It would seem that a different group is organizing it this year, and it seems pretty slip-shod by comparison. Hope things improve, and we'll see about the quality of the presentations and the attendance in this recession.

TTFN!

. . . and the sky was on fire . . .

So I've been out of town the last couple of days. I flew home last night - barely. I boarded the plane on time, and then a minute after I sat down I noticed that no one else was getting no the plane. Sure enough the flight attendant came on and told us we all had to get off the plane because the Houston airport had been closed by heavy rainstorms. So close! Finally, after a 90 minute delay, we reboarded and took off. As we were heading out, the flight attendant told us we were taking a somewhat different route to avoid the storm system. Below is an illustration of the normal and new flightplans:

Normal Route

"New" Route

Yes, the flight took twice as long as normal.

And did I mention that the plane smelled like poo? And I don't mean the cuddly bear with a honey pot! It seems the air-o-potty had a few issues.

But, for the last hour or so of the flight, I was treated to the most phenomenal light show I've ever witnessed. And I've seen July 4^th at DisneyWorld!

As we skirted the edge of the storm system I got to watch - rather close - the lightning discharges. Not just the ones you see on the ground, from sky to earth, but also all of the cloud to cloud strikes. I wish I had had my camera. It also reminded me of how small we are. All the effort we take to fly, and one of these random flashes could take us out of the sky. All of our clamoring for energy and electricity to power an unending appetite, and here is casually thrown around enough power to run the whole of earth's greedy demands. Humbling.

I'm glad to be home. I'm glad to have had a chance to see what I saw. (And no, the picture below is not my plane. This is from a plane leaving Japan. Read about it here.)

Someone listened to me! (I'm shocked)

In May I complained about the idiotic following of good guidelines for giving a presentation. The past two days I have spent with the same university group as they gave their fall update on projects (which my and other companies kindly pay for). Apparently somebody read my blog and got the point because only the professors and one or two new students followed the format so rigidly that it was comedic.

What a relief.

It made the nine hour day bearable. Even when half of the presentations involved finite element analysis. Now if I could only get them to move into reality and stop using such ridiculously idealized test systems. Maybe that's asking to much, though.

Rambling through Monterey: The rest of the story . . .

When we last saw Euphrony at the mega-rheology conference in Monterey, Mrs. E had just joined him in blissful weather. And he really intended to post this sooner. But didn't. And he doesn't think anybody has really noticed, either.

Day 7: Euphrony goes through conference talks, while Mrs. E sleeps till 11 and has a 2-hour massage, facial, manicure, and pedicure. (We cry for her pain.) That evening is the conference banquet. Normally, this is when the man honored with this year's Bingham Medal is roasted by colleagues, former students, and friends. Thankfully, we were given grace and this year he was simply handed a medal (along with a brief poem or two about him, rheology, and thermodynamics). Mrs. E - accustomed to running with the theater crowd - was naturally ashamed and felt awkward in a room filled with so many total nerds and geeks. She survived, we dined, and we went to bed.

Day 8: Last day of the conference, and it's only a half day. We end with a luncheon (which Mrs. E attends) and then it is pure vacation time. For Euphrony, it has been a long, exhausting week. Not only has he absorbed enormous amounts of information, but he has engaged in countless hours of small talk, bantering, socializing, networking, hobnobbing, and other forms of prattle - which comes to more words from Euphrony's mouth in one week than he normally utters in half a year. All in situations where Euphrony feels somewhat less than totally comfortable, to boot. (Euphrony has never been a very extroverted person.) For the afternoon, Mrs. E and Euphrony walk along the Fisherman's Wharf, take a glass-bottomed boat ride (the only thing viewed through the glass bottom was - wait for it - kelp), and eat clam chowder out of a sourdough bread bowl. We did see some dolphins and sea lions while we took the boat ride, through.


Day 9: Euphrony, always the early riser, is up at a decent hour. Mrs. E, however, is unable to rise from slumber before 11:00 (again!). We head up to Cannery Row, where they love to talk about their famous one-time resident, John Steinbeck, who only lived there a year because the people had little love of strangers. We go through the Monterey Bay Aquarium together (check out the picture of the line to get into the aquarium), including taking a behind-the-scenes 50-minute tour (same price for this as for the glass-bottom boat ride, and infinitely more worthwhile). After spending around five hours at the aquarium, we head out and grab some dinner at Bubba Gump Shrimp Co.. By the time we're done with dinner, it's getting dark and as we stroll back along the beach walkway, Euphrony snaps a few pics of the city lights. We also walk by a street musician who has a collection of every type of bagpipe you could imagine, among other things, and played quiet well.



Day 10: To stick with tradition, Euphrony is up early and Mrs. E sleeps till nearly 11:00. We then get moving, go down to the wharf, and catch some lunch before getting on a whale-watching boat. At lunch we got to watch a harbor seal basking in the sun just below us off the wharf. There were only a couple of humpback whales seen on this trip, but a few days before they had seen three blue whales - so we just were not lucky. That night we pack and spend a little time watching the Olympics.


Day 11: The voyage home. Poor Mrs. E. We had to catch a shuttle to the airport at 8:15, so her streak of sleeping till 11:00 was unceremoniously interrupted. We finally make it home around 6:00 that night, and Lil'E tells me she never wants me to go on another business trip again. Lil'er E only has eyes for momma. It's good to be home.

Tags: Monterey, California, Monterey Bay Aquarium, Fisherman's Wharf, Cannery Row, Whales, Dolphins, Sea Lions, Seals

"Request"

When we make a flight reservation, we are allowed to choose the seat we would like. This choice, however, is only a "request". I think most of us realize this, but you never really think of it that way, do you?

Today, as I was checking in to fly to Monterey, California (sunny, and 30 degrees colder than Houston) I was reminded that "requests" are not always honored. For reasons they cannot disclose, my lovely bulkhead window seat (no one in front of me to lay back and sleep in my lap) has been changed to a seat in the middle of the row. A little notification, and a reason, would have been nice. I'm so disillusioned.

Here's to hoping that I don't get stuck between a contestant for The Biggest Loser and some guy who spent the morning slopping the hogs before dashing to the airport without a shower.

Music Monday: Free stuff, Cheap stuff, and a challenge

First, let me say read through to the third section of this post. I'll need your help. Now, on with the show.

Free Stuff
Who doesn't like free music. Kat does, even when she has to pay $7 for it. So here is some free music for you today - and it is a departure from what you might normally think of Euphrony listening to for fun. P.O.D. is offering a free download of their new single "Shine With Me" from their album When Angels & Serpents Dance. You can go through their front page to get it, or click here to download it directly. I got this album a couple of months ago, and I will be doing a review of it (I really will, I just have not had time to do it, yet). It's a pretty good album, overall - perhaps a bit repetitive at times, but P.O.D. sounds as good as ever here and they have some good lyrics to boot. Check out "Shine With Me" - hey, it's free, what's the worst that could happen?

Cheap Stuff
So, Kat (again) has been all over this artist. But I've not seen her mention that right now you can buy and download a digital copy of Cindy Morgan's new album Beautiful Bird for only $5.99. No, it's not free - but pretty close. Go to her online store, and you'll see the option to buy the CD for $9.99 or buy all tracks for $5.99. Now you have some more good music for your listening pleasure.

Oh, by the way, have you heard about NoiseTrade? No? Well, now you have, and consider yourself lucky. Their tag line is fair trade music, and you can download some good music from some great artists by either giving them three e-mail addresses or by paying what you think is fair. Okay, sounds fair to me. (HT: Shaun and Brody)

A Challenge
Who doesn't like a little challenge now and then? Well, here is your challenge (should you choose to accept it).

Euphrony is headed off to sunny California in a couple of weeks to attend a big rheology shin-dig. I'll even be presenting a paper and a poster at this thing, plus Mrs. E will fly up after me and we'll spend a couple of child-free days in Monterey. As part of this wild gathering of us crazy rheologists from around the globe, there will be a beach party one evening as a social event. There will be ping-pong, foosball, shuffleboard, a limbo contest (I get the giggles trying to picture some of these people I know doing to limbo), and karaoke. They have published the list of available songs for karaoke and have encouraged us to prepare for "Rheology Idol".

Now, I've mentioned before that I really don't like karaoke that much. There's the bad singing, the annoying songs that inevitably get chosen, and the "drunk" factor. (Did I mention that the conference is in Monterey, and that wine will be free-flowing at the social events? I guess I should have done that.) But in the spirit of fun, Euphrony is willing to entertain the idea of joining in the karaoke madness just this one time. The full list of karaoke songs can be read here, but I've already spotted a few that would seem to fit the mood of foolish, half-drunk rheologists singing on a beach. There's David Lee Roth's "Just a Gigolo" - that would be fun. I could do my best Geddy Lee impression and sing "Fly By Night" from Rush. I could honor the best voice in rock and roll and sing "Crying" from Roy Orbison. I could go for the crowd favorite and do "Y.M.C.A." (or not). Or I could find a buddy and sing "To All The Girls I've Loved Before" in my best Willie Nelson and/or Julio Iglesias accent. I will not consider anything from Madonna (no discussion).

So, what say you? Can you convince Euphrony to karaoke? Give it a shot! And who bust a gut laughing at rheologists partying on the beach?

Things I've learned in Tennessee

Well, we finally made it home today. After 1750 miles, ~85 gallons of gas, 3 billion hours in the car, and more lapses in sanity than I can count, we're resting in our own beds tonight. Okay, so it wasn't that bad - but Lil'er E did wake up at 4:00 this morning and never went back to sleep, so we're all a little exhausted tonight.

On a different note, here are a few things I've learned while we've been visiting in Tennessee.

1. Tennessee has a lot more hills than Texas. Okay, so that's not so profound; but that does not mean its not true. Sure, Texas does have the Hill Country, but Houston is a coastal town and the biggest hills are the speed bumps in parking lots. Where I grew up in West Texas is even flatter (what flies out of your mouth when you sneeze from the dust significantly alters the elevation of the landscape there). So, I got used to driving up-hill everywhere I went - and the old joke of walking to school in the snow up-hill both ways actually makes some sense, now.
2. It's harder to play the driving alphabet game in Tennessee than in Texas. You know, the game where you have to find a letter on a road sign (using cars is definitely cheating). All because of one letter - "Q". In Texas, you can find a "q" every five minutes, as you pass the next Dairy Queen. They don't call it the Texas Stop Sign for nothin'! But, alas, it's not the Tennessee stop sign. We spent an hour trying to find a "q", and nearly gave up hope and quit in the process.
3. I've never before attended such a cool fireworks display. Oh, I've seen better fireworks, but temperature wise it was actually bearable to be outside to watch them. The July weather in Tennessee was quite pleasant, nice even, never getting above the upper 80s while we were there. This is compared to the hotter-than-hades July 4th celebrations I'm used to enduring. I'm sure, of course, that it gets hotter there in August; but in Houston in August people are known to pray for a quick death before having to go outside. It ain't pretty here (but there it was).
4. There are some mighty nice people who live in Tennessee. We had a great time with our old friends in Jackson, and we got to spend a couple of nice days with another set of old friends in Memphis. And of course there are some very nice people in Nashville, as well. We had the chance to eat a little pizza with Brody and Kristin and their three boys. We did not have the chance to meet with Stephen or Chaotic Hammer, though - maybe the next time we are in the same geographic region we'll have more time.
5. Other parents have some funny stories about their kids. I mean, really funny. So I mentioned our friends in Memphis. They have two boys about the age our my kids. We spent the 4th riding the trolley through downtown Memphis (past Beale, saw the site of MLK's assassination, etc.). They told us, though, about their oldest boy's growing curiosity about the differences between his own equipment and daddy's. Then they told us about finding him, with a black marker, drawing pubic hair on himself and his little brother - to be more like daddy. (This space is intentionally left blank for your laughter.)

Well, we'll talk more once I've slept tonight. And maybe tomorrow night. And the night after that, too. Pictures will be forthcoming, as well.

Do you have any good memories of Tennessee?

Just past half-way

The count, at just past half-way through the family vacation.

• 880 miles traveled so far
• 45 minutes of children sleeping in the car
• 1 child who actually slept
• 3 places we have slept
• 2 more places to sleep before home
• 1 Pixar movie seen by Lil'E, NatCh, and myself
• 2 museums visited (one art and one science)
• 1 dinner plan canceled because of 1 bee
• 2 children waking up way too early every day
• 1 barbershop convention, with attendees at this hotel (and singing in the lobby at 10:00 pm)

Lots of fun! I'm practically bouncing off the walls! This picture pretty much says it all.

At Sea

When we last saw Euphrony, he was meandering about Tennessee catching fireflies with his daughter at a friends house. He is still in Tennessee, not on a cruise.

So how many of you know what it means when you say someone is at sea? Besides referring to taking a cruise it can also mean that a person is totally clueless, lost as it were. Apparently, that can be said of a certain engineer on vacation right now.

Go ahead and laugh at me. I'm mentally disengaged. My thought processes couldn't decipher simple algebra, much less the complexities of packing for two adults and two children for a ten-day trip. Yep, the logistics have failed me.

First, a simple thing. I left the kids swim gear at home. No swim suits, no swim toys, no goggles - nothing. Not a terribly unusual occurrence, but it did take me three full days to figure it out. But that's not the worst. Oh no, not by far.

Part of our grand planning was to wash clothes in the middle of our trip. Pack less, much easier. Until I leave our dirty laundry bag at my friends house in Jackson - a two hours drive from Nashville (where we are now). Oh well, so much for planning. Maybe next time my brain will vacation with me (I hope so, at least). For now we'll make due with what we have and be thankful that we're driving back through Jackson in a couple of days on our way home. Clothes will be recovered, and we will survive.

Unless my brain slips into a deeper coma, that is.

Till then, check out the bloggers for the 40 Day Fast - Lorijo talking about justice in Peru and Fayola talking about clean water. Tomorrow is Licia, a nurse in Haiti (I can't read her blog without copious tears), and Chris, talking about Kiva and microfinancing. Go read their blogs today.

Vacation fever

So here's a couple of pictures from the vacation thus far. This is where we are staying: The Great Wolf Lodge, with promised indoor water park.


And this is Lil'er E as we take him to the doctor. Yes, Vacation Fever did hit the Euphrony's, and sleep was not obtained last night. But we're pressing on, and Lil'E is having a blast. She's got a magic wand that she can wave at various items throughout the hotel and go on "quests" (while she's not swimming, that is).



Having a good time, anyway. See ya later!

I've got a fever

Vacation fever! I've been seriously burned out the last few weeks. Doing way too much both at home and at work, plus the ol' blogosphere. So the Euphrony family is getting outta here for a few days. I'm taking the rest of the week off and we're going to meet the extended Euphrony family at a hotel with an indoor water park. All the fun with half the sunburn!

I've gotten, like, nothing done at work the last two days. Too distracted I guess, or too much of a migraine this afternoon. We'll have computers with us - Mrs. E still has to teach her on-line class - but the internet will not be my big focus. I just bought a couple of new books and want to see what kind of a dent I can make in them when I'm not swimming with the kids.

Do be looking for some action from me on Inspired to Action, though. I just posted some thoughts earlier today, the first I've been able to contribute in a while. Plus, I'm getting an interview together with a teenage girl named Ellie. If you live in the Nashville area you may know her name - three years ago, at the age of 10, she organized the first Ellie's Run for Africa to raise money for schools in Africa. The fourth annual run is this weekend and I've been talking with her about it all. Also, I've been talking with Jason Gray and hope to have an interview with him on World Vision and IJM pretty soon. Keep your eyes peeled over on I2A!

See ya!

Talk about your feelings of inadequacy . . .

So at the end of this week I'll be headed up to Boston for a couple of days. What will I be doing while I'm in ol' Bean-town? Teaching some folks at MIT, of course. While I'm up north (going from highs around 80°F in balmy Houston to highs of around 40°F in frigid Massachusetts) I'll be learning a little and teaching a little about the oilfield.

Okay, I still can't say that without getting a little weak in the knees.

Maybe you're thinking, "But Euphrony, I thought you were an expert in the field of drilling fluid rheology! What do you have to worry about?" What, indeed? I may know my stuff, kinda, but I'm going to be talking to people who know there stuff, as well. I feel a little like ol' Wile E. Coyote up there - a genius in his own right, but woefully inadequate to the task at hand. So I'll be going up to MIT (a place so genius that they refuse to take themselves too seriously, even in the small things like quirky messages appearing when resizing the online campus map) and converse with a professor and a few of his students in relation to a couple of papers we are coauthoring. Oh, there I go again, feeling unbalanced in the face of working as equals with a professor who is a bit of a legend in his field. I guess I'll get over it, eventually.

So, I'll be in Boston a couple of days. I should have a little free time one evening (it was $600 cheaper to stay an extra night than fly back early) - any suggestions on what I must hit while I'm there? Remember, I'll be either on foot or in a cab, it will be raining and near-freezing, and I'm a deep-Texas boy.

Tags: MIT, Boston, Inadequacy, Teaching

Things to remember to survive a conference

High everybody! Greetings from Salt Lake City, home of a bunch of Mormons, a big salty lake thingy, and the 79^th Annual Society of Rheology Conference. (Sorry, Seth, but no Alps.) While I'm away from Humid-ston and enjoying the cool, dry Utah air, I thought it might be nice to share a few of the more important lessons I've learned over the years when attending a conference.

1. Wear heavy clothes. This one is potentially the most important thing to remember. Even if the meeting is in Death Valley, they will manage to chill the conference rooms to sub-Arctic conditions. I've actually seen the foolish and unprepared end up like Ötzi, the frozen Stone Age hunter. So, watch out.

2. The opening plenary lecture will be esoteric. It will be over your head. It will also interest only 1-2% of a crowd of people in that field. Be careful of this opening lecture: if not prepared, you brain will short circuit and the rest of the conference will be worthless.
3. Similar to #2, pace yourself. There is only so much a human brain can process in a single day before it begins to ooze out your ears. If you fail to pace yourself, expect the label of "vegetable" to be attached to the rest of your career.
4. (For men only.) Even in a scientific society such as this, there will be one or two ladies who look and dress like porn stars. Don't let them distract you - they are probably also smarter than you, and will make you look like a fool. And, married men, you shouldn't be going there anyway.
5. Inevitably, you will run into former colleagues at these things. Some are happy folk, who love their life. Others are bitter. Be nice to the bitter ones, who tell you the same stories of woe every year. They need an ear to hear their stories. Plus, this keeps you from being labeled "the jerk I used to work with" among your peer group.

I hope these little tips will help you survive. They are also equally applicable to business meetings, school reunions, and ping pong tournaments.

What other tips did I miss. Please share them with me.

Tags: Conference, Survival, Tips, Coworkers, Salt Lake City, Utah, Rheology

Greetings from Grampian!

Well, it's been a busy week here in Aberdeen (part of the Grampian region of Scotland) – long days of rheology training (with me filling the roll of trainer). The picture on the right is of the amusement park area across the street from my hotel, that I've not had time to visit. I'll be headed home tomorrow, so the trip is nearly over. I sure am looking forward to that 6:10 am flight! The hard part of the week has most definitely been the taxis, as in they’re hard to get. The mornings have been alright, getting a taxi to the hotel in five to ten minutes. Afternoons, though, are a different story: Monday it took and hour to get a cab and Tuesday was little better with a half-hour wait. Apparently, they can’t get to me to pick me up because of traffic gridlock.

But the week has not been all rheology games. I've managed to have a (small) life outside of work here. I was on my own Sunday and Monday nights, just walking into the City Center to eat some dinner. Tuesday night, however, I teamed up with a couple of guys over here from Tulsa and we went for dinner in Stonehaven (around ten miles outside of Aberdeen) for dinner at a nice restaurant on the harbor. It was good getting to know these people (and as a bonus finding that we share the same faith in Christ). After dinner we made a slight diversion and swung by Dunnottar Castle to get a couple of pictures, and then some shots looking down on the harbor and restaurant.

Wednesday night was a treat, as I got together with some friends who live here in Aberdeen. I enjoyed meeting their new son (who is only a few weeks older than Lil'er Euphrony), having some dinner in a house (much better than restaurant food when you’re traveling) and going to their church services that night. One of the two Tulsa guys was there, as well. Very different from the churches you get used to in the States, they have around 50 members (our church in Houston has around 1100) and the focus of how they do things is very different (based on the different attitudes of most Europeans to Christianity, and religion in general). It was great to see them, and hopefully I'll get to introduce them to Mrs. E and the family when they visit Houston in December.

Tonight (Thursday night) I plan on taking the training group out for dinner. I figure I own it to them, since I've grilled them all week. Today is going to be the worst; I told them that they are doing all the work and I'm just going to sit in the lab, reading a book and watching them. It's funny, though, as I sit here vaguely wondering when I became an "important" enough person at work to be taking others out for dinner.

In case you’re wondering, the UK is cheaper than Norway, but not by much. Housing costs are high, and just about everything here has the same numerical cost in British pounds as do things in the USA in dollars. So, since the pound is worth roughly two dollars, everything here is twice as expensive as back home. And don't get a hamburger over here. They have good beef, but for some reason it just doesn't make for good-tasting hamburgers. I was talking to a lady from the US who lives here, and she said she would buy local ground beef and make a hamburger at home and it still didn't taste right. And I have pointedly ignored the “Mexican” restaurant near the hotel – I've sampled Scotch-Mex before and came away laughing.

Also, in case you are wondering, William Wallace doesn’t look a thing like Mel Gibson.

I’m glad to be getting out of here this week. There's a huge oil expo nest week and the place will be a madhouse. There's no hotel rooms for miles; they are bringing in a cruise ship to dock in Peterhead (30 miles away, a £60 cab trip), with the cheap rooms at £1500 for the week, and it’s full up. People are staying as far away as Inverness, a couple of hour drive! If the taxis have been bad this week, next week will be a nightmare.

Tags: Aberdeen, Grampian, Norway, Hamburgers, Taxi, Rheology, Friends, Dunnottar Castle

Ways to inflate my ego

Our rheology expert from the states is over with us next week, and would like to give us a presentation on Monday morning at 10am in the VP meeting room. Please put it in your diary. Euphrony has a wealth of knowledge on this subject and we should take full advantage of the time he is going to spend with us. Please rearrange your work schedulers to allow a needy transfer of knowledge.

It sure is nice to be appreciated. Of course, being appreciated can also have its drawbacks. For example, going on a last-minute trip to Scotland for a week, leaving your wife in the lurch as she tries to take care of two kids and do dress rehearsals for a play that opens the day you return. But still, it makes one feel important to be sent flying around like that.

I fly out tomorrow to Aberdeen. I'll return on Friday the 31^st. Quick trip, and it'll be a busy one. I'm going over to do some training on rheometry for guys in our lab there. I'd been expecting this, kinda. We had talked about it earlier in the year but I was told that I wouldn't be going in support of corporate travel reduction measures. I was told that three weeks ago.

My, how things change.

Last Thursday I was reinformed that I would, in fact, be going in a week's time. Well, as they say, no time like the present!

We had hoped that Mrs. E would be able to go with me on this trip. Unfortunately, the timing ended up overlapping with the play she is in and she can't go. I will get to see a few people I know over in Aberdeen - outside of work, that is. And I get that many more frequent flier miles, with the promise of taking Mrs. E on an actual vacation to Europe sometime soon.

Now, if only I could get a corporate travel agency that doesn't have it in for me. When I went to Norway in June they had somehow managed to cancel my reservations on the connecting flights from Amsterdam to Stavanger. That was fun to resolve at the airport at 5:30 in the morning, let me tell you. Luckily, I've already checked on reservations for this trip and discovered that they only told me that I had a hotel reservation, and somehow neglected to inform the hotel of the same. So, now that I've reserved my own hotel room I'm ready to go. Of course, I'll be flying on KLM and I'm not just a huge fan of their airline (or the older 747's I'll be flying in). I will say that I kind of enjoy the food on their flights - it's not that it is any better than the food on Continental of American, just a different (more European?) style of food and the change is nice.

Off I go. I'll post some nice pics of bonny Scotland for you all to enjoy vicariously. TTFN! Ta ta for now!

Tags: Aberdeen, Scotland, Work, Inflated Ego, Change of plans

Miscellanea

1. I've been in Norway for the last week. It is about 37^oF cooler here than in my hometown, with a strong breeze.
2. Stavanger is a lovely city, with many things within walking distance - up and down hills like this.
3. Whenever I try to do any blogging, I have been having to translate the commands and buttons from Norwegian - Blogger knows I'm in Norway, and thinks I must be Norwegian.
4. Being only eight days from the longest day/shortest night of the year, it does not get dark here. Seriously. Not dark, as in I can read a book on the street without the aid of any lights. I have seen neither moon nor stars this week.
5. For a person who is not used to it, not getting any dark can really mess up your sleep patterns.
6. I ate at a lovely island last night, with the rest of the conference attendees. The restaurant, Flor & Fjære (Flower and Beach), is a thirty minute boat ride from the city. They have palm trees, grapes, olives, and banana trees - among other tropical plants - growing there. Did I mention this is Norway, not the Bahamas?
7. I did not get back to the hotel after dinner until midnight. I left for dinner at 7:00.
8. I gave my presentation at the conference this afternoon. When I was getting in my cab this morning, I felt the seam in the seat of my pants rip. Lovely. At least I could go back up and change clothes.
9. I get on a plane tomorrow morning and leave Stavanger at 6:50 a.m. Tomorrow night, I get to hug my wife and kiddos for the first time in a week. Just in time to share Father's Day with my family. I've missed them!
10. Don't tell Mrs. E, but I plan on bringing a nice box of chocolates home with me.

Tags: Stavanger, Norway, Flor & Fjære, Conference, Personal Embarrassment

God Dag fra Norge

It was a close call, but I boarded that big jet plane yesterday and flew to Stavanger, Norway. It was, to say the least, a very long, very trying week. I was sick - sick enough, with a white blood cell count low enough, that we were not sure if it would be safe for me to travel. I contracted a virus, which made me feverish, weak, lethargic, and made my skin hyper-sensitive. Eventually, after three blood tests in one week, we saw on Saturday that my white cell count was coming back up into a normal range and the docs cleared me to fly. To go with my being sick and simultaneously preparing for a trip I was not sure I could make, Lil'E caught the same virus. Except her symptoms were very different - high fever, excess energy
(to enable bouncing off walls while cooped up at home), and these strange blotches on here face. She called it "stickeritis".

So, good day from Norway! (God dag fra Norge!). This picture is from my hotel window, looking over a park in the center of Stavanger (at 5 pm). It's a much better view that my last hotel's view, and the shower does not leak into the bathroom floor. However, I still am sleeping on a glorified couch. I should have some free time tomorrow, while I get adjusted to local time and before the conference starts, to do some walking around and see some sights.

As for the flight over, I watched the movie Shooter with Mark Wahlberg. Don't you make the same mistake. I had little to choose from, and I don't know how many times I smacked my head in disbelief that they just did that cliché so seriously. Here is my favorite quote, in reference to Wahlberg's character declaring why he was going to kill a lot of people:

You don't understand how serious this is. They killed my dog.

Tags: Stavanger, Norway, Flying, Illness, Bad Movies, Shooter, Mark Wahlberg

There and back again

No, this is not a hobbit's tale. This is the story about how I seem to be traveling more for work these days. It's also the reason why I've been essentially absent from the blogosphere the last week.

I blogged about being in Tulsa last January. Well, I was there again on Monday and Tuesday. And it seems likely that I'll be going back in November.

I blogged about going to Norway last December. Well, I'll be going back there in June, to give a paper at a conference.

I like traveling. It's nice to get out and see the world. But I love being at home. I'm a homebody more than anything else, and I hate being away from Mrs. E and the little E's. I wish I could take them with me more, but they would have little to do and we cannot afford to pay for their tickets to travel that much. Mrs. E notes that it is part and parcel with being more important at work; that is both a good thing and a bad thing to someone like me who works to live, not lives to work.

I'm home for a month, now, and preparing for Lil'E's 4^th birthday party (Chuck E. Cheese, here we come!). There's plenty left to do around the house, and I'm looking forward to every minute with my family this month.

How about you: do you travel very often? Business or pleasure? Where do you like to go?

Tags: Work, Travel, Tulsa, Stavanger, Norway, Home, Birthday Party