Business Trip

Last weekend started out normally enough. We woke up on Saturday and took Lauren to Home Depot where she participated in the Kid's Workshop, our new monthly ritual. This month's project was a picture frame, which she got to make and paint.

On Sunday I left on a business trip to Chicago, something I've been able to cut back on drastically in recent years in an effort to stay around Lauren more. My efforts have succeeded, and this year will be the second year I don't make status on any airline, a true sign of how little I've been traveling (prior to last year I've had status on at least one airline every year going back to at least 1993).

Not having status on an airline of course means sitting in the back of the plane, getting to be the last to board, and having difficulty in storing your carry on luggage since almost all the flights are full nowadays. It makes me wonder why the airlines aren't doing better financially. With full planes and charging more than they have ever charged before for flights, you'd think they'd be raking in the money, not to mention all the fees they charge now.

But I digress, my trip was uneventful, and I was able to give my presentations successfully, and I was back home by Tuesday evening. The weather in Chicago turned out to be warmer than the Bay Area, since the Bay Area was experiencing a little chill due to a cold front moving in.

I guess my not being around is such rare thing that Lauren was rather excited to see me come home, and I got one of the best hugs from her that I've gotten in a while.