I am alive and updating today...

[Orlando, Florida]
I just spent 4 days at a training conference in beautiful Orlando. Only I didn’t see much of the beauty. I arrived on Sunday night at midnight but saw awesome landscapes on a few of the hotel properties while heading to the hotel. During the 4 days of training I went outside twice. Once was for a tour of a beef cattle farm. I was surprised to know that there are cattleman in Florida. The second time I went outside was a brief but good visit with Cori.

[Hanging out with Cori]
Spending time with Cori is always a blessing because she’s a good friend, makes me laugh, she knows me, she accepts me and because I don’t get to see her very often. We both work for the same government agency and she was at the same training conference. We were actually in different training sessions but had the same breaks, lunches, etc. On Thursday afternoon we were both done a little early and met downstairs to go lay by the pool. Our plans were thwarted when the pool area was closed because of lightning and T-storm warnings. So, we sat outside and chatted until it was time to get ready for the banquet. We hung out at other times too – some of those times requiring us to be adults and not college buddies but it was fun either way. I was just thankful to hang out with a buddy while someone else picked up the tab.

[training more]
Because the training sessions were organized by the Hispanic Organization, there were other activities scheduled beyond the training. Monday night was the annual business meeting. Tuesday was the scholarship auction. Wednesday night was a retirement party for one of the guys. Thursday night was the banquet. Each of these nights have fun stories but for sake of time and length, I’ll share two brief stories: one fun moment was as the scholarship auction had just ended. One of the girls thought that rum was wine and was quite surprised when she gulped down the shot of rum. Another moment was at the banquet. Because I gave the invocation, I was asked to sit at the head table. Only I didn’t want to sit there, I wanted to sit with my friends. Sitting at the head table made me feel like everyone was watching me. I like being the center of attention but only when I’m being funny, not the rest of the times.

[Flight drama]
I opted for crappy flight times for two reasons: to save the government money and to get more time with my family. I flew out on Sunday afternoon and arrived at my hotel in Orlando at midnight. Heading home, I took a 720 flight, which meant that I had to leave the hotel at 445am. A bit early but I wanted to get home to my family. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out so easily. My flight to Chicago was good. My flight to Cedar Rapids went downhill in a hurry. Due to thunderstorms and tornado watches the night before, Chicago O’harre had been closed down and flights were all backed up and delayed. My flight to CR was delayed while we waited on a stewardess to arrive from another flight. Two hours later we boarded the plane only to sit at the gate for 30 minutes while they found a mechanical problem and eventually cancelled our flight. We were placed on stand by. Fortunately the employee at the gate informed us that we’d never get on a flight since everything was backed up and a million others were already on stand by status. I suggested getting a rental car and driving. A man in line suggested we hurry since it was a Friday and traffic would be a problem soon and it would also be difficult to get a car. After calling all companies and waiting for a shuttle, we ended up at Budget waiting in line for a car.

[CR, here I come]
I ended up in the car with two kick boxers who were headed to CR for the international KB finals. I was a bit nervous to be with strangers but didn’t figure they bought airline tickets to dinky CR to kill someone. So I figured that as long as I didn’t make them mad, I’d be safe! After being stuck in traffic for an hour, we finally got off the toll road and were headed home. There was still traffic but at least we were moving! Teri drove 85-95 the whole way since she had to weigh in by 6pm. I was starving and had only had a few hand fulls of cereal but wouldn’t ask them to stop since we were likely to be late anyway. We pulled into the kick boxing location at 645pm.

[Getting home from CR]
Ryan had to head back home. He had several surgeries to do and was on call Friday night so he took the kiddo and headed back home when my flight got cancelled. In the time I was driving, Ryan worked out the details for me to get a ride home. Joel (one of the young adults that grew up in my church) lives in CR and was considering coming home for the weekend. He waited around after work, picked me up at the hotel and gave me a ride home. Joel was one of my new BEST friends that day. I got home a little behind schedule – at 9pm vs. 130pm. I’m just glad I didn’t have to stay in Chicago over night!

[home again]
So I got home and my family was glad to see me which I expected. But, my poor kiddo must be scared that I’ll leave again. He won’t let me out of his sight. Even today, 5 days after being home, he’s still clingy! Anyway, today I feel yucky again. Mom called me this morning to tell me that my kiddo was puking up massive chunks. I’m afraid we have a touch of the flu at our house. Yipee!