I headed in “to work” this morning at about 6:45… just a quick 45-minute “commute” to the airport. Got checked in, no bags, and managed to start my day off right by getting upgraded to First Class. THAT made the trip out much more managable.
Landed, caught a cab, got shafted by the cabbie (as near as I can tell $45 from O’Hare to Schaumberg airport is “shafted” when the meter clearly reads $27 + $3.00 in tolls), and rolled on in to the hotel to present.
Before I presented, a guy whose name I forget (BAD Howard) saw the Schlock card affixed to my looks-like-all-other-Novell-issue-laptops-otherwise laptop, and said “wait a minute… YOU do Schlock Mercenary? I’ve been reading that for YEARS now and never put two-and-two together.”
As stated before, I have a policy: Schlock fans at Novell events get free sketches. I whipped out a Schlock for him, complete with actual ink and erasure-of-construction-lines, and then got started.
(someday this policy is going to be unmanagable, because there will be so many Schlock fans I won’t be able to keep up. On that day I should be able to retire the policy by not needing to work for Novell anymore, but I’m not holding my breath.)
I did my schtick. I’ve done better, I’ve done worse. This was a very interactive presentation, and that’s a good thing. I got lots of good feedback for engineering. I ran a few minutes over, and then made my escape to a waiting cab, which only cost me $32 (including the tip) to get me back to the airport.
I didn’t get the First Class upgrade on the way back. Oh well. Three hours of sitting and reading, mulling over my presentation, and how to overhaul it for my session in Waltham in two weeks…
The good news is that about halfway through the flight home I realized I was better. No more “malaise.” To prove it to myself I bounded up the stairs in the SLC airport parking garage. I was a little out-of-breath, and my legs were just starting to gripe, but that’s not “malaise.” That’s “fat guy needs more exercise.”
I got home at 8:00pm sharp. In more than just the literal “home” sense, it’s good to be back.