Early on in my Army career, I an old E7 platoon sergeant who was pretty salty. He was a lifer and had been around a long time and taught me a lot of things you don’t learn in school. Whenever we wound up in some stupid situation or had some dumb requirements/tasks to accomplish, he would just shake his head and say “One day closer to retirement, Sir”. That’s become one of my mantras ever since.
Been busier than a one-armed paper hanger with an itch. Once again, I am up to my butt in work trying to get stuff done between now and the end of the year and still need vacation to burn. I picked up a lot of silly projects and tasks while keeping up with my real job. I got signed up for another road trip for a supplier audit, but this time it is back to Europe. I’m flying over to Belgium next month for an audit and business meeting. I know, I have absolutely no room to whine about this, but it is just screws up my plans/schedule. I should be grateful for the opportunity but I am still cranky about it for a variety of reasons: 1) I really don’t have time for it right now, 2) I’m not looking forward to another pair of 10-12 hour flights, 3) It’s the wrong time of the year to go to Belgium (cold and wet), and 4) I am scheduled to fly back on the Wednesday BEFORE Thanksgiving (supposed to be the busiest day of the year for flying). I have made it a point to not travel during that time of the year and here I am right in the middle of it. Would sit home and watch the news reports on how busy the airports were and how full the parking lots were getting and think to “Glad that ain’t me.” This year I get to be a part of the circus.
Still, somebody has to do it. Just like my other trips, I plan to make the most of it. Got the weekend free in Brussels and intend to do as much exploration as possible. Anyone care to guess what Belgium is famous for?
Chocolate and Beer
I've been given instructions to come back with some...
7 comments:
Belgian chocolate is good stuff...
Hope the flight back isn't as bad as it sounds. Maybe you should have some serene classical music on an iPod and think if it as some sort of strange ballet?
Your Sergent reminds me of a character in a book I once read - he turned out to be an Immortal and had been in the American army since the wars with Mexico, serving right through the Civil War, both World Wars, Korea, 'Nam... All that and still a Sergent!
BTW, did you ever ask wReggie about that chili dog recipe?
RC - He wasn't as old as that, just seasoned. And No. Didn't ask him yet. Been too distracted trying to recover files from my computer crash.
Ouch - hope you get it all back!
I have asked wReggie about sharing the recipe - if he is OK with it I will pass it along.
While I do NOT miss having a "Real Job" - I am a slightly jealous of all the cool traveling you get to do! However - I can totally understand why you are cranky about it!
Have some chocolate & beer for me, please!
Well, at least you weren't instructed to bring back diamonds! Yeah, business travel is nice... except for that "travel" part.
Traveling right before a major holiday - whose idea was that? Yes, I guess work is work and it's got to get done, no matter what time of year. Hope you are able to enjoy those couple of days of free time while you're in Belgium. I'm looking forward to more photos.
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