07 March 2012

Playing catch up


It was a good road trip to Austin last week, but as I told SR300, I’m still paying for it now.  I take 2 ½ days off to play hooky in a training class and I find myself 2 weeks behind on my chores. 

I started out drafting this as a general gripe about how swamped I am and how I don’t have time to do these road trips, but then I realized how whiney that sounded.  Oooh poor me.   Waah waah, I’m sooo busy.  Geeeze.  Talk about a pity party.  

Life’s busy for everyone.  A lot of people have bigger problems than mine.  I need to shut up, hit the streets, and get to work.   Time to put my big boy pants on and deal with it.       


A spot of refreshment in Austin

Austin was nice.  I got to spend a few hours with my son on Monday before the training started and was able to share a few beers with him.  Training was good - more geared for sales negotiation and advocacy training, not something I normally face each day, but interesting nonetheless.   

Driving through some of the burn area south of Bastrop.
Last year, those trees were so dense, you couldn't even see the buildings.






Drove back Wednesday night and have been running non stop ever since.  I was able to knock out a few chores at home (yard work, vet appointments, dog park), but the weekend seemed to fly by.  This week has already had all sorts of different tasks.  My company is big on donating to the Epilepsy Foundation (our core business), so we are having a multitude of fundraisers leading up to the Epilepsy Walk in April.  Each year we sign up a large number of people to participate and we hand over one single check to the foundation from all the fundraising efforts.  Last year we ponied up one of those Publisher's Sweepstakes-sized checks for $77,777.  This year, given all the events and donations we've had, we are on track for, go figure, $88,888.  Lord knows what they will shoot for next year.   I am involved in a number of these activities and it is great to see the end results, but after several back-to-back pushes, one does get a bit tired.  I am supposed to play in a charity golf tournament in two weeks, against my better judgement (gave it up a few years ago).  I haven't picked up a stick in almost two years and this could be ugly.  I have told the guys in my foursome they might want to up their insurance.  Yesterday, we had a chili cook off with a number of departments competing.  It is usually a glorified food fest with a variety of different chili flavors/recipes.  Our operations group took top prize (3rd year in a row) and they get to participate in a bigger cook off to be held in Houston in late March.  Not a bad event with lots of different themed booths (like the 60's Peace, Love and Chili team) and they pulled in over $9200.         

Chili cook off 

Medic Alert chili team
Yea, life's tough.

5 comments:

Rock Chef said...

A chili cook off - sounds tough to me too!

But don't worry about moaning - if you can't moan on your own blog, where can you moan?

ShadowRun300 said...

Yeah - about the whining thing - I totally get it. :) I'm with Rock Chef - no better place to moan than your own blog. Funny you talk about big boy pants. My hubby says that to the kids ALL the time. "Pull up your big boy pants and get it done!" The chili cook-off looks fun. But there's something odd about it. I think it's the short-sleeve shirts and the sunshine. Congrats on the top prize, though!
Thanks for catching us up! Good to hear from you again!

Abby said...

What would a long needed update from you be without a photo of an enjoyed beverage?!

Chili cook-off looks fun, and warm! Gotta love those hippies and medics.

meleah rebeccah said...

Looks like a kick ass time at the Chili Cook Off.

But now I am DYING to hear what happens AFTER you play in that charity golf tournament in two weeks! That is going to be very funny.

terri said...

Don't feel like you're whining. Yes, you have much to be grateful for, but even the good stuff can get overwhelming. You're entitled to blow off some steam.