I have started writing this while I am sitting here waiting for my plane, though I won't be able to post until I get to Austria. Always better to be early than late, but this is kind of silly. My flight leaves at 12:55, but I ended up getting here before 9AM. I opted not to take the train/tube option, because that is never better than 2 hours, and is often worse than that. So, I had Ray drive me, and it was a nice, easy drive – no problems. Checking in, even with luggage was easy. I did have to take off my shoes and belt to get through security, but otherwise, it was so quick, it was amazing. Now – sheer boredom.

…Time passes…

Anyway, now I am here, in Vienna. I called Ray – he's sick and grumpy. I've talked to one of the women that I am meeting up with tomorrow at the customer location. And now I need to find out about the other. For dinner, I feel lazy, so I ordered from room service. Just because something is labelled "snack" doesn't make it so. I got a cheese plate, because I am not THAT hungry… Mostly I wanted coffee and a big bottle of water. Yeah, there is no way I am going to finish that much food. Though, it is really good cheese! And good bread. And good coffee. Hmmmm… I wish I was hungrier. :-)

It's a bit odd – We got to the airport (on time!) and instead of the normal thing where the plane docks somewhere and you walk in, we walked out onto the tarmac, to a bus that drove us 100 feet away to a door. Just weird. But, it was cool – I went right in through passport control, no questions, just got stamped. Then I went to the baggage claim area, and *poof*, there was my bag. It was very quick and easy and painless. I have to say that I am overwhelmingly pleased with how little trouble I had getting here. (Despite that throughout a good portion of the flight, the smallish baby in front of me would randomly scream every now and then and the small child behind me kept kicking my seat... I am now reassessing the idea that Ray attracts the unruly children on airplanes.) Now, if only the customer visit goes as well, I will be quite happy.

You know, I was actually kind of surprised when I went to dig out my suits from the closet for the visit. They were so big that Ray had to tack them for me so I could actually wear them. I haven't been trying that hard to lose weight. Though, my appetite has been remarkably less than normal, and I had been swimming every other day, before Ray went to Israel. (There isn't a pool at the hotel, though, so I guess it's yet another week straight without swimming.) Yay! Soon I will have my kayaking shape back, too. :-)

Neat thing about this hotel: The floor in the bathroom is heated!! Mmmmm… Nice warm feet when I step out of the shower!

Well, I am going to go bed now and read a bit. It's not very late, (21:45) but I want to try to relax and unwind so I am not so nervous tomorrow. I can't really begin to convey just how much this particular situation has me stressed out and worked up and just plain unhappy. But, I am not going into it. I am going to breathe. Relax. Let go. I wish I'd known this room was big enough – I would have brought my Shiva Rea yoga DVD and my mat. (Just because the whole ritual and belief system that goes with it is silly doesn't mean that yoga itself isn't effective as a set of exercises! Stretching and relaxing like that is sort of like being able to give yourself a full body massage.)

So, things have been pretty hectic lately. (Yeah, that's new!) Ray has been in Israel for the last week, which means the dogs were, of course, very upset and set about destroying everything in sight, and with the hours I've been working, it's just really sucked. Luckily, Ray flew back in today. Though, I am flying out Sunday to go to Austria. Hopefully, I will be back in time for Thanksgiving, though I might have to go Germany and/or Norway after that.

Anyway, this morning started out as crap… I had an early-ish conference call, so I got on an early train… If I'd just taken the later train, I would have been on time. However, because I got on a slower train that stops at Norwood Junction, we sat for an hour waiting for a broken down train to be moved out of the way. Then, after an entire hour of waiting, they decide that our train can go around the broken down train. Why it took a full hour to decide that, I still can't understand.

Best comment made all week – talking to someone at work, and he says something basically to the effect of "Make sure to copy management on that email to cover your butt – it's your uncanny dodge against sneak attacks". I couldn't stop laughing for a while, and as bad as a week, I really needed to laugh.

Maybe, if I could just not wake up at 4AM, things would improve….

Well, while things are no better, at least I feel a bit more positive… It helps when your co-workers are supportive.

Though, for some bizarre reason, I haven't been able to sleep since the clocks went back. Like last night, I was working for home until about 21:30, then I finally fell asleep about 23:30, then woke back up at 4AM. And it's been like this for better than a week now. It really sucks.

I don't quite understand why "geek" is considered a bad thing here… In the US it means 1) you are likely smarter than other people and 2) you probably make more money than most other folks. (Think about seeing Cliffy B driving around in his Ferrari – Not an uncommon occurrence in the Cary area.)

Here however… This is from several conversations: One was some time ago, but this person likes to game, and was a table top RPG gamer years ago, etc, but she said she isn't a geek. When I told her that she is it isn't really a bad thing, she was a bit offended. Another conversation, different woman… She starts babbling about girly crap, about how she is only working at here to find a husband, so she could marry and he could support her, but he couldn't be a computer geek, because that would just be lame, blah, blah, blah. (Yeah, I was pretty annoyed at this diatribe…) Then, just last Friday, I'm talking to someone else, and asked what he's doing over the weekend, and he got all embarrassed because he needs to change a noisy fan in his home built system, so he could play NWN2, and he felt geeky because of it. Just what is wrong with any of that? Or what is wrong even with being a geek? I have a geek hat from ThinkGeek. I am a geek, and I am proud of it!!

Ah, well… I need to go to bed soon. Maybe I will sleep a bit more tonight….