Traveling Daddy

Well, here I sit @ McCarran International Airport winding down after a 3-day trip to Pack Expo in Las Vegas, and I can't help but shake my head in amazement at how crazy my schedule has become lately. Since the middle of September, my job has moved into a hyper-speed mode with a blitz of things coming at me from all directions. I've joined our design consulting group to work with non-Philips companies, while also maintaining a growing list of projects within Philips as well. I've attended one sustainble packaging forum in Atlanta, sat down with two big name ATL-based companies (both household names) to pitch consulting opportunities, and traveled to NY/CT and Vegas during this time.

The last few weeks have been a bit of a blur, but the last week has really been a doozy. It began last Wednesday as we had clients in our office for one final sit down before they made a decision between us and another design firm for a big consulting project. Later that afternoon, Jill & Abby stopped by the office to send me off as I headed to the airport to catch my night flight to NY. I had that 2-day workshop at our Philips office in Stamford, which turned out to be so much more, especially since I was meeting with some big decision makers about issues that were beyond packaging. On Friday while sitting in an afternoon meeting I got a call from our consulting design director in ATL, who gave me the incredible news that we had won the consulting bid that we had put weeks of hard work into. With that news came the plans to go to Vegas to attend the huge packaging exposition better known as Pack Expo in Vegas. I already knew that if we won, I would be going with the reps of that company, so it wasn't a complete out of the blue change of plans, but it still was a crazy deal. Later that Friday evening I caught a flight back home for what would be a two-day weekend home with Abby & Jill (more on the weekend below). So, after 3 days in Vegas attending the show, I'm now sitting here at the airport awaiting my 9:50pm flight back home again.

One thing I've found out after being out here is that A) I really miss my girls back home, and B) I am officially an old fogie who wants to complain about a bad hip and needing more sleep...even though I'm in Vegas, baby!!! Yeah, being here on business and not having the family with me makes this place seem almost...um...boring? Anyways, Jill and Abby have been troopers throughout this and know that all of this should hopefully lead to bigger and better things later on. When you consider where my job status stood just a few months and even weeks ago, this is all welcomed change. This consulting project in particular has now locked me into a project at basically 100% from now through March. That's some much welcomed job security. And now that I'm a wanted man again I really look forward to making the most of the opportunities that have been given to me.

Alright, so enough about the job. This past weekend was a short one due to all my traveling, but we did manage to get out and about a little bit while I was home. On Saturday (10/3), we visited the Atlanta Botanical Gardens to see the "Scarecrows in the Gardens." It was fun seeing all the different scarecrows different businesses and organizations had setup on the premises. Abby was a little puzzled at times, but I think she had fun overall, and most importantly we got some photos of her with pumpkins. Speaking of photos, here are a few we shot that day...

As if Saturdays adventure to the Gardens wasn't enough, we decided to visit the Atlanta Zoo on Sunday afternoon. With camera in hand, we walked around and showed Abby all the fun animals that we had missed on our last visit on that hot summer day.

And so that's what has been going on with us lately. Before I end, let me just say how thankful I am to have such caring family and friends out there. All of your thoughts and prayers over the last several months has been felt and I just can't even begin to say how appreciative I or Jill & Abby are. Life is a roller coaster ride with plenty of ups and downs, but having support especially when you're down is such a blessing. Best wishes for a great Thursday and Friday, and then a fun and relaxing weekend!!!