I’m staying at what many consider to be a very fine hotel: the Marriott Coronado Island Resort. The room overlooks a beautifully-landscaped courtyard, the opposite site overlooks Glorietta Bay, and the rates are as high as an F/A-18 from neighboring NAS Coronado. In spite of its pretentiousness, the hotel insists on nickel-and-diming its guests. It drives me crazy!

Marriotts seem to cater to guests who like to spend money for the sake of spending money. For instance, the Internet service in the rooms of most hotels is as free as air. Marriott gives you the privilege (and I do mean privilege) of connecting to it for the low, low price of $10/day (or $3 per 15 minutes, if you prefer. A quarter/min. afterward). The $17/day for hotel parking is also quite steep, even for parking-space-challenged Coronado.

The real kicker is the bottled water in the room. Exquisite bottled water, shipped from Fiji (I kid you not), sits ready to be consumed at the low, low, price of $3 per liter. The label actually says “Why travel to the South Pacific islands of Fiji for a drink of water?” I’ll take a hunch and say its because Fiji is not only far more beautiful than Coronado, it has free water!

Its true some things have changed for me. I have greater financial means than what my former meager salary of an E-5 provided fourteen years ago. Still, that doesn’t keep this hotel from feeling like a shakedown.

I’m off to San Diego today for a long trade show. I get back early Friday morning. While this traveling is starting to wear a bit, this is the last trip I’m making for a month.

It’ll be nice to see San Diego again, though many of the friends I had there are there no longer. My old ship doesn’t grace the waterfront anymore, having become an artifical reef.

Lots of memories remain, however. Good times.

I’m training 30+ people this week in the product I sell as a sales engineer. It’s added up to long days, especially considering how frequently I’ve been on the road lately.

Blogging has to take a back seat until I can come up for air. In the meantime, help yourself to some woo.

I’m in the middle of a multi-city business trip. A highlight was a stay in Boulder with my good friends the Hibbles. As I told them again and again, its a shame that work had to get in the way of a good visit.

Now I’m sitting in the Las Vegas airport, awaiting my flight to LA. I’ve stopped in the Vegas airport a few times now. Both times didn’t impress me. I was desperate for some food but the vendors offered little that interested me. It was crowded, dark, and noisy from the ever-present slot machines. I found myself wishing to get out of there as fast as possible.

Today, however, I found a saving grace for LAS: free, airport-wide wireless networking! Finally something better to do than surrender money to slot machines or space out watching the Idiot Box. All airports should do this! For real.

(Bonus points for having a power outlet convenient to my chair.)

Today is a promising day for Travis’s recovery. He slept soundly through the night, woke up happy, got into crawling position by himself in the bed, and only complained a little when I changed his diaper. He chattered happily at breakfast, too. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him attempt a few steps today.

This injury has been tough on everyone. On Travis, of course, but also on us – knowing that we can’t really do much for him but watch. It’s good to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Travis is feeling much better today. It’s amazing the difference a few hours makes. He wasn’t happy this morning when we put him in his clothes. Ever since, though, he’s been pretty bubbly, considering his injury.

We went to the airport after breakfast to look at the planes. It was looking like a warm day but by the time we got out there the wind made things pretty chilly. Travis had a good time on my knee, watching the occasional plane take off or land. Kelly and Hallie raced down the kiddie runways though they never could gain enough speed to leave the ground. After some fun there, we stopped by Goodberrys on the way back to pick up an after-lunch snack.

Lunchtime was a big turning point in Travis’s mood. He kept screeching “DADDY!” with pure delight – one of the first times he’s really called my name (though Kelly says not to be disappointed if he calls the cat Daddy as she’s seen him do). We all had a fun lunch, if not totally filling for the kids, and then proceeded to afternoon naps.

Kelly read Hallie her stories while I did Travis’s naptime. He was close to an hour beyond his normal naptime but didn’t show any signs of stopping. He chattered on my lap for close to an hour! It was fantastic seeing him so happy, but naptimes are for napping! When I finally put him in his crib he wailed more from boredom than pain.

He’s still snoozing now as I write this. Kelly took Hallie out to the fabric store. When they return, we’ll grill up some hamburgers and enjoy the rest of this beautiful Saturday.

Our injured Travis had a better night last night, though he’s still not moving his left leg much at all. And he’s still crying out whenever it gets moved for him. Kelly’s got another call in for the pediatrician to see what next steps might be taken.

I want our happy boy back!

We’ve had some terrible storms around the Turner household today, mainly coming from Travis. He didn’t sleep much at all last night, which means we didn’t sleep much at all. I’d say from 4 AM to 7 AM was our only stretch. Hallie seemed to sleep fine, however.

Travis is still in great pain. We figured out he must have a groin injury since he complains less when we lift his legs along with his body. If his legs dangle on their own he screams in agony. It’s not fun for anyone.

We got a morning appointment with his pediatrician. The doctor focused on the areas around his upper legs. We were given instructions for dispensing ibuprofen to him but no real advice beyond that. The ER doctor said that he may have been up and about today but that didn’t happen by a long shot. The pediatrician said 36 to 48 hours but we’re convinced that is optimistic. I’m beginning to worry that its not a simple pulled muscle, or strain, or sprain. I’m wondering if he didn’t injure his muscles more seriously. Certainly he’s expressing pain he’s never felt before in his young life. It’s so tough to hear.

That’s not to say that we didn’t have our moments today. Travis is usually happy when he’s seated. In his high chair we can get smiles out of him. He’s also “talking” to us much more, using his signs again too. Kelly even got him sitting up by himself on the playroom floor, from which position he even tried to crawl. It was encouraging to see him making some progress, but he’s still got a long way to go.

I hope he gets a good night’s sleep tonight and gives his muscles some rest. It’s incredibly tough to see our Big Guy having such a rough time. He’s such an easygoing, happy, charming little boy by nature. We can’t wait to get our guy back!

I got back from my Seattle trip at 7 PM but I’m just now beginning to relax. Why, you ask? Because we’ve spent most of the evening at WakeMed hospital.

I had left the airport and was two miles from being home when my cellphone rang. A frantic Kelly was telling me something about “Travis” and “hospital.” Travis was screaming in the background. I hung up and raced home to see what had happened.

Hallie met me at the door but my welcome hug to her was brief. Kelly told me Travis had slipped, hurt his leg somehow and wasn’t standing on his own. I had time to drop off my bag, put Hallie into her coat, and race with them to the hospital.

WakeMed North is at the other end of Durant, basically where I was when Kelly first called me. We bundled T up, checked in at the desk, and were soon waiting in the back for the doctor on duty to check him out.

Kelly put Travis on her chest, which seemed to calm him down tremendously. I walked around with Hallie on my feet to entertain her, then took her back so we could all play “I Spy” in the hospital room. Once Travis got comfortable, he actually gave some weak smiles, pointed to the light above the table, did some baby signs, and looked around quietly with a pitiful look of pain on his face.

X-rays taken didn’t show any sign of broken bones. The doc’s diagnosis is a sprain somewhere. We’re not exactly sure just where, as the doctor poked him up and down but couldn’t get a reaction. So, we were told to let him sleep tonight and see how he’s feeling in the morning. If he still has trouble standing, we’ll take him back in.

What a way to welcome Daddy home, huh?

[Update] Looks like Kelly posted her account on the Hallie and Travis page.