I’m off on an overnight trip to New York City to close out a long-running eval with a customer. Sleep may not be in the cards for me tonight in the worst-case scenario. I don’t expect any issues, though.

Wednesday morning I jet to DC to get my visa at the Chinese Embassy. In the days of the Internets, one would think one could do this without going in person. One would, of course, be wrong. To top it off, tomorrow is the first day after the Chinese New Year, so I should have plenty of company at the embassy. Yay.

Ah well, that’s the cost of doing business, isn’t it?

My alarm clock this morning came in the form of a loud battle outside my window between at least one squirrel and some sort of adversary.

Once they discovered our bird feeder, a few squirrels made a nest in a tree just outside our yard. The past few days one or more of them have figured out how to get to my feeder (after months of trying), so I’m not exactly happy with them. Even so, I was a bit alarmed to hear such a ruckus at 6 o’clock.

I think I figured out how they’re stealing my birdseed but I’m most curious about this morning’s attack. There isn’t much that the squirrels fear, as far as I can tell. I don’t think the hawks hunt before light.

Once the sun comes up I’ll have to do some investigating.

I had a stupid grin on my face after we completed a family bike ride along the neighborhood greenways. It was about 4 miles total but there’s nothing like pulling fifty pounds of giggling cargo behind you to get you in shape.

I was happy to find my bike was in shape, too: the tires needed virtually no air. It was waiting for me to come back to it.

Hours later, I’m still buzzing from the endorphins. I’m also looking forward to riding once I get my sinuses fixed.

I found out yesterday that I’m going to China next month for a week to train our partners and staff there. I’ll spend two days in Beijing and perhaps two in Shanghai.

It will be my first trip to China proper. I’ve visited Hong Kong two times when the USS Elliot visited there. That was before Hong Kong’s return to China. During the last visit I had signed up to tour China but had overslept that morning and missed the bus, to my regret. Now I’ll get another chance to see this amazing culture, or at least catch a glimpse of it between training sessions!

I’ve been here doing an install for the company headquarters. Things are going well in that regard. What I find interesting is the celebrity status I seem to have here in the head office. Everyone is so nice to me! I’m kind of bewildered and a bit embarassed by the attention I get, frankly. Still, its nice to know I’m appreciated.

Towards the end of the day I was asked when I was leaving. I said tomorrow (today) and the next thing I know I’m holding a ticket for a dinner cruise. The company was rewarding my coworkers who were involved in a major project and had a few extra tickets. In less than an hour I would be heading towards the ship.

This was one time that getting assigned a minivan by the rental car agency came in handy. I took three coworkers downtown to the edge of the Hudson river, where we boarded the cruise ship: a three-deck dinner ship. With the twenty-five of us were two other companies. Passengers totatled about 120, in my estimate. We sat down at our three tables and partook in heavy h’or d’oerves and an open bar.

Soon after we were underway the ship’s entertainment cranked up. Three nightclub-ish performers sang and danced to vintage rock and soul music. I laughed at the cheesiness of it all, though later I changed my mind.

Dinner and a drink later, the performers had given way to dance music. The floor was crowded and I was having fun, so I ventured out there to dance. My friends soon joined me and I spent most of the rest of the night out there, pausing only to take in the underside of the Brooklyn Bridge and see the Statue of Liberty up close. It was an emotional moment for me to see the statue from that vantage point. Seems that symbols of liberty are an endangered species in America of late.

After dancing, the DJ read a list of passengers celebrating things. First on the list was a guy named Mark who was celebrating a birthday. I was totally clueless until I saw the rest of the company smiling in my direction. Someone had remembered my birthday and had had it mentioned! I was totally surprised and very grateful.

We returned to the pier a little after 10, having gone around Manhattan and back. As we left the parking lot at Lincoln Harbor it started to snow: a beautiful sight. I dropped of my passengers and got back to my hotel around 11:30.

It was a spontaneous event, and far more enjoyable than staying holed up in the hotel with my book, which was my previous plan for the evening.

I’ll return to Raleigh this afternoon. It’s obvious it would be good for me to make more frequent visits!

I’m flying up to Newark today with a familiar fellow passenger: Bob Ferguson, former CEO of Midway Airlines. Ferguson used to run Continental Airlines before running Midway so it figures he’d fly Continental today. I wonder what else he’s up to?

Ah, here’s the answer. He’s CFO of Reliant Pharmeceuticals of New Jersey, and apparently not doing too bad for himself.

I’m off to Somerset, NJ tomorrow for a three day business trip. Potentially I can do this in two days, in which case I’ll be back sooner.

The work will be interesting, though, so I’m looking forward to that part. I’ll check in when I can.

I’m in Chicago now. The Southwest flight from Raleigh was smooth and easy, with only about 35 passengers total. I had an easy time getting downtown, though next time I’ll take a cab from the airport: parking costs an arm and a leg downtown. With all the travel I’ve put in to NYC I should’ve anticipated that.

It isn’t as cold as I expected, though I’ve been holed up in the hotel for a while. My appointment is in a few hours, so I have a little time to myself. I should have plenty of time afterwards for a look around town, though this place is so huge I’m not sure where to start.

On a different note, I had a terrible night of sleep. I felt I couldn’t breathe clearly, like I was back to where I started before my first ENT visit. I’m inching closer and closer to scheduling that surgery to get this licked once and for all.

I’m off to Chicago tonight for a few days of work. Forecast for Chicago is “Butt-Ass Cold:” high of 30 degrees and a gentle 10-15 MPH breeze. It should make the recent weather in Raleigh look positively balmy.

I’m reading Double Cross right now, a biography of mobster Sam Giancana. It should put Chicago into proper perspective for me.