Day 166

Sorry I couldn’t get to you all yesterday. Let’s just say it was one of the longer days I have had in a while. Flying out at 6:30 am is never fun, especially when you are on a trip with your boss. My boss I have chronicled before. He is a good guy and has been very good and fair to me with my job transfer and giving me room for growth with the company. That being said, the guy is Mr. Fun and when he is on the road, he doesn’t know the meaning of the word sleep. So yesterday, we met with our new brokers in Toronto and the people at Sysco Toronto for a meet and greet. We had a huge Sushi lunch, stopped and did some work at a coffee shop and headed up to Peterborough, Ontario where our other client is located. It is a two hour drive North through the middle of nowhere and ending pretty much in the middle of nowhere. We had a 3:30 meeting and the two guys we met with were old buddies with my boss and all they did was discuss how they used to tear it up during the old days. It was minorly productive, but we were taking them to dinner as well. I figured I’d get a little downtime, but we literally checked into our hotel and went out for a drink before meeting the clients for dinner. Dinner was 4 hours (lots of good wine and Lobster tails – a great thing about traveling with my boss, it’s a free for all on the menu; he orders every teaser, salad, and deserts). I figured we were in the clear and then at 10, my boss wanted to go out for another drink. This guy is a machine and meanwhile, I am on fumes at this point. Finally got to bed around 11:30 and had a 6 am wake up call. This morning, we drove back 2 hours to Toronto. I dropped my boss off for an appointment and I conducted a sales meeting where I trained and answered questions for an hour. The good news is that my boss wanted out as soon as we could and we got on a 12:30 flight home which I am currently typing this blog entry from. Cannot wait for my late afternoon.

I have so many thoughts on my mind. I haven’t been this stressed out in years. We are moving in 10 days, we still have a ton of packing to do, we just announced a price increase at work which increases my work load significantly at the worst possible time, and the condo is not sold or close to it. Our top target to buy put in a bid on another place in our building that is such a piece of crap compared to ours. Their realtor said it was because they wanted the garage space. What a joke. Meanwhile, we don’t have an open house this weekend and we have no showings scheduled. Another price drop may be in the works.

I read earlier this week that former Enron CEO Ken Lay died of a heart attack while awaiting his sentencing for fraud. Talk about a guy with a ton of stress. I can see why his heart gave out. But the guy screwed a lot of people out of their hard earned money. He took the easy way out as far as I concerned. He should have had to rot in jail the rest of his life.

Saturday night is the big going away party. For all of you that will be in attendance, I expect rare form. Bring on the Jaeger bombs, Belvedere and sodas, and the shots of Jameson. It’s going to be so great and so sad all at once. I’m sure lots of photos will be taken and posted on the blog on Monday. Before I leave the city I want to soak it all in. Look back and reflect that all of the amazing things that happened in my 8 years in Chicago. Just before I move, I will dedicate a blog to that.

I would be remiss if I didn’t acknowledge a major life accomplishment, or should I say “freeing” for my beautiful wife Leah. Today, Friday July 7, 2006, Leah officially is no longer an employee at Hewitt. I don’t know many people who still have their first job out of college, but Leah managed to move up the ladder at Hewitt since her first day in July of 1998. More than anything, the work, the people, etc, it was the horrible commute that she made day in and day out that made it so difficult for her. Imagine if you will, waking up every day at 5:15 and having to drive an hour to work. You work a full day, “adult baby-sitting” as she puts it, then tired, you get back in your car and drive home an hour and a half to two hours most nights in bumper to bumper traffic. I to this day have no idea how she did it. Talk about patience. I won’t lie, there have been numerous “I can’t take this anymore” phone calls I have received from her and she had every right to make these calls. But the future is bright, that light at the end of the tunnel I have told her was ahead is finally here. The best quote about how she is feeling today comes from the great Thornton Melon in Back to School: “I Feel like I just got paroled!” Make sure when you see her tomorrow night if you do to congratulate her on leaving that place once and for all. You did it babe! I am so proud of you. Now on to the next chapter of your life; C-Town employment..

Days Until Leah stops Working: ZERO
Days Left in Chicago: 10
Song of the Day: “Everybody Must Work” by Barrington Levy