I think it will be a long, long time before I come home again in February/March. I was hopeful, when I read the weather report about a week before my trip that said that the temps would be in the mid-forties to mid-fifties. I had no such luck, as that prediction had dropped about 10-15 degrees by the time my travel date arrived.
We just had our most dreaded trade show of the year at the GA Intl Congress Center. That was a very happy prospect to me at first because I thought, “Free trip home,” failing to recognize that I was going to be spread thin trying to see family and exhausted by all my work duties. The family thing worked itself out mostly as my Dad and Mom were both traveling with their SOs over the weekend. This gave me a little less running around to do and a little more time to prepare for the show. So, the majority of time spent with my family can be summed up in a few pictures.
I left my camera at work that Friday, so the only pics I have are the ones I was able to take with my dad’s camera. I also got to see my grandparents, all of them, which was nice.
The rest of my visit was pretty much-off to the show. <sigh> I really shouldn’t complain. This year’s show was the best organized one we’ve ever attended for my company’s part. We had dinners and events organized for our clients and prospects instead of the usual, which is all the salespeople scrambling to book dinners and begging prospects to meet with them for 5 minutes. But, at the same time it was rough. Straight from the show to a happy hour or hockey game, then to bed. So, a few 12 hour a day work days in a row and I am beat! I do think I got some good leads, made some good contacts. But, only time will tell how good they were.
Aside from the show I did sneak a little QT in. I got to have a quick dinner with Judy and Tim Sunday night. Then work at Jim and Jess’ home office on Thursday. Then an Indian Feast with Twain and Ced before heading back Friday morning. I also got to go to some places I missed on my last trip: Charlie G’s (not a standard of mine, but it brought back good memories because Jim’s old roommate used to bartend there and so we went frequently in the good ‘ole days and was situated in the basement of my hotel.) Brickstore (yay!), Twain’s (for lunch WITH Twain, haha!) and there were a couple of new places I tried and liked a lot: Shaun’s in Inman Park and Mac McGee’s in Decatur Square.
Since I’ve been back however, I’ve been doing little more than cursing Atlanta. When I got home Friday I was exhausted, but feeling okay otherwise. By Saturday afternoon however, I was laid out, completely taken over by what I thought was a sinus infection. I pretty much slept and whined the remained of the day. On Sunday, I had a cooking class and against my better judgment went. I propped myself up and suppressed my nasty cough for most of the class. As soon as I left however, I crumbled into a heap at home. When I went to the doctor Monday, sure I had bronchitis, she told me it was actually just a bad cold and I’d have to wait it out. Oops. Hope everyone in my cooking class is still healthy, though I was careful to cough into my elbow and wash my hand profusely. I’ll blog about that class later. I have pictures this time.
Anyway…I know it isn’t really Atlanta’s fault I got sick, but since, so far I get sick every trip it is hard not to associate the two. I’ll be back some day, but not without weeks of preparation to build my immune system up like a steel fortress. <cough, cough, sniffle>