I always tell people that we're travelling at 80k miles an hour around the sun,
but if the earth is 94.5 million miles from the sun, then are we travelling at 34k miles an hour, aren't we?
Happy Labor Day Weekend to you all.

BTW-This is Labor Day, not Memorial Day, right? And Labor is spelled Labor and not Laber or Labre. haha
 

Travelling computer consultants are a strange group.
We all have two places we call home.

We're broke between contracts, and rich during contracts.
Most people don't want to see us when we're broke, and that's usually when we are hiding in our real homes.

We've done things or are doing things that are outside the realm of normality.
One buddy is walking across the country, another has programmed the Space Shuttle, and another is bartending.
Some flourished with their own companies during the dot com boom, just to fall back into consulting.

You never hear about us, but we do change the world.
I've done some world-first, including adding some stuff to the ATM screens that you see all over the country.

Usually, we come in, do incredible projects, make it work and leave.
If it fails - We are responsible because we are idiots. Fortunately, I've never failed.
If it works - Others are responsible. They almost always get promoted. 
The consultants either move on, go full time, or become managers and never code again.
Rarely, if ever, our names get mentioned anywhere. We almost never get CC'd on the "Job well done" email from the CEO.

But still, it gets into the blood.
We know what we've done. Our abilities to work either independantly or in a group, has molded our ways of thinking.
The travelling is great, the money is good, and we've gotten used to saying "Hello" and "Goodbye".
At night, we either go insane with thought, or we're happy and we do things most locals would never even consider doing.
Its an emotional roller coaster, and the adrenalene rush is addictive.
And it would be hard for me to stop.

(Spoken after 15 years of consulting, 5 years on the road, and 27 years in the business)

Airbeds - Our second airbed has gone flat in just one week.
It turned out our cot had a sharp edge. I wonder if there are other professionals out there who have had this problem. BTW - I'm not sure when or how I got so strange. Its happened slowly after 15 years of consulting.

It's 3am on a Monday, and as usual, I can't wait to go to work.

Jennifer went back to Vegas last Saturday, and I already miss her.
So now, when I say we, I mean Becky and I.
On the flip side, instead of doing just teenage things, we can do adult things too. I'm thinking Concerts!

She has been so much fun!
We've done a lot of travelling and beach combing in this Tampa Bay Area.
But this is probably the worst time of the year to be here. It's hot and extemely humid.
Tuesday, she gave quite the scare.
She had an asthma attack. Here's my take on that:
Medical care is such nightmare these days. 
Jennifer had an asthma attack and she's on Nevada Medicaid. Medicaid is only covered out-of-state in Emergency rooms.
We found one, and after 2 hours they put her in one of those little rooms where she waited for 2 hours.
Finally after they gave her an XRay, a breathing treatment and a prescription. The whole thing took 5 hours.
It makes me wonder how many people don't survive in those little rooms.
This makes me think
If she didn't have any kind of insurance, I'm sure that visit would have cost $1,000.
For $1,000, she could have flown her to Mexico or Canada, where she could stayed in a nice motel, and she could have bought Albuterol over the counter for $12.
Of course, she could have had a bird flu, in which case, everyone in the Emergency Room might have caught it.
Scary!

It was pouring sheets of rain and I was listening to "The Only Living Boy in New York" in the Westshore Mall parking lot.
Lightening was all around me.
And I was feeling alone, smiling, thinking I was the Only Living Boy who has ever really listened to that song.
It was a good day to have the blues.
I'd heard some things said that took me there
I probably shouldn't listen or care.
Listening attempts to add thought to what is being said, and most of what is said is without thought.
Caring hurts, when what is heard malicious or cold, either through mindlessnes, or out of lack of empathy.
Sometimes I feel like the world is trampling flowers while I'm walking around them.
And I wonder, what is the point.