SHARKWATER

Saturday, September 16, 2006

Business Travel

I haven't been on a business trip in a couple of years (one of the benefits of taking time off work, then working for a tiny company in its early stages). But this week I had to fly to Philadelphia for a couple of days. Great! September is usually a great time to be on the East Coast, since the humidity has gone, and the cold hasn't set in.

Forecast for just the 2.5 days I was to be there: Rain. Showers. More rain. *sigh*

And apparently the Pennsylvania highway department has it out for non-locals. Because if you make just one little slip, you're on the ramp onto the turnpike instead of the road you wanted. And not only does this mean you can't turn around for 10-12 miles, you also have to pay for the privilege. Cruel. Frustrating. Especially when one is already a bit jet-lagged.

But our meetings went well. Nice people. Got to have dinner with a dear old friend.

And then that wonderful weather decided to play havoc with my flight home. I had carefully found a 2:00 pm flight that would get me to San Francisco by 5:00 pm so I could join my wife and a friend for dinner at 6:00 before our 8:00 theater tickets. Hahahahahahahaha.

The 2:00 flight took off sometime after 4:30. We touched down at 7:34. I was in Row 31 of 32 on the plane, so I was almost the last one off. Luckily, no checked bags, so I ran to the taxi stand, and we set some kind of land speed record, arriving at the theater at 7:59 for the 8:00 curtain. I actually had time to sit and catch my breath (and stow my carry-ons under the seats) before the curtain went up.

I'm looking forward to a nice, relaxing weekend at home. After we get back from seeing the new dinosaur exhibit at the California Academy of Sciences.

2 comments:

Laura E. Goodin said...

Yeesh! What was the show? Worth the hassle?

Chard said...

Well, I'm not clear that anything is really worth that hassle, but it was a good show. It's Tom Stoppard's "Travesties" at American Conservatory Theatre. It was in preview, and oddly enough, we're supposed to see it again in a couple of weeks.

We like to see Stoppard shows twice in general, because you always get something the second time that you missed before, or there's a different nuance in the performance.

Anyway, the next time we're going, its from our subscription, and we can reschedule those, but for the additional tix we were using this week, there is no option to change.

Short answer: Seeing a Stoppard play is almost always worth some hassle.