Midnight in the garden of good and... well, useless

It's midnight here, but my sleep schedule is all fucked up. I caught about 3 hours' sleep on flights from LAX to Detroit Sunday, drove 3 hours because MBS was closed, then was up until 10 working with people. Up again at 7 am, full day in a meeting, then driving back to Detroit (MBS was still closed) to catch an 8 pm flight back to LAX so I could catch a midnight flight to Atlanta and then Asheville. Worked until 3:30 a so, but then the 6000 miles of travel in just over 48 hours caught up with me.

So, checked into the hotel, ate something, took a bath to relax and was in bed fast asleep by 5-ish. Anyway, that's why I'm awake at midnight local time.

Meeting went pretty well, though I got slightly blindsided by the folks running the project: they expected me to run a session on systems I'd never heard of without warning me. Oh well.

(Random fact: yesterday, for the first time ever, I drove in real "icy conditions." Driving SoCal freeways after the first rain in a while is harder, and I've been doing that for years.)

Now I'm in North Carolina trying to explain to folks that you can't train people on 13 years of experience in four days. The boss seems to think I can just snap my fingers and his people - nice ladies and gentlemen but certainly not up to speed on the technologies I support - will be able to handle everything. While he's wishing he should ask for a pony.

By the time I leave here on Friday, I think I'm going to be mentally ready to leave the company.

On a more personal rote, Christmas is going to be a little scant this yes since I'm floating a few thousand in travel expenses. I'll get reimbursed, but I doubt it'll be before I have to buy presents. Ironic, really, since in a few months I ought to be in better financial state than I've been in years. If it had just been the Michigan trip it would have been okay, but they sprung this NC trip on me on Friday.

Oh well, all the more reason to get out of my current job into something more stable, right? Anyway, I should try to get back to sleep.