A Long Day Away From Baby

Given how things played out last year, I expected things to be busy today at the trade show. What I didn’t expect was sheer volume of people that would be attending the show. What had taken me 20 minutes to go from getting on the bus to the booth, was now an hour voyage through the sea of attendees and exhibitors. Thankfully, I had left early enough that I still made it to the booth with plenty of time to spare before the first appointment that I had booked for the day.

As the day flew by you could tell who had been at the show for both days walking up and down the aisles. Sore feet and slow moving legs were apparent. And, of course, there was the larger than life crowd… the ones that made me look like the after picture from a weight loss commercial. It was a constant fluffy wave that made you think twice when you took a lunch break or went over to the cart to get a cup of coffee.

While our booth was busy throughout the day with only a handful of moments when we were left to ourselves, there were other companies when the exact opposite was true. It was rather odd to see the lack of interest that they were inciting especially in a room where there were more than a few niche companies and products that were constantly talking to customers all day. Makes me glad that some of our previous discussions never panned out but also make me wonder how we could have made the show different for them.

Even during the numerous humorous and busy moments, I couldn’t help but think about what I might be missing back home. I kept thinking about my wife and son and hoping that he wasn’t missing me too much. While he may not be aware of everything he does know when I am out late and I am certain that he knew I was gone.

Those times were tough but it was also nice getting those pictures and videos from my wife and sharing them with those around me. While I may not have been able to talk to him, I could at least talk about him. That was my way of getting through the times when I missed him most and the best way that I was able to relate to those around me who all had kids. That is how I got through today!

Pushing Through Level Four

 

Have you ever noticed just how different of a person you are when you’re sick? Some get mad, some become mean, and others just kind of stair off into space. Today I was a different person. I wasn’t really any of the aforementioned, my sick demeanor is more along the lines of dull tunnel vision. Basically, when I’m sick I lose much of my creativity (you can probably tell at this point) and am unable to multitask. I have to focus on one thing at a time. Anything beyond that project simply wouldn’t process.

This doesn’t happen every time that I feel under the weather. It happens more on the top end of not feeling well when I have to motivate myself to move. Basically more on the plague end of the spectrum rather than the sniffles. For those of you unfamiliar with the sickness scale (similar to Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias’ five levels of fatness), here is the breakdown:

1. Sniffles – You cough once and feel that is enough to call out sick from work. Also applies to hangovers.

2. Sick – The time when you might want to consider taking something. This is when you usually start going through the list in your head of who you can blame for what you know is inevitably going to happen.

3. Crap on Toast (also known as crap on a cracker) – As the name suggests, at this point you are more than likely spending more time than you would like passing legislation through colon congress while weighing the nuclear option from your seat in the oval office. This also applies when you eat too much sugar free candy (especially Gummy Bears).

4. Plague – You have nothing left and your body seems to laugh when you take any sort of cold medicine. While you are no longer in solitary confinement in the porcelain prison, it takes considerable effort to just get up let alone get out the door.

5. Dead – This is when you have no other option than to call out of work and stay home moaning like a wounded cow. If you can only eat broth and really soft foods you might be dead. Stay home.

Fortunately, or unfortunately depending on how you look at it, it is now the weekend and I have the luxury of dying without missing any work. However, if you were expecting to read about any exciting trips this weekend there is a good chance that will not be happening. It will give me time to thing though and you know how entertaining that can be so stay tuned for a couple posts resulting from an overabundance of time to think and cold medicine.