I woke up at 3:00 yesterday. I woke up at 3:30 today. Well, 6:30 today, but my body clock says 3:30.

It’s all very disorienting.

The flights weren’t so bad. Getting through security at PDX went normally, the flights were early, there was only one bit of confusion as gates were scrambled around last-minute for the puddle-jumper leg of the trip, and I experienced almost no ill effect from being in aisle seats the entire six or so hours I spent in airplanes.

Now, the cab ride to the hotel was more entertaining. First, when the guy calls and says “I’m in a black Lincoln Continental,” that’s not really much help because every cab was a black Lincoln! Then, the dispatcher had given him the wrong destinations, so we spent a few harried minutes getting that squared away. Finally, we drove right past the hotel without realizing we’d gone right past the hotel.

He was a nice Jamaican fellow, though, and we passed the time amiably once we worked around the various issues.

The hotel is nice, but a bit quirky. I’ll see about putting together an image post after classes are done so I can explain that a bit better. Also, dining amenities are… interesting. Let’s just say I’m currently located along one of those roads populated mostly with run-down mini-strip-malls, which means it’s either hole-in-the-wall diners or fast food chains. Well, chain. McD’s. Which… only if I’m truly desperate, folks. Ugh.

And now… off to the first day of classes. Wish me luck?

I like seeing other parts of the country. I like the idea of seeing other parts of the country.

I’m not so keen on using air travel to get there.

Tuesday morning I board a plane bound for Connecticut (well, Chicago… where I’ll catch one for White Plains NY… you get the idea) so I can take a two-day training & certification process for one of our vendors. I’m the right guy to send; I wish I wasn’t. I’ve been losing sleep, worse each night I get closer to the trip, over every thing I can think of that might go awry.

So… what will I forget? The boarding pass? My laptop? A phone charger? The possibilities are staggering and endless! Wheee!

I should be at work right now.

I’m not, because I spent all night gulping down pain medicine and trying to find a position in which I could sleep. There’s a knot in my back at my left shoulderblade that hurts like [censored]. There hasn’t been a minute in the last 15 hours in which it hasn’t hurt at all. I occasionally slept through it, when I became too exhausted and when the meds kicked in for a while, but it never lasted long.

There are important things to do. The Kaseya server needs some attention, most importantly. I haven’t even entered my time from yesterday. I hate letting the company down like this. I almost got up and went to work anyway, but finding myself on the verge of tears merely from sitting up in bed put the kaibosh on that idea.

So, I’m going to spend the rest of the day trying to find a comfortable-ish position from which to grit my teeth and endure until this knot goes away. Wish me luck.