Little Rock

My trip to Little Rock was a nice break, but busy. The company travel website said a direct flight was too expensive, that I had to take connecting flights. Great. So I booked them. Later (when it was too late) the new boss said I should’ve taken the direct flight. On the way to work Wednesday I realized that I had forgotten to pack my book, so I grabbed four Sports Illustrateds to read. Then two of them were the same issue. Left work at 2:15 and made good time to the airport. The West Lot was full and the South didn’t look good, so I parked in the North Lot. Not bad, once I got there.

While waiting on the 6 pm flight I conducted some business and charged my phone. In Charlotte I had a hike to my LR connection, so I grabbed a yogurt. Flight was of course delayed a little. Got a nice Kia Optima rental car at the Bill & Hillary Clinton National Airport in Little Rock, grabbed the new Wendys BBQ sandwich just before closing, and made it to my room by 10:30 Central time. A long day.

Got to the office early Thursday morning. The first training session went well. I only had four students. One was outside sales, and made little effort to follow along. Two were familiar with the system. The fourth was new (and lost). I had the lost boy enter the info we told him on the computer. We had plenty to discuss all the way until noon. After a pizza lunch my host took me on a plant tour. I’ve known Jeff for years - he’s a good guy who reminds me of Ceil’s cousin Dic Dac.

After the tour I snuck out to tour the nearby Clinton Presidential Library. It was a beautiful, sunny day. Replica Oval Office and Cabinet Room. Twelve minute video narrated by Clinton. Many gifts the Clintons received were on display, including autographed baseballs, golf clubs, and even an Olympic torch from the Atlanta games. Bought a few items in the gift shop for the fam, but passed on the bobblehead and baseball. Nice long dinner at a fancy Mexican place with my host and another trainer. Got back to the hotel late and didn’t feel like logging onto the computer. Another decent training session Friday morning. Hated that I had no time to meet up with my old friend James, a sometime reader of this blog.

My flight home was through Houston. The Houston girl’s flight was through Dallas, and the Charlotte girl’s flight was through Atlanta. We should’ve traded flights. Since the layover in Houston was short I ate lunch in LR: a BBQ plate. The flight to Houston was late boarding, then we had to wait 20 minutes on the tarmac. While waiting I joining a United text message service, and told them I was going to miss my connection to Atlanta. Then due to weather we flew south over Lake Ponchetrain, then circle out in the Gulf while waiting our turn to land. Finished reading all my Sports Illustrateds, including a good article about Heat coach Eric Spoelstra. Did you know that when Hank Gathers made the last shot of his life (an alley oop), Spoelsta was the defender?

Got off the 12:10 flight in Houston at 3:05, got my boarding pass printed for the Atlanta flight at a gate with no line, then hustled across the airport in time to board the 3:30 flight. Sat in the last row, making me the gatekeeper for the bathroom. A little girl couldn’t open the door, so I showed her mom the trick I’d seen the flight attendant preform to open the door. Read the in-flight magazine article about Erin Andrews, cleaned out emails and cell phone contacts, and pecked out a long blog post email. Finished as we were pulling up to the gate.

While I was riding the airport train I texted to see if there was an Atlanta bus event since I was coming through town. That was when they were stopped in South Carolina. Plane landed at 6:30 and I made it back to East Cobb by eight. Met Ceil at Chipotle. M was at a football game and Anna out with friends.

Over the weekend I calculated that  I could’ve driven to LR and back in less time (and for a lot less money) that the flights took. Would’ve gotten more reading done as well (on CD).

Left work Monday at 5:45. After supper (baked chicken, rice & gravy, salad) Matthew and I picked up my composer friend Reid and drove past Lake Allatoona to buy M an electric guitar with his birthday money. A Fender Jaguar Classic. From all our sources it seemed to be a decent deal. Didn’t get home until after 11 pm. Then I had to check out the weather forecast and package five eBay shipments.

Chuck Oliver on 680 said yesterday that unless your team goes undefeated, you should play any talented freshman phenom you have available. Dabo should’ve started Deshaun Watson against UGA and FSU. He didn’t, and Clemson lost. Said Winston should’ve played as a freshman, and perhaps FSU wouldn’t have lost in Raleigh against NC State.

MO@FL: Will Missouri and Matty Maulk rebound on the road? Were they just victims of a fired up Bulldog team – right when Maulk had a terrible day? Even Hutson Mason had a big day against the Tigers: 21-28 for 250 yards. Gator QB Driscoll has been bad all year, and the athletic backup is still suspended (hopefully he’ll still be out when they face UGA). I say Missouri beats Florida.

ND@FSU: The Irish had to come back to beat UNC. They did beat Stanford the week before – their only real quality win. Will FSU suspend QB Winston for the same autograph allegations that benched Gurley? FSU wins with Winston under center (FSU coach says Winston will play). Can they win without him? I vote yes. Down the road Notre Dame’s schedule gets no easier – Northwestern, Arizona, Southern Cal.

Of course, I’ve proven to be no expert at picking college football games.

Caps don’t look good on me. I have a big head. Adjustable caps look too small.