A Night in Pittsburgh
I'm at home in Pittsburgh for the night, where the temperature is 7 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind chill varies based on whether the wind feels like blowing at 20 or 30 miles per hour. When my plane landed this evening, the wind was blowing at 28, and the resulting turbulence gave my stomach a reason to complain for the next couple hours. Those little Embraer jets just can't handle the wind quite like the big guys can.
I don't really know what to expect in Missouri over the next couple days, other than seeing my old friend Rick for the first time in about seven years. It'll be good to see him again, but I should focus on my work, since I need to assimilate a whole lot of information in the 47 hours between flights. The work is steeped in mechanical engineering (industrial thermodynamics and heat transfer) but is essentially a software programming project. I can handle all the aspects of it, but it would be nice to go into this consulting deal with a better idea of what they want out of it. I ironed a couple shirts, anyway, just in case I need to make some quick, authoritative decisions and have people respect the words coming out of my mouth.
I'll just be sure to take tons of notes and drink more than my fair share of coffee, and everything should work out. After all, that strategy got me a pretty nice masters degree. :)