No Rest For The Wicked

Wondering why I've been in your city recently but did not get in touch? Waiting on that phone call I promised weeks ago? Let me explain why....but first, we will have to go way, way back in time (in billable hours...)

Wednesday, February 8th
Bebemoche coming down with the flu, is requested to fly to Boston said evening and for the coming day but weasels her way out. Gets assigned to hell proposal project, decides to prioritize personal dinner with friends she has cancelled on several times in the past few months.

Thursday, February 9th
Woo hoo, this proposal is crap - and it is about one of the most boring subjects in existence. People have sent me 500+ slides - better go through them and start to prepare a response. Oh, and after I return home from work after midnight, I've got to pack my bags for Paris.

Friday, February 10th
I am really tired, and I have to head to Paris - but I had better get to the airport before 5pm so I can take a conference call from there and then get on the 7 1/2 hour overnight flight.

Saturday, February 11th
Whoopee, isn't Paris grand when you see it from behind a laptop and arrive at the equivalent of 2am New York time - better send those requested slides out and cancel all of those fun social engagements. This is what I call quality time with those closest to me.

Sunday, February 12th
Leaving Paris in the afternoon, just in time for a croissant, a shower, and for JFK to close due to the blizzard...

Sunday, February 12th - Monday, February 13th
A colleague happens to be on the same flight, so the four extra hours we are forced to spend in the plane are more entertaining than usual. We circled the (closed) airport for an hour or so, then we landed and sat on the tarmac for an hour or so, then they finally found a gate whose jetway was frozen shut for an hour or so, then we entered the angry customs line for an hour or so, then we waited in the taxi line for an hour or so... Dropped my colleague off at Penn station at 2:45 am for his train to Philly, then went to bed for a couple of hours.

Monday, February 13th
Time to become slave to those conference call people - from 8 am to after midnight. What a jolly good mood I'm in after the blizzard debacle. And my apartment is so disgusting that I have to stay up an extra hour just to make it bearably dirty. I have not really been there for weeks.

Tuesday, February 14th
Pissed off - how miserable is a holiday when lovers are frolicking in the streets while I don't even have time to eat lunch. A lovely work day of 16 hours. Love it!

Wednesday, February 15th
That's right - last night was not enough. Rise and shine super early. More work all day, no lunch, and I've got to go to Philly for the evening for a recruiting dinner (good thing, because I did not get lunch), but before I can finish my after dinner coffee I have to go over a presentation with someone and run back to New York for more work and conference calls until 3am.

Thursday, February 16th
Better be in the office by 8:15 am for that partner meeting. Never mind that I have not heard from friends or family for days. The partner hates the deck, so much headless-chicken-like running around until 11 pm when he is finally satisfied. Not before a few arguments, though. And what - the no lunch theme returns. Colleague and job manager insist that it is time to celebrate our victory - with a dinner starting at 11pm and ending, well, right about now, at 2:30 am. They figured that none of us had slept anyway, so what's a few more hours of lost sleep?

Taking Monday off...