Albuquerque redux...

I had never actually stayed for any length of time in Albuquerque before, and I generally am not the one to be going out socializing every night at a new restaurant or point of interest no matter where I am.

(Hmmm.)

As I put that thought on the stack for later rumination, I'll get to the point and say that despite the hard work (my hours exceed 80 for the 8 days I was working, and do not include extracurricular activities such as the ballooning, despite having an aspect of work associated with them), I had a pretty good time. Then again, the host organization - my client - went all out in the hospitality department: the two Russians, for whom this was a first trip to the U.S., got to see and do as much as any earnest tourist, albeit in the time before and after work.

In one of those little coincidences, over the past few days I was introduced to the phrase "It sucks to be you!" (a replacement for the more mundane "Too bad for you!") in both English and French ("C'est con pour toi!"). I only mention this because I thought this turn of the phrase to be, um, refreshing in its own way, and to have run across this phrase in French (don't ask, won't tell) at pretty much the same time only highlighted the exposure.

In any event, as I type this, I have about two hours before I need to be at a fax machine to receive the "alive and well" document (Galina was helping Natalie move out of the house yesterday and hasn't gotten to it yet today), and there are a few things I'd like to do before getting out of here for the day. The room is paid for until tomorrow.

Cheers...

Home again!

The trip from Albuquerque to Pagosa took a little over 4 hours, as I made sure I wasn't hotfooting it along the road, although the sun did its level best to keep the temperature inside the Civic pretty high. Rolling down the window didn't help much.

The closing was postponed again until tomorrow, which made my frantic dash to find a Kinko's (where I could receive a fax) something of a waste of time. (Oh, well... at least now I know where to find a Kinko's near Albuquerque.)

Speaking of the sun, it was at a marvelous altitude above the horizon when I passed the "Red Rocks" near the Abiquiu Reservoir in New Mexico. Here's a pretty good shot:


My current plate consists of two jobs that I ought to be able to take care of in fairly short order. One was a job I got a few days ago but could not get to owing to the energetic schedule of the meeting, and the second was a job I had originally refused because the original document is nearly unreadable. When I got a call several minutes after hanging up the phone with an offer to have the agency's staff type the document and email it to me... and extending the deadline, how could I refuse?

Anyway, I also have a telecon with a prospective client at 7 am tomorrow morning (so I perhaps ought to go to sleep). Then it's serious paper-chasing to put some closure to long-standing open issues. I'm charged.

Cheers...