Adventures in Business Travel...

So Wednesday I was on a conference call at work, and it was decided that I should fly out to one of our locations to conduct an independent investigation of a situation which had occurred recently. I was supposed to just go and do a couple simple tasks. I'd never done something like this before, but aside from the nervousness of a new task it seemed pretty self-explanatory and easy.

I drove to the airport and got to my gate just around boarding time. Yay for no long waits at the gate! When I got on the plane I ended up sitting next to this couple who were very personable and chatty. It was a nice change since I like to talk and usually get stuck next to people who have their head in a magazine. We ended up talking the entire flight, and even on the way out of the plane. Then they gave me their card w/address and phone number (odd!) and asked if I had a phone number or email address. I gave them an email address... I'm not too comfortable giving my phone number to strangers! Even though I did talk to them the whole flight...

So when I got to my destination I was greeted by

one of the higher level managers, who informed me that the location manager had just resigned without notice the evening before we arrived. .......... Long pause. Wow. This just opened up a whole can of worms and gave us a HUGE pile of things to do for which we had not budgeted time!

Obviously I cannot give you the details, but basically everything could possibly go wrong DID go wrong, and it was a difficult and exhausting 11-12 hour work day. My colleague did not even get to eat dinner before we left for our hotels that night. I got my dinner to go, and ate it around 11pm! Then it was up, up, up early the next morning to finish what we could before we both had to fly home. It was absolutely insane.

Phone calls every other minute providing updates, phone calls to my fellow auditor for assistance, phone calls to this company and that company... It all ended with a pat on the back from my boss and a "you deserve the weekend off!" from my coworker. It was a great learning experience, but very, very tough!

And now I am home, for the meantime, until I fly out again on Monday to go do an audit! Craziness I tell you, craziness. If you only knew... :) But God was SO gracious to get me through it, and to give me a bit of mercy the 2nd day as 2 things actually worked out right (the rest still went wrong haha). He is awesome! And now, I am definitely ready for bed. Amen! And goodnight! ~D~

New Endeavors

I am really enjoying photography as of late. I have always enjoyed it, but the better I get at it, the more I enjoy it! (Makes sense, no?) Some of my photos are pretty good. Others are on their way, but need a little bit of help.

So I was thinking that it would be awesome to take a photography class, or read a book or something to help me improve my skills. And someday (hopefully in the not-too-distant future) I would like to get a better camera - I have my sights set on an SLR (no particular model yet), but would also like to get this Panasonic Lumix camera... That little thing is aMAZing!

There might be better models by the time I can afford it, so I will check out what's out there... But while on vacation with my dad I had "camera envy"... I told him at one point (jokingly), "Okay, stop showing me your pictures! It just makes me hate my camera!" All his pictures came out awesomely clear and pristine and just perfectly amazing. In a small compact camera.

My 2nd cousin (who does photography as a hobby) says that's the portable camera the pros carry in their back pocket when not using an SLR, and that many photos displayed in shows were taken on those little cameras - That the processor is just amazingly good and professional quality. So whereas it would be nice to have an SLR, it would be great to have a nice little portable camera for those "spur of the moment" photo opportunities.

Ah, dreams dreams. But with what I have, I think I will start printing and framing, maybe make a calendar or put some mats on them and sell them on the side for some extra money, for gifts, for whatever. And I've started hanging some inside my own house. It's fun! It's like free art! ;)

CDs, Fans and Music Galore

Inspired by my friend Sonora (landlord's daughter, not my cousin's daughter for those confused family members reading this post), I decided to create a Facebook fan page for my music. I had already put a "tab" on my personal profile page with some of my music and pictures, info, etc. but this will allow people who aren't my friends on Facebook to check out my music and become a fan.

I also recently created a CD containing several of my songs which I recorded using a sweet little digital recorder I received for Christmas a couple years ago. It is the most handy little gadget! I entitled it, "Acoustic Demo Album", though it contains some 14 songs. I suppose demos typically have less, but due to the recording quality I wanted it to be clear it was a demo and not full production.

After getting my new Macbook Pro set up, I was determined to make some better recordings. However, this process was hindered when my mic interface was discovered to only work via cardbus... The unit itself connects to the cardbus adapter via firewire cable, and my Macbook has a firewire cable... But the company specifically instructed me that the unit will in no way work (and may even be damaged) if connected only via firewire cable.

So I am left without a way to connect my mic to my computer... Still. It works with my old PC laptop, which is slower than a dead snail trapped in a box, but for obvious reasons I don't want to go that route. Plus my recording program on my PC was going haywire last time I used it. Using the internal mic on my laptop is no good either - My piano sounds dreadful (partly because it needs to be tuned).

Back to the drawing board on recording... So for now it is acoustic demo made on digital recorder and the occasional recording done at church. I know it will all work out in God's timing and I'm not in a hurry. I am happy that I have been faithful with what He has given me so far, and know that in His time He will give me more. :)

Until next time... Signing off!