Lots of Travel

The previous founder and CEO of my group in Santa Fe has left. That was always expected since he sold the company more than a year ago to Interthinx (who I work for). Now, the real work of integration begins, planning for 2012, and visiting our clients. As a result, I've had to travel more. If I were younger or had no kids, I wouldn't mind it as much. But these days, I much rather stay put at home.

I've had 2 trips in the last 3 weeks: Santa Fe and San Francisco last week. I got to see Yvette/Scott and Yvonne in SF, which was nice. Next week I will be in the headquarters in LA, and I get to meet up with Diana and Karen. Future trips include: Miami for a conference, London first week in Nov for a user group, and maybe HK/Shanghai/Singapore the week before London (I won't even tell extended family and only see Diana in HK), and somewhere in there I will squeeze another trip to Santa Fe. Oofda.

My parents are going to Shanghai for a month in October, returning early November. That means Bill will be flying solo during my trips. These days it is easier, but it is still a lot of preparation and work.

Side blog -
On my way back from SF Tuesday, a man passed out right in front of me in SFO. He was on the walking sidewalk, I was walking to my gate in the opposite direction. There was no one in front or behind him, he just passed out and fell over. He didn't answer to our calls of "Are you OK?" A woman behind me (looked like an United employee) ran to stop the moving sidewalk. I jumped over to help. For the last 3-4 years, I've taken CPR and AED training at FICO to help out in case of an emergency in the office. I never thought the emergency would come in this form. The man looked like he was in his late 40s, not overweight, but not in shape either. His eyes were open with a blank look, no pulse, faint breathing. I wasn't prepared to touch a complete stranger and one who seem to be dying, but I started CPR as I yelled for help. We were in the middle of the United gates in SFO, luckily a fairly busy place. A doctor in one of the gates near by came to help, he was calm (calmer than me) and continued the chest compressions and got an AED. The man still had no pulse after the first shock. 911 took forever (more than 10 minutes) which you would figure shouldn't take that long in a busy airport like SFO. By then I was a bystander and they asked us to evacuate. I proceeded to my gate shaking, thinking of this man's fate and of who he was, thinking of what I could have done more, thinking of what it would have happened if he passed out in a less busy place, thinking what if it was me or someone I loved, and wanting to be home with my family. I went back after 15 minutes, they were still there and the man still looked unconscious, but his chest was moving (breathing) and they were inserting an IV. I pray that he made it!