My travels have not gone well today. So far I have had tickets on United, Northwest and back to United. My first flight was so delayed that I wasn't going to catch my connection in Chicago so I switched my tickets to Northwest -- or rather the agent did -- and then the Northwest plane promptly broke down. I have gone through the same security three times. (The ticket agents are only outside security here in Cedar Rapids.) The last time through they patted me down and searched my bags.

As of now, I'm waitlisted on a flight that leaves in 30 minutes and goes through Denver. If I don't get on that flight (please, please, please), I'll have to wait until 7:20p to flight out of here and won't get home until around midnight. I was supposed to be home by 2p.

I have one thing to say and that is, "Thhhhhpppppptttt!"

(At least all the agents have been really nice and extremely helpful.)

I'm in Iowa to do a webcast on e-commerce. Our company headquarters are here in a little town called Fairfield. In the three years I've been working for them, I've never been here. It's about time!

The town has been putting on quite a show since I arrived. Last night was littered with fireflies -- so many that trees were lit up like they were strung with Christmas lights. As I came home from dinner (not good greasy burger but free ice cream cones), the sky began flashing with lightning. Very dramatic.

It's hot and wet today. The forecast says 91 and rainy. I'm moving between air conditioned indoor spaces so it won't matter much, thankfully. Not big on the whole humidity thing. At least not when I have to wear real clothes.

The town here is so small that there aren't a lot of places to stay. I'm booked at a bed and breakfast owned by friends of my boss, who's also here for the webcast. It's a grand old mansion with huge ceilings and doorways, lots of beautiful woodwork, and, in my room, a ridiculously comfortable four-post bed. I slept well and woke to peach crepes with cream and sausage. If you're ever in Fairfield, Iowa, I highly recommend the Seven Roses Inn.

We're heading over to the office in a bit to set up and get a tour. In my three years, I've talked to a lot of people in marketing, in HR, in logistics, but I've never met any of them in person. In fact, I've only seen pictures of a handful -- the rest are figures in my head that surely have nothing to do with reality. I'm excited to put faces to the names. (Maybe this will also help eliminate some of the terse emails I get.)

Ok, I bitched enough about the fog that Mother Nature felt bad and made it warm and sunny. Thanks, nice lady!

Yay, happy people getting married! About damn time.

I was going to go down and celebrate with everyone (I still might) but work is work and I feel like spending the day in my robe. (Without Corinne around, I realize that my natural instinct is to turn into a puddle of useless goo.) The sun is out, however, and given how awful the San Francisco "summer" has been (forecast: fog, cold, end of days), I should get outside. Whooping it up with the gays is as good a reason as any.

Corinne's doing well in Haiti, which has put everyone's mind at ease. (Or mostly so.) The emails she's sent out make me wish I was there. Service is woefully lacking in my life. I can only steal so much good karma by proxy.

We've talked about making annual trips to somewhere to help out when our yet-to-be-produced kids are old enough. One of Corinne's friends told her about a regular trip to Kenya that is specifically organized for families. Everyone helps out with something, from medical care, to construction, to ... well, I'm a little lacking on the details but there's a job for everyone. It would provide an adventure but also a lot of perspective. We live pretty comfortably and I don't want to raise human beings who don't appreciate that.

So that's the idea. Considering, however, that I haven't so far involved service in my own life and don't actually have little human beings to care for yet, we'll see how well we follow through.

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