You are in "".

I call a customer back after our call is disconnected.

Mike D: Hi, this is Mike.
Important customer: Hi Mike. I’m sorry. This stupid cell phone disconnects my calls all the time
Mike D: Oh, no that was me.
Important customer: But you’re not on a cell, I called you at work.
Mike D: yeah… I turned around in my chair and it pulled the cord. The cord pulled the phone base which teetered on the edge of my desk… I grabbed for it but missed and hit the body instead of the edge thus pushing the phone base off the desk. It bounced across the room and the phone cable came undone. Sorry about that.
Important customer: wow.

And… I’m in Texas.

It’s warm here. Tomorrow is scheduled to be around 20 degrees Celsius (65 degrees F). I’ll be here for the next couple days returning Thursday afternoon in time for some late hours at the office, class on Friday, and the return to a semi-normal schedule… at least for a day or two. Then travel might rear its ugly head once again.

Alicia’s wedding on Saturday, alongside all this business travel, has rekindled my desire for a network of awesome people. In the ideal world I’d love to have a friend in every major US city/state that I could visit when business sends me off. If you’d like to add yourself to that list, fire me an e-mail at MikeDiDonato AT Gmail D0T com. Once the network is complete, I will post an exciting map of all the connections across the country.

Airports have a lonliness about them from mikedidonato on Vimeo.

It snowed in Ohio last night.
This, following the beautifully strange 60 degree Chicago weather. Odd.

Things are going pretty darn good. It’s 4:45am in Ohio and I woke up with particularly unkemp hair. I finished 95% of my paperlast night so my plane ride today can mostly be spend in relaxation.

Mostly, I just can’t wait to get back and play guitar. This Thanksgiving is going to be very rocking.

I’m in Chicago! I’m here on a sales trip and it’s pretty relaxing. It’s mostly been a mix of sales, homework, and adventure. The flight out on Saturday was fantastic. It just so happened that I shared a flight with Andreas the German Climber. We chatted and shared stories during the trip and the time flew (ba dum dum ching) by. That night I watched a great fireworks show from my hotel room.

Sunday night things were decidedly more lame as I stayed in to work on my paper.

Things picked up again last night when I threw academic responsibility to the wind and went out with the guys to Fogo de Chao, a well known Chicago Brazilian steakhouse. They give you a small token, one side of which is green, the other red.

When you want food, you switch it to green. And the food comes. Fast. An onslaught of meat like none I have ever seen. The first time I turned my token green and had to switch it back to red within 45 seconds for fear that my plate would be overrun by various cuts of tender salty meats.

It was a fun time.

Tonight will be another whole adventure. I’ll take pictures.

In the next month I will only be in the office for 7 days.

Next week I’m off to Chicago, which will immediately be followed by a trip to Ohio. Then we have Thanksgiving weekend followed by my sister’s wedding. The next Monday I head out to Texas to return on Thursday December 6th at which point I think the marathon of work will cease.

There might be an extra day slipped in here or there depending on if I can cut the business trips short. We shall see.

The next week is going to be the hardest. I am purposefully not going to bring my travel guitar. I have a ton of work that I need to get done for school and I don’t want any major distractions from my goal. Hopefully a week off will not destroy the sweet advances I have made in sweep picking and finger dexterity.

Last night Jesse stopped by and we had a quick fun jam session. At one point i let Jesse try the new guitar and I picked up my old guitar… oh man. How I ever played that thing… I have no idea.

Are any of you planning any fun trips?

I may have mentioned this before, but I have a strange desire to take up smoking… just to see if I have the will power to quit.

Recently while at work, this came up in conversation and one of my more astute coworkers compared it with Odysseus’s desire to hear the Sirens. Doing something just to be tempted. Perhaps it’s not as strange a thought as I suspect. Maybe this curiosity is inherent in our being human.

comments?

Today I took a vacation day from work so that I can finish up that paper.

whoop-de-freakin-doo.

On Tuesday our work meetings ended early. We stopped in at a small diner in Pittsburgh and chatted and purchased some beverages. As 6 o’clock approached we decided to go grab some dinner and then head to bed early.

Instantly, I remembered my folks talking about a Church in Pittsburgh that was transformed into a Brewery. They had suggested I check it out if we had time… and it appeared that yes, we had time.

I called up Ernie and got him to check the internet for me to see if we could find directions. Sure enough, the church was reasonably close. Just outside downtown Pittsburgh. We jumped in the car and off we went.

The Church Brew Works is a pretty big place. It’s not done quite as nicely as it could be, but it wins serious points on uniqueness. Walking through the huge wooden doors forces one to feel a bit… well? wrong. The holy water basins are still there as well as the organ and all the stained glass. Where one would normally find the alter, there stands the huge equipment for beer brewing. Down below, where one would expect to find pews, are tables and chairs set for dining.

The food was German in nature. We had some pierogies and traditional hummus to start and followed it with some steak. The food was great. The others got some beer, of which there was a wide variety available, and I had myself a water.

It was a good time and I’d recommend it as a stopping point if you find yourself in Pittsburgh. Though I don’t think it’s a place I’d regularly visit.

Check out the website, along with a picture or two… here.

Today I’m in D.C. I flew down last night with two others: our head of production (Jeff) and a visiting colleague from Texas named Yoni. I’ve never been to D.C. before so I was thrilled as the plane swooped in over the Lincoln memorial. What a sight! And shortly after landing (and taking a shower, which was probably preferred 10 to 1 over any amount of sightseeing (it had been four days)), we went out to grab some dinner.

Yoni has a fascinating history. He’s lived all over the place including Isreal and France. He speaks five languages and has a doctorate in metallurgy. He became a US citizen in 1989 and *loves* the United States.

It was mildly ironic then that he was the one who gave Jeff and I a tour of D.C. His knowledge of U.S. history is extremely deep. Not only was he telling us about the museums, the buildings, and the restaurants, he was supplementing the facts with stories of John Hancock’s jealousy and George Washington’s teeth. It was a huge relief to be spending some time here instead of with the tortures of broken water mains.

Speaking of water mains, the homefront remains much the same. Today I’ll find out how soon the repair guys will be able to come to fix the problem. Hopefully I’ll be able to post some D.C. pictures tomorrow.

Today went pretty well. Sadly though, not quite as well as hoped. While the new equipment we were installing worked great, a previous problem that we thought had disappeared came back with a vengeance. My co-worker Darko and I will be staying in Texas for an extra day in hopes that we’ll be able to close that problem tomorrow.

The food scenario today was ROUGH. The company we’re visiting didn’t happen to get the mill up and running until about 11:30… so we missed lunch. Uuuuugh. Hunger is a tough foe and… when it teams up with exhaustion… the combo is devastating. My eyelids edged shut again and again all the while my stomach spinning and lurching from the single twix bar that I tried to use to appease its growl.

The weather here is hot. Not overbearingly hot… just mid nineties. BUT! BUT! some new rules are in effect at this company… and we all have to wear long sleeves to protect ourselves from cuts and burning. This isn’t too annoying for all those dudes who brought long sleeved shirts to Texas, but I did not - mainly because it’s Texas. and I didn’t plan for cool weather. So I have to wear an overcoat.

You can probably begin to appreciate the situation: me, standing in the Texan sun, my exhausted mind desperately trying to figure out why I’m wearing an overcoat and not eating delicious BBQ.

Hopefully we’ll finish up tomorrow.

It’s like this every time I travel for work. Hands so dirty that I decimate a toothbrush in my efforts to rid my hands of the grime. Usually I remember to wash at the factory… which is far better because you can use their handy dandy soaps. This time though, I forgot.

Dirty Dirty Hands from mikedidonato on Vimeo.

We’ll continue this ritual tomorrow night.

Today is judgment day here in Texas. I’m hoping the day will go smoothly and that I’ll be able to return to the quiet life of CT in a very short time.

Texas is pretty warm, but not overwhelming. Yesterday it was in the 90’s and today is suppose to be about the same.

The food has been decent. Last night I went to a small little Cajun restaurant and I’m hoping to be able to escape the mayhem for a short time today to hit up some of the amazing BBQ that’s in town.

That’s about the extent of my personal plans for the day/week. A little BBQ and an early departure would be heaven.

Texas = this week’s location.

Today I fly to Cleveland. It’s just a day trip, so nothing too overwhelming. We’re headed out to meet a potential customer and spread the company joy.

Also: This morning I somehow achieved an uncommonly close shave.

It’s 3:30am and, really, that’s about as complicated of a thought that I can muster.

Actually, not just Irene. All of us do.

I think my favorites are the periodic table of elements and the ATP molecular structure. So hardcore!

Of course, if I were to get one, I’d have to get THIS.

What kind of career oriented tattoo would you get?

Jeff and I met in the lobby of the Guadalajara Holiday Inn Select this morning before our trip to the customer’s site. It’s the rainy season here so the streets are flooded from torrential rains in the morning, but the weather seems to clear out as the day progresses. come the evening, the sun shines brightly and the temperature remains steady at a comfortable 80. As expected, this morning greeted us with violent rain.

I went up to the front desk.

“Buenos dias, Necesitamos un taxi” I said hesitantly

The woman behind the desk, immediately responded in a flurry of Spanish of which I caught “lluvia” and “cinco minutos”

“bueno bueno. gracias.” I said as I followed her pointed finger towards the side of the building. I assumed she meant that there would be a taxi here in about 5 minutes.

As I walked outside, it no longer mattered. Jeff had hailed a cab. And the driver was wearing a sombrero.

It wasn’t just the sombrero that was awesome. His seat covers had pictures of bottles of tequila, a small set of rosary beads hung from his mirror, and the radio hummed quiet Spanish trios. It was the quintessential Mexican taxi cab. The man followed our directions well (”uhhhh… la proxima derecha? comprende?”) and we reached our destination.

Most of the day was uneventful. Some critical equipment was stuck in customs… so we spent the day waiting. Lunch time, however, was fantastic. We had authentic comida mexicana: beans, rice, and meat served with fresh tortillas. It was perfect!

We got back to the hotel reasonably early… grabbed a bite to eat and wandered the streets of Guadalajara. This city is pretty great. It’s reasonably clean, very colorful, and friendly. Last time Jeff was here, he and some co-workers went to an Aerosmith concert. I’m going to check the schedules for tomorrow. If we do get out of work early hopefully we’ll be able to have some fun.

I had a great conversation with one of the locals here. He had spent some time in Chicago and California and we spoke of the United States.

“The United States is a good place to earn money,” he said, “but living there takes something from you. Here in Mexico, I am free. If I want to go hunting in the hills, I can go hunting in the hills. I don’t need a license or special permits. I can do what I please and go where I please.”

It was an interesting perspective. The U.S. is all about the idea of freedom, but this gentleman’s first complaint was that the U.S. kept him down. He felt that there were too many rules to follow and the rules restricted freedom enough that he had no real desire to go back.

“I don’t think I can leave my family like this though,” he added, “I have four kids. Three daughters:16, 14, and 3. and one son, 6. I’d like to go north and earn some money to help them, but at the same time I need to be here. My youngest daughter is [sweet]. She runs up to me when I get home from work and shouts ‘pappi pappi!’ and kisses my cheek. I don’t think I could my family right now even to earn more money to help them.”

The conversation then switched to Visas.

“I want to get a Visa for Vacation to the States but it’s very hard. When I was in the United States before, I was there illegally. On the forms they ask where you’ve lived for the last 10 years. I was in the U.S. in 2000. I can’t lie. So I’ll tell them I was in the U.S. They may turn me down. I hope they let my daughters in. Some of my brothers and sisters are in the United States and I’d like my daughters to be able to see what it’s like there.”

I greatly enjoy chatting with foreigners about the U.S. It’s interesting to learn what the country looks like from the outside in.

Other than having to wake up at 3:30am, the trip south was pretty straight forward. I flew to Atlanta for the Guadalajara connection. The food on the trip over the border was delicious… there was this brownie that had Oreo chunks in it. Oreo chunks in a brownie. Pure Genius.

Once I arrived I took a taxi over to the holiday inn, which is very nice. There’s some funky art on the wall and the colors make the room feel light and calming.

Guadalajara is loaded with advertising billboards. They are everywhere. Most appear to be advertising clothes with pictures of spathic women and comments about ‘la ropa de las estrellas.’

The weather is warm, but not as bad as CT this morning where walking to the car felt like wading through waist deep water. The people are friendly and the taxi driver said tomorrow there would be lluvia.

I’ll take some pictures and post them up tomorrow night.

On Monday I will be flying out to Guadalajara.

This will be my first trip to Mexico. I will be flying Monday, working Tuesday and Wednesday, and leaving Thursday. Hopefully I’ll be able to whip through the workload on Tuesday so I can explore the beautiful Mexican countryside on Wednesday.

Apparently it’s pretty warm down there right now… what with it being August… and Mexico.

I wish we could shape the behavior of our computer software with operant conditioning.

Every time our 3-D design software took 1 or more minutes to complete a task, I would whack the cpu with a ruler.
Every time it responded quickly, I would reward it with praise (”good computer! good!”)

Maybe then, my 3-D design software would stop freezing up when I try to do simple functions like saving and opening files. Sometimes computers are far too frustrating.

Kentucky was canceled!

I’m going to Kentucky this weekend for work.

Despite the fact that it’s not Texas, I am really dreading this trip.

Work is going to be tough today. But you’re sure to get a stellar update later today or tomorrow. Because this past weekend was exciting.