On Monday after work I get in a good session with the weights as I increase the weight and decrease the reps (down to 5). I can feel the strength returning but very very slowly. After a quick cold shower I pack for the business trip to Washington, DC and relax. I go to bed early as I'm trying to shift over to east coast time.
On Tuesday I'm early and I get in a 40 minute walk before finishing packing and driving to work. I answer some emails and some telephone calls before I drive over to the airport to catch the United Airlines direct flight to Washington's Dulles Airport. There are 5 coworkers on this same flight and we hang out until it is time to board the plane.
The flight is nice and without incident. A number of people grab their rental cars as I just hitch a ride with someone else (trying to avoid the one car per person syndrome). Six of us go out to dinner when we get to Arlington, Virginia where we are staying and have an entertaining and relaxing dinner.
The all-day business meeting is informative. Each of the sensor presenters is a geek - which means that I like them. The second presenter is both very funny and very geeky - he's a PhD in physics. I like him. I want to try and fly his experiment. He's building an experiment on a shoestring with Air Force cadets doing the labor and learning at the same time. (I remember when we were trying to get the ACTEX flight experiment built and so I empathize with the guy.) At one point the Northrop Grumman Integration and Test guy asks, "How many people will you bring to Northrop Grumman to support I&T?"
The physics proefessor is facing the front of the room and paying attention to the presentation/questions when the question is asked. He quickly slews both eyes on to the Northrop Grumman questioner and then, while taking about 30 seconds longer, slowly turns his head to face the questioner head on. The look in the physics professor's eye says, "You haven't heard a word I've said. This is a low budget operation where we utilize Air Force cadets to learn and build the sensor, we beg and borrow money from the dean to support some faculty members, and we beg for hardware and facility test time where possible. We are doing this on a shoestring." But the physics professor finally verbalizes, "None". And everyone starts laughing. Here's another one of those instances where I wish I could have captured the look on the physics professor's face.
After work I go for an hour walk along the Potomac and have a quick dinner on my own. I avoid the nice (re, fattening and expensive) dinner that the rest of the group intends to have. I'm asleep by 11 pm east coast time.
I get up early on Thursday and walk along the Potomac before work. This is a 40 minute walk that sees the sun glowing orange as it rises above the river. We arrive at the facility and take a tour of hardware. The second tour takes us to the exact building, the exact facility, and the exact spot that I used 13 years ago to integrate the ACTEX flight experiment with a Naval Research Laboratory satellite. It brings back some good memories. But it also reminds me of how desperate one of the experimenters is (not the physics professor) because their exepriment was built in 1989 and was bumped off two satellites and they are still waiting for a ride!
We finish the tours early, so three of us head off to the monuments and museums in downtwon Washington. We walk from the capitol to the Washington monument and back as we look at each museum (from the outside). We theng rab the car and try to find other parking to have lunch. As we're driving down E street I yell to the driver, "Stop the car. Two jpop ChiChis!"
The lady who is driving DOES stop the car, but only because the two jpop ChiChis are crossing the street and she has to wait for them. But she says, "What did you say Ray? I don't understand what you said."
I repeat the "two jpop ChiChis" but she still doesn't understand. And my other coworker doesn't even know if I am speaking english. But I just drop the discussion and stare at the jpop ChiChis before we head off down the street.
Eventually we head back to the airport and jump on a slightly earlier flight back to Los Angeles. The Dulles Airport is crowded and it takes us 30 minutes just to get through the security line. As we're walking to our gate I note that there is a flight to Zurich, one to Frankfurt, one to Amsterdam, one to Brussels, and one more to Frankfurt - all leaving within a few minutes of each other and all within a few gates of ours. That's why it is so crowded!
The flight is delayed some, but we still make it back to Los Angeles about 25 minutes before the original flight would have made it. It's a smooth drive home and after checking email and voice mail, I'm in bed after 11 pm.