Welcome to 2019.  I mean, we have already been there for 11 days so I may be coming at you 3% late; but it’s here now and let’s get into it.  As far back in my career as I can remember, a new year is a hectic time.  In some ways, it’s because you have to make up for a lull just before the holidays … which I think I made clear how I spent that lull in my last post.  A new year always seems to be a spark for me, though.  It’s like a time to start putting all those resolutions and action plans in place.  This isn’t a time for preparing, its a time for doing.  So normally, I hit the ground running, and running hard.

And I have set up my January to do just that.

Today starts a run of crazy that doesn’t really let up for a couple weeks.  I’ve known this is coming for about two months, at it is to a greater plan of my own design.  It’s still crazy.

It starts tonight, where AugDog and I head down to Irvine for the weekend.  I am kicking off my second year training on indoor winter color guard judging, something I am dipping my feet into to see if it is something I want to take up to earn a little more from judging.  It’s a bit of a rough transition for me because it’s way out of my comfort zone, but much of the training covers what already is in the comfort zone.  So I get split over “I know this already” and “I have no idea what I am doing”.  After a day and a half of training, we head back home for an overnight.

Then Monday, the pup heads to the doggie spa, and I head to the exact opposite … Iowa in Winter.  Goodbye 70-degree weather, hello frozen pig farms.  I get to fly into Strugglebus International Aiport (Quad Cities), make a late night run to the City of Iowa, and then spend two days crawling around workbenches holding lots of spare parts, junk, and occasionally radars heading to the moons of Jupiter.

Then Thursday, I am on a plane, but not back home … nope, it’s time to take crazy to the next level.  I am spending the long weekend with friends in what I have dubbed “My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend Vacation Spot” … New Orleans.  It’s the place I am not sure I like, but come the middle of the night when you get that urge you give it a call enjoy the hell out of it then regret your life decisions for weeks to come.  I have visited there more times than I can remember, mostly because I try to forget most of the times I have visited there.  When it comes to my experience with New Orleans I quote Moe from the Simpsons: “I’ve done things I’m not proud of, and the things I am proud of are disgusting.”  Truth is, many of the times when things go wrong, I was left without supervision … so it’s their fault, right?  These friends and I are part of the ‘fancy schmancy’ dining group, so we are as much there for the food as anyone.  We have booked swamp tours, sightseeing tours, and voodoo tours … all in an effort to actually be a tourist and not a bunch of people filling spots in a drunk tank.

I fly back the following Monday, finally picking up the pup on Tuesday morning, then back to work … for a day.  Then this all wraps up with a day trip to San Jose for a quick work gig, and the end of the run.

It’s a lot, I know that, but it’s been Thanksgiving since the last time I’ve been on an airplane, so it’s not like I am grinding myself into the ground.

Then again, ask me when this crazy is over.