I'm Baack

I don’t even know where to begin – whether to discuss the conference last week or the preparations for Hurricane Sandy this weekend. Let me give you a brief overview of last week – I don’t want to jinx myself but I had no issues traveling to San Francisco either from home or from San Francisco. WOW, I know that wasn’t true for many other folks whether flights were delayed or cancelled altogether; but, both Catherine and I found us to be on the good side of the airline gods. And that states a lot as she flew from Newark while I flew out of JFK. Well here I thought that I might get that late suntan in Monterey – was I surprised when it turned out that the weather back East was better than in Monterey. Our weather never got above the low 70’s and many days it was overcast; but, there was only one morning of a major downpour – we were even able to have our beach party on Tuesday evening.

At the conference there is rarely time for me to do anything for myself as I and the other Board Members are so focused on the program, the attendees and our Exhibitors. Catherine and I were able to work out three times at the hotel gym – it was convenient that it was in the same building and down the hall from our room. We also were able to go out to lunch on Saturday and went to a mall about 3 miles from the hotel where Catherine picked up shoes and some clothes – can you believe I did not buy any shoes; but, did get a jacket and a nice sweater set. I was also able to get a manicure at the spa and were my hands nice and soft afterwards. I am very proud of the conference and the program we put together over these last many months. The content was right in line with what people were looking for and at the concurrent session there were double digit attendees and people were truly engaged and asked many questions. Something we have always struggled with was keeping individuals until the end of the last day – this time we succeeded. We had the Industry Experts and Analyst panel conducted like a talk show and everyone was invited to imbibe either on a soda, water or beer during the session; and, then we had one of the Analysts speak from Wainhouse and he was magnificent and engaging.

It was great to get home on Thursday night after having been away for a week. I have to admit that I left my briefcase and suitcase in the foyer and just went into the kitchen to have my breakfast dishes set up for the morning as I was going to the gym in the morning – then off to bed. 5:50 came awfully early; but, it was good to get that high intensity workout done and out of the way. Then home to log on and answer email messages, see how our web ex service was behaving. I had a mammogram appointment at 2:30 and needed to get on a conference call at 3PM to discuss the hurricane situation. I am fortunate that the imaging facility is only 5 minutes away and when they found out I needed to be home by 3 they took care of me quickly. Home to put together communication contingency programs for the health system throughout the hurricane – still tired and have not unpacked my suitcase yet. Saturday morning and I was off to aqua aerobics and to my Zumba toning class – it had started last week; but, because I was away this would be my first one. It was terrific and I had done 2 hours of working out for the day. Some errand to do on my way home and I would finally get that suitcase unpacked – in truth it only took me about 10 minutes to get everything either in the hamper or on the cleaner pile. We received notification that those of us who were non-essential employees should not go into the office on Monday. I advised my team and the individuals who were coming for a meeting that it was cancelled and that I would re-schedule. We are all on call throughout the storm to help with either a video or web ex meeting for the health system and I have received a few requests; but, nothing outrageous.

Sunday and it is evident that Hurricane Sandy will be hitting us; but, no one knows for sure how intense it will be. I went to Zumba this morning, the cleaners and to the grocery store to pick up a few things. It is amazing that the supermarket had no water left and the milk I normally buy was gone. Some of the towns nearby always lose power and people are preparing themselves for the worse. I am of the thought that there is not much that I can do about it so let’s go with the flow. I hope that it is not so bad that the kids cannot “trick or treat” on Wednesday as this would be the second year in a row for them – need I remind you of the freak snowstorm we had last year at this time? To everyone – that has been my week in a nutshell. Be safe, be smart and Happy Halloween.