So in the last 9 days, I have been pulled over 3 times. I wasn't driving any of those times. Each was with a different person. Before the week, I've never been pulled over or been in the car when the driver was pulled over. Apparently, I've suddenly become very bad luck.

1. My manager on the way to the airport last Thursday = 20 miles over, mandated court date
2. This random guy who drove me up to Wudi in a X4 BMW convertible = 40 miles over, got off with a "passing on the right violation"
3. Aron on the way up to Tanglewood = new york state doesn't tell you the fine amount

I enjoyed this weekend. I had so much fun going to governor's island. I love that place. And Tanglewood was great. Totally worth the drive. And it was so nice to stay over with Carol and David rather than drive back that night.

Oh but some guy was a total asshole. We were lying on a mat together during the concert (me and Aron) and we were talking between pieces and whispering to each other. So this guy turned around and told us to be quiet. So we did and it was fine. But THEN this guy came over during intermission and said "You two think you can keep it down during the second half" and we were like "yes of course" and THEN he says "or go get a hotel room" and walks off. What a jackass! And totally unnecessary. We were having fun and giggling, but we shut up after the first request.

Yeah I think the hardest part about travelling is the pressure it puts on the weekends. If I don't do what I need to do or if things aren't perfect with aron I don't get a chance to fix things until the following weekend. It's like the time I'm in North Carolina is a dead zone in which nothing good can happen. It's a state that can be neutral or negative but never positive. Nothing good happens during the week. Nothing to help my social life, friendships, or relationships. Just things that keep them in a holding pattern.

My job is so random and the weirdest things about it are hard. Yesterday, we left the hotel at 7:30, worked at the client site until 7:30 and then went out to dinner until 9. Then I did work until midnight. That means I spent close to 14 hours with the same 5 people either in a small conference room or at dinner. Yes we had a lunch break but it was 30 minutes long and we went to lunch together. So there was literally no time when I could just play with my hair and scratch my ass and not be with people. It's exhausting.

Today was better because this morning we got this random question from someone really high up about switching aluminum parts for titanium where titanium is more expensive and heavier but much stronger. So if you get huge monetary penalties for excess weight, how much less material to you have to use if you switch from aluminum to titanium to break even in cost? Which is a fun optimization problem. Of course, there's no reason that we should have been thinking about this. First of all, it would cost so much for them to change their whole design now and second of all we're not engineers. But no one really likes to do things at this client so the consultants end up with random tasks.

A little more about where i'm working.... I can't say much cause it's confidential. But i'm in North Carolina working with a company that makes componants for airplanes. They've agreed to design and produce a system for an airline contract that goes for the next 10 years. Anyway, they're way behind schedule and still trying to get prototypes out but the design keeps changing and they don't have any materials or pieces ordered. So part of our project is to get them back on schedule so they can meet their deadlines, but the part i'm doing most of the work on is trying to get them the parts and materials they need so when the design is finalized they can actually build it.

I don't know if that sounds simple or hard, intersting or deadly boring to anyone else. For me I'm learning so much that every day is different. I can see how it would get boring after a while because this kind of sourcing doesn't vary a lot for company to company. But it's important for me to learn because it's one of the best ways that consultants make money. They always save the client tons of money by making sense of the purchasing process for the client and there's a concrete result at the end of the project. For us the concrete result will be that they'll be able to build part of a plane while without us, they've shown no indication of being able to. This particular project is much bigger than anything the client has handled in the past, and they're drowning.

Anyway i'm just happy i've been able to run twice this week. As long as I can keep running and get some evenings to myself (today we left at 6 30 and i skipped the social dinner) i'll be happy. And tomorrow i'm back in nyc. Shit i need to start thinking about moving...

Alive again

Ok so I fell off the edge of the world for a while. It's hard to blog from work, especially from a client site. There always feels like there's some one looking over my sholder. And when I stop working for the night, the last thing I want to do is be on my computer. Even when I was in New York, looking for apartments took so much time. It was ridiculous.

So key updates....

I signed a lease Friday!!! I've been looking non-stop for two weeks, one week with Leora and Tracy and then one week with Leora. I think I experiences more emotional ups and downs in those weeks then I had for the proceeding month. No less than 3 times was I convinced I had an apartment only to have it yanked away either by us or by them. I'd leave work early and go running to look at places for hours and then spend hours on the phone with Tracy and Leora. I wish we had communicated more before we started. If we had, we might not have had to back out of a 3 BR on 73rd after we had made a lease signing appointment.

The result is good though. Me and Leora are sharing a 1 BR/ Convertable on 90th between Amsterdam and Columbus. Apparently, right next door to Sasha. =) It's a pretty nice place. The down side is that I'm going to be spending a fair amount of money for a place where I will be staying no more than 12 days a month. It's a little ridiculous.

The job is taking some getting used to. It's hard to be on the road four days a week. I mean I knew that that's what I was signing up for, but the reality is.... interesting. I worry about boring things like how to get out of eating 2 huge meals a day and how to find time to run. I spend so much time trying to sort information and figure out what the hell i'm doing. I have no idea most of the time. It leaves me drained. I feel like I'm in a long distance relationship.

But at the same time, it's exciting. I'll be at this company for 12 weeks total, and if we do a good job, they won't lose their contract and they won't lose shit loads of money. If we don't do a good job.... we have to do a good job. Consultants always have to justify the money the client is spending by doing a ridiculous amount of work and making everything go as well as possible. I guess I'll write more on it later. some of it is confidential.

My life just feels like it's changing so fast, too fast. I'm just trying to hang on for dear life until I have time to think.