Take Two

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This reminded me of my brother-in-law’s stupid dog.

Selling that cheese!

Originally uploaded by ryaninmtv

I spent this morning and early afternoon with Charity and Gabrielle at the Grandview Farmers’ Market. Grandview is a part of Columbus just north of downtown and is known for its arts scene. It also has a number of great restaurants. Every week, Charity goes to market for one of the local farmers and sells organic cheese. As Becky and Michael are away on separate vacations, Gabrielle and I decided to join Charity in selling cheese. I am certain that my calling in life does not include selling cheese at this point. It may well include leaning up against the van and playing with my BlackBerry though. Charity however, is great at selling. Gabrielle, as you can see from this picture, is a little too enthusiastic about selling.

After market, we went to Easton and had lunch at PF Chang’s. We had Gabrielle’s swimsuit with us so we let her play in the fountains for a while. Before leaving, we went to the Apple Store where I came dangerously close to lusting after the iPod touch and MacBook Air. After a quick intervention, I was fine. Also, after the brutal travel week I’ve had, it was great to unwind a bit.

Kids with Giant Koi Sculpture

Originally uploaded by ryaninmtv

As I mentioned in my last post, one of the things that makes travel tolerable is that frequently my family gets to come along. Such was the case this week when I spent a couple of days in Erie, PA. We spent yesterday afternoon at the Erie Zoo (BTW-who knew Erie had a zoo) (also- lots of rhyming and alliteration in that last aside).

The Erie Zoo is small but very walkable and the animals are very close. Great for taking pictures. We were able to see pretty much everything in about two hours. The highlight was two rhinos facing each other down (will be the next post). Also, since I’ve had zero time this week to do any walking it was nice to just be out in the sun for a change. Check out the photo stream of the zoo here.

One other note, since last year, we have visited zoos in Tampa, Cleveland, Akron, Toledo, Pittsburgh, and now Erie and not paid entrance into any of them with our zoo membership. For inexpensive fun, you can’t beat it.

I am writing tonight from Erie, Pennsylvania.  If you read regularly, you know that this has been a very busy travel week for me.  I am meeting with a client tomorrow as well as some providers up here.  I am now spending 20-30 percent of my month on the road.  Fortunately, there are times (like now) when my family gets to come along.  That certainly makes travel more enjoyable.

I have thought long and hard about this post from Fred Wilson.  I have, in some respects, a similar story to his.  When we started NCA in February, we made a conscious decision to have a national practice, versus a local or regional one.  We likely could have been busy, reconnected with a number of clients from our past, and candidly, made a pretty good living sticking with Ohio and the surrounding states.  However, we explicitly decided to have a national practice and work with super-regional and national banks, trust companies, and investment banks.  Additionally, we decided to expand our litigation consulting to more than just regional work and tap into some of our partners’ national networks.  It has been wildly successful but not without a cost.  As I mentioned, I spend a significant amount of time on the road and, of my partners, I am probably 3rd of 5 when it comes to travel time.  It is a cost/benefit that has been carefully weighed and, in the end, this is the best way to build the practice we want to have and build the firm we want to have.

Having said that, I am appalled at how awful particularly air travel has become.  I travel in and out of New York City a lot and I can’t remember the last time I had an on time arrival or departure.  The planes are packed and more often than not they’re full.  Also, the nickle and diming must stop.  I get that high fuel costs have cause my $150 ticket to become a $500 ticket but to pay for the first bag, snacks, bottled water (!!), and pillows and blankets seems to add insult to injury.  Don’t know what the solution is but I hope there’s one soon.  Especially given the number of trips currently on my calendar.  I have gotten into an exercise and better eating regimen which seems to have helped (down about 25 pounds as I write) but the travel makes that kind of sporatic.  I will confess though that I still like the occasional hamburger.

This post is not to gripe about my life or work.  I am as happy now as I have been in years while attempting to establish some sort of work/church/life balance.  How do you maintain balance?  What do you wish you could do better?  Points to ponder.

A side note before this post begins- It is 7:30 on a Saturday morning and I am the only person here.  Why am I not sleeping?  Consider that as I move on.

I saw an interesting blog post that noted that truck drivers have a life expectancy of 10-15 years less than the average male.  This is interesting to me because my dad was a truck driver for some 35 years before retiring a couple of years ago.  In truth, he continues to drive some even in his retirement.  For the most part, he grew weary of the job years ago.

What struck me as funny is that at one time I wanted to follow him into the family trade (if you will) and become a truck driver myself.  He threatened to break my arms which pretty much ended that discussion.  Instead, I went to college, earned a couple of degrees, and became a partner in a consulting firm.  And what do a do for a living- spend an enormous time traveling.  Dad’s truck has a high back leather seat, CD stereo system, and bunk beds.  I wedge my rear into a 17 inch wide regional jet seat with 32 inches of leg room.  I also get to take off my shoes, belt, and unpack half my stuff before I get to the 17 inch seat.  Who’s the idiot now?  On the death scale though, my job classification pays much lower workers’ compensation rates than his.  I suppose that’s a plus.

Have a good weekend.

Kids at the Pittsburgh Zoo

Originally uploaded by ryaninmtv

As I mentioned, this past week has been full of travel. Three days after we got home from New York we took off for Pittsburgh for a few days. One thing that is terrific about my job is that my family can often travel with me (as they did on this trip). Thursday, after meeting with my client we had a late dinner at Six Penn Kitchen which is my favorite restaurant in Pittsburgh. They have not only great food all the way around but the best mac and cheese in the country. Just terrific!

As a side note, we stayed at the Doubletree in Pittsburgh which gives back packs to their guests under twelve. These contain crayons, coloring books, stress balls (I don’t know how stressed a twelve year old gets) and a frisbee. Friday, I had meetings and the kids played and swam at the hotel.

On Saturday, we visited the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium. The zoo is very good but the aquarium really makes it worth the trip. My favorite animal in the whole zoo is the hammerhead shark- there are three at the aquarium. After a full day at the zoo we headed back home. We did stop at Cabela’s in Wheeling, West Virginia on the way home. This is the one store where Charity feels comfortable letting me roam with credit cards intact. Other than looking at dead, stuffed animals (which is like a zoo with no stench), I have no interest in hunting or fishing supplies. Like my mom said- my idea of roughing it is a hotel without room service. It should be noted that the Doubletree in Pittsburgh has wonderful room service.

Great three days but I’m glad to be home.

Charity and I returned from New York this morning.  I’ll post on that a little later.  Allow me to share with you the events of Sunday (the Lord’s day no less).

First, a little background.  My travel schedule is somewhere between tourist and road warrior.  As a rule, I fly once to twice a month and spend about five nights per month in hotels.  Really, it’s not a bad schedule and I rarely have a bad mishap.  I was probably due.

We left the hotel on Sunday morning at 9 AM, and took the 30 minute ride out to Newark Liberty Airport.  The driver was the best I’ve ever had in New York (as there have been some really scary ones).  We checked in a the C Terminal but our plane was leaving from the A Terminal.  No problem, take the Airtrain from C to A and go to the gate.  I even loaned a couple of bucks to a nice lady who said I would have good luck because of my kindness.  I have a rock and am looking for her as we speak.

Our 11 AM take off was a little early (major surpise leaving New York City) however; about 30 minutes into the flight we begin to make a big sweeping turn.  I looked out the window and saw cloud formations over 30,000 feet and figured we were avoiding some nasty weather.  We then began to descend; in a hurry.  Apparently, our fuel indicator went out and we had to turn around and go to back to Newark.  We landed in Newark around 12:30 PM so, by my estimate, we essentially got half way there and turned around.  Why we didn’t go to Cleveland (where Continental also has a hub) is beyond me.  The flight attendant advised that it would be a quick fix, stay on the plane and we’d be on our way.  After about 20 minutes the quick fix wasn’t happening.  We got off the plane and had to wait for a new one to arrive (which it did about 45 minutes later).  We got on to the plane, pushed back from the gate, and parked.  And parked and parked.  There were apparently a raft of thunderstorms coming into the metro New York area and no planes were taking off or landing.  So, we sat for about 90 minutes and then the engines fired up.  We headed back to the gate as the flight was canceled due to the crew exceeding their alloted hours if we continued.  Not good times.

It appeared, as we headed back into the terminal, that a good number of the flights had been canceled or delayed.  Good number might be an understatement.  There was nothing going out before 5:30 and the customer service counter was about 80 deep when Charity and I got in line.  The reports we heard from those around us were 8 or 11 or 2 the next day.  I had an appointment in Cleveland this morning so that was a problem.

I asked Charity if she wanted to drive home.  She looked at me like I had two heads.  I repeated the request and got out my laptop, logged on to the internet and started checking for cars.  Hertz was a bust but Avis, who I have preferred status with, did have cars.  I rented a Mercury Grand Marquis and headed out of the gate area.  We then went to the baggage office to request our bage.  We waited, and waited some more.  I left to get the keys to the car and came back where Charity was still waiting.  After 90 minutes of waiting (it was about 5 PM at this time) we checked with a different person in the baggage office.  None of the bags from our Columbus flight had come off the plane and they would have to ship it to us.  Thanks for nothing; I’m out of here.

The Garmin GPS advised me that it was 538 miles between Newark Liberty Airport and my home in Mount Vernon, Ohio.  We left at 5:30 PM and got in around 1 AM.  If you do the math, you’ll see that we didn’t let any grass grow.  7 1/2 hours is a long time to spent in a car.  But allow me to share a secret- I had a blast on the ride home.  We talked and laughed and sang (I even did a disco dance).  It was like the road trips we took when we first got married (which was somewhat appropriate since our anniversary is tomorrow).  While it was a long drive, it will be remembered fondly.  We were those broke, crazy kids who got married 19 years ago.  It was a fun place to visit for an evening.

This morning, I took the rental to the Columbus airport, retrieved my van, and then made my appointment in Cleveland.  Charity and the blossoms came along and we went to the Akron Zoo.  A good time was had by all.

Long story short- air travel can be a major pain but sometimes lemonade can be salvaged.  A New York post (with pictures) is coming up later.

Becky at Kent State

Originally uploaded by ryaninmtv

Today, Becky and I went to Kent State University for their Academic Discovery Day. I’ve only been to Kent State once, about four years ago. It is a beautiful campus. It still gets a lot of press for the shootings of May 4, 1970 but there is so much more to the school than that.

Becky is interested in Fashion Merchandising so we attended the academic presentation at The Fashion School at Kent State. Note from the picture at the side, the auditorium at the school has a runway.  Very impressive. Tons of placement in New York, Los Angeles, and even Columbus (home of Abercrombie, Hollister and Limited Brands). Over all, we had a great day together.

On a personal note, I will confess that it was bittersweet to go on college visits with my first born child. It is a reminder that her time at home (and my influence on her) is very short. I did tell her today that, even though she would be leaving next year, I was very confident that she had a good head on her shoulders and was grounded in her faith. That is the most important thing to me.

It still doesn’t make me feel any better about her leaving, though.

A Cucumber

Originally uploaded by ryaninmtv

I was going to post this yesterday after reading this story in the New York Times but I didn’t have any pictures. Fortunately, Charity took care of that for me. The Times story is about people who want to eat fresh local meat and produce but don’t want to work for it. I fall squarely in that category.

Again, fortunately for me, Charity and the kids took on the project of starting a garden this year. The initial pictures of it are in this post. You can look at the most recent pictures in my Flickr stream and see how it’s grown. We’ve had fresh squash and zucchini bread already from the garden and everything else looks like it’s going to be a great year. Charity wants to expand the garden to about 4x its size next year. I’m all for it.

Sustainability that tastes good. I’m all in favor of that.

Excellent story today in the New York Times regarding Berea College in Kentucky.  The focus of the story is the debate on whether or not school endowments have grown too large and what percentage they pay out.  True story- Berea was one of the schools I looked at when I was in high school (waaaaay back in 1986).  My other schools were Ohio State, Kenyon, Anderson University, MedCentral College of Nursing, Boston University, and George Washington University.  My final three were OSU, Anderson, and MedCentral and I, like an idiot, chose Ohio State (as a Political Science major) which delayed my entering into nursing (which I love) by about five years.

Big step for me as a parent, I am taking Becky on her first college visit this week, to Kent State.  It is exciting and frightening all at the same time.

In the comments (if you would), where did you apply and wind up going to college or, if you didn’t go, why not.  I love learning more about my readers.