Here I am

I have been here at COT for two weeks now and I have survived.   I don't want to say it's been hell, really, but it has been a process of acclimating.  A very UN-pleasant proceess of acclimating.  But what can you do.  You take the good with the bad.  To me, bad is getting up at 0415 to do PC (workout).  I enjoy working out, but I feel somewhat less than enthusiastic about doing it at that time of day.  And I use the term "Day" very loosely.  To me 0415 is still "the night before". 

I feel my age here as well.  I never felt 34 till I got here.  Now I do.  I am very glad I have been working out on my own for the past year and a half.  I would have been in some serious trouble if I hadn't done that. 

Meanwhile, I have about 3 more weeks till graduation, and while I have moments where it feels like a prison sentence, there are other moments when I look back on the previous two weeks and say "where did it go?".  I hope these next three weeks just fly by.  That would be sweet. 

Time is limited here at COT and I will write more as time allows. 

Sitting in the Hotel

So here I sit in Dothan Alabama.  The Marriott here is decent, thank goodness.  I had my doubts driving here, I must admit.  This town is not South Florida.  But it has it's charm, I am sure.

I have just started feeling a bit nervous about the start of COT tomorrow. I called my girlfriend Laura and spoke to both her and her husband, both of whom have already been through COT recently.   They both did thier best to put my mind at ease.  I suppose I shouldn't be surprise at my nerves.   But I at least it only started now, and not weeks ago.  I would be in serious trouble. 

On the drive up here from West Palm I saw a sight I was not completely prepared for.  Hurricaine Charley paid a nasty visit to Florida (just missing us in Palm Beach, thankfully).  But while driving up north on the Turnpike, there was a about a 60 mile stretch from just south of Orlando to about South of Ocala which was just torn up.  There was a diagnal path of trees down, houses with their roof's ripped off, and turnpike road signs and power towers just shattered like they were toothpicks.  It was mind boggeling.     With the stress of COT weighing on my mind right now, I knew if I didn't jot this memory down, I would likely forget.  I didn't want to forget.

It's about 6pm and my body clock says 7pm because I am now in Central Time.  I am almost ready for this whole thing to just start already so I can just get ON with it, you know?  Hopefully I will be able to find time to post entries after tomorrow!

Six days to go

I can't believe it's down to the final week already.   Seems like only yesterday I received my assignment and class start date.   At this point, I am eager to just get going with this already. 

On Friday night, I had dinner with a few friends from my old office.  I can't believe that even though I have been gone for almost 5 weeks, that everyone who was told about it (with the exception of one) was able to come.   I guess I kind of thought that after 5 weeks, most folks wouldn't even remember my name, let alone come to a dinner to say "ciao". A dutch dinner at that!  So I was humbled to say the least.  We went to PF Chang's in Boca and all was plesant.  One of my friends stopped a person outside the restaurant and asked him to take a picture of the group of us and he did.  I will likely get that picture emailed to me today or tomorrow and I can post it up here.

Right now, I am having a craving for Starbucks, so I must answer the demand!