Million Dollar Consulting® College Grad School
My driver picked me up in the dark at 5:45 this morning, which I hate, and I read the newspapers on the way to Boston. By the time we were approaching the airport, at about 6:45, traffic was already heavy on the Expressway. If there is any good reason at all for engaging in that commute, it has escaped me.
Delta’s flight is actually a Northwest flight that also includes a KLM, Air France, and apparently Oriental Express/Amtrak designation. Filled to the gills, it leaves smack on time and the first class service is excellent, a very nice breakfast (I’m in the bulkhead seat, my preference). The flight stops in Minneapolis, where the crew changes and we have to disembark for a half-hour. I use the time to call my wife, who has cleared security in Providence to fly to Gainesville via Charlotte to catch our son in a play. I’m sorry I’m missing it (but not sorry to be missing Gainesville).
Descending in Minneapolis, I notice some wonderful things for the first time: there is a railroad roundtable, which you normally only see on models, apparently operational at the end of a marshalling yard; we pass over a relic of a 1950s air force tanker; and then, inexplicably, a dozen army tanks (too fast for me to identify them). I used to have a couple of major clients in Minneapolis, so the trip is not new, but I never managed to see that stuff before. (The Vikings are in Green Bay tonight, undefeated, with Brett Favre trying to defeat his old team. Several ticket agents sport Vikings sweatshirts.)
The Grad School starts tomorrow morning at the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe, where I’ve held two prior events, and where I’m relaxing in a two-bedroom cottage with patios, decks, flat screen TVs, and a fireplace. I figure it will be a great place to watch Dancing with the Stars, alternating with the football game. (Wait: West Coast time—can I watch them both?) AND I’m allowed to smoke cigars out on the decks.
Flight to San Diego featured an excellent lunch, nice job by Delta/Northwest/KLM/Air France/Amtrak.
We’ve an exciting agenda, which I tweaked on the plane, and about 16 people, which is just right.
A limo meets me at the San Diego Airport, and I’m attending to my email on the hour’s drive. I find I can watch the game an Dancing with the Stars. I’m betting on the following: Brett Favre, Donny Osmond, and that cute little blonde model.
© Alan Weiss 2009. All rights reserved.
