Wednesday, January 13, 2010

I'm On Fire


Yes, it's my first real trip for my return engagement. I forgot how much fun it is to travel. Did you read sarcasm into that? You really should have.

Overall, I still like business travel. On my first day of the last engagement, it was a nightmare of cancelled flights and $90 cab rides. This time it was a power outage at the airport potentially delaying every single flight. Score!

But there's nothing I can do about these things and have long since stopped fretting about them. Beyond my control and I reset expectations - with myself and the clients. It's life.

Last night however was a new one for me. Well, not last night, but Monday night.

03:14. Nashville. Embassy Suites. Buzzers. Flashing lights. And an automated voice telling me there was a fire and to exit the room and building.

SCORE!

I will give the automated voice this: it was so repetitive (worse than LAX's 'the white zone is for loading and unloading of passengers only, there is no parking in the white zone' message) that you didn't want to stay in the hotel.

So I got my white nekkid furry ass out of bed (the rest of me was unclothed too)and dressed in my sweat pants, sweat shirt and cross-trainers and glasses. I was almost out the door when I remembered my wallet, iPhone and coat. Yes, coat. It was in the teens here.

I figured as long as I had a coat to keep me warm(er) and a wallet, I could buy anything else. So I trudged down seven flights of stairs, still with my sore ass and back, to be greeted by these guys:





First. I love that they actually carry axes to break down doors. Who knew?

Second. I love that one of the guys in the pic videoed the entire thing: people coming downstairs, the arrival of the fire squad, everything.

As it turns out, there was no fire - just a malfunctioning alarm. One they couldn't really get under control for the next 60 minutes - on and off. So there was no going back to sleep.

I hit the gym at 05:00 and did an hour of weights and cardio. I mean, why not? What else was I gonna do?


Song by: Bruce Springsteen

1 comment:

Mutty said...

Now why have I never been confronted by a wall of firemen in a hotel lobby. Feel cheated. I'm away from home (as usual) too. I've ended up staying an extra night in a hotel In Bristol as snow meant my flight to Scotland (another client another hotel) was cancelled. So back to the Briatol client this morning.
Now I'm gonna wonder if I'd gone to Edinburgh whether I'd have had the firefighter experience. ;-)

Safe journeys x