The Last Weeks of 2011

I’m sitting here listening to Back to Work, drinking RoS, and thinking about how nice it is to sit at the table on a weekday morning doing exactly what I’m doing. I’m very glad I took this time off and just hope everything is going smoothly back in the office.

But I’m not going to worry.

I spent most of last week off in the northwest territory of Washington. The AWEA workshop was pretty informative, though there were more general “big” takeaways than specific recommendations. I got to spend some time with my friend Boyd, who was the very first person I ever worked with at Black & Veatch. Since the last time I saw him in Oklahoma City he got married. Good news.

I also saw most of the people I know in that part of the world. Alex joined us for drinks one night, and then most people managed to make it to Brouwers on Friday night. I felt very special; who expects so many people to get together just because you’re in town for a few days?

So thanks to everyone who made it out in Seattle last week, it was awesome. Especial thanks to Victoria for giving me a place to stay one night and driving me around.

Now I’m back in Ames which is better than I expected. I finished my Christmas shopping in Des Moines with Sam yesterday, then went to Liz’s birthday dinner. After that Sam and I met Andy and Alison at Jess’s bar downtown. In a day or two everyone else should be back in town and then we can start getting really fun.

Now Merlin is going off on minimalism, so I feel I should really listen closely. Zen!

— Steve

Posted on 21 December 2011