I'm preparing my documents and materials for our after-event-debriefing scheduled to begin soon, so this will be a short post. I couldn't tell you what I was doing yesterday for security reasons. I still can't talk much about the conference, but what I can say is that we hosted 50 full bird Colonels and some of their spouses to amongst other things discuss Business Crisis and Strategic Planning pre & post 9/11. It was a very interesting, lively and educational discussion on all sides and by all accounts a complete success. There are 3 people who I need to thank for sharing their experience, and providing me with invaluable guidance and support. I will be thanking them personally later on today.

There were 3 men & their wives whom I just adored and really went out of my way to make them feel comfortable and assist during their stay in NYC. I was both honored and lucking to be asked to join them for part of dinner last night.
They were 2 Marines both with Iraqi combat experience and an Army Air Assault Helicopter Pilot w/Afghan and Iraqi experience. During dinner we were able to discuss NY history, military history, politics, NY culture & parenting. The wives were equally impressive. I unfortunately had to leave early to tuck my son in bed but they understood and were very kind about it when I initially accepted their invitation. Anyone else would have pressured me to stay.

Having had such an engaging dinner with like-minded people made me realize a few things. Chief among them is that it's not me who's not been able to make friends in NYC, it's just that I've not found the right kind of people that would make it worth while to extend myself in friendship.

Well, I've got a debriefing session to run to sooooo, see ya later. In the meantime, I'll leave you with another beautiful picture of Central Park. I took this one also with my now dead Treo 650. Enjoy!

Posted by: Michele at 11:48 AM | Comments (6) | Add Comment
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1 Yay! I was right about Central Park... *grin* Congratulations! You made it through! Have a wonderful restful lovely Thanksgiving week! Isn't it wonderful to meet such terrific people and know that there really are people you can relate to out in the world. Oh yeah... I'm still cringing over the treo, I hope you have time to get it replaced over the weekend.

Posted by: Teresa at November 17, 2006 12:55 PM (o4pJS)

2 And now that all that meeting stuff is over, you can head back to where this picture was taken and relax some!

Posted by: Ogre at November 17, 2006 03:44 PM (oifEm)

3 Enjoy... and so long as you were entertaining colonels, you were having an AAR.... After Action Review...

Posted by: RSM at November 17, 2006 08:36 PM (IyNwh)

4 So glad to hear the even went well. You've been in my thoughts. So now, can you relax? Oh, and a warning - I'll be back in NYC the week of Valentines Day. Big Toy Fair. I sure hope they don't expect ME to be the clown..... ;-)

Posted by: Tammi at November 17, 2006 08:37 PM (3UQTn)

5 Lovely picture! I would love to go there and relax today... I hope that you get some time to just *be* as well...

Posted by: Richmond at November 18, 2006 09:45 AM (e8QFP)

6 I have found that the military men I work with, both active duty and retired, are the most understanding of family obligations. There is a retired Colonel that I work with out of 'Seattle' that always says to me at the end of our telecon, "Thank you for all that you do for us. I know you have a family and they come first..." It's just cool.

Posted by: Bou at November 18, 2006 11:01 PM (iHxT3)

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In 12 hrs I had 14 mtgs, read 257 emails, responding to 89 of them and rescheduled 5 mtgs cancelled by others. I also produced 1 report and must finish & email another before midnight. I made calls to 2 people in London (former colleagues who were transferred there by the firm) to get insight and input on how their move impacted their families and about the British educational system. In addition to all that, I called my insurance agent, health/benefits Rep., company assigned financial advisor, mortgage co., and the Intl relocation team with lots of questions (and those were just the personal calls). These questions came up Sunday, after I read the 275 page book thatÂ’s given to potential international employees, so they can make informed decisions financial/benefits decisions when accepting an overseas position. The deadline to give my answer is 11/22, for a start date in London on 1/8/06. Tomorrow, I donÂ’t have as many meetings, but I do have just as many phone calls and emails. Boy, am I looking forward to Friday! ThatÂ’s when I hope to pick some bloggers brains about this IT offer. Hopefully theyÂ’ll help rather than confuse.

But enough about me, what do YOU think about me? LOLÂ… Just kidding! What I really want to know is how YOUR weekend was, and how your week is shaping up?

Since the rest of this week will be demanding I will be share here interesting articles over the next few days which might interest and amuse you, until my life returns to normal (if in fact it ever does).

First up, are some great tips from the ProBlogger on How to Drive More Traffic To Your Site During The Holidays. Link sent to me by someone who thinks I should make money on my blog. What he doesn't know is that I blog to write, not to make money. If I had to worry about making money while I write I'd neither write nor would make money as the pressure overwhelming.

Next up, are some incredible poems and stories hosted at the by the Tarheel TavernÂ’s Blogging Poet. ThereÂ’s something there for everyone, you just have to look. Here's was my favorite post of the round-up. [Hat tip to Ogre]

For those of you who want something a little ‘heavier’ to read, I give you John’s essay on the effects of feminism on literary study programs. I know exactly what he’s talking about, because I too was in the minority whenever I offered a balanced, contextual view of literature in my graduate classes.

Finally, a post from my blog-sis TammiÂ…. What she said!

Posted by: Michele at 11:05 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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