Couldn't finish up at the Mass. site Wed. because my esteemed colleagues had spec'd the wrong mounts for the LCDs... so the new plan was to have new mounts rush-shipped to both sites.... I would drive to Glens Falls, do what I could there, spend the night, then as soon as the proper mount arrived this morning, finish that install, then drive back to Natick (about 3 hrs) and finish that one. And oh yes, then drive home from the Boston area. Terrific.
With a heavy heart, I left Natick yesterday as early as I could, and drove all the way over to Glens Falls, anticipating doing it all over again...
Well, once something is properly screwed-up its hard to un-screw it: I didn't get my hands on the mount until 1:30 PM today (client's Receiving Dept said "Oh; it was under something else; sorry..."), and didn't get the whole thing up and running until 4:30. It didn't help that I had to re-format the bitmap I had to load for temporary display until the video-server company's guy gets there to finish the networking setup... hello, morons... the display is mounted vertically and you sent me a bitmap in landscape format... and the wrong aspect ratio... hello?!?! ::) It's a miracle they got any of it right. Never again- I'll have to check everyone' else's work before heading to the site- PITA, but better before than during.
But it is kinda cool... thanks to yours truly.
So I called the client rep. in Natick and our home office and told them Massachusetts would have to wait until after Xmas. fortunately, these folks at both sites were very nice and very helpful. The guys in the facilities machine shop in Glens Falls saved my bacon when it turned out the original sign was missing some critical hardware...
Drove home just as it started raining... 3 1/2 hours in heavy rain and dense fog, with holiday traffic! the best part of all was having to return the rental car at Newark airport, on the Friday night before Christmas, after all flights nationwide had been delayed due to weather... of course, missed the critical turn and had to go around again, so I just missed the 9PM return window, and the company got nailed for another day. That'll teach 'em.
What a lovely drive home...
I told them weeks ago I could get a rental two blocks from my house and do the whole trip by car, with unlimited mileage and a lower rate, but they declined. Total nut for the car on this trip? Ready? Almost $750. and I think I was on overtime before I even left Glens Falls today... I guess it'll be worth it to them anyway, because these are the first of what could be hundreds worldwide... God I hope they get their act together before I'm stuck in Kurdestan or someplace with wrong or missing parts... ::)
What's sadder still is that the wrong-part issue aside, I could have flown this whole trip quite easily and for less money. Norwood Airport is closer to Natick than BOS; about 3 hrs by Cessna including my drive to, say, 47N; then it would've been a $10 cab ride tops.
Could've left home at a decent hour Wed. and been onsite sooner than my actual arrival after the whole JFK airline thing. I'd have spent the night in Mass. as planned, then flown at dawn to the GA airport in Glens Falls, which is just a coupla miles from the other site. I'm sure I could have got just about anybody there to give me a lift... or again, a very cheap cab ride.
I'd have had all day Thurs. to work on the G. F. install, had a nice rest at the hotel there (also in the same vicinity), then been back on the ground in NJ today before this rain started. The weather along all three legs was superb the whole time...
if I'd been flying and it had turned ugly, I'd have just rented a car.... in the end, it still would've cost the co. much less.
And sure, I lost a chunk of time having to wait for the stuff to be shipped, but I'd have figured today and possibly tom'w into my rental block anyway, just in case. Would still have only got the one site done, and would have been stuck overnight because of the weather, but...
My line of work is often too open-ended to allow such perfection, but dammit, this time it would have worked. Been a while since I've flown up that way, too- nice country.
Dawn today, as seen from the balcony of the elegant-yet-affordable EconoLodge Glens Falls. Green Mtns. of Vt. to the east.
I stopped by GFL this morning to look around, but didn't have time to go for a hop (little did I know I'd be waiting around the site all morning for that stupid mount to be found).
But I have to get into a club before I can even consider it: the rates and scheduling where I rent now just won't allow it.
Sooner or later I'll pull it off. That'd be fun- it would make up for all the horrific BS I have to endure on the job.
But of course it's a goal to be approached carefully. I was talking to my 4000-hr VFR-only friend Gus about flying for business the other night, and all he said was:
"Three words.
Get.
There.
Itis".
I said, "I know, you're right... but that's only one word, not three..."
