Trains, Planes, and Automobiles

I'm back - yet again. And supposedly older, wiser, and better looking. Can it be true?

I had the craziest two weeks between June 10th and the 24th, which consisted of flights from Detroit to Houston, Houston to El Paso, driving to Mexico, flying from El Paso to Houston, Houston to Detroit, Detroit to JFK, JFK to Amsterdam, Amsterdam to Stuttgart, taking a train from Reutlingen to Leipzig, returning via train from Leipzig to Reutlingen, flying from Stuttgart to Dubrovnik (Croatia) and returning to Stuttgart. There were a few flight problems - including several long delays and missed one connection (although others were very close) - and basically when all was said and done, I didn't want to see any airports for a long, long time.

I had a great 30th birthday in Leipzig. We even got to see a fireworks show to ring in the big day. If that's not fitting, then I don't know what is. After that it was a 5 night stay in southern Croatia, which was incredibly beautiful, sunny and hot. Took tons of pics and will be uploading a few shortly.

This past week was my first week back in the office here in Germany. It was actually nice to see a bunch of people whom I hadn't seen in a few months. In keeping with tradition though, it looks like plans might be changing...once again. My favorite manager approached me on Friday and we had another chat in the conference room. Basically, they'd like to extend my stay here through the end of the year. I told him I'd like some time to consider it and am planning to let them know by Wednesday whether I'd be ok with it.

Right now, I'm thinking I'll go for it and stick around for the extra 3 months. That means relocate back to the U.S. in December and start a new position there in January. Guess it works for me, unless I have some major change of opinion in the next day or two.

Here. There. Back Here. And Way Over There.

Craziness ensues... I should've expected plans to change. They always do!

Silly me. Here I was thinking I could coast through next week, taking the last few days off before flying back to Germany. Not gonna happen. While I'm still in North America, the Germans want me to train some coworkers in Mexico on one of our reporting systems. The only time we could squeeze it in was on Monday and Tuesday of next week. So I fly to Texas on Sunday, spend Monday and Tuesday in Mexico, fly back home to Michigan on Wednesday, and return to Germany on Thursday. Then I've got the trips to Leipzig and Croatia before heading back to the office in Germany on June 25th. Whew.

I had to light a fire under my as - err, rear, to make sure everything is planned out for the next couple of weeks. Been spending a lot of time researching info, printing out itineraries, booking hotels, etc. It'll be my first time in both Texas and Mexico, so that part will be a new experience. The timing of it all just makes it a little stressful.

Perhaps I'll pop back up around here around the end of June. With pics, of course!