Carving one more notch into my Stereotypical Dad belt, I have been away all week on a business trip. These business trips may become more of a regular thing as I pick up new responsibilities at work, which is a real mixed bag. One the one hand, earning more for performing more interesting work is a great opportunity. On the other hand, I don’t want to miss out on too much Hazel time. Luckily, it appears that she still remembers me, so I think we can make this work.

My final destination was Austin, TX, but flying out of the Portland Jetport necessitates connections if you want to travel more than 33% across the country. So to get to Texas, I needed to change flights in Atlanta. My seatmate was on his way down to Georgia for the National Convenience Store Convention. Yes, they have a convention for everything. It’s reminiscent of Calvin (of Calvin and Hobbes fame) and his favorite niche publication, Chewing, the magazine for gum enthusiasts. If you have an interest or profession, no matter how random, there’s most likely a journal or association dedicated to it.

I had roughly ten minutes to make it to my connection gate in Atlanta. Now I know this is a constantly cited piece of trivia, but yes, you can make it from one end of the Atlanta airport to the other in less than seven minutes without having to full-on sprint. I owe a huge thanks to the moving sidewalks and their ability to “increase my ambulatory efficiency” without the need for perspiration.

Without going into much detail, the company we seminar’d is a technological bigwig and their main campus definitely reflects that. The lobby of Building One is huge and shiny and architecturally interesting. It feels like the not-too-distant future. I half-expected to see a teleport bay off to one side. But the illusion was broken when I spied a plastic analog wall clock of the type that you can by at the supermarket for three bucks hanging askew behind the reception desk. The devil is in the details, people, and you need to hire a new set dresser.

The event went well and things look good for a prolonged business relationship, so huzzahs all around. But, the best part of the whole deal was eating dinner at a restaurant that offers meals in bucket form. Having the option to request “buckets ‘o’” food items really makes you feel like a winner. I may be a culinarily simple man, but never pass up a chance to eat out of a trough. Buffets and buckets forever