Five-Oh

Lots of times, disparate forces of the universe get together, have a few drinks, maybe an appetizer, and chat about how to conspire against you. It's variously called bad luck, fate, chaos theory, whatever. Other times, those forces, or perhaps their cheerier, more positive cousins, convene and make good stuff happen.

This week a delightful convergence of good luck, desperation, superb timing, and sound reason created a perfect storm of work assignments. Translation: I have successfully convinced a client that it is in their best interest to send me to this conference in Hawaii. So, starting July 7, I will be spending five days in Waikiki talking to people about flooring tile, a subject about which I am completely ignorant. However, ignorance is far more pleasant to endure in Waikiki. The absurd part about this whole thing is that, even though I know little more about tile other than on which of the six sides of a room it generally belongs, the trip is actually a sound business decision. It's legit!

While this may make up for the vacations I never took as a kid and all those cool sounding "Get Lei'd" frat parties I skipped out on in college, there is a catch. If I don't return from the voyage triumphant with awesome data and immediate solutions for their faltering business, I will destroy the relationship we have with our best client. No pressure.