On Monday morning I was off to Dallas, after one night at home. Needless to say, I didn't feel too energetic when I got up on Monday. But at least my flight wasn't too early. On a beautiful, hot, Indian Summer mid-morning, I drove to the aiport, my suit-case containing everything I'd brought back from New York, since there didn't seem much point in unpacking.

On my way to the airport Monday morning. No, that's not a new haircut, just the effects of the wind :)

Anyone know who the God of travel is? Maybe Iberia? :) He/she smiled on me the length of this day, at any event. First, I got upgraded to first-class on the flight out. This didn't translate to any extra leg-room than a coach-class exit-row, but dining service was way better (not too difficult, however, to beat American Airline's coach-class food). Then, at the hotel, an obviously gay reservations agent snagged me (taking over from another agent who had just gotten through telling me there were no king-size beds left), found me a king-size bed, knocked $60.00 per night of the cost of the room, and gave me access to the Concierge level. Don't ask me why. But it felt like VIP treatment.

Once in the room, the influence of the Goddess Iberia waned, however. It was just another hotel room, maybe a little more bland than usual. Or maybe that's just my mind reflecting a general feeling about Dallas. I have nothing against the city, but having just come from New York, it inevitably feels pale and lifeless. And I've been leading a similarly hum drum existence here. So Monday night I met up again with the guy I'm working with from my company. He's a nice, young, married guy named Lonny. Although he's way younger than me, and two grades beneath me, he's been appointed technical-lead since he already has experience on this project and has been with our company for three years, whereas I've just started. He admitted to being nervous, since it's the first time he's held the lead role. I'll do my best to sabotage him. JOKING :) I feel just a little bit protective of him - I'll admit that young people bring out a nurturing side - just a little little peek of it.

Tuesday morning, and I didn't feel too bad, despite the double jet-lag of first flying three hours West on Sunday, then two hours East again on Monday.

Our first day at the customer's site started off on rocky shoals. Since I've been travelling and in a class for the last week or so, I'd had almost no opportunity for preparation. I was assuming that Lonny would be fully ready for the two days of onsiste interviews. We're at what is called the "requirements" phase of our project. This involves extensive interviews with all planned users and subject-matter experts of the software application we've been charged with developing. But when we sat down in the conference room, and Lonny revealed that he only had a generic list of questions to ask, instead of a list tailored to the customer's complex needs, I began to feel nervous myself. And our first interviewees were fired up, filled with self- importance, and feeling unfairly (since we'd had no control over a five month delay in signing the contract) angry at the slow pace of the project.

Things calmed down, however, with time, and we began to take control. Now, after two days of requirements gathering, we're both feeling that we did a good job, and have most of the information we need.

Last night I was a busy boy. In addition to a challenging chest workout, a short shopping trip to the impressive "Galleria" shopping Mall, and watching the movie "Lake Placid" (which was way better than I'd expected given the reviews), I had my first experiment with a treadmill. I much prefer running outside, but, believe it or not, it's cold here in Dallas! So I was forced to resort to whatever they had in the exercise room of the hotel. I found it took a lot of concentration to not end up splattered across the floor. My long strides took my heels perilously close to the back of the treadmill, and I kept becoming mesmerized by the strange lack of real forward motion despite my legs swinging back and forth. What was even stranger was when I stepped off the treadmill - all of a sudden I felt as if I was still moving forward, and almost fell over. Very disconcerting!

The Galleria Shopping Mall, ice-rink included

Put it down to the tough gym experience of last night, but today I had no energy. And Chad, our main contact at the customer's site, was in relentless form. He long since fell in love with his own voice and seems compelled to have us experience the same feeling. After each meeting, I'd pretend to take a catnap just so that I could avoid having to fake an interest in his endless droning. Call it immature, unpolitical and certainly unsubtle, but I can't force myself to act as if I like someone to whom I've taken a complete dislike. After our final meeting late this afternoon, we were freed from Chad's pursuing tales, and I could look forward to was getting back to my hotel room, ordering room-service, and watching TV, all comfy in my nice big bed!

Back in the hotel this evening, tired old eyes and all