{"id":10830,"date":"2016-02-07T15:33:14","date_gmt":"2016-02-07T20:33:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=10830"},"modified":"2016-02-07T18:51:12","modified_gmt":"2016-02-07T23:51:12","slug":"back-in-the-bloggin-saddle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/?p=10830","title":{"rendered":"Back In the Bloggin&#8217; Saddle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I got my boots on and am back in the bloggin&#8217; saddle.<\/p>\n<p>Thank you, though, for this brief break, brought to you by&#8230;<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\n&#8230;old age and the lessened ability to multitask.  \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n<p>In the last episode of <em>BHD&#8217;s Musings<\/em>, I stated that I had re-injured my back and was unable to concentrate on writing for this blog.  I also said that I was about to depart for&#8230;<img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Coloblog.jpg?resize=584%2C512\" alt=\"Coloblog\" width=\"584\" height=\"512\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-10831\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Coloblog.jpg?w=800&amp;ssl=1 800w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Coloblog.jpg?resize=300%2C263&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Coloblog.jpg?resize=150%2C131&amp;ssl=1 150w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Coloblog.jpg?resize=768%2C673&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Coloblog.jpg?resize=342%2C300&amp;ssl=1 342w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 584px) 100vw, 584px\" \/>&#8230;where I facilitated five concurrent and sequential meetings for some 150 people from all over the U.S. and Canada.  Yep, I was responsible for planning, organizing, executing, facilitating, and running those meetings.  Quite a chore, but I actually enjoy that kind of work.<\/p>\n<p>Back to my back for a bit &#8230; while I was unhappy that I had reinjured a bone in my back, thus placing pressure on my sciatic nerve and making it painful to walk, sit, or lie down, I survived.  Grateful that Excedrin works for me, and nothing stronger or narcotic was needed.  (I would avoid narcotic drugs at all costs&#8230; not for me, being so sensitive them.)<\/p>\n<p>I babied my back, and while it was very hard for me to do, I asked other people for help.  My spouse carried my suitcase to my truck, and I dropped it with at curbside check-in at the airport (even ponied up a tip, much to the chagrin of the frugal side of my wallet.)  I let others help me along the way, including seat mates who lifted my carry-on to the overhead storage compartment.<\/p>\n<p>Let me tell ya, asking others for help is not easy for me, but I knew deep-down that if I attempted to lift heavy things, the back injury and pain could get much worse.  It was bad enough, thank you.<\/p>\n<p>With babying the back and being ultra-careful, by today (two weeks after injury), I am feeling better.  Not perfect, but not in nearly as much pain.  My doc and I will discuss it in person this coming week.  Oh joy&#8230; another physical exam.  How I dislike them, but know their necessity.  (Just no blood draw; I don&#8217;t do needles, no-how, no way.)<\/p>\n<p>My business trip last week was good, though I had to tap my organizational skills when inclement weather (more than a foot of snow) closed our meeting location for a partial day, and about 30 participants were delayed on arriving for the meetings.  I even organized feeding 100 people when the cafeteria in the building where we were meeting was closed &#8212; and it worked out financially even (I didn&#8217;t lose or gain money.)<\/p>\n<p>Due to the weather, we advised that the dress code was casual &#8212; jeans, warm shirts, and boots were the norm.  And most men wore boots at my meetings!  Yay!  While most boots were of the snow-warmth variety and looked rounded and dorky, they were boots, nonetheless.  <\/p>\n<p>I wore my <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bootedman.com\/work\/chiphiker.html\" target=\"_blank\">Chippewa hikers<\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bootedman.com\/work\/chipbaylogger.html\" target=\"_blank\">Chippewa (tan) loggers<\/a> throughout the events &#8212; hikers on the plane, and loggers in the snow.  Hikers with khakis and Loggers with Wranglers &#8212; on stage before 100 people.  No problem.  <\/p>\n<p>The hikers even passed through airport security (at both airports that I flew out of) without setting off the alarm &#8212; wow!  I am grateful that TSA-pre lets me keep my boots on.  <\/p>\n<p>Now I have a week of follow-up activities to do.  Post presentations, meeting minutes, and notes on web pages, and send communications to meeting attendees about reimbursements and other required after-the-meeting activities.  All in a day&#8217;s work.  And work I love to do, despite the tedium.<\/p>\n<p>But for now, I will enjoy being back home in the arms of my beloved spouse.  While he watches that stupid bowl late tonight, I&#8217;ll be dreaming in sweet slumber, preparing for my usual early rise and arrival at oh-dark-30 at the office to get a jump on my meeting follow-ups.<\/p>\n<p>Life is short:  love what you do!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I got my boots on and am back in the bloggin&#8217; saddle. Thank you, though, for this brief break, brought to you by&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,26,31,30],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-airport-security","category-blogging","category-job","category-travel"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10830\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bootedmanblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}