Where Does the Time Go?

Has it really been over four months since my last post? Well, I guess that seems about right. It feels like two weeks ago it was February and we still had all of 2010 to look forward to. Now it’s time to find our second wind and make sure the last half of the year is productive, fun and memorable while there’s still time.

But where are my manners? Come in and get settled first. As always there is cold Mt. Dew in the fridge (I’m stocking it in 4 flavors now). Get comfortable, and we’ll catch up.

No, take your time, I’ll wait for you.

Still waiting…

Any minute now.

Better? Good! Let’s begin. A lot has happened in four months! It’s amazing how the speed at which time seems to pass is proportional to how much activity is going on in our lives. Not to mention, the additional multiplier that increases with age… I have the mathematical formula around here somewhere… I’ll find it later. Moving on.

In the month following my previous post, work was really ramping up. Bid proposals, project submittals, etc. for many projects both awarded and potential were guaranteeing everyone in the office was swamped. On top of that, I was about six weeks away from leaving town to start building one of these projects. Needless to say, I was trying to get in as much Wife Time as possible while I could.

I work for a specialty construction company based in the Bay Area. In a nutshell, “specialty construction” means that the service you provide isn’t something you can just find in your local phone book in most communities. What does this mean for me? I travel… a lot. The Bay Area is unique in that we actually perform a lot of work there, so it makes sense to be headquartered there. In fact, I was fortunate enough to work for over a year on a large, local project that allowed me to be home every night. But for now, that time has passed and I am on the road.

My first stop and subject for this post was Louisville, Kentucky. And I’ll warn you in advance, I don’t really have any pictures to add because I was working 12 to 16 hours a day during the week and trying to squeeze some quality gaming time in on the weekends. However, Mrs. B came to see me for the 4th of July weekend and has already posted pictures of the amazing sights here and here. She is quickly becoming an excellent photographer and you won’t regret checking out her pictures.

So, Louisville. The first thing you should know is how to properly say it. There are supposed to be several accepted pronunciations, but I will instruct you in the most common form as heard by the locals during my stay. The first step is to kind of let your tongue go numb. Take a minute and imagine you are sitting in a dentist’s chair and the anesthetic has just kicked in. After you are properly numbed, using minimal tongue movement, say “Louavull”. It takes a bit of practice.

I was surprised at how small Louisville is. It’s a city that everyone has heard of, in fact it’s probably the first city that comes to mind when most people are asked to name a Kentucky city (unless you worked extra hard in grade school to learn the state capitals, and continually drill yourself to keep fresh). Don’t misunderstand me, geographically Louisville is quite large, but when you consider how much “stuff” is actually there, it is a small place. After having spent considerable time in San Francisco and Atlanta, Louisville seems more like a town than a city and is all the better for it.

Being on a tight construction schedule, and working such long hours as mentioned above, I didn’t really do as much sight-seeing as I would have liked. Other than driving between the hotel and the jobsite, or the occasional shopping trip for necessities (e.g. Mt. Dew, frozen pizza) I didn’t do any sight-seeing at all until Mrs. B came to visit the last weekend I was there. I’ll get to that later.

      

Louisville is a beautiful place, the landscape reminded me of my favorite parts of Georgia. The trees are so thick everywhere that open highways feel more like green, leafy tunnels. The terrain was much more mountainous though.

And check out this huge moth hanging around my hotel.

The language barrier was a little tricky at first. A combination of the local accent and my ever-evolving one (an unintentional “greatest hits” of the many places I’ve worked in over the last 6 and a half years) provided a good challenge. One of the local men we hired as a laborer was convinced I had no sense of humor because I never laughed at any of his jokes… he may as well have been talking to me in sign language. Overall, everyone I had the opportunity to cross paths with was friendly and happy to help, or even just chat for a minute. And there are a lot of common phrases they use that I’ve never heard anywhere else, though most are a bit on the crude side and I won’t share them here. One of my favorites was, “You can’t put nine women in a room and expect to make a baby in one month.”

The biggest adjustment for me was to go from the comfort of my man-cave (see picture at the top of the page), to a hotel room with a tiny TV and slow internet. I was going to include a picture of this temporary “satellite man-cave” but I can’t seem to find it. And obviously I missed my wife, man-cave, aquarium and most of all…Proof. Have you met Proof? No, I don’t believe you have.

First, let me explain the name. I named her that because anyone can say the words, “I love you,” but my wife bought me a motorcycle. I have Proof. 

I REALLY miss my motorcycle. I talk to my wife more than once everyday, and she flies out to visit with me or I fly home for the occasional weekend visit, but it’s not like she can put my bike on the phone. A 900cc cruiser is way too big to fit in her carry-on. And on top of that, there are easily more motorcycles in Louisville than any other place I have been. Watching all the natives cruising around daily was difficult to say the least. Apparently, Kentucky doesn’t have a helmet law. Out of all of the bikers I saw, very few of them wore helmets. In fact, it was not uncommon to see someone riding with no helmet, shades, gloves or shirt. You will never catch me riding like that.

One of my favorite things about staying in Louisville is Pet Shop Comics, an amazing store. I’m not really much for comic books, but this place is like an in-store catalogue for BoardGameGeek.com. Some of you look confused… it’s okay, don’t worry about it. I’ll just say this. When you’ve overturned your Monopoly board in a bankruptcy fueled rage for the last time, or when you come to the realization that Risk, while classic, is just not deep enough, go to BoardGameGeek.com. I still owe a significant debt of gratitude to a couple of very good friends for opening my eyes to what true tabletop entertainment could be.

We finished our phase of the construction project on the Friday of the 4th of July weekend, the same say Mrs. B came to see me. And what a weekend it was! From the airport we went straight to Churchill Downs to meet up with my co-workers for the last round of night racing this season. It was the first time I’ve ever been to a horse track and a good time was had by all. That weekend we explored downtown Louisville, took a tour of the Louisville Slugger Factory & Museum (I got a bat with my name engraved on it), drove by Fort Knox and generally had a great time.

After the great weekend, while my guys proceeded to dismantle our equipment and ship it out, I picked up my rental car and headed to the next project in New Orleans. And that will be a topic for another post.

And that is my definitive review of Louisville, Kentucky. A beautiful place I would love to visit again soon. Thanks for stopping by, I hope we can do it again.

Additionally, to show that I’ve been staying productive, these are the games I’ve completed since my last post:

Lego Star Wars, The Complete Saga (PS3)

Mirror’s Edge (PS3)
The Simpsons Game (PS3)
Tomb Raider: Underworld (PS3)
Indigo Prophecy (PS2)
Max Payne (PS2)
Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne (PS2)