Brutal Schedule

Day one of our legal conference and we all had to hit the ground running. Most of us from the US were hit with jet lag. Mind you, after the dinner event last night, I was up half the night editing the proxy statement with Chanda, my colleague from Duluth, GA. We went to bed around 2 a.m. local time and had to be downstairs for breakfast and at our first event at 8 a.m. We had to be bright eye and bushy tail and I was feeling it.

Powerpoint slides, guest speakers and then we managed to run out of the conference for a tour of the ATM plant that we operate in Budapest. I must say, I was very impressed. In fact, I even offered to stay behind in Budapest and learn to build the ATM's. I watched the workers clock out at 2:30 p.m. on the dot and the shift changed. WOW. They don't leave with anything to work on at home. That's actually not a bad deal. I have been working 17 hour days due to the nature of the time of the year for me. This is proxy season. I have a filing that is due with the Securities Exchange Commission in less than 10 days and I have been working on this document since mid-December. I have been living and breathing this proxy statement and the filing couldn't come soon enough for me.

After our tour of the plant, we were scheduled to be on the dinner cruise and head down the Danube River. It was nice to see the town at night lit up and get a bit of information about the sights around us. The history lesson was really great too since I didn't really have a chance to read up on Budapest. We had authenthic Hungarian food and it was nice to sit and get to know our colleagues from the different offices. It was a shame that we didn't do the cruise during the day but despite the zaniness today, it was nice to be able to bond with my colleagues.

Arrival in Budapest

I had to leave Saturday afternoon to fly to meet my colleagues in Budapest for the legal conference. I said goodbye to my father in law and went over to the airport for my journey to Eastern Europe. I must say, I wasn't too happy with the flight on KLM Airlines. The seats were extremely narrow and there wasn't any legroom. I am not a tall or large person but if it was uncomfortable for me, I can't imagine what it's like for someone who is taller than me. Not to mention, there were screaming babies on the flight and the audio equipment didn't work. Halfway through the movie, they had to shut the system down.

OK- enough whining. I made it into Amsterdam and had a two hour layover. Found Starbucks and was pretty content having my chai latte in the Netherlands. My colleauges and I got on our connecting flight and met up with the balance of our US colleagues in the Budapest airport. We hopped the bus and made our way to the hotel.

We all checked in and threw our stuff into the room and wanted to go see a little bit of Budapest. Well, we kind of forgot that it is Sunday here and lots of things are closed. We wandered around a little bit, found a restaurant that was open and of course, we ate our first meal in Budapest. I had a tasty potato dish with cream and lot of garlic. The kind of chef that makes my heart sing. Afterwards, we managed to find Vaci utca, a main shopping strip and then headed back to the hotel for our first event.

We had dinner with our colleagues from around the world. It was nice to finally meet the faces that went behind the voices on the phone calls and emails that we've been trading back and forth over the past few months. We've got a lot to cover over the next few days. We're going to be spending a lot of quality time together.

Lemonade

This week was an absolutely crazy week. Tony's father was admitted into the hospital with a 103 fever, gallstone issue and as a result, developed sepsis. The doctors removed the stone but wanted to remove the gallbladder. Easier said then done. Tony’s father was being treated for sepsis through an intravenous antibiotic, had developed gout and failed the stress test. We thought he’d get a stent put in but when the doctor’s went in, they found three valves completely clogged. So, gallbladder surgery has been put on hold indefinitely, the sepsis is a very resistant strain and new antibiotics had to be started. Once the sepsis is under control, he’ll go in for open heart surgery to replace the three valves that will need to be replaced. We’re lucky he didn’t have any issues and could have had a fatal heart attack.

While all this was going on, we were waiting to find out if Matthew had been accepted into the magnet high school, Academy of Information, Technology and Engineering. The drawing took place on Friday and we received the notification on Saturday. We all held out hope for the one thing that Matthew wanted the most. To be accepted into the upcoming Fall freshman class for high school. The unfortunate thing is he didn’t make it in. He’s on the official wait list and he came in as number 50 which means, unless 49 kids on the wait list turn down the spot, there is a slim chance in hell that he will be admitted to the school. This came as a total shock and disappointment for Matthew since he was truly looking forward to going to AITE. He felt he was a part of the school and he was excited about the curriculum and the technology. It is unfortunate that he didn’t make it to the school. I can feel his pain and his disappointment from where I am right now. In the midst of all this, I had to leave for Budapest for a legal conference. I was so upset to find out from here that Matthew didn’t make it in and it is the one thing that we all hoped and prayed that he would be accepted to but it is out of our hands. Tony and I will have to decide what to do about which high school to enroll him in for the upcoming Fall semester.

Please don’t take it the wrong way. We count each and every one of our blessings. The fact that the doctor’s discovered my father in law's valve problem by sheer luck and will perform open heart surgery is a major blessing for us. I just know that sometimes life’s disappointments get in the way and we have to find a way to vent out our frustration and pick up our chin and carry forward. I know that Matthew will do well wherever he applies to and this too will be part of his life lesson that when life throws lemons at you, you've got to make lemonade.

Winter Blues

We've been experiencing some pretty nasty winter weather in the area. I was in Atlanta, Georgia for a business trip and had my ear to the weather forecast. We were going to get a storm that was going to wreak havoc across 22 states. Some weather forecasters nicknamed it "The Beast", pretty appropriate if you ask me. We were expecting snow, flooding and ice. Great formula for an adventurous ride home.

My original flight back to New York was cancelled 30 hours before I was even scheduled to take off. I scored a seat on an earlier flight and was going to be on it regardless. Then a miracle happened, I managed to score a seat on the company plane. That works. I knew I was going to get into the area regardless. Getting home from the little airport in New Jersey was going to be another matter.

I beat the storm and made it home and was happy to see the boys. Conditions made it hard to travel to school or work so I worked from home and school was cancelled. All was well until at 8:15 a.m., when we heard a very loud crack and then an explosion and saw a huge fireball on the main road. A tree fell on the road by the house, took out the transformer and blew out the power in the area. We had a live wire in the middle of the driveway and were essentially trapped in the house. I called the power company to report it and was told "Stay in the house. Do not go out." My initial verbal reaction was "Really, I shouldn't go out there and get a jolt of electricity running through my body? Gee, I really wanted to touch the wire." Seriously? OK- sarcasm needs to stop.

The picture posted is the tree that wreaked havoc for us. We didn't have power, heat or water since we're on well water for twelve hours on a cold day. My sister asked if I had enough food in the house. Are you kidding? Those who know me know about my overflowing pantry. Food is never an issue in the house. Cooking it without an oven or microwave was another matter We managed to do pretty well and then the power came back up. We were pretty happy and were busy hovering over the heat vents to warm up.

The Groundhog didn't see his shadow which means we'll have six weeks less of winter. I think the Groundhog knew what he had to do. We're all pretty tired of this weather and giving us a sliver of hope was in the Groundhog's best interest if you know what I mean.