Work Chaos

Suzy has been a trouper recently, as she has had to deal with the end of the year busyness, the start of summer craziness (after yesterday at the pool, today she took the boys to the zoo), and also my work being particularly zany.

The company I work for (all seven of us) has, for most of its history, existed almost solely in the realm of aquatic life support systems. Occasional forays into cogeneration plants and golf course irrigation notwithstanding, by and large our money comes from parks like Sea World, zoos and aquariums. This is a very tight niche, so we have always been really cyclical in our income, when those things are building we do well, when they are not, not so well. We have always wanted to expand that niche, but the opportunities have been few and far between.

About six months ago a big opportunity fell into our laps, doing HVAC controls for a large community college here in Southern California. From a complexity standpoint, HVAC controls are very simple compared to aquatic life support, so technically we felt we would be more than qualified. That has proven to be true, as we are putting together a pretty neat package for this college, but the buildings are getting close to being ready, so things around here have been crazy. For the first time since Daniel has been on this side of the real/'figment of my imagination' line, I have had to go on regular business trips. Those trips are also very spur of the moment, and with no firm durations, so Suzy has had to be planning her life (and the boys lives) recently without knowledge of whether I will be around or not.

In the past twelve hours I was leaving for two days, not going, leaving for one day, and every combination and permutation thereof. My wife has been patient, but I think I am pushing my luck. This morning I was noticing a definite up tick in her exasperation meter. My mom is taking the boys tonight, so hopefully I can take the missus out to a nice dinner to thank her for her patience and supportiveness, at least I hope I will be able to unless I get called out of town again...


[Edit: Things have changed a few times since I posted this, right now my co-worker is scheduled to pick me up at 3:40 to go up there, 3:40 AM that is. Yikes, that is early, I hope Suzy doesn't want to stay out too late tonight!]