On the road again...

“Wow you get to travel for your job, that is awesome, what a life...” You know, it makes me wonder what that person is actually thinking when they say that statement. Are they implying that I’m traveling to an exotic place? Are they thinking that I’m traveling to a place like the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and/or Cancun? I would certainly wish it was… But my job sends me to places like Arvonia, Virginia… or to a small cold shed in Providence, Rhode Island… Or even the shipyard located in Groton, Connecticut.

When I first started traveling, I would get so excited to the point where I couldn’t sleep for weeks. I would plan for weeks of what to take with me. How I would rehearse my speech front of the mirror for hours… But the last couple of trips have been pretty depressing. I think it actually started from the last trip… The excitement is no longer there...

Most of my time was spent in a small town named Arvonia… The town is so small that I had not notice a traffic light or any street signs… The nearest hotel to Arvonia is about an hour away. Thus, I’ve been splitting my hotel stays between Richmond and Charlottesville Virginia. So every morning, I would need to leave an extra hour early to get to the site on time…

Traveling has seriously driving me nuts. The angry people at the airport, the stale food, the smell of the jet fuel flowing through the airport, the late nights in a hotel reading reports. The realization that I’ve spent my entire summer of 2009 away from home, chasing the company man's dream (not sure what that means), was truly the cause of my brief depression.

The traveling had put a delay in updating my house to a suitable living space. The traveling had also put a delay in getting the plumber access to the apartment upstairs thus delaying the installation of the new radiator for three weeks. Finally on Monday, the plumber was able to install the new radiator. The pipe fitting did fit, but the threads kept jumping. So he had to install new pipe fittings and cut off valves.


While on site, I also had the plumber remove the old cut off valves in two separate rooms so that I could install new flooring. My plan is to finally install the hardwood floor in the front hallway and finish the workout room. But, yes before I begin another project, I want to first complete the "in progress" projects, the living and workout room.

To be honest, things around the house over the past week had been placed on hold. I wanted to refresh the mind and body before ramping back up again. In the living room I need to finish putting the insulation, new light fixture, electrical outlets, electrical switches and window trim.

In the workout room, I installed about 75% of the new floating floor. The other 25% of the flooring had to wait until the plumber was able to remove the radiator. As mentioned before the radiator needs a new cut-off valve. So once the new floor is completely installed, the plumber will return to install the new cut-off valve and radiator.



Well I know there isn’t much to talk about, but I wanted to let everyone know that I have not forgotten about updating the journal. I just wanted to tell everyone that I’m still here… Anyway, until next time, happy building.