June 30, 2023, Friday night, 8:48pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. My daughter’s dog is sleeping over tonight. Her mom is cleaning carpets so she needed the dog to stay away. I don’t mind having her over, it is nice to have another living entity in the apartment. For the first time it feels cozy. On a work note, today was busy. The clinical leader in Bakersfield quit without notice. Short term that is a pain. I have to travel to Bakersfield Sunday and be in the office at 8am to answer phones. Long term, it is addition by subtraction. She was not invested in the job nor the success of the branch. Bottom line, I feel better about turning the branch around. I never want someone to lose their paycheck or their job. But at the same time she was not happy. I hope she finds her passion and excels in her next endeavor, whatever they may be.

June 29, 2023, Thursday night, 8:17pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. Just before my flight out of Reno last night they announced a delay. Nothing major but, enough to put me up against departure time for the flight from Salt Lake City to Orange County. After landing in Utah I rushed to the gate without even stopping to use the bathroom. Which was good because the flight had completely finished boarding. In fact, they were holding it on the ground just for me. For which I am eternally grateful. I definitely didn’t want to scramble to find a hotel and take a flight today. We still didn’t get into John Wayne until late and I didn’t I get to bed until after midnight. Yet, I managed to get up before five and get my workout in. Which is good because it was a busy day. This afternoon I grabbed dinner with my daughter at her favorite place, In and Out. The whole drive she talked about becoming an actress, asking me how to do it. I told her if I knew I would have done it myself. Interesting to see my child dream the same dreams I did so many years ago.

June 28, 2023, Wednesday afternoon, 4:42pm, pacific standard time, airport in Reno, Nevada, USA. Got in around noon yesterday, drove around and visited familiar places in Reno and Sparks, took a nap, then went to the team dinner and bowling. Today was filled with meetings and too much food. Now I am at the airport, getting ready to fly to Salt Lake City then back to Orange County. overall it was a good trip.

June 27, 2023, Tuesday morning, 5:41am, pacific standard time, airport in Santa Ana, California, USA. Flying to Salt Lake City this morning en route to Reno, Nevada. I am attending a work meeting tomorrow and a dinner/team building event tonight. Flying out of Orange County brings back memories, especially flying to Salt Lake City and Reno, two places I frequently visited for work. There was a time the Orange County Delta flight to Salt Lake City was my greatest desire. It represented a chance to go home, to see familiar sights and to be with the WIL. The emotions aren’t as strong any more but it is still meaningful. I am going to relax, stay in the moment and enjoy the next two days.

June 26, 2023, Monday evening, 7:16pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. Talked to my mom this evening. We are finalizing plans for the trip to Wyoming/Utah in August with my daughter and her friend. We discussed going to Jackson Hole and seeing the Tetons. Yellowstone would be a little too much. Jackson we can do in a day. It is a lot of driving (three hours each way) but more manageable than the six it would take just to get to Yellowstone. If we did that we would have to stay a night. Hotels are expensive this time of year. Actually, hotels are always expensive in Jackson. We will see if we can make it work. On a different note; I stayed in Dana Point/Aliso Viejo today because I fly to Reno for a meeting tomorrow. Off the top of my head, this is only the second Monday I haven’t traveled (excluding holidays and time off) in almost eleven months. (Even with holidays and time off the number is low!) it was nice to stay local for a change but it took most of the day to acclimate. Now I am going to leave again. Oh well, time to get some rest and be ready tomorrow morning.

June 25, 2023, Sunday afternoon, 3:38pm, pacific standard time, pool area at Aliso Viejo apartment complex, Aliso Viejo, California, USA. Came to the pool with the girls. Perfect pool weather. Warm in the sun, cool in the shade. It is pretty crowded. The girls are swimming and laying out. I am under the sun shade, unfortunately wearing jeans. I didn’t have the time, energy or desire to drive back to Dana Point to change. I need to leave an extra set of clothes in the car for situations like this.

June 24, 2023, Saturday evening, 6:50pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Aliso Viejo, California, USA. Spent the day driving around listening to music with my daughter. Grabbed breakfast at Dunkin Donuts, signed up for internet at the Cox store, made a Target run, stopped by the Dana Point apartment to change clothes, made an appearance at a birthday, grabbed dinner, tried to pick up a friend, failed, returned home, going back out to pick up said friend then calling it a day. We have definitely got good use out of the company car I picked up Monday. Also discovered anonymous sidewalk art at the Aliso Viejo complex that brought a smile to my face.

June 23, 2023, Friday night, 10:45pm, pacific standard time, apartment in Dana Point, California, USA. Went to the musical Six at the Segerstrom Center tonight. Great time. I knew most of the songs because my daughter plays them while we drive around. The highlight of the night was the very end. For most of the evening my daughter sat and watched the show passively, not showing much emotion or enthusiasm. Then, as the final song crescendoed and ended, she involuntarily burst into passionate clapping. That unbridled joy breaking through her muted teenage countenance will stay in my heart the rest of my life.

June 22, 2023, Thursday evening, 6:30pm, pacific standard time, hotel in Bakersfield, California, USA. Went to target after work this evening. Such a simple thing but different. For a year I have finished work and picked up dinner without deviation. I still got dinner at the Wendy’s hamburger restaurant up the road but it was nice to change my routine, even slightly. This has been a long week. I am ready to get out of here tomorrow. I look forward to the weekend and not traveling on Monday.

June 21, 2023, Wednesday evening, 7:17pm, pacific standard time, hotel in Bakersfield, California, USA. The news is about the submersible craft lost while visiting the Titanic wreckage. I ate Panda Express for dinner, watched wake forest/lsu in the college World Series and got sucked into checking work email and texts. I have been good about ignoring emails until arriving at the office otherwise. today was just a work day. Nothing too descriptive.