Tag: deadlines

Montreal Itinerary

Looks like it’s going to take 2 full weeks, 14 days, to make Montreal. Guess I’m not the road warrior I thought I was, but I just can’t imagine pushing that hard for that long. Also, I guess I can’t just drop in on my Mom, who I haven’t seen in nearly 10 years, for a single night. (We’ll be back later to spend a couple weeks with her.)

I’ll be reconnecting with an uncle and aunt I haven’t seen in nearly 30 years, staying with a musical buddy who’s slept on my couch, staying with a friend who just moved from here a few weeks ago, and meeting a couple folks who’ve become incredibly close online but whom I’ve not yet hugged in real life.

Update 1:Thanks to Jerry Kennedy‘s reminder nudge, we checked out Couchsurfing.org and found a place in Albuquerque.

Update 2:I didn’t check with enough people in Toronto, so one of them checked with me. H’ray for Debs, my musical friend in Toronto!

Thursday 30 Sep Home Phoenix Terry
Friday 1 Oct Phoenix Phoenix “
Saturday 2 Oct Phoenix Albuquerque Sonja
Sunday 3 Oct Albuquerque Denver Jason
Monday 4 Oct Denver Rapid City Denny
Tuesday 5 Oct Rapid City Arlington Mimi
Wednesday 6 Oct Arlington Rice Lake Mom
Thursday 7 Oct Rice Lake Rice Lake “
Friday 8 Oct Rice Lake Rice Lake “
Saturday 9 Oct Rice Lake Fremont Charlie
Sunday 10 Oct Fremont Fremont “
Monday 11 Oct Fremont Toronto Debs
Tuesday 12 Oct Toronto Ottawa Shawn
Wednesday 13 Oct Ottawa Granby Cristina

The Eagles Have Landed

Ian and Caitlyn have arrived for a quick overnighter before Trip #2.

Beans on the stove, brown rice and cornbread in the oven, homemade salsa in the fridge.

It’s gonna be a great dinner, followed almost instantly by waffles (or pancakes, no one’s decided for sure) for breakfast.

By bedtime tonight we will have tripled the amount of time we’ve spent with these folks whose home we’ve been living in for more than two weeks.

Anyone Want to Put the Canfield Family Up for a Night or Two in Portland Next Week?

The best of plans sometimes have to change. We just found out this morning that our lodging accommodations in Portland, Oregon next week fell through. Due to an unforeseen family need, the wonderful family that were going to let us stay with them in return for our coaching services are unable to do so.

That leaves us without a place to lodge for a night or two. We have lodging in Washington on Saturday, July 31. We’d hoped to arrive late in the day in Portland July 29th and stay that night and July 30th with the family in Portland, leaving their place mid-day Saturday. If necessary, we can drive all day Friday, July 30th, stay a night in Portland and leave Saturday for Washington.

Ideally though we hope to leave Thursday July 29, arrive late in Portland, spend all day Friday July 30th in Portland and leave Saturday.

So if you are a Virtual Assistant and would like to receive our action guide, Building Blocks: Succeed as a Chief Virtual Officer, and one-on-one in-person coaching for your business from two great business coaches in exchange for a night or two lodging, please contact us asap!

Or if there is anyone else in the Portland area that’s just thrilled to have us and our six-year old visit, give us a shout!

It’s 7:22 PM and There’s Nothing I Need To Do About It

Best Beloved had left a handful of baby things out by the fence with a ‘Free’ sign. I set the dead empty computer cases out there, too.

Except, not the one which had both a hard drive to bring Computer A back to life and the video card to bring Server B back to life. That one I gutted. Then I put it back out there.

They’re all gone, taken by someone who collects old dead tin boxes, most likely.

They called about the brakes on the van. “There’s nothing wrong with your front brakes.”

“I know. They’re new. We needed the back brakes checked.”

“Oh. They didn’t tell me that. I can’t check your back brakes because your tires are delaminating, and I can’t legally put them back on if I take them off.”

“So, you can’t check the brakes unless I buy tires first?”

“Right.”

And then I wouldn’t have money for brakes. Huh. First things first.

“If you replace the tires, how much is it to check the brakes?”

“No charge just to check them.”

“Ok. Go.” I like to say that to see who starts humming This Too Shall Pass.

They called back an hour later. “Your brakes are fine. Some dust in there; we blew it out so they wouldn’t shudder like that, but the brakes have plenty left.”

So, the money we’d set aside for brakes, not knowing how we were going to pay for tires, too, paid for tires, because we didn’t need the brakes after all.

Then we had pancakes for dinner, which made it whatever is the next step better than a perfect day.

Where We’re Going, Metaphorically Speaking

I’m feeling fairly squished and tentative today, but I’m going to soldier on and share the goals Sue and I talked about Tuesday night when we couldn’t sleep.

We realized that what was important to us was not what we had or did, but what this gave Fiona, so our goals are based on that.

Subject to change upon discovery, and all the other usual disclaimers apply:

We want to be living without a house or car before Fiona turns 7 in March of 2011, and before she turns 10, she will have slept and eaten in a private home on all six of the accessible continents.

I’m leaving out Antarctica, partly because it’s dangerous and spectacularly difficult to get there, but primarily because there is no culture for her to absorb, no new human understanding for a small child there.

We thought the criteria of eating and sleeping in a private home would be a simple thing to measure, and the right thing to measure. Did she experience a slice of real life with everyday people? That’s all we’re hoping for right now.

Go Has No Deadline

Joel, Sue, Fiona
The plan was to announce our decision next Monday, June 28th, at noon. Well, that was what I wrote, anyway.

The plan was to decide before then, not wait until then.

And, it’s decided. No point waiting. When you know, you know.

Vancouver,
we are ‘go’
for launch.

If we come, they had better build it

Canada Itinerary

Bearing in mind that nothing’s final until noon on June 28th, here’s the tentative itinerary should this Canadian shakedown cruise take place:

  1. Thursday, July 29th—Drive 10 hours to Portland Oregon. Stay with Debi Leonard and her very own Craig.
  2. Saturday, July 31st—Drive 4 hours to Everett Washington and stay with Brad and Kristy Trnavsky.
  3. Monday, August 2nd—Drive 2 hours to Vancouver where Caitlyn and Ian will give us a place to stay for approximately 3 weeks, depending on their schedule. During our stay, we plan to
    • find places for me to do house concerts
    • put on training/coaching events for virtual assistants
    • host VA mixers, perhaps once a week, at a deserving local eatery
    • connect with as many friends-of-friends as possible
    • walk, nap, smell, hear, enjoy, hold hands, dream, write, smewch, snack, cook, and more
  4. Wednesday, August 25th—Depart Vancouver. I wonder where we’ll go. We don’t need to be home until September 3rd.