What a week!

Wow, talk about a tough week!

I was out-of-town all week this week training new salespeople in Cincinnati. This was a great, exciting task that I was looking forward to and very excited about being picked for. However, I had been gone 3 days the previous week too, so I knew this was going to be tough because I love being with my family. Not to mention it that most of our kids had been sick for the past week. There is NO way I could maintain a travel schedule like this anymore.

So, after I completed my second full day of training, I linked up with my buddy Joe, all the way out from California. It was great timing that we both happened to be in Cinci at the same time. Joe and I have been best friends for almost 12 years, all the way since rooming together at West Point. Now with me living in SC and him in CA, we only see each other two or three times a year.

At 11:30, Melissa calls me up crying so hard she could barely talk. She let the dogs out and they had run away again. Aaahhh! It HAS to happen ONLY when I'm out of town. We had the same thing happen in December when I was out in Arkansas. When we were telling our friends Randy and Tina about it, Randy insisted that Melissa should have called him to help. So, after my buddy Joe told me that I was the one who needed to call, I called up our good friend Randy.
Melissa called me back about 15 minutes later and the dogs had been returned. Thank you God!

So after hanging out with Joe for a few more minutes reviewing his sales pitch for the next day, I decided to hit the hay for a full day of training in the morning. However, when I was getting ready for bed I felt a little bit off. I woke up in the morning now feeling good at all. I figured that my buddy Bob at the new sales rep training had given me his cold. So, on my way to the office I stopped at Walgreens to start my Dayquil/Nyquil regimen.

So drugged up, I began to conquer my day. Unfortunately, my day soon began to conquer me. I was so miserable as I was role playing sales calls with my group. For the last 2 hours of the day, I was feverish and shaking nearly uncontrollably even though I was wearing my coat zipped up all the way. So, I decided to get into bed as quickly as possible, get some sleep and soldier through so I could teach the next day.

After an incredibly miserable night of attempted sleep and sweating through all of my bedding five times, I knew that there was no way I could make it to the office. I was pretty sure it was strep given my history, and I knew I needed to get to a doctor soon because of how badly I felt and how baldly strep kicks my butt. So, I caught a cab and rode 25 minutes to the nearest clinic where the doc confirmed the strep. She also told me that I needed to stay away from people for the next 24 hours after giving me a shot that wasn't in my arm.

So, I began my ride back to the Westin in the most disgusting taxi that I have ever ridden in. The driver was smoking, the cab was filthy, and both smelled horrible. As I was riding back to the hotel, I started to think about the empty room laying ahead. Nothing like being sick with strep, alone in a empty hotel room, in a cold, snowy city 600 miles from home.

I wish that ended the week, but it didn't. It's getting late though, and I'll have to finish this post later.