I know I've been incredibly quiet lately. Shortly after my last post I was pulled on to a project that has exploded to twice the size we thought. I've spent the past month giving engineers and technicians oxygen so that we can get draft reports out to the client on time. Many weekends and evening hours saw our floors of the building alive with activity, when they would normally be silent and calm. Now clarification questions and requests for changes have started to come back. Spreadsheets to be filled out, maps to be made.
Unfortunately due to a lack of foresight and planning on our part, we will probably only be paid for about half of this work. Boo.
However, it also means that in 2 days I and 3 others from my office are flying out to Beijing to present to the client our findings and discuss adjustments and changes that need to be made (hopefully on the fly by a dedicated engineer or two in our office at 1am).
I will be in Beijing for a grand total of 2.5 days. Two of which are being spent inside an office tower. In transit for 3.
I know I should be excited about this. China has never been on my travel radar, and I've always had the opinion that if I want to travel somewhere I would go where I want and pay for it myself, thank you.
So, I go on the company dime. At least they can afford better flights and hotels than I can. And I know I'll come back having had a wonderful experience. I'm just not looking forward to it right now.
On the other hand, I received an early birthday present. One that includes a flight somewhere else that I am incredibly excited about. One that I will fill you all in on as it gets closer.
