Note: If you've lost interest in these journals, PLEASE let me know. You won't hurt my feelings, I promise. They'll be on the web anyway. The first part is at http://www.lovelady.com/JP_Escapades and I'll add the second part as soon as I figure out how to organize it.
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Ring-ring!
Thank heavens for Southern Bell's voice mail "reminder" service. When I signed up for Southern Bell's voice mail in Greenville a couple of years ago, I discovered this cool reminder service, where one could enter one's own message, and a date/time for it to be delivered, and at that time the phone would ring with the message. Cool, indeed. I used it for setting unusual wake-up times, when I didn't want to reset the alarm, and it worked out great. So I used that service on my Atlanta Southern Bell account for the first time Friday night, setting the wakeup call for the beginning of the Saturday excursion back to Tokyo. 6AM. Verified and stored. So the ringing of the phone was a comfort.
Ring-ring! Ring-ring!
"Hello, this is Dennis."
"Hello, Dennis. You called for a Shuttle to take you to the
airport at 8AM."
"Yes. Is there a problem?"
"No, no problem, except we're here and you haven't answered the
door."
WHAT!?!?! "What time IS it?"
"It's about 8:05"
"Oh no! Do you have other riders?"
"Yes, she has a 9AM flight."
"OK... you'd better go without me, then."
And so it began. I had about another hour of packing to do (which I managed in 15 minutes), added my voice mail usage instructions to the bag (since when does a techie have to read the instructions?), and drove at warp speed to the airport. (The reminder service from ATL's SoB service [acronym intentional] *deposits a message* into the mailbox at the prescribed time, without ringing the phone! What use is that!?!?!)
The rest of the trip, I'm happy to report (after my nerves settled somewhat) was painless, and the troubles were soon forgotten. My week in the US had been fruitful - I actually got to see and touch each of my kitties while I was home for three days, then flew off to sunny (mostly) Ft. Lauderdale for a three-day conference, then back home Friday night in time to prepare for the Saturday morning flight back to Tokyo. It was a tight schedule and (other than the Saturday morning scare) it executed flawlessly. The seminar in FL was great: I got to see some friends and meet new ones, besides learning a great deal about how this firm works. All in all, very worthwhile.
So now I'm back, well overfed, and getting into the swing of things. I was pleased to be able, this time, to voice my needs in the appropriate language, get the taxi driver to the hotel, and even pay my taxi bill. Wow! I've come a long way, in more senses than the obvious.
There's not a lot new to report about Japan since I've only arrived at the hotel about one hour ago, but it's amazing how I've missed journalizing my events. May they serve others as well.