I Smell a Barn!

Not just any barn either. MY barn. I'm heading home.

This was an intense week right up to the end. My second "big" meeting was this morning. We drove to Jwaneng, met with the project team's client, finished a few minutes late, and then Iain drove us back to Gabs. Why did Iain drive? Well, because he's young, and we needed to fly for me to make my flight. We did the 160KM, including a fair amount at 80KPH, in 1.5 hours, so you can imagine the non-80KPH parts. Lots of fun, and no guineas, donkeys, cows, or goats were killed. We didn't see any baboons, so there was no chance to try for them.

Anyway, we made it and I am in Johannesburg again. I am really tired, but now I need to stay up as long as possible to try to get back to California time. I think I will take a short nap, but then stay up until it is evening at home.

We'll see how that works...

C U soon Lori and Cookie!!!!

Boom! Bob's Your Uncle!

The last four days have been 12+ hour workdays. I arrived Saturday evening, slept pretty well (because I was a bit sleep deprived), and then worked all day Sunday to get ready for a pre-review meeting with my client. That went well, then we spent the next two days split between Gaborone and Jwaneng narrowing down on the real numbers.

Well, I made it, and made the first “big” presentation to my client, the project team, today. Now, with a bit of feedback from them, I will present to their client on Friday morning. It’s going to be exciting because we will drive to Jwaneng at 0-dark-30, have the meeting (hopefully on time, which is not always guaranteed in these parts), and then I will make the dash for the airport for a 1330 flight. Keep your fingers crossed!

Anyway, all the work has been worth it. As my client said today, “It’s nice to see hard numbers instead of anecdotal comments today.” My sentiments exactly. It’s too easy to ignore stories, but very hard to dispute the numbers the client provided.

So, it was a good day. And that probably means that I get to come back to Africa at some point in the future. Where is Scotty when we need him? I need that transporter to be available to beam me back here if I come back! These analog airplanes are just too slow to travel this far.

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures outside my hotel room this time – different hotel…

First a picture of a colorful little creature on, as we (me and the mouse under the bed) say in this room, The Pepper Tree.


The second picture is The Pepper Tree at night. The green leaves in the background look that way because there is a pool there. The pool reflects the light as bluer light than the tungsten lights, correcting the light balance. Interesting isn’t it. Don’t answer that!!!

And now, since I only slept 4 hours last night, it's time for bed...

Cheerio! (Do I have a Botswana accent yet?)