Setup
I’m off to Massachusetts for a 3-day work trip. We hired a new person on the team and I haven’t been at HQ in some time. In addition, I haven’t met the new team lead, and we’re supposed to go see a few clients while here. Add this all up and here we are, on the road yet again.
Yesterday
The trip really began Sunday night, but since this was just a drive up, I shall give the highlights of yesterday in bullet format.
- The drive up takes 3:52 which may be a record
- I take no pit stops along the way
- Hotel room is room number 200
- As soon as I get in the room I turn on all the lights to make it brighter
- I start boiling water for decaf tea before I am even done unloading the car
- I get a mini ice cream from the lobby
- That is all
Coffee
I have now totally jumped the shark on, “winging it,” when it comes to travel and coffee. Waking up and having a cup really starts the day right for me, and I have now crafted such specific tastes in what I like that I bring the whole setup with me. I’m up at 5:15, in an effort to get a ride in before I go to the office. Here is my setup to start the day. Yes, I bring my own mug as this is a critical piece of the puzzle.
Biking Vietnam Part 1
I’m out the door just before 6:00 and I follow a Hall of Fame route I found on TrailForks. Some of the trails I had been on, and some are new, or in reverse order. There are so many trails here it’s hard to string them together sometimes. I have finally given up trying to fly totally blind and decided I would give this a shot.
It worked. This was a great loop. 10/10 would recommend. I ended up with about 10 miles in just under 1.5 hours.
The Strava link can be found here.
Breakfast
My first choice of breakfast was closed so I had to audible and go to the Red Barn. The place isn’t bad, as I’ve been there before. But I was looking for something different. I’ll work that in tomorrow, I think. But today we’re back at the usual which is just around the corner from the office. I will say this breakfast sandwich is quite tasty.
Office & Work
Work is work. I don’t really do these blogs to document the work life, but today was a new EM hire day, so several of us were in the office. It should have been 8, but 1 guy has Covid, 2 guys is on vacation, and 1 guy is a Sales Dope so he forgot. There is 1 other local but he is a space cadets and we decided he was better left at home.
We did a full day of meetings and went to lunch. I got something healthy but did not take a picture.
We were supposed to have a team dinner, but with half the team not available we decided to bag it for another time. This is just fine by me.
Bike Vietnam Part 2
The aim for ride #2 was to see if I could do the morning ride without following a line on the GPS. I added 3 trails to the original loop, and for the most part I was able to navigate my way through it all. I made 2 mistakes which I will need to try and correct the next ride, which will probably be tomorrow. But this loop was better than the morning. I’m finally getting this place down after 2+ years working here. Though I suppose I didn’t come here at all in 2020.
Indeed, Trailforks says I rode there 4 times this year and 3 last year.
The Strava link can be found here.
The Spoonery
I drove 1 exit up 495 and took the first exit and not the second, which put me in the direction of the ice cream shop. I decided to roll with it and eat that first. I was really hungry. So when you think about it, this makes sense. I was going to get ice cream either way. If I had gone to dinner first I might have ordered appetizers and a meal. By seeding my dinner with ice cream, I prevented that.
The vanilla was decent. Strawberry less so.
Ramen
I went to Ko Sushi and Grill for dinner and I wasn’t expecting too much. I had been here many years ago with an old boss, and it was ok. I may have been really hungry but the ramen was more than passable. Not amazing, but I would go back. The pork was good.
Target
Finally, I went and did my normal Target run when I go on these trips. Below you see this version’s bounty.
Summary
At the end of the day I’m not sure how much of a success this day was, because the team lead wasn’t there. But I met with the new EM and we did talk a lot of shop today. She will need to ramp up really, really fast. So it was productive in that sense. Also, I got to ride my mountain bike twice at an awesome trail system. So that’s a good day no matter how you slice it.
Traveling Normandy 