Took my team in DC to dinner. Guess who came and sat next to us? Can you recognize him thru those glasses?
Mike Shanahan!! Head coach Redskins!!

This evening I was sitting at Tyson’s Corner in the patio of a well renowned bar trying to hammer out a deal with a strategic partner. All the tables outside were filled with a lot of people with laptops opened up.
Occasionally, each table would erupt with boisterous yelling and high-fiving. For whatever reason, the women were yelling the most.
You have to be in the DC area on a Sep 30th to understand this all. Today is government financial year ending. All contracting has to be done today or else there is no guarantee for project money for next year. Everytime a table was hearing about a win, they would just burst out in joy.
It is like report card day for all government sales teams!
People who know me probably know that my the arc of my career has taken me from coding software to running services organization to leading marketing to leading sales to eventually being a general manager. Of all those, sales – is still to me – the job I respect the most. And the profession where the difference between the best and the not-so-good is so wide.
That is the job that has the clearest metric – you either got the dollars or you did not – and the least control of the variables – you are too dependent on external factors.
That is why winning a deal unleashes such a primal energy.
Sure, it comes with the cold slap across the face when you lose one. But over a larger horizon, if you are a good sales guy, you win out….
Love the energy. Respect the profession!!

Woke up at 4 am to catch a 6 am flight from Raleigh to Atlanta. Made it comfortably to the airport. Breezed thru TSA Pre. Sat in the plane. Got my coffee. All the passengers were boarded. And suddenly I got a notification from Delta on my iPhone that the flight has been delayed by 30 minutes.
The pilot came on to the PA and greeted us. I am like – does he even know that we are delayed? (I assumed ground control crew or weather issue).
Then he came on again and explained that a piece of equipment is not working. It is a third level backup though. But without it he is not allowed to fly in the dark or thru clouds!!!
So the mechanics are coming to see how quickly it can be fixed.
Except the mechanics are coming from Atlanta!!!!
And he canceled the flight!!!
As I was disembarking, Delta sent me another helpful message – the flight has been delayed by another 15 minutes!! Go figure.
Too sleepy to drive back to Atlanta, decided to take the next flight couple of hours later. Waiting in Skyclub now, tired and sleepy wondering what the the next adventure in the upcoming flight will be.

So this is what the ground crew does when they are not waving a plane in or out of the gate!!!

During this morning’s walk with Sharmila in downtown Durham (it is very very cute) I finally found the answer to the all important question that has been vexing all Phineas and Ferb fans (not to speak of all platypuses or is that platypi? ) : Where’s Perryyyyy? Where’s Perryyyyyyy? 🙂
Evidently it is 321 E. Chapel Hill 🙂

Grainy picture of lightning. From inside the plane with my iPhone against a really wet window…

I have heard about chasing a pipe dream, but what is a pipe chase? Given that it was next to “janitor”, it certainly struck me as a very odd job. Consulted Google and found that “A pipe chase is an area of space where only pipe and sometimes electrical conduit are run. Though they are usually square, picture it as a tunnel that only has runs of pipe inside.”
Still not sure why you need a door but I learnt something today…

The Men’s room at the airport is the Tornado shelter????

We were all seated – mildly surprised that our flight was on time. Airplane doors closed. Electronics all off. And then the dreaded “safety procedure announcement” came on. Mid way thru the announcement the gentleman went something like this…
“In cases of emergency, this airplane is equipped with eight doors, four on either side…..Wait a minute”…
Total radio silence for thirty seconds – we assumed he was checking his notes. As we all started laughing out… Then he came back on the PA “… there are six doors in this plane. Three on either side .”
The lady serving us in the first class was clearly not happy and had that constant frown as she went thru that mesmerizing two hand over the shoulder wave that they do – this time with three fingers outraised on either hand instead of the previous run of four.
After the whole announcement was over, she walked up to him, had a little confabulation and triumphantly walked back. Then she grabbed the microphone and announced “Ladies and gentlemen, a minor correction in our security announcement: we do have eight doors in this plane. Four on either side”!!!
A few minutes later, I made friends with her. I let her know that in my 20 years and seven million miles of flying, if there is one thing I have learnt, it us this: in cases of emergency, nobody cares to count the number of doors – everybody makes a beeline for the nearest door 🙂
She was nice and sporting enough to take the joke. She pointed out that they were not based out of Atlanta and were not used to this plane configuration. I quickly glanced and noticed it was indeed one of the old Northwest configuration in the first class. I asked her if she was from Detroit. She said – No, the whole crew was from Honolulu!!!
Now, that is a job I would die for!!! Even if I died trying to escape from a non-existing door midair!!! 🙂