When I get the last nod of approval from my family, this is the man that I have to be...

Road blog: DC, final day

This is my last day on the road, both for this show and for the job.
After 3 years of what feels like non-stop madness I am emptying out my suitcase and putting it away until I go on vacation and I could not be any more ready. In a word, the last few years have....blurry.

I really like this company and all the people I work with (and for, which is a rare thing to find) and I'm even a pretty damn good traveler and don't mind the miles so much as just the time away - that's been the hardest part. Just being gone.
And while it's been nice being under the protective umbrella of a massive global corporation and having job security when the economy has been falling apart, I'm excited for the uncertainty of what comes next - both because it's exciting and because it's close to home. There's a big difference between "working long hours" and "working long hours 800 miles away from your children while they rapidly grow up" and now I have a chance to just be Dad in the mornings and put in my long hours while they sleep in the next room instead of in the next time zone and be there for all the bumps and bruises instead of getting pictures on my cell phone.
Sure, I'll have to worry about money but that's ok by me - I would rather worry about money every day and spend all those minutes with my kids. It sounds stressful but the not being there never gets easier no matter how much money or job security or health insurance you have.

I have to point out that my wife is amazing. Anyone that knows her doesn't need that pointed out but while I've been complaining about how stressful and hard it is to fly first class and sleep in four star hotels, she has been taking care of way more than her share of our home and our lives. She's amazing and supportive and wonderful and I have yet to figure out what she gets out of this deal.
I took this job years ago when I answered a newspaper ad and honestly had no idea what I would be doing or how long I would be doing it. With every new gig and new trip and new, last minute change of plans she has been handling things in our house, with our family, dealing with my teenager through the worst of times, getting sitters and basically being a single working mother of twins and a teen while I eat sushi and sleep on airport floors. She's the one steady thing in the middle of all of it.
The funny thing is that she stresses about working in the "corporate world" for real and I can't imagine that you could find a harder job than what she's been doing while I've been away.

But I don't want the job to sound all bad. Really it's been a lot of fun, I have very happy memories and I have repeatedly gotten to do ridiculously cool and amazing things that nobody else gets to do while "at work" and I consider myself pretty goddamn lucky. In the past 3 years alone I have:

Seen Paul Simon and Aretha Franklin perform in New York, saw Parliment in Las Vegas, made inappropriate jokes to Gene Kranz that I later felt horrible about, did an Olympic Bobsled run in a pretty respectable time, listened in on a few millions dollars worth of (good and bad) corporate training, saw David McCullough speak on the importance of history and bravery, learned how to tie a tie and gotten used to wearing a suit when not in court, met Jon Stewart and the Princess Al-Saud, gotten detained by Canadian Border Authorities, performed with friends all over the country when I could sneak away, had the chef's tasting menu in the Eiffel Tower Las Vegas, explained my mysterious case of wires and antennas to armed security personnel in the Buenos Aires airport, been told I was too "out there" for the Head of The Diversity Training Program for Deloitte, had my hair color put to a company vote, watched an Indian tribe forming its Supreme Court, was the ass doing a triple-take while meeting Charlize Theron and Salma Hayek....and more that I'm sure will come back to me later when the effects of three years of near-constant desynchronosis finally wear off.

So it's been awesome. My coworkers are awesome and fun, all the way up to the CEO (and who do you know that can say that??). My office is the very definition of "casual" (and possibly of "liver damage") and the job that I have to do in order to do all this fun stuff is easy by any measure (my button-pushing finger will never be the same). I have been very very lucky and I am thankful.

But most importantly, the one thing I will never ever forget and would like everyone else to always keep in mind:




Buzz Aldrin is a fucking asshole.