He prepares for a business trip

Matt is leaving for his first real business trip tomorrow.  He's been asked to go help at the plant in Ohio as they start making a new build of truck: his job now is to interface with the manufacturing side to (among other things) make sure that all the correct parts get on the truck in the right order, which often means finding a way to make things fit, or providing insight for the design team as the guys in the plant say, "Yeah, there is no way this part can fit in that spot with all the other stuff in the way."  I like that his job is so literal.  As I said, this big plant in Ohio is going to start making a new build of truck, and they get a bit of supervision in the form of a three man team that includes Matt.  He has to pack his steel-toed boots, and I anticipate some serious stain treating of his slacks when he gets home Friday.

(For those wondering, his job is technically 5% travel, so this trip should just about do it for the year.)

So how does Matt prepare for a trip?  Well, let's contrast this to how I get ready for work trips.  I usually work like a maniac in the weeks leading up. This ensure on the day of preparation my domestic situation is in crisis so that I can either stay up all night washing the appropriate clothes, or decide to take the trip without clean socks.  I usually pick "stay up all night" because I've been an a straight coffee and chocolate diet for 2 days and I have to get my files in order/printed to maximize the time I'll "study on the plane" (ha!), which, after a late night pack-up, has never worked once yet in the history of ever.  However, I like to know that I have spent all my energy getting ready for the trip because in my world (ie, at meetings), when you are on the trip, it is hard to carve out time for actual working because you have to appear bright-eyed, bushy tailed and very, very smart.

Ok, back to Matt.  Matt mentioned a few times that things were a little busy at work last week, mostly because this trip is taking him away from other duties at work.  He had to find a way to leave them in a position for other people to help out with.  His new bike arrived Friday, which is primarily how he dealt with that stress: long rides.  There was talk of going into to work today, which I figured would be when things got really maniacal.  He rode his bike to work, set his auto reply on his email and sent some files along to coworkers.  He was there less than an hour.  He folded all his laundry into neat piles in the living room, and has been weighing the needs to the week against his carry on for a few minutes.  It's after dinner, but I wouldn't say after the witching hour.  He has no intention of working on the plane, and in fact, just flying counts as work.  He doesn't go to the site until Tuesday, and possibly they might not be building the trucks until Wednesday.  I'd like to contrast this to the type of trip- a professional meeting is basically how you develop a professional reputation, and his business trip is just to do his job in a different place- but it's probably more fair to recognize that Matt tends to have a much cooler head than I do.  At work or home, or even when the two come together, he doesn't usually get flustered.

It'll be weird without him here. I've traveled tons without him, but he rarely goes places without me.  He has been super handy helping get a new bookcase into Nana's and installing a couple lights (since we've all been sitting around the apartment a lot lately, it's time to just fix some of those things).  Fortunately, I'm sure I'll get to see a bit of both Mom and Nana this week, and Dad is coming in Thursday night (house hunting!).