A worthwhile week away

This is, barring some urgent event, my last business trip of the fiscal year. I’m at corporate headquarters for meetings and training, but also to remind everyone at the mothership that I exist before end-of-year reviews — its tough working remotely, although my team is very flexible and considerate about it. I’m gone for the whole week — from last Sunday to this coming Saturday. That’s a good day and a half longer than I’m usually away, so its a little bit tougher, but its been worth it — and the best is yet to come.
Sunday I flew into SEATAC at 6pm, grabbed my rental, and booted it into Seattle to catch the last evening service at Mars Hill. If you haven’t heard of Mars Hill or Mark Driscoll, you really should check it out. Those used to traditional church services might not like their style, but for an “emerging” church, they’re very strictly Biblical. Hip and theologically-sound don’t go hand-in-hand much these days, but Mars Hill seems to get it right.
Monday afternoon I snuck out early and drove the hour-and-a-half to Bremerton to visit some old friends from when we lived in New York. Jon is stationed in Washington (when he’s not aboard a U.S. Navy submarine) and Virginia works locally. They bought a cute little bungalow and have a tiny dog who thinks its a person.
I’m staying in probably the coolest hotel ever. My room is like a swanky, cosmopolitan apartment, with every luxury of home one could ask for. The hotel seems to have been made with MS employees in mind because there’s an XBox lounge and theater, Starbucks in the lobby, laundry facilities, and free meals… they’ll even go grocery shopping for you!
At work, I’ve been doing my best to cross all my Ts and dot all my Is before we leave for most of the, fairly career-critical, month of June and I’m pretty proud of how I survived my first fiscal year at my new job. I still have a lot to learn, but its been a blast, and I’m looking forward to another year. Starting tomorrow, the team is getting together for some off-site bonding, and discussion, and I know I’ll learn a lot from spending 2 days in a room with the awfully smart people I work with.
I have great colleagues, great partners, a wonderful family at home waiting for me, and an intense, tightly-packed adventure in Asia coming up in just a few short weeks. I am blessed beyond what I deserve — God is good!

2 thoughts on “A worthwhile week away

  1. An old friend (Bill C) works at MS (Seadragon manager group or something like that – you know how computer savy I am). If you run into him (yeah, like it’s a small place), tell him Marti Perry says Hi.

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