consulting and travel

I got home Sunday night after a last minute consulting trip to Europe. It was a surreal week, because first I got a call Sunday "Could you be in New York tomorrow?" and, when that went well, it became a Wednesday discussion of "We'd like you to fly to Europe on Thursday." In case anyone was wondering, San Francisco to Europe for Friday and Saturday is brutal.

Some random thoughts from the trip. First, it would appear that about 50 people a day go looking for my blog through Google, since that's what my traffic plummets to when I don't post for a while. Second, I flew back to SFO on a 777, where they connect the jetway to two doors to empty the plane faster. Whoever was operating the front door portion of the jetway could not manage to get things lined up. It was like watching the "turn the car around in the narrow tunnel"-scene from Austin Powers. Forward, back, bump the plane, realize it isn't lined up, pull back, rinse and repeat. It was just surreal. Everyone at the front of the plane eventually ran out of patience and left through the other door. I have a mental image of late at night. Everyone's left the airport, the plane's dark, and all you hear is the mechanical noises of the jetway pulling back and forth, punctuated by occasional crunches as it hits the plane and a loud, Homer Simpson "d'oh!" Finally, spent two days talking to bright folks at a neat company. A company with challenges, but one built by passionate people with vision and excitement. I'm enjoying the mental reboot time and the challenges of finding the speaking/consulting/advising gigs, but it sure gave me a moment of "time to go start a company!"