Henry's Web Log

Thursday was an ACI covered dish lunch, Friday the President's Council hosted what may have been the first gathering of all 3 groups for a sendoff lunch. Both days were interspersed with "final" client and employee meetings, since there's always just a few more things we need to take care of. Kevin Litten's article about this deployment and its effect on our business appeared in today's Virginia section of the Roanoke Times. The online edition put it under business. It was a great ink, got everything right, and captured our sentiment: this is a challange, but we're up for it and all of us (family and employees) see this as a patriotic responsibility.

Saturday's swan song was at the Virginia Tech tailgate: not a celebration tailgate, but our golden opportunity to sell Cub Scout popcorn! We piloted a popcorn sale last year, visiting our well-to-do tailgaters and found them very supportive. It helps that our Cub Scouts are enthusiastic, pull a red wagon full of carmel corn tins, and tell the fans about the great activities we do in our Pack. Plus the cuteness factor. We managed to sell over 28 cases, 12 cans/case. As over-priced as Cub Scout popcorn is, many fans supported our boys with tips and donations.

Sunday we made waffles at home, a delicious family tradition, and I zipped through a quick IASO course (information assurance/computer security), some reading I had been doing over the last 2 weeks. The boys and I enjoyed some horseplay, helped me put on my uniform and we headed out. While traveling in uniform wasn't required, Lisa suggested it would help the boys understand that this is no ordinary business trip. Message received! We stopped at the new R/C flying field on the way to the airport: the Radio Controlled airplane club was hosting a fun-fly and cook out. The weather was great. We enjoyed a few flights for me, Eric and Ethan, then had a burger before continuing to the airport.

Good-bye was certainly tough. Eric was stoic, Ethan was emotional, and Lisa was wonderful, supporting both boys and me.