Took a few days and escaped.

I didn’t have my cell phone on me–it was transferring video files for a project I’m doing–so I have zero pictures of the big day. For me, the best was looking at all the crescent shadows. I wasn’t expecting that and I was pretty impressed. Also, the moon transiting the sun was pretty cool too.

We watch out for the space station all the time. It was pretty cool seeing this video:

This was the view from our room. We were at Elbow Beach resort and, even though we were up the hill, we could see and hear the ocean.

I conferred with this creature each morning of our stay:

The resort had a signalling system from the beach to the bar. Much happiness is contained in a Dark and Stormy while sitting in a lounge chair:

We took a drive to Myvatn today and decided walking outside in a bathing suit was ridiculous, so we did not go into the hot springs. Instead we went to hike Hverfjall. It turns out this road was a good road:

Don’t worry that is not blue sky-it’s the polarizing on the windshield.

We didn’t actually go to the top, although there were some brave souls who did. Today is the coldest I have been. We admired the lava field and the shape of the crater.

We parked near a horse field and I presume English speakers have disrespected the rancher before because this was one sign not translated from the original Icelandic:

We stopped for lunch and enjoyed the heck out of the traditional meat soup and then headed back to Akureyri:

We’ve been trying to hire someone for my team at work and there’s one promising candidate and many others that aren’t. We have one more to interview and then I hope we can make our decision. The leadership team is taking care of the interviews which is a bit different than the way we’ve done it before. It makes more sense this way. Just focus on what’s needed and not overwhelm candidates.

There are two of us at work who are transitioning into lead roles and it is a bit of a struggle. Other members of the team who think they are the smartest people in the room annoy those of us who actually are. And, when I give you feedback on something that needs to be fixed and you ignore that advice only to receive the same feedback the NEXT day from our boss, I’m extra annoyed. You could have avoided a duplicated mistake had you just paid attention to me. But, no. You are the smartest person in the room–keep up the shoddy work.

We went to a show last night with a friend and ran into an old work colleague. He ended up moving to sit with us and it was nice catching up. I think I last saw him in the late 1990s. He recognized us. I wouldn’t have paid attention had he not approached us. Sometimes Richmond is a small town and you feel like you run into the same people all the time. In his case, the exact opposite is true.

On the way we got to experience the Portland Wastewater Treatment plant. There’s a part of the Bayside trail that goes right past the aeration tanks. Talk about motivation to walk a little faster.

Late yesterday we took a sunset tour to check out the lighthouses in Casco Bay.

Looking towards St. Thomas, USVI

On Thursday, I took a long walk because I had a gap in my conference schedule. I finally got to see him:

On Tuesday night, I went to a show and the performers were on Cleopatra’s barge. The barge sits in water. Here’s part of the barge as it extends out into the hallway:

Wednesday night, I wandered around outside after I realized I hadn’t been outside since I arrived on Tuesday afternoon.

And, just as there is a little bit of Paris, there’s also a little bit of New York:

The lunar new year is just around the corner and this dragon was 20 kinds of awesome:

There was a SNAFU with my flights home so I flew to Dulles instead. As part of the SNAFU, I ended up with a window seat in the bigger seats up front (not first class, but better than the cattle call area). Lake Mead:

I had forgotten this part of the Media General juggernaut included paper names of old:

I turned around and took this shot. I have taken this building’s picture for years. I’m glad the building is in use again–and it looks as good as new.

The neighborhood getting ready for the first team:

One of the homeowners on the route was hosting a catered affair. I wanted to crash the party to ask for a Bloody Mary and a canape. Instead, I admired their artwork:

No doubt, these women are fast:

A fierce woman rider:

Team Wiggle:

On Monday, I walked over to the start/finish line with some co-workers. The under-23 individual men time trials were just starting: