Ramblings about a business trip

Such a fun date deems it necessary to write so the date will always be recorded. :)

I never wrote about my trip to Dallas last week. It was a fun little trip, but I take it as a learning experience more than a trip of leisure. I flew there alone and met up with two women, one from my office, and the other a client from California. It was probably a typical business trip as far as eating out every meal, sleeping in a nice hotel, and attending to the required meetings, but it was different in the sense that I had never been alone as the only member of the LDS church for such an extended period. Even on my mission I always had my companion, so this was an experience of learning what other people's lives outside the church are about. What I found so different is that what is most important to me, and what I generally talk about to build relationships, is different for these women and for most of the people I met with. For example I found coffee and iced tea instead of water; expensive tailored clothing from the malls instead of practical reasonably-priced clothing, pets instead of children, careers instead of family, pleasures of the world instead of God.

On a lighter side, I did enjoy the beautiful weather in Dallas, a chance to go swimming, delicious meals without cooking or cleaning, a comfortable bed and room with a great view and room service to provide bedding and towels, and I had plenty of time to read a novel during the plane rides and before going to bed.

Besides the business trip, my life lately has been composed of work, dinner, dishes, laundry, grocery shopping, and reading. I enjoyed General Conference last week and look forward to rereading those messages. This weekend Jason and I watched Forever Strong, hung up pictures in our apartment, and had dinner and games with my parents. The day after we hung the pictures our landlord said, "I forgot to tell you that for every picture you hang, you have to stay here another year." I'm taking that as a good sign that we're good with our landlords.