woah woah woah things have been kinda nuts here in Phoenix. My cousin Paul just dropped me off at the airport and im now on my way to New Zealand by way of LA and Fiji. This was a really good week. When I got here I wasn’t sure whether or not I would be really wanting to leave all the time or if I would really enjoy it and want to stay (even though I never would at this point in time.) (brief time-out: I’m now typing this on the plane just after they said it’s okay to use electronic devices in the air and I gotta say that I hope I never lose the excitment of flying. The first time I remember flying was going to Boston with my family on vacation and I always get a thrill from the whole thing of taking off, seeing the little houses and cars, the feeling that you’re going to fall out of the sky when they slow down for landing, and landing itself and the anticipation of when you will feel the jolt of the runway. I know that if I ever become a business traveler that flies three times a week I might lose that feeling but I hope not. End time out.)

it turned out that the first three/four of five days was really good and I was having a really good time. the last day and a half I was inkling towards getting out of there partly because of the excitement of my upcoming travels and partly because I was a little nervous about how Paul would like the results of my work. I knew that I really shouldn’t have been but I was anyway. Coming into Phoenix the basic expectation was that I would shadow him in what he did at the internet company he is the CFO for. I was basically going to be in all of his meetings and see what I could learn. I ended up doing some of that but thankfully I was able to surprise him with my abilities to offer him services that actually helped him with his business plans. I did a bunch of research ranging from finding out why some huge multi-national corporation wanted to have a meeting with him, looking into a company that he is on the verge of making a big deal with, checking out who owns a trademark and domain name for a product that his firm might launch in the future, and finding some legal information out about some dimwit who is suing him and 82 other companies over 4 pictures used on a website. So I did a lot of things and really impressed some people. Impressed them enough that I now have an opportunity to continue working for the company from New Zealand, which is a majorly awesome thing. The stuff I put together wasn’t like full reports and everything; it was just to get a general sense of the issue. The reason I felt a little nervous was because every time I would go to put all of my stuff into something presentable I would check something simple online and see some significant fact that I missed the first time. I had to keep reminding myself that sometime you have to say “fuck it, let’s go with what you got.” Throughout the week Paul really helped me by showing me a lot of organisational strategies for notes and whatnot; everything is really common sense and I feel a little dumb for not using the techniques earlier. Oh well, I’ve learned that most people in business are dumb as door knobs so if I can get these simple things like how to write a good outline of priorities I’ll be ahead of half of everyone out there. The whole week I felt a little insecure because of some of the stuff I had to leave behind in Cincinnati. My parents were really helpful on that and they’re going to FedEx several things to me in Auckland but it would still be nice to have everything with me. At least I now know what’s involved with moving all of your stuff to the other side of the world. When I get to LA I’m going to have 5 hours to get all of my stuff together. I might need the majority of that time because I’m not sure if there’s a quick way for me to move my 2 huge-ass bags, bike box, and my carry-ons from the domestic to international terminals. Well guess what, there was, because I’m now in LA and it wasn’t too bad, just cost me $30. I got here with lots of time to spare so I’m going to watch a TV show or something here in the airport before I go.