Utah... and stuff

It's been almost a week since I posted. It's not all my fault this time. I had absolutely no connection Wednesday through Friday. The hotel had a connection, I just couldn't get it to work and didn't try all that hard anyhow.
My trip out to Utah was OK. We circled Salt Lake City for a while because of a thunder storm. We ended up being diverted to Twin Falls (Idaho I think... I'm not sure...) to refuel and wait out the storm. Tiny little airport, I'm not sure they see many commercial planes. This means that I got into Salt Lake at 9pm local instead of 7pm. this means it is already 11:00 according to my body and I'm tired. Unfortunately, I've got another hour to 1.5 hours ahead of me to get the car, drive and get checked into the hotel. Gah. Tired.
The training on Thursday went well. Or I should say, was uneventful. Not extraordinarily good or bad, it just was.
I'm always amazed at the mountains in Utah. They just seem to spring up from nowhere. They are very pretty and tend to take up your whole field of view. We have overgrown hills here on the East Coast, out West they have real mountains, and I enjoy visiting them any chance I get. Since I was so tired on Thursday after the training, instead of going out and exploring like I wanted to, I crashed and took a 2 hour nap.
I did call my grandmother later that evening. She's doing well and had her staples removed that day. She was in quite a bit of pain, but that should be subsiding. Mom called me yesterday about her pathology report. It wasn't as good as the doctor thought it was going to be. He was quite surprised actually. It was the whole kidney that was the problem, and it was high-grade cancer cells to boot. He's referring her case to a team of doctors to see what they suggest. Probably take a "wait and see" approach. The edges of the kidney were all clean, so that at least is a good sign.

OK. The next part may contain some Harry Potter spoilers. I'll try my best to not give anything away. I'm just dying to talk about it though. I read most of the book on the plane Tuesday. Actually, I finished it while we were waiting in Twin Falls to head back to SLC. I've re-read parts of it as well.
I must say it was as well written as the rest of the series. There were a few scenes that you could tell were there to hurry the story along, but it wasn't all that jarring. The story is sound and well written and holds up well.
As is expected there are many deaths, some more sad than others. I'm still trying to deal with a couple of them. I'm also trying to sort out a few surprises JK had in store for us in this book. As always there were subtle twists to things that you just didn't see coming until after it happened. She does not throw anything away, she uses it all.
Overall I'm satisfied with the book. There were funny parts, sad parts and surprising parts. Everything I've come to expect from her work. I hope her future endeavors in the writing craft are as solid as these seven books have been. (Yes, I've heard that she said she'll do an 'encyclopedia' of sorts to clarify a few things left hanging in the breeze. I look forward to it.)

Ok, that should do it for the Harry Potter speak. I don't think I gave anything away for those who still haven't read it and want to be surprised. Yes, mom, this means you. I know you're getting it on audio and it will take you a while to get through it. Please don't ask me questions, you'll see when you get there. It makes it really hard for me to keep my trap shut when you ask me or wonder about some event or person.

Tomorrow I leave for Florida. I'll be gone until Wednesday. I'm really only looking forward to the chance to wiggle my toes in the sand. This site is a long-time customer and I hate doing trainings at customers who've had our software for ages. Especially this customer. They're painful on a good day. I'll be down right above the top of the keys. I should hopefully get a little time to watch the waves roll in and out for a while. Maybe that will restore some balance in my life. I've been feeling a bit out of whack for a while now.

Well, I should probably be working on a couple of projects or something. Peace to all and may you have something good to look forward to.