BAZINGA

I was in Orlando the past five days at a conference. It was craziness, because the George Zimmerman trial was coming to a close in nearby Sanford and the NAACP was having its annual conference at the same conference center where I was. Every evening when I drove the hour back to my aunt's house in Daytona Beach (where I was staying since hotels were booked solid), police cars were patrolling almost every mile of Route 4 in Seminole County, looking in cars for potential troublemakers. I was so tense the entire drive, every day. Walking on the beach in the evenings with my mom, who took the opportunity of my conference as another excuse to visit Florida, helped to relieve some of that tension. 

Daytona Beach does not get enough credit. The wide beaches with their fine white sand and dramatic waves are just so beautiful, especially at night when the sand turns almost to glass and reflects the water and the sky. With business travel you have to take the good with the bad, and this was definitely the highlight of my trip. 

I flew back to Baltimore late last night, and I was so exhausted I barely had any good conversation to give the driver of the car service my company so kindly hired to shuttle me and a coworker back to our homes. When we pulled in my driveway and the driver helped me to the front door with my bags, I apologized to the older gentleman that we didn't yet have a hand railing on the porch.

"We've been renovating this place for five years now, so there have been a lot of other things on our minds," I told him.

He took a quick look around and said, "Well, by the looks of things you'll be working on it another five years at least."

Zing. Thus ended my business trip. Still, it's just nice to be home with my family and my To Do list.