Daddy's Trip to San Antonio

Hello Abigail!!

It’s Daddy, and I am on my way to San Antonio, Texas for a couple of days. Even though I have never been to San Antonio before, I am not that excited about the trip as I will be away from you for a couple of days. My trip did not start off that well, as Daddy missed his direct flight from Cincinnati to San Antonio. I had downloaded my flight information to my Blackberry (phone, that Mommy refers to as a Crackberry), but it downloaded incorrectly. My phone said 2:05, but my flight was actually at 1:05. It was unfortunate as Daddy thought he was on time. I ate lunch at my desk. I could have easily left for the airport. When I left, I drove at a normal speed and talked to Mommy on the phone. I expected to see my co workers at the airport, but I did not see anyone. I tried to do my self log on, but the computer blocked me out as the machine said I had missed the cutoff time. I talked to a nice man at the Delta counter named Jim, but he was not able to help me. I talked to my co worker Kim on the phone and she said the plane was just boarding. Jim gave me my boarding pass and I ran to the gate. Of course I had to navigate security first. The nice people in the line let me skip to the front. Daddy is a fast runner, but in work shoes and a sport coat it is a little harder to run. I got to the gate and the plane was still there, but the gate door was closed, so the people would not let me on the plane. Daddy did all of that running for nothing. The airline people rebooked me on a flight through Houston. I got to Houston and had three hours before my next flight so I watched the Tampa Bay Rays play the Boston Red Sox in the American League Championship Series for baseball. I talked to several people at the bar while watching the game and enjoying a couple of adult beverages. This is unusual for your Daddy as I don’t normally engage strangers in conversation. Abigail, you should not talk to strangers at all, because you never know if they are nice or not. One man was from California and one woman was from Connecticut. We talked about baseball and work. It made the time go by much faster as I waited for my plane.

I finally arrived in San Antonio safely. My coworkers were still at dinner, so I took a cab to the hotel and walked to the restaurant to join my coworkers. I figured I should go and be made fun of by my coworkers for missing my flight. They did a very good job of making fun of daddy. After dessert, we walked back to the hotel along the River Walk. The River Walk is a fun area of restaurants and bars in downtown San Antonio.

Daddy had two days of meetings in San Antonio with the Global Oral Care Professional Leadership Team (GOCPLT for short). It was a good two days of meetings, but it was not that exciting sitting in a 22nd floor conference room at the Hotel that had no windows. Daddy led two sessions of the meeting. My parts went pretty well. It was good to meet our Regional Leaders from Latin America, Europe and Asia. I enjoy meeting people in person that I work with primarily via email and phone. One session that Daddy co-led with Kim (Human Resources) was on “Where to Play” which means which countries we should focus on. We had a big map of the world and we played a game of Jeopardy (grandpa loves the real show on TV). It was a lot of fun and got people relaxed and engaged on the topic we were talking about.

The first night we had dinner at the Tower of Americas Chart House Restaurant. One small issue popped up with this choice of restaurant. It was at the top of the tower 75 floors up. Daddy does not like heights and was not sure about whether he wanted to go or not. The issue was that Daddy did not want to miss dinner after missing his flight and dinner the night before. Daddy made sure he did not look out the window in the elevator on the way up and I sat with my back to the window at the restaurant. The food was excellent, but the service was terrible. Daddy is glad he went as it was fun getting to know my co workers better.

The second day of the meeting was not as stressful for Daddy as all of my sessions were the first day. It was still a good meeting. We did not have formal dinner plans, so we decided to get Mexican food with a smaller group of team members. Blanca is from Mexico and wanted good Mexican food. The chips and salsa were fabulous, but the food was mediocre, it was like El Coyote in West Chester where Mommy and I ate on date night when Nana came to take care of you. At the end of the meal, two of the guys challenged me to a shot and I said of course. Daddy is always trying to dispel the myths that Finance guys are dull and boring. It does not take much to build street credibility, just a simple shot and these other guys say wow, he is not the stereotypical Finance guy.

The last day, the American Dental Association Convention was starting. Daddy went to a breakfast presentation my company was sponsoring. Jillian Michaels (Biggest Loser star) and a Dental Hygienist talked to 400 Hygienists on our behalf. I hope that these people will go back and recommend and sell our Power Brush products to their patients. After breakfast, Daddy went over to the convention floor and saw our Crest Oral-B booth. It was very cool. We have a live theatre presentation and lots of salespeople talking to dental professionals about our products. Daddy walked around the convention floor and looked at all of our competitors booths. It was fun and very informative seeing what our competitors were doing. Unfortunately, the convention was not very well attended. San Antonio was not as big a draw as Las Vegas, Orlando, or San Francisco. In addition, the economy is struggling and Texas was hit by Hurricane Ike, the same storm that later hit Ohio and caused so many people to lose power. Daddy went to a fancy dancy luncheon with a bunch of ADA bigwigs. Daddy was all dressed up with a suit on. We had a very nice meal. I talked to a former ADA President and a current board member.

We went to the airport. Daddy was not going to miss my flight home. I needed to make sure I got home to see you. I had a relatively uneventful flight home. I hopped in my car and headed home. I immediately called Mommy to see what you two were doing. I wanted to make sure I got home before you went to sleep for the night. Mommy said if I got right home I would be able to see you before you went night night. I was making good progress and then I ran into some bad traffic. I thought oh no, I am going to miss seeing my sweet Abigail before she goes to bed. Fortunately, I just made it home in time. I came right in and you smiled and raised your arms for me to pick you up. You are such a big girl and such a joy to your Daddy. I love you very much and was happy to be able to see you before you went to bed. I look forward to us going on vacation with Mommy, Grandma, Grandpa and Nana next week. Daddy will get to spend a whole week with you.
Sleep tight Abigail. I love you! Forever, Daddy.