It is very nice to be back home. The trip was very quick … I arrived in Belgium on Sunday morning and flew back to Pocatello on Friday. The week was full of meetings and dinners. The purpose of the trip is for our quarterly staff meeting. Each quarter all of my peers meet together with my boss for a day or so of training and then a couple of days of coordination meetings. This time the meetings were in Belgium. Next quarter we’ll meet in Pocatello, then in Manila. These meetings start early in the morning and go through dinner and late into the evening. There is almost no time for anything else during the week. I did take some video and put it together into a movie for a brief glimpse of Gent. It’s a large file (about 67 mb), so it’ll take a few minutes to download with a broadband connection.

The trip was quite uneventful. The flights were on time or early. My suitcase got completely unpacked and repacked by TSA on the return flight. That happens actually quite often and I think it’s because of the nasal CPAP machine that I need for sleeping in the suitcase. Most often the suitcase just gets opened and checked. This time it had been completely repacked. So, I’ve done my part for the security of our homeland.

I do enjoy Belgium. This trip didn’t allow time to do much other than a little bit of shopping. One item available there that isn’t available here (except by prescription) is cough syrup with codine. I got there with a fairly serious cold and a deep, hard cough. So upon arrival, I stopped at the pharmacy and picked up a bottle. Then I found that one of my collegues had just come down with a pretty serious cold, so I gave him the bottle. The next morning he was very happy with that decision as he was finally able to get a real night’s sleep. Before I left Belgium I had picked up two more bottles. Fortunately, those survived the suitcase inspection and repack. Both of the boxes had been opened as the seals were broken. But, the bottles were still there when the suitcase finally arrived at home (a day later that I got home … it spent the night in Salt Lake City because the connection time was too short).

Tomorrow is Valentine’s Day. It’s a day celebrated across much of the world. In Japan, the girls give guys chocolate on February 14th and the guys give girls chocolate on “White Day” which is the 14th of March. I think that custom is peculiar to Japan. But, I have a very special Valentine person in my life whom I love dearly. Happy Valentine’s Day to my dear wife and best friend Nina.