Saying Goodbye To Louisiana

Today was my last day in the Baton Rouge office. I came in to find "Thank You" balloons on my desk and a nice card from everyone in my office. Throughout the day, e-mails arrived from other departments and offices asking me not to leave or wishing me well (in other words, "Can you leave as quickly as possible?") and then a nice luncheon was thrown for me and someone mentioned that they had never gathered together to do this for anyone else, so I should be flattered.

And I was.

But as I mentioned to Cindy, I would have much preferred to slip out quietly, under the radar. However, as much as I would have liked to do the "Lone Ranger" bit, I could also not be rude and ignore everyone's effort to wish me a fond farewell, so I smiled and thanked all of them for their kind words and actions.

Later in the afternoon I had to do the same thing during a managers and supervisors meeting.

Aside from missing my wife and family, I've enjoyed my six months here in Louisiana. I didn't have the free time to visit everything I would have liked to, but that's always the case when I travel somewhere for my job. Even though, in all honesty, I wasn't really welcomed by some when I first arrived, I managed to make those folks realize that I was not a threat to them. Today, that was borne out when they all expressly apologized, in writing and in person, for feeling that way in the beginning and thanked me for helping them prepare for the responsibilities their job and mission will require in the future.

Tonight, I'm going to an advanced showing of "Iron Man" since, once I get home, I won't have a chance to see it for a week after we return from camping in North Carolina. The movie was shown last night to media folks in Los Angeles and every single review has been good, so I'm especially looking forward to seeing it tonight.

Tomorrow I fly back to Orlando, arriving around 5pm local time. We'll have a very busy weekend and then leave Monday to drive up to the mountains and enjoy the great outdoors for a week. No international vacation this year, just an economical week of camping.

But, I'll still be taking lots of photos.

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