The earth really is flat!

At least, that is the impression when I stepped off the plane in Minnesota yesterday. I had an aisle seat over the wing, so I didn't see the... ahem... view until I was in the airport. Ah, the midwest. Land of 10,000 lakes. And not a hill in sight. Anathema! Despair! Glad I'm here only for a week, I collected my baggage with my co-worker and departed for Wisconsin.

The flight in wasn't bad, but there was one spot of turbulence that made me wish I was Catholic so that I could have genuflected and said a Hail Mary. It was like the first big drop on a roller coaster, except quite unexpected in an otherwise smooth ride. I read the first 114 pages of Love Monkey while eating my $5 Snack Box and drinking my tiny $5 bottle of Chilean Chardonnay. It is strikingly similar to High Infidelity, which may be intentional - that book is mentioned in the first chapter of this book. I have to add, though, that it doesn't measure up. It is amusing though.

Getting the rental car was an experience in itself. They gave us a convertible Miata. Now, think about this. Two women, packed for a week-long trip in the midwest in late fall, and they gave us a Miata. Each of us had a suitcase and a laptop bag. We put my suitcase in the trunk and it wouldn't close. I would have had to hold the other three bags on my lap for over an hour. We traded it for a Subaru Tribeca, which definitely held all of the luggage and was nice to drive.

The hotel is a standard Country Inn & Suites, nothing particularly special. After breakfast, I have to go meet the Wisconsin accounting team and learn the fixed asset module from a guy that I've heard a lot about and yet I'm still not sure what to expect. He may have been involved in some fraud, he may be very knowledgeable, he may be very nice, and he may be incompetent. That's the gist of what I've gotten from other teammates. This should be interesting. I will be going to lunch with "the girls" at a place called Olsen's. I have no idea what that is.

I will also be trying the fried cheese at the restaurant next door to the hotel as an appetizer for dinner. I'm not sure what to expect from that. Added bonus: there may be a brewery tour in store for me. Woo! That I'm looking forward to.

Oh, yeah. I graduated with my Bachelor's of Science in Accounting on Saturday, the 21st. I thought it worth a mention. Two years and three months of my attention should get at least two sentences on mention on the Internet, I think. Woo! on that as well.