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This morning I woke up in my hotel room to discover that the electricity was out over most of the hotel. Fortunately I swam in the pool last night and showered afterward, because I really did not want to shower in complete darkness. Some of the lights in the rest of the room were working, so I was able to see well enough to get dressed and to finish packing my things. I had to walk a mile to Burger King for breakfast, once the rain stopped, since the hotel's restaurant could not serve anything more than toast and cereal.

After getting back to the hotel I decided to head to the airport to either use its Wi-Fi connection to work, or to see if I could get on an earlier flight home. I was pleased to discover that I could get on the flight that was scheduled to depart just one hour after my arrival at the Sioux Falls Regional Airport, and even better, my seat was in the exit row. The flight did leave about twenty minutes later than scheduled, but I still arrived in Minneapolis before 11:00 this morning. I did have to wait a very long time for my luggage though. It was eventually discovered to be stuck on the conveyor that brings it to the baggage claim area. I am glad to be home finally. Now I can actually get my project work done.

A Semi-successful Trip

[caption id="attachment_31" align="alignright" width="225" caption="Water Slide at the Sioux Falls Ramada's Buccaneer Bay Indoor Water Park"][/caption]

As I previously wrote, I am in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for a business trip. Overall my trip has been a good one. I facilitated meetings both today and yesterday, and they each went quite smoothly. My group got done with yesterday's meeting fairly early. We did not finish today's meeting as early as yesterday's, but we still got done with some time to spare.

Part of my trip has been less successful as I hoped however. I had hoped to get work done in the evenings on another project I work on. I got a little work done yesterday afternoon after finishing my meeting early, but I have had a heck of a time with my Wi-Fi connection. I am not sure if the fault lies in the hotel's service or in my old laptop, but regardless of what was at fault, after being connected initially for almost an hour, I was disconnected and then repeatedly lost my connection again just minutes after I regained it. That made it impossible to get anything done. Hopefully my new work computer arrives shortly after I am back in my office Friday.

Since I have been unable to get much work done, I had time to check out the hotel's water park. I went down the large water slide a few times last night and a couple times tonight. It was fun, but it would have been a lot more fun if Mel and the kids had been here to enjoy it as well.

I fly out tomorrow and am really looking forward to getting home to see Mel, Emma, and Maximus. I don't mind business trips but I do miss my family while I am gone.

Sioux Falls

[caption id="attachment_21" align="alignright" width="300" caption="Pirate Ship at the Sioux Falls Ramada's Buccaneer Bay Indoor Water Park"][/caption]

Today I flew from Minneapolis to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for a business trip. My flight was uneventful. Prior to leaving for my trip though, I heard that the hotel I was staying at had some sort of water park. When I got here I discovered that the Ramada Hotel and Suites has a pirate-themed water park which it calls Buccaneer Bay. I think that my wife and kids would have enjoyed this water park. It would have been nice if they could have come along on the trip. The slides on that pirate ship, and the larger water slide, shown in the background, look like a lot of fun. It is a good thing I brought my swim suit. I may have to check out the pool and water slides some time during my stay here.