Of work and more surprises ...

The show with Anthony Bourdain was really, really good. The man is smart, funny, and a great talker. He basically talked about his various experiences and some travel for the first hour or so and then opened the theater to a Q&A, with microphones set up front.

I only wish I could have afforded the pricey seats with the meet & greet afterwards (not that there were any of those tickets left. Yes, I checked).

This past week was a busy one.

The whole "shared approach" of my working for both teams? Yeah. That may not work out so well. The pull of two teams with two different systems got super hairy as the week went on. I recognized that time management was going to be an issue and I did better in that area, but the having to switch back and forth (depending on who was at my desk) became pretty frustrating.

I think I'm going to have to set firm limits - let it be known that, yes, I can help you, but, no, not until it's time to work for that team. Otherwise I keep having to stop what I'm doing for one to do something for the other and end up not really accomplishing much for either (which is how my Friday went).

I'm hoping this coming week will run better.

I worked a good bit of overtime (just 8 hours, really) and plan to continue that for as long as they'll offer it.

Because I have more plans for another surprise. Only this one will cost quite a bit more than the Anthony Bourdain tickets.

I grew up listening to Peter, Paul, and Mary. My mom has always been a huge fan of theirs and I, in turn, became one while still little.

Guess who still tours every few months?

Yep.

But the closest venue is in Vienna, VA.

My original plan was to buy the tickets - one each for me, my mom, and my godmother. At only $40 each, I can afford that with a week's worth of overtime.

But ... it's an 8 hour drive.

In the car. With my mom. For at least 8 hours (because the woman can never drive straight through to anywhere).

Yeah ... no.

Giving that some thought led me to think about flying. Priceline, the wonder god of deals, can get me round trip tickets out of Knoxville to DC (about 15 mins from Vienna, VA) for about $130 each. Which, for those not in Knoxville, is a huge savings. Huge.

So that has turned my simple surprise of concert tickets and a road trip for the 3 of us into a larger surprise of the concert tickets PLUS plane tickets.

But I need to have it all bought and paid for by Mother's Day.

So overtime will be the word for the next few weeks. I want to get the tickets when I get paid this coming Thursday and then work massive amounts of overtime over the next couple of weeks and get the plane tickets.

That way I can hand them both envelopes on Mother's Day that will have the tickets for the show and the flights.

The hotel and car rental we'll work out closer to the day and they'll have to pitch in for those. But I still think it'll be the Mother's Day gift to end all Mother's Day gifts.