signed a deal, i got papercuts

I am sitting in bed in a hotel in Kearney, Nebraska - a place I have stayed often enough that I feel right at home. Today went much more smoothly than I expected it to - I got up early enough to move most of the stuff that I was taking to Iowa out to my garage before starting my work day, which made the afternoon easier. I had a long 'offsite' meeting (they called it a homesite to pretend that it was exciting, but it was just sitting in my house looking at people on a screen like I've been doing for the last 571 days, so whatever) - but the 'offsite' that was supposed to be four hours turned out to only be three hours, so that really helped. I did a bit more work after that, but then I sneaked away from my laptop to finish my preparations.

Katie and James stopped by briefly right before I left - I had groceries that were going to go to waste, and since my journey this weekend is more involved than usual, I couldn't just bring a cooler of stuff with me. So they came over and picked up the making for a peasant feast (mostly potatoes, onions, and dairy products, although the peasants would say wtf to the almond milk). Hopefully I shall see Katie again someday, since we are as ships crossing in the night the next few weeks - but since our friendship managed to survive the travails of junior high, we'll probably make it through this drama too.

I left my house around 3:30, which felt like a miracle. Traffic getting out of Denver definitely wasn't a miracle, and I hit some ubiquitous construction at the I-76 / I-80 merge at the Colorado/Nebraska border, but otherwise it was smooth sailing. I stopped for gas somewhere, and then I grabbed McDonald's in Ogallala, where I made the decision to shoot for Kearney. By making it here tonight, I have a <4hr drive to get to tomorrow's destination - my niece's wedding, which is in western Iowa and so closer to here than my parents' house.

And now, if I want to get to that wedding and appear to be well rested and in good health, I should probably go to bed. Goodnight!