Holiday Weekend!

I always stick my head up around this time of the year and wonder how time flies so fast - to be at 4th of July already! It's odd how sense of time alters as we get older, and things that took so long to get to, are here before we know it. I miss the old 4th of July's spent in my grandparents backyard, with a cookout and swimming pool, before piling into the back of my dad's pick-up truck to go see fireworks.

One tradition left from my childhood that I don't like to miss is the Dundalk 4th of July parade. We've sat on the same corner since I can remember, and even parked on the same street. We'd stop to get fast food breakfast, and then we were there early enough to watch as people started to arrive, and they ran the 5k parade race. I always felt bad for the bands in the parade, as they normally hit Dundalk first thing in the morning, Towson in the late morning, and then Catonsville late afternoon. It must take strong dedication to walk all of those parade routes with full band gear.

I'm one of those crazy parade goers who gets the crowd clapping for everyone, and of course, you have to stand and clap whenever any of the military troops walk by. Why sit there passively? We should honor the people who are marching down a street for my 4th of July entertainment. Ms. Dundalk Idol should be in the parade, and she's actually a friend of a friend of a friend... I don't know her personally, but it will be nice to see her. I hear that she has an amazingly strong voice. My cousin-in-law, Wayne, is also in the parade as a driver for one of the convertibles. And my old neighbors are usually in the parade, as they own an antique fire engine. I grew up with their eldest granddaughter, Laura Ann.

This year I'm heading out with friends to the O's game on the 4th. We have the seats in the first row behind the opposing team dugout. My mom scored me those tickets from the Publisher, and my friends Ryan and Heather, and my coworker Lori are going. I think we are going with Lori after the game to a rooftop deck party in Federal Hill to watch the fireworks from the Inner Harbor. Should be a lot of fun!

Today at work we have another interview, this time for the senior consultant position. Hopefully this is the last one we'll have to interview for awhile! Those things are draining... especially when it's painful. My fingers are crossed that this will work, but I understand that she is going through a lot of emotional things right now, with a divorce, so there's a general "sadness" about her. Hopefully we'll get a good representation of her during the interview.

Today is also the day when the director I'm working with is supposed to confront her Medical Director on various issues about the physicians and get him on board with fixing the problem. I'm not going to be in that meeting, but I think they are meeting in my building, so I may be called in to lay down the law if the management team can't get through to him. I've been advised that he's hard-headed and has a 1950s management style - I love a challenge. But frankly, he needs to grow a pair.

Come on holiday weekend - lets get here!