The Ground Breathed A Sigh of Relief. . . and the day I had ensuing

It finally rained! The atmospheric environment has been stabilized. I don't know about you, but it seemed there was a lot of tension in the air lately -- almost everyone I talked to had some kind of pinched strife going on. And then finally it rained. Peace has been restored. Except everyone in my house woke up sleepily, reluctantly, and late. No one wanted to start the hustle of the day. And I have been sleepy all day.

Let me tell you about my day. . .
Today I picked up Dr. S____ from the Sacramento airport at 10:30 am. (Although no one will actually know of this Geneticist from Nichols Institute, the corporation I work for, I am going to give him anonymity anyway). I drove him to Stockton where he gave a lecture at one of my larger hospital accounts. I worried before hand what I would talk about with this MD, PhD, FAAP, FACMG, HCLD (no kidding, I don't even know what most of those credentials mean) on the car ride there and back, but I figured it would all work out.

I met him curb side at the airport and as soon as he got in the car his phone rang, he answered. I heard his one way conversation. He was upset with someone on the other end who had sold a CF40 lab test to another lab, leaving his lab to perform the CF70 even though he felt the CF40 was a better test (??? I don't know what these tests are). He used many colorful words like sh**, f*** (a lot), and commented "if someone hadn't gotten her fat a** involved, everything would have been fine". Uuuuh, wow, doctor. He is still a practicing genetics pediatrician at UCLA as well as medical director of genetics at Nichols Institute. I could feel him glance at me every time he spoke that way, but I just stared straight ahead. Eyes on the road, two hands on the wheel.

When he finally got off the phone, I said, "it must be difficult to be a scientist and a business man."
"Yeah," he said.

And that is pretty much how the car ride went there and back. I asked him questions about the lab industry, about his family, where he worked before coming to Nichols Institute, about the human genome project (which I know very little about), about anything I could possibly think of. He willingly answered my questions, with simple answers. He did not elaborate or ask me any return questions. We did not actually have any semblance of conversation at all. Just long pauses, me asking a question, and him giving a simple answer - - for two hours. It was far less peaceful than the rain had made me feel that morning. It just eventually made me feel more sleepy.

His lecture, however, was outstanding and there was a large turn out with good responses. Dr. S____ was pleased as well, but admonished me on the way home that I should have had marketing materials to pass out at the end of the lecture (that may have been somewhat conversational for a few seconds). I did not want to hand out marketing materials, but I guess a guy who is passionate about his lab work really wants to push it. All in all, everything worked out.

I hope it rains again tonight. I hope I get to redo this morning tomorrow and follow the rain's prompts to unwind and breathe a sigh of relief tomorrow.