Minneapolis on Tuesday

If you called me on Tuesday and got voice mail, it's because I was in Minneapolis. This was the week of the national air medical conference held in Minneapolis. Budget constraints (mine as well as the hospital's) kept me from attending, but I did make a quick trip to the city for some business meetings. I use the term 'quick' very loosely here. It was a 5-hour drive each way and ended up being a 17-hour day for me! I was beyond exhausted by the time I crawled into bed at 12:30am. Good thing I kind of like road trips. The most fun meeting of the day was a presentation ceremony hosted by American Eurocopter. It was a 'thank you for choosing Eurocopter' fete. A marketing rep did a brief introduction, I met the company CEO, Mark Paganini, we toasted with a plastic glass full of champagne, and had our pictures taken. Guess they're pretty appreciative when they can sell a $6.5 million helicopter. For the record, my hospital didn't buy it; our vendor, Air Methods did. I think Mr. Paganini was a bit surprised when I 'bonjour'd' him and toasted him in French! And I think his parting words to me were something about hoping to see me again. I knew my diligence with my French language tapes would come in handy...even if I never get to France again.