A consultant

B.I. #12 07/23

‘Oh. Did I tell you? I’m getting a new bike for cycling. It’s really nice. Completely silver coating. High quality. Usually it’s something like $10,000 brand new, but I found this little bike shop selling it for only $8,000. Barely used. My wife hates when I spend so much money on this stuff, but I seriously can’t miss this bargain. I need a new bike anyway. My old one already has like 20,000 miles on it, and they say to get a new one before it hits 30. Plus $8,000 for these kinds of bikes is really not that bad. I think I might buy a cheaper one for when my son comes to visit too. He likes cycling as well, but I don’t think he likes my old bike, the ol’ “Red Racer”. Hah. I could probably get him a vintage one for like $1,000. My wife will hate that. Hah. I’m planning on getting them before I go to that conference in Thailand, while that bike shop still has a sale going on. That reminds me, I still need to book my hotel and flights for that conference. I’ll probably try to get that done today. Yesterday, I was so busy in that meeting with that Italian delegation. I told you about it, right? Yeah, it was so long. Basically the whole day. I don’t know why they asked me to be there. I mean, sure, it was interesting, but what’s the point of having three of us from the same section in that meeting? I had no input. Oh, yeah. I remembered why I came over here to talk to you. Did you get that email from Claudia? From yesterday?’

A.

‘Oh. I didn’t notice you weren’t copied. I’ll forward it to you. Basically, she sent back some comments on the IGNF Summary Paper for that journal. I think Adam wanted it done by Friday, so we can submit before the weekend. You did a great job on the paper – she just wanted you to add a paragraph on the organization’s activities. And then she also wanted you to add her name and my name to the paper. I can be the corresponding author and I think she wanted to be first author. Thanks for taking care of it, by the way. I’ve been super busy with the meetings and now booking all this travel, so I don’t know when it would have been done otherwise. Oh, yeah. She said it’s okay if we add your name too.’

A.

‘Yeah, no problem. I don’t understand why they don’t include you in the emails.’

A.

‘Yeah, I know. I don’t get it. You guys should at least be included, right? But at least it’s good experience and will definitely look great on your CV. Beats working in a factory or a fast food joint, right? Hah.

Anyway, so I’ll be taking care of my travel logistics this week. Also, my wife wants me to book a trip to the US next month so I should start looking at those tickets too. I really want to do business class, so I hope the tickets aren’t sold out by now. Oh, are you getting coffee today? Could you grab me one too? Americano. Iced.’