October 24, 2007 - Hanging out with Tiffany in California

So I'm home sick on Thursday when I get a call from my manager. It seems that a very good customer of ours that we have a service contract with, has had one of our instruments fail and they are shut down. That's the bad news. The good news is that it is in Southern California not more than an hour from where I was born and raised, and where much of my family still lives. It's not in my region, but my manager asked if I wanted the job - duh!
First thing I did after setting up the flights was to call Tiffany , e-mail Tiffany, and leave messages on her Myspace telling her I'm on the way to your neck of the woods - wanna meet? :-)
She and I have been chatting for about a year so I was really happy that we might get the chance to meet. Of course, with absolutely no advance warning, you can't expect everything to go your way. No answer, no answer, no answer - damn - maybe she's out of town or something. So I get to California and I'm neck deep trying to troubleshoot our failed instrument when I get a call from her. She has just had to jump through hoops, cancel plans, and piss her family off, but she is going to meet me and go out. Tiffany is every bit as nice a person as I had thought and it was wonderful to meet her. We went out to The Oxwood Inn in Van Nuys and there were a LOT of TGirls there.
The last time I came to Southern California I was SO disappointed. I mean here I was back in the area where I was born and raised, in California which is supposed to be something of a holy grail for TG's, and no one showed any interest in meeting with me or hanging out. Tiffany and the other girls met this time more than made up for that poor initial impression. I met lots of great people, had a good time, and then went out to breakfast with the whole group. Great bunch of folks.
Next morning I went to spend it with my family and discovered that the much of the area I was just in is currently on fire. Even as I type this the news is talking of nothing but this. The airport I flew into, and have reservations to fly out of, is currently closed due to the fire. I hope they get it under control soon!