The Middle Seat Volume III: One Martini Is Good. Two Are Too Many...Three Aren't Enough

By Jay Conlin

The final installment of the three part series The Middle Seat. Volume III continues and concludes The Middle Seat Series. Volume III is still filled with the popular humor filled posts from the blog, The Middle Seat. Written by corporate executive Jay Conlin who travels frequently for business. In this final installment, Volume III still captures the spirit of the weary "Road Warrior" while mixing in stories from his family life as well...which includes two very big (and sometimes not so obedient) dogs. The third of three eBooks, Volume III covers the blog Posts from March of 2012 up through June of 2014.

Continuing in the fashion that made both the blog and the series so popular, The Middle Seat is a fun, sometimes heartfelt but always humorous look at one man's life of Business Travel. If you want to laugh buy this book.

While the blog continues today and is currently carried by The Reading Eagle Newspaper in Reading, Pennsylvania, its' days are numbered as Conlin is now working on other projects due out in the near future..

• Language: English
• Publisher: Jay Conlin
• Release date: Jul 25, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310700620

Book preview

The Middle Seat - Volume III

One Martini Is Good. Two Are Too Many…Three Aren’t Enough!

Published by Jay Conlin at Smashwords

Copyright 2014 Jay Conlin

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

About the title:

Since this is the third installment and I happen to like Martini’s, I thought the James Thurber quote was appropriate…

Chapter 1 - Welcome To the Middle Seat

Chances are you have already read Volumes I and II and if so, feel free to skip this introductory chapter. If this is your first visit to The Middle Seat then I do suggest you continue reading. This chapter will help you understand who you are dealing with throughout this book.

I travel for a living. Actually I negotiate labor agreements for a living and since my territory is the entire United States, I travel...a lot. The work does not come to me so I go to the work. Now I know other people travel more than I do but given that I am On the road at least 40 weeks a year, I felt that qualified as enough travel time to tell people. When you travel that much...things happen. For instance, three years ago I flew to Florida in mid-December (with my wife) simply so I could achieve the highest status on my preferred airline. It was a brilliant plan and I did achieve my status...our flights home were also canceled which meant we drove home to Pennsylvania (I needed to be back for work). Oh yes, and I got the stomach flu somewhere around Rocky Mount, North Carolina. It wasn't pretty. My wife drove by the way...

These are the types of stories I have been sharing on my Blog called...you guessed it...The Middle Seat, since 2011 and now I have decided to put them in e-book form. This is Volume I: I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 2 - What's In A Name?

I missed the blog posting last week. I know I said I would not do that but I did. The problem has been that I have been behind the wheel of the Giant SUV for close to 2,000 miles since the week before last. First I drove to Charleston...West Virginia, not South Carolina. On a Sunday. From there...Detroit. Three days later home. The next Monday, New York/Connecticut. I could have flown to West Virginia if I had been willing to connect in either Atlanta or Minneapolis and then I had to be willing to do it all over again just to get to Detroit. I wasn't and so I lost a couple of days (the Sunday departure didn't help) and got behind. Last week was a staff meeting and a training event with each day starting at 7:30 and ending between 9 and midnight (yes I could have ended each night at 9 but there were some beverages with my name on them). I left on Monday and got home early Friday evening.

So I have had little time and today (Sunday again) I drove back to Charleston...West Virginia, not South Carolina. The drive requires passing the eastern Continental Divide and it is at an elevation of roughly 2800 feet. It snows here almost every time I drive...even in August. It snowed today...along with ice and rain. There were at least ten accidents...I doubt there were that many accidents on the way to Charleston...South Carolina.

Anyhow, there was plenty to write about had I had the time. The TSA decided to arm passengers again; Martha Stewart chose JC Penny over Macy's and my airline dropped my status down to silver. It appears I didn't fly enough last year. That or they blamed me for smoke in the cabin and a blown starter shaft back in January. Now I am about to begin negotiations In West Virginia for the next two weeks and if I don't do well you may read about it,...just not in this blog...but in the paper. So I am letting you know now...I may post, I may not or I may post a repeat...I'd rather not but work is getting in the way. That and Charleston...West Virginia, not South Carolina.

Chapter 3 -The Difficulties of Saying Goodbye to an Old, Loyal Friend...

As many of you know, I often vent about our two dogs, Chase and Murphy. Since Murphy's arrival the household has been in a small state of shock with Murphy leading the way with Chase not too far behind but, given his age, behind nonetheless. Murphy arrived much in the same fashion as Chase did...as a surprise to the elder statesdog. In Chase's case this was Chia (her given name as we adopted her - we decided not to change it and confuse her. Turns out she was very smart and this would not have been a problem for her...no such luck with the current two). When we arrived with Chase that day back in June of 2004 Chia looked up as we walked in the door and upon seeing Chase her face said it all. You've got to be kidding. Over the next four years Chase left Chia along just enough that she did not harm him beyond repair. The first night without Chia saw Chase alone for the first time since he entered our house and he cried...until he figured out he now had the bigger bed all to himself. The crying stopped. Quickly.

When Murphy arrived about 15 months later Chase reacted like any Golden