security was a breeze, and then i stopped to grab a quick bite at mcdonald's and the lady in front of me just very indecisive..finally said, why don't you go, we're not sure...so i did. and about 15 minutes later, as i was walking down the corridor toward my gate (EMPTY corridor, like no foot traffic and plenty of space), the same lady moseys out of a little shop and right into my path, like two of her steps, ahead of me (which was about 7 times slower than i was going...if you know me, or have walked with me, i walk fairly quickly always on a mission). so when she slowed my roll like this, i had to pull out my invisible whip and crack it around her ankles, tugging really hard to bring her down in a face-plant. and then i came out of my split second fantasy world and shifted gears to power past her. i'm so glad i don't ever act on these imaginings...people might start to realize i'm not nearly as nice as i come across...then when you get to know me, you know better. warped humor, i guess.
i arrived in ict early enough to enjoy every bit of this airport. lots of sales going on-wedding dresses, cars, and how did i know i was in kansas? well there was this:
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| tractor-rider mowers...so midwest! |
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| very spacious baggage claim area! great place for a flash mob, in case anyone wants to know |
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| very interesting little museum |
upon arrival, i met them in the baggage claim and we went to get our car-oh praise Jesus for small airport rentals. due to it being a one-way drive, they didn't have the car on location. but he was going to give alicia an executive upgrade...good thing she's already an executive member. hmm.. "oh, we don't do things that way here"...so we went to wait on a bench not to far away, with him letting us know he'd come find us when the car arrived...and then he popped out of the back office about 15 minutes later and waved us over. oh. but the wave....so professional. so alicia came back with the keys and we went out the door-his directions were to go to the right...apparently HIS right. we did find the car, and got on outta' there. the drive to the hotel was...drum-roll please...less than a minute around the parking garage. DUDE! I COULD HAVE WALKED THERE, CHECKED IN AND TAKEN A NAP!!! i so stupid! i totally should've looked it up! they have a shuttle. what was i even thinking. i wasn't. whatevs. no big. so we checked in quickly and were to back in the lobby for lunch in ten minutes. no worries, i thought. until i looked at the room #s just outside the elevator, and asked the handyman which way i needed to go to get to 348. he said, "go to the end of this hall, then you turn right, go to the end of that hall, then turn left, make a little jog to the right, and it should be on that hall....
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| and so it began.... |
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| and continued.... |
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| just a little further! |
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| one more corner to your amazing view! |
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| ermergersh! TOTALLY worth the hike for the view!! i'd purposefully request this room again! |
we arrived at the end of the church crowd,so there wasn't a huge wait, but the place was full. lunch was delish...i haven't had a steak in quite awhile ( not a problem, it was very small, and rather inexpensive-and the sweet potato-the real deal). this is one of the first times i really got a chance to talk to alicia and joyce, without everyone else around, and it was nice to get to know them better. you may remember that we were in colorado together on one of my first trips, but it was all such a blur, and apart from the trainings, there wasn't much time with just them. so it was good. after lunch, we found the site, wichita university-it was a nice little campus, but the doors were closed-sunday/fall break.
once we got back to the hotel, we called it a day. lunch was so heavy that none of us were really planning much for dinner (i had the protein bars in my room, and hotel coffee...as i didn't want to go through the whole frisk-down with tsa this time)...so i took a nap, wrote a letter, finished that last blog, played word games...watched a netflix show...there was no hot tub, so...went to bed.
i drove us to our venue, but we were stopping first at chic-fil-a for breakfast, as our site was on 17th street, and the chic was on 21st. well. i'm here to tell you that not everything is as it seems. we didn't go the way google maps was telling us, because we'd made a mistake the previous day, so we went east, toward the school. google maps was like, oh, yeah? well fine, then i'm going to take you around the back way and in the opposite direction about 5 miles to get to chic-fil-a, which, come to find out, THIS 21st street was nowhere near our 17th street. oh well. we then back-tracked and passed several unfamiliar landmarks until we finally arrived at the school, parked and found the lucas room.
still early, we got jacksen to help us out. (he pushed a button to lower the shades, and another to lower the projector and screen); very impressive, and alicia made certain to boost his ego, but letting him know how very powerful she felt he was now that he had taken care of these things. he did help us with cords, and wifi, and all that we needed. the morning session was not to be in the cards, so we were able to talk, they shared tips and just basically wanted to be as helpful as possible, to answer any questions, etc. we found a minute to create a little boss's day collage for lori, then people started arriving for the afternoon session, and there were internet issues. the guest site hadn't been working earlier, which was why they'd given us the secure passcode. well that wasn't working, so i went on a little mission to find an IT guy...i wandered through the desert, around a mountain, waded through a stream, while on a call with julie k (to make sure of plans for that evening), and FINALLY after i was parched and weary, i came to a little closet that said IT, and it was almost as if i had just stepped into a frat-house-movie...you know, the ones where you have that one guy that had way too many, is a little overweight, pants sagging low, even with a belt, grungy,scruffy...out of shampoo, maybe bedbug bites...and smelling like nothing you would encounter at bath and body works...and he begrudgingly followed me, like i was lassie, leading him to our disastrous encounter at the well...kept a straight face and walked in saying, "i've brought reinforcements!" mmmmm....i just wanted have a disclaimer saying: he's not our roadie! anyhoo, he was able to get onto GUEST first try. as soon as he said that, everyone did that, but he had sequestered this lady's laptop, as any quizzical IT person would do, trying to figure out the original dilemma, which no longer needed figuring out. the lady said, "i can just get on guest too.." and he said no. and continued playing! alicia continued with the presentation, and finally he gave her computer back, and sauntered off a little like a cross between winnie the pooh and eyeore.
at some point, i'd mentioned earlier in the trip that i was easy-in regards to food, a similar version of that may have come out in the training, as we were discussing that when their students were showing amazing results, they could get alisha a steak, joyce- i can't remember what amazing meal, and when alicia looked at me and said, and et tu julie? it just came out again: you know me i'm easy (slight pause...) like a hamburger! umm...like a hamburger? it was all i could think of! my brain went to the fact that there is a mcdonalds on the corner near my apt, and it would be super easy to stop there to get a quick burger. (i didn't say a healthy, delicious burger, i said quick and easy....if i wanted delicious, i'd go back to fll with sabrina and get one of those burgers by the ocean and fries for three!)...but there it was. out there. too late.
i had the second part-working through student ICON, showing them all the amazing features and facets of the amazing red-caped-icon. if only i had a better grasp on the sound! they got to play around and appreciate and understand the features, though. and we definitely stopped for a minute to listen to joyce's favorite-the digraphs. then joyce went through the website and finished up, answered questions, promoted the upcoming convention/workshops in florida and wichita. it went well, and i think they got some additional answers they didn't have prior to coming! it was quite a mixed group, so the discussions were very different. a few lower grades, a few k-5 and a few 6-7.
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| thanks, joyce and alicia for a great time! but then, i'm easy...like a hamburger. (??) |
once we finished, we gathered everything up and headed out to the courtyard to take some pics in the courtyard. after a few moments, trying to precariously position my phone on my backpack, balanced on a statue...there was a gentleman spreading grass seed who came over and took our pics for us. so grateful was i that i threw my purse on the ground, as to be out of the picture. so we got our pics in a cute little sitting area, then moved over to the statue. once we had those done we grabbed our packs, and we were off to drop me at the airport before they headed to kc. upon arriving at the airport, i was going to have quite a wait-to get on a flight that would get me in the earliest! BUT...i realized my purse was not with me. yep. we turned around to go back and get it from the university-hoping it was still there; fortunately it was fall break,but still. a little worried now.
when we arrived, joyce got out to go look with me, and it was not on the ground where i had dropped it initially. i looked around and saw another guy watering plants down the other side of the sidewalk, so i ran toward him (slow mo, i'm certain i looked like whitney houston in body guard: i'm gonna run to you)...anyhoo, the man had no idea, whipped out his flip-phone and called his boss. thank GOD it was the one who had taken the picture, and he had taken the purse into the info desk, just inside the student bldg we'd been in! relief. the training gods were with us! (um, God himself kinda trumps them, so...). so when we got to the airport, it was for real this time! goodbyes, and i got checked in and ready to go, thankful for their graciousness! i enjoyed our time.
the flights were uneventful, and on-time, so i was going to see julie and meet kevin and bella shortly.
we'll get there later!
julie
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