okay, so i really shouldn't be doing this right now-too much to do, but if i don't at least start, i will never get it done...so there's that. besides, i took a nap this afternoon, hence i may be awake later than i'd like anyway, so here goes.
when i left off last, i was meeting megan and deAn at love field to go to houston again, this time for a training with alief. when megan arrived, she found me at the gate and we chatted for a bit before deAn joined us. at this point, she wasn't feeling bad, just a little "tired." i was looking forward to finally getting a chance to observe her, because i'd only heard good things! it was great to find out a little more about her-again, one of the benefits of getting to observe everyone. the plane ride was short and sweet-always is to houston. the poor flt attendants put on their track shoes to run down the aisle to throw peanuts or pretzels at passengers-trying not to cause bodily harm- and ensure that pax can guzzle their beverages before touchdown-although, to be perfectly clear, there are literally two sips in each little plastic cup, purposefully filled with extreme ice.
anyhoo, megan got worse as the flight continued-and it didn't ease up even as we arrived at the hotel. perhaps dehydration...so she stayed at the hotel, and deAn and i found the cheddars that was literally around the corner, but we took the scenic route..it should have taken about a minute, but no worries, we got there about 10 minutes later. thanks siri... and when we got there, we were seated almost immediately. from there the service went downhill. i think our server was about to be cut, and was finishing his housekeeping duties, because when we finally asked about our food, it came out (my shrimp was cold, but at this point, i know how things work, and i didn't want to take any chances about what might happen to my food if it were sent back...just sayin'). the positive in this, is that deAn and i got to catch up-if you recall, she is one of the trainers who started with me, formerly a principal. i really enjoy her spirit and positive attitude. we took a baked potato back for megan, and i think that was what she needed. went to bed relatively early to be prepared for monday morning.
when morning rolled around, i went down for a little breakfast, and ate quickly-then i saw megan working on her computer, changing a couple of things on her computer. one thing i will say is that i was very impressed with her organization and desire to get things 'just-right.' and when deAn arrived, we took off for the designated location-i believe it was their district building. siri was once again doing a number on our timeliness...taking us every which way, u-turn here, u-turn there...i turn, u-turn let's all just turn everywhere!! (part of my houston ditty-coming along)...
anyhoo, when we arrived, the parking lot was fairly packed, which we later found out was because the bus drivers park here before going out. some of the bus drivers actually came in at one point thinking this might be one of their trainings..so we kindly redirected them. once we got the projector taken care of, things went smooth sailing. thoroughly enjoyable group. great participants in the morning and afternoon. one beacon of light in the morning-she was a true believer (read into that with sarcasm if you must)...but megan did a great job giving her an answer that shut down the negativity. KUDOS!
we were able to catch the earlier flight, and it was not a heavy load, so we each got aisle seats. the flight home was much better. on the way out of the airport, i made sure to point out the welcoming, happy ranger statue...and when we got to the parking spot, i gave her some additional materials that i had grabbed from the office for her.
the next day, was an early drive to arlington to watch jane and georgia with the coaches there. it was good to see this training, as they had been going back to this site over the past three years, so there was familiarity, although most of these coaches were somewhat new to the program. most of them had been to a training about a month prior, so they were ready to go. i was surprised when i walked in to see suzanne and lori (consultant, not boss-lady-[boss lady work for you, lori?])... we were able to go around and help with questions and such as they worked through reports. toward the afternoon, suzanne was working on the schedule and i was able to give some input and clarification about a couple of dates. i was almost going to colorado, but sadly already scheduled in texas, so that was not to be.
and i had to contact julie k to finalize a couple of things for one of the trainings in san antonio-i'm glad i got to speak with her because they were in florida at the time, and i was a little worried about them being in the area where the storm was going to be hitting.
back to the training, jane and georgia tag-teamed it splendidly, and had some great activities that were engaging and the participants were, for the most part, on task. it got difficult when the network started going slowly, but they hung in there!
wednesday i watched some webinars in the morning before heading to the office for a product knowledge meeting...which we went to, because we'd gotten an email, and the specialist kinda' looked at us strangely and said we probably weren't going to need this training at this point...so we went back to the 19th floor and i finished up some things with suzanne and deAn finished making her copies...and just before i was getting ready to leave, surprise of all surprises, in comes lori (lori #1, not consultant lori, boss lady this time) with dr. campbell, who if you recall, i had the pleasure of meeting in orlando at ucf with sabrina. this time i got to meet gretchen as well, whom i have heard great things about! (they are huggers, and i love it-me too).
and then i was out-because the next day i was driving to houston for the aldine training. yup. three trips to houston in a matter of a week's time...more on that later!
so just to sum it up, be sure to hydrate when you fly...(i guess that isn't really summing anything up...almost as bad as someone who says 'excuse the pun' when there really isn't even a pun...punny, i know...i guess i'll have to dive into the teacher lessons and get a little more direction on that summing-up thing...)
faithfully yours (and by faithfully yours, i merely mean i'm not cheating on you with another blog),
julie
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