Random thoughts while flying through the air from Little Rock to Chicago.
When the company that employs you sends you to a training, the key to remember is that the training is not really about you. This is especially true when the company is footing the bill for hotel, airfare, meals, etc. Even if the training is local, the fact remains that you are on company time. Instead of making widgets or running board rooms or making sure the servers are alive and kicking, your salary for the day (week, whatever) comes from your paying attention to whatever training or seminar you're asked to attend.
If you are chosen to represent the company, it usually means your employer sees you as being one of the most (if not THE most) qualified for attendance of the event. Though you would hope to gain from the program personally and professionally, the key to any such endeavor is to find at least one (though I try to shoot for three) "A-HA!" moments and keep those first and foremost in your mind (and your notes) when you return to debrief.
Yes, I said debrief. Remember, your organization sent you (expenses paid) to this shindig and your duty should be to report back your "A-HA!" moment(s). You have to show that it was worth the cost to send you, and you want to show that you are a prime choice for future such events.
I had to stop for gas (and a drive-thru breakfast) on the way to the airport this morning. This put me behind by a little. Not a lot, but enough that I didn't have time to mess with off-site parking. I also didn't have time to figure out how to get into the stupid parking garage at the Little Rock airport. If there are 'parking deck this way" signs anywhere, they are not clearly marked as you enter the airport's facilities. So, I ended up parking long-term surface.
Oh, normally that's not a big deal. But with impending bad weather for Wednesday, I foresee my car being buried in snow with a plowed mound behind it. I may be stuck at the airport due to entrapment more than anything.
I'll just have to wait and see on that one.
Flying during the summer (or let's say non-winter times) makes for beautiful scenery from the plane - purple mountains, colorful plains, roads and tree lines cutting the nation into sections. But, I have to say, seeing the snow-covered ground from high above is gorgeous.
As I type this, we are getting jostled about a bit with the turbulence. Evidently, that beautiful view comes with a price.
Turbulence never really bothered me when flying (well, except when we drop several hundred or so feet at a swoop). To me, flying has always been akin to riding along in a bus or car. You have bumps on the road... you have bumps in the air. I know some folks see it completely differently, though. The main argument being that with roads, you're on the ground and the bumps are from actual holes. In the air, there's nothing under you to visibly account for the bumping, tossing and swaying. I'll give them that one. We're going through a bit of a spell (as I write this at 8:11am) that reminds me of driving down I-30 before all the road work... Who am I trying to kid? I-30 is still just as rough even AFTER the road work.
I realize it is below freezing outside (above the ground or not), but the heat inside this tube of an airplane is a bit much. I'm sure some people get sick because there is cold air coming from the vents above and heat from the floors.
We land. The airplane can't stop as quickly as it would like because the runway has patches of slush, snow, and what I guess is ice. The pilot throws everything to stop the plane and while we are still rolling, the plane makes a sharp right turn. We have just about missed our turn. Everyone hangs on for the near u-turn as we get back on track.
Frankly, I'd rather have the turbulence.
We are in an ExpressJet, which means debarking on the tarmac. It's cold. Bitter cold. Airport employees are bundled in thick, heavy coats. They have scarves, hats, and gloves. Piles of snow are everywhere. It's been a long time since I've seen that much snow. Since I did not check my bag, I head for Ground Transport, not sure where to go. I call the limo company we were told to use (the hosting group told us what to use), and the guy on the line tells me to stay put and watch for the car. "It's too cold to be standing out there for too long. Just wait until you see our car come for you." I did. The driver was very friendly. He was born and raised in Europe (Italy, I believe he said). He moved here when he was about 13 years old. He's been driving around Chicago for about 13 years. He's a much older gentleman, talking about his kids and grandkids. He works part time in real estate. His thick accent forces me to ask him to repeat himself often, and he is happy to oblige. We talk weather, family, city life, and Florida. He has family that lives down south and it's winter seasons like the one they've had (like we've all had) that makes him seriously consider moving.
The trip to the hotel ends as we part ways. Perhaps he will be my driver again tomorrow. Probably not, though, since there will likely be several of the participants will head to the airport together.
Tonight, we are being treated to supper and a "pre-meeting." It's Italian food, so I'm game no matter what we talk about!
Showing posts with label flying. Show all posts
Showing posts with label flying. Show all posts
Jul 5, 2009
A (not-so) funny thing happened...
I went to bed on Wednesday night, after another very cool day in The Big Apple. I don't know why, but the air vent in the hotel was bothering me. The fan was blowing too high for my liking - too much airflow. But, it was late, and I didn't want to bother with changing the setting from HIGH to LOW. My wife offered to do it, but I told her to never mind about it.
And then, I woke up on Thursday. I had a strange, groggy feeling and my throat had one of 'those' tickles to it. As the morning wore on, and we headed to Carmine's for some killer Italian lunch, the thought of actually putting anything in my mouth brought forth feelings in the pit of my stomach the likes of which I have not felt since my worst days of drinking back in college. This was not good. and to make things stranger, my head was floating in its own elevator shaft. My whole body felt like it was perpetually going either up or down, with an occasional dip to one side or the other.
I put on my brave face, though, and ate what I could of lunch. We then hiked down to Herald Square for a look at the Empire State Building and a walk through Macy's. I was hot, breaking out in fierce sweats and in the next moment, I was freezing my butt off, restless from riding the escalators up and down eight flights of Macy's. Yes, Elizabeth, Macy's really is the largest store most people will probably ever set foot in.
Looking back, I was probably sporting a 100-plus degree temperature for most of the day, but I just chalked it up to generally not feeling well. Yeah, I can be a little slow to admit when I am really sick.
Friday came, and it was time to head back home. By then, it was obvious to all of us that I was not doing well at all. I vaguely remember even getting in the van to the airport. I seem to remember going through the Queens tunnel. I remember going through security and the guy telling me he had to check my laptop case. I remember passing out on the plane. Oh, wait, there was some kind of problem with our check-in at the airport, but that turned out to be no problem at all, but a 'simple' computer glitch. Oy... I remember riding the tram at Houston, and I think I drank some fluids and maybe ate something. I don't remember. Oh, yeah, continental did feed us from NYC to Houston - hot turkey/cheese sandwiches.
Casey picked us up at the airport in Little Rock, and we went back his place for a bit to visit with Aunt Linda, Vanessa and Samuel. I drove us home after a stop at Sonic. I was not hungry, but the sweet tea was just what I needed to keep my brain focused. We made another pit stop at Wal-Mart for the 4th cookout, and then headed home. My fever was really bad at that point (though I never flat-out admitted it until now). The temperature reading showed that it was 87 degrees outside, and I had the driver's side blower set at the lowest HEAT setting because I was freezing otherwise.
When we got home, I helped what little I could with unpacking, then I took some nite-time medicine and was fast asleep. Saturday came, and every cough made my chest feel like I was in some kind of compression chamber. My head was killing me, still feeling like it was floating in some kind of gelatin mold. I was also now sneezing and my sinuses were leaking like a bad faucet. And, yes, I still had an on-again, off-again fever.
We watched the Macy's fireworks on TV, which was cool since we had just been there the day before. Then, Shan started looking online for what I might have. I need to add here that by this time, my Mom and Emily were quickly showing a lot of the same symptoms. Not everything was the same, though, so from we can tell, I either have/had a flu or 'the' flu. I am going to the doctor Monday to find out for sure. Mom most likely had bronchitis. Emily is doing much better after taking meds, though her fever still comes and goes. Tyler had a little fever Sunday morning, but he seems to be mostly unaffected. Shan started off the week a little sick, but she seems to have dodged this thing completely... or so far anyway.
I don't know if this little ditty makes any sense or not. If not, just know that my head is still stuck in some sort of floating limbo and that I am hoping the good doctor will at least have a way to steady the ship....
And then, I woke up on Thursday. I had a strange, groggy feeling and my throat had one of 'those' tickles to it. As the morning wore on, and we headed to Carmine's for some killer Italian lunch, the thought of actually putting anything in my mouth brought forth feelings in the pit of my stomach the likes of which I have not felt since my worst days of drinking back in college. This was not good. and to make things stranger, my head was floating in its own elevator shaft. My whole body felt like it was perpetually going either up or down, with an occasional dip to one side or the other.
I put on my brave face, though, and ate what I could of lunch. We then hiked down to Herald Square for a look at the Empire State Building and a walk through Macy's. I was hot, breaking out in fierce sweats and in the next moment, I was freezing my butt off, restless from riding the escalators up and down eight flights of Macy's. Yes, Elizabeth, Macy's really is the largest store most people will probably ever set foot in.
Looking back, I was probably sporting a 100-plus degree temperature for most of the day, but I just chalked it up to generally not feeling well. Yeah, I can be a little slow to admit when I am really sick.
Friday came, and it was time to head back home. By then, it was obvious to all of us that I was not doing well at all. I vaguely remember even getting in the van to the airport. I seem to remember going through the Queens tunnel. I remember going through security and the guy telling me he had to check my laptop case. I remember passing out on the plane. Oh, wait, there was some kind of problem with our check-in at the airport, but that turned out to be no problem at all, but a 'simple' computer glitch. Oy... I remember riding the tram at Houston, and I think I drank some fluids and maybe ate something. I don't remember. Oh, yeah, continental did feed us from NYC to Houston - hot turkey/cheese sandwiches.
Casey picked us up at the airport in Little Rock, and we went back his place for a bit to visit with Aunt Linda, Vanessa and Samuel. I drove us home after a stop at Sonic. I was not hungry, but the sweet tea was just what I needed to keep my brain focused. We made another pit stop at Wal-Mart for the 4th cookout, and then headed home. My fever was really bad at that point (though I never flat-out admitted it until now). The temperature reading showed that it was 87 degrees outside, and I had the driver's side blower set at the lowest HEAT setting because I was freezing otherwise.
When we got home, I helped what little I could with unpacking, then I took some nite-time medicine and was fast asleep. Saturday came, and every cough made my chest feel like I was in some kind of compression chamber. My head was killing me, still feeling like it was floating in some kind of gelatin mold. I was also now sneezing and my sinuses were leaking like a bad faucet. And, yes, I still had an on-again, off-again fever.
We watched the Macy's fireworks on TV, which was cool since we had just been there the day before. Then, Shan started looking online for what I might have. I need to add here that by this time, my Mom and Emily were quickly showing a lot of the same symptoms. Not everything was the same, though, so from we can tell, I either have/had a flu or 'the' flu. I am going to the doctor Monday to find out for sure. Mom most likely had bronchitis. Emily is doing much better after taking meds, though her fever still comes and goes. Tyler had a little fever Sunday morning, but he seems to be mostly unaffected. Shan started off the week a little sick, but she seems to have dodged this thing completely... or so far anyway.
I don't know if this little ditty makes any sense or not. If not, just know that my head is still stuck in some sort of floating limbo and that I am hoping the good doctor will at least have a way to steady the ship....
Jun 30, 2009
The lost entry
I had typed this up while flying to NYC, but forgot to post it, so here ya go!
Probably one of the coolest 'geek' things I've done in a while occurred on out flight from dallas to nyc. I got out my eeepc and hooked up my usb gps device to see if it would work. It took a while, but sure enough, we were at 34466 ft cruising along at about 554 miles an hour.
I use microsoft streets and trips, and the zoom level was set to street level, so as you might imagine, the map was having a hard time keeping up!
I zoomed out to basically state-level, and there we were, flying across pennsylvania. as I typed this up, we lost the satellite signal, but I think that's because I had the unit down on my arm rest instead of in the window. Oh, well, it was still cool for a while!
Probably one of the coolest 'geek' things I've done in a while occurred on out flight from dallas to nyc. I got out my eeepc and hooked up my usb gps device to see if it would work. It took a while, but sure enough, we were at 34466 ft cruising along at about 554 miles an hour.
I use microsoft streets and trips, and the zoom level was set to street level, so as you might imagine, the map was having a hard time keeping up!
I zoomed out to basically state-level, and there we were, flying across pennsylvania. as I typed this up, we lost the satellite signal, but I think that's because I had the unit down on my arm rest instead of in the window. Oh, well, it was still cool for a while!
Jun 21, 2009
The Father's Day trip home...
As I write this, I am en route from Chicago to Dallas. We woke early today, so after we dropped our Chevy Equinox off at the Avis rental return, we headed for the terminal at O’Hare. Looking like the lost tourists we were, we got into a rather long line in order to check our bags. As we waited, an airline representative informed us that we could get in the international line, since there were fewer people there. As it always seems to happen, by the time we got to this 'shorter' line, it was no longer the shorter line. So, like the good airport patrons we are, we waited our turn.
According to the weather channel, which seemed to be the favorite channel of one of our trio this trip, rain was coming in to the Chicago area. Given that the most recent rain there caused a 5-hour delay in flights, we thought it best to try and jump an earlier flight to Dallas. Since our true final destination is Texarkana, hopping the earlier flight meant two things: 1) we would get to Dallas at about the time our regular flight would have been taking off, and 2)we would now have about a 3-hour layover in Dallas because we would still have the same flight from Dallas to Texarkana. Yay.
As we waited for our names to be called, we got pushed further and further down the standby list. This was due in large part to the numerous American airlines personnel who were also on standby, and they get priority over a couple guys that just wanted to beat an incoming storm. Naturally, at this point I have no idea if taking the early flight was worth it or not. I digress. As the other people boarded, it looked like we'd have to stick around chi-town after all. But at the minute, the woman behind the desk called my name. I explained that there were three of us and that we would rather travel together if at all possible. A few clickity-clicks on the keyboard, and sure enough, three boarding passes soon came spitting out of the printer. Again, yay.
I have flown many times during my lifetime, and will be flying again in less than a week (to NYC!) but I do not recall ever willingly putting myself on standby in order to catch an early flight that ultimately has no bearing on my arrival time to my final destination. Basically, if the storm never comes/came to Chicago, I hopped an earlier plane so I could veg out in a different airport. In some parallel universe, I am sure it makes sense.
According to the weather channel, which seemed to be the favorite channel of one of our trio this trip, rain was coming in to the Chicago area. Given that the most recent rain there caused a 5-hour delay in flights, we thought it best to try and jump an earlier flight to Dallas. Since our true final destination is Texarkana, hopping the earlier flight meant two things: 1) we would get to Dallas at about the time our regular flight would have been taking off, and 2)we would now have about a 3-hour layover in Dallas because we would still have the same flight from Dallas to Texarkana. Yay.
As we waited for our names to be called, we got pushed further and further down the standby list. This was due in large part to the numerous American airlines personnel who were also on standby, and they get priority over a couple guys that just wanted to beat an incoming storm. Naturally, at this point I have no idea if taking the early flight was worth it or not. I digress. As the other people boarded, it looked like we'd have to stick around chi-town after all. But at the minute, the woman behind the desk called my name. I explained that there were three of us and that we would rather travel together if at all possible. A few clickity-clicks on the keyboard, and sure enough, three boarding passes soon came spitting out of the printer. Again, yay.
I have flown many times during my lifetime, and will be flying again in less than a week (to NYC!) but I do not recall ever willingly putting myself on standby in order to catch an early flight that ultimately has no bearing on my arrival time to my final destination. Basically, if the storm never comes/came to Chicago, I hopped an earlier plane so I could veg out in a different airport. In some parallel universe, I am sure it makes sense.
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