The End of Spring Work Travel

Whew! It's been a busy spring in terms of work travel! In May, I went to Boise, Idaho and Albuquerque, New Mexico for work. I was also in Phoenix, Arizona in March and Jackson, Mississippi in April. This past week's trip to Providence is my last work-related trip until New Orleans, Louisiana this fall.

One of the cool things that I saw in Providence, Rhode Island was the WaterFire. People riding in gondolas lit up wooden braziers along the water. At first the flames weren't that big, but once this breeze picked up and they had some time to burn, it was a beautiful sight. It felt very "Tangled," if you've seen the Disney movie.

WaterFire

 

At the pre-meeting meeting for staff, we were highly encouraged to thank the vendors and make them feel welcomed since they paid quite a bit to exhibit at our conference. While wandering the Exhibit Hall yesterday, one of the vendors saw my watch, and we had a 15 minute conversation about our cats. I mean, we did talk about their product, but we talked mostly about our cats. My teal heels also got attention. I lasted about 2 days with them before I started wearing my flip flops as covertly as I could.

This is my 8th year attending this work conference, and it has probably been my busiest: staffed 1 pre-conference workshop, prepared 1 poster presentation, staffed 3 demonstrations, and coordinated 3 sessions (and moderated one of them). It was nice to see people that I normally communicate with via phone and email and get a bunch of hugs, but I was so happy to be back at home, sleep in my own bed and get back to my workouts.

A Quick Trip to Jackson, Mississippi

My boss and I took a quick trip to Jackson, Mississippi for work (left on Wednesday, going home tomorrow). We are here to serve as facilitators for an assessment. I've gone to these assessments in the past as a notetaker, but with my boss retiring this summer, I needed to have experience as a facilitator. My boss did the first two sessions and I did the two afternoon sessions. I'm not sure if the people were just in a food coma or they didn't have the knowledge to respond to the questions that were in the assessment tool, but they were not as chatty as they were earlier. I was getting a little nervous, which apparently showed because after that session my boss was like "The only feedback I would give you is that you should probably smile more. You looked scared to death." Oh really? THAT'S BECAUSE I WAS! Heh. The last session went a lot better, so whew, I'm glad that's over!

The food here has been amazing. I had scallops last night and I had scallops tonight too. I also had something called a lemon ice box pie, which is the consisitancy of key lime pie, except with lemons. OMG, so good.

While I loved how cozy my king size bed was (I could lay in it diagonally and still have room to spare!), I'm looking forward to going home tomorrow!

(What I found concerning about Jackson was that there were pockets that looked great and other parts that looked run down. It was kinda sad to see the difference in just a few blocks. The apartments across the street from the hotel were run down, but I heard that they were going to be renovated, so perhaps the city is making a comeback.)

My boss's second grandson was born earlier today...and it's also her birthday today!  What an awesome birthday present! :)

Jacksonville, Day 4

On my last full day in Jacksonville, Page and I wanted to host a dinner. On our way back from St. Augustine yesterday, we stopped at some grocery stores to get what we needed for dumplings. And we spent the majority of the morning wrapping them while watching the Olympics. Her cat provided moral support.

When it was time for dinner, Page's dad, brother (he brought sangria) and grandfather came as well as 2 family friends (they brought a salad). We had quite a feast. Her grandfather had never had dumplings before, but it looked like he really enjoyed them because he kept going back for more! It was a really great way to cap off the vacation. I'll be sad to go home tomorrow.

Jacksonville, Day 3

Layla, Page's part-time cat, was outside to hang out with me and Page as we waited for Brightman to pick us up so that we could go to St. Augustine.

In St. Augustine, we decide that the best way to see everything was to take the hop-on-and-off trolley tour and not have to walk in the oppressive heat. While we waited at our first stop, we checked out the first drugstore, which had all kinds of weird stuff behind the glass. It was cool to hear about the history and the widespread influence that Henry Flagler had in the area.

About halfway through the tour, we decided to hop off and find some lunch. The Columbia Restaurant was suggested by Page's friend, and what made it even better is that they served some awesome sangria, which we had to try of course. Page was clearly very excited.

I ordered the ropa vieja (Page got a salad and Brightman got something with mussels). The sangria was so good that Brightman bought the mix to make some for the family dinner that we're hosting tomorrow.

We went to an Asian grocery store and Publix to get some supplies for the dumplings that we are making tomorrow. I made sure to give Lilly some cuddles when we got home to relax and watch the Olympics on tv.

One cool thing that Page showed me was a Winnnie-the-Pooh box of all the cards that I've sent her over the years, starting in 2008 (I think). It was funny to read the stuff I reported on as I took a trip down memory lane. The bird card in the bottom right is card #50.

Jacksonville, Day 2

Becoming best friends with Lilly the cat turned out to be a bad decision. Page kicked her out of her room and since I left mine cracked, Lilly came to wake me up for breakfast at around 6 AM, just like RJ. Ugh, I went on vacation to escape the early wake-up calls. What's even worse was that she attacked my feet through the thin blankets and she has very sharp claws, so yeah, now I have marks on my feet. I got up to feed her and then went back to my room. I must have dozed off because my phone alarm woke me up. Page had an appointment this morning and I vaguely remember her saying that she had to be out of the house by 8:30 AM. I felt like I was back in college, except I wasn't shooing her to get to class, "Page! You have to get up! You have an appointment!" She quickly changed and zoomed out of the house.

I waited around for her brother, Brightman, who was taking a yoga class this morning. He came to pick me up and we drove to the beach. He told me more about his El Camino hike and his girl issues, while Page was at her appointment. Everyone met back up at Page's house and then we went lunch at a diner-ish place. We also went to a nearby gallery because Brightman was interested in buying some art at some point and the gallery was going to be moving soon so the owner was willing to cut him a deal. We also paid Page's grandfather a visit. Wow, his house is huge! I was surprised that he remembered me and my family from graduation, 11 years ago!

This evening, the three of us went to see Page's father and he took us on a 30 minute boat ride to a fish camp (a restaurant where you could ride your boat and dock it). The restaurant was very interesting. They had a live alligator in an enclosure, eek. It was also decorated with lots of taxidermy animals, double eek. The food was delicious. I tried fried alligator (there was a lot of batter, so I didn't taste much of the meat) and got the fried scallop platter. Yum! The boat ride back was so nice with the sun setting and the cooler weather. :)

Jacksonville, Day 1

Hooray, time for a much needed vacation! It's not going to be a long one, but it'll be nice to get away for a little bit. I'm off to Jacksonville, Florida to visit my friend from undergrad Page. She purchased a house there, and I'll be hanging out with her until Sunday morning. It'll be an added bonus if I can see her brother (he was a freshman when we were seniors) and her father.  Page's mom, unfortunately, passed away back in the fall after a long battle with breast cancer, so it'll be nice to see how the family is doing.

After a short flight, Page picked me up at the airport and we went immediately to her brother's apartment high-rise. Wow, his place was decorated so nicely, like something out of a magazine. I was really impressed. And then I remember, ok, yes, Brightman is now an adult, not some college freshman anymore. It's appropriate for him to have nice matching, grown-up furniture.

The three of us walked over the bridge and towards Sweet Pete's, a confectionery. Wow, looking at all the different types of candy was a little overwhelming! We ended up getting a few boxes, and each of us got one of those specialty sodas. I went with grape, but they had things like bacon-flavored soda for anyone who's brave enough to try it. We took the skyway train back to the car and then Brightman drove us to dinner. I had a crab pasta dish that was delicious!

Then it was off to Page's place. She had given me a tour via FaceTime, but it was cool to see it in person. Her roommate was out-of-town for my visit, so we had some one-on-one time. I got my own room and bathroom, so that was really nice too.  OH, and her kitty is all grown up!

Delta Woes

On the way to CrossFit yesterday morning, the radio was saying that Delta Airlines was experiencing major delays and cancellations due to an outage. Oh great. How was this going to impact my trip to Atlanta??

I kept an eye on my flight information when I got home from the gym. Since I had the extra time, I went to Safeway to get some travel snacks. I went to the airport fully knowing that the flight would be delayed some more. Delta even went so far as to order what looked like 60 pizzas and popcorn for the people in the waiting area. Normally, I would be happy about free food, but I'm already kinda a nervous traveler and I just wanted to GO! Surprisingly, people weren't really visibly upset in the waiting area. I'm not sure if that's because of the advance notice of the delay or they were in a food coma (or both!).

I was supposed to get to Atlanta around 5 PM and meet my boss at baggage claim so that we could get dinner and go to the hotel. All that waiting resulted in me getting to Atlanta around 8:30 PM and getting to my hotel room at around 9:30 PM. Sigh.

Anyway, the meeting today was successful and my boss was happy, so that's really all that matters to me. I'm thankful this was a short trip! My boss said that Delta was going to give $200 travel vouchers to affected customers, so I'll be on the lookout for it and planning for a random fun trip in the back of my mind.

Work Trip to Albuquerque

Oh, look. Nice hotel lighting.

I was in Albuquerque, New Mexico for my annual work conference from Sunday to today. Here are some of the highlights.

a. Wow, when people talk about dry heat, they are not kidding! It was nice to not deal with any of the humidity where I'm from. I could straighten my hair and wear it down without fear that it'll poof up when I go outside.

b. The trip foodwise was just meh. The best thing I ate at the actual conference center were the 2 breakfast sandwiches I snagged on Tuesday morning. I went to Zacatecas for dinner on Sunday with my coworkers. The chips and guacamole were yummy, but the enchiladas left me wanting more. On Monday, I hid in my room and went to bed at 9:30 PM. On Tuesday, I went out to Zinc Wine Bar and Bistro to celebrate one of my coworker's birthdays. They had a ravioli dish that was delicious. On Wednesday, I went out with my committee to St. Clair Winery and the pot roast and bread pudding that I ordered were excellent! Everyone seemed to have a wonderful time, so whew, what a weight off my shoulders!

c. I got a few sites interested in one of my projects, so I'm excited to follow-up with them when I'm back at the office next week. I also got a few compliments on my work ethic and even a handwritten thank you note from one of my committee members, so that was super nice. Oh, and another committee member mentioned that I had lost weight, so that was nice in another respect.

d. On the first flight home (ABQ to DFW), I sat next to a cute guy. However, I was way too tired to make conversation and I didn't want to be that kind of traveler. I fell asleep the whole way, and I think he did too. We sat towards the back of the plane, so it seemed to take forever to deplane. I decided to be brave and make conversation to pass the time. I asked him if he had a layover and where he was headed. He was heading to Boston. After some back and forth, I found out that he was at the conference that I was at...as a member (I went as staff). EEK. Ok, whew. Good thing I didn't say anything incredibly dumb. I texted my boss when I got off the plane because I thought she would find it amusing. She texted back "You can date members!"  NO! Nonono.  Ok, I know that you want to marry me off, but no. He would have been a good person to sit next to on the second leg of the trip. I ended up sitting next to an older woman and a woman my age from DFW to DCA, and they basically talked the whole time. I had a pounding headache and was feeing congested.

As always, it's good to be home!

Mmm, pot roast. RJ, up to no good, per usual.

St. Louis, Day 5

Bye, St. Louis! I don't think I'll be seeing you anytime soon, and if I do, I hope things are more lively and prosperous than this time around.

My flight wasn't until 1:30 PM, so I had time to go to the morning session. I had packed up all of my nice clothes and was going to go rogue and wear jeans since I had to leave for the airport right after. Was anyone going to chastise me for doing so?  Mmm, we'll find out! Turns out my boss was wearing jeans too, so whew, safe!

I got a seat in the second to last row of the plane. The older lady sitting next to me and I chatted while the plane was taxiing to the runway. I told her my observations of the city and she confirmed that the city isn't as busy as it use to be. She asked if I had been to the St. Louis Zoo (nope, no time...and no easy way to get there).  She mentioned the National Zoo and how her son was saying that it wasn't worth going it.

Whattt.

Ok, I just stopped actively listening to her right then and there. I like my Zoo!  It's free and it's got pandas. What's not to like???  Thankfully, I was able to get some sleep on the flight home. I don't think I could have the brain power to hold a 1.5 hour conversation with someone that just dissed the Zoo.

Dad picked me up at the Metro station. I thought of going to my place, but then I remembered there's nothing to eat in my fridge. I made an executive decision to sleep at my parents' house. Julie and I watched the CrossFit Games Open workout 16.2 announcement. I can't believe Dan Bailey was able to squat clean 315 lbs for multiple reps!

St. Louis, Day 4

Conference, Day 3 of 4, check!

My boss gave me one of her free breakfast coupons, which was so nice because the breakfast options in the little hotel coffee shop are expensive and not so good.

To cap off the conference, one of our big corporate partners hosted a social event at the Anheuser-Busch brewery. We got to take a picture with a Clydesdale horse (that’s me and my coworker), go on a tour to learn about the beer making process, and of course, eat and drink to our heart’s content.

I saw one of the senior directors from work on the dance floor too. THAT was entertaining.

St. Louis, Day 3

Conference, Day 2 of 4, check!

One touching thing from today was that there was an “in memoriam” session this afternoon for 2 people who had passed away since the last time this conference was held. While I didn’t know them personally, it was very evident by what was said and the slideshow that played in the background that these two people were well loved and respected by their colleagues in this scientific community. One of them was given an award at the luncheon today, and his widow was there to receive it in his honor.

For dinner, I went to Landry's with my boss and 3 of my other coworkers. I got a seafood pasta, but unlike the one that I got on Sunday that was with a cream based sauce, this one was a garlic/olive oil/herb sauce. It was equally as yummy.

St. Louis, Day 2

Conference, Day 1 of 4, check!

Thank goodness for black tights! My knees are so bruised from doing those walking lunges and burpees in the parking lot at Saturday’s CrossFit session. One of the vendors came up to me earlier today and complimented me on my dress. That was a nice start to the day!

For dinner, I went with 3 of my coworkers to Maggie O'Brian's. I got the blackened chicken salad because I desperately felt like I needed some vegetables in my stomach! I noticed that the language got saltier and saltier as the alcohol flowed. There were a few f-bombs, and a part of me thought the senior director sitting with us would frown upon that, but he seemed super chill about it. o_0

The grand hall ceiling of the hotel totally reminded me of Hogwarts because it was so high and they actually played a light show, on the hour, at night. And I think it's a different show every hour too. This one happened to be focused on planets.

St. Louis, Day 1

Whew, I made it! I slept most of the flight, per usual.

When I got to the airport, I texted my coworker to say I was at baggage claim. He was too, and then we realized we were in different terminals. I was all set to walk to the other terminal, but I saw the signs for a shuttle. I got on the shuttle and then quickly realized that the other terminal would not have been within walking distance. It was like a 5 minute drive away!

I'm glad that the two of us took the train together to the hotel because I would have been nervous to ride it by myself. The landscape was a little disheartening. I saw lots of dilapidated buildings and then new buildings but no people nearby (maybe because it was Sunday?), and then even the "Market" area near the hotel was pretty empty. Then you have to account for the interesting people on the train, which normally doesn't bother me on the Metro at home, but when I'm in a city I'm not familiar with, it makes me really nervous.

For dinner, I met up with 2 of my coworkers and we went to Lombardo's, an Italian restaurant. I had some seafood pasta, and it was super yummy, especially after a day of travelling.

If you look closely, you can see the Arch.

Atlanta, Day 3

Today was only a half day meeting, thankfully. We ended at noon and then it was time to clean up the room and head to the airport. Luckily, because of the timing, there wasn't much traffic on the roads, but it was a different story when it was time to get in the security line. I was probably in line for 30 minutes, which is unusual for me in Atlanta (but, then again, usually, I'm leaving around 4 PM).

A few notes from today:

• We recently did a 360 review at the office where employees were supposed to rate their respective supervisors. Well, I think this is a good idea in theory, but I'm not sure how useful it is if people aren't completely honest. In my case, I'm the only person that reports to my boss, so no matter what, she'll know that the feedback came from me. Yeah, that's no awkward, right? Fortunately, I only had nice things to say. At breakfast, my boss told me that she got an email from Human Resources with my comments. "That meant more to me than feedback that came from my boss." Oh.  Well, good! :D
• During this meeting, I had been sitting against the wall, in the corner while most people sat around the big table. Which was totally fine because I didn't have anything to contribute to the conversation as I was mainly there to soak in the information. At the end of the meeting, the facilitator had asked everyone what they were going to do to keep the momentum up from the meeting. Hey, that's something that I can respond to! I decided to take the seat that my boss's boss vacated. My boss made eye contact with me and nodded. I'm glad I could contribute something and prove that I was paying attention.
• On the plane, I was so ready to get home that I sat in the wrong seat. 20A instead of 21A. There was a little shifting of people and rows so that I could get to where I needed to be. Heh.

 I got so many compliments on this dress! JCPenney, folks. There are lots of gems there!

Almost home!

When I got home, Christmas music was playing on two of my radio presets (UGH, too early!) and then I turned on the TV to see the chaos in Paris. WTF?! I only watched the coverage for a little bit before I had to turn it off because it made my heart sink for everyone over there (and other places in the world that were experiencing a natural disaster or a terrorist attack). :(

Atlanta, Day 2

Ok (deep breath). Day 1 of meeting…check! 

Everyone (my bosses, stakeholders, meeting attendees) seemed happy at the end of the day. Well, especially after that group dinner. We went to a Chinese food restaurant that one of the meeting attendees recommended. She actually ordered for everyone and we sat at 2 tables with the circular tray in the middle and passed the food around. My favorites were the orange chicken and the dumplings (of course).

I was equally as happy (and thankful) that I was not in charge of taking notes for this meeting. It was nice to soak up the information and not have the pressure of having to get everything down on the computer.

Two cool things from today:

• I overheard one of the feds tell my boss's boss about how good of a job one of the staff back at the office is doing. The staff member is pretty new, but apparently, she "has hit the ground running." I was sitting behind the two of them, so it was easy to eavesdrop. I sent the staff member an email to let her know this had happened to brighten her day. I know it would have brightened mine if someone did that to me.
• I got an email from the Executive Director earlier tonight. He wants me to be on the interview panel for his new administrative assistant since the current one is leaving at the end of the month (WAH, I'm so sad about it!). I was kind of shocked, but wow, what a boost in confidence to know that my opinion mattered.

Anyway, it’s nice seeing everyone in person, but I’m glad to be heading home tomorrow.

Atlanta, Day 1

I'm glad that I was able to make it to CrossFit this morning because I'm not sure how much gym time I'll get in while I'm in Atlanta. We worked on our thrusters and then in observance of November 11, the AMRAP was 11 Pull-ups, 11 OH Walk lunge (each leg), 11 Push-ups and 11 Plate squats. Since it's Veterans Day, I didn't have to go to work before going to the airport. Truthfully, I came home to shower and went back to bed for another two hours.

The flight was uneventful because I basically slept the whole way. Once I met up with my boss, we made a trip to Target to get candy and candy dishes for the meeting and Office Depot for folders to put our meeting materials in. The Chinese food restaurant to get take out and then the hotel to check in. We set up camp in the breakfast area to stuff the folders so we wouldn't have to do it tomorrow.

We had a 5 minute debate in the candy aisle on what to get. Chocolate was a definite. I horrified myself by saying "What if there are people that don't want chocolate?" Is there such a thing?  Well, yes...Julie. There must be other people out there like her, those crazies. "Well, then they are out of luck." I think I gave her a look or whined or something because eventually she gave in and I put a back of Starbursts into the cart. Bah ha, I won. We were going to use Star Wars folders for the meeting because they were on clearance, but unfortunately there weren't enough. That would have been super funny! Last funny thing of the night, the Chinese food restaurant knew my name when I called them to place the order while we were driving (efficiency!). I guess that's normal for restaurants, but it totally caught me off guard.

Whew!

I inhaled these dumplings while watching Arrow. Yum!

Atlanta and Crush60: Phase 2

I got this text from my sister this morning. Glad I didn't get the 4 AM wake-up call! He's going to hang out at my parents' house until Saturday and I'll grab him after CrossFit class with Julie.

The trip to Atlanta was productive. The meeting started at 8 AM and went to about 1 PM. The original end time was supposed to be 2 PM, but we were really efficient in getting through our agenda. This was great because we could all head to the airport and the CDC folks could have some time to do emails before their big meeting at 2 PM. I was able to get on standby for an earlier flight, but then that flight got delayed. I didn't end up getting to my parents' house that much sooner. Oh well, not much you can do!

I raided the fridge at my parents' house, gave RJ a see-you-later hug and then went to my own place. I charged my phone and unpacked and then thought, "Hmm, it's around 8:30 PM. Let's go to the gym!" I know, super weird. Not anything that I would have said before since I probably would have faceplanted onto my couch or bed after coming home. I figured I should use the energy that I have to good use. I originally thought I was going to start Phase 2 on Friday or Saturday, but nope, I did it today. Wow, I thought my arms were going to give out during those tabata push-ups at the end. Ugh. Good way to end a busy day though! :D

CrossFit Class and Atlanta

I didn't really sleep that well last night. I don't know how I every managed to sleep on a twin mattress. And it's not even that I need that much rom to move around since I'm already short. I guess since I'm used to my full bed, it's tough to go back. I just couldn't get comfortable.

I was pretty much a zombie walking into CrossFit class, but I managed. I definitely woke up during the jump rope warm up. There were some shoulder press sets and then 200 m x 8 rower sprints. My shoulders definitely got a work out!

Dad dropped me off at the Metro on his way to the pool. I tried to get some restful sleep on the plane, but the little kid next to me kicked me several times when he was trying to get comfortable for his nap. Fortunately, he wasn't fussy so I gave him a pass. I met my boss at baggage claim and then off to CDC for an afternoon meeting. We finally got out at around 6 PM, made a beeline for our favorite Chinese food restaurant and then headed to the hotel to check in. I basically inhaled my chicken lo mein. I'm definitely ready to go to bed. Breakfast is at 7:20 tomorrow morning and we're meeting some other CDC folks at 8 AM. Blah. Oh well, I get that some of these things are best done in person anyway.

New York, Day 3

Suzie and I got breakfast at a nearby diner and then it was time to head to Penn Station. It was so nice of her to take me there for my peace of mind. We said our goodbyes and she went to go swimming and I went to sit down in the waiting area. I slept most of the train ride home and when I got my car, I went to get RJ. Julie offered to buy me some Five Guys burgers for dinner since I'll be helping her at a volunteer event this upcoming Friday.

New York City, Day 2

I got the New York bagel experience this morning for breakfast. The bagel place gave me far more cream cheese than necessary for one person. I could have probably used the cream cheese that I scraped off for another bagel! (I got a cinnamon raisin one with strawberry cream cheese).

Then it was off to Central Park. Suzie had work this morning, which actually worked out fine because I could do my own thing for a few hours and she didn't have to lose out on income by taking the day off. She ended up having 4 students to tutor anyway, so she kept busy while I was being touristy.

She walked with me in the direction of the zoo, but we separated around 9:30 AM. She drew me a map of NYC that she thought I would be interested and it really did come in handy. One of the attractions on the map was Lee's Art Shop. I got to the Central Park Zoo entrance around 9:45 AM, and since it wasn't opened yet, I decided to keep walking to the Art Shop. I got there right as they were opening and it was amazing. There were so many crafty things to buy and play with on the first floor and the second floor was dedicated to light fixtures and office furniture. I ended up buying some new markers (the sale sign was definitely a selling point). Notice all the testing I did on the pad of paper. HELLO! :)

I made my purchase and then backtracked to the Central Park Zoo and stayed there until about noon. There was a sea lion feeding at 11:30 AM and you could tell the sea lions were so excited to see their trainers carrying food to their enclosure. YAY, lunch time!! The Zoo was a little small so it wasn't like I could spend all day there, so I headed towards the American Museum of Natural History. As I got closer, I could see there was a line forming out the door...and around the corner.  Ugh, no thanks. I went around the block and saw there was a planetarium. I saw a sign for the featured exhibits for the Natural History Museum because, who knows, maybe something would be worth seeing for the waiting and admission ticket. One of the exhibits listed was focused on spiders. Live animals! Larger-than-life models!  I promptly made a U-turn and walked out. No, thanks! Gross. I walked to a Starbucks to get something to drink and charge my phone a little.

Before I knew it, it was time to meet up with Suzie since her shift ended. We decided on getting lunch at Tiramisu. We had stuffed mushrooms, salad, meatballs, tiramisu and some cream puffs filled with ice cream. Yum!

We walked around NYC for a little bit, but around 5 PM, my feet had had enough.  We headed back to Suzie's place and ate leftover Indian food and chatted until it was time to put on an episode of The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and then go to bed. With all the walking I did today, I got a new Fitbit step record, 27K+!