Swept Along for the Ride

And here we go again...

While the first few weeks of getting back on the road for BER were exhausting, frustrating, exhilarating, and stupefying, I didn't feel like getting back to the blog right away. I tend to fall into the trap of complaining a lot when I'm surrounded by inefficiencies, or rather, things that I would do differently. The company is changing up a few practices in the interest of saving money, and my first couple of weeks were sacrificed to the alter of making it work:

I started out the year on the road alone, setting up my seminars and piecing together my paperwork at the agonizingly slow speed that only 4.5 months away from something can provide. As the week progressed, I added a second presenter to the car and therefore a second seminar to my morning responsibility, and nearly melted down while waiting for my voicemail to be set up to ensure I had reliable contact with the office.

The second week out was more or less fine, although the finer points of getting along with a presenter took some refreshing... although the memory that all mistakes are forgiven if you make a Starbucks run was the quickest to return.

This last week, once again burdened with two seminars, I managed as best I could while FedEx attempted to foil me over and over. Problems that I had never run into in the whole of the last year cropped up--the missing tech case, the wrong CEU paperwork shipped to me, and a box packaged inside of another box with all identifying information destroyed. That along with managing the personalities of two male presenters, one of whom was extremely hard of hearing, with two opposing senses of humor was a lot to handle. My sanity was saved in Manchester, at my Hampton Inn with a Sauna and at the best meeting facility in the whole USA--SERESC. There will be future posts about SERESC, perhaps even an ode.

This week, I had already had my Monday seminar cancelled when I got a call Sunday night letting me know that my packing procrastination had paid off--no Tuesday seminar either (sadly, due to a death in the family of the presenter). Two days working in the office in Bellevue, and a flight out tomorrow morning. I only regret the time I didn't get to spend christmas shopping in Manchester.

All in all, I think the complaining can come to a rest now, and I can go back to buzzing around the country marveling at how great life can be. And since my photos from NZ, Fiji, and Sydney are all up on Flickr now, I think I can start taking pictures again. Hope you're all ready for this...

Rolling Through

Making the most of the short time I have in a city is sometimes really difficult. When I get into town it's already dark and then I have to combat hunger and fatigue to get myself to move. This week is both easy and hard because I'm flying everywhere... Hard because I have no mode of transportation other than cabs but easy because I've got some great cities.

In Houston I took the hotel shuttle to get some BBQ at Goode Co. The next night in San Antonio, I made the effort to go out and see the alamo and riverwalk on the local shuttle, but I ended up spending money on a cab ride home (although, for <$10 total, it was worth it!). Dallas was a stay at the hotel night, since we were in the middle of nowhere. Phoenix was fun because another PM was in town and so we went out to get some dinner. Then last night my presenter and I went to the hotel bar to chat, drink, and look at some of her amazing photos from her african safari. Today my flight doesn't leave until late so I'm going to be able to check my bags at the hotel and borrow their shuttle to Old Town to wander around the fun parts of Albuquerque.

So all in all, I guess I'm making the most of this job. I'll see how much I can keep this up, especially in colder climates. Sometimes I feel like I'm not doing enough, or doing my job well because there is no one around to compare myself to. Perhaps that's the best thing of all... to be in a position to not really compare myself to other people. I definitely get feedback messages from my manager to reconfirm that I am not screwing up and in fact am doing quite well. God I appreciate those after not having much in the way of real feedback in my previous jobs... or maybe I just appreciate feeling managed rather than feeling like someone who is supervised by someone who makes awkward the general feeling surrounding them.

Oh, and by the way...

where the hell did all these social skills come from?

...and why have I been relegating myself to being the "nerd" when the only nerdy thing I really have going is the fact that every once in a while I throw out a rather large (but utterly appropriate) word?

Week 1 Recap

The lack of posts last week might be rectified this week... I brought my computer. Even better, I'm sitting at my gate waiting for my Continental flight to Houston and discovered that I'm close enough to the outside of the "Elite Access" club room that I can pick up the free wifi signal. :)

Last week was a whirlwind... Packing was stressful, flying was typical, renting a car and driving in a new state was completely new and different, and being with my training group was fun and helped me get a handle on how all of these various little components of the job come together to make sense on a daily basis. Yet, it was nice to get rid of all the extra people and just do the job. Learning anything new takes more mental energy than once you've got a handle on it, and that was definitely the case all week. I came home exhausted, but thrilled with everything.

As for the highlights: seeing Maureen in Atlanta, making a lunch run over the river to take pictures in Kansas, getting room service and watching the debate in St. Louis, and splurging on a taxi ride to the Five Points South district of Birmingham and getting Indian at Taj, as recommended by a friend who grew up in B-ham. Some of the crazy moments: driving into construction and detour "road spaghetti" on the way to the St. Louis airport, working with the slowest staff ever in B-ham and having to ask for every little detail that was already outlined on their confirmation sheet, and realizing that coming into a city in the dark every night means I might be sketched out in even a nice part of town. My presenter this week was nice enough, although she had very little interest in going out or leaving the hotel. In fact, she liked to get to where she needed to go right away and stay there. No dinners out with her, but at least I had my training group to ease the boredom.

So some statistics (as per the suggestion of my dear friend KN :)):

• flights: 4
• airlines: Delta (x2), Southwest, American
• cars rented: Blue Chevy Trailblazer
• states visited: Georgia, Missouri, Kansas, Alabama
• new states: 4
• dinners alone: 2

This week is a southwest adventure, from Houston to San Antonio, to Dallas, to Phoenix, to Alburquerque and then home. I'll be flying every day this week and racking up the miles! We'll see how much internet I can manage, but hopefully I'll be able to at least stake out claims near the elite clubs. :)