Chicago/Indy Trip...
I'm sorry for taking so long on these. Anybody still out there?
So back in May, I had my first business trip related to my new job. It started out really bad. The plan was for me to fly to Chicago on Wednesday (May 17th), stay with Brian for a few days, train our sales staff on speech rec, and set up our in house speech recognition auto attendant application. Then I would spend the weekend with Travis and Julie and drive down to Indianapolis on Monday with Brian for the Interactive Intelligence End User Conference, hopefully getting my name associated with Adapt and picking up some sales leads. Then I would drive with Brian, or somebody else back to Chicago after the conference and spend Friday in the office making plans. I would then spend Friday night and Saturday with Travis and Julie and then fly home.
Well, the wheels on that plan came off pretty quickly.
First, Brian's girlfriend's grandmother got sick and was on her death bed. As a result, I couldn't stay with him. I found this out the Monday before I was supposed to leave. So I tried to find a hotel. For some reason, everything was really expensive and the whole town seemed to be booked up. I managed to reserve a room at $300 a night at the Marriott downtown. And I got some grief for the cost. But the hotel they recommended was like $260 and besides, they were sold out.
So I drove to the Sacramento airport on Wednesday. My flight took off late because our pilots were late in getting in. The flight was pretty mellow once we took off, but as we were getting close to Chicago, we started flying figure eights.
Thunderstorms were preventing us from landing. So we had to divert to St. Louis for fuel. And there were no gates, so we waited on the tarmac for a half hour or so. It was cool to see the arch again...
...but still a bummer. We finally fueled up and got in the air again, only to arrive at Midway when everyone else was also landing late, so again, no gate. It took another half hour or so to get off the plane.
So then I get my bags and hop in a cab. I get to the Marriott around 11:00 after travelling all day (I left home at 6:45 AM) and try to check in and they inform me that they had me booked for Tuesday and Wednesday and not Wednesday and Thursday. I ask how this could have happened and they assure me that they don't know. I said, "Well if you had me booked for last night and tonight, that means you have a room for me tonight, right?"
"Sorry, no sir, we are sold out."
So I have to call Travis out in Oak Park and ask if I can stay there. I mean, it's Travis, and I knew it would be OK. It was just a drag. So I get another cab and head out to Oak Park. I check my messages and Brian left one saying he wouldn't be in until after lunch. I get to Travis and Julie's a little after midnight and rack out in the guest bedroom. I call another cab in the morning and get in to the office around 10:30. No training, no servers to work on, it was just one big slow unproductive day. And Brian's girlfriend's grandmother died and he told me he was no longer going to the conference.
OK. And let me take a minute to add that I felt badly for Brian's girlfriend and the loss of her grandmother. She's really nice and I had a lot of fun when we got to hang out a couple of years ago. And I felt badly for Brian as well. He was pretty close to the grandmother. And it's always a bummer when people die. It happens, though, and it's never convenient. And since this is my blog, I am only writing about how it inconvenienced me.
Having said that, let me continue.
Friday, since nobody I needed to deal with was going to be in the office, I telecommuted. This may be an historic first - working from home while travelling for business.
My ride to Indy changed fove or six times and the wheel finally stopped on me riding with Jeryy, the new sales director. So it was practially hitchhiking - three and a half hours in the car with a complete stranger.
OK, so the weekend was pretty great, actually.
I got to go out to dinner with Travis, Julie, Sadie, and Travis' Mom, Marlene for Travis' birthday...
On Saturday, I got to go on the Wright Plus! Walk. That was really cool. Rachel and I go all apey for Frank Lloyd Wright, and our next big home improvement project involves decorating the top floor of The Hotel Yorba in the Prarie Style. You can buy all kinds of overpriced crap from the studio or on the web, but it can get tacky pretty quick. You end up with 30 or 40 things from different houses that just don't go together.
Anyway, we went to 12 or so houses, some by Frank Llloyd Wright, some by his contemporaries, and walk around inside. It was a whole lot cooler than the PBS specials. Unfortunately, the house owners did not allow photography inside the house. And I must be getting old because I honored their wishes. But here's the outside of some of what we saw...
In this picture, you can see Travis, Julie and I. And the house behind us can be yours for a mere $4.5 million...
...I am not kidding.
The best part for me was getting inside Unity Temple. When Rachel and I visited 5 years ago, the temple was closed for a private service and we could not go inside. This time I got to, and I heard a lecture about the history and we were encouraged to take pictures - I even got to lie down on the floor and snap some...
On Sunday, we went to the Old Town School Of Folk Music for little Sadie's art class. As I mentioned in an earlier post, OTS is one of the coolest palces on the planet. My favorite thing is to sit outside and watch people go in with all sorts of bags carrying every instrument you can think of.
Also, as I mentioned, I bought a banjo. There's a little more to the story that I think is worth telling. About six years ago I went there and I fell in love with a green mandolin. I bought it thinking I would learn how to play it and love it or sell it. Well, I tried learning and never quite got the bug. But I was able to sell it for $50 less than I paid for it. It went to a good home, and as I understand it, my friend Ian used it on the Detroit Disciples last album. Debbie got a good price on a nice used but still beautiful mandolin as a gift for Ian, and I essentially rented a mandolin for $50 for a year.
OK, so I have had the banjo bug for a couple of years now. But even an entry level banjo is really expensive - like $400. So I never indulged. Well, the place is magical. There was a huge annual sale going on, and the music shop was packed. Travis and I walked around. I looked at banjos but they were all too expensive. Ohne in particular caught my eye, but it was almost $900. I started a conversation with a man who was messing around with a $1,500 banjo. He was pretty good. I explained that I thought I would really enjoy playing banjo because I love finger picking on guitar, but that they were always too expensive.
He pointed to one and said, "You should check that one out."
I said, "I did, but it's like $900."
He said (and here's where I swear the OTS magic comes in - like Moe's Books), "Are you sure? I think it's used."
And I picked it up and flipped over the tag, and sure enough, it was used - $387 and 40% off a case."
Sold. I bought it, the case, and the Earl Skruggs book and CD.
That was pretty cool.
OK, so we went to lunch at the Daily Grill. Always yummy...
On Monday, Jerry, the new Sales Director, picked me up and we drove down to Indy.
You know what? This is taking forever, so I will summarize.
The first night was a bummer. I was at Kinko's at 10:30 printing up marketing materials and then stuffing them in to folders until midnight.
There were real Indy cars in the lobby...
That was cool.
The show was pretty successful for me. I got some leads and I am confident that a few will turn in to actual projects.
The best thing was a woman read my nametag and said, "Oh my god, you're Eric. We love you!" I said something like, "Thanks, so does my wife. Who are you?" Well, she works for Excellus and I did a speech rec project for her company last year without ever meeting her in person. It was pretty cool and made me look good.
We went to dinner with a bunch of Adapt customers on Tuesday night. A young woman who weighs maybe 100 lbs. ordered a 3 lb Porterhouse or something. I swear, the steak was bigger than her waist. When she ordered, the waiter said, "Are you sure?" But she ate most of it.
Everyone from Adapt bailed out by Wednesday, and I didn't have a ride back to Chicago. So I changed Sunday flight home from Chicago to a Thursday flight home from Indy. The flight home was uneventful. And I somehow made it home from Sacramento in 90 minutes or so.
Th epoint that I failed to get across here is that I was really freaked out and wondering if I made a mistake in joining Adapt. Everything was a disaster at the start of the trip. But by the end of the trip, I learned that everyone works like me and goes the extra mile to get things done and done well, even under the worst of circumstances. I have some really talented coworkers who are also fun to be with. And besides that, I got to spend a great weekend in Chicago.
That's about it. Oh, except that Sadie might be too cute...
...What do you think, Julie?
So back in May, I had my first business trip related to my new job. It started out really bad. The plan was for me to fly to Chicago on Wednesday (May 17th), stay with Brian for a few days, train our sales staff on speech rec, and set up our in house speech recognition auto attendant application. Then I would spend the weekend with Travis and Julie and drive down to Indianapolis on Monday with Brian for the Interactive Intelligence End User Conference, hopefully getting my name associated with Adapt and picking up some sales leads. Then I would drive with Brian, or somebody else back to Chicago after the conference and spend Friday in the office making plans. I would then spend Friday night and Saturday with Travis and Julie and then fly home.
Well, the wheels on that plan came off pretty quickly.
First, Brian's girlfriend's grandmother got sick and was on her death bed. As a result, I couldn't stay with him. I found this out the Monday before I was supposed to leave. So I tried to find a hotel. For some reason, everything was really expensive and the whole town seemed to be booked up. I managed to reserve a room at $300 a night at the Marriott downtown. And I got some grief for the cost. But the hotel they recommended was like $260 and besides, they were sold out.
So I drove to the Sacramento airport on Wednesday. My flight took off late because our pilots were late in getting in. The flight was pretty mellow once we took off, but as we were getting close to Chicago, we started flying figure eights.
Thunderstorms were preventing us from landing. So we had to divert to St. Louis for fuel. And there were no gates, so we waited on the tarmac for a half hour or so. It was cool to see the arch again...
...but still a bummer. We finally fueled up and got in the air again, only to arrive at Midway when everyone else was also landing late, so again, no gate. It took another half hour or so to get off the plane.
So then I get my bags and hop in a cab. I get to the Marriott around 11:00 after travelling all day (I left home at 6:45 AM) and try to check in and they inform me that they had me booked for Tuesday and Wednesday and not Wednesday and Thursday. I ask how this could have happened and they assure me that they don't know. I said, "Well if you had me booked for last night and tonight, that means you have a room for me tonight, right?"
"Sorry, no sir, we are sold out."
So I have to call Travis out in Oak Park and ask if I can stay there. I mean, it's Travis, and I knew it would be OK. It was just a drag. So I get another cab and head out to Oak Park. I check my messages and Brian left one saying he wouldn't be in until after lunch. I get to Travis and Julie's a little after midnight and rack out in the guest bedroom. I call another cab in the morning and get in to the office around 10:30. No training, no servers to work on, it was just one big slow unproductive day. And Brian's girlfriend's grandmother died and he told me he was no longer going to the conference.
OK. And let me take a minute to add that I felt badly for Brian's girlfriend and the loss of her grandmother. She's really nice and I had a lot of fun when we got to hang out a couple of years ago. And I felt badly for Brian as well. He was pretty close to the grandmother. And it's always a bummer when people die. It happens, though, and it's never convenient. And since this is my blog, I am only writing about how it inconvenienced me.
Having said that, let me continue.
Friday, since nobody I needed to deal with was going to be in the office, I telecommuted. This may be an historic first - working from home while travelling for business.
My ride to Indy changed fove or six times and the wheel finally stopped on me riding with Jeryy, the new sales director. So it was practially hitchhiking - three and a half hours in the car with a complete stranger.
OK, so the weekend was pretty great, actually.
I got to go out to dinner with Travis, Julie, Sadie, and Travis' Mom, Marlene for Travis' birthday...
On Saturday, I got to go on the Wright Plus! Walk. That was really cool. Rachel and I go all apey for Frank Lloyd Wright, and our next big home improvement project involves decorating the top floor of The Hotel Yorba in the Prarie Style. You can buy all kinds of overpriced crap from the studio or on the web, but it can get tacky pretty quick. You end up with 30 or 40 things from different houses that just don't go together.
Anyway, we went to 12 or so houses, some by Frank Llloyd Wright, some by his contemporaries, and walk around inside. It was a whole lot cooler than the PBS specials. Unfortunately, the house owners did not allow photography inside the house. And I must be getting old because I honored their wishes. But here's the outside of some of what we saw...
In this picture, you can see Travis, Julie and I. And the house behind us can be yours for a mere $4.5 million...
...I am not kidding.
The best part for me was getting inside Unity Temple. When Rachel and I visited 5 years ago, the temple was closed for a private service and we could not go inside. This time I got to, and I heard a lecture about the history and we were encouraged to take pictures - I even got to lie down on the floor and snap some...
On Sunday, we went to the Old Town School Of Folk Music for little Sadie's art class. As I mentioned in an earlier post, OTS is one of the coolest palces on the planet. My favorite thing is to sit outside and watch people go in with all sorts of bags carrying every instrument you can think of.
Also, as I mentioned, I bought a banjo. There's a little more to the story that I think is worth telling. About six years ago I went there and I fell in love with a green mandolin. I bought it thinking I would learn how to play it and love it or sell it. Well, I tried learning and never quite got the bug. But I was able to sell it for $50 less than I paid for it. It went to a good home, and as I understand it, my friend Ian used it on the Detroit Disciples last album. Debbie got a good price on a nice used but still beautiful mandolin as a gift for Ian, and I essentially rented a mandolin for $50 for a year.
OK, so I have had the banjo bug for a couple of years now. But even an entry level banjo is really expensive - like $400. So I never indulged. Well, the place is magical. There was a huge annual sale going on, and the music shop was packed. Travis and I walked around. I looked at banjos but they were all too expensive. Ohne in particular caught my eye, but it was almost $900. I started a conversation with a man who was messing around with a $1,500 banjo. He was pretty good. I explained that I thought I would really enjoy playing banjo because I love finger picking on guitar, but that they were always too expensive.
He pointed to one and said, "You should check that one out."
I said, "I did, but it's like $900."
He said (and here's where I swear the OTS magic comes in - like Moe's Books), "Are you sure? I think it's used."
And I picked it up and flipped over the tag, and sure enough, it was used - $387 and 40% off a case."
Sold. I bought it, the case, and the Earl Skruggs book and CD.
That was pretty cool.
OK, so we went to lunch at the Daily Grill. Always yummy...
On Monday, Jerry, the new Sales Director, picked me up and we drove down to Indy.
You know what? This is taking forever, so I will summarize.
The first night was a bummer. I was at Kinko's at 10:30 printing up marketing materials and then stuffing them in to folders until midnight.
There were real Indy cars in the lobby...
That was cool.
The show was pretty successful for me. I got some leads and I am confident that a few will turn in to actual projects.
The best thing was a woman read my nametag and said, "Oh my god, you're Eric. We love you!" I said something like, "Thanks, so does my wife. Who are you?" Well, she works for Excellus and I did a speech rec project for her company last year without ever meeting her in person. It was pretty cool and made me look good.
We went to dinner with a bunch of Adapt customers on Tuesday night. A young woman who weighs maybe 100 lbs. ordered a 3 lb Porterhouse or something. I swear, the steak was bigger than her waist. When she ordered, the waiter said, "Are you sure?" But she ate most of it.
Everyone from Adapt bailed out by Wednesday, and I didn't have a ride back to Chicago. So I changed Sunday flight home from Chicago to a Thursday flight home from Indy. The flight home was uneventful. And I somehow made it home from Sacramento in 90 minutes or so.
Th epoint that I failed to get across here is that I was really freaked out and wondering if I made a mistake in joining Adapt. Everything was a disaster at the start of the trip. But by the end of the trip, I learned that everyone works like me and goes the extra mile to get things done and done well, even under the worst of circumstances. I have some really talented coworkers who are also fun to be with. And besides that, I got to spend a great weekend in Chicago.
That's about it. Oh, except that Sadie might be too cute...
...What do you think, Julie?
posted by Eric Soderstrom at 10:24 PM
2 Comments:
Well, she is kinda cute.
I agree, she is. And I have some better pictures, well, in my opinion. But Rachel liked this one because it captures her in motion - and she is definitely an active child.
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