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Back from Training in Georgia.
Mar. 11th, 2003 09:00 pmFinally got back home last night from Georgia. I think that the school went extremely well, and I made a bunch of friends (not to mention learning a thing or seven). I'm going to make one biiiiig ol' post here about the past 11 or so days. Some of this stuff will be of no interest to a lot of you, so feel free to skim. However, if you would like to know what it was that I did - read on. If you have any questions feel free to comment or email me with your throughts. And now? the post:
Saturday March 1st, 2003
Jeanine took me to the Lehigh Valley International Airport this morning at the ungodly hour of 6:30 am(ish). After waiting what felt like forever to get myself checked in and my luggage checked, I joined Andy and we made our way to the terminal. We waited a fairly short while and went to board our plane. As I went to board the plane, I was pulled aside for a random check. I was compliant as possible and the security guards were professional, friendly, and smiling. In no time, I was allowed to board the plane. I had the middle seat in a three seat grouping. There was no such thing as comfort, but that's okay - I managed to sleep for a while. Poor Andy finally figured out how to recline his seat just in time for the stewardess to tell him to put it back up - we were landing.
We landed in Charlott NC and headed straight for our terminal. As we mad our way we noticed the departure boards that our flight was delayed roughly 4 hours. We were less than thrilled, but we headed outside and caught a cab to the 'closest' mall. The mall sucked. It was ritzy and new, and the stores consisted of (almost exclusively) diamond jewelers and sunglass shops. We left the mall behind (on foot) and found a strip mall not far away. There, Andy went into a salon and got a haircut while I went to a Borders Books a few doors down. I got a kick out of the fact that the salon actually laid rose petals on the sidewalk in front of their doors. When he was done with his haircut and I was done at the bookstore, Andy and I had lunch at the Ruby Tuesdays that was part of the strip mall. When we were finished with our meal, we called A.B.T. (the cabby who drove us to the mall) and had him take us back to the airport.
We made our way to our gate and again Andy got stopped for security check again. While he was delayed, I thought that I would check the departure boards. It was then that I had the oh-so-great news. Our flight was cancelled. Now obviously I am being sarcastic about the 'good' news, but not entirely. I have to admit that I was a little excited by the fact that this was an opportunity for me to 'take charge' and prove that I could handle some tough spots. I called Mike immediately. Looking back, that doesn't seem like 'taking charge' really, but my intent was good- I knew what I needed to do, but I wanted to give Mike an update. After talking to Mike briefly we made our way to our terminal again. Talking to the folks there, we were told we had to go to the Customer Service desk and they would take care of us. Customer service got us a flight into Atlanta (instead of Athens) which arrived at 5:15pm (which was, of course, 15 minutes after we were supposed to be at dinner in Athens). They also gave us a voucher that was to get us a taxi ride from Atlanta to Athens.
We caught our flight (after I got myself a cup of coffee from a Krispy Kreme store) and had a much more pleasurable flight this time around. I sat in the window seat of a triple seat grouping, and was joined by an attractive woman (who apparently does yoga as well as knitting). Andy rode next to a pretty blonde who he apparently flirted with during the majority of the trip.
We ran into a little bit of trouble getting a taxi in Atlanta due to some questions about the voucher, but once that was taken care of we were on our way. The drive was pleasant and our driver was more 'fun' than "A.B.T.". We got to Athens, got checked into the hotel, and made our way to the American Fencing Association group in time to get into our groups and get registered with the AFA.
When the AFA meeting was finished, we headed down the street to a mini-mart for some dinner and brews. Now? Back to my room, where I met my roommate (finally) and got to work writing this. As a side note, my roomie is from Michigan and likes to hunt. He's ex-military and I already have forgotten his name.
Time for bed- need to shower and get some sleep - the alarm clock is set for 6:30am.
Sunday March 2nd, 2003
Woke up a little on the late side (though in plenty of time to make breakfast) and pulled on my clothes. My roomie was already up and moving. Breakfast was buffet style and very not bad. I even got to have grits for the first time in a long time and they weren't even bad. Met a few more folks including a guy from NJ and someone who 'used to do business with ABE' and is formerly from the Philly area (though he never did give us his name).
As a side note, I was surprised last night/this morning to note that there are in fact a couple of women here. I was more surprised to see that they aren't more manly than most of the guys.
First Aid Discussion
Safe Gate Operators lecture given by Buck Buchmann. Get this guy's business card! After hearing him talk I know that I have to talk to Mike about the Ross gate operator - it's a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Lunch was cold cuts, but I have never seen cold cuts done so elegantly. This place is really quite nice without feeling 'hoity-toity'. Lime pie for desert was really tart, but good.
Pride in fencing. I didn't happen to get this guy's name (yet) but he did one hell of a job doing motivational speaking. I found myself getting riled about fencing. Proud even (go figure). When someone commented at the end of his lecture that he should be a football coach, I thought that they hit the nail on the head.
CPR Training / Testing. There's not a whole lot of times in my life when I feel what I would call 'real' pride. In other words: I don't often feel like I do something that is worthy of my pride. Today I had the opportunity to excel like that. We did the standard CPR training movies, and then we got the chance to practice a little with the Annies. I was approximately the third to practice and I went straight from that to the 'testing Annie'. Not only did I pass, but I did well enough that the instructor's only comment was "give it just a little longer between breaths" and then when I finished: "Well done. Very well done." That felt really good. Good enough that I (basically) rushed right up here to my room to write about it. I even figure I will add an entry about this in my LiveJournal if I don't recopy all of these journal entries straight over.
Round Table Discussion - See my Round Table document, but I would like to point out that the man who held this discussion was the same man who gave the Pride lecture. A fairly strong motivational speaker, he seemed (to me) to loose control a bit here in this slightly more 'open' forum.
Monday March 3rd, 2003
Food for thought commentary this morning: "It pays to be profit minded. Dave Thompson spoke about how being oriented towards the benefit of your company benefits you as their employee. He spoke of pride in the workplace and in a job well done. He has proven himself to be quite the motivational speaker.
Notes: Wednesday night is the Gate Operator class with Buck Buchanan
Notes: Thursday night is the blueprint reading class (with Fred Venette?)
As a member of the Green Team I spoke about the topic "Slips and Falls" in our toolbox meeting at lunch and need to speak about Fire Extinguishers at dinner on Wednesday night (or during Wed. night wrap-up).
Personal Notes about fire extinguishers:
1. You should regularly inspect your fire extinguishers to make certain that they are:
a. fully charged
b. not worn or damaged
c. readilly accessible
2. The three different types of fires are (and each has their own type of fire extinguisher):
a. Class A: ordinary combustible materials - i.e. wood, paper, plastic
b. Class B: flammable liquids such as oil, grease, or gasoline
c. Class C: electrical equipment
Notes: REFERENCE PINS - something we should start doing!
I took special interest in the fact that Fred Venette made it sound as though string lines were taboo tonight during his lecture. Thus far I have been very impressed by Fred's intellect and his logic, so I thought that I would hear him out on the idea. What he had to say was pretty valid, though it was obvious that someone who lives in the Southwest- and not the Northeast said it. He pointed out that wind will blow a string line - that tumbleweed with push a string line (I told you...), and that even when you place a string line over a hill, what you're really doing is eyeing it up anyway -so why not do that directly with the posts? It seemed a valid point. I don't plan to use a whole lot of string lines when I get back. I think that they have their place, but not on every job.
Saturday March 1st, 2003
Jeanine took me to the Lehigh Valley International Airport this morning at the ungodly hour of 6:30 am(ish). After waiting what felt like forever to get myself checked in and my luggage checked, I joined Andy and we made our way to the terminal. We waited a fairly short while and went to board our plane. As I went to board the plane, I was pulled aside for a random check. I was compliant as possible and the security guards were professional, friendly, and smiling. In no time, I was allowed to board the plane. I had the middle seat in a three seat grouping. There was no such thing as comfort, but that's okay - I managed to sleep for a while. Poor Andy finally figured out how to recline his seat just in time for the stewardess to tell him to put it back up - we were landing.
We landed in Charlott NC and headed straight for our terminal. As we mad our way we noticed the departure boards that our flight was delayed roughly 4 hours. We were less than thrilled, but we headed outside and caught a cab to the 'closest' mall. The mall sucked. It was ritzy and new, and the stores consisted of (almost exclusively) diamond jewelers and sunglass shops. We left the mall behind (on foot) and found a strip mall not far away. There, Andy went into a salon and got a haircut while I went to a Borders Books a few doors down. I got a kick out of the fact that the salon actually laid rose petals on the sidewalk in front of their doors. When he was done with his haircut and I was done at the bookstore, Andy and I had lunch at the Ruby Tuesdays that was part of the strip mall. When we were finished with our meal, we called A.B.T. (the cabby who drove us to the mall) and had him take us back to the airport.
We made our way to our gate and again Andy got stopped for security check again. While he was delayed, I thought that I would check the departure boards. It was then that I had the oh-so-great news. Our flight was cancelled. Now obviously I am being sarcastic about the 'good' news, but not entirely. I have to admit that I was a little excited by the fact that this was an opportunity for me to 'take charge' and prove that I could handle some tough spots. I called Mike immediately. Looking back, that doesn't seem like 'taking charge' really, but my intent was good- I knew what I needed to do, but I wanted to give Mike an update. After talking to Mike briefly we made our way to our terminal again. Talking to the folks there, we were told we had to go to the Customer Service desk and they would take care of us. Customer service got us a flight into Atlanta (instead of Athens) which arrived at 5:15pm (which was, of course, 15 minutes after we were supposed to be at dinner in Athens). They also gave us a voucher that was to get us a taxi ride from Atlanta to Athens.
We caught our flight (after I got myself a cup of coffee from a Krispy Kreme store) and had a much more pleasurable flight this time around. I sat in the window seat of a triple seat grouping, and was joined by an attractive woman (who apparently does yoga as well as knitting). Andy rode next to a pretty blonde who he apparently flirted with during the majority of the trip.
We ran into a little bit of trouble getting a taxi in Atlanta due to some questions about the voucher, but once that was taken care of we were on our way. The drive was pleasant and our driver was more 'fun' than "A.B.T.". We got to Athens, got checked into the hotel, and made our way to the American Fencing Association group in time to get into our groups and get registered with the AFA.
When the AFA meeting was finished, we headed down the street to a mini-mart for some dinner and brews. Now? Back to my room, where I met my roommate (finally) and got to work writing this. As a side note, my roomie is from Michigan and likes to hunt. He's ex-military and I already have forgotten his name.
Time for bed- need to shower and get some sleep - the alarm clock is set for 6:30am.
Sunday March 2nd, 2003
Woke up a little on the late side (though in plenty of time to make breakfast) and pulled on my clothes. My roomie was already up and moving. Breakfast was buffet style and very not bad. I even got to have grits for the first time in a long time and they weren't even bad. Met a few more folks including a guy from NJ and someone who 'used to do business with ABE' and is formerly from the Philly area (though he never did give us his name).
As a side note, I was surprised last night/this morning to note that there are in fact a couple of women here. I was more surprised to see that they aren't more manly than most of the guys.
First Aid Discussion
Safe Gate Operators lecture given by Buck Buchmann. Get this guy's business card! After hearing him talk I know that I have to talk to Mike about the Ross gate operator - it's a lawsuit waiting to happen.
Lunch was cold cuts, but I have never seen cold cuts done so elegantly. This place is really quite nice without feeling 'hoity-toity'. Lime pie for desert was really tart, but good.
Pride in fencing. I didn't happen to get this guy's name (yet) but he did one hell of a job doing motivational speaking. I found myself getting riled about fencing. Proud even (go figure). When someone commented at the end of his lecture that he should be a football coach, I thought that they hit the nail on the head.
CPR Training / Testing. There's not a whole lot of times in my life when I feel what I would call 'real' pride. In other words: I don't often feel like I do something that is worthy of my pride. Today I had the opportunity to excel like that. We did the standard CPR training movies, and then we got the chance to practice a little with the Annies. I was approximately the third to practice and I went straight from that to the 'testing Annie'. Not only did I pass, but I did well enough that the instructor's only comment was "give it just a little longer between breaths" and then when I finished: "Well done. Very well done." That felt really good. Good enough that I (basically) rushed right up here to my room to write about it. I even figure I will add an entry about this in my LiveJournal if I don't recopy all of these journal entries straight over.
Round Table Discussion - See my Round Table document, but I would like to point out that the man who held this discussion was the same man who gave the Pride lecture. A fairly strong motivational speaker, he seemed (to me) to loose control a bit here in this slightly more 'open' forum.
Monday March 3rd, 2003
Food for thought commentary this morning: "It pays to be profit minded. Dave Thompson spoke about how being oriented towards the benefit of your company benefits you as their employee. He spoke of pride in the workplace and in a job well done. He has proven himself to be quite the motivational speaker.
Notes: Wednesday night is the Gate Operator class with Buck Buchanan
Notes: Thursday night is the blueprint reading class (with Fred Venette?)
As a member of the Green Team I spoke about the topic "Slips and Falls" in our toolbox meeting at lunch and need to speak about Fire Extinguishers at dinner on Wednesday night (or during Wed. night wrap-up).
Personal Notes about fire extinguishers:
1. You should regularly inspect your fire extinguishers to make certain that they are:
a. fully charged
b. not worn or damaged
c. readilly accessible
2. The three different types of fires are (and each has their own type of fire extinguisher):
a. Class A: ordinary combustible materials - i.e. wood, paper, plastic
b. Class B: flammable liquids such as oil, grease, or gasoline
c. Class C: electrical equipment
Notes: REFERENCE PINS - something we should start doing!
I took special interest in the fact that Fred Venette made it sound as though string lines were taboo tonight during his lecture. Thus far I have been very impressed by Fred's intellect and his logic, so I thought that I would hear him out on the idea. What he had to say was pretty valid, though it was obvious that someone who lives in the Southwest- and not the Northeast said it. He pointed out that wind will blow a string line - that tumbleweed with push a string line (I told you...), and that even when you place a string line over a hill, what you're really doing is eyeing it up anyway -so why not do that directly with the posts? It seemed a valid point. I don't plan to use a whole lot of string lines when I get back. I think that they have their place, but not on every job.
