FINALLY :)
4.05.2006 by Colee
queso, here's my week so far in a pretty long nutshell.
We flew out of SLC on Sunday afternoon, I was pretty bummed because it meant I had to miss President Hinckley's address. But, the flight was good, layover in Houston was fine, got to Baton Rouge. The very nice lady at the rental car company hands me a sheet of directions on how to get to our hotel. I put them in my pocket. Somewhere between the desk and the car, I lost them. Instead of just going back in for new directions, Jeremy decides we can find it on our own. We couldn't.
We took the wrong direction on the freeway. We make a U-ie and get going the other direction, but we second guess ourselves this was the right direction, by the way and we were within 2 exits of our hotel.) So we call for directions. She tells us to take 253, well, we were at 260 - hiding out under an overpass in the ghetto, so we turn around. Exit 253 is the exit for Port Allan. We crossed the bridge and decided we were still wrong. We called her back. This time it is exit 263. Did I mention we were sooooo close the first time? So, we got turned around, took the right exit, missed the second half of the exit and end up on the wrong side of the median, but finally got to the hotel. Steph met us at the hotel and took us to The Cheesecake Bistro where I had my first Jambalya. OH MY YUMMY. It was, wow. Clark- you have got to hook me up with a recipe for that. Stephanie also showed us how to get to the center so we wouldn't get lost with our client. Good call, eh?
Monday we took the client to our center. The client visit was very positive. But, the fun part of the visit for me was FINALLY meeting the Baton Rouge team. I love these people. Many of whom I have worked with for years and never met or seen or done anything face to face. I am usually pretty good at putting faces with voices. Not so much here. I think I was wrong, completely on 100% of the people. Doesn't matter. Now I know them, and they are stuck in my head forever :) I really do enjoy this team. They care about the center and they care about what they can do to make it successful; plus, they are the nicest people ever ;)
Monday night we went to the Fox and the Hound to watch the NCAA mens finals. LSU was not in them, so it was not as much fun as it could have been. We played pool. I sucked it up, a lot. But still had a lot of fun. Then we ended up going to the casino where they tried to show me how to play blackjack. I think I get it. I am still not going to play for money. Dude, I'm poor. Dan was freaking hillarious. He was on one for sure and we all laughed so hard. I was sad I had had so much water. We got back to the hotel about 1 AM. We had to be up by 4:30 and out the door of the hotel by 5:40 to be on a flight at 7:00. I was butt tired, but at least not hung over. Not all of the party can make that claim.
Tuesday we all made our flight :) We flew till Noon when we got to FtWorth- at two different airports. We got to the center about 1:00 and I got to meet Joe Bob. Anyone with the name Joe Bob is worth meeting. We actually had another excellent site visit. I enjoy the information sharing. It actually feels like we are really working together on things. Tuesday night we went for mexican food- come on, we were in Texas. After dinner we ended up at a pool hall. I lost a lot- again. But about 11 there was a DJ and most of the party was pretty inebriated, and I was high on life (and 3 hours of sleep) so at least it was fairly amusing. We actually went dancing for a bit - I am pretty sure I was laughing too hard to keep any kind of rythm. We got back to the hotel about midnight thirty. I had some work to do, so I did that a bit and got to bed about 2. Now, y'all know I am a sleeper, so although these times don't seem to be an issue for some of you- please know that they make me struggle.
Wednesday, since the people we were out with were the same ones we were supposed to be meeting we got a little later start. I was still up at 7, but at least it wasn't 5. We went back to the FtWorth center and I spent the morning having flashbacks. If any of you know what a WOB or a WOX or an SIU are - or know which you pronounce as as words, not initials - please take a moment of silence. It was deja vu.
So we left around 1 for me to make my 3 o'clock flight. We took the wrong exit, because I can not read directions, apparently. But we were totally fine. I finshed my book, hung out and watched the news.... yeah, plane was delayed. Not too long though, so it was fine. I got to BTR and found my hotel- all by myself, with a little help from mapquest... Ironically, it is the hotel that connects to the casino we were at on Monday. The rooms are nice, so it's ok ;) There is not an empty room in the town, so it really isn't an option.
Nita and I were going to go to New Orleans tonight so I could see it- and eat gator. It didn't happen. We did end up going to a place called Drusilla Seafood. I had my first crawfish and oyster and soft shelled crab and hush puppy and lots of other stuff. It was kind of a pass the plate around the table deal. MMMMMmmmmmmm... She was disappointed they had no gator, so she's gonna do some digging for me for tomorrow. I spent the evening with Nita and some of her family. It was really pleasant.
Well, there it is. Tomorrow I get to go to work with Lisa and hopefully I can be useful.
We flew out of SLC on Sunday afternoon, I was pretty bummed because it meant I had to miss President Hinckley's address. But, the flight was good, layover in Houston was fine, got to Baton Rouge. The very nice lady at the rental car company hands me a sheet of directions on how to get to our hotel. I put them in my pocket. Somewhere between the desk and the car, I lost them. Instead of just going back in for new directions, Jeremy decides we can find it on our own. We couldn't.
We took the wrong direction on the freeway. We make a U-ie and get going the other direction, but we second guess ourselves this was the right direction, by the way and we were within 2 exits of our hotel.) So we call for directions. She tells us to take 253, well, we were at 260 - hiding out under an overpass in the ghetto, so we turn around. Exit 253 is the exit for Port Allan. We crossed the bridge and decided we were still wrong. We called her back. This time it is exit 263. Did I mention we were sooooo close the first time? So, we got turned around, took the right exit, missed the second half of the exit and end up on the wrong side of the median, but finally got to the hotel. Steph met us at the hotel and took us to The Cheesecake Bistro where I had my first Jambalya. OH MY YUMMY. It was, wow. Clark- you have got to hook me up with a recipe for that. Stephanie also showed us how to get to the center so we wouldn't get lost with our client. Good call, eh?
Monday we took the client to our center. The client visit was very positive. But, the fun part of the visit for me was FINALLY meeting the Baton Rouge team. I love these people. Many of whom I have worked with for years and never met or seen or done anything face to face. I am usually pretty good at putting faces with voices. Not so much here. I think I was wrong, completely on 100% of the people. Doesn't matter. Now I know them, and they are stuck in my head forever :) I really do enjoy this team. They care about the center and they care about what they can do to make it successful; plus, they are the nicest people ever ;)
Monday night we went to the Fox and the Hound to watch the NCAA mens finals. LSU was not in them, so it was not as much fun as it could have been. We played pool. I sucked it up, a lot. But still had a lot of fun. Then we ended up going to the casino where they tried to show me how to play blackjack. I think I get it. I am still not going to play for money. Dude, I'm poor. Dan was freaking hillarious. He was on one for sure and we all laughed so hard. I was sad I had had so much water. We got back to the hotel about 1 AM. We had to be up by 4:30 and out the door of the hotel by 5:40 to be on a flight at 7:00. I was butt tired, but at least not hung over. Not all of the party can make that claim.
Tuesday we all made our flight :) We flew till Noon when we got to FtWorth- at two different airports. We got to the center about 1:00 and I got to meet Joe Bob. Anyone with the name Joe Bob is worth meeting. We actually had another excellent site visit. I enjoy the information sharing. It actually feels like we are really working together on things. Tuesday night we went for mexican food- come on, we were in Texas. After dinner we ended up at a pool hall. I lost a lot- again. But about 11 there was a DJ and most of the party was pretty inebriated, and I was high on life (and 3 hours of sleep) so at least it was fairly amusing. We actually went dancing for a bit - I am pretty sure I was laughing too hard to keep any kind of rythm. We got back to the hotel about midnight thirty. I had some work to do, so I did that a bit and got to bed about 2. Now, y'all know I am a sleeper, so although these times don't seem to be an issue for some of you- please know that they make me struggle.
Wednesday, since the people we were out with were the same ones we were supposed to be meeting we got a little later start. I was still up at 7, but at least it wasn't 5. We went back to the FtWorth center and I spent the morning having flashbacks. If any of you know what a WOB or a WOX or an SIU are - or know which you pronounce as as words, not initials - please take a moment of silence. It was deja vu.
So we left around 1 for me to make my 3 o'clock flight. We took the wrong exit, because I can not read directions, apparently. But we were totally fine. I finshed my book, hung out and watched the news.... yeah, plane was delayed. Not too long though, so it was fine. I got to BTR and found my hotel- all by myself, with a little help from mapquest... Ironically, it is the hotel that connects to the casino we were at on Monday. The rooms are nice, so it's ok ;) There is not an empty room in the town, so it really isn't an option.
Nita and I were going to go to New Orleans tonight so I could see it- and eat gator. It didn't happen. We did end up going to a place called Drusilla Seafood. I had my first crawfish and oyster and soft shelled crab and hush puppy and lots of other stuff. It was kind of a pass the plate around the table deal. MMMMMmmmmmmm... She was disappointed they had no gator, so she's gonna do some digging for me for tomorrow. I spent the evening with Nita and some of her family. It was really pleasant.
Well, there it is. Tomorrow I get to go to work with Lisa and hopefully I can be useful.
Holy crap! That sounds like fun! I'm jealous. Say hi to the people of Louisiana for me. Can you see why I love the food from my mission?