Newark, New Jersey
Snatches of an actual conversation going on next to me at the bar in the Holiday Inn in Newark:
"You know when you first winked at me, I thought you were a hooker (there was no doubt she was a hooker). I mean why would a girl like you be interested in an old guy like me?"
"I just like older men."
"So you're not a hooker?"
"No baby, of course not." (She was barely able to keep a straight face)
"Good, good... So what do you do?"
"Oh, I run my own little business."
"Ah, an entrepreneur! That's great! What kind of business?"
"Umm...let's talk about you."
Hilarious. It's so rare that a place actually lives up to the expectation you have in your head.
That night I went out to see some friends, Alan and Nicole at a great bar named Tierney's in Montclair New Jersey. I wish I would've had more time, but it was kind of fun flashing into town for a couple of hours.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Monday, October 26, 2009
My Birthday!
Providence, RI
Ah, Fall in New England. Though the rain is coming down today, the past couple of days have been spectacular. As we’ve been driving through New Hampshire and Massachusetts, the days have been crisp and cool. The trees are draped with leaves the color of perfectly toasted marshmallows.
Yesterday was my birthday and Drew (another PM who happened to be in Providence as well) and I went out for dinner. We had a few beers at Rick’s Roadhouse in town and were served the biggest plate of nachos I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen a few plates of nachos.
My presenter this week is named Al Guenther. Al is 73 years old (with the energy of a 13 year old) and is a nutty physics teacher with intense OCD. His presentations are full of crazy science experiments that he shows to high school science teachers so they can use them in their class rooms. He has about eight tables of displays and exhibits that all fit very exactly into to two huge red suitcases. To help facilitate my packing of his exhibits, he has color-coded diagrams of how each wire, magnet or tube fits into its particular film canister, shoe box or tackle box. Then he has other color-coded diagrams that explain how each container fits into his suitcases. Basically, think of the way I organize my stuff and then picture the opposite.
It‘s a little trying figuring out how to pack up his stuff, but he makes up for it by being hilarious. He’s got some great stories, which is lucky since we’ve had a couple of three hour drives. He told me about how he had to flee Iran on Black Friday because he was working for the Shah. They had to sit on the runway for a couple of hours not knowing if they would be allowed to take off. Can you imagine what it must have felt like when they finally got in air?
What I learned today: Gloria (the woman who lives in my GPS) has absolutely no confidence in my sense of direction.
Ah, Fall in New England. Though the rain is coming down today, the past couple of days have been spectacular. As we’ve been driving through New Hampshire and Massachusetts, the days have been crisp and cool. The trees are draped with leaves the color of perfectly toasted marshmallows.
Yesterday was my birthday and Drew (another PM who happened to be in Providence as well) and I went out for dinner. We had a few beers at Rick’s Roadhouse in town and were served the biggest plate of nachos I’ve ever seen. And I’ve seen a few plates of nachos.
My presenter this week is named Al Guenther. Al is 73 years old (with the energy of a 13 year old) and is a nutty physics teacher with intense OCD. His presentations are full of crazy science experiments that he shows to high school science teachers so they can use them in their class rooms. He has about eight tables of displays and exhibits that all fit very exactly into to two huge red suitcases. To help facilitate my packing of his exhibits, he has color-coded diagrams of how each wire, magnet or tube fits into its particular film canister, shoe box or tackle box. Then he has other color-coded diagrams that explain how each container fits into his suitcases. Basically, think of the way I organize my stuff and then picture the opposite.
It‘s a little trying figuring out how to pack up his stuff, but he makes up for it by being hilarious. He’s got some great stories, which is lucky since we’ve had a couple of three hour drives. He told me about how he had to flee Iran on Black Friday because he was working for the Shah. They had to sit on the runway for a couple of hours not knowing if they would be allowed to take off. Can you imagine what it must have felt like when they finally got in air?
What I learned today: Gloria (the woman who lives in my GPS) has absolutely no confidence in my sense of direction.
Saturday, October 24, 2009
My Posse's on Broadway
Manchester, NH
After a long week rather than flying home, I decided to fly to Denver and then take a redeye to New York,
Meg Vita and I
so when I finally reached Manhattan I had only a couple of hours of airplane sleep. Luckily, I was revived by visiting one of my favorite people in the world (and many of yours) Meg Vita. She took a day and a half out of her very busy schedule at Columbia to hang out with me in the NYC. It was one of those weekends that though we only had thirty hours or so, we did so much it seemed like much longer. The highlights included a Brooklyn brewery tour (the beer more than the tour), whipping through Williamsburg in some dude’s BMW, big gulp margaritas, midnight meringue, a long hike through Central Park, coming out of the Park at the exact right street, portabella cheese burgers and the best chocolate peanut butter shake I’ve ever had.
The weekend was capped off when I picked up my rental car for my week in New England. In the morning, when we left Meg’s apartment, she decided to bring along a scarf, just in case my rental car was a convertible. “It won’t be a convertible, Meg,” I said confidently, “but bring it along if you want.” Well whatdoyaknow, when I walked up to the National Rent-a-car desk in mid-town Manhattan, the woman’s brow furrowed when she said, “All I have left is a Volvo C70. It’s not very big… but it’s a convertible.” Yessir, we cruised down Broadway in Manhattan in a beautiful black convertible, Meg looking like a starlet wearing my Ray-Ban (like) sunglasses and her scarf wrapped around her head, the ends fluttering in the breeze. When I got up here to New Hampshire, I had to exchange it for an SUV because it wasn’t big enough to carry my presenter’s suitcases, but it was totally worth it. Awesome couple of days!
What I learned today: When a street person asks you for money, it’s much harder to say no when you’re driving a flash convertible
Friday, October 23, 2009
The Joy of Children
Denver, CO
So I want to talk for a moment about babies on planes. When it comes to hyperactivity or other “imbalances” parents are quick on the draw to feed their kids Ritalin, Addrall and the such, so can’t we as a society decided that a very mild sedative be okay for children on flights? I can’t help but think with all of our fancy technology we could come up with a cherry flavored liquid form of valium that’s safe for kids under the age of seven.
These were my (more humane) thoughts as I squirmed and tried to get comfortable while the child in front of me screamed and cried the entire flight from Atlanta to Denver. I must say, as bad as it was for me, it must have been ten times worse for the Mom, so I felt for her (even though she obviously didn’t prescribe to my kiddie valium strategy). Ahh… it’s just so easy to comment on the way to raise a child when you have none of your own.
What I learned today: The quantity of helpful hotel people divided by the number
of screaming babies on the airplane equals the amount of joy I have in my heart.
So I want to talk for a moment about babies on planes. When it comes to hyperactivity or other “imbalances” parents are quick on the draw to feed their kids Ritalin, Addrall and the such, so can’t we as a society decided that a very mild sedative be okay for children on flights? I can’t help but think with all of our fancy technology we could come up with a cherry flavored liquid form of valium that’s safe for kids under the age of seven.
These were my (more humane) thoughts as I squirmed and tried to get comfortable while the child in front of me screamed and cried the entire flight from Atlanta to Denver. I must say, as bad as it was for me, it must have been ten times worse for the Mom, so I felt for her (even though she obviously didn’t prescribe to my kiddie valium strategy). Ahh… it’s just so easy to comment on the way to raise a child when you have none of your own.
What I learned today: The quantity of helpful hotel people divided by the number
of screaming babies on the airplane equals the amount of joy I have in my heart.
Thursday, October 22, 2009
PT Cruising
Edmonton, Alberta
My presenter for the last few days of this week is an energetic firecracker of a woman named Dana Finch. She’s from Texas with a charming Texan drawl, three football playing boys in her Texan family (along with a couple more foster children), lots of Texan beliefs and amazing energy that’s about the size of… well, Texas. Though I don’t always agree with Texans on religious or political questions, Dana was without a doubt one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I couldn’t help but laugh every time one of her boys called her on the phone and she would answer in the accent, “Hey Cody Finch!” or “Hey Luke Finch!”. Loved it.
Anyway, her first seminar with me was in Denver, where it was snowing, and then we had to fly up to Edmonton that afternoon. We got in late and then still had to pick up a rent-a-car and drive it forty minutes into beautiful downtown Edmonton. The only positive thing was that the rent-a-car people gave us a PT Cruiser. I had always wanted to drive a PT Cruiser.
What I learned today: The thought of driving a PT Cruiser is way more fun than actually driving one.
Friday, October 24th – Calgary
Long, long drive today from Edmonton to Calgary. Of all the road trips in the world that I can think of, the trip between Edmonton and Calgary would rank near the bottom between St. Louis to Dallas and Addis Ababa to Mogadishu. Luckily, Dana was a fun driving companion and helped me take my mind off the depressing scenery and the fact that PT Cruisers drive like Panzer tanks.
What I learned today: Calgary looks just like you’d expect it to.
My presenter for the last few days of this week is an energetic firecracker of a woman named Dana Finch. She’s from Texas with a charming Texan drawl, three football playing boys in her Texan family (along with a couple more foster children), lots of Texan beliefs and amazing energy that’s about the size of… well, Texas. Though I don’t always agree with Texans on religious or political questions, Dana was without a doubt one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I couldn’t help but laugh every time one of her boys called her on the phone and she would answer in the accent, “Hey Cody Finch!” or “Hey Luke Finch!”. Loved it.
Anyway, her first seminar with me was in Denver, where it was snowing, and then we had to fly up to Edmonton that afternoon. We got in late and then still had to pick up a rent-a-car and drive it forty minutes into beautiful downtown Edmonton. The only positive thing was that the rent-a-car people gave us a PT Cruiser. I had always wanted to drive a PT Cruiser.
What I learned today: The thought of driving a PT Cruiser is way more fun than actually driving one.
Friday, October 24th – Calgary
Long, long drive today from Edmonton to Calgary. Of all the road trips in the world that I can think of, the trip between Edmonton and Calgary would rank near the bottom between St. Louis to Dallas and Addis Ababa to Mogadishu. Luckily, Dana was a fun driving companion and helped me take my mind off the depressing scenery and the fact that PT Cruisers drive like Panzer tanks.
What I learned today: Calgary looks just like you’d expect it to.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Thoughts from the Road
Columbia, South Carolina
I’ve just begun working for a company called the Bureau of Education and Research. Of course for some reason the title of the company makes me feel like I should be wearing thick black glasses and analyzing long lists of binary that are being spat out by a room-size computer, but in reality the company puts on educational seminars for teachers all over the US and Canada and my job, as program manger, is to facilitate them. That isn’t to say that I’m giving these presentations. Each week I’ll have a different presenter give seminars on education techniques. For example, this week the topic of my presenter’s seminar is Using Interactive Centers to Differentiate Instruction for All Students in Reading, Writing, Math and Sciences. Yeah, I know. It’s a little bulky, but the teachers seem to love it. Anyway, I’m just there to set up the AV equipment, register the teachers and basically make sure everything happens the way it’s supposed to. The fun and also the bitch of this job is that I’m required to be in five cities a week, so I’ll be on the road basically 5 and half days out of the week. For example, this week I was in Columbia, SC on Monday, Atlanta on Tuesday, Denver on Wednesday, Edmonton on Thursday and I’ll be in Calgary tomorrow. Now usually, I’ll be in one region for the week, but you get the gist.
So this blog will be just general thoughts and observations as I go from place to place. I hope you enjoy it and I hope to see many of you on brief visits as I go from place to place.
October 13th-16th Training Week
For some reason, I thought I would be in the average age range for this job, but apparently daily travel and hotel stays don’t appeal to the average 32 year old. There are 19 program managers in all, half of whom are returning from last year. One of the weird things in the BER office that I knew existed somewhere, but had never experienced was the college rivalries. The training was peppered with Husky and Coug references and at the office reception we actually were asked to burst out of our training room and declare our collegiate affiliation while The Final Countdown flared from the tinny speakers of somebody’s laptop. “Scott Williams, Washington State!” one PM said and half the crowd responded with “Yeah, go Cougs!” “Krista Burton, U-Dub!” said another girl. “All right Huskies!” the crowd replied enthusiastically. Finally at my turn, “Mike Moe, Evergreen State!” “Yeah, okay… Go Gooeyducks… “Uh, yeah. Thanks guys.” Anyway, I’m sure most of you experience this every day, but I thought it was strange.
Monday, October 19th – Columbia, SC
Back to the betel stained roads of the South for the first time in about five years. I remember the first time I crossed the Mason-Dixon, it was in August and it felt like somebody was holding a hot, damp wash cloth just inches from my face the entire time, however now the air is cool and comfortable. Still the South always has a certain slowness to it, like everything has been dipped in molasses. Now certain southern accents annoy me, for example the nasally chirpiness of Natchez, Mississippi or whatever part of Texas George W. Bush is from, but the farther East you go, the more the accent fades away from the nose until it’s a honey-glazed throaty drawl that makes me weak in the knees, especially when used by pretty teachers just out of college who like to call me darlin’. (Hmm… two references to sugary substances in one paragraph. For some reason I’m craving Baklava)
So the first couple of nights, we’re working in groups, before going out on my own on Thursday. Hence, last night I went out with a few of the other PM’s (program managers) and had a particularly random night in Columbia. A couple of our activities (which you may put in the I’m getting to old for this sh*# file) included playing beer pong, smoking a hookah and staying far too late.
What I learned today: The prime of my beer pong career was age 22.
I’ve just begun working for a company called the Bureau of Education and Research. Of course for some reason the title of the company makes me feel like I should be wearing thick black glasses and analyzing long lists of binary that are being spat out by a room-size computer, but in reality the company puts on educational seminars for teachers all over the US and Canada and my job, as program manger, is to facilitate them. That isn’t to say that I’m giving these presentations. Each week I’ll have a different presenter give seminars on education techniques. For example, this week the topic of my presenter’s seminar is Using Interactive Centers to Differentiate Instruction for All Students in Reading, Writing, Math and Sciences. Yeah, I know. It’s a little bulky, but the teachers seem to love it. Anyway, I’m just there to set up the AV equipment, register the teachers and basically make sure everything happens the way it’s supposed to. The fun and also the bitch of this job is that I’m required to be in five cities a week, so I’ll be on the road basically 5 and half days out of the week. For example, this week I was in Columbia, SC on Monday, Atlanta on Tuesday, Denver on Wednesday, Edmonton on Thursday and I’ll be in Calgary tomorrow. Now usually, I’ll be in one region for the week, but you get the gist.
So this blog will be just general thoughts and observations as I go from place to place. I hope you enjoy it and I hope to see many of you on brief visits as I go from place to place.
October 13th-16th Training Week
For some reason, I thought I would be in the average age range for this job, but apparently daily travel and hotel stays don’t appeal to the average 32 year old. There are 19 program managers in all, half of whom are returning from last year. One of the weird things in the BER office that I knew existed somewhere, but had never experienced was the college rivalries. The training was peppered with Husky and Coug references and at the office reception we actually were asked to burst out of our training room and declare our collegiate affiliation while The Final Countdown flared from the tinny speakers of somebody’s laptop. “Scott Williams, Washington State!” one PM said and half the crowd responded with “Yeah, go Cougs!” “Krista Burton, U-Dub!” said another girl. “All right Huskies!” the crowd replied enthusiastically. Finally at my turn, “Mike Moe, Evergreen State!” “Yeah, okay… Go Gooeyducks… “Uh, yeah. Thanks guys.” Anyway, I’m sure most of you experience this every day, but I thought it was strange.
Monday, October 19th – Columbia, SC
Back to the betel stained roads of the South for the first time in about five years. I remember the first time I crossed the Mason-Dixon, it was in August and it felt like somebody was holding a hot, damp wash cloth just inches from my face the entire time, however now the air is cool and comfortable. Still the South always has a certain slowness to it, like everything has been dipped in molasses. Now certain southern accents annoy me, for example the nasally chirpiness of Natchez, Mississippi or whatever part of Texas George W. Bush is from, but the farther East you go, the more the accent fades away from the nose until it’s a honey-glazed throaty drawl that makes me weak in the knees, especially when used by pretty teachers just out of college who like to call me darlin’. (Hmm… two references to sugary substances in one paragraph. For some reason I’m craving Baklava)
So the first couple of nights, we’re working in groups, before going out on my own on Thursday. Hence, last night I went out with a few of the other PM’s (program managers) and had a particularly random night in Columbia. A couple of our activities (which you may put in the I’m getting to old for this sh*# file) included playing beer pong, smoking a hookah and staying far too late.
What I learned today: The prime of my beer pong career was age 22.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)