My NJ trip
Mixed.The work was straightforward. It needs to be organized a bit more but straightforward. No “Gotcha’s”
The people are good. Except for 1. Why is there always that 1 in the group who’s not carrying their share of the load? I’m sure you have all been in this situation. I first encountered this in college. I was working on a group project in a psychology class. “How come we were always covering for Biff? “ Very annoying. And so wrong. How come we have to cover for the deadbeats?
I’ve worked on enough of these projects to know the deadline is always aggressive so there’s no way to finish on time without everyone doing their share of the work. This time around, I notified the local Project Manager about my concerns regarding Biff’s lack of presence. In the past I would have worked harder to compensate for Biff’s lack of effort. But I’m tired of that. The PM and a few of the manager’s huddled up and discussed the situation. They clearly split up the work so Biff has his own separate but equal portion of the work. It will now be plainly evident what Biff does AND does not accomplish.
A couple of the people in NJ have joked about not letting me go back to PIT. I think the HC and my boss have something to say about that!
I went into NYC a few nights for dinner. I had a wonderful meal at Mario Batali’s Babbo. The Beef Cheek Ravioli rocks!! The next night, Telepan for a co-worker’s birthday dinner. Very nice atmosphere and wonderful meal. Foie Gras & Duck Breast. I had the honor of picking the wines. I started the evening off with an Italian Prosecco. (Not champagne but a sparkler none the less.) I’ve been on this Bordeaux kick as of late so 1 white & 1 red. I was happy everyone was pleased with my selections.
I had a nice wine discussion with a couple of the co-workers. I tried to explain to them how to taste the nuances in the wine. At first they thought I was messing with them. But after a little practice they started to get it. “It’s not just grape juice.” Unlike soft drinks, with a little practice you can pick up other flavors that may add or take away from the experience. It’s fun to do with a group of people to hear what they have to say. And after a few bottles things really pick up!
Everything sounds good so far right? I said “Mixed” so where’s the Mixed?...
The bad weather on Thursday & Friday caused 4 of my flights to be cancelled. Yep 4. Count them 4. I wasn’t trying to do anything fancy just take a direct flight from Newark to PIT. I was shut down 4 times Friday. I even took a cab ride over to LaGuardia to get on a flight to PIT. It was delayed, delayed, delayed, delayed, cancelled. So I spent Friday afternoon and evening at the airport waiting.
Hindsight being 20/20 I would have stayed put in NJ an extra night and gone into NYC for a good meal and Jazz at the Blue Note or the Village Vanguard or Smoke. (I just heard about Smoke so I’m eager to try it out.)
Instead of a nice meal and Jazz, I called the Corporate Travel emergency number to have them arrange lodging for me. I checked in at 10:40 pm and was happy to NOT be at an airport!!!! A smoking room was all they had so. It was really strange when the elevator doors opened on that floor. You could smell the cigarette smoke. Same thing in my room. It wasn’t as heavy as some bars I’ve been to but there was a definite smell of cigarette smoke. I’m not used to this since I’m not a smoker and usually stay in non-smoking rooms. It was just for a few hours of sleep and a shower so I dealt with it.
Saturday was bright and sunny. There were NO indications of the bad weather we had the night before. The airport security line was short. The plane ride was uneventful. I landed and had my bags by 12:30pm. I proceeded home to HC and HRH. I was glad to be home.
posted by ChowderHead @ 12/04/2006 01:25:00 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home