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It is hard being on the road over 200 nights a year...away from your family, isolated in many ways. It definitely isn't for everyone. This blogs represents the thoughts of just one such person. Read along and find out if the road is for you.
This is my new blogchalk:
United States, Georgia, Gainesville, Unity of Gainesville, English, John, Male, reading, RE Investing. :)
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Thursday, January 16, 2003
These are the times that try men’s souls….
Have you every caught yourself apologizing for the situation when you suddenly have this thought…”Hey wait. This isn’t my fault at all! In fact if your people would have done their job right, we wouldn’t even be in this situation!”
Great way to start the day huh? What am I talking about?
Well, I arrived at the client’s this morning and when the students tried to log onto the system, they couldn’t. Seems the system was stopped.
“No problem I say. Let me call the system admin and this problem will be short lived.” I call and come to the conclusion that this person is either brain dead or an idiot! He wanted to start a backup process (expanding files) that can take hours to do. When I spoke to him, he felt confident that he would be done by 9:30. I wasn’t confident at all. (It actually finished after 1 PM)
I came up with an alternative that was an acceptable work around by tapping into Da Company’s system over the internet. That was when I caught myself apologizing for the situation before I actually got a grip on things!
Add to that having the good fortune of having to attend a meeting between seemingly two warring factions within the company that I am at and it was the completion of a great day. The challenge here is that one half of the company is already on our system and the other half is now coming aboard.
They must think I am the arrogant American. They challenged several suggestions I made which didn’t bother me. But after they were so set in their ways of why some of their practices couldn’t be changed, then I boldly told them that in some cases they were just flat out wrong. For a while there, you could cut the air with a knife. (But after the meeting, several folks actually came over and thanked me for going to bat for them.)
Eating out here is such a hassle. I guess it just went along with the day. I tried to gas up the car so I could make a quick break to the airport tomorrow. The first two gas stations I went to were not able to accept my credit card. Actually, they couldn’t accept anyone’s credit cards. Seems the network they used was down. (Aren’t computers wonderful things??) I finally just gave up and went to the hotel without having eaten anything (it will look better on my beltline anyhow!).
There have been some parts of the week that I have enjoyed, but I will look forward to getting back to the States and home. It is still cold here and expected snow tomorrow. This is a nice place, but I couldn’t live here.
Blog on!
posted by John Panico at 8:21 PM
Wednesday, January 15, 2003
You could have knocked me over with a feather! 1 Ago
Another night of not sleeping well. I really don’t know what the deal is, but I haven’t slept well since I arrived here in Montreal. Maybe because the previous week, I had actually slept in my own bed for 7 days in a row. I know part of the reason is that the air inside this hotel is drier than the Sahara Desert.
I am at the same client all week. They are going live at the beginning of the month. I am teaching the second group of folks about purchasing. This group isn’t as lively (or as bright) as the first group. I am working harder to make sure they just don’t sit there all day with that stupid “deer in the headlights” look that some might argue that Canadian’s are famous for.
That being said, the day did seem to go by without much fanfare about it. So that makes it three down and two to go. Except for the fact that I am coming back here at the beginning of the month.
I also took a trip to downtown Montreal after work this evening. It was very cold (-21 c.). But I had to get down there to buy Julie a Montreal Hard Rock Café pin and also a shirt for a client that I will be seeing in a few weeks.
The Hard Rock was also in yesterday’s plans, but was not to be. I was given some very specific instructions from two of the workers and unfortunately, they turned out to be wrong. After two hours of rush hour traffic, getting lost and not feeling comfortable with the weather and such, I gave it up and headed back to the hotel.
The highlight of the day came when I spoke with Lori today. Because she had changed my schedule to accomdoate me being here at month's end, I had a hole in my schedule. The 5 day trip preceeding the trip back here to Montreal was given to another consultant. She offered me up to another client and they actually said they had heard "wonderful" things about me and wanted me. How cool is that????
Blog on!
posted by John Panico at 10:47 PM
Monday, January 13, 2003
One down, four to go.
Monday’s Mission is done and ready for your review!
I guess the fact that I am writing this from my hotel in Montreal is a good sign in and of itself. I was concerned coming into the country last night about going through Canadian Customs. (Isn’t that weird, that when you worry nothing happens and when you are super confident they question you forever?)
But get through Customs I did. And without a hitch or incident! Although it was cold when I got off the plane.
Montreal takes a little getting used to. Everything is in French and people are constantly speaking French (a real annoyance for someone who speaks a little Spanish and has trouble with English). The problem with people speaking French is that they seem to speak in hushed tones and you never know if they are actually talking about you.
I am going to be here all week, so I better start getting used to things. Like getting lost. The person who gave me directions to get here told me to go to the wrong location. The only saving grace was that I actually saw the client’s name on a building on the other side of the freeway. Simple? You would think that since they were on the frontage road, it would be a walk in the park. But it took me 25 minutes to get off the freeway, get lost, pass it up again (only 1 way streets) and then finally get there.
Fortunately, they were just as unorganized as I was. Add to that the power going out for an hour left us starting closer to 11 than to the intended 8:30 time I was supposed to begin training at.
But I made it! And getting the first one out of the way is the hardest. I am resting tonight, because I didn’t sleep well last night. Tomorrow night, I am heading downtown to the Hard Rock and maybe do a little gambling as well.
Blog on!
posted by John Panico at 9:10 PM
Sunday, January 12, 2003
This or something better!
I am winging my way up to Montreal on a Sunday night. The weekend has gone by incredibly fast! When you are on the road as much as I am, weekends do have that tendency when you have to leave home at 2:10 pm to catch the shuttle to the airport and the evening flight. And I am somewhat thankful I did go early, because having to check baggage for an international flight is a major pain.
After talking it over with the client on Thursday/Friday, it doesn’t look like employment with them at least is a real possibility. That’s ok. Something at least as good or better is in my future.
Actually, when I think about it, I use that statement for a lot of situations. Maybe I am just rationalizing why something (or someone) didn’t come around. That could be. What I do know is after I say it, I always feel better about the present and the future tends to hold good things for me.
I spend most of the weekend focused on house hunting. Although there is a 5% chance of St. Augustine being an option, I guess I don’t see it at this point in time. Still, there are signs that do call me there though. I have a week there next month and I am going to spend at least one weekend of the engagement there, so if it is going to be, the house would definitely have to manifest itself during that trip.
Isn’t life just like a jigsaw puzzle? Because St. Augustine doesn’t look like it is going to happen, that puts the coffee house on the back burner. I have put a lot of time and energy into the planning of it and hate to see it go to waste. Never mind the money I have spent on books, research and such.
But that is not to say that I don’t have another plan! And this one looks like it is coming together as well and in a quicker timeframe than the coffee house could have.
So between the house search and the new business opportunity, I am somewhat satisfied with the week’s production. I also completed one presentation that has been assigned to me for the April user’s get together. (I wanted to complete both of the assignments, but…well you know the rest.)
However, the landing of this flight will go a long, long way in determining what the week holds in store for me.
The last time I was in Canada, Customs questioned me for about 15 minutes. That combined with the stories that I have heard from Neil put me a little on edge. I don’t know why because I was honest with them.
I had told Lori about this at the time. I asked her 10 days ago about getting a letter to show Customs that everything was on the up and up.
Friday’s email from her indicated that a letter was to be overnighted from Da Company with all the essential verbage. I had asked for one emailed that I could print and sign in case it didn’t show up. No reply was the loud answer. Of course, it didn’t come.
So how I am handled at Customs will be the beginning of how my trip in Montreal is going to be. On the other hand, I am excited about going. I was there when I was a little kid with my parents and don’t remember a thing (except that we [definitely the “empirical we] witnessed a store being robbed). I am certainly going to check to see if there is a Hard Rock and then see what kind of excitement I can get into.
In talking to other folks at Da Company, they tell me it is a great city. I hope I can decipher the French signage.
In the back of my “alledged” mind lurks thoughts about Rebecca. I don’t know why, but I am concerned for her. Maybe I am reading between the lines of what she has told me or what I think Da Company is implying. Neither one is good though. I really don’t think Da Company has dealt very fairly with her. I don’t know all the circumstances except for the fact that she is basically a good person with the potential to be a great employee. Yet, there is some connection between the two that seems to be lacking. As I have said before, I really wish I could help her. I think my client in Atlanta would hire her if she were willing to relocate though.
While I am thinking, why do some people you see ask you to help them in a job search and then when you line things up for them, they flake out? This has happened to me twice in a row and is beginning to make me not want to take the effort of singing their praises only to have them back out or not follow through. Now that I think about it, make that four times in a row. When this happens, it is not the money that I would get, because most times I just try to set up a good marriage of needs and skills knowing that it will come back to me. But what it does cost is my reputation. And I can’t afford those types of dings. Hmmmm. Something to ponder next time someone calls and asks for my help. Ok, now I am up to 5 times with different people that this has happened with. On the other hand, do they know something that I don’t?????
Enough ranting for now. Blog on!
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