Pages

Thursday, June 15, 2017

A Chat with the Executive Director

Julie and I were the only ones at CrossFit this morning. I guess everyone's sleeping in today or coming in later. I'm glad that we went because otherwise Ryan would have no one to coach!

After getting cleaned up from the gym, I went to the office to have a chat with my Executive Director to talk to him about planning my boss's retirement party (her last day is July 6). We talked about how the work conference we were at was a big success, but that we were happy to be home. When we got to the topic of my boss (he was going to help with planning her retirement party), he said “Karen (my boss) told me how proud of you she is. She said you really stepped up to the plate this year.”

Whattt. Wow, that was so nice, both for her to say that to him and for him to report that back to me! Our staff has really grown over the years, and I’m not always sure he’s aware of everything that his staff does because there’s so many of us and he’s got a lot on his plate. It was nice to get one-on-one time with him and get that recognition. He said he'd take care of lunch, Drew would take care of the staff appreciation plaque, and I'd take care of cake/cards/conference room reservation.

I also went to the office because I wanted to order some food. My refrigerator is looking very bare from being away from home on work travel. “Butter chicken? I like butter chicken!” Mmmno. I’m pretty sure you don’t. Nice try though!

Wednesday, June 14, 2017

The End of Spring Work Travel

Whew! It's been a busy spring in terms of work travel! In May, I went to Boise, Idaho and Albuquerque, New Mexico for work. I was also in Phoenix, Arizona in March and Jackson, Mississippi in April. This past week's trip to Providence is my last work-related trip until New Orleans, Louisiana this fall.

One of the cool things that I saw in Providence, Rhode Island was the WaterFire. People riding in gondolas lit up wooden braziers along the water. At first the flames weren't that big, but once this breeze picked up and they had some time to burn, it was a beautiful sight. It felt very "Tangled," if you've seen the Disney movie.
WaterFire
 
At the pre-meeting meeting for staff, we were highly encouraged to thank the vendors and make them feel welcomed since they paid quite a bit to exhibit at our conference. While wandering the Exhibit Hall yesterday, one of the vendors saw my watch, and we had a 15 minute conversation about our cats. I mean, we did talk about their product, but we talked mostly about our cats. My teal heels also got attention. I lasted about 2 days with them before I started wearing my flip flops as covertly as I could.
This is my 8th year attending this work conference, and it has probably been my busiest: staffed 1 pre-conference workshop, prepared 1 poster presentation, staffed 3 demonstrations, and coordinated 3 sessions (and moderated one of them). It was nice to see people that I normally communicate with via phone and email and get a bunch of hugs, but I was so happy to be back at home, sleep in my own bed and get back to my workouts.