Middle of July the whole team got together at the supplier's office in Allentown, PA. Let me sum it up this way: It was very good, and very bad, and nothing in the middle. The travel, both to and from, was very challenging. The people, weather, accomplishments, restaurants, and food was excellent.
For almost a week prior to traveling there, I started adjusting my body to the east coast schedule so that, when I got there, I could be rested for the meetings. Our flight to Phily was late boarding, and then we sat on the plane for over an hour, finally leaving two hours late. So, instead of a nice layover with time to shop, we only had twenty minutes to make it four terminals away to our connecting flight. Half way there we found out our flight was canceled! They put us on the later flight, which was only half full. (A coworker of mine said that US Airways does that regularly, cancel the first of two flights so that they can be more profitable.)
By the time we got to the car rental counter, it was midnight. Since we didn't show on time, they rented my car to someone else! Well, they did have *one* car left. So, my consolation prize, for the (company paid) price of a compact, I got to drive a Lincoln Towncar. :)
Here's the high point--for the two days there, we got into the guts of defining the details of the actual standard. Substantial amounts of progress on our deliverables in a very short period of time.
And then the trip back was just as bad as the trip there. First, they wouldn't let us take off, which we guess was because there was too much traffic over Phily. So, by the time we got off the ground and got there, we once again only had twnety minutes to make it four terminals to the connection. And we made it.
Five minutes after we're supposed to leave, they announce that they're waiting for some last minute baggage. Ya know, I'm good with that, making sure that folk's luggage makes it across the country with them.
Fifteen minutes after we're supposed to leave, they announce "Sorry folkks, but it seems we have a problem with the oxygen masks over row 14 on the right. We'll have to get that fixed before we can leave."
They do, but it's another hour and change. By the time we finally land and make home to bed, it's 12:20 in the morning. But that's local time; to my body it's 3:20 a.m., and I've been up since 6:00 a.m. 21 hour day. And I haven't had a decent night's sleep in three nights (hotel beds, after all).
It's the following Thursday, and I'm still jet lagged. Ouch.
At least it was a great meeting!
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About Me
- Martin C. Nagel
- Martin works as an Application Developer and Technical Lead at a large manufacturing company in the Phoenix valley. In that role, he writes and maintains a quality application that checks the quality of the materials used in the manufacturing process. He has a variety of programming skills in various web, batch processing, and database languages. He has been developing computer applications professionally at five companies since graduating with his Bachelor's in Computer Information Systems from DeVry in 1985. He has additional professional interests. He participates in a variety of safety teams as an office ergonomics assessor, emergency response team leader, and safety communications. He also teaches classes about agile thinking and database unit testing. Outside of work, he occasionally teaches and performs as a middle eastern drummer, lift weights, and spends time with his wife and two daughters. He's an avid supporter of the U.S. Bill of Rights 2nd Amendment, a National Rifle Association (NRA) life member, certified NRA instructor for five NRA classes, shooting range life member, Arizona Citizens Defense League (AzCDL) member and volunteer, and runs 2nd Amendment Shop, L.L.C.
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