Training Day 1

I slept pretty well, even after the power went out for the second time in the evening.

When I woke the next day, the birds sounded like luggage with a bad wheel . Hear the luggage bird

I made my way to the inclusive breakfast where the waiter handed me a sheet of paper where I was to enter my room number (who remembers), my name, one item from the first column and two items from the second. I requested a vegetable omelet and a fruit cup. No surprise, there wasn't any decaf coffee.

I arrived way to early for class, of course. So I sat and waited for everyone to arrive. While I did, I checked the temperature for the day online. Big mistake.

104 degrees? Seriously?

The first day of class went really well. Unfortunately the fellow from PMI (our client), Phillip, couldn't run FireFox on his computer and it's required so I let him use my computer for the day. We started to install the DDMS on each computer, but not only did it start to take a long time but the anti-virus software blocked it from working.

We managed to connect to the server in Liverpool (albeit very slowly) and the internet came and went throughout the day. Samuel had the great idea of bringing a router with a 3G connection on it so we were all able to use that router to speed things up.

Eddie teaching DDMS

I was able to spend most of the day walking around the room helping people in the class and getting more familiar with the content myself. I thought that, in spite of the problems, it went really well.

I forgot that during these meetings they really try to feed you. The morning "tea" was a meat pastry; the lunch  couldn't be finished before a dessert; afternoon tea was a fish salad sandwich. But I still manage to eat something when food is presented. I'll make up the laps next week.

At the end of the day, the hotel manager came into the meeting room and said, "You are aware that we need to move you to a different room today?" [Of course you do, because I was dumb enough to unpack.] I was pretty sure I was going to be downgraded and, indeed  I was. The new room is about half the size of the old. the bed is still enormous, but the furniture has seen more days. The arrangement isn't as nice and the armoire is tiny. I really don't mind, I felt a little weird in that luxurious room by myself and now I'm pretty sure I'm NOT going to be moved so I can unpack.

My downgraded room

After the class Ernest and Dr. Peter continue to work feverishly in the training room because everything is ramping up for them and everything is due at once.  Meanwhile, when I chat back home I find out that school and work were closed because they got another foot and a half of snow. By the time it's over, they've had 73" of snow for the month. There is no place to put it all! There were already buried cars and narrow streets. The MBTA shut down and eventually the governor declared a state of emergency. I feel terrible for everyone dealing with it while I'm sitting here with my shorts and t-shirt on as I'm writing this.

I remembered that it's Ben's half birthday today. Happy half, my "little" boy!