Today is our first full day here in Massachusetts, or “Mass” as the locals say. Kyle, a colleague I work with, and I got up at o dark thirty to jump on the plane from Portland and headed to Seattle. Once we were in Seattle we got to sit for 2 HOURS while our plane got fixed. Apparently the tail rudder had a hydraulic problem. By the time we got out of Seattle it was 10:45 PST and we were off for a straight shot to Boston. Yeah!!!! Unfortunately, or fortunately Kyle and I didn’t sit in the same aisle or anything so we each did our own thing. I was lucky enough to sit next to a couple from Portland, Maine… or “Partlan, Mane” as they say here. They were so nice but I just wanted to laugh at the accent because it sounds so funny. I couldn’t help hearing Natalie’s voice in my head to , “stop it, don’t laugh” I kept myself under control. So during the 5+ hour flight we talked a bit and then I read. I read a bunch of articles about KM, org health and the best article ever, ‘the Passive-Aggressive Organization.

Our landing as a little nuts. The wind here, in Boston, was so strong that we landed on one wheel, then teetered to the other wheel and then jumped a bit and finally had a smooth landing. I was bracing myself for a rougher landing. I wasn’t sure what was happening. Once we got our luggage and all we got the car and headed to the hotel. I thought we were pretty good, directions wise, because we had the Neverlost system. It should be called the ALWAYS lost because we got lost with the darn thing I think 3 times. On the way our to Hudson we had to pass through several tool booths which just blew Kyle away. It was so funny because we’d stop, give a guy money, go to another stop, pick up a ticket, next one… pay.. We finally got to the hotel and got comfortable and then went to dinner at naked Seafood. Great restaurant but not so great dessert. Kyle had a girly drink. Something called like a Juan Ricardo or something. I just remember thinking it was funny that he’d 1) ordered a girly drink and then 2) ordered one names after a person. Then it was back to the hotel. I think I stayed up until midnight here because I couldn’t sleep and I had a ton of things to do.

This morning we ate at the hotel and I realized that we couldn’t stay there for 10 days. I guess the place is usually pretty nice but they’re in the middle of renovations so their restaurant is in a conference room and the food was terrible. So I picked up the phone and called Holiday Inn and we had our rooms in no time. Kyle and I packed ourselves up and left to the new hotel. When we got to the Holiday inn they were so nice. They even put us in rooms right next to each other. Yeah!!!

We finally go to Hudson site about 8:30am here, which is 5:30PST. I couldn’t believe it. One of the people working on this project, Jenny set us up with our own cubes. She rules. We couldn’t find her desk at all. The site pole numbers don’t make sense. We ended up on the outside perimeter of the fab when a guy, helped us find her desk. I was so glad he helped us because there would have been NO way we would have found her. So this morning was spend getting ready for the day and all. Lunch we went out with a group of 5-6 people here and now, we’re in the training sessions for the day. Kyle is upfront teaching and I’m back here, doing this. I sort of want to make faces at him and get him to laugh but I’ll wait until tonight and watch him have a few drinks.

I’ve got just four more days until my surgery. I can’t wait, I can’t wait, I can’t wait. I look at the TV now and think that in a week from now, I’ll be able to read it all, without glasses and it’s going to be clear. It’s going to be a totally different world. I can almost taste it. It’s funny to to think of all the things I won’t have to deal with. Last night I finally cleaned under the counters in each of the sinks and found some saline solution and other “contact paraphernalia” and I thought, I can get rid of this stuff because soon, like in only 4 days, I won’t need it. How nice will that be…. No more contacts,not more dealing with all the upkeep of contacts, no more glasses half falling off my face and getting finger prints all over them… I’m just a little excited, can you tell?

In other news, work is going well. I just got my initial review from my manager this week and it all looks good. Nothing surprising this time. We talked a lot about all sorts of things and ways I can improve in what I do. I felt really good about it. Now she’s got to go in a room with the other managers in my group and rank and rate us all. I guess I’ll find out about a raise in April. For now, I’m really looking at things I can do and implement this year in the main project I’m working on. The Massachusetts project I’m on goes until the end of Q3, that’s end of September for those non-corporatized people. With having one large project for most of the year I’m looking at things I can do so when I have my review next year, there’s no question I should get a good raise and a promotion. One of the first things I’m implementing in my program is what’s called High Impact Learning. Richard Brinkerhoff is the person that developed the idea and concepts. It’s pretty interesting stuff. The basic premise is this, that for learning events to be highly impactful to the attendee and the business a clear “line of sight” needs to be realized by the attendee. SO what does that mean? Well, if the attendee knows a little about what the training is that they’re going to, that they understand the tasks being taught and how that relates to their job, and they understand how it ties to their group goals, team goals and corporate goals and… and here’s the big one, the training is relevant to them, meaning they’ll actually use what they’re learning…. then the training is more impactful and has a higher intention. In November my group had a FTF and we has some people come and talk to us about Brinkerhoff. After the seminar I thought it would be a great thing to implement in my project so, myself and my manger are working on getting it implemented. I even bought a book this weekend to help clarify some of the philosophy and steps need to fully implement the process. I’m hoping it goes well as it could be a real feather in my cap.

Holy Cow! The trip back from Boston was such a terribly long one. I’m so glad I’m home. I got up early this morning and packed up my things in the hotel. Then, I was off to the restaurant for some breakfast. It was pretty good food. YUM! My flight didn’t leave until about 3pm EST time but with the weather changes, ice and snow, I wanted to try and get out of Boston early. I left the hotel in the morning and headed for the airport. The road was icy and slick. I was worried about getting in an accident on the way with the roads and drivers and those darn toll booths. I was so happy I had GPS because I’m almost sure I would have gotten lost otherwise. I got to the airport and tried to go stand by to the next three flights heading to Chicago to no avail. I didn’t get out of Boston until my 3:30pm flight. They loaded us all on the flight and then we sat on the tarmac for another hour and a half because of the weather in Chicago. Note to self, NEVER fly through Chicago in the winter. We finally got up in the air and off to Chicago. Of course, once we got there we had to fly in circles around the airport until there was an opening on the ground. We got down and landed only to be told that our gate had another plane at it and we’d need to sit on the tarmac for another 30 minutes. People behind me were cussing, swearing and yelling about the whole thing. I thought there would be a riot on the plane and I’d have to find a corner to wait it all out. Once I got off the gate I had to run like a bat out of you know where to get to my plane. I ran and ran, lactic acid burning my throat to get to my gate. I just barely made it on the plane and then I was off to Portland. Good thing I made the plane because it was the last to Portland for the night. I watched a few movies on the plane to make the three hour flight go by fast. Finally, at 10:30 I got off the plane in Portland. What a long, long night. I was so glad to be home.

I spent ALL DAY yesterday flying on my way to Boston, Massachusetts for work. I got up at o’dark thirty to get on the plane in Portland at 8:30am. I got my e-ticket and headed for security. I had to take off everything that wasn’t the clothes on my back. I even had to take off my shoes, turn on my laptop, turn on my iPod and my camera to ensure they weren’t more than just an electronic device.

I was actually pretty lucky because I stopped at Starbucks, in the airport, before I went to my gate and got a non-fat latte. By the time I got to the gate, they were calling my group number. Man, I couldn’t have timed it better. I was lucky too because the flight wasn’t totally full. I got to have the seat next to me open which was nice. So here I am, reading my book, off to Boston with a stop through Chicago O’Hare airport. I was surprised to find out that airlines don’t provide you a meal/snack anymore, or at least American doesn’t. They wanted $3.00 for a snack to which I replied no, I was smart and brought my own snacks.

I was pretty excited when we landed in Chicago because of the snow. It was awesome to see real snow but it was cold walking from the plane into the terminal. I had thought that I’d have a ton to do in the airport but there weren’t that many places in the passengers section as I thought and I didn’t want to have to walk through security again. So I walked around with my heavy bag, killing my shoulder (note to self: next time, pack the laptop back that’s on rollers). I took a tour through the bookstore there and then got a little bite to eat and that was about it. I just sat by my gate and read my Diane Mott Davidson book.

I wasn’t so luck when I got on the plane to Boston, it was full. I didn’t have enough room to break out the laptop and watch my movie so I was bummed about that, but I did get to finish my book. When I got into Boston and picked up my luggage I was off to the rental car company. They had this shuttle bus that picked me up and then drove me for forever to their site for my car. What was cool was since I was a Gold card member they had my car ready and warmed up to go. They had these electronic reader boards above each car. I just had to find the one with my name and then get in. I was shocked to find out, they gave me a mini-van. I know that’s not what I requested but I’m guessing that they ran out of cars. It was nice too because it had the GPS tracking and directions thing from Magellan so I wouldn’t get lost. It also had a DVD player in it. Man, I wished someone else was driving and I could sit in the back seat, comfortable and watch a movie.

I had a 30 minute car drive to Hudson to the hotel and Intel site. One thing I learned really fast bout the east coast was the tolls for the freeways. I’d drive about 3-5 miles and then I’d have to stop at a toll and pay something like $2.00-$3.00. Then I’d drive another 5 or so miles and then have to pay some more. What was funny was that at one stop I looked for the cash lane and didn’t see anyone there. I kept driving and waiting to see red and blue lights behind me but the cops didn’t come get me. When I got to the next toll she asked me for a ticket. I didn’t have one. I told her I was new to the area, a stupid tourist, and didn’t know what to do. She just asked me to pay $2.10 and then I was on my way. I looked down when I got to the hotel, I’d had to pay about $6.00 in toll charges just to get 30 miles.

By the time I got to the hotel and settled in, it was already 10:00pm EST and too late to go to the restaurant so I just sat in my room, ate some my snacks I’d brought and drank a bunch of water. I would have gone to work out but I was pooped and knowing I had to get up at 6am EST (3am PST) I went to bed.

I’m hoping I can at least hit the pool or the gym today just to get a little work out. My trainer made me work my calves on Monday and they hurt like heck. I had a terrible time getting up this morning and getting my legs to work for a while until my muscles were warmed up. I need to get them stretched so I feel better.

I just looked at my journal and realized it’s been way too long since I last wrote. I wish I had some great and wonderful story and reason why I haven’t written but, I don’t. Life, I guess has been keeping me busy.

I just got back last Friday from a week in Arizona for work. Last week I spend the week in AZ in a Face to Face with a bunch of other people from my group. I had a blast in Arizona! The weather was so nice and it was so warm I didn’t want to come back. I really appreciated the opportunity to go to the FTF. I got to meet all the other people in my group from all over the world. We have 6 people in Malaysia and they were even there. We all had such a blast, eating great food, hanging out and learning a lot. The first day we learned a bunch about our group and what the plan is going into the next year. The second day we had a workshop on evaluation. It was honestly very interesting. I didn’t expect much because every other face to face I’ve gone to was pretty worthless but this one was great!..

Friday I got up at o’dark thirty to get on the shuttle to get home. The fog was so bad in Hillsboro that we had to fly into pdx and get shuttled to Hillsboro. I was so tired by the time I got home that I just worked a few hours and took a very long nap….Today is Monday and I think I’m finally back on a regular sleeping schedule.

In other news, I think my seasonal affectiveness disorder stuff started early this year. Going to Arizona was so nice and I felt so great down there. I knew before I went that the SAD crept up on me early this year and I was hoping that going to Arizona was just what I needed. It was, it was so nice and refreshing but coming back I realized I need to probably go to the Dr. and get the happy pills SAD doesn’t make me depressed as much as it makes me lethargic. I don’t want to do anything. I don’t want to work, don’t want to be at home.. don’t want to anything. I sit and look around and think about all the things I want or need to get done but I don’t have the drive, motivation. I think after Thanksgiving I’ll go to the Dr. and find out what he recommends…