Oklahoma Trip July/August

Details about my business trip are below, but these pictures are much more interesting! I really love Chihuly (the glass blowing artist.) I have even traveled to NYC just to see one of his exhibits. (It was AWESOME!!!) Well, the biggest collection of Chihuly art, surprisingly enough, is in Oklahoma City. My work friend Jennifer and a friend of hers, Kirsten, and I went to the museum and then out to dinner. I had been with the guys in the class for the whole week (breakfast, lunch, dinner and all the in between) so it was realllllllyyyyyy nice to have some time away. :) The glass sculpture behind us is at least four stories high. It's really stunning!
I love the way they showcase Chihuly's work on the ceiling. It's so much better in person, but you can still see how cool it is.

This gives you a different perspective of the glass sculpture above.

Chihuly loves to display his work in boats. I'm not sure why, but it is really cool to see. It's so much better outside though. The way sunlight grabs the glass is so amazing!
This was the group that Sandy (front left) and I worked with to create the course. They were so sweet and wanted to take us out for dinner. I just love them! From left to around the table:
Sandy Wagner my project manager, me, Gordy, Stan Pitts, Dave Maloy, Leo Hollis, Leo's wife Martha, and Dave Porter.
This is a picture of my first class of the three weeks. Starting from the left, Dan Jenkins, Dan, John, Mike Foster (my project manager--the head in the back), John (in the back--we had a lot of laughs!), Bunky (yes that is what he goes by) John, front again on the left-Dan, ?, me, ?, Eric Friedman, and Gerry Milburn.

The Trip Itself

I just returned from being in Oklahoma City for three weeks. (Actually I wrote this blog when I first returned, but I haven't posted it--so pretend this is the first of August.) Before I left I knew it was a long time to be away, but I didn’t think it would be that big of a deal. I love to travel and have spent a lot more than three weeks living out of a suitcase and typically I’m moving from place to place. Therefore I thought this would not be bad.

Let me say, though it wasn’t bad I am SO SO happy to be home—sleep in my own bed, have time to myself, and not be thinking of work all of the time. We left for work around 7:00 and though we would end at 5:00—we would then go out for dinner or a walk or shopping or whatever—every day. I don’t do that when I’m home and really it was exhausting. I had a book that I maybe got through ten pages because we were always going. I like to go home and chill out, but we wouldn’t get back to the hotel until around 9:00 or 10:00 most nights.

I had two different courses at the academy. What this basically means is that I sit in the classroom and take notes if there are changes to the content or slides that I have already developed. It can be super boring when everything is going smoothly--though I'm very glad when it's going well. Sometimes there are a lot of changes or questions that I need to bring up to the instructors after the class is over.

The first week I was there was a ton of work. There were a lot of changes that I was required to do on site and after work. The course was to teach the instructors so pretty soon everyone was giving me changes to the content. It became more like—too many cooks in the kitchen. I have a lot of work to do for that course and will be doing it when I get back to work.

Between the first and second week that I left, I flew to Denver to go see my sister JL and her family. I wrote about the trip in a separate blog.

The second and third weeks were the same course. I have been working with the instructors for several months. They are absolutely fabulous and we all get along really well. We just work so well together. They have another course they are going to be starting. The instructors, my project manager, and myself would all like to work together again. They have others assigned to them now, but my project manager is going to see if we can be reassigned.

There were several international students from China, a student from Croatia, Canada, and Jamaica. It was interesting to talk to them and hear their take on the course and other non-work related subjects.

After almost three full weeks I was able to go home. I was supposed to have a direct flight home, but they were having some pretty intense weather in DC so they closed the airport. We were diverted to Dayton Ohio. Luckily they let us off the plane to get something to eat. I didn’t get lunch because I had some snacks and figured I could wait until I got home. I was so glad they let us off. There was only one place to get something and so we all basically went there to eat. The staff wasn’t too happy about it. We had to wait a long time for our salads and were still waiting when someone came and told us we were boarding. I was really stressed we wouldn’t have enough time. Luckily they had a list and were crossing off our names making sure we got back on the plane.

When I finally arrived and after waiting for my luggage for an hour a friend came and picked me up. I was invited to dinner. All I really wanted to do was go home, but I accepted. It was so nice to have a home cooked meal and good company.