Showing posts with label work. Show all posts
Showing posts with label work. Show all posts

Thursday, January 31, 2008

Where Work Takes Me: Austin, TX


I wish I could have taken this. I grabbed it off Wikipedia


One of the few pictures that turned out. This is Austin City Hall




I cover a lot of ground for work, but Austin isn't a normal stop (nor is it part of my territory). One of my accounts was having their national sales meetings there, so I was asked to help cover.





In many ways, that's a shame. I really liked this city, and I'm definitely interested in going back. Now, I say that even though the temps never got above 40 degrees F (I obviously hoped the weather would be better...), and I could barely see any local sights since the cold temps created a fog that limited visibility to a few hundred yards the entire time I was there.





That said, what I did see impressed. Downtown is modern, easy to navigate, and safe. The airport is one of the best "small" airports I've ever been.





The local cuisine is pretty good, too. The Tex-Mex was outstanding.





We'll see, maybe I'll have an opportunity to go back one day. If so, I'll most likely go gladly.

Saturday, November 3, 2007

Places Work Takes Me: Wichita, KS



This was the first time work necessitated that I make the trek to Wichita, KS. While I'm witholding final judgment on this alledgely fine city, I have a few observations:
  • It's not easy to get to. It's about a 10 hour drive, so flying is the best way to get there and back. The problem is there aren't a lot of options to get there in a timely manner. I ended up having to take a 9:30pm flight unless I wanted to arrive at 1:30pm at the earliest if I left during the daytime.
  • It's not easy getting back. Northwest only has 2 flight options coming home: a 7:30am and a 5:15pm. Not much of a choice at all if I want to get home at a decent time to see my family, but still conduct meetings that day.
  • Wichita is bigger than I thought: I was told that the city itself has a population of around 350,000, and the greater metro area of approximately 500,000. I thought is would be closer to 100,000.
  • I DID know that the economy is largely based in the avionics industry. Cessna/Citation, Hawker Beechcraft, Boeing, and I'm sure there are a few I'm forgetting. Surprisingly, the houses and economy seems to be very blue-collar. Again, this isn't authoritative - just a first impression.
  • It's VERY flat: you can see for miles and miles just be driving on an overpass along the highway. Granted, it is Kansas, but it is definite proof that the world IS flat.

And this is the picture out of my hotel window in Wichita. There are a few things worth pointing out from it.

  • Many of those houses had more wood showing than paint on them.
  • It was somewhat scary driving through these neighborhoods trying to get to my hotel at 11:30 at night. These streets had no lighting whatsoever.
  • However, the hotel and parking lot DID have lots lighting.
  • Why is there a 6' high WALL around the hotel? I doubt it's for aesthetics
  • This reportedly wasn't a bad part of town.
  • The hotel itself was very nice. Probably the nicest Hampton Inn I've ever stayed in (and I've stayed in dozens of them.)





So, I'm still wondering where to rank Wichita. If you have any thoughts or comments, be sure to post them.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

A Couple of IDIOTS


yep, one of these dweebs is me. Believe it or not, this was actually at work...in front of my customers...hundreds of them.

Sweet Ride


Yeah, I know this isn't a Ferrari or Porsche, but for a rental car it's pretty good. I drive a lot of rental cars when I'm on the road, but this is one of the best I've had. It beats the plain old Malibu's, Impalas, and Tauruses that I get stuck with far too often


This is the '07 Dodge Charger I had in Omaha last week. It's all "business," with a sporty edge to it. I've driven the similar Chrysler 300, and didn't care for it nearly as much. Another big plus with this particular model - it came with Sirius Satellite Radio...always a plus.


Although it wouldn't be at the top of my list if I were shopping for a new car, it certainly would get consideration.

Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Places Work Takes Me: Kansas City





I've also never taken pictures of downtown Kansas City either. I know I was ready to take some before, but fog and rain pre-empted those attempts before.


I rarely go downtown Kansas City either. In fact, I think I drove through once, but I've never actually DONE anything downtown. There's a lot to do downtown KC. The sporting events currently take place in the Eastern suburbs at the sports complex along I-70. Downtown does the the "old" Kemper arena and the new Sprint Center arena - but neither has a permanent tenant that calls either place home.


I usually stay in the Overland Park area when I'm in town. This is the Southwestern part of the KC metro area. The reason I usually stay in OP is that it's centrally located where most of my clients for work are.


The "hot spot" in KC is "The Plaza" an upscale area about 2 miles south of downtown. This is where all the great restaurants, high-end retail shopping, and luxury condos and large homes are located. It's beautiful and classy - but I rarely get there either...


There is some great BBQ around here. The best place I've had so far is Gates BBQ - which has several locations around KC. There's a really good Chinese restaurants called Chinese Palace in Overland Park, KS.

Places Work Takes Me: St. Louis



I've been covering St. Louis for 15 months now. In that time, I've never been downtown. I've never even been CLOSE to downtown.


"Why?" you ask?


Frankly, I have no idea. The most logical reason is that St. Louis has the highest violent crime rate over any city in the country. (Detroit seconds the list). Yet, downtown doesn't seem to have the problems. When one crosses the Mississippi River and goes to EAST St. Louis (which is in Illinois), then the crime rate shoots up dramatically. But since I don't cross the Mississippi River, I should still be relatively safe going downtown.


So the best answers I have is that I've never had a reason to go downtown, and it's too far out of the way for me to go down there (since I usually stay in the Western suburbs about as far away from downtown as you can get.)


The ironic thing is that I didn't go to the Arch - which necessitates at least another trip downtown at somepoint in the future.


My reason for going downtown was for a Rams-Chiefs preseason NFL football game. Mat and I were running late due to traffic, so I only had time to snap a few pics while driving.


I'll write more about the Western suburbs another time...

Places Work Takes Me: Des Moines





I just realized that I took these pics back in June, but never posted them. The good people of Des Moines have every right to be upset over my negligence.


Des Moines is probably one of the biggest "small" cities around. It has a big city feel to it, but it's actually much smaller than one would think (around 500k people). The city is pretty easy to navigate and get around. There's not much nightlife downtown to speak of, but then I'm not a big nightlife guy anyways. Scenery wise, Des Moines has an attractive skyline and scenery along the Des Moines river that runs through it.


We had an event at Principal Park which is downtown along the river.


My favorite place to eat is a place called Mojo's in Johnston, a northwestern suburb. They have some amazing Almond crusted chicken fingers that are the best chicken tenders one could ever possibly eat. The entre's change regulary, but it's hard to go wrong with anything you order here.

Places Work Takes Me: Alexandria, MN



OK, normally I don't get to Alexandria, MN for work. Actually, I've NEVER been to Alexandria, MN for work before. Sure, I've been past there, but never actually stopped there.

It's a pretty nice place. I was there covering a trade show, and needed to spend the night since it was over 2 days. The show was held at the Arrowwood Resort. This resort offers reasonable prices and includes amenities like wifi, pool, basketball court (which I actually used), etc.

It would have been nice to have Nikki and the kids along at this place...but I was there over Karsten's first couple days of school - so we just couldn't get it to work easily.
Somehow, I forgot to take picutures of the trade show - but I honestly DID work while there...

Monday, May 21, 2007

Evening in Providence



We had dinner along the canals in Providence tonight. Here are a couple pictures from the restaurant. Although Providence isn't a large city (downtown area, at least), it certainly has it's charms.

The bottom picture of the Biltmore Hotel where I stayed.

Biltmore Hotel - Providence





So I'm in Rhode Island for my company's national sales meetings. Since we have about 700 people in town for this event, there isn't a single hotel that can accommodate us - so they had to put us in four different hotels of the vicinity of the Providence Convention Center.

I think I got the best of the lot. This is definitely one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in: the Biltmore Hotel.

An especially nice touch is the 42 inch plasma TV on the wall in the bedroom

Saturday, May 5, 2007

Where Work Takes Me: Lake of the Ozarks, MO





So I'm stuck away from Nikki and the kids this weekend since one of my accounts from work is having a sales rally in Lake of the Ozarks, MO

Earlier this week, the weather forecast looked pretty bad - thunderstorms all weekend. Thankfully the weather has been amazing: temps in the mid-80s and not a hint of clouds or rain.

Usually when I travel, I rarely have or take any opportunity to visit the local sites. Since today (Saturday) technically IS a day I should have off, I decided to spend some time at Lake of the Ozarks State Park. I hiked a few trails for most of the afternoon. It was tiring, but worth it - here are a couple of my favorite pictures from the hikes above.

While I was hiking, I had a lot of time to think and clear my head, meditate, and pray. I can't recall the last time I had several hours to just enjoy being outside like this. I can only hope another similar opportunity arrives soon...

Sunday, April 22, 2007

An Unexpected Stop: Hermann, MO




After my stop in Jeff City, I headed on to the little town of Linn, MO for my next meeting. I stopped to get gas after my meeting in town, and saw a "crack 'o man" I rather never seen. Thankfully, my camera wasn't handy, or else you'd be seeing more than you'd ever care to on this post.

These are different people in these parts, and since my meeting ended around 4:30, and I had a 2 hour drive back into St. Louis, I figure I'd take the scenic route rather than the highway in the hopes of coming across a few more of them.

I ended up driving through a little town called Hermann, MO. It's right on the Missouri River, and is one of the prettiest little towns I've ever seen. It was started by German settlers, apparently since it reminded them of the Rhine River Valley in their Motherland. This picture doesn't do justice. That's about a 150-200 foot view looking in the valley, with a little river running through it. I pulled over for a minute to take the picture, but the trees/shrubs were too much in the way.

I'd like to stop back at some point. Here's a link to the Hermann, Mo website if you're interested in seeing/learning more. There's a little slideshow that shows a few more pics of the town.

Places Work Takes Me: Jefferson City


I was in Jefferson City for work last month, but fog hindered my ability to take any decent pics. Last week, I had to meet a client there, and caught this quick pic of the "Jeff City" (as the locals call it) "skyline".

If you look closely, you can see the Sonic (fast food/hamburger chain) sign in the foreground. I love that chain, but am thankful they're not here in MN - would be detrimental to my diet...

Monday, April 2, 2007

Where are more stories on Exotic places work takes me?

It's a conspiracy.

My last few trips I've taken the digital camera along, but each time I'm unable to take any due to clouds/rain/fog. Last week, I visited the exotic locale of Jefferson City, MO, and saw little more than fog when the opportunity for a picture presented itself.

Hopefully the weather improves and these updates start coming up more. I just got my own little digital camera, so that may help out too...

Thursday, March 15, 2007

One Little Travel Perk...


Just realized it's been a week since I posted. I've been laying low for a week since I had a "minor" surgery (if there is such a thing). I'll spare you all the details and updates (or ANY for that matter), but let's just say all has not gone as peachy as I'd like

Last week, I had the pleasure to visit the thriving metropolis of Des Moines for work. I'll write my thoughts on that fine city another day, but I did get a nice little bonus when I got to my room. I got this:

That's a 40" HD TV (a first in all my hotel stays) - Unfortunately, none of the channels were in HD though. There is also a 5 piece leather set with sofa, chairs, and 2 ottomans. There's was also a bar (not stocked :-( a dining room table, a desk, and a 2 person jacuzzi tub. (It's a Hilton Garden Inn, a chain I use frequently, but they typically don't have rooms this nice)

I called Nikki to see if she could come and enjoy it with me, but alas - it was for naught. Nicer hotel rooms don't help much when you miss those you love at home.

Monday, March 5, 2007

A Place I Strongly and Vehemently Dislike Spending Time


So I have to travel more than a fair amount for work. And since travel keeps me from my family, it's obvious that anything that keeps me from my family is NOT a good thing.

Case in point: Chicago's O'Hare Airport

I don't recall a time where I've had a pleasant experience at this airport. From the frequent flight delays (both coming in and leaving) along with an amazing shortage of electrical outlets to recharge my laptop and cell phone (and the absence of any good coffee other than Starbucks - Minneapolis has Caribou, Dunn Bros, and Starbhucks). Even the restaurants aren't much to write home about.

So I'm trying to get home from St. Louis this past Friday, and I'm delayed 5 HOURS in St. Louis because of O'Hare delays. (Ironically, while I'm delayed in St. Louis, some of the United flight crew are chatting, and most of them had requested to be based out of airports beside O'Hare since flights are always delayed.) I arrive at O'Hare with another 3 hour delay on top of the 5 hour delay. So I crap a Chicago hot dog, eat eat my supper at my gate. At 15 minutes before boarding, I go to use the restroom, and happened to walk past the flight board - only to notice that my flight is now cancelled.

I go to the United counter and stand at the end of the line that will take at least 30 minutes. Providentially, a United agent walks up to me and asks to see my boarding pass. She takes it, walks off, and comes back 10 minutes later saying that I'm on standby for the 11:15 PM flight (the last flight to Minneapolis of the day), and then hands me my boarding pass in case the flight is full: the flight would leave at 5 PM the NEXT DAY. A quick call to my folks in Chicago to make sure they stay up in case I need a place to sleep overnight is made.

I get to the gate, and it's not good. There are at least 30 people on standby, maybe more. Long story short, I get on. I arrive in Minneapolis at 1 AM, and make it home to my barely awake wife at 2 AM.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Places Work Takes Me: Omaha

There's a lot to like about Omaha. Personally, I find Omaha to be a bit of a hidden gem.

For starters, the airport is easily accessible. This applies on several fronts: the airport (aka Eppley Field) is easy to navigate, and security checkpoint lines are always short. Eppley Field is also VERY close to downtown Omaha, just a straight 2-3 mile jaunt south on Abbott Dr. gets you downtown in minutes. (San Diego also has an airport that is close to downtown - I wish more towns had this). The last thing I notice about the airport is that Eppley is apparently the "nation's cleanest airport." How do I know this, you ask? Well, the urinal cakes in the bathrooms tell me so. How could anyone argue with such an obvious fact while one is taking care of "bizzness" and urinating and the material that is reporting this?

Downtown Omaha is very clean, with a good mix of Old and New. The Historic Old Market has cobblestone streets and upscale restaurants and shops that are well worth the trip alone. Eating outside in the summers is a special treat. The skyline is dotted with old and new skyscapers. My favorite is the Union Pacific Railroad Center. It's only 3-4 years old, but it just gorgeous to drive past. Hopefully I'll get a tour of the place someday.

The greater Omaha area feels new and modern. This is definitely a city that is growing, and fast. Most of the shopping centers and office parks are relatively new and modern.

If you're dining in Omaha - you better get it's world famous steak. I've only had proper steak at one Omaha establishment, but it's a good one. You absolutely cannot go wrong at the Omaha Prime Steakhouse. I'm sure there are other good places, but it's hard to imagine any places having better atmosphere or steak than that. Another favorite stop of mine is a restaurant called Firebirds. It's a chain that currently has 10 restaurants, but they have exceptional BBQ ribs that come highly recommended. Oh, and we mustn't forget Charleston's simply for the reason that it provides the Sanidoor. Their food is exceptional for a chain as well.

We haven't been there, but I hear that Omaha has an exceptional zoo. Hopefully Nikki and the kids can tag along on a trip so we can all find out firsthand.

I apologize I have no snapshots of Omaha. I took the digital camera along so I could take a few pics, but but my perfect wife didn't put the memory card back into the camera. She's still perfect - I'm at fault for not checking to be sure everything was there that I needed.

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

Where Work Takes Me: Green Bay


First of all, I must state I'm not a Packers fan. I'm not a Vikings fan, either. Frankly, I'm not of a football fan for that matter. So my opinions come to you totally unbiased. :-)

There's a lot to be said for this city. Admittedly, you have to be a Packer fan to make this a place to take the wife and kids - but even for a non-Packer fan - the mystique of the Packers is so powerful and dominating in this community, that you anyone who comes through here undoubtedly leaves with a sense of respect and appreciation for what it means here.

I've been visiting Green Bay for about 4.5 years now, and have been in the city at least a dozen times. The first thing I notice about Green Bay as I'm driving around, is that there is virtually no skyline. GB is not a big city (pop. ~125,000): the skyline is dotted mostly with smokestacks from all the paper and manufacturing mills. Oh, and the skyline is dotted with the lights that tower over Lambeau Field (perhaps you've heard of the place?) :-) To me, this epitomizes the city quite nicely: the smokestacks symbolize a hard work ethic and the looming lights of Lambeau Field represent what unites this community.

I've been to Lambeau Field 5-6 times now (see basic pic I took above). The Packers are a customer of mine from work, so I've been in the team offices (gorgeous ) and down in the lower levels by the locker rooms in their data center. That's all I'll say for now. Suffice it to say, I've never been to a game there though despite several promises to take me to one. Oh well, I guess a true fan would enjoy it better, and - I'd rather not deal with the cold anyway...

Here are a few other facts and favorites from my times there:
*On my first visit to Green Bay I got pulled over by a motorcyle cop in late October. It was one of those speed traps that drop from 45 mph to 30 mph. He nailed me right away going about 10 mph over. He asked me where I was going, and I mentioned the name of my client I was going to visit (NOT the Packers) - and he let me go. Why he let me go, I didn't ask - but why should I???? Perhaps my client has more clout than I'm aware of.
*Green Bay seems to have more sports bars than any city 10x it's size. Just the Packers-themed bars alone could give most cities a run for their money. The people there are certainly sports crazy, that's for sure.
*Blink, and you'll miss downtown Green Bay. There's not a whole lot to that part of the town.
*I have two favorite restaurants to visit when in the Green Bay area. Pasquale's in De Pere has the best brautwurst and sausages you've ever had, and their ribs and chili are good too. The food is Chicago-style but way better than anything I've had in Chicago.
*My other favorite restaurant in Green Bay is the Hinterland Brewery. This is an upscale restaurant in downtown Green Bay that serves chef-inspired meat and fish at reasonable prices. I took some clients there, and the food and service were some of the best I've ever had anywhere.