Kyle – Page 7 – Andelin Adventures

Travel for Business – Kyle’s take two

So, the most hectic part of my business trip was travelling to Waltham, just west of Boston. When I booked the travel flight and hotel, I chose a hotel in Boston, as the recommended hotel in Waltham was unavailable. Besides, the website said it was only 7 miles from the office, and I typically drive much farther than this on my daily drive to work. However, I had never been to Boston, and had no idea what to expect from driving in the old historic town. After I arrived and got the rental car, I was in for a shock, trying to navigate through the small one-way streets, through old downtown Boston.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s quite beautiful there, and so amazing to be able to walk through a historic town that I heard so much about. However, it was really frustrating as well. I ended up having to navigate by the GPS on my phone, restarting the directions every few blocks, as I would pass the street I needed, and had to back-track around a one-way street to get to where I wanted. Then, I finally found the hotel (nice old tall building in the theatre district) and had to circle it three times before I could finally figure out how to park, which ended up being valet parking. Once I got my hotel room sorted out, I took a walk down to the Boston Common park, and across the street to a pizza place to grab a bite to eat.

I realised that Boston was full of toll roads, and was short on cash to pay for them, so in the morning, I left extra early so I could take the free side-streets to get to Waltham. That drive took the better part of an hour, but at least I got to see what life was like for normal people attending the University and local schools, and going about life there. I really wonder what it would be like to live in Boston, and if the salaries for common people would pay enough for their living there. I found our office without major issue, and had a really good time meeting a lot of people I only knew over the phone or through email. I won’t go into many details on the meeting, but I felt it was helpful that I was there, as I had more experience with all aspects of the product than any other group individually.

That night, once I left the office, I noticed that the rental car had a toll road sensor on it, that allowed me to drive on the toll roads without spending cash, so I used it to quickly return to the hotel, and I decided to walk around Boston a bit to get to see the area. Unfortunately, it was already dark by the time I returned, but it was still pretty to see some of the old buildings, including an old church that seemed to be turned into some form of restaurant. I was surprised with how far I walked, according to the map, and suspect that if I had more time (and light), I could easily have crossed the city in less than an hour. I ended up eating at a Legal Sea Food, at the suggestion of a friend, and then returned to the hotel for the night.

The next day was much like the previous, only I took the highway to save some time. Traffic was crazier this day, much more than I expected, but at least I was still early. At the office, we focused on how we could improve the features that were brought up the previous day, and when the day was over, I quickly headed back to the airport to fly back to Rochester.

I think Boston would really be a fun place to visit, if I ever had the time and money. I’m sure Rebecca and I would love to see some of the shows together, and just to see the historic city would be beautiful.

It felt really relaxing to return to Rochester, which was not nearly as hectic as Boston was. Even though I was only there for a day, it felt more familiar and friendly, even though I wasn’t really willing to try a garbage plate again. 🙂 I found, in my exploring of the area, that there was an Aldi store (I shopped at one in England, and loved the place, and found lots of European chocolates in this one!) I was able to wrap up my training and learn a lot more about the product over the remaining two days that I had there, between the TOI and other training that I took part in. I rather hope I can go visit the place again, but am not sure if that would happen. Considering it was about 45 minutes from Palmyra, I would really love to get enough free time to go visit that historic site, instead of feeling more rushed to get the work things done, and quickly get back to the airport, like I had to do this time.

Travel for Business – Kyle’s take one

As Rebecca explained, I had to travel for business over a couple weeks. I had no idea it was going to be as hectic as it turned out to be. Initially, at work, some of our product management told me that they were going to arrange for me to go out to Rochester, New York, to meet with our developers, and receive one-on-one training for them for a week. When they finally told me the date they arranged, 24-27 January, they also explained that they would be holding a “Transfer of Information,” the “TOI” for my product, on Wednesday of that same week, giving me a chance to be there in person for the event. Basically, it’s the training the developers give the support staff on how to actually support a product. I arranged the travel for that trip, going out Monday and coming back Saturday, to give me Tuesday through Friday on-site.

In addition to this, as one of our department’s top performers, I had been recommended to take a training course normally meant for management. I had decided on the first Thursday and Friday in February, to attend the training in our Springfield, Oregon office, thinking it would give me a week back between the Rochester trip and this training trip. I didn’t realise until I signed up for the class and booked the flights, that it was the week directly following the Rochester trip, but at least I would have a few days at home, flying out on Wednesday afternoon and coming back on Saturday.

Then, the week after I booked the flights and hotel stays, I found out that my product management had arranged for an internal meeting about my product, on Tuesday and Wednesday of the same week as the TOI, but in Waltham, Massachusetts. When they told me I needed to attend this, I felt annoyed that they scheduled this on the same week as the trip they asked me to make, and asked if they would reschedule this meeting, but they explained that everyone else had already made the arrangements to attend this one. (Made me feel like inviting me was an afterthought, sadly.) So, after talking everything over with management and verifying this was the final change, I made the arrangements to travel out on Sunday afternoon, to be in Rochester on Monday, then added a flight Monday night from Rochester to Boston, and a flight back from Boston to Rochester on Wednesday night, moving the TOI to Thursday and changing the hotel stay in Rochester and adding one in downtown Boston, which claimed to be seven miles from the office I needed to be at for the meeting.

The day after that change was finalised, my manager asked if I could change my flight to Springfield to fly out a day earlier, to arrive as soon as possible that day, and spend as much of that Tuesday, and all of that Wednesday, in training with one of my colleagues in Springfield. So, once again I called the travel company and made the changes to the flight, hotel, and rental car reservations, but at least didn’t have to add another trip into the middle of this one, and would still come home at a reasonable time on Saturday.

The complications arose as we drew closer to the week of my first travel, as my manager was able to hire two new frontline support techs to work on my team, and in addition to my busy customer load, I also had to try and get them up to speed with both the product and general company policies, and get myself ready to be gone for the next two weeks. That in itself was hectic, and I doubt I did everything needed, but at least felt that they had enough to stay busy with whilst I was gone.

When I originally booked the Sunday flight, I figured to make it late enough that I would be able to leave after church, but with preparation time and the new security at the airport, I ended up leaving first thing in the morning to get to the airport, and then had over an hour to wait for the flight to start boarding. The trip was pretty uneventful, although I was overly nervous on the first leg of the trip, being years since my last flight. With a layover in Detroit, (never been there before, so I figured I would do that one), eventually arriving at the Rochester airport around 7:00pm on Sunday. After getting my bag and rental car, I asked the rental car clerk what kind of food I could try to experience “Rochester,” not wanting to simply go for a place I would recognise. The man suggested I try the “garbage plate,” which I turned my nose up at, like any sane person would.

He laughed and explained it wasn’t anything bad or scary, but explained it was more of a meal students would try, being relatively cheap and filling. It was basically a whole meal combined together, with fried potatoes, macaroni salad, meat, and multiple sauces including a local special hot sauce. I asked where to find one, and he suggested “Henrietta Hots,” which turned out to be a block from the hotel I stayed at. He also suggested another place, if I couldn’t find Henrietta Hots, but said it was more known for police issues, so I settled for his first location. Walking inside, it was a simple establishment, with a couple tables full of high-school aged kids sitting and eating. I looked at the menu, which was like any small local joint; full of dozens of various options. The woman behind the counter was nice and asked if I needed anything or had any questions, and I explained that I was told to try the Garbage Plate, not finding it listed on the menu. She pointed to the section called “plates” and said all of those were them, which was around 15 different options. I asked what the best one would be for a visitor to try, and she recommended the cheeseburger plate, which I ordered. When it came, in a styrofoam take-out box, it felt heavy and smelled good. Obviously not the most posh food around, but considering it was a large portion of hot fried potato cubes, a similar sized portion of cold macaroni salad, with three beef and cheese burger patties on top of that, all smothered in mustard, signature hot sauce, and onions. I ate half of it there, then finished it at the hotel over the next couple hours.

From what I could tell, I was actually in Henrietta, seemingly a suburb of Rochester, as it wasn’t overly crowded or difficult to navigate in. I had no problem finding where I needed to go, and everyone I spoke to was overly kind and friendly. The area was green and mild, which seemed similar to the mild winter we’ve had so far. I got to the office and met everyone I would be working at that day, and later that week. One thing that struck me was that nobody I spoke to had the typical New York accent I had expected from my mom; it seems Western New York is a much different place than the more typical New Yorker would be from. We started getting deep into my product, and had to call it quits on time for me to get back to the airport and head to Boston.

Chloe’s understandings

I had daddy duty to take the kids to church, as Rebecca stayed home to take care of Lydia on the tail-end of a fever. After church, as we were driving home, I like to interrogate the kids on their classes to see what they learned. Since today was the first day of the new year, and hence new classes, I asked them who their teachers were.

So I started from the top, “Ethan, who was your teacher today?”
His reply, “Aly and Lily’s dad.”
“I don’t know them,” I responded. “What’s their last name?”
“Peterson,” was his response, “but not the other Petersons.”

I then asked Tyra. Tyra said, “Mrs Berry. Same as last year.”
I responded, “You mean, Sister Berry?”
“Yes,” she stood corrected.

“Jeremy, who did you have today?”
Jeremy answered, “Brother Stancliff”
“He told me you were really good in class,” I complimented.

“Dinah, who did you have?” I asked.
“Mrs Evans,” she said.
“You mean Sister Evans,” I corrected.
“Yeah, Sister Evans,” she said

Since I spent the first hour of nursery with Chloe, I knew who her teachers were. I left right as they were serving goldfish and graham crackers. “Chloe, who was your teacher?” I questioned.

“Snacks,” came her response.

Failed baby names

Rebecca and I have discussed a number of baby names over the years of expecting our brood, and some of the names she simply cannot agree with include:

Adam Ondi Andelin

Felix Navidad Andelin

Twins: Michael and Ickael (Mike ‘n Ike)

Shaniqua

Basil (and Ginger, if m/f twins) or any of the: Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme?

I don’t get it. What’s the problem?

(It’s funny, whenever we mention these names to family members, the first thing they ask is, “Are you pregnant?” I don’t get it. Why can’t we simply share a joke without being accused?)

And by they way the answer is “no”.

Father’s and Son’s Campout

Rebecca is exciting about camping. It’s never been an interest of mine, due to having to live out on the dirt, not take showers, and of course, deal with uneven ground and my bad ankles. However, she convinced us to go to the annual ward Father and Son camp out, which happened at the Cherry Campground of Hobble Creek, near Springville. I don’t know why the ward chose that area, but I was glad they did, once we arrived. It was very woodsy and close to the creek, and there were plenty of trees for shade. Considering the weather was overly hot through the past week, it was a welcome coolness.

I got off work a little early on Friday, as Rebecca met me at work and I loaded the boys and our camping equipment up in my car, and then we set off for Springville (after a quick stop at McDonalds for food). I was surprised with how far the campgrounds were into the mountains, as the directions said to simply go to a stop sign, turn right, and continue on to the camp. It was miles past there to the grounds, then miles more to the Cherry Camp.

We arrived and found other members from our ward, then set up the tent. Ethan and Jeremy tried to help (Ethan read the directions, both tried to set up the poles) and eventually we had our tent up.

The boys went exploring up the hillside where everyone else was going, and I just hung around the camp.

The boys found much pleasure in climbing up the hill and sliding down (notice all the dirty back sides?).

After a while, the boys decided they wanted to pee, so we made our way to the restrooms. I was surprised that they were more of a glorified outhouse (brick building with a hole in the ground, and a hollow toilet seat over it). Jeremy refused to use it at first, and we stayed outside whilst Ethan used the room. I showed Jeremy the posters on the walls of the bear and snake warnings.

He wasn’t too happy about them, and wanted to pack up and leave.

We stayed, though. Next time, we’ll probably bring campfire foods (marshmallows, hot dogs, etc) and just roast them, instead of doing McDonalds. They continued to play, and there wasn’t much structure to the evenings’ events. After a small fireside-like message, people started going to their tents to sleep. We ended up trying to watch a movie on my tablet, but the volume wasn’t good, so instead, we played with glow bracelets until we were all too tired.

It was hard having to sleep with a slight feeling like I had to pee. In the morning, we woke up early and all went to the bathroom, then made our way back to the camp to help make breakfast. There was more than enough food (supplied by the ward) and we had pancakes, sausage, hash browns, eggs, and juice to choose from. After everyone had their fill and we cleaned up, and the boys played some more, and we started tearing down tents and picking up random bits of trash, then went home.

No bears or snakes were seen, though.