My first business trip!

I've been a working professional for over ten years, and I finally got to take my first business trip! I work at a software company large enough to have offices all over the world, so I've grown used to having relationships based solely on e-mail, video chat, and telephone. Back in November, I mentioned to my boss, Judy, that I'd like someday to meet everyone face-to-face. I'm the only writer in Salt Lake; sometimes it gets lonely. Judy's response was that she wanted the same thing and was planning a workshop/conference to accomplish just that!

I flew to New York City first some fun with friends and to see the Broadway shows. I'm glad I did the fun part first, 'cause I was exhausted by the end. I was almost disappointed I couldn't go home...

...The day I spent travelling from New York City to Washington D.C. did NOT get me pumped up for the business part of the trip. I packed the night before so I could get up early and have plenty of time to find Pennsylvania Station and board the train to D.C. I was sad to say good-bye to Kristen and Theresa. Kristen reviewed the subway map with me to help me figure out how to get there. That didn't keep me from getting my suitcase stuck in the turnstile (I'd managed to keep my purse and computer bag free), forcing me to back out and buy another ticket because the machine wouldn't let me use my unlimited pass again (it was trying to keep me from letting multiple people in with one pass). Then I got on the wrong train and ended up in Queens. Then I walked a block on the wrong direction looking for my connecting train. Then I had to ask a bunch of people where the Amtrak trains were. I made it safely to the train, and panicked when they started listing a bunch of stops that didn't include D.C. I asked the lady next to me where we were headed, and burst into tears when she said "Newport, Virginia." Turns out, it was a commuter train that made a lot of stops, including Washington D.C. What can I say? I was tired! Next time I take a train I'll have a better idea of what I'm doing and hopefully enjoy it more.

Isn't Union Station lovely? It was so grand and spacious!

I decided to forgo the underground in D.C. since I just wanted to get to my hotel, so I hailed a taxi to take me to the suburb where my hotel was located. Of course I got a driver who wasn't familiar with the suburb. We tried to use my GPS to find it, but I kept losing the signal. After an hour and $80 we finally made it.

At least I got a lovely drive-by of the Washington Memorial!

The Lincoln Memorial

I wasn't prepared for my accommodations in Virginia. I'd claimed the rollaway bed in our tiny room in NYC. My room in Virginia was definitely a suite, complete with couch and a t.v. that swiveled to face either the couch or the king-sized bed. Hooray! More hotel rooms like this, please!

The hotel was in the middle of a green, leafy nowhere, so I had to walk at least a mile to find some food (tired and hungry is a bad combo for me). Thank goodness for Pei Wei. I ate there on Monday AND Tuesday night because I couldn't find anything else. It was pretty cool to watch t.v. again. I haven't had cable in several years, and I forgot how nice it is to watch programs in real time!

I'd planned my New York trip before Judy confirmed the final dates for the workshop, so I arrived a day early. On Tuesday, I worked from my hotel room and ate french toast for breakfast and lunch. It's my favorite! I very much appreciate my company for my extra night in the hotel.

Wednesday and Thursday were the main event: the workshop that gave all of the writers in the company (except the four in India and the one in England) an excuse to all meet each other. My office is the furthest west; except for one writer in Mexico, everyone else is on the East coast. It was so great to meet everyone in person! I've been with the company for four years, and we merged with another two years ago, but I'd never met any of them -- not even my boss -- face-to-face (the man who hired me was in the Salt Lake office, but he was let go a few years ago). It was great to see their faces and hear their voices and feel like I actually know them, rather than being some creepy voyeur who gets e-mails about their work and personal lives but otherwise isn't involved in their lives.

The workshop was great. We learned techniques for improving our documentation so that it's more useful to the clients. My boss was kind of amazed at how eager we all were at the end to go home and apply all we'd learned. We were excited to chop up the doc and delete as many screenshots as possible!

One of the exercises involved us splitting in to groups and using
a set of instructions to put together a Lego tow truck.
I posted this photo on Instagram. My favorite response was:
"Oh, wow. That looks like a terrible accident. Is that guy ok?"
Hahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!

We had dinner together Wednesday night at Ozzie's, an Italian place my boss likes. I thought it a little funny that I was one of a handful to not order an alcoholic beverage, but I got a lecture because I ordered a Diet Coke :P I know aspartame is bad, but I was on vacation!

Yes, I ate two donuts.
I am ashamed.

Thursday morning, we invited some of the other local employees for a party my boss called "Doc 'n' Donuts": a chance for them to meet some of the writers they work with. The people working on my current projects are all based in Salt Lake City, like me, but my boss did introduce me to someone I might need to know for a future project. It's always nice to be included!

I admit that I spent about half of the meet and greet catching up on e-mails from
my SLC co-workers. Thankfully, my trip East didn't put me too far behind.

By Thursday night, we were all stuffed to the gills with food*, and those who lived close enough to drive home were ready to leave. The plan for the handful of us out-of-towners who weren't going home until Friday or later was for Judy to drive us into Washington D.C. and see the monuments on The Mall at night. Judy had some work to finish up, so the rest of us dropped our stuff off at our rooms and took a shuttle to a local strip mall to find some dinner. My companions were really nice and let me pick the vendor because I really, really wanted a sandwich from Potbelly. I didn't care that I'd had one in New York the week before. I don't have Potbelly in my hometown so I was going to take advantage while I could! The local ahead of me in line was adamant that I get the "Wreck" sandwich. I love the Italian, but I took a chance on the Wreck anyway. It was delicious. So, now I'm going to conclude that everything there is delicious. My coworkers liked their choices, too, thank goodness. I always worry when I recommend something or someplace that the other folks won't like it. Lucked out this time!

  

About that time, Judy called to let us know that she had at least an hour of work to do and then would need dinner, and with the traffic in the city we wouldn't get to the Mall until a ridiculously late hour. We told her not to worry about it. The hotel shuttle was no longer running, so we wandered around the strip mall for a little bit, and then walked the 2.5 miles back to our hotel. As I said, the area was gorgeous and green, and fairly warm. The highways all had sidewalks, and I was in good company. It was a nice, peaceful way to spend the evening. We arrived back at the hotel just as the sky officially became dark, then sat around and chatted for a bit before calling it a night.

Elizabeth, Elias, Tina, and me.
I am sad that I didn't get a photo with Judy, or one of the entire group at the conference,
but these three folks were awfully nice!

I slept in a tiny bit on Friday morning, but still was up in time to finish packing and eat the fancy hotel buffet breakfast before my taxi whisked me away to the airport.

Just as I was boarding the plane and starting to feel sad that the adventure was over, I spotted this guy's hat:

"God is Good all the Time"

I have to say that I agree!

So, there you have it: my big event in May. For a long time, I thought in terms of "before my East coast trip" and "after my East coast trip." Now that it's after, I'm going to have to start planning something else to look forward to!

*They brought out new food for every break, and a huge lunch both days. I didn't notice the effects of the rich food on my body while in NYC because I walked all day, but eating and sitting in meetings in Virginia about did me in. I gained several pounds :P

D.C. Vacation, part 3: Around D.C.

The day after the long, lovely birthday at Kings Dominion was a Tuesday. Shonni was up bright and early for her first day at a new job, and Aaron had the day off but a lot of work to do, so he wanted to go into work for a few hours. I wanted to spend the morning at the Washington D.C. Temple anyway, so Aaron dropped me off while he went into work. Oddly enough, I had many adventures during my four hours on the temple grounds!

It started when Aaron and I pulled up. There were four young Elder (not elderly) missionaries taking photos, so we asked them to take one of Aaron and I, and we took some of the four of them. The missionaries mentioned that recently some folks had tried to steal the angel Moroni statue from the top of the temple spire. Apparently, they rented a helicopter and managed to remove it from the spire, but were caught before they could get away. I tend to think that story is an urban legend...

The endowment sessions take place each hour on the hour. Aaron dropped me off at 11:15, so I had some time to kill. I decided to be bold and ask to see everything they would let me see within the temple. I walked around the floor where they do marriage sealings, saw the Bride dressing room, and found the cafeteria. I wanted to buy a Snickers from the vending machine, but didn't have any cash on me. Oh, well. The Celestial room was so beautiful that I literally stopped and gawked when I walked in. I love the symbolism in that room. I sat and gazed about for the longest time. For some reason, I couldn't find the baptistry, and I chickened out asking for directions. Being there for a noon session on a Tuesday, I feared for a few minutes that it would just me be, the four Elder missionaries, and one other guy there in the session. Fortunately, about 10 minutes before it started, 30 people showed up. It was awesome! Hooray for people going to the temple on a Tuesday afternoon!

After the session, I walked outside and called Aaron to let him know he could pick me up. While on the phone I went around the corner of the temple, and two deer who had been quietly grazing about 20 feet from me bolted! I was shocked! That's when I realized how idealistic the setting for the temple is. It's in the middle of the forest, and it's beautiful. I walked around and took photos of the trees, the exterior of the temple, and the six deer I saw. I also bought a Mormon Tabernacle Choir CD and a subscription to the Ensign magazine at the Distribution Center.



When Aaron arrived, we went into the Visitor's Center to change into jeans. One of the Sister Missionaries stopped us and asked if we were interested in seeing one of the exhibits. They had several photographs from the Hubble telescope on display, along with information and scriptures that describe each. It was really cool. Aaron and I walked around for quite awhile discussing the differences between dying stars, forming galaxies, and how it all relates to the Church's stance on the creation. By the time we left, we realized it was nearly 4pm! We picked up some insanely tastey sandwiches at Potbelly (a sandwich shop I cannot recommend highly enough) and drove home to wait for Shonni.

Shonni, Aaron and I ate dinner and headed out to the Mall. We wanted to see a couple of the Smithsonian Museums, like the Newseum and the Pop-Culture museum. Unfortunately, we learned that as of Labor Day -- the day before -- the museums all closed at 5:30. Guess what time we got there? You got it: 5:32. Whoops! Instead, we walked around some of the sculpture gardens and regular gardens. It was a very pretty night, and Aaron, Shonni and I can fabricate fun out of any situation!

Above: Aaron and I with The Burghers of Calais by Rodin; the only sculpture we recognized and liked

Above: me outside the Smithsonian Castle

When it started to get dark, we made our way to the Pentagon. Shonni and I had never seen the September 11 Memorial there, and seeing as the anniversary was only a few days away, we very much wanted to go. It was a sobering sight. There was a bench for every person who died that day -- those who had been in the building and those in the plane that hit it. I looked out at that sea of lit benches, and then at the plaques that listed the year each where born. Did you know the youngest was just a year old? She died with her brother and parents, who each had their own benches, too. I remember September 11, watching the news broadcasts and seeing the rescue efforts. The same awe and horror I felt then returned as I realized again that the people who died that day were real. They had lived and died doing their best to lead good lives. How can I do anything less than honor their memories and try to do the same?


Even though we had a late dinner, we went over to the Good Stuff Eatery where I ordered a Prez Obama Burger and a Milky Way Malt, and all of us shared an order of delectable Spike's Village Fries (with rosemary, thyme, and cracked pepper). It really was "good stuff." We even got to watch a cop pull over a car who totally deserved it, having stopped and gone in reverse in the middle of a busy intersection :P

We were exhausted by that point, but when we drove past the Marines Memorial we had to stop and take some more photos. There are a lot of people who have sacrificed their lives for my country. I wanted to take a few more moments, while in the nation's capitol, to honor them.



The next morning, I said good-bye to Shonni before she left for work, and then packed up all of my luggage and souvenirs. Aaron took me to the Baltimore airport -- with a quick stop at McDonald's for some breakfast. I ate my breakfast and bought an extra yogurt I hoped I could take on the plane to eat later, but the guards wouldn't let me, so I ate before going past Security.

The plane ride home was fairly unremarkable. I bought an Italian sandwich at the Potbelly in the airport so I wouldn't starve on the trip, walked around the Minneapolis Airport during my layover, and remained seated in Salt Lake so the serviceman who was accompanying the body of a fallen comrade could exit the plane first. My mom picked me up from the airport and took me home, where I realized my car had been towed... but I think I've already covered that whole episode!

And there you have it. Sorry it took me so long to fill you in on my trip. Hope you weren't bored, because I had a great time!

Thank you, Aaron and Shonni, for making me feel so welcome, for taking care of me, and for making such an effort to ensure my vacation was a happy one. It really was. I love you both!

D.C. Vacation, part 2: Kings Dominion

Monday, Labor Day, was my birthday, and I was more than a little upset to see that the skies were just as cloudy and forboding as the day before. We had planned to visit an amusement park, and although there are plenty of other things to do in the D.C. area, I kind of had my heart set on riding roller coasters for my birthday! Fortunately, Aaron and his friends checked online and discovered that the weather was far better in the part of Virginia where the park is located.

Shonni wasn’t feeling well so she stayed home, but Aaron and I met a group of six other people from the singles wards in the area. I was surprised to see it was such a reasonably small group of people, five boys and three girls. We split up into two cars with four people in each and drove the hour and-a-half drive to the park. My car stopped for gas and a snack on the way; apparently, so did the other car, because we managed to beat them there.

As my birthday present, Aaron paid my ticket into Kings Dominion, which I thought was delightfully generous. Thank you, Aaron! Our group of four, which included Aaron, me, Shandy, and Matthew, went into the park, took a photo and made our way to the nearest roller coaster, Anaconda. We couldn’t get ahold of anyone in the other car, but figured we’d meet them there. They arrived at the coaster just as we finished the ride, so we went a second time! Then we went crazy, making the rounds to all of the rides one at a time.

I like to think of Kings Dominion as the “Lagoon” of the East coast, because there isn’t a running theme for the park – it’s just a bunch of roller coasters, rides, restaurants and souvenir stands all grouped together. They had some Hanna-Barbara (the Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, the Flintstones) and Nickelodeon-themed stuff, but that’s about it.

Because it was a holiday, we were very surprised to find how few people were at the park that day. We imagined the rain might have something to do with it, but then… there was no rain until 6:30 that day. There weren’t even that many employees. We walked past a face-painting station several times and never did see anyone who would paint my face! The best part about so few people being there was that the lines were SHORT! We didn’t wait longer than 10 minutes or so in any one line. It was SWEET!

We had a quick lunch at a Chic-fil-A in the park, where we learned that Adam had brought his own lunch along, complete with lunch meat and vegetables. He bought a bun at the restaurant and made a sandwich, and generously shared with the rest of us.

I made sure to take motion-sickness meds that morning, because I really like roller coasters, and I did NOT want to miss out! Not on my birthday! Nearly every roller coaster had multiple loops and upside-down twists. I admit, the one I liked the least was the one everyone else liked the most: the Volcano. There was something about the hydrolic push at the beginning, and the fact that our feet were dangling, and that third loop seeming so slow that I just did not like! We got to the end and I said “I am NOT doing that again!” Tyson had to laugh. I sat out while everyone else did a second go-around. It took them awhile, since they all wanted to be in the front. I didn’t mind too much. It gave me time to get a really, really stale pretzel, and have a park worker ask me – with much concern – if I was okay (I was flopped over on a rock. It was a long day!).

We stayed at the park and ran around from 10:30am to 6:30pm (oh, and guess which day I forgot to wear my pedometer? That day. I was so annoyed). We had a ton of fun and were exhausted by the end and kind of glad when it started raining. We were already wet anyway, since we did a log flume as one of the last rides, and although Adam and I managed to get past the splash without getting much water on us, the spectators with water pistoles got us good! I was turned around at the time, so they just got my back, but Adam was soaked. Of course, after that, we had to stay and try to get as many others as we could.

I bought a t-shirt and then we all piled back into the cars. We wanted real food, so we decided to eat at Cracker Barrel. I had never been to that restaurant before, and it was good! We had fun looking around at the kitchy items and yummy candies in the store, and I got excited when I saw there was maple candy (I was thinking of that episode of Friends where Ross eats all that maple candy…). Five minutes later, Shandy bought me some as a birthday present. How cute is that? I’d never had maple candy before and I quite liked it!

Oddly, when the others asked if I wanted the waiters to sing “Happy Birthday” to me, I said no. I was too tired, even if it was my actual birthday. It was a little lame of me. Oh, well. It was a great group of people to celebrate with. Aaron, Rich, Lorrena, Tyson, Adam, Shandy, and Matthew made it a great day!

Aaron and I returned to Shonni’s place about 10:30 or 11, and found her feeling much better. We told her about our day, cuddled with Baxter, and checked my Facebook page.

Thank you to everyone who called, texted, emailed, and posted on my FB page to wish me a happy birthday! I felt happy and loved and I really appreciate everyone who thought of me!

What better way to turn 31 than by riding a crazy-lot of roller coasters all day, and basking in the love of people that I love, too? My thirty-second year started off pretty darn good!

Above: Tyson, Shandy, Rich, Lorrena, Adam, me, Matthew, and Aaron

D.C. Vacation, part 1: Going Somewhat Native

I've been back from my Washington D.C. trip for a couple of weeks -- enough time to have settled into regular life once again and reflect on how much fun I had!

The idea was to visit my brother Aaron and his girlfriend Shonni and just tag along with whatever they were doing for the Labor Day weekend.

I flew into the Baltimore Airport on Saturday afternoon (and, yes, I had "Good Morning Baltimore" from Hairspray in my head for, like, two hours). Aaron and Shonni picked me up, and we decided to get some dinner. I told them that I wanted to tell everyone, everywhere we went, that it was my birthday, just to see what kind of free stuff I could get. It turned out, we only did that one time, but it was this first restaurant! I was in the mood for some Indian food, so Shonni found a place called Haandi. While looking for the restaurant, we walked past a burger place, where four young men were sitting down to this:

This hamburger was something like 20 lbs, and $80. Gross, right? We have no idea how they actually planned to eat it. I'm sure it was cold before they even started eating.

Anyway, the Indian food was excellent, and Shonni told the hostess it was my birthday, which resulted in a free rice pudding-type dessert. Awesome, right? After that, we dropped off my stuff. Shonni generously invited me to stay with her, where I would have a bed, as opposed to Aaron's place where I would have a bed because Aaron would insist on sleeping on the couch. We picked up Shonni's adorable chihuaua, Baxter, and made our way to a park near the Reagan Airport where the planes fly right over you...

...Unfortunately, it was pretty late in the evening when we got to the park, and the planes coming in were coming from the other way, so we just ended up hanging out and playing with Baxter in the dark before stopping at the grocery store. Still, we managed to stay up way too late, and enjoy each other's company!

The next day was Sunday, and Shonni and I managed to drag ourselves out of bed and make ourselves presentable in time for Aaron to pick us up at, like, 8:30am for church. We went to the Singles Ward near Mount Vernon, and I met a bunch of people whose names I no longer remember. But they were nice, and I enjoyed the classes and testimony meeting.

Aaron and Shonni made breakfast-for-dinner for our late afternoon lunch/dinner... they were nice enough to let me help. Seriously, those apple and butterscotch pancakes and the omelet were yummy. I followed up lunch with a three hour nap. (I didn't intend to sleep that long. My excuse is that I was jet-lagged and I got up at 5am MST... on my vacation!)

I had hoped there would be something going on that weekend that you can only do in Washington D.C. such as when Aaron and Shonni saw the fireworks at the Capital Building. So, imagine my delight when they sent me a Facebook invitation a week before the trip inviting me to a free National Symphony Orchestra (NSO) concert on the lawn outside the Capital Building! Yaaaaaaaaay! Sunday evening, we found a parking spot nearby, which happened to be by the Library of Congress. (This is only interesting because we'd be saying earlier we weren't sure where it was. Turns out there are multiple buildings.)

Above: me in front of the Library of Congress building across the street
Below: a James Madison quote on the wall outside the Library of Congress entrance

Below: Aaron and I with the Capital Building in the background

We passed through security, picked up some free water bottles (there were crates-full available), and found Aaron's friends without too much difficulty. With an hour to go before the concert was to start, rain started to drizzle. Did I mention we hadn't brought an umbrella? Shonni and I held our blanket over our heads, but the rain became more and more insistent, and then started to pour! A lot of the others in the group decided to go to someone's house and play games. I was hesitant to assert my desire to stay and try to wait out the rain, but I really wanted to see the concert! Aaron, Shonni, and I stood under a tree with many other concert-goers for about another 20 minutes. We had just decided to leave when the rain abruptly stopped!

Above: Shonni and I unsuccessfully attempt to stay dry
Below: Aaron, Shonni and I on the lawn in front of the Capital Building

We ended up staying and really enjoyed the concert. They played the overture to Gypsy, a medley from South Pacific, the theme songs from E.T. and Star Wars: A New Hope, "The Liberty Bell March", and a tribute to Abraham Lincoln. During the Lincoln tribute, the rain started to sprinkle again. When the song ended, the orchestra leader, Emile de Cou, asked if we wanted to take an intermission. The entire crowd shouted "NO!" but they took an intermission anyway. As soon as the lights came up in the crowd, the rain started to dump again. At that point, we decided to call it a night and go. I loved the concert, though. I was so glad we stayed for the first part!

I wasn't quite ready to go to bed when we arrived home, so I watched the first half of The Holiday on DVD... fitting, no? I think the pairing of Jack Black and Kate Winslet is genius.

To be continued...