Houston/the rest of the trip to hell....or
'Toto we're not in Kansas anymore....'
Yeah - I went to Houston and, as I knew it would, it sucked....
I hold no great love for Houston - except that both of my kids were born there - but luckily we got them out of there in a 'nick of time'...I just don't like the place/city.
Oh and it's not that Houston itself is too terribly bad...it's just the weather - the humidity - the walking outside at 7AM and feeling the full-frontal attack of the humidity - so much so that unless you 'get thee to air-conditioning' you will end up feeling drenched or like a wilting flower...
There's simply too much humanity in Houston...
...that is unless you are lucky enough to be staying at a resort. We stayed at 'The Woodlands' - as the name implies a place that is 'wooded'/lush - and of course being a resort, it caters to the very wealthy...it was a nice place. But a let-down after the place in Tampa....we had hotel rooms vs. apartments. The staff was way snottier than the staff at Saddlebrook where they'd do just about anything you wanted them to do - with smiles on their faces to boot....
The work here was just as intense. What made it a nightmare was our lack of connectivity when it came to networking and computer stuff. I was ready to pitch my computer out the window (oh yeah almost forgot to mention the plus of being able to look out a window in our 'office'). We were all crammed into the same office space - so you had to deal with a room filled with about 12 people all working together. It wasn't that bad but you had less quiet time - there was more chaos. Tempers flared more here than in Tampa. Yet still this has been a great group of people to work with. Consummate professionals....well for the most part....
The other difference was in the people we were there to support. While in Tampa we supported one of the biggest and most profitable groups in our company, here we were supporting the 'scientists', the 'geeks', the brainiacs. BIG difference in atmosphere. Way more serious, less 'fly by the seat of your pants' kind of thing.
The other difference down here was the fact that we were given a 'per diem' to spend anyway we wanted. So the first 'real' night (after 2 days of prep) when we held the main awards dinner here - we all mingled in the bar after wards. Great fun. I got to meet a lot of our international staff. People from all over the world. My smatterings of Francaise actually came in handy and won me some new friends. Nice people, great conversations.
The food was once again, too much and way too rich - yet excellent. The meals are more lonely - no one ever seemed to go to lunch together...we were all spread too thin this time and way too busy.
The real thorn(s) in my side this trip was dealing with 2 of my colleagues for two different reasons. The woman I have had to deal with this entire time has reached the high-end of the Richter scale as far as being obnoxious, loud, crass and opinionated. She managed to single-handedly insult everyone in the office one day by stating that while men with gray hair were good-looking - women with gray hair were (and I quote) 'skanks' SKANKS????? Um OK. Several women, including the lady who runs the show for these events have silver/gray hair - I almost died when she said this shit....
The other colleague problem is because one of the guys decided he was 'taken with me' and was flirting with me non-stop. It got kind of scary but I finally managed to make him understand he needed to stop. While I was indeed flattered in that 'I still got it' kind of way - it really made me uncomfy and miss Erin even more...
Other than those two issues I was finally incredibly homesick after being gone for so long. If I ever do this again, Erin is going to have to at least come to visit in between - it's simply too unbearable to be without him for that long of a period of time....
We ended our time in Houston with a much-deserved trip to the spa that was part of the resort. This resort is truly lovely - it's an oasis in an otherwise blah kind of town. I had a manicure - I wanted a massage but did not really have the time for one. Still I had a chance to relax and explore the surroundings. The only regret I really had was in not getting to the pool enough. Another thing to change if I do this again - even if it means swimming at night...
The trip home was brutal - 12 hours, and, because we flew into Hobby instead of Bush airport, I had to have a lay-over in Chicago - normally I would not mind stopping in Chicago but I didn't have enough time to really relax. A little girl threw up in the seat behind me during our landing in Chicago and it was just awful...
When at last I landed in Cleveland, there to greet me at the baggage claim was my wonderful husband. A sight for sore eyes...God/dess I love this man.
I could regale you all with all the wonderful things he did while I was away - and the difficult time I had readjusting to being home - but suffice it to say I am just really glad to be back home in the arms of my love, in our home, with my family.
Cause really....'there's no place like home'.
^_^
Yeah - I went to Houston and, as I knew it would, it sucked....
I hold no great love for Houston - except that both of my kids were born there - but luckily we got them out of there in a 'nick of time'...I just don't like the place/city.
Oh and it's not that Houston itself is too terribly bad...it's just the weather - the humidity - the walking outside at 7AM and feeling the full-frontal attack of the humidity - so much so that unless you 'get thee to air-conditioning' you will end up feeling drenched or like a wilting flower...
There's simply too much humanity in Houston...
...that is unless you are lucky enough to be staying at a resort. We stayed at 'The Woodlands' - as the name implies a place that is 'wooded'/lush - and of course being a resort, it caters to the very wealthy...it was a nice place. But a let-down after the place in Tampa....we had hotel rooms vs. apartments. The staff was way snottier than the staff at Saddlebrook where they'd do just about anything you wanted them to do - with smiles on their faces to boot....
The work here was just as intense. What made it a nightmare was our lack of connectivity when it came to networking and computer stuff. I was ready to pitch my computer out the window (oh yeah almost forgot to mention the plus of being able to look out a window in our 'office'). We were all crammed into the same office space - so you had to deal with a room filled with about 12 people all working together. It wasn't that bad but you had less quiet time - there was more chaos. Tempers flared more here than in Tampa. Yet still this has been a great group of people to work with. Consummate professionals....well for the most part....
The other difference was in the people we were there to support. While in Tampa we supported one of the biggest and most profitable groups in our company, here we were supporting the 'scientists', the 'geeks', the brainiacs. BIG difference in atmosphere. Way more serious, less 'fly by the seat of your pants' kind of thing.
The other difference down here was the fact that we were given a 'per diem' to spend anyway we wanted. So the first 'real' night (after 2 days of prep) when we held the main awards dinner here - we all mingled in the bar after wards. Great fun. I got to meet a lot of our international staff. People from all over the world. My smatterings of Francaise actually came in handy and won me some new friends. Nice people, great conversations.
The food was once again, too much and way too rich - yet excellent. The meals are more lonely - no one ever seemed to go to lunch together...we were all spread too thin this time and way too busy.
The real thorn(s) in my side this trip was dealing with 2 of my colleagues for two different reasons. The woman I have had to deal with this entire time has reached the high-end of the Richter scale as far as being obnoxious, loud, crass and opinionated. She managed to single-handedly insult everyone in the office one day by stating that while men with gray hair were good-looking - women with gray hair were (and I quote) 'skanks' SKANKS????? Um OK. Several women, including the lady who runs the show for these events have silver/gray hair - I almost died when she said this shit....
The other colleague problem is because one of the guys decided he was 'taken with me' and was flirting with me non-stop. It got kind of scary but I finally managed to make him understand he needed to stop. While I was indeed flattered in that 'I still got it' kind of way - it really made me uncomfy and miss Erin even more...
Other than those two issues I was finally incredibly homesick after being gone for so long. If I ever do this again, Erin is going to have to at least come to visit in between - it's simply too unbearable to be without him for that long of a period of time....
We ended our time in Houston with a much-deserved trip to the spa that was part of the resort. This resort is truly lovely - it's an oasis in an otherwise blah kind of town. I had a manicure - I wanted a massage but did not really have the time for one. Still I had a chance to relax and explore the surroundings. The only regret I really had was in not getting to the pool enough. Another thing to change if I do this again - even if it means swimming at night...
The trip home was brutal - 12 hours, and, because we flew into Hobby instead of Bush airport, I had to have a lay-over in Chicago - normally I would not mind stopping in Chicago but I didn't have enough time to really relax. A little girl threw up in the seat behind me during our landing in Chicago and it was just awful...
When at last I landed in Cleveland, there to greet me at the baggage claim was my wonderful husband. A sight for sore eyes...God/dess I love this man.
I could regale you all with all the wonderful things he did while I was away - and the difficult time I had readjusting to being home - but suffice it to say I am just really glad to be back home in the arms of my love, in our home, with my family.
Cause really....'there's no place like home'.
^_^
posted by Colette at 4:17 PM
1 Comments:
There's no place like being in each others' arms. I missed you Baby. I'm glad you're home again.
This weekend was nice too. I'm looking forward to doing more landscaping and planting with you.
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