halloween week
Definitely a busy week both work wise and personally. Monday I took it easy at home and then drove down to Miami after dinner (and thus avoiding the Halloween madness in my neighborhood)...got to the hotel and I tried the Courtyard at Dolphin Mall this time, little too close to the mall for my taste. Parking lot was jammed when I got there at 10, apparently some Halloween event was in progress, go figure.
Tuesday got on over to Jackson and met up with Dave (sales) and got the demo unit all set up and ready to go. Since the tech there works a late schedule we didn't finish up until 7pm so grabbed some dinner on the way back to the hotel and then collapsed as I was beat. Wednesday started off well, spent the morning prepping patient samples for the demo and then got lunch. everything was going smooth until the stupid overpaid SSC (scientific sales consultant) showed up...she managed to talk to the tech all through the most important part of the demo where I was running his patient samples on our unit!! wtf?! And it was like the few times he did turn to look she asked another question and drew his attention back...like "no no, look at me! not the actual demo of the actual system". Boy was I pissed and after I finished running the tubes I actually had to walk out of the lab and vent. I told Dave that I never want her at a demo again, she always gets in my way/interferes. talk about useless I can't wait until the new sales management comes to thier senses and fires the whole lot of them, they add nothing. At least she was gone once I got back into the lab. So after we finished that up I went and got dinner (and a drink!) and crashed again at the hotel.
Thursday I was hoping to wrap up and get out of Miami (blech!) early but things dragged out so by the time Dave and I packed up the demo unit and got it to the loading dock and got out of there it was 5pm...which meant I ran right into the teeth of Miami rush hour traffic. argh. added at least 40 min onto my normal commute time back to Orlando. Finally got home and threw something in the microwave for dinner and then collapsed. at least that's it for demo's for the year, I am definitely burned out on them now.
Friday I spent the morning getting caught up on things and then John and Mark picked me up and we ran to Porky's for a quick lunch. Then they dropped me back off and I wrapped up my work stuff for the week and ran some errands. Relaxed in the evening until John got off work at 9, then I ran over to Mark+Johns house. Chris from Jax had already gotten there with his friend Jason, as had big Larry, and DJ managed to roll in the door by 9:30 so then we all went out for dinner to kick off the weekend. Ended up at Boardwalk Ristorante and had to eat outside, music was really loud but food/drinks were ok, and the music guy packed up before too long. Weather was cool/cold so that was nice too. DJ ended up staying over at Johns to facilitate saturdays plans so after we hung out for a while longer I went home and to bed.
Saturday, party day, I was strangely calm. Slept in and then started getting set up for the party. Ran over to Mark+Johns after lunch, ended up chatting with mark, larry and his friend mark from Atlanta for a couple of hours, then ran the rest of my pre-party errands (publix, liquor store, etc) and got home and finished up the setup. DJ, John, Chris and Jason went to the parks for the day so that kept them out of my hair but they had a good time. People started arriving at 7, was a good group and good sized crowd but not too many. Couple of surprise show-ups and no-shows but all in all it was a good party and drama free. Peter and I ran out and got Pizza and of course there were Peter cookies and cake to celebrate Peters, Piggys and Larrys birthdays. The extra hour of daylight savings was also a blessing cuz people left at a decent hour and DJ and I got to bed by 1am.
Sunday we slept in (DJ more than I heh) and I got the place cleaned up pretty quickly. Then DJ packed up and we hit Arby's for a late lunch for him, then we stopped back at Mark+Johns to say our goodbyes. Chris and Jason had already left but we hung for a while until Larry+Mark2 left, then DJ hit the road so he could do his sunday DJ gigs. Mark, John and I took it easy then had an early dinner at the greek restaurant and then called it a night. Ughh hard getting used to that time change and being dark at 5pm. So it was a really good, stress free and fun party and weeekend, good to see the gang and just kick back and have some nice social fun. :-)
This week it's off the Memphis for a quick trip and then home for the latter part of the week before I hit (finally!) vacation and the big cruise. woohoo
Tuesday got on over to Jackson and met up with Dave (sales) and got the demo unit all set up and ready to go. Since the tech there works a late schedule we didn't finish up until 7pm so grabbed some dinner on the way back to the hotel and then collapsed as I was beat. Wednesday started off well, spent the morning prepping patient samples for the demo and then got lunch. everything was going smooth until the stupid overpaid SSC (scientific sales consultant) showed up...she managed to talk to the tech all through the most important part of the demo where I was running his patient samples on our unit!! wtf?! And it was like the few times he did turn to look she asked another question and drew his attention back...like "no no, look at me! not the actual demo of the actual system". Boy was I pissed and after I finished running the tubes I actually had to walk out of the lab and vent. I told Dave that I never want her at a demo again, she always gets in my way/interferes. talk about useless I can't wait until the new sales management comes to thier senses and fires the whole lot of them, they add nothing. At least she was gone once I got back into the lab. So after we finished that up I went and got dinner (and a drink!) and crashed again at the hotel.
Thursday I was hoping to wrap up and get out of Miami (blech!) early but things dragged out so by the time Dave and I packed up the demo unit and got it to the loading dock and got out of there it was 5pm...which meant I ran right into the teeth of Miami rush hour traffic. argh. added at least 40 min onto my normal commute time back to Orlando. Finally got home and threw something in the microwave for dinner and then collapsed. at least that's it for demo's for the year, I am definitely burned out on them now.
Friday I spent the morning getting caught up on things and then John and Mark picked me up and we ran to Porky's for a quick lunch. Then they dropped me back off and I wrapped up my work stuff for the week and ran some errands. Relaxed in the evening until John got off work at 9, then I ran over to Mark+Johns house. Chris from Jax had already gotten there with his friend Jason, as had big Larry, and DJ managed to roll in the door by 9:30 so then we all went out for dinner to kick off the weekend. Ended up at Boardwalk Ristorante and had to eat outside, music was really loud but food/drinks were ok, and the music guy packed up before too long. Weather was cool/cold so that was nice too. DJ ended up staying over at Johns to facilitate saturdays plans so after we hung out for a while longer I went home and to bed.
Saturday, party day, I was strangely calm. Slept in and then started getting set up for the party. Ran over to Mark+Johns after lunch, ended up chatting with mark, larry and his friend mark from Atlanta for a couple of hours, then ran the rest of my pre-party errands (publix, liquor store, etc) and got home and finished up the setup. DJ, John, Chris and Jason went to the parks for the day so that kept them out of my hair but they had a good time. People started arriving at 7, was a good group and good sized crowd but not too many. Couple of surprise show-ups and no-shows but all in all it was a good party and drama free. Peter and I ran out and got Pizza and of course there were Peter cookies and cake to celebrate Peters, Piggys and Larrys birthdays. The extra hour of daylight savings was also a blessing cuz people left at a decent hour and DJ and I got to bed by 1am.
Sunday we slept in (DJ more than I heh) and I got the place cleaned up pretty quickly. Then DJ packed up and we hit Arby's for a late lunch for him, then we stopped back at Mark+Johns to say our goodbyes. Chris and Jason had already left but we hung for a while until Larry+Mark2 left, then DJ hit the road so he could do his sunday DJ gigs. Mark, John and I took it easy then had an early dinner at the greek restaurant and then called it a night. Ughh hard getting used to that time change and being dark at 5pm. So it was a really good, stress free and fun party and weeekend, good to see the gang and just kick back and have some nice social fun. :-)
This week it's off the Memphis for a quick trip and then home for the latter part of the week before I hit (finally!) vacation and the big cruise. woohoo