Kara’s Blog

Today I had 3 sessions in Lubbock, TX.  It was only about 30 minutes away from Levelland, so an easy drive last night.  The sessions were very small, so definitely didn’t need much more than an hour.  Take down was quick though, with only 3 laptops set up.  After training, I drove here to Amarillo, TX.  Anna meets be there, and she’ll finish up the Texas trip on her own for 2 sessions tomorrow.  As for me, I’m up at the crack of dawn, and on my way home.  Texas has been nice, but I’m ready to get back home and see my family and my furry babies :)  Next, I’m planning my trip to Florida, where there won’t be a tlog in sight.

More later,

Kara

So today I’m in Levelland, and believe it or not, it’s pretty flat here :)  Today it turned out that they had to move the training into a meeting room at the Holiday Inn Express, where I was staying, so that they had more room and internet.. very convenient.  We had 3 trainings, and I’m beginning to understand that in Texas, if you want staff to train, you must FEED them.  Again, there was a constant supply of cookies, candy, and pizza for lunch.  Unfortunately, not too much time for pictures today.

Tomorrow, I’m in Lubbock for training, and then it’s back home on Friday.

Today I trained groups of staff in a meeting room at the Best Western in San Angelo.  It was a good space, with wireless internet (always a plus).  Too bad the pool wasn’t open, because we could have done the training out there The Administrator, Lesa, also really takes care of her people.. There was a feast of brownies, cookies, fruit, and tons of caffeine. Just what I need in the morning.  After the 4th session, I was all packed up and off on my 3 hour hike to Levelland for training tomorrow.

Yesterday I drove about 3 hours here to Abilene, TX.  As usual, the sky is blue and the sun is shining, though I did see a hurricane warning for coastal parts of TX.  Glad I’m done there.  Anywho, did a bit of shopping yesterday and then finished up with a dinner at one of my favs, Red Robin.  It’s hard to say this, but I might be getting Sonic-ed out ;).

Today, I had 3 sessions with the folks here, and I’ll be in San Angelo for trainings tomorrow.  On my drive to San Angelo, I enjoyed the beautiful scenery.  I saw my first ever, wind power tower (I have no idea what it’s really called ;)  They seemed so strange coming out of the rural landscape.  Almost a bit creepy…I also still haven’t quite put my finger on Texas’ landscape– I guess there’s a little bit of everything here since it’s soo huge, but I always find the pairing of cacti and evergreens, next to bunches of mini sunflowers, a bit unexpected.

-Tomorrow it’s a long day of training here in San Angelo,

Kara

Anna and I had off on Thursday, which was a much needed break to catch up on some rest.  We spent the morning just relaxing and then went to get some goodies at the Austin Gift Co. which I could have spent hours in. After that, we were off to Early, TX , through the goat and meat capital of America, to meet Nancy and Glenn for dinner.  It was a delicious pasta dinner (my fav) with great company– Thanks ya’ll

Unfortunately, the pasta dinner and day of rest didn’t prevent me from whatever gross bug I had on Friday morning Fortunately, Anna wouldn’t hear of me doing anything other than rest- so that’s precisely what I did after emptying my stomach.  She did great handling the sessions on her own, and the staff there were just great in helping her unpack and pack.  It’s fantastic how quickly you can set up a room with 5 sets of hands.   After trainings, we were then off to Eastland, TX, where we are training today.

Nancy’s a Therap pro already

We’ve had 3 sessions of about 10-20 people each, and were also accompanied by one of the consumer’s on the piano during our breaks :)  Most have been catching on at lightning speed, with this whole Therap thing.  After we’re done packing up, we are then off to Dallas, where Anna will be flying off from tomorrow.

The lucky Saturday Morning Trainees

-Kara

Today, Anna and I continued training staff here at AHS in Corpus Christi.  It was a full day,– started off with Starbucks, of course.  Some of the sessions were just busting at the seams with people, but 22 laptops was the maximum we could squeeze in on the tables we found.

Before hitting the road, we stopped by this sculpture, which was pretty neat

As it should be– u let those guys fix your car!

After training, it was time to pack up, and then take the 3.5 hour drive or so to Austin, where we will be tomorrow.  It took us until about 11:30 or so to get here, so it’s off to bed for me…

Today we’re training at Corpus Christi.  We’ve got about 5 sessions today and tomorrow here, and will have trained something close to 200 staff by the time we’re done.  So far, staff are catching on pretty quickly here, though they all want their own laptop

After our morning sessions, Anna and I grabbed lunch at ‘Wallbanger’s’, a burger joint, and then were back to training and checking emails.  We had a lot of great, upbeat staff in our sessions that were ready to learn.  I’ve definitely found that attitude is everything when we encounter something new— If you think you can, you can– and it’s ok to mess up and laugh at yourself

More later,

Kara

Well, it’s training day 1 for me, anyway,  and about the 8th for Anna.  Today we trained 3 groups of staff in West Columbia, Texas.  We had a great big room that was perfect for all of our laptops and such a wonderful host :)  We trained about 50 staff in T-logs, GER’s, and SComms.  AHS is planning on going live August 1, so we want to get people in and practicing before then.  We’ve found that it’s always better to keep the training and ‘go live’ date as close together as possible, so people have Therap fresh in their minds.

The weather, again, was sunny and warm, in the 90’s.   After we finished up training, we drove about 3.5 hours to Corpus Christi.  Of course, the day wouldn’t be complete without stopping by the water where we got some great pictures  and had dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant.    Then it was on the phone for more Therap-ing, before getting to bed a little after midnight.  I’m totally committed to getting to bed by 9p tomorrow night– we’ll see…

Kara

I made it here with no problems after a direct red eye flight this morning, and was greeted by Anna at the airport.  After eating some brunch, we headed over to West Columbia, Texas, where we will be training tomorrow.  Then it was time to relax– me in my room, to catch up on some shut-eye, and Anna by the pool.  Of course, this wasn’t before Anna flew to the rescue and debugged my room ;)  Spiders are not for me.

We then went to dinner at the most diverse restaurant: Donuts, Gumbo, Seafood, Steaks, and Chinese food—- what more could we want?!  Seeing that it was only one of about 3 restaurants (the others including a McD’s and a Dairy Queen)  I guess they’ve got to diversify to keep the folks happy.  It was a great bargain for all the food we got.  After that, we made ourselves less guilty about the desserts, by taking an evening walk through the quiet streets around the hotel.   It was very nice, and I just love the warm weather! (Sorry Allison

Hope everyone had a safe and happy 4th of July!! We had a rainy weekend here in CT, but didn’t stop me from eating way too much junk and getting far too many bug bites :)  Anyway,  this week Anna’s down in Texas starting some mass training for a new agency, and I’m here in the office getting myself prepared to join her for next week’s sessions.  We’re pretty much starting in Dallas and ending 3 weeks in Amarillo.  So far, I’ve heard in my live chats that it’s VERY hot down there, but that I should come prepared for any type of weather.  I’ve only been to Texas once before, and that was to San Antonio for a Basic Training graduation, but it was hot then too.  I’m looking forward to some of the places on the coast that we’ll be heading to.