Unfortunate Events

Just today I heard news from my father that there have been two deaths in the family this week.

I'm not even sure how appropriate it is to discuss this in such a public forum, but I'm so confused about how to feel and think that getting it out in writing may be the best way for some release.

It's so strange, sometimes, how things in life happen. These two people were aunt and uncle to my father, but neither were related to each other by blood. The former's health had apparently been declining recently, but her death was still somewhat of a surprise. The latter has been in and out of hospice care for the past few months and had survived his ailments much longer than anticipated, but had also passed on not even two days after the first death. My grandfather and my great aunt, this week, have lost a brother and have lost a partner; they lived in two different states and were not even related. The timing of these events was almost as if someone, intent on dealing pain to this family, had planned it. Really, what are the odds and what did the living do to deserve this?

These two relatives were very close to my parents and my sister and I saw them enough to at least know who they were and to receive Christmas presents from them most years. My father's side of the family are fairly spread out around the country, but we at least made a concerted effort to see both of these people when we were in their respective areas every few years or so; visits to South Florida, however, were more frequent than those to Mississippi.

Is it because I didn't see them as often as family on my mother's side or is it because we live in a time where people are more emotionally detached from each other that I earnestly feel that I should be upset and sad about these deaths, but also can't find myself feeling that way? I can hear the sadness in my father's voice as he tells me that he is supposed to be a pallbearer at his uncle's funeral, but can't attend due to being out of town on business and, hearing those wavering undertones in his voice, I'm more effected than I ever was at hearing of the deaths over the phone. Maybe my physical isolation from my family has had some influence here, but I just can't help but feel guilty that these emotions aren't coming more naturally for me.

I know those that are left behind, my great aunt, great uncle, and grandfather; are all very close to each other and are helping the others make it through these tough times. I'm comforted to know that there are also many close friends coming to their aid and will be able to offer the needed shoulders to cry on.

Betty and Dalton, I love you both and wish that I had been able to see you more before your passing. Despite everything, I still feel as though I've lost an important part of my family and hope that the hole that now exists will be filled with happy memories, stories, and photographs of better times.

PM Tips and Tricks: Moleskine notebook

It may be a little late in this BER season to be posting this, but maybe someone next year will be able to benefit from this sort of planner I devised to aid in keeping track of travel and paperwork details.

As you very well know, I am a white person so, of course, I like moleskine notebooks. If you click the image above, you can see a detailed depiction of how I've made my little 3.5" x 5.5" ruled notebook worth its weight in gold in relation to the program manager job. If you're a fellow PM and would like to use this idea, what follows is an outline for doing so:

1. Month Day, Year Day of Week
2. L(ocation): City, State (Zip Code)
3. H(otel): Hotel Name (Nightly Rate)
4. P(resenter[s]): Presenter(s) Name(s) (Developer's Initials)
5. S(eminar): Seminar Code(s)
6. T(ravel):
   Airline Name (Confirmation #)
   Origin Airport Code, Departure Time, 'to,' Arrival Time, Arrival Airport Code (Flight #)
   If applicable, other travel details
   

On the top line of the first page of each week, I write the week number and I alternate ink colors each week to make flipping to the right page easier. This is a great way to keep track of hotel nights stayed and plane flights taken when it comes time to checking all your award accounts to see if everything is up to date. Quite a few times I've realized a hotel night wasn't recorded and, because of this notebook, I haven't had to log onto a computer and pull up an old email with that week's itinerary on it.

I hope this idea can be helpful to anyone and I'd love to see what other PMs have used in a similar fashion. Let me know in an email or in the comments.

Lunchbreak Entertainment: Waltham, MA

View from atop Prospect Hill, looking over Waltham, MA

Another post in what may eventually become an on-going series revealing cool and interesting things for us program managers to do during our mid-day breaks from the tedium of the registration table.

If you're into jogging and just happen to be staying at the Hilton Garden Inn in Waltham, MA (greater Boston area), this post is for you. A few minutes' walk away from the hotel is a regional park called Prospect Hill Park featuring over 250 acres of undeveloped woodlands that feature multiple off-road jogging trails, paved roadways, campsites, viewpoints looking over the Boston city skyline, and plenty of spots to sit down and eat some lunch.

At the top of this rather tall hill are some abandoned military radio towers, some of which you can climb if you're feeling up for a great view of the surrounding area. The jogging is great and, unlike the hotel's treadmills, goes through a variety of terrain and inclines. The park is open year-round to foot traffic, but its roadways are closed for much of winter, so doing more than walking in the park during those months may prove difficult.

MA, Waltham - Prospect Hill Park from Joshua Johnson on Vimeo.

[ Prospect Hill Park Advocacy Group ]

[ Waltham Recreation Department: Parks & Facilities ]

Since last I wrote, in most of the country, Spring has sprung. With it comes animals out of hiding, flowers into bloom, and grass into the deepest hue of green I have ever seen. It's now no wonder to me why some people live this far north; they deal with the harsh winters in exchange for a real change of seasons and spectacular Springs and Falls.

With the change of seasons and the more bearable climate in many of the northern states, I've taken an earnest interest in jogging as a way to keep in shape. If you know me, I've always been one to bitch and moan about how much I hate jogging as a sport; I found it too dull and repetitive for me to really enjoy (I preferred cycling or a more dynamic sport such as soccer). Well, I've decided to give it another chance now that the weather has turned delightful, I find myself in a different locale every day, and I've been shown quite a few entertaining podcasts to keep on top of. Luckily, this all coincided with a brand new specialty running store opening only a few blocks from my home: welcome to the neighborhood, West Seattle Runner (special thanks to co-owner Lori McConnell for taking the time to get me in the right pair of shoes)! How could I say no to the opportunity?

View of the lakefront jogging path looking out onto downtown Madison, WI.

I've found there are quite a few parks, nature trails, and pedestrian paths near many of the locations I visit with work, so it's made my days more fun trying to hunt them down and document them. If anyone knows of a good way to do this with an online tool (preferably one that includes photo uploads), please let me know. Right now, if the location is an established park or trail, I can bookmark it on Google Maps, but this is not always the case.

There are only a few weeks left before the end of my contract and I begin the barrage of location changes I have scheduled for myself over the course of my four month Summer break. It all kicks off with Memorial Day, baby. TI, here we come.

Successful sightseeing

Middle Ages Brewing Co., Syracuse, NY

Today, on the long drive between Albany and Rochester, NY, I managed to complete my goal of eating/drinking at all three of the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que locations in the state of New York: first Manhattan, then Rochester, and today Syracuse. A small victory in the life of a Program Manager, but a victory none the less.

Also, it happens that my aunt suggested that, while I was making that pit stop in Syracuse, I check out the Middle Ages Brewery. It's a great little place with a medieval theme to its interior decoration, and I just happened to get there with about twenty minutes before the beer tasting was closed for the day. Good beers, but what else could be expected from a brewery where all the batches are measured and made by hand? Oh, did I forget to mention that it's about a two minute drive from the original Dinosaur Bar-B-Que location?!


After a week of miserable, rainy days, my presenter and I enjoyed the mostly-clear skies and beautiful sunset on the rest of our journey to Rochester, where we'll end this oh-so-short four day week.

Next week is Spring Break, so I'll catch you on the flip side.

Weekend in Hotlanta

It ends up that there are only two airlines that make a direct flight from Nashville to Atlanta: Delta and Pacific Wings (their subsidiary, Tennessee Skies, in this case). Pacific Wings actually only has 9-seater prop. planes and flies out of the Nashville executive airport...sweet! I'm excited as this will be my first flight on a real "small scale" prop plane and certainly my first trip through an executive airport.

Not our plane, but you get the idea.

No crazy security lines, plush waiting room accommodations, free hot chocolate and Otis Spunkmeyer cookies; and REALLY nice restrooms are just some of the perks of flying through such a small airport. What a different experience that I shall not yet claim as "bad" in any way (we'll see what turbulence in a 9-seater plane feels like).

C'mon, Hotlanta, show me what you got!

Just a Little Philly Time

To start off this week of travel, I flew from Chicago to Philly, not a long flight at all. I got in early and, instead of the instructed cab ride, I got a rental car and headed into the city for a few hours of remaining sunlight (yes, that's right, sunlight in Philly!).

Being a Sunday afternoon, I was actually able to find some good parking and was incredibly eager to head to some of the locations participating in this year's PHILAGRAfiKA to see some great works on paper, which I wrote about in an earlier post. I ended up walking all around the Rittenhouse Square area of the city, which is just wrought with art galleries, small shops, and other nice things; a livable section of the city, actually.

A quick trip by Gallery 339 (fine art photography) and The Print Center, among others, yielded no results since most art galleries are only open from Tuesday through Saturday. There were a few events scheduled for earlier in the afternoon, but my arrival time from Chicago put me in a bit later than I needed.

Overall a good trip through the city, with a quick jaunt down South Broad Street before watching the US Men's Hockey team tie up the score against Canada through a restaurant window with some valet parking staff.

On the way back to my rental car (thankfully no parking ticket was issued for my expired meter), I stopped at a local dessert shop called Scoop DeVille, which was fan-tas-tic. Their ice cream blends (cookies & cream with peanut butter chip cookie dough, for me) are to die for. It's definitely going up on the Program Manager Restaurant Blog! That cup of heaven kept me awake on the drive out to the Cherry Hill area for a restful night at the Hampton Inn out in Voorhees. Love that place. The week is cruising along at a quick pace (as they all do) and my weekend stayover in Atlanta with Ciara will soon be upon me.

Philadelphia's Scoop DeVille sweets shop