1. Yes we really did....look here we are with the sign in reception (you just can't fake that!):
Actually the time with Presidium was excellent, it was really useful to see their operations which was much bigger and busier than I expected it to be. Also it was interesting to see what a tightly run ship they have regarding what calls are coming in, time taken, time queuing etc, quality assurance of calls and continuous training programme.
All the staff made us feel really welcome - with special mentions to Andrew and Mike (of course), and also Michael, Christie, Phyllis, Russ, Alex and Joe.
I spent some time reviewing how our engagement with Presidium was going with Mike and Andrew (who had very wisely left before the excruciating photo shoot) and what our options are for going forward into 08/09. It was a really really useful discussion especially as it highlighted for us all the things that each of us assumed the others understood and brought out in conversation, things that have been difficult to get to the bottom of over the phone....yes, I am referring to the Patriot Act!
Also I ask Mike for a shopping list of reports that will help take us forward.
Christie had spent some time looking in detail at our knowledge base as she has recently taken over our knowledge management and had some great suggestions for how we might improve things at our end and theirs.
Kay and Christie kicked around some of the ideas and tried to map out the next steps for a digital fluency knowledge base. This was really productive and enabled us to take the time and space to acknowledge and (for some) answer some fundamental questions.
4. Kay asks Christie what it's like working with Mike (answers on a postcard):...and this is nothing to the laugh we have when Mike takes us to see the sights of Somerset - which takes all of about 90 minutes (with 75 minutes of that eating). A quick tour of downtown incl many, many churches and the republican party local HQ (no democrats in those parts), the lake (which looks a bit like Wales), and Baxters coffee (Somerset's answer to Starbucks). But the highlight by far was parked in a disused parking lot (see what I did there), looking at large houseboats (not able to get out the car cos it was so windy we'd have been blown away) listening to a preacher on the radio telling us at varying volumes and with scarying degrees of intensity that we do have a friend in jesus, jesus is our friend, he is our only true friend...you get the idea...it was one of those "shouldn't be funny, but was" situations...it was definitely the parking lot that made it art!!
The trip back to Cincinnati was estimated to be 2 hrs with Mike driving and Russ riding shotgun, but despite having our entire afternoon timed down to the last minute Mike waits until we are about half way before admitting he doesn't really know where he is going - hmmm! More radio preaching, a chat about quality assurance at presidium, a few texts back and forth to Liz, a drive around someone's front garden, some music, a quick stop at a garage for directions followed by Mike doing a yee-haw! leap into the air (I thought it was hillbilly, Mike thought it was leprechaun - tallest leprechaun I've ever seen), some mind-bending riddles, more music, another retelling of the room service burger story more music etc etc etc all the way home (about 3hrs 15!! in the end...but, you know, educational)
9 comments:
Don't they have Interstates in Kentucky?
Yes they do - I know because we visited several of them!!!
I think that is where Mike went wrong - just headed north up the interstate and hoped to stumble across Cincinnati airport...
My attention span to the road was minimal at best, in part because Louise was riding shotgun, not Russ! (shotgun is the front seat, right??)
As for the drive back otherwise, it was one of the best road trips I've been on...and I actually had to drive 2 hrs BACK!
presents are in the mail...
Hey, no one said they didn't enjoy the road trip!! Can't believe you are suggesting I distracted you. Glad Russ kept you entertained on the way back - it was a mammouth feat of driving!
On riding shotgun, I'll bow to your superior knowledge of how they do it in the 'hood these days, but in my mind, Russ was the guy sitting on top of the stagecoach (just over the driver's shoulder) thinking "why am I here? I could be at home now with a cold beer, that Mike, he can talk me into anything"
btw - I'm shocked no one fancied a swing at the "answers on a postcard" bit of this post ;-)
I may be mildly retarded, but I don't get the answers on a postcard comment. However, I have a feeling it's making fun of me...
hee hee - don't let our warped british sense of humour distress you mike. see, in that terribly-british-stiff-upper-lip way that we have about us, making fun of people is our way of letting you know we care, without us actually having to express any kind of emotional response :)
the 'answers on the back of a postcard' thing is a hark back to the golden days of children's tv, back in the days before e-mail: to enter a competition to win something shiny, hip, and down with the kids in the uk (like a ceramic tea set, complete with silver spoons) you had to answer a simple question, and submit the answers (you've guessed it) "on the back of a postcard". if you couldn't afford a postcard, you were allowed to use an sealed envelope. oh, how times have changed!
and here endeth today's lesson on cross-cultural differences. for further references, think hugh laurie as bertie wooster (what what, old thing), as opposed to hugh laurie as gregory house.
now, who's for a nice cup of tea and a game of cricket?
...that's hot tea with milk not iced tea with sugar kentucky-style
and cricket? that's the game that liz goes to watch a lot when she is on holiday and the players wear white pyjama trousers with jumpers and floppy hats
ah yes, thanks for the clarification louise.
you know, mike, we even have versions of cricket these days that only last 4 hours or 8 hours, rather than 5 days. if you're *really* interested, there's a great summary of the rules of cricket here. should explain things perfectly...
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