Training in Milwaukee

I am sitting in the airport in Detroit, awaiting my flight out to Traverse City. I am returning from 2 days of training for my new career with Wells Fargo, in Milwaukee. Actually it was ½ day on Wednesday, full day Thursday, and ½ day today. It’s been a long 3 days! We started out Wednesday at 3:00am. I had to be at the airport by 5:30am for a 7:00am flight out. Jeff saw me off, but only after a 45 minute or so delay. Apparently there was a fuel leak in the right engine, so they had to call in a mechanic, which took ½ hour of the 45 minutes. Then, it took 15 minutes to check the leak, to make sure it wasn’t beyond the limits. The pilot said, as he was making the announcements about the fuel leak, that leaks are normal with all the temperature changes. The poor girl next to me, a young college age girl, was freaking out somewhat. I picked up on her fear because she called her boyfriend and exclaimed how much she hates flying. I told her it would be alright because I knew it wasn’t my time to go. She just smiled at me. We finally departed, only to arrive in Detroit with just barely enough time for me to catch my plane to Milwaukee. Thank goodness the new airport has a tram system! I got off the tram, was right at the gate I needed, walked swiftly up to the desk, as the clerk asked me if I was going to Milwaukee. As I said yes, she let out a big sigh. Not a sigh of relief either, but a sigh of, “oh brother”! Like it was my fault I was late!!! Needless to say, I was the last one on board, but at least I was on board!!!

I arrived in Milwaukee about 9:30am (Central Time now). I had to get my bag, then find my way out of the airport, and hail a cab. That was all pretty easy and went fairly smooth. As a matter of fact, I thought I’d be waiting forever for my bag, as that is how it usually happens, but this time, it was right there as I walked up, so that was very nice!!! Then I found my way out of the airport, and got a cab, to take me to my hotel, the Hampton, on Lover’s Lane (of all names). The freaking cab ride cost $44 plus I gave a $4 tip. I’m sure that wasn’t enough of a tip. This cab driver was very nice and talkative and drove expediently, yet skillfully, and the car was very clean and nice! I arrived at my hotel about 10:15ish or so, and had time to call Jeff and relax some. I had the hotel clerk call a cab for me so I could get to training by noon. That cab driver had a lot to be desired! He could barely speak English (not a big deal though), his car was dirty, the seats were torn, he didn’t have any air on, and when we arrived at Wells Fargo, I gave him a $20 for a $14.50 fare. I asked for a receipt, he handed me a blank one that I had to fill out myself, and the he wasn’t going to give me any change. I had to ask him for my change, and he only handed me a $5. (.50 cents short). Okay, not a big deal. I planned on giving a tip, not because of great service, but Jeff and I believe in blessing those in the service fields with larger than usual tips. But, this guy was trying to take it himself. I did give him a $4 tip as well. I should have given him a bigger tip, because Jeff and I always try to give a bigger tip, especially when the service is bad.

Onto other things now. I was at Wells Fargo, alive and well now. There were 7 of us in training plus the instructor, Janis. She is a great instructor.

(Now I’ve forgotten where I was going with that, because I was at the airport in Detroit typing this and now I am HOME!!!!)

Jeff came and picked me up cuz he is a really good husband J, we went to Staples and picked up a long Ethernet cord for my laptop so I can use it at the table or the couch and not take up the space at our computer desk. We also picked up a wireless mouse that I can use with my laptop. It much easier than using the mouse on the laptop…its so touchy!!! It drives me crazy sometimes!

Anywho, Jeff is getting ready to go into work now, so he is downloading his Podcasts while I am typing this blog…technology is so cool.

So, back to my training in Milwaukee…as I was saying there were 7 of us in class. Stacey, Art, Kimberly, Carrie, Chad, Deitrich and myself. Stacey and I sat next to each other, so of course I got to know her first. She is a riot. Our instructor, Janis, (now I remember where I was going) is hilarious and has a great sense of humor. Even though a lot of the material and applications we were going over were monotonous, she made the fun and interesting, just because she would say something silly or make a silly face in the middle of it. And with my sense of humor, I was the first one to laugh, Stacey being second. I think the others were too afraid to laugh at first, or perhaps they just don’t have our warped sense of humor! Either way, it’s all good!

Wednesday wasn’t too boring, but yesterday, oh my gosh!!! All we did all day was learn about the application taking program, which is awesome and will be the tool I’m sure I will use the most in my new job, but, learning it step by step, was pretty boring. They brought in lunch for us, so we were there ALL day! We got done about 4:30 which was good, since we started at 8:30. After that long day, Stacey and I went to our hotels and took a little rest. I called Jeff and talked to him for over 77 minutes J. Then I called Stacey and she had fallen asleep. But, after the little siesta, we decided we needed to eat, so she came and picked me up at my hotel, and we went to this Sports Bar called Champps, which is right next to her hotel. It was interesting and fun. Their special was a teeny martini sampler. 3 different flavored martini’s, teeny size. They were really good! After that, I had a diet coke. They have really good food too! I got fajitas which were awesome. Stacey got a burger, which was really good too, she said.

Then Deitrich joined us, along with one of his friends that he used to work with back in the day. His friend stayed and had a couple of drinks, while Stacey and Dietrich had a couple more, too. Then finally Chad joined us, and had a beer, and then I decided to have a rum and coke. They brought it in a tall glass, so it was more coke than rum, which is good. Stacey kept drinking these huge mugs of beer, which were equal to 2 beers. She was so drunk by the end of the night, the waitress and bartender cut her off. She was mad and because she was drunk, it made her even madder, so she called the manager over to complain, and ask why she was cut off. We ended up leaving, which was a good thing!

This morning as Chad and I walked into Wells (Chad was staying in the same hotel as me, so he was gracious enough to give me rides to and from the hotel), there was Stacey. She said it was a good thing they cut her off, cuz she felt like crap, and she had literally just gotten up! LOL. I kept warning her she was going to feel like crap, but she wouldn’t listen. Thank goodness, for Stacey, today’s session was short and easy.

I got an airport shuttle from Well’s, and arrived on time, for my flight out of Milwaukee. I napped a little to Detroit, because I was so tired. And that brings me back to where I started this blog from!