With my job, I have been working on a number of custom enhancements to our software for a single client since the beginning of the summer. For some of the projects I have been a business analyst, and for one project in particular I have been a developer. Training is not typically part of my job responsibilities, but it made sense on these projects for me to play that role. For the past four weeks, I have been traveling with a colleague to various locations for the client to conduct training for these enhancements.

The first week I went to Chicago; I didn’t have much time to be a tourist there because we still had quite a bit of development to do. The second week I went to St. Louis; there I had a chance to go downtown and see the Gateway Arch. The third week I went to southern California; one night I drove to Hollywood to see a movie at Grauman’s Chinese Theater.

The fourth week I went to Seattle. After a full weeek of training, my wife flew to Seattle late on Friday. We spent the weekend enjoying the state of Washington. We went to some typical tourist spots in Seattle: Pike Place Market, the first Starbucks store, and the Space Needle. We also decided to make the journey south to check out Mount St. Helens. Washington is such a beautiful, scenic state — I had a very good time there!

Overall the training at the various locations went pretty well, and it was good getting to travel to various cities throughout the country. But I must admit: I’m glad to be home for a little while … before my next out-of-town project.