This whole week, I’ve been in Warrenville, IL working at a client’s office. Every day was spent in meetings, going over software requirements line by line. Long, tedious meetings and discussions that were very useful to us understanding better what the client wants and needs. It’s been a really fruitful and insightful week, but very draining.
This has been our routine. We arrive at the client’s office before 9am and the morning session goes from 9am to noon. We eat lunch at cafeteria, which is pretty nice and serves good food. The afternoon meeting goes from 1pm to 5pm. Then we check our email, make phone calls to the office, etc. Then we head back to the hotel and we partake in the happy hour at the hotel lobby. They serve a different treat everyday (chicken wings, mozzarella stick, etc) and we can enjoy some wine. After happy hour, we either rest up or work out. Three times this week, I managed to head to the gym and run on the treadmill for 30 mins. Kind of feels weird doing this after having even just a few sips of wine. ☺ Then we meet up for dinner. We’ve had Korean, stir fry, pizza, seafood, pasta, and so on. I have a container of Ben&Jerry’s ice cream in the fridge in my room. Eating is such an easy pasttime when there’s nothing much else to do. Scary.
After getting back to the hotel, we do more work, send more email, watch TV, then go to sleep.
This is the life of a contractor who travels to the customer’s office. Work, work, work, eat, eat, eat, then work some more. Once I get to my hotel room, I can’t seem to stop myself from going to the computer to review the notes for that day, to add more things to my to do list, and do more work. And even when I manage to close my laptop, my brain still doesn’t stop. It’s churning away, going over the discussions we had that day, thinking of what should be done and what will be coming in the next few weeks and months. Thinking, thinking, thinking. The only time my brain would stop thinking about work is when I watch TV. No husband and cats to distract me. No home to be my retreat.
This week has been a great learning experience and this will really help me do my job better. This business travel life, though, I can’t imagine how people do this week after week. I’d get really fat if this was my way of life. Especially with the size of food servings here. Even the salad is in a massive bowl.
Anyway, I miss my home, my hubby, my cats. Here, it’s me and my Mac. Not quite the same.
Tomorrow, though, Randy and I get to explore downtown Chicago. Yay, it’s a break from working all the time and living in a hotel. We plan to visit the Art Institute, Michigan Ave, and Museum of Science and Industry. I’m looking forward to it very much.
This has been our routine. We arrive at the client’s office before 9am and the morning session goes from 9am to noon. We eat lunch at cafeteria, which is pretty nice and serves good food. The afternoon meeting goes from 1pm to 5pm. Then we check our email, make phone calls to the office, etc. Then we head back to the hotel and we partake in the happy hour at the hotel lobby. They serve a different treat everyday (chicken wings, mozzarella stick, etc) and we can enjoy some wine. After happy hour, we either rest up or work out. Three times this week, I managed to head to the gym and run on the treadmill for 30 mins. Kind of feels weird doing this after having even just a few sips of wine. ☺ Then we meet up for dinner. We’ve had Korean, stir fry, pizza, seafood, pasta, and so on. I have a container of Ben&Jerry’s ice cream in the fridge in my room. Eating is such an easy pasttime when there’s nothing much else to do. Scary.
After getting back to the hotel, we do more work, send more email, watch TV, then go to sleep.
This is the life of a contractor who travels to the customer’s office. Work, work, work, eat, eat, eat, then work some more. Once I get to my hotel room, I can’t seem to stop myself from going to the computer to review the notes for that day, to add more things to my to do list, and do more work. And even when I manage to close my laptop, my brain still doesn’t stop. It’s churning away, going over the discussions we had that day, thinking of what should be done and what will be coming in the next few weeks and months. Thinking, thinking, thinking. The only time my brain would stop thinking about work is when I watch TV. No husband and cats to distract me. No home to be my retreat.
This week has been a great learning experience and this will really help me do my job better. This business travel life, though, I can’t imagine how people do this week after week. I’d get really fat if this was my way of life. Especially with the size of food servings here. Even the salad is in a massive bowl.
Anyway, I miss my home, my hubby, my cats. Here, it’s me and my Mac. Not quite the same.
Tomorrow, though, Randy and I get to explore downtown Chicago. Yay, it’s a break from working all the time and living in a hotel. We plan to visit the Art Institute, Michigan Ave, and Museum of Science and Industry. I’m looking forward to it very much.
