We're coming home.

We will be leaving St Louis today and heading back home. All the training and re-certification has been completed and we're ready to come home.

We'll be flying out of St Louis on Southwest Airlines 1548 and should be arriving back in Pittsburgh sometime this evening around 5:30 before getting in our car and returning home.

As always St Louis was fun (for Michelle) as I was in class for a couple of days. I'm sure she has grabbed a few memorable pictures that we either have or will share with everyone.

We will be home this evening, and we will both be on Vacation tomorrow from our normal jobs, I will be going out tomorrow afternoon to start my quarter off for RTI.

Have a great day.

The second day of training

It's day two of our training, we'll be dismissed sometime this afternoon after we finish the days festivities. Training is always two days and the second day is usually things like managing stress and a couple of other workshops. If I certified last night then I'll have a big hole in my schedule today, if not then I'll have that to do today.

Luckily I don't have to rush out to the airport and this evening like some of my co-workers and Michelle and I will be free to explore St Louis on our own tonight. We don't even leave until later tomorrow and will won't even have to leave the hotel until later in the morning so it could be a fun night in St Louis for the both of us.

We'll be enjoying this evening, might even do a Facebook live for everyone this evening.

Have a great day today, make it memorable.

A Day of Traning

Here I sit in St Louis and ready to go to my first day of training today. I'll be issued all new equipment today as I retire my computer and tablet that I have used the last 3 1/2 years doing this job.

My day will pretty much start off with me eating breakfast in the place in the picture. This is where are served our breakfast and lunches, we are on our own for dinner.

Today is a full day of training and I volunteered to go for my re-certification tonight like I did last year. So there is a possibility this could be a long day for me, if not then Michelle and I will probably go out to dinner with everyone from my crew.

This is the first of two days of training and re-certification for me.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Off to St Louis

Today Michelle and I will be traveling north to Pittsburgh and then hopping on a airplane and heading to the middle of the country and to St Louis Missouri. This will be my 4th trip and Michelle's 3rd trip to see the city with the arch.

We'll be flying out today on Southwest Airlines flight 224 on a direct flight to St. Louis. Of all the airlines I fly, Southwest in my opinion is above and beyond all other airlines so I'm happy that is who we are flying with.

We'll arrive in St Louis early this afternoon, and we will have most of the day to ourselves as all I have to do is simply check in with RTI and that is my only obligation today. Weather permitting this year and it should be, we're going to buy tickets for the Tram to ride to the top of the Arch.

Have yourselves a great day.

We're Coming Home

See you St Louis it has been fun. Yes Michelle and I are getting ready to blow this pop sickle stand and get on a couple airplanes and head back to Pittsburgh.

We leave St Louis this morning on Delta Flight 6180 to Detroit once again, have about an hour and a half layover in Detroit once again and then hop on Delta Airlines Flight 3577 and get back into Pittsburgh a little after 5:00 this evening.

Then of course it's getting our luggage, jumping in the car and heading back to good ole Morgantown WV a new employee and re-certified to work in 2019 for RTI.

I'll be out in the field tomorrow and my life just got so much busier that it is not even going to be funny. At least this year I don't have to go up any mountains or travel anywhere where the terrain is horrible. Both of my sections are in Morgantown and there shouldn't be much travel time.

Have yourselves a great day today.

We'll be home this evening.

Training Day 2

Well we are still here in St Louis, many people from my group will be heading home this evening, but Michelle and I are not leaving until tomorrow morning. I don't particularly want to get home at 2:00 in the morning so we are staying here until tomorrow and flying during the daylight hours.

For me however, this is day two of two for my training. We have probably already went over everything and this will be doing nothing other than going over things and playing out a few scenarios. We'll have to go through a couple training sessions on things like "How to Deal with Stress" and "How to Deal with Refusals" and a few others to choose from.

We should be done by early afternoon and Michelle and I will have the evening to ourselves here before we head out to the airport tomorrow morning.

Have yourselves a great day.

Training Day 1

We are still here in St Louis, obviously we made the trip and Michelle is now an expert flyer with a total of 5 flights under her belt now.

Today is going to be my long day, I will be basically sitting in a classroom all day and may have to do my certification this evening.

We'll be going over all of the changes that will take place the coming year, transition from our old company that was a third party employer over to RTI itself. It's just usually a long day of going over scenarios and making sure that we read the scripts verbatim when we are doing our screenings and interviews.

I know we might be going to Sugarfire for dinner this evening. Our group usually goes out to dinner one of the evenings that we are there.

Have yourselves a great day.

St Louis Bound

Well today is a travel day, Michelle and I will be heading to Pittsburgh this morning to start our Journey to St Louis.

We leave Pittsburgh International Airport at 10:19 on Delta Airlines Flight 5379 en route to Detroit Michigan. We will have an hour layover in Detroit at Detroit Metro before jumping on Delta Airlines Flight 3587.

We should arrive in St Louis this afternoon and are once again staying at the Marriott Grand Hotel in St Louis.

This will be my third trip to St Louis and Michelle's second. I know I will be in training tomorrow and Thursday and she'll be out running around the city. I think she is planning on going to the Budweiser factory once again, I know she really liked that.

Have yourselves a great day.

I'm Coming Home

As I am off for the next few days traveling to St. Louis, I am pre-writing s number of my blogs to keep it active and going and to let people know what I am doing.

Well training and certification are over with, now it is time for me to return home to see my lovely wife and spend a little bit of time with her.

I will be flying out of St. Louis this morning at 7:00 their time on American Airlines 4733 and I will be heading to a city that I have never been in yet, the city of brotherly love and the home of Rocky Balboa, Philadelphia Pennsylvania and arrive at 10:17 local time. I don't get too much time to enjoy the place as I will be flying out of there at 11:15 on American Airlines 788 and arrive back in Pittsburgh at 12:33 PM. Then it is a matter of getting my luggage and heading down South in Interstate 79 to see my Baby who I am truly missing.

I would say my training mission is about finished, now it's time to get to work once I get home, which means I am probably not going to have much if any time off at all for the month of January,.

Let's get this party started.

Training Day 2

As I am off for the next few days traveling to St. Louis, I am pre-writing s number of my blogs to keep it active and going and to let people know what I am doing.

Well with yesterdays certification over with (hopefully as that is when I put in for it) today is going to be a day of fun and finalizing the training. Last year this was a day more about having fun, especially when it comes to the afternoon and the next training group follows as we are leaving.

Many will be leaving this evening, but because I would not get back into Pittsburgh until the wee hours of the morning, they are turning me loose in St Louis tonight once again where I can enjoy the city. I do leave early tomorrow morning, so it's not going to be too late of a night for me.

I can see Imo Pizza in my plans for dinner this evening. We had it last year and it is a different kind of Pizza, but the people of St. Louis love it, kind of like a Pepperoni Roll to someone from West Virginia. Their Pizza's are topped with Provel Cheese which is very unique and I really like it.

Have yourselves a great day, I'm going to make it an early night tonight as I have an early day tomorrow.

Training Day and Certification

As I am off for the next few days traveling to St. Louis, I am pre-writing s number of my blogs to keep it active and going and to let people know what I am doing.

Well the first travel day is done, now I have to concentrate on what it what was that I was brought here for. It's the education of any and all changes that are coming forth and me having to go through the certification process this evening.

This is going to be my long day, and the most intense day with the least amount of fun and games and more business.

I signed up to do my certification this evening, as opposed to doing it tomorrow morning. It's nothing I am going to stress over, I just want to get it over and done with so I can relax. I was nervous the first time I did this in Raleigh a few years ago, but I've done probably hundred or better interviews so this is just doing what I have done a number of times before. I'm sure there will be  a curve ball or two, but nothing any worse than I have already seen out in the field.

Have yoursleves a great day.

Travel Day

As I am off for the next few days traveling to St. Louis, I am pre-writing s number of my blogs to keep it active and going and to let people know what I am doing.

I will be flying out of Pittsburgh this morning on American Airlines Flight 2032 at 8:30 this morning actually heading down South to Charlotte North Carolina where I will have a few hour layover. I've been to the Raleigh Airport, but never out of the Charlotte one. I'll fly out of Charlotte on American Airlines 5178 to St. Louis at 11:20 and am due to arrive in St Louis at 12:24 (St Louis Time, 1:24 our time).

I'll check into the Hotel this afternoon and the rest of the day will be mine. Last year Michelle and I went to the Arch but it was shut down, this year it is open and I will probably ride to the top of the arch and get a few pictures.

This evening a group of us are talking about going out to dinner at SugarFire which is one of the best smokehouses I have ever eaten. These guys are phenomenal and world have beaten Bobby Flay in a Smoke off. Since we are staying downtown, we'll be eating at the downtown one like last year.

Have yourselves a great day, It's going to be a day where I end up on the other side of the Mississippi River tonight.

We're Coming Home

Well St Louis, it has been a lot of fun but we are leaving today to head back home. Hopefully we will take a peace of you home with us as we have left a peace of us with you. We got to spend an extra night here as to not put us back in Pittsburgh during the middle of the night, so we are leaving this morning.

We will be leaving St Louis at 8:45 St Louis Time (9:45 EST) and flying to Dulles International Airport in Washington DC aboard United Airline Flight 4669 where we should land there at 11:45 (we will cross back over the time zone). From there we will have an hour and ten minute layover as we head towards our next flight to Pittsburgh at 12:55 aboard United Airlines Flight 6191 where we should arrive back in Pittsburgh around 2:00 this afternoon.

It was a direct flight out, but the return flight is a little wacky to say the least. No complaints though, we should be back at the homestead later this afternoon as we drive back from Pittsburgh.

Have a great day, we'll be traveling.

Certification Day

Well today is the day where all of yesterdays training pays off and we will do our 2017 Certification to do our field work for the following year. This is the entire reason why we have made this trip, to once again earn our certifications.

I'll be doing my certification this morning, Michelle will once again have a morning of running around St Louis and seeing new things. Hopefully she had taken a number of pictures around town.

After my certification, most of the people I have been in training with will be leaving to head home. Because we will have a layover in Dulles going home, Michelle and I will have a free night in St Louis to do what we want to do this afternoon and this evening. Maybe she can show me some of the highlights that she has seen and witnessed, I know if I have not made it to the Arch by today, I will want to see that before we leave.

Have yourselves a great day today.

Training Day

Well we have made it to St Louis, I will have a busy day in the classroom all day and Michelle will have the luxury of being here and getting the chance to run around and see St Louis. Something tells me she will be taking a trip to the Arch and a few other sites around the city.

We are in between Busch Stadium where the Baseball Cardinals play and right across the street from the Edward Jones Dome where the Rams used to play before they moved back to Los Angeles.

I'll be busy all day in the class room, going over new procedures and changes for the 2017 data collection year and if it is anything like Raleigh was, it's going to be a long intense day of training and going over things. Fortunately it is mostly going to be a review of what we are pretty much already doing and it's tweaks rather than learning all new material. I'll have to do this training every year, the city always varies. Last year it was in Columbus Ohio so it's hard to say where we will be next year. it will be nice to put some faces behind a few voices and finally meet my supervisor face to face.

Have a Great Day.

Travel Day

Well it is a travel day today, Michelle and I will be heading to the Pittsburgh Airport this morning and preparing to travel to St. Louis on Southwest Airlines Flight 2978 this morning. We'll be taking off just before noon and heading to St Louis. The flight takes 2 hours but we will also cross a time zone, so it will be 1:00 St Louis time when we land and 2:00 EST.

We will be heading to the hotel via the metro and by foot so to speak. We will be checking into and staying at the Marriott St Louis Grand and will be staying here until Friday morning when we depart to head back home.

This will be Michelle's first flight and the first time she will ever cross a time zone or the Mississippi River, so she is quite excited.

We should be checking into our hotel later today.