ruston, louisiana

Business Stop(s): Louisiana Tech

Mode(s) of transportation: Continental Airlines, rental car (big ol' black truck, made me feel right at home in the south!)

Eats: awesome local seafood "shack"

Memorable Moment(s): really just the meal

virginia tech

Business Stop(s): Virginia Tech MBA

Mode(s) of Transportation: Rental Car (Dodge Avenger again)

Eats: local "college-town" joint

Memorable Moment(s): My FIRST "good" demo of Connect

This was my first on-site demo with Shulsey, who is really cool! (anecdotal note from the future: Shulsey is no longer with the company and I'm a little sad about that... hope she's doing well out there!)

chicago - detroit

Business stop(s): University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, University of Michigan - Dearborn

Mode(s) of transportation: Southwest Airlines, Northwest Airlines, rental car

Eats: Hard Rock Cafe - Detroit (check it off the list)

Memorable Moment(s): My FIRST multi-leg flight, my FIRST demo of Connect

Flew from Baltimore to Chicago at 8:45 am (crossing into Central Time Zone) for my first demo of the Connect CRM for UC-GSB (flew in plain clothes, changed into suit in the airport bathroom, changed back into plain clothes in airport bathroom). Flew from Chicago to Detroit at 6pm (crossing back into Eastern Time Zone), went to Hard Rock for dinner, then to hotel in Dearborn. Met up with Katie and Dianne the next morning for a demo at UM-Dearborn (I was mostly there to shadow Dianne and demo one small piece of our suite of solutions). Flew from Detroit to Baltimore at 5pm. Exhausting trip! Anecdotal note (from the future): my demo at UC-GSB was TERRIBLE; UC-GSB ended up buying our products!

wvu and upenn

Business Stop(s): West Virginia University and University of Pennsylvania

Mode(s) of transportation: Rental Car (Dodge Avenger) - not bad.

Eats: Ugh... fast food everywhere, nothing to speak of.

Memorable Moment(s): 2am arrival followed by 8am meet-up

This was perhaps the stupidest (call it naivete in the new job) road trip for me to take. I left the house at 8am on the 17th, drove 4 hours to Morgantown, WV for an AY demonstration at WVU. Got back on the road around 4:30, drove to Owings Mills, MD to attend a rehearsal of Pippin, which I was directing (I arrived late, around 8:30; rehearsal ended at 10... I was not useful!). Then, left Owings Mills to drive 2.5 hours to Philadelphia... got to the hotel just before 2am (traffic, can you believe it?!). Had to get up at 7 to meet my colleagues at 8 for a presentation at 9. Back on the road around noon to drive to Silver Spring to pick up magic tricks for Pippin, then back to Laurel to drop off the car and finally got home around 7pm. Never again... I swear it!

north carolina

Business Stop(s): Wake Forest University, University of North Carolina-Greensboro

Eats: the Village Tavern

Memorable Moment(s): I had a local brew with dinner and I happened to tell my colleague, Brian C. that it tasted a little "beer-y" and now that has become my signature phrase.

Went on this trip to shadow my boss on a demo at Wake Forest and do my FIRST demo (this one of ApplyYourself) for UNC - Greensboro. For dinner, we took the advice of one of our prospective clients at Wake and went to a local hotspot called the Village Tavern. I had their Maple Cured Pork Chops, which were just as impressive as the server made it sound.

first trip to cincinnati

Hobsons is based in Cincinnati Ohio, so I took my first trip out there for a monthly meeting, orientation and some training.

Since this was my first time ever to Cincinnati, I thought it best to use the time wisely to experience Cincinnati. So, I have an uncle and aunt who live in Cinci and I've never met them, so before my trip I got in contact and arranged a meeting. They suggested we eat dinner at the famous Cincinnati hotspot Montgomery Inn (apparently the best barbecued ribs on Earth and I cannot contradict that).


On Tuesday evening, I went to dinner at Skyline Chili (another Cinci favorite) and had dessert at Graeter's Ice Cream, where, of course, I had to have the Buckeye Blitz waffle cone.

Wednesday night was reserved for a team dinner with my new colleagues. We went to Aspara, a sushi and asian cuisine place in Blue Ash, the area north of Cincinnati where Hobsons is actually headquartered. I had a local beer called Over-the-Rhine and a Cleveland brew called Great Lakes. Also, I tried sushi for only the second time ever and, hey, I didn't hate it! So, I would say that says something about Aspara. Here's a picture of me, my team, and our "engagement sales" colleagues.

(left to right: Juan, Tim, Brian, To Anh, Brian, Dianne, Alex, Peter, Alan)

Thursday was my last night in town, so it was time to actually go into Cincinnati proper and at the very least take a picture of the famous Fountain Square.


Then, I took the advice of a local (thanks, GoogleBot) and went to Quatman's Cafe near Xavier University. I was advised that they have an outstanding burger in spite of the fact that there's nothing at all fancy about the place. Indeed, the burger was outstanding.

For dessert, I went to Aglamesis Brothers Ice Cream, another Cincinnati local hotspot and had the banana chocolate chip.

On Friday, don't laugh, I was taken to lunch at Chili's (not so much a Cincinnati local hotspot). Then, I flew back to BWI.

(And yes, much of this blog will be about food and local beers!)

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