Waltham Adventure

Waltham on the Charles River -- Picture courtesy of Wikipedia

by blogSpotter
I don't usually do trip reports as blogs, but am running so far behind on things it'll have to suffice. This has been my summer of extreme events and unusual business. As all the dust settles, I should be back to my sedentary, sit-behind-a-computer lifestyle and catch up on things.

Ab Initio Training in Boston 8/4 thru 8/7 -- Mini-trip report

I attended the 4-day Basic Training for Ab initio (data warehouse ETL software) in Waltham, MA. Waltham is a suburb @ 13 miles NW of Boston. It has affluent homes, office parks, hotels to the north and a blue collar neighborhood to the South. The south part also has Waltham's downtown which has a very lively avenue called Moody Street. Moody Street has a lot of hustle and bustle -- ethnic restaurants, Indian grocers, used book stores and Tapas bars. It reminds me a bit of 6th Street in Austin.

Ab Initio HDQ

The facility looks like it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright -- ultramodern, built into a wooded hillside. The grounds look like a botanical garden. The facility is fairly small -- looks like they only have parking for @ 300 employees. (SWA has 2000 at HDQ alone). My class only had 3 (!) students and I was the only external student. The other two were Kim from documentation and Nancy from testing. Felt a lot of pressure on me to pay close attention and ask intelligent questions, being essentially the "student guest of honor". I held up my end of that bargain, except after lunch when it's normal for me to have a sleepiness attack.

Ab Initio provides gourmet-quality snacks throughout the day, and gourmet lunches at lunch time. The dining room is about as big as one of our conference rooms -- no more than 30 people can be seated at once. The dining room overlooks the gorgeous outdoor hill view.

The class was pretty much a boot camp -- giddyap time. The instructor was a no-nonsense 40-something guy who vaguely (to me) resembled Phil Silvers. If you don't know who Phil Silvers is, it's a testament to your youthfulness. Anyhow he covered every damn chapter in the book, we did every damn exercise and he kept us a few minutes late most days. Whatever happened to the slow, gentle approach?

Hotel and Car

I rented a bright red Ford Fusion from Enterprise -- it rode very smooth and had a V6 engine which gave it lots of power. These cars are in high demand right now in the "Cash for Clunkers" program -- I can see why. Manchester NH Airport is only 45 minutes away from Boston. The airport is small and no-hassle; the ride is scenic and beautiful. I'm not sure but what Manchester isn't a better way to go even after SWA opens Logan next week.

I stayed at the Waltham Extended Stay. The room was like a small efficiency apartment with a kitchenette. It was nicely decorated and overlooked the pool. My only kvetch was with the girl at the front desk ignoring my phone calls -- maybe she had a needs-to-talk-to-a-friend emergency. (That's what she was doing when I came down in person, when the calls were ignored). After I got my coffee maker (missing at first) and settled into my room, all was forgiven and it was a really nice stay.

BOSTON

I'm very happy to say I had a good, touristy visit of Boston 5 years ago. This visit, I drove to downtown one night during the week. Parking and traffic are a nightmare even in non-rush hour. Also I was tired from a day of boot camp training anyway -- so the Boston tourism didn't really happen on this trip.

In general, it was a great trip -- I enjoyed seeing Waltham, Manchester and the surrounding area. The temperature topped out at 82 degrees, so I know I wasn't missing the Dallas weather. All things considered, it was a great experience and a little bit of an adventure for an old-timer like me.

POST SCRIPT

Forgot to mention -- I used the Nuvi extensively, it saved the day. (See previous blog, below). I fear that GPS navigators may have the same effect as pocket calculators. I quit doing even simple arithmetic in my head once I had a device that would do it for me. I noticed in Boston that I was ignoring landmarks, failing to remember street names and basically letting Nuvi take over. If I could've given it the steering wheel I probably would've. There were a few glitchy things due to the odd layout of some old Boston 'hoods but overall Nuvi worked like a champion.
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