Orlando and the Biggest tradeshow I have ever seen

There are trade shows and then there are TRADESHOWS. Holy man, this one was massive.

The flight down was good, basically on time. This was the first time in a long time that I had to check a bag (well technically it was 5 days since my Tucson flight, but that's irrelevant). When I got to Orlando, my bag actually beat me off the airplane. I got tot he carousel and basically walked up and grabbed it off the belt (my walk was a little more fast paced when I say my bag about to go around the far side and I would have to wait for it again.

I made my way to find my co worker Udaya so that we could grab a cab to the hotel. We got in the cab and arrive at our hotel (Wyndham Orlando Resort) about 30 mins later. We got checked in, took the golf cart shuttle to our building (# 10, hmm... Fitting, never thought if that sooner...) and then went and grabbed something to eat as it was 8:30 and I hadn't eaten since lunch back in Winnipeg which was a pizza lunch in the office for a lady who was going on medical leave for some reason, don't know exactly why but I'm assuming it is something to do with her rheumatoid arthritis.

(Side note - I love westjet flights from Toronto to Montreal or vice versa free beer and wine to compete with Porter airlines).

Where was I, oh yeah dinner. We went to a place called Kobe Steakhouse, a new Japanese steakhouse just across the street. I had cashew chicken, it was good but couldn't eat much because it was pretty late and I lost my appetite, kind of like I'm thinking is going to happen today when I get home at 930 or so...

Afterwards, back to the hotel and to bed. The next morning started early, Udaya invited me to go or a run with him... At 6 am... I figured, sure, why not, what's sleep on the first night. So, 6 am we started out on our run (route here). The weather was a balmy 48*F, remnants of Hurricane Sandy. We returned at 630, showered and then went for breakfast before getting on the shuttle at 830.

We got to our booth and did a quick orientation (and I met all of my colleagues from Wisconsin, some whom I met previously but most I had not).

Most days I spent time just manning the booth. I was involved in a few meetings with existing and potential customers. For the most part, I felt kind of useless because I don't know a lot of the technical details on our products. But, I generally know enough to answer vague questions and if the questions got more technical j would get someone else who knew lore than I did. If course, if it was engineering and certification that they were interested in, I was their man. But most times it was not....

One meeting we were asked when. I could move to Peterborough to support one of our customers. Afterwards Udaya and I were laughing saying that I must have made a good impression last month when I was there... Don't worry, I'm not going to Peterborough. I suspect this customer was maybe the one who sent a recruiter after me a couple years ago looking for a "certification engineer for a southern Ontario client"...

Overall, I learned a lot and got to meet some new people and reconnect with some people I dealt with in the past.

Just to give some context here, this conference is SO BIG that:

• There were two full size helicopters on display
• Many full size mockups for Pillatus, Hondajet, Lufthansa Teknik, Cessna, Gulfstream and Embraer business aircraft.
• Pratt and Whitney had several engines on display
• Some companies had cars they were raffling off, I think there were 6 in by he convention centre.
• I took this video of a model/mockup Boeing Business Jet (called a BBJ)

• Honda had one of their race cars on display
• I would claim that Gulfstream had the largest display, however Bombardier wasn't far behind

There is so much to talk about... I'll post pictures tomorrow.

I was a little disappointed that I didn get to the static aircraft display where they have actual airplanes, that flew in, on display. I simply ran out of time... Too bad because the biggest airplane from Bombardier was one that I had inspected a few weeks ago, don't worry I let people know this, including Udaya who was going into a meeting with the customer where I told him the aircraft serial number.

Today was pretty calm, sounds like numbers at this tradeshow are down quite a lot from what is usually seen. I saw one paper that said the numbers yesterday were down 4%, only 24,000 people showed up... We figure a lot of this has to do with Sandy and the impact this had on international flights and flights from t eastern seaboard.

Flight from Orlando to Toronto was a little delayed but nothing major. Toronto to Montreal was an hour late but I made it here.

Now, at 9:50 it is time for supper.

Tucson

Temperature today was 83*F

Don't know why this didn't post, should have posted on Thursday 25 Oct 12

Travel day

(Typing while on my flight to Tucson via Houston)

I'm on my way to Tucson where the weather is sunny and 29*C. I just hope it's not too hot, I'm not used to the warm weather anymore... It will be a quick trip, arrive at 6pm Tucson time (8pm Winnipeg time) and we leave tomorrow at 3:45 or so. Purpose of the trip - talk to Bombardier about some upcoming projects and how we can work together on projects next year.

From there I fly home to Winnipeg (yay!) for a weekend and then to Orlando for a business aircraft conference called NBAA.

I'm actually looking forward to the flights to and from these places, gives me a chance to relax and unwind a little bit. It's been a busy month so far.

Yesterday was quite busy - received some training from one of our electrical specialists on how to test aircraft systems for interference. He had me sitting in the co pilot seat and by the end of the test I was tuning radios and watching for any forms of interference. Pretty neat if you ask me.

From there, I had an inspection to do and afterwards left the office to make my way to a career fair downtown.

The career fair was quite interesting. According to Olivier (one of my colleagues here in Montreal) our booth was one of the busier ones. I claim it is because not many people know who we are or what we do. Other companies like Bell Helicopters and Pratt and Witney are pretty well known. We talked to lots of people ranging from new grads all the way to people with over ten years experience. It will be interesting to see if anyone is a good candidate for our open design positions.

Well, time to get back to my book and hopefully an afternoon nap (gotta love napping).

I need more creative titles...

Well, Monday has come and almost gone. Work was busy, as always. It's funny, engineers are notorious for leaving things to the last minute so I thought why not plant the seed that I'm going to be out of the office Tuesday through Thursday the week after? Sounds like a good idea except everyone plans things for tomorrow morning, lol.

So now I will be late to the career fair here in Montreal but two others should be there on time.

Enough ranting about work.

Dinner tonight will be with a colleague from Brazil, Douglas. Douglas was in Winnipeg earlier this year for a project and was lots of fun. We even took him snow boarding to Holiday Mountain where he got half way through his lessons and then hurt his ankle. Douglas didn't let this dampen his spirits though an thoroughly enjoyed the "après ski" portion;)

So I should wrap up this blog and head over to pick him and Bruno up for dinner and hopefully meet another colleague from Winnipeg for dinner after he is done his testing.

Later!

WWG

[Weekend With Gwen]

Good weekend!  Gwen arrived safe and sound at 6:45pm on Wednesday afternoon and was able to stay through the weekend.

Her time here was well spent (I think, I guess she would be the better judge of that than I).  She spent her days shopping at a bi-annual fashion clearing event for Quebec fashion designers/retailers at Marche Bonsecours and just wandering around downtown and checking out the sights and sounds.  I think she enjoyed the Metro, every time she talked about it she would smile from ear-to-ear. 

Eventful things that we did together on Saturday was go to Biodome and then to Old Montreal and Parc Jean Drapeau.  Sunday we took a little driving tour over Mont Royal and then went to the Fairview Shopping Centre and Costco.  Dinner was at Baton Rouge - a Tony Roma's-esque restaurant mixed with a Keg ambiance.  Dinner was great, so great that now I'm over full, still...  must be because my stomach has shrunk a bit.  Late dinners sure have an impact on how much you can/want to eat for supper, even Gwen noticed.

Shopping was successful, Gwen bought one suit jacket at H&M and I bought two suits at Mexx... really wasn't my plan but for 40% off, I couldn't pass up the opportunity.  Well, now I have some options for the career fair on Tuesday and the expo/conference next week.

It was nice to have someone here to spend the weekend with, makes the time pass much faster and things are way more enjoyable having someone to share the experience with rather than just yourself.

Gwen must have missed me, 5 mins into each movie while rubbing her feet she was sound asleep.  Friday I wasn't far behind, must have been 40 mins in and then was out like a light.  Lol.

Well, here are some photos from the weekend.  Time to get ready for bed and the week ahead.

Gwen with Ears

I was going to say "Fruit Loops celebrities" but these aren't toucans,
they are parrots...

Sea Otter posing for a photo

Mr Lynx

Not sure exactly what this was but it was neat

Puffin!

Penguins

March of the Penguins
(yes I laughed)

8.5 / 10 (there was a splash)

Emperor Penguin

Biosphere (on St. Helen's Island)

Downtown Montreal from St. Helen's Island
(from this location)

Traffic

Well, traffic was interesting today.  I left work a little early today to get my hair cut at the mall (more on this later).  I ended up driving right in the thick of rush hour I would say.  It took me 20 mins to go maybe half a mile on the service road beside the 40.  I thought, "OMG, how long is this going to take me to get home if I've already spent 20 mins".

Luckily, once we got through the traffic lights (qty 2) I was able to make it home from there in less than 10 mins.  So, 20 mins to go 1 km plus 10 mins to go the other 11.7 kms... I can see how this is going to be frustrating, especially when the snow flies.  Oh well, nothing you can do but wait it out.

So, haircut.  I got to the mall earlier today so that I didn't walk in at closing time (that was yesterday's issue - mall closes at 6pm).  I got the hair dresser / salon / barber (whatever you want to call it) and got in right away.  The guy cutting my hair must have been on a mission, maybe he finished at 5pm because I was in and out in 20 mins.  My haircut looks good but Gwen will be the judge of that tomorrow when she gets here.

What else is new... oh yeah, hockey.  I played with one of Francois' kayaking buddies, TJ, at the Jacques Lemaire Arena in LaSalle QC (driving route).  I wasn't sure what to expect but when I got there, TJ was waiting outside with two other guys (brothers, not TJ's brothers) who were all finishing a smoke before the game.  This pretty much set the mood - I will probably do alright with these guys in terms of skill level and fitness.

The arena was super warm, I was probably dripping with sweat after 3 shifts.  This doesn't mean much, I sweat walking up the stairs in the apartment building...  The game was pretty good.  Our team (The Mighty Chucks) had 13 skaters (3 full forward lines and 2 sets of D).  TJ put me on D - he asked what I play and I told him preferably defense but I could play forward if needed.  "Good" he said, "we are typically short D.  We recruited 3 D this year to back fill our 0 D last year."

Everyone on the team spoke very good English, most of the team was from the West Island which is where most of the English speaking citizens live.

The game was lots of fun, the other team had 8 skaters which meant we should have won but their goalie got lots of amazing breaks (stacking pads, paddle saves, etc) plus they had a couple very skilled players.  We lost 6-3.  I played fairly well, or at least well enough that the team invited me to play full time for the rest of the season.  So this will keep me busy.

Don't really have much else to write about, I'm pretty tired from last night as I got home at 12:30 and couldn't fall asleep until about 1 or 1:30 only to get up at 6:30.  Oh well, lots of time to sleep later.

Lundi diner