Norman, Oklahoma.

I arrived in Oklahoma City last night around 11:25. The flight between Dallas and Oklahoma City was a little comical as it was only 25 minutes and we leveled off at our cruising altitude of 27,500 feet for a total of two minutes. The flight attendants stayed in their jump seats the entire trip, though I did have a very friendly conversation with flight attendant Sherri before we took off. She saw me using my iPhone and chatted me up about her iPod Touch. We compared apps and talked for about the 15 minutes before pushing away from the gate. I sat in the aisle next to the back emergency exit on the MD-80 so the flight attendant’s jump seat was right next to me – Sherri sat in the back seat so the hunky bear with the perfect haircut sat next to me. He wasn’t chatty though. Funny, AA flight attendants usually like me.

Anyways, once I figured out where I was going (by the way, printed Google directions suck when it comes to exit numbers in Oklahoma, stick to GPS), I got settled into my room at 12:30 CDT which translated to very late according to my own clock. So I hit the hay and was up bright and early this morning for the first day of my training class.

The class is designed for six students and one teacher. (It’s a good thing they remembered the teacher part!) They had five students confirmed, two sets of two and me. The other two sets didn’t make it due to canceled flights. They took a rain check.

Which leaves me one-on-one with the teacher for this training class for two days.

And it is truly an AWESOME experience.

Not to get too technical but I am learning about the latest incarnation of the software we use to monitor all the telephone, internet and network connections we manage at the telecommunications company I work for. When all is said and done, I will be the focus point for the project I now think of as The Big Upgrade. I absolutely crave the challenge and this one-on-one time allows the teacher to focus specifically on our setup. I think the company is getting a really good bargain with these circumstances. In the first half of the day I already had about 16 ways we could improve the way we do take care of these things at work.

The training company usually has the lunch catered but because it was just me, the teacher and I went to a local restaurant together for BBQ. He is a really good guy and we have a lot of similar geeky interests (plus, he really loves his Linux!) I am really enjoying the experience.

After class I did some roaming around a bit and did some exploring. Earl and I have been here twice in the past so I have a rough idea of how to get around. The Chrysler 300 I have for a rental car feels like a Land Yacht but it fits in with the general vibe I find on the freeways. I’m still pretty beat from last night’s late arrival, so I roamed a local mall, picked up a few goodies for the hotel room (I’m staying at a Residence Inn which makes my room actually an apartment) and am now calling it a night early.

The class ends tomorrow afternoon, though I am here until Sunday simply because I had the opportunity to do so. I’m going to meet up with our friend dave’s friend Oliver tomorrow night, something I am really looking forward to and on Saturday I’m going to be a geek and just explore the area. Hopefully the weather will cooperate as it has been in the mid 30s all day today.