Catching up 2

Packing was finished in a mad rush of late nights and early mornings. On December 28th Pam, Nelly and I embarked on the adventurous trip to San Antonio. We got started a little later than anticipated, okay a couple of hours later, due to once again very tearful goodbyes as I said farewell to my staff and friends at M6 Joplin, MO. As I left the city limits of Joplin, I was equal parts filled with anticipation over the new job and reluctance at leaving that which was familiar and comfortable even though I knew my days of being happy as a property level manager were over.

Enroute to San Antonio we stopped in Dallas to deliver my most precious possession into the hands of a new friend, Dali. I left Tiffany in the capable hands of Dali and I must admit that I totally lost it for about the next half hour. I really had no sorrow, regrets or reluctance over leaving Joplin, but leaving Tiffany was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I took picts of Tiffany the last night we were in Joplin and have to admit that she was one of the most beautiful cats I've ever seen. So Dali is now spoiling her rotten, which is as it should be, and apparently Tiffany is being her usual antisocial self.

After visiting with Dali and having a great supper with her, her husband James, their son and Nelli and Dali's mother we embarked on our trip again with an additional passanger riding with Nelli. We dropped Nelli's mom off with Nelli's brother outside of Kearney and around 2am we arrived in San Antonio.

The next few days were filled were relaxation and fun as I settled into my new place in San Antonio and caught up with Sarah and Ryan. New Years Day--Sarah, Jeff, Veronica and I embarked on the adventure of wedding dress shopping for Sarah and searching for the perfect bridesmaid dreses for those of us in the wedding party. With Veronica as the matron of honor and myself as maid of honor we were determined that Sarah find the perfect dress in which to marry the love of her life, and dresses that would suit the wide range of body types and more importantly the differing heights which her bridesmaids have. The search was very successful and I'll say nothing more about either our dresses or Sarah's than the fact that the dresses are fantastic, Sarah will be a vision and I'll have the perfect dress which I would not be afraid to wear out to a special event such as a black and white ball.

Tuesday January 3rd I went to work in Addision, TX as a Process Analyst/Internal Auditor for Accor Hotels-North America, Accor Economy Lodging division.:) The week was packed with corporate meetings, review and calibration of the entire Audit Team to the 2006 AEL Audit which encompases all Corporately owned and Franchise Red Roof Inn, Sudio 6 and Motel 6 properties. But while the days were long, the evenings were filled with company dinners which integrated the Business and Leisure division, the Audit Team, the heads of finance, and other extremely important people!! A hockey game between the Dallas Stars and the Mighty Ducks was attended by the Audit team and of course a poker game night was held during the week, although it was "funded" by the company it was not "sponsored" by the company. If nothing else we know how to redefine technicalities and take each others money! The last weekend in Dallas was spent working with a brief adjournment to the local movie theater for two hours of reality avoidance. By the way the movie "Rumor has it" is great!!

Monday was spent once again in the office working on Audit prep, and trying to absorb as much information as possible before leaving for the first of the Audit trips. Stephen and I will be together as a team for the next 30 days although beginning next week we will be splitting off from each other as each of us takes on our own trips. And we review and discuss the different audits in the evenings after the report generation and submittals are completed. It has been an incredibly long week with multiple nights lasting until 10pm or 11pm and one late nighter lasted till 1:30am. But this to shall end and as we continue on with the Audits the process continues to smooth out and the length of the days is very dependent upon teh performance of the property auditied. If the property does well on the Audit the day ends up more like a normal 8 hour work day. If the property does not do well, then its best just to prepare yourself for a 10-12 hour day if not much, much longer depending upon the amount and variety of discrepancies. But even though the days are long, I can still say that I love what I do. Thus far, there have been no real challenges to my understanding and application of company policy to the individual properties. The challenges as I percieve them will lie in the Red Roof Inn side of operations as that process and and computer system is completely different from the Innsure reporting system which is used by M6 and Studio 6. Red Roof Inn uses Fidelio which is not as sophisticated as Innsure. So it will be a lot like revisiting the stone age of paper ledgers and handwritten guest receipts! I know that there are some individuals out there who have never seen a handwritten hotel ledger but trust me they do exist and yes they are just as filled with errors as you might think.

So Stephen and I finished this evening around 9ish and thats it, I'm free for the next two days and trust me I'm going to enjoy them. I actually am leaving tomorrow morning for San Antonio and am going to visit with Sarah and Ryan for a day or two, visit one of my favorite Sushi bars and am going to kick back and have some fun. There might even be time for a visit to my favorite winery. We will see what time allows.

Well folks, that all for now. And I simply must apologize for the lengthy silence all I can say is that it is great to have a functioning laptop with an internet connection even though it is dial-up right now. Thankfully by the time I arrive back in Dallas I will have my new computer with the Wi-Fi card already installed and funtioning. So be certain, there will be more fun Auditing stories later.