My day begins with a SP visit just up the road - thankfully, it's a run-of-the-mill visit! I sort out a few issues, and plan for further work during my next visit (in two weeks time) and then head back to the hotel to check-out. Jemma's already sorted out the complete reimbursement, so the only upside to our stay here, is that we ended up with 2 nights free accommodation - a result I'm sure you'll agree, but the experience we had to endure, believe me it was a just outcome!

We head to our new hotel, which will be our new home for just under two weeks - it's a breath of fresh air. After staying at the Marriott for 3 weeks, any hotel is going to have a hard time comparing to the quality that it had to offer, but this place comes close! A separate lounge and bedroom, with enough space to swing a cow in, let alone a cat! There's a heated pool and spa, so Jemma wont be too bore during the day! - and we're presented with vouchers for free breakfast, and free meals for each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday of our stay - WOW! I doubt we'll take advantage of the breakfast offer - you all know that I'm not a morning person - but it's the sort of thing that I appreciate. We've spent good money to stay here, they know that, and are prepared to "reward" their clients - much like Roland always buying me a drink whenever I visit the Stammo for a Friday night, pre-Saturday football drinky (God I miss those!).

The TV has the usual selection of movies-on-demand - something that was impossible at the Ramada - all they had to offer was a selection of about 20 Spanish-speaking channels and CNN! But I can't stay too long, as I have a laptop rebuild at the office, so I leave Jemma here to enjoy her afternoon in peace!

The next few days are spent hopping around between customers who require "as-needed" support - the IT Manager turns up and works through the customers wish-list! I like these jobs, as they're completely diverse, typically non-scripted, and you can just get on with the job in hand, knowing that the client is prepared to pay for the duration of your stay. This is something that some of our clients in the UK have a slightly harder time coming to terms with - they'll book a two-hour timeslot, and present you with a wish-list that requires a lot more time to get through. But if you don't complete it in their timescale, they think you're underperforming. I guess it's just a case of education - the IT Managers here have invested a lot of time in educating the customer to THEIR levels of expectation - not always the customers! I can see that I'll be taking this mindset back with me, knowing that Hiep has been spending a lot of his time doing this whole education thing - he's made my life a lot easier for when I get back. I only hope I haven't caused him any grief with his customers when he gets back!

Thursday afternoon is spent working with Aaron and Kurt. Aaron is inhouseIT’s "Project Manager" - handling larger projects, like customers moving office, complete system installs, etc. - generally, the larger jobs that an IT Manager will instigate through their education, and then hand over to Aaron for research and implementation. Kurt is inhouseIT's newest IT Manager - he's been given some of his own SP's to perform, and this job will give both him and I the opportunity to see how an office move is done! I've done a few of these in my time, but everyone does things differently, and knowing the standard they work to here, it should be a sleek affair!

It is - they have 3 new PC's that need building, and 3 old PC's that need configuring for the new Server they've had installed. Everything goes without incident - Aaron handles the Server side of things, and Kurt and I work our way through the PC's. The job requires a second visit, due to the volume of work involved, so Aaron sent me there on the Friday morning, to finish up! It turns out that Linda (our contact here) used to live in Essex for a few years - no, she wasn't wearing white stilettos - so we had a lot that we could talk about. The one things she said she missed about England was the pubs - I agree - and tinned custard - how strange!!

Jemma and I plan to go to Magic Mountain tomorrow, so we don't have a late one - it's about one and a half hours drive away - I'm a bit nervous, but I'm sure it'll be fun!

END OF DAY 35