For Sunday, December 7th, I am GRATEFUL for the Hotel Alyeska. After a beautiful drive from Anchorage just at sunset, made only a little bit challenging by the high winds, I made it here for the three-day teambuilding event being put on by AKLNG. The hotel is beautiful in its own right. I am attaching a video I took of the main lobby area. In my commentary I said something that didnt come out very clearly…the words are supposed to be Hogwarts, eat your heart out! :-) see the northern lights demonstration on the ceiling is almost as breathtaking as the night sky shown as the ceiling in Hogwarts dining hall. When I got here, carrying my various rather unglamorous plastic bag luggage, and tried to check in I discovered that the event was set up for people to charge the room to their own credit cards and then be reimbursed by the company. Unfortunately, I have no credit card. Though I really didnt get upset, I did think for a tiny bit that just meant I was going to have to drive back to Anchorage and not be part of the event. One of my coworkers was there, a member of the AKLNG team that I had only met briefly one time before. She recommended that I stay for the dinner, which I knew was being paid for by the company directly, and see what could be done to work this out. I started to wait in the lobby. During that time I had no less than three other members of my team approach me asking what I was waiting for, and offering to pay for things on their own cards. I figured that might cause some sort of administrative headache for somebody, so I suggested that we just wait and see what ultimately would happen with the main card for the event. Hotel staff came and talked to me three different times as well, informing me of the efforts that they were making to connect with the right people to get the payment taken care of. After a wait of probably about an hour and a half or just a little bit more, I was told that everything has been worked out and that I could now check into my room. The hotel staff informed me that, because of the inconvenience I had gone through, they had upgraded my room. I am now staying on the eighth floor of the hotel. I really didnt feel any inconvenience. I had enjoyed a nice drive, I had my iPhone with me to play Words with Friends and do Facebook, and I had a good book I was expecting to do some reading in. So basically I had a nice relaxing later afternoon and early evening followed by checking in to a very nice room with a king size bed at the top of the hotel. The dinner we had was outstanding. We were supposed to go to the top of the tram for dinner, but the tram had been closed. Their rule is to close the tram when the wind gets to 30 miles an hour. The wind blowing at this point was 60 miles an hour. The food was absolutely scrumptious. There was a salad with more different kinds of greens them I think I may have ever seen, a few beets, and some sort of garlicky, vinegary dressing that just was quite delightful. There was a crabcake with a cucumber salad for the next course. I had a beef fillet with greens and potatoes that was absolutely delicious. And the whole thing was finished off with a scrumptious baked Alyeska. Okay, I guess as a writer I should be using different adjectives, but you get the point. :-) For me, though, the best part of the dinner wasnt the food, something that is not that easy for me as someone who truly does enjoy eating to admit. For me the best part was the camaraderie and connection around the table. I was very grateful that I had gotten to know several of the people at the table by working with them before this event. This minimized almost to the point of nonexistence any kind of social anxiety that I might otherwise I have had. Im still finding it almost miraculous to see all of these people from disparate backgrounds and companies working together to make this project run smoothly. This is, without doubt, the very best example of a team at work that I have ever seen. Im very grateful to the hotel Alyeska for providing the venue, and such absolutely wonderful fashion, to allow this connection to take place.
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 13:01:27 +0000
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