Training Day

Today was a long day, but I don't feel like I actually did a whole lot.  When I got in this morning, I had just enough time to get caught up on e-mails before I headed into the rest of my morning.  Today was the second part of the training that I attended last week, Volunteer Management Training.  For the first one, we met in person and the last two are being held via webinar.  We logon to a computer meeting and we can all view one person's computer desk top.  She was able to show us all a PowerPoint presentation while we were on a conference call together as well.  It saved us the travel expenses and it was a good way to get more information out to us, but it just can't fully substitute for face to face group discussion.  I finished up the webinar around lunchtime and headed home.
After lunch, I went back to the office to pay an invoice and to sign some purchasing card records.  When that was done, I headed to the Rec Hall for a talk about retirement investment options available to us.  It was nice to hear the information.  When I first started working for the parks, I was not at a point in my life where I knew what to plan for.  I wasn't sure if I would stay in Florida State Parks for a long time or not and I didn't take my retirement choices very seriously.  I'm glad to have the reminder to take another look at my options.  When that talk was over, I headed to the Dining Hall to see the progress that had been made.  It really looked fantastic and it is very nearly ready for the summer camp to begin.  The floor will be touched up a little more tomorrow, but the kitchen had been thoroughly cleaned and several surfaces refinished.  It looked great.  I also had a little time to chat with the Park Manager and the other Assistant Manager.  Outside of the Dining Hall, a Grape leaf that was burned in a prescribed fire was catching the sun just right.  It looked like it had been dipped in bronze.


We left the Youth Camp area a little after 4:00 and I was glad to be on my way home.  When I was just about to round the corner to be on the final stretch to the house, my phone rang.  Someone from the park office was calling because someone from the district office was calling because someone from Tallahassee was calling about time sheets that had not been finalized.  I bypassed my driveway and headed in to the office.  Last month, all of the time sheets had been submitted on time and there were no problems or issues.  I also had plenty of time to work on them last month.  This month, when I was pressed for time, there were missing time sheets, time sheets with errors, and overall silliness.  I finally made it home around 5:30.  Tomorrow will be a better day.


Thought of the Day #15
I am looking forward to the summer camp beginning in the Youth Camp.  The camp is run by the Florida Federation of Garden Clubs.  We have worked hard to prepare the facility for this big, annual event.  I am really craving the camp atmosphere as well.  I spent a lot of fantastic summers at summer camp.  I am interested to see this camp in action.  As a park, we are not involved in the camp aside from support of the facilities, but I think it will be fun to have a camp so close.  The camp staff will start arriving tomorrow!