After Amy Jordan offered us a one year contract to run her bed and breakfast we prepared to complete our tour of duty with the Vacation Inn in Utah. On October 30, 2010 we finished up closing and winterizing the 21 units for the winter, said our goodbyes to the Lyngles and drove to Salt Lake City Utah. We had to catch a plane the next morning to fly to Stowe, Vermont to begin 10 days of training with the current innkeepers at the Stone Hill Inn.
We arrived late that afternoon and settled in after meeting with Debbie and Dana and got some clothes unpacked, had dinner with them and hit the bed. We were up at 5:30 each morning preparing for the day. Dana and I were in the kitchen preparing food for the guests and Sharon and Debbie worked in the office.
Dana and Debbie did a great job of preparing us for running the Inn. We worked some long, tough hours for 10 days and then flew back to Salt Lake City, picked up our car and headed back to Birmingham for 2 weeks while the Inn closed down for maintenance.
We arrived in Birmingham 2 1/2 days later and spent a week getting the house ready for us to leave it again, visited the dentist and doctors for checkups and then headed down to Dothan, Alabama to visit with family during the Thanksgiving Holidays. On the Saturday after Thanksgiving we headed to Stowe, Vt to begin our one year contract to run the Stone Hill Inn.
We arrived late on Sunday night, unpacked a few items for the next morning and hit the bed. Amy was ready for us by 8:00 am to begin training with her on how she wanted things to run, took us over all the expectations, vendor contacts, concierge services, romantic packages, etc. We also spent several days prior to opening getting the Inn decorated for Christmas. Once we finished up all the decorations, Amy said her goodbyes and we took over. We opened the Inn on December 4th of 2010 in preparation for our new job as Innkeepers.
In the next post, I will take you through a typical day of running a luxury bed and breakfast.
Saturday, March 24, 2012
Monday, March 12, 2012
New Beginnings
Sharon and I both love traveling and thought we might want to work out west for a while. We started looking for Innkeeper jobs on the internet and found an opening with the Vacation Inn in Manila, UT. The owners, Warren and Bonnie Lyngle were from Salt Lake City, Utah and had owned this Inn for 30 + years.
We interviewed with Warren over the phone and he ended up offering us a job as innkeeper for a season which ran from April 1st through October 30th. So, Sharon and I packed up what we thought we would need for 7 months and drove out west to start a new job. We arrived in Utah on the 28th of March of 2010 and started the training to run a 21 unit hunting and fishing lodge. It was quite an experience to say the least.
We lived in an A frame cabin/office. The living quarters were behind the desk and sleeping was upstairs. It was cramped and tough at times but we learned a lot about ourselves and made the most of the opportunity. We also learned that we worked well together sharing some work and then dividing up the other work as needed. We had some good staff that took care of the grounds and the cleaning of the units. Sharon and I handled all the guest reservations, customer service, financial transactions and all of the washing and folding. Boy was that some work.
I was able to do some great fishing and learned a lot about fishing for Lake Trout from one of our guests who came in a couple of times during the season from California. Most of our guests came from Salt Lake City, Wyoming and some from Colorado and a few from New Mexico and California.
As we approached the end of our season we started looking for work again and I had several phone interviews for IT Manager in Alabama but nothing solid was offered up. So, we thought about plan b which was why don't we try to run a bed and breakfast somewhere. We started looking on workingcouples.com and found several openings in the northeast and started the interviewing process.
Out of the blue we received an email from one of the jobs we applied for and started interviewing by email at first and then had a long phone interview with Amy Jordan, the owner of the Stone Hill Inn in Stowe, VT. In the end she offered us a one year contract to run her bed and breakfast and that story will be be continued in my next post.
We interviewed with Warren over the phone and he ended up offering us a job as innkeeper for a season which ran from April 1st through October 30th. So, Sharon and I packed up what we thought we would need for 7 months and drove out west to start a new job. We arrived in Utah on the 28th of March of 2010 and started the training to run a 21 unit hunting and fishing lodge. It was quite an experience to say the least.
We lived in an A frame cabin/office. The living quarters were behind the desk and sleeping was upstairs. It was cramped and tough at times but we learned a lot about ourselves and made the most of the opportunity. We also learned that we worked well together sharing some work and then dividing up the other work as needed. We had some good staff that took care of the grounds and the cleaning of the units. Sharon and I handled all the guest reservations, customer service, financial transactions and all of the washing and folding. Boy was that some work.
I was able to do some great fishing and learned a lot about fishing for Lake Trout from one of our guests who came in a couple of times during the season from California. Most of our guests came from Salt Lake City, Wyoming and some from Colorado and a few from New Mexico and California.
As we approached the end of our season we started looking for work again and I had several phone interviews for IT Manager in Alabama but nothing solid was offered up. So, we thought about plan b which was why don't we try to run a bed and breakfast somewhere. We started looking on workingcouples.com and found several openings in the northeast and started the interviewing process.
Out of the blue we received an email from one of the jobs we applied for and started interviewing by email at first and then had a long phone interview with Amy Jordan, the owner of the Stone Hill Inn in Stowe, VT. In the end she offered us a one year contract to run her bed and breakfast and that story will be be continued in my next post.
The Bank
I just started this blog today to let folks know a little about my life. The last three years has been an adventure to say the least. One day, I am the VP of Network Services for a $45 billion dollar company and the next day I am unemployed.
I had mixed emotions at that time. We had just finished a year and a half merger with BBVA, Spain's 2nd largest bank. All of us were elated that the merger finally was completed, lot's of extended hours working on nights and weekends and traveling to some of our branches to insure that the network conversions were going along as planned. To say we were all tired was an understatement.
Anyway, we finished the merger in November of 2008 and within two weeks some of the most senior members of the bank were either let go or were retiring. We also started some layoffs in November of 2008. Also, there were changes in management during this time as expected and some not so expected. One afternoon three of us were called into a meeting with the Director of Technology and told we would be reporting to someone we all knew. He was a peer that most of us did not like for various reasons. We were totally surprised. The meeting didn't last long and after the meeting we talked about the repercussions that my happen as a result of this new management change.
I was sure that I would not be here for long based on my relationship with my new manager. Needless to say within 3 months I was laid off the week of January 28th, 2009 along with 1200 other employees. I have to say I was almost relieved that the pain was over. My journey with the bank for 10 years was full of ups and downs, numerous management changes, some great projects and a chance to be part of a smaller bank in the beginning to becoming a pretty major player in the Southwest.
I was given a great severance package and received my performance bonus when I was let go. I have no resentment other than I wish that it would have ended differently. I will have a decent pension and I had some great experiences in those 10 years, meeting tons of people in numerous states and hopefully touching some lives along the way. Not to mention, I had the opportunity to lead, supervise and mentor some of the finest technicians ever during my tenure with the bank.
I was able to take a few months off and readjust and then started looking for work. Boy, was that an eyeopener. Hard to believe that someone with the experience and credentials I had garnered over 30 years would have a problem finding comparable work in Alabama or the Southeast. I looked for work for about a year before deciding with my wife that maybe we need to try something different for a while until the economy improved. I will continue our story in the next post.
I had mixed emotions at that time. We had just finished a year and a half merger with BBVA, Spain's 2nd largest bank. All of us were elated that the merger finally was completed, lot's of extended hours working on nights and weekends and traveling to some of our branches to insure that the network conversions were going along as planned. To say we were all tired was an understatement.
Anyway, we finished the merger in November of 2008 and within two weeks some of the most senior members of the bank were either let go or were retiring. We also started some layoffs in November of 2008. Also, there were changes in management during this time as expected and some not so expected. One afternoon three of us were called into a meeting with the Director of Technology and told we would be reporting to someone we all knew. He was a peer that most of us did not like for various reasons. We were totally surprised. The meeting didn't last long and after the meeting we talked about the repercussions that my happen as a result of this new management change.
I was sure that I would not be here for long based on my relationship with my new manager. Needless to say within 3 months I was laid off the week of January 28th, 2009 along with 1200 other employees. I have to say I was almost relieved that the pain was over. My journey with the bank for 10 years was full of ups and downs, numerous management changes, some great projects and a chance to be part of a smaller bank in the beginning to becoming a pretty major player in the Southwest.
I was given a great severance package and received my performance bonus when I was let go. I have no resentment other than I wish that it would have ended differently. I will have a decent pension and I had some great experiences in those 10 years, meeting tons of people in numerous states and hopefully touching some lives along the way. Not to mention, I had the opportunity to lead, supervise and mentor some of the finest technicians ever during my tenure with the bank.
I was able to take a few months off and readjust and then started looking for work. Boy, was that an eyeopener. Hard to believe that someone with the experience and credentials I had garnered over 30 years would have a problem finding comparable work in Alabama or the Southeast. I looked for work for about a year before deciding with my wife that maybe we need to try something different for a while until the economy improved. I will continue our story in the next post.
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