For the first time since I joined staff, Chapter Services went on a two-day retreat with the Management team. It was with out a doubt one of the best experiences I have had in the office.

The retreat was held in Bloomington, Indiana on Indiana University’s Campus in the IU Memorial Union (which I believe is the largest student union in the nation). We started by eating lunch on the way down to IU at the Waverly Inn in Martinsville, IN. The place served comfort food, and we started the retreat off right by stuffing ourselves with catfish, tenderloins, and all sorts of other fried delicacies.

Next, we arrived to campus, checked into the Union’s hotel, and got after things. Thursday, January 5, we went from 2:00 pm until 10:00 pm covering initial portions on our operational plan and going over some think pieces. It was a great opportunity to have Bill Farkas (Executive Vice President) providing an arena for the management team and ELCs to discuss and lay everything out on the table. For dinner that night, we hit Nick’s English Hut where I had my first elk burger (I highly recommend it).

Friday we hit the ground running, covering the rest of the operational plan and one more think piece before lunch. We finished the day with a few additional think pieces, and then we ate dinner at a great Italian restaurant just off campus.

The retreat officially ended with the LCA Bowling challenge, which pitted teams of three (drawn out of a hat) against each other. The championship game pitted the team of Bill Farkas, Jason Pearce, and Josh Lodolo against myself, Frank Council, and Travis McDearmon. It was a close game, but in the end the good guys won (my team) by 11 pins. I know you’re not supposed to beat the boss, but I didn’t have a 4:30 pm meeting on Friday, so I think I am OK.

Saturday, before heading back to Indy, most of the ELCs, John “Biff” Holloway, and I decided to go skiing at Paoli Peaks. It was my first and last time skiing…I’m a summer sport guy-golfing, fishing, etc. My experience was not as bad as Biff’s, though. He spent most of the day going down the family slope with me and Cliff Williams (ELC and other guy new to skiing), teaching us how to ski, slow down, turn, etc. Just after I made it down twice in a row without falling, I looked back and saw Biff lying on his back up on the hill. A snowboarder (as new to the sport as I was to skiing) lost control and nailed Biff from the back, giving him a severely dislocated shoulder and resulting in an upcoming MRI then most likely surgery. He is still in the office getting ready for next week’s conference, though. Give him your regards…he is in some pain.

Happy New Year to you all!

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 12th, 2006 at 2:57 pm and is filed under Headquarters . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.