November 30, 20178 yr I did a lot of work in and around Springfield. I always flew FS2 (on a Commodore 64) back in late 1984 between Midway and Springfield, or O'Hare and Springfield. I taught at the Springfield Hilton, the tallest building between Chicago and St. Louis. I also taught at the Springfield Holiday Inn, twice in fact. It was hilarious. The girls there were crushing on me, no idea why I have never felt myself particularly handsome. Must have been a touch of charisma, but it was forced charisma, it was how we were taught to teach the computer systems back then (1994). So I went back a second time, and only known to my boss, who went with me, was the fact that I had married. I was checking in and the girls there, who remembered me, started whispering. "He's married, he's married". My boss, a rather funny guy, took me off the project list so my wife and I could elope to Reno. He vanished me for a few months, it was a hilarious joke with my employer at that time, still is today. Some years later I flew to Champagne-Urbana. It was the home airport of Sublogic, it was wonderful to finally fly into that airport in real life. It was a pivotal moment in my life. My hotel client there wanted to sell their hotel, they said they were losing money right and left, that their flag holder (which I won't mention) was not teaching them well. They were rather PO'd when I arrived there because I worked for that hotel chain. But I told them that I would help them. You see, the problem people have with managing their businesses with computer systems, or with our sims, is they fear the hardware. They think they have to drill into the hardware to understand how to work the business. A lot of that comes from these outsourcing companies, where they bring in programmers to install systems who have no real sense of business. I teach people how to use the software, and to let the computer manage itself. In the words of Ron Popeil, "Set it and forget it". I try to help businesses understand that software is just a place to hold their data and to forecast for them. But finally, I've decided to coast from that for a while because such work can fry the brain. You have to spin circles to wrap around the various ways people learn. We all learn in slightly different ways. That's why I finally gave up teaching, it's very hard to teach advanced concepts, especially to older adults. My advice upon ending my sessions was simple--take it from there and learn the rest of what you need to know on your own. I am no perfect expert on everything, but I do love to brag about our camaraderie here. John
December 1, 20178 yr Fantastic experience....you need to publish your adventures in the travel industry! HLJAMES
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