Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Northern Immersion - Sweet Revenge!

Today, we got into my favorite topic, XSLT.  I was stoked that this was going to be the day that finally turned it around for the guys excitement-wise…I was wrong.  I guess the endless weeks of training are starting to take their toll, and I’m taking the brunt of the boredom.  They have no idea that my class can be a blast, much more fun than the Workday version in a couple of weeks.

While I was walking through the various functions in XSLT and XPath, most of the guys were checking their phones, looking at Facebook, or whispering to each other.  I only had about four or five guys that were actually paying attention.  I pressed on, though.  I’m here for their benefit, so if they choose not to use me, then it’s their loss.  However, I have to say that I had a bit of satisfying revenge when I got to the part of giving them the homework for the night.  First of all, the majority of the guys were talking, so they didn’t even hear that they had homework or the explanation I gave about how to read the spec.  It was a complete eye-opener for pretty much everyone in the room when they realized that they had to take all the pieces that I had given them and put them together in complex, creative ways.  The examples I had gone over may have seemed easy, but they were the building blocks to something far more complicated.

A couple of guys finished early and left.  About half stayed behind, and I was able to give them one-on-one tutoring.  This is by far my favorite part of the class.  I like assessing where people are at and helping them grasp that one little thing that is eluding them.  I enjoy seeing their faces relax with recognition when they finally understand.  I am not daunted by this.  This was their first foray into XSLT, so it’s going to take some practice.  That’s why we have additional activities for them to go over.  It’s a process.

For lunch today, SD, PS, and DS took me to Quay’s Bar.  I decided to continue my adventure outside my comfort zone and try the Jamaican Jerk Penne Pasta.  It wasn’t as spicy as I was expecting it to be.  It had braised beef tips in a stew of tomatoes, bell peppers, and onions; marinated in a vegetable/cilantro broth.  It was actually pretty good, despite the fact that I picked all of the onions out and set them on the side.

For dinner, I accompanied JM and KM to Bentley’s Steakhouse.  I continue my spice-filled day by trying the Marinated Chili Steak Pita Pocket.  I wasn’t expecting it to be very big, so I also got a cup of the soup of the day, which was some sort of vegetable medley.  This was really the first not-so-great meal of the trip.  The soup was okay; nothing exciting.  The pita pocket was much larger than anticipated and the meat was marinated in a very hot cayenne pepper/barbeque sauce.  My mouth is still on fire from eating it.  I only ate the meat, leaving the not-very-tasty vegetables and the bread pocket itself.  Wouldn’t order it again, and probably wouldn’t even bother going back to this restaurant.

Feeling like the human torch, I decided to take a quick walk in the brisk, cold air and enjoy the fact that it wasn’t raining very hard.  I walked along a piece of the City Wall before heading back and weaving in and out of the buildings of the inner city.  Now, I think I’ll watch a movie until I get tired.

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