This is such a rock and roll tour, and just to prove it we played a football stadium today.
“Helloooooo Zwolle!”
Well, okay, maybe not on the field, we didn’t fill the stadium, but Isential has a brand new training centre built into the stadium. When I say brand new, today was the first day they were open. One of the training rooms has windows overlooking the football pitch. While I was drooling over the top-end kit painters were still putting the finishing touches to the walls. And we were their inaugural event, with about 140 delegates.
One of the things that impresses me and touches the rest of the crew is the efforts people make to make us welcome. Isential researched what Americans eat for breakfast. Doughnuts? Okay, they found someone to make some especially for us. Bagels? We can get those. Smoothies? The kitchen made them fresh. Even the napkins were red, white and blue.
The other thing that impresses is the enthusiasm of the hosts. I lost count of the people that shook my hand and chatted with me, even though I’m neither a Microsoftie nor a Windows 7 guru. They’re just so happy to have us, we’re just so happy to be here, and it all adds to the feel-good factor of these events.
Whilst we waited for the audience we looked around. Chris fell in love with the server room. A wall filled with server racks. He wants the exact setup in his bedroom. I, on the other hand, have always had a soft spot for the petite. In the training rooms the lucky student will have quad-core, twin-screened, RAID 0 desktops to train on. While we were geeking out Tjeerd was staring with envy at the football field. Some local minor team he supports won last night (Ajax I think they’re called [note from the editor: Ajax did win all European Cups my friend]) and while Zwolle were not in the premier league I think he was envisioning working here on a match day, overlooking the game. We’re all geeks in one way or the other, I guess.