Birthday shots Part 1

Some photos from our volleyball excursion on my Bday...Thanks to everyone for coming in to town or coming out to play... Definitely some world class athletes below.

Team A....They lost!!!

Team Ben...We Kicked Ace....great thanks goes to Bekah who scored like 90% of our total with her amazing serving skills.

Why this picture...Oh you know why!!!

I have always said she sure does have a purtty mouth!!

And of course the Team Ben Captain. The smile conceals her lust for Team A blood.

Tucker Update!!

Yes for all those who were worried, Tucker is still alive...barely! And to prove it here are some pictures where we tried to emulate Dooce. Tucker is not nearly as behaved as Chuck but he also doesn't make as many scary faces which I believe is directly related to me not torturing him with objects on his head....or the beatings.

I picked this one not because it is flattering but because it looks like I beat him to make him stay like this....And there is a possibility of that being exactly what happened....And for all you PETA members out there JK!!!

Probably pretty obvious where the treat is in this one...

Isn't the ear thing adorable...you wouldn't believe how much trouble it is to get that hair pin in there.

And finally Tucker as I see him 90% of the time. This is also my favorite pose.

Recap: Leipzig, Germany Part 4

The Brandenburg gate...hadn't changed much in a year.

The crew obviously attempting to make a decision. I will say this group had some interesting dynamics. It was an interesting day trip for sure.

Here is the castle that most of you probably heard me talk about. After the main conference was over the 8 of us for my business stayed an additional week to tour our sister plants...Naturally we required modest accommodations for our stay.


Some shots from the tower.

You could even see a chemical company from the tower.

This concludes the recap on the trip to Germany this past July.

Recap: Leipzig, Germany part 3

The long awaited part of the trip. As part of our training we went to the Porsche factory in Leipzig where we were greeted by beautiful women with champagne and horsdevours.

Aren't they beautiful...

This was the professional race course they took us on.

And these were the Porsche Cayenne that professional drivers took us through the course on. They are surprisingly fast for SUV s.

Here is where they fed us and attempted to sell us flashy new cars.

Recap: Leipzig, Germany part 2

So this post pretty much is an introduction to my awesome teammates during Propel to Excel. We all had a lot of fun and still keep in contact. I started at the bottom so the picture at the top was actually the last I put in... Sorry get over it.

And the final member of the team is Mali Mala also from India.

One of my favorites from the team....This is Kala, we had absynthe shots together lol on team drinking night !!

Another from my team...This is Kanon from India, I know I didn't see it either. This is the one that made me want to hit Dave, you know just cause.

Another shot of the team. Sharon (from TX) on the far left, then Jan again, Mark (also from TX) standing in the back, Pierre-Yves, Alison, and Arno.

More of my team, Pierre Yves from France on the left, Alison in the middle, and Arno from the Netherlands on the right. Pierre Yves taught me that a french song that I am sure my teacher taught me in middle school actually translates into very dirty lyrics....So education is an interesting thing.

Tim thinking hard?.....Probably not

My coach Alison and one of my team, Jan (pronounced Yan) from Duetchland.

Recap: Leipzig, Germany part 1

So I was going through some old pictures and decided I was way over do for a post. Recap 1 covers come of my photos from my trip to Germany for my awesome job! Enjoy!

So this was the Westin Hotel where we stayed. There were 150 participants and 250 total people involved in this event.

Some shots around town...The dangerous part of town.

He's Back... Bach festival was going on while we were there.

This was the view from my room!!

Look I do know people!! These are some of my counterparts and people you may have heard me talk about. From left Nick, Jonathon, Sara, Joe, Tim, and Brian.

Some of the same for authenticity.

Frauka one of my German counterparts.

Working Hard for the Money

The first shutdown is finally over. Two long months of 12 hour days, constant shift switching, and several lost weekends. It took most of the first week to get use to working graveyards (6pm-6am) and by the time I was finally getting into the routine I was back on days =) ... But it was a great experience. I was able to see and learn about parts of my plant that are usually sealed up with toxic gas and acid flowing through them.
I am looking forward to my first long weekend of the year and getting to see Tim as he comes down to spend the Easter weekend. I'm also excited because I think Tim has been here enough where we won't have to do the tourist gig and we can just hang out. Play some wow, Smash Bros with the Hindu...maybe and just chill at home. For those who might be worried about how I will survive four whole days away from work, don't be the next shutdown starts this coming Wednesday and lasts for another three weeks =)

Recollection

I had a cup of hot chocolate recently. The cheap kind that mixes with water and tastes distinctly different from hot chocolate made with milk. Anyways, as I drank the water downed mixture, I was reminded of a long long...gosh it really has been a long time ago. It was the Christmas season and Tim and I were doing our part to spread the word of diversity and the true meaning of Christmas, stop laughing all of you. And what was this activity you ask...why none other than the Garden of Hope. The Garden of Hope was atop a hill in the coldest part of our hometown. Booths were setup to share the stories of Christmas around the world. There were warm houses for Sweden where our friend Sam worked, warm caves for the story of Jesus, warm brick homes for the Germans, and then there was a tent... a cold brown tent. And who was in this cold brown tent spreading the story of Kwanzaa, none other than Tim and me. Each night for a week or several weeks...it’s hard to remember. We would go out there read our script and play Star Wars with the wooden staves they had given us as props. Every night we would warm our bodies and drown our sorrows in an endless supply of water downed hot chocolate. I can clearly remember both of us swearing we would never drink another cup of hot chocolate in our lives and every time I do I think back to that time. We both seem so much different now then we were on that hill. And I guess we are. But I can assure you this, if someone handed us both wooden staves no one would find it surprising if we suddenly burst out into a game of Star Wars.

Abby's Request

I stood entertained for a good 20 mins tonight watching Tucker's encounter with a frog on our nightly walk. First he got up real close and sniffed at it. Then he jumped back startled as the frog started hopping. Tucker always out ran him to his next destination and gave him a good lick. For a while I watched amazed at how patient the frog was. At times he didn't even move...just stood there like a rock even as Tucker nudged him with his nose. Then...Tucker turned on his back and squashed the little guy with 65 pounds of puppy power. It looked like he was doing the backstroke in the grass right on top of the poor little frog. When he was done I couldn't find the frog. I like to think the little guy got away, though he may have just been deep enough in the grass that i didn't see his mangled and deformed froggy body. Sigh...