Texas

Sorry for the posting hiatus. I just realized that my last post was in May...that seams like forever ago! I just got back from my first business trip. (Well, I technically went to Greensboro when I worked for Next Media Radio for a night, but that didn't involve flying, my own hotel room or company paid meals). I went to Houston to the ILTA Trade Show (http://www.ilta.org/). I've always thought it would be so official and important and career-like to go to a trade show. My brother-in-law has the opportunities quite often but he works for the surf industry, which is way cooler than the oil industry. It was OK...but better than my predictions, so it was a nice surprise to half-way enjoy myself.

First off, if you don't know (see previous posts), I work for a Honeywell-owned company that manufactures and sells products to oil companies. Yes, I know gas is crazy expensive and I agree that the oil mongols are the most corrupt business people in our country, and no...I can't do anything about that. I still have to pay for gas just like you do, there are no gas discounts at Honeywell. Besides, someone has to provide them with products that blend, inject, prove, gauge and make cleaner the gasoline that we all put in our cars everyday. And I support those involved in Sales and Marketing :).

I was pretty much in charge of our exhibit at this show. It was pretty great because all of the responsibilities were given to me about 5 months ago and my bosses just told me to run with it. I worked with one guy in our Houston office and two people in our Delft, Netherlands office to get everything together and it turned out swimmingly. Our booth looked awesome, we had a ton of traffic through, and I received great kudos from my employers. The Americas VP even said that he was considering sending me to Rio de Janerio to the Rio Oil & Gas show! I'm not holding my breath, but that would be an amazing opportunity.

The best part about this show is that there were people from all over the world there with us. We have 5 folks from the Netherlands (go Holland soccer team!!), one from Venezuela and one from England and I had the most fun with all of them. It is so humbling to be around people from other countries in the States because they always put us in our place. Darren, from the UK could not believe how big our American portions are at restaurants and how much we waste here. I could say nothing because he's spot on; in his words, "it's a bugger that you have so much and waste it". What can you say to that?

But, I was able to learn some Dutch, how much Europeans live, eat and drink soccer and how Holland beat Italy for the first time in 30 years at the Euro Cup. Let's just say there was a Heineken/Amstel Light celebration courtesy of my Dutch friends. I decided that Americans are missing out because we don't use the word "bloody" and "bugger". You should expect me to start using both in everyday vocabulary.

I came back Wednesday night through the terrible storms that passed through Atlanta. We were delayed 2 1/2 hours and then flew through a rain cloud, which was terribly frightening! By the time we finally landed, we taxied for 45 minutes to find a gate and then I took the 50 minute MARTA ride to the 'burbs to be graciously welcomed by Wes and the appropriately named Kiss 'n Ride parking lot at North Springs Transit Station.

I'm glad to be back in the ATL.

Some pics from Wilmy

1. On the Gypsy headed to Mason's Inlet...our favorite boat spot.

2. Precious D'side

3. Priss and I on the beach

4. Paul and I on the beach

5. The Priss Pot likes to have her picture taken.

6. Banks channel view from WLI Club

7. Doesn't this look like a postcard? This is Paul and Avery, they are BFF's.

8. WB on Memorial Day Sunday

9. Amy, Josh, G, Wes, Lex

This week

We are going to Wilmington tomorrow and will come back Tuesday. If you're in Wilmington, let us know. I'm really excited about seeing family and friends because I haven't been there since Christmas. I will try and remember to take a lot of pictures and post them upon return.

Last night, we had a crazy storm here in the ATL. For the first time ever, i saw some serious hail. Our camera is at home with the pictures so I'll have to post them later...if they came out all right. I would say the hail at our house was about "nickel" size. There were reports of baseball size hail in Woodstock, but we didn't see anything like that. How scary would that be?

Some things I love about my job...

1) I work in an office and I'm wearing flip flops...and it's not Friday. Call me crazy but it is the little things that make a difference. Seriously, I am wearing a t-shirt, jeans and flip flops and nobody cares. I think the most I have ever seen anyone dress up was when I tucked an oxford shirt into a dressy skirt. Maybe that's one of the reasons that people are laid back around here. None of the men wear ties...ever. Everyone wears jeans. There is this really metro guy here that dresses nice but still, never wears a tie.

2) I have been given some extra responsibilities that are solely mine. It's nice because people keep coming to me and asking me to help them because only I have been trained on some new policies that Honeywell has installed. For example, we have a new expense reporting solution and I am the "SuperUser". That's right. It's a Honeywell word, no space, capital S-capital U. I'm her, the SuperUser. One guy around here calls me the "Super Used" because everyone comes to me to help them with the reporting. At first, I was not excited that the Controller volunteered me for this position because there was 5 hours of training with a guy named Venkat and it was all tele- or webconferencing. But now, I realize that this is another key on my chain for job security and something great to put on my resume. I mean, let's face it, I can make this little part of my job sound amazing (I did major in Public Relations, which is basically making the mundane sound stupendous and the terrible sound mundane). Besides, the Controller told me he would get me a Super Woman shirt...but I haven't seen it.

3) This place is super diverse. I love that about not only my job, but Atlanta. There are more colors of the rainbow than I've ever seen anywhere. (Yes, I've only lived in Wilmington and Raleigh, but still) Here in our office the following countries are represented: United States, United Kingdom (he wins the best accent award), The Netherlands, Puerto Rico, St. Lucia, Jamaica, Belarus, Russia, and Venezuela. Everyday I call out to or get calls from all over the world. Yesterday, I called the UK, India and Colombia. Maybe I will be able to travel to one of these places sometime!

4) The people I report to are never here so I have a lot of time to cruise around on the Internet. There is one bad thing about that though: Honeywell blocks a lot of websites (anything that streams video, myspace, facebook, etc.). Oh well, I can't complain.

Obama represents the Pack!

He may have been at the Dean Dome last week, but... He represents the Mighty Mighty Wolfpack after the win!

The big 3

...Years that is. Today is Wes' and my third year wedding anniversary. I know to many of you that have been married 10, 30, or more years, you are thinking..."oh those kids". But we are really excited about it. In three years, a lot has happened. I've had three jobs (four if you count the two I had at Dockside), Wes has graduated from one degree and moved on to another, he's grown his hair out to his shoulders since this picture, we've lived in two houses and two different cities. Today at work, someone said, "so I guess you aren't newlyweds anymore". Is that what three years does? Make us old??? Well, I don't feel that old...(unless it's raining and my chipped kneecap hurts really bad)...but I do feel like we've been together a long time...a great time! Another thing to consider, we've been married half of the Priss Pot's life! This picture is something I made to give to her mom last Christmas...

For all you LOSTies...

http://timelooptheory.com/the_timeline.htm