Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Workin hard, or hardly workin?

Like I said, I've been on the move a lot. I've spent the last three weeks on the road. The first week I spent 3 days in Topeka, KS. If you haven't heard, Hormel recently bought the Country Crock line of side dishes. I've been assigned to work on Team Tater (what the operations guy decided we should be called - clever, I know) and all the items are made at a plant in Topeka. I didn't mind going there since it was 80 degrees there that week. Last week I spent Tuesday - Friday at our plant in Atlanta, GA. I had been looking forward to this trip for awhile. It had been rescheduled a couple of times. I usually travel by myself, but on this trip we were running a couple of different trials so myself, Nate - who also works in R&D, Russ - operations manager, and Brett - marketing manager all made the trip down south. I've learned that traveling with Russ is the way to go. He arranged for us to do some fun things after our work in the plant was done. On Wednesday night, Merle (superintendent at Atlanta plant) took us out on his boat. The lake we were on was a huge resevoir and there was a lot of money on that lake! We saw house boats bigger than my actual house. Merle told us that one of the boats which was appropriately named "More than you know" is frequently featured on the travel channel when they do shows about house boats. It was incredible looking. We spent about 2 hours cruising the lake and only made it about half way across it.  Even thought it was only in the lower 70's, it was still a great night.  The lake was calm, and there were a ton of sailboats out on the water.  We got to watch the sunset, and after we docked, Merle took us to a little restaurant right on the lake.  We spent Thursday in the plant again, and then we were treated to an Atlanta Braves game that night.  I can't remember the last time I had been to a pro baseball game.  It was probably at least 10 years ago.  We had really great seats, however the game couldn't have been worse. The Braves were playing the Phillies and they got beat pretty badly.  Good thing I'm not a Braves fan! We sadly flew back to MN on Friday and back to the real world.  I'm hoping I can get more projects that take me back to Atlanta.  I think I belong in the south..... This week I'm on the road again.  I'm back in Topeka tonight for a meeting tomorrow and then it's back to Austin and I'm on a plane to Cancun Friday morning!!! I'll be sure to write and share pictures from the trip when I get back. Until then enjoy some of the sites from Atlanta  - tootles!

*Merle's boat the Z-Amore*

*More Than You Know*

*Captain Brett, Skipper Nate, and Gilligan Rachel*



*If Merle is back there who's driving the boat??*
*That's right - they let me drive*
*This picture is for Grandpa Joe - what sailboats do besides sit in the yard :)  *




*Turner Field*


Sunday, April 25, 2010

On the go

Busy busy busy. That's how things have been going lately. Work has been going good, and I've been traveling a lot. I think I might have gypsy blood in me, because I love to be on the move. Don't get me wrong, I love a good lazy weekend of laying on the couch, but many times I'd much rather be going places and visiting people. Maybe it stems from all those weekends spent going to cattle shows on the weekends as a kid?? Anyway - it's been a pretty busy last couple of months. I spent one weekend at the end of March visiting Mallory with Jessie in Milwaukee. Milwaukee is definitely a fun city. Ironically, we spent almost the whole weekend pretending like we were in college again and spent all of Saturday laying around watching a marathon of America's Next Top Model. Sunday Mal gave us a driving tour of the city which included the Pabst Mansion, Marquette University, the place where serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer used to live, among other Milwaukee sights. The highlight of the weekend had to be riding a mechanical chili pepper at a Mexican restaurant. It was more like a kiddie ride than a mechanical bull, but it was hilarious. The weekend was epic for sure ;)

*Me, Mallory, Jessie*



Last weekend, Cody and I made the trip down to Ames to take part in VEISHEA. If you want to learn more about what VEISHEA is click here: http://www.veishea.iastate.edu/en/about_veishea/history_of_veishea/ Basically, it's a celebration for the university. This year was the first time I actually walked around on campus on Saturday. I didn't realize how many family events took place. Each college puts on different events to show the public a little about their program. I ran into Dr. Lonergan at the livestock pavillion and was able to catch up with him for a bit. The spring scrimage game was Saturday afternoon so ISU 911 was out in full force for tailgating. Sunday we had lunch with my other family - The Andersons. Lily is getting so big, it's hard to believe that she's 8 months old! Mark and Katie even dressed her in the Illini shirt I got for her. She is the cutest baby ever!! Overall, it was a great weekend spent catching up with my Iowa State peeps.

*Cody getting his first taste of Iowa State tailgating*

*Jessie, Mallory, Leah, Amy, and I*

*Lily is well on her way to becoming an Illini fan!*

*Cuteness!!!*