Life Changing Event

It looks like another life changing event is taking place...

Yes, my wife is pregnant. I am expected to be in Monterrey, Mexico for about a Month in March, just before the due date. But, there is no way I will be out of the country during the third trimester. Nashville is only a few hours away so I can be there.... even so, I hate to be away, just in case.

Virginia Beach Vacation

Vacation this year was nothign too exotic. We just took it easy at Virginia Beech and surrounding areas... Here's my son Sky:


Wild horses on Assateague Island:


Dolphin watching boat ride:

Battleship:

The Swine Flu Scare of 2009

The company has banned all travel to Mexico and El Paso due to the recent swine flu scare. Because of this, our good buddy's down south are having to join our meetings by phone. Here is a picture of our team from the Monterrey plant.

St. Patty's Day on the Edge

Here is me and Jules on the "edge". Jules is whacked. You never know what she's going to do or say. And, I have no idea why she was playing with Richard's bananna in this picture.

BB Kings in Nashville

The Wendesday night team activity was to go to BB King... Everyone had a good time.

Paco's Bachelor's Party

Paco is getting married next week. So, we took him out on the town in Nashville.

@ Hooters

@ Coyote Ugly's

Can you guess what this fine young lady is holding? Ha, ha... Paco knows what it is.

Mardi Gras in the Office

I opted to work from home this week instead of going to Nashville. Not all of the team was to be present and every one of my meetings was to be a conference call anyway.... The downside is that because of the time difference some of my conference calls don't end until 7:30 PM. This is all the more reason to work from home rather than drive to the office. On Tuesday, I missed out on the office Mardi Gras party where everyone was supposed to wear masks... here is a picture that they sent me... "The Edge" is what we now call the collaboration area where around 100 of us sit together at huge tables in a giant room.

A Wild Night at the Olive Garden

"Sri", one of our consultants is getting married in India next month... In Huntington last month, we told him that we should throw him a bachelor's party. Because he is very conservative, we thought he'd shy away from the idea. Instead, he suggested we do so on February 10th which is also his birthday. Now, if you'll recall Sri had never had alcohol until we corrupted him on our Huntington trip... In Nashville, on February 10th, he had quite a bit to drink. He kept his cool the entire time, but I couldn't help feel a little guilty that we had corrupted him. Imagine if he became an alcoholic and we were the gateway.... He made it all of the way through college without drinking and then he met us... Anyways, Sri's a vegetarian so we started the night with a hardy meal at the Olive Garden. For a veggie-head, pasta beats salad any day... Afterwards, we had the traditional American bachelor's party. And, we made it home well before midnight... a promise that we made Sri.

This week we're in Kentucky

Finally, I get to bring some of our project team back home. However, they couldn't have chosen a worse time to visit. This week, Lexington experienced an ice storm which has cut off power to most of the city. The plant had power (pictured above) but very few locals showed up to work. We completed our objectives earlier than expected.

My home has no power, and there is a big tree down in my front yard. The power company says that it will be two weeks before my street is turned on so I have moved the family to my parent's house in Northern, Kentucky. There, we'll wait out the storm. I'm working from their house this Friday.

Workshop in Huntington, Indiana

Today, I'm in Huntington, Indiana. This morning, my co-workers, who were staying at a different hotel, spent 40 minutes driving through the snow on the one mile trip from their hotel to work. I'm not sure why it took them so long but they say that they got stuck twice.

On this trip, I'm travelling with Enrique from Mexico, Srineva from India (living in Chicago), Rohit from India, and Anoukone from Indiana. We wrapped up our workshop in the afternoon. Enrique had never seen snow before so we thought it'd be nice to take him sledding. We ran to the local General Dollar store and bought 5 sleds... Yes Indiana is pretty flat, but there is one big hill in a park in the center of town....


It's a shame that Enrique, the Mexican, has missed out on so many happy youthful days playing in the snow... but, I guess at 28 he's still not too old to have a little fun.

After sledding, Anoukon brushed us off to avoid excess snow in the rental car...

After sledding, we went out for dinner at a Chinese buffet followed by drinks at the local buffalo wing place....

Srineva, our consultant is 25 but has never let alcohol touch his lips. We delighted in corrupting him. This is a picture of his first time ever drinking alcohol.

So, all in all po-dunk Huntington has turned out to be a really fund trip. I guess it doesn't really matter where you go if you make your own fun!

Day 3 in Monterrey, Mexico

Last night, we had a wonderful low-carb meal at one of the most famous restaurants in Monterrey, El Rey del Cabrito (The Goat King). This restaurant's speciality is cabrito (baby goat). And yes, we ate baby goat. It was greasy and flavorful, like a cross between lamb and pork. There were essentially no side dishes, just a plate of peppers and a few garnishes of boiled broccoli and cauliflower... As an appetizer before the goat, we had "dried shredded meat" (apparently beef). This restaurant is a low-carber's dream. My camera batteries were dead but co-workers took pictures. The staff let us into the kitchen and my buddies took a wonderful picture of myself surrounded by baby goats on sticks roasting over open coals.
Breakfast at the hotel was eggs with warm spicy salsa and a small side of refried beans.

Lunch today, at the office was a large hamburger. I gave away the fries and stripped away the bun. There was plenty of meat, avocado, and cheese to keep me happy.

It is currently after 9:00 PM and we haven't left the office. Yes, I'm posting from work as my ability to attention in the meeting is beginning to wane. They ordered pizza. The only non-pizza items were salads. A no-no in Mexico. But, everyone assured me that Monterrey food and water is not as risky as other parts of Mexico and that eating their lettuce wasn't all that dangerous. So, I ordered a chicken Caesar salad. About half way through the salad, I found a rat turd. Argh!!! This sucks. I just hope I don't get sick. I didn't make a scene... I just quietly threw my salad in the trash and ate the cheese off of a few slices of pizza.

It's past 10:00 PM my home time. I'm ready to get the heck out of here but it looks like we may be here for a while...

I'll be going home tomorrow arriving on the last plane into Lexington, Kentucky. I'd love to see more of Monterrey but am getting rather tired of the conference room inside the plant.

Day 2 in Monterrey

Today is the second day at the Monterrey plant in Mexico. For some unknown reason, were were greeted at the front door by a bunch of clowns...

I think it had something to do with safety and health awareness.