February 23, 2009

Welcome to my first blog while actually on vacation - one advantage of using a blog in place of email. Although I wasn't able to figure out how to download pictures from the camera directly into the PC so that will have to wait until our return. We flew into Miami on Friday with all of our flights working - had a nice little layover in Philly that allowed us to grab one of Philly's pretzels which brought back good memories. After a bit of a delay at the airport with getting our Avis rental car we were off on Route 1 to Key West. We had a nice drive down enjoying a beautiful setting sun - imagine a really nice sunset shot taken from the car by Jo leaning out the window. We arrived in Key West around 8:00 and managed to find our hotel with no difficulties. It was everything we hoped for. After dropping everything in the room we headed out for a bit of dinner at Finnegan's Wake. Saturday we used our morning run to explore the Key - fortunately when the islands are this small we can do a pretty good job of seeing the whole island in a single run. The rest of the day was mostly enjoying the pool deck and hammocks as Joann tried to recuperate from 3-4 hours of sleep Thursday night. She flew in from Mexico City arriving home around 1:30 and we had to get up for the airport at 5:30.

Needless to say, it is wonderful to be enjoying temperatures in the 70's after the winter we have had so far. Sunday we took a nice bike ride in the morning to breakfast, after our run, and then around parts of the key we hadn't seen completely during our run - the "Southern Most Point in the US" (although Joann and I are a bit skeptical about that claim as it seemed like there was another location not 50 feet away that looked more southern to us), Fort Zachery and beach, and the local housing situation. After that, as you might guess, it was to the hammocks for a nap! Today we got nice long massages and then after some lunch we spent the afternoon reading so that I can keep up my pace of completing several books this trip.

Well that's it - tomorrow is our last day in Key West and then we head up to Key Largo for three days where we are hoping to hike the Everglades and do a bit of kayaking among the mangroves. Then Saturday it is home to the cold and snow.

Have a great week - it is warm here!!!!

February 15, 2009

The picture is of icicles that formed on a bush overhanging our creek during our recent cold weather. I thought the shape was interesting and almost landed in the creek getting the photo.

Hopefully everyone had a romantic valentine's day. Jo and I have to admit we don't really make too much of this special Hallmark moment, no flowers or candy. Although, Jo did buy a lottery ticket to celebrate the day. Who knows, maybe we are now multi-millionaires. A pretty quiet week without a lot to report. Nothing too exciting during the week, Jo was in New York for Wednesday and Thursday, and I did my usual work and exercise combination. Friday night we made a pizza and caught up on some of favorite shows via the VCR. Saturday after our morning run and yoga we spent the day on laundry, baking cookies, reading, and a nap or two. Today, as our snow has finally melted away, I'll tackle a few outdoor chores like clipping back the raspberry bushes that are trying to take over all the open ground. While Jo needs to back for trip to Mexico City where she will be working getting her Latin American team in place.

We turned our tax information into the accountant so have that yearly chore underway. We are now up to filing taxes in 4 states (CT, NY - because Jo works at our corporate office too much, IL - the farm, and WI - the rental). Thank goodness I just have to give our tax guy all the stuff and he figures out what to file, where. On the rental front that is not going a smoothly as we hoped. The tenants are significantly behind on their rent and the property management company is now looking at the options - one of which is having them leave. Also, the financial records of the property management company are a bit arcane and complex and we having quite the struggle making sense of them. Boy I just love high finance.

Anyway, that was our week - have a great middle of February. Think warm thoughts

February 7, 2009

As mentioned last week, we both spent the week on the road. Joann to Miami and warm and Eric to St Louis and cold. Both trips went smoothly, although Jo enjoyed running on the beach and getting a blister on her foot from walking in the sand. While I got to land in St Louiee to temperatures of 20 degrees. Fortunately it warmed up nicely by Friday and got drive a bit with the window down on the car for a bit. I almost had my usual return home luck flying through Chicago as our plane developed a maintenance problem. I was preparing to alert Cheryl of an unexpected visitor when they were able to fix the problem and I arrived home - much later than planned, but home at least. Meetings for both of us, global leader meeting for Jo - and - meeting with Bend Research and colleagues from the St Louis Research Science and Technology for me, went well.

On the home front, we enjoyed another couple of inches of snow which meant - yep you guessed it - I got to rev up the ole snow blower and do the driveway again. That makes about 6 snow blowing events this year which is a new all time chart topper. Again is was fairly light, flaky snow which meant we were really getting some good distance on the toss. As Mom pointed out, happiness really is a warm snowblower.

For the weekend, after our morning exercise routine today we headed to New Haven to tour the city and Yale campus. Had lunch at the famous "Pepe Pizzeria" and then walked around to see the sights. Walking through a nearby park, we saw about 5 squirrels coming out of a knot on a tree. If you look closely just below the V in the tree you can see the head of one of the little rodents. For the rest of the day, we hiked around New Haven and the Yale campus. Checked out a bookstore and just did a bit of window shopping. We didn't land up purchasing anything, so I guess we still aren't doing our bit for the economy. Tomorrow will be a goof around the house day with some reading and getting ready for the coming week. Which will consist of Jo heading off to New York for a few days and me holding down the home front.

Have a great week

February 1, 2009

Wow it is February already, although with the way this winter is going, the sooner through these next two months the better. I'm guessing ole, Puxatony Phil is going to be predicting 6 more weeks of winter - at least. They had on the news this week that our usual average snowfall is 11 inches by this point in the season - we are now at 30 inches and still growing. But we are enjoying having the forest covered with a beautiful coat of white.

Jo spent the week in Berlin (hence the Brandenburg gate photo this week) although didn't manage to snag any bratwurst and sauerkraut the whole time there and only had spatzle at one meal. The problem at these meetings is that the organizers always want to plan fancy meals that don't usually include the important basics. She came back pretty exhausted as she was only getting about 5 hours of sleep a night and this is someone who enjoys a good solid 8 - at least on the weekends. I had clear evidence when one night she gave me a call at 8:30 in the evening - which is 2:30 in the morning over there.

My week was difficult as this is the week my group found out their employment status with Pfizer and naturally it was my job to inform them. I'll leave it at it was a terribly difficult week for me and one I hope to not have to repeat again in my career. I fortunately was able to get some exercise in as I find running really helps me get through the stressful times. We did get some snow this week, unfortunately, before I could get home and get the snowblower revved up the precipitation turned to rain and soaked everything. While the snowblower is great fun it isn't capable of handling throwing a soaking wet snow. That meant, back to the manual method. Which provided an interesting experience of shoveling wet snow, in the rain, with periodic lightening as a backdrop. Never shoveled snow with lightening before.

For the weekend, I tackled the year-end budget and savings along with starting in on taxes. Not good news on any front there. Very disappointing to be paying capital gains for a mutual fund that has lost 20-30% of the value. Joann putzed around - pretty much what she always does on weekends. We decided to have turkey and stuffing for dinner, so we purchased one of those that just has breast meat (I do wonder what they do with the turkey legs and dark meat - turkey sausage??). Really hit the spot. Today's big plan is to watch the Superbowl - as is our usual tradition, we use the Superbowl as an excuse to eat nothing but junk food, so nachos are on the meal plan for today.

The coming week holds a trip to Miami for Joann, who is looking forward to running somewhere warm once. And I'm off to St Louis for a couple of days at the end of the week. We cleverly planned our travels so that Jo returns on Wednesday, while I leave on Wednesday just to keep our trend going of not both being in the same place at the same time.

Have a great week.