LIVE TRAFFIC MAP

Have some fun with this blog ... Look at the "Live Traffic Feed", scroll down to bottom of it and press "option" and then select "Live Traffic Map". It is wild seeing where people from around the world have checked out this blog. Hummm, missing Russia and I don't see Iraq - Perhaps this is a good sign! haha

Billboard Mania

When in doubt ... billboard mania rocks ... With a little bit of Cam, Ash & Mica!

Neon Madness

In route to the red rock vistas of St. George and on to the rugged mountain terrain of Provo I am trying to decide whether we should swim with the sharks sliding down a Plexiglas water slide through the middle of the shark tank into a pool or hit the hotel that has a lazy river and wave pool? The choices are endless! We are escaping this pre-spring weather in the burg and hitting the desert for some neon lights, virgin pink elephants, bumper cars and roller coasters to a little Vegas night life.

My parents used to walk the strip back in the day when there were only five hotels in the desert, one of their favorites was the Silver Slipper; I wonder if I can locate the Vegas bone yard where they keep all of the retro neon lights and signs. And a trip to the Liberace museum would be a hoot; I would love to see his rhinestone grand piano. Silver dollars may be calling my name - I'm feeling pretty lucky :) Alas, a little pleasure before my work out there perhaps?! ... All entertainment will be LDS approved of course!

Bend It!

Wild ride … I toured one of my clients operations this week. They bend glass! Yup, that’s right; from high end beveled pieces for dining room tables to high grade bullet proof glass for military vehicles including glass helmets - you heard me right! We’re not simply talking the vision shield here but rather the entire helmet made of glass!

In addition, they create every type of pressurized and/or shatter proof glass for those revolving doors we often find ourselves spinning wildly out of control in and museum quality glass wherein the walls are shaped in every, wavy configuration imaginable often embedded with art or logos. Simply fascinating!

I love viewing the inner workings of diverse industries from candy plants to high tech medical environments, steel plants to educational facilities. There is much to be said about seeing how a business operates from the inside out; it helps me design my professional development training in a manner that distinctly meets the needs of the industry and the client utilizing their lingo and addressing their distinct needs.

Maybe I will target an amusement park next or perhaps a cruise line; perhaps a cosmetics manufacturing plant or possibly an ice cream factory. Hey, maybe I will contact the Crayola Crayon factory in eastern Pennsylvania and the Harley Davidson headquarters near Harrisburg and pitch my brand of employee engagement training! (Engagement as in connecting, problem solving, team building, etc.) What could be cooler than training the organizations which create both pink crayons and pink Harley's! … Hey, I think I’m onto something here!

Vegas Road Trip

Cam had fun for a day in the ca-ching capitol of the world – viva Las Vegas. A birthday celebration get-away from the bitter Utah cold and into 70 degrees of sunshine. No gambling just meandering to visit various hotels, sites, shopping and trying to locate a buffet that wouldn’t break the bank of a college kid on a budget! Next trip he hope to include visiting cousins Whitney and Kirk and their little kidlets :)

A Week in Review

Girls day out … Our Penn State chick earned an ‘A’ on a very difficult psych exam so Ashley and I celebrated over shrimp & fettuccine pasta bowls and a pink shopping spree; pink blouse for me and pink slacks for grandma (if Ash had it her way it would be the only color any of us would ever wear!).

We rocked out to Christina Aguilera and Rihanna in the car; Ash is trying a few songs on for size in prep for the next American Idol go-around; watch out world our little slice of white bread can belt it out with the best of them! In first grade she could do Whitney and by fourth was nailing Wynona’s, deep, sultry sound. Anyway you toss it - pop, country or R&B she likes to jazz it up and spit it out her way.

Ash and Mica enjoyed an ‘Avenged Sevenfold’ concert at the University of Pittsburgh – drummer’s rock! Michael’s former band ‘Our Dying Moment’ has reunited and is having fun jamming together once again. Band members close to ten years older than Michael asked him to drum for them when he was only 15; yup he is that good! Now at age 20 and with muscles of steel from using a double peddle when he drums he has taken his talent to a new level. He also plans to audition for Idol with Ash – but hush; no one is to know they are girl friend-boy friend :)

Cameron celebrates his birthday this week! Here’s a ‘two clap’ for our son at college in Utah (a two clap is my equivalent of a standing ovation!!). He's off to St. George for some fun in the sun this weekend before returning to the weekly grind of school and work. and he is thrilled to be working with the career development department at school in preparation for graduation in the not too distant future.

Jon has been busy with home repairs, on going negotiations at work and retirement party’s for several friends who are now off to greener pastures – well at least we can hope considering the fate of our 401k’s and Obama mania :) I have spent a week training a delightful manufacturing company, a communications corporation and in discussions/negotiations with a large healthcare organization so I think I deserve to sit back, relax and watch ‘Friday Night Lights’ on TV and veg for now! Later gaiter :)

Twilight Zone Revisited

Speaking of training an organization in healthcare while at Penn State, HOW in the world did we end up in the state of Maryland in the dead of night lost and befuddled?! Wow, one wrong turn and we ended up traversing Icabod Crane farm roads out in the middle of the woods in hicks-ville IN the dark IN a snow storm! Now that was one wild ride for sure!! If only we had stopped for that frozen coke and tossed the GPS out the window! What a hoot :) … Hindsight.