I’m not exactly sure why, but a Black Hawk helicopter landed in the field beside work today. Evidently one of the guys is the brother of an employee, but I still don’t know why it came to work. Oh well, we all went out and took pictures:
Debra loves men in uniform so we hung around a while taking pictures. Since we were putting the IP Department camera to good use, we got a picture of us together too. We’ll call this the official IP Department Photo. Just ignore the guy’s back next to us.
The trip to Milwaukee was for Wade to meet with an employee of METCO and to get a job offer. After much discussion, Wade is accepting the job and we are moving to Milwaukee. His new job is in a group he is excited about, not to mention quite a raise. This is all happening rather quickly and they’ve told me I can’t take my house (so sad). Wade should start on October 29th and I should be moving up there around Christmas time. The relocation package is great, but we have to get the bathroom finished before we can put the house up for sale. We did spend some of our time in Milwaukee looking at houses and there are lots of old ones, but wow the prices are high. We are excited but a little overwhelmed with everything that has to happen now.
As for me – I know I have a job at METCO if I want one, but I’m going to wait and see. The guys at TTi are not happy about us leaving – especially me. It’s great to feel valued, but now I actually feel bad for leaving. I have had one VP offer to pay for my divorce and another offer to double my salary. My boss gave me lots of compliments and then told me he knew we had to do what was best for us. Overall everyone has handled it very well, but I will be sorry to leave. I love my job.
For some information on the city of Milwaukee click here.
Wade spent the whole day in meetings at METCO (Milwaukee Electric Tool Company). I spent two hours in meetings, a few hours working from the hotel room, and the rest of the day shopping for a new pair of jeans. I finally found the perfect style at American Eagle and bought two pairs – a short for to wear with flip flops and a regular to wear with winter shoes. Feeling a sense of accomplishment, I met up with Wade and some of the guys from work for pizza at Pistol Pete’s.
After dinner Wade and I were finding our way back to the hotel. We had a GPS unit, but Milwaukee is set up on a grid pattern so it is never difficult to find your way to one of the major streets. We were flying right along when suddenly a car turns around and follows us. Wade had just flown by a cop. The man pulled us over and Wade told him we were lost (which was true). He obviously took pity on us. He informed Wade he had been going 50 in a 30 mph zone, but was just giving him a warning. Then he even lead the way for us back to one of the major roads. Whew – thank goodness for the nice police man in Elm Grove. Wade has done really well in not getting tickets, but that would have been a doozy.
Wade and I are not normally picky about hotels. Give us some clean sheets and a decent bathroom and we’re fine. Well we did not have a good experience at the Double Tree in Milwaukee. In fact there were several issues:
1.) I woke up Saturday morning and took a lukewarm shower. I figured it had to be a scald guard, but there wasn’t much I could do about it while taking my shower.
2.) While taking a nap around 4 pm we were awakened by construction in the next room – hammering, power tools, etc.
At this point we did complain and ask about the scald guard. The man at the front desk had no idea what we were talking about and simply moved us to another room.
3.) The building is a O-shape. The easiest way to get to our room was to turn right from the front entry. Evidently their meeting rooms overflow into the pathways to hotel rooms – so they close down the path. That meant we had to walk all the way around the building to get to our room. We didn’t just barge through because it was a wedding, but sheesh.
4.) I got ready to take a bath and realized there was still a scald guard on the shower. At this point I just took it off myself. Someone else someday who stays in room 244 will thank me.
5.) The key cards to our rooms kept getting messed up. Three times we got to our room and the key didn’t work. We would walk back down to the front desk and have it reprogrammed.
I have to admit that the rooms were clean and the staff tried to be helpful, but this was not a good stay. Wade and I are still having fun in Milwaukee though!
Wade and I had a flight to Milwaukee at 1:40 pm from Greenville. I went in to work till 10:45 and Wade went in till 8:30. I got home a little late, but we thought we had plenty of time. We got in our cars and planned to make two stops – one to drop off Wade’s car for repairs and one to leave Madison at the kennel Wade had found. As we were leaving our neighborhood, Wade turned around and headed back to the house. I found out later he had forgotten boxers. I took Madison on to the kennel. When I arrived, I was informed this particular place didn’t board dogs, but they gave me a list of local places. I ran by the repair shop to pick up Wade and we started calling boarding places. We finally found one and dropped Madison off. At this point we also realize Wade’s boxers are still sitting in his car – oh well. We hurry to the airport and make it on board the flight with minutes to spare. We never seem to have an easy trip. Thankfully all of our flights were on time.
We got into Greenville in time for dinner with some work people at a great Tapas restaurant. Then we stopped for frozen custard – one of Wade’s favorite treats – and a popular dessert in Milwaukee.
Wade and I spent the evening raising the ceiling in the bathroom. The contractor told us it would be too expensive, but we managed to do it in just an evening. Now I can put up some molding and make the perfect bathroom right before I have to leave. As you can see, working in the bathroom is rather dirty. My whole house is covered in dust and dirt. I keep cleaning and it just gets worse. I can’t wait till the drywall is up and I can really clean.
I haven’t been giving daily updates, but the bathroom is still moving along. Wade now has all of the walls, ceiling, and floor out. Today the man came to reglaze our tub. I am shocked at the difference. He repaired a chip and put a two part epoxy on. The tub looks brand new, but still has the “old” charm. Now if we can just keep it protected while we finish all the work. The nice man did leave us some touch up paint after he saw the state of our bathroom!
It turns out eight pounds is pretty heavy when you drop it on the tip of your finger. I was just finishing up my workout and obviously my arms were a little tired if eight pounds was too much to manage. I was putting it back on the rack and it slipped – pinning my finger between the rack and the weight. I now have a nice bruised fingertip.
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