November 2008

The month of November has flown by and we can hardly believe we are discussing when we should put up our Christmas tree! On Nov. 2nd, Deb and I were fortunate enough to go to the Colts vs. Patriots game at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Colts pulled out a close win (18-15). We went down the game with Brandon, Diane, Jeff and Liz and tailgated for a few hours beforehand. As you can expect, it is always a good day when the Colts win, but even better when you beat the Patriots!
On November 15th, Deb and I went with Tom, Tracy and Amy to the Guys and Dolls auction to benefit Cystic Fibrosis. This was the same event that Deb and I met at 5 years ago. We headed downtown early and the girls went to get their make-up done, so it allowed for Tom and me to head out and have some beers beforehand! It was a good time and we went out to a few bars downtown before crashing at the hotel (after some late-night Steak and Shake!)

The 3rd weekend we went with a large group to the Purdue vs. IU football game (better known as the Bucket game). Everyone met up in the morning (Ragos, Depps, Schafers, and Bencks) and we went to Where Else (bar on campus) for some drinks. Purdue ended up winning the game 62-10 and it was an ideal way to send off Joe Tiller, the coach of Purdue the last 11 seasons. We then went for some dinner and drinks before we headed home (thank you Deb for being sober driver!). We were off to Charleston, WV for Thanksgiving this year. We enjoyed a relaxing weekend and we had a nice meal prepared by Anna and Julia (Deb made the gravy!). We were ready for shopping on Black Friday, not quite as ready at 4am like some people, but we got a good start on our Christmas shopping. We decided to not get each other Christmas gifts this year and buy a laptop. We spent an evening at Julie’s place helping put up her Christmas tree and other decorations. We continued eating leftovers and doing a little more shopping as the weekend came to an end.

Amongst all these fun activities we have had some developments with my dad’s illness. He has been hospitalized 2 times in the month of November for some dizziness and falling at the house. It appears that he has had a rough reaction to the new drugs and his body is having a hard time keeping a stable blood pressure. Beth has come home a few times in November and having Pete and Laura around has been a blessing. On the Wednesday before Thanksgiving he was able to go home and is getting around the house extremely well. He has been able to go to church and also keep attending his chemo sessions. He and Mom are debating the next step in his treatment and we continue to keep praying and hoping for the best. Dad has been very strong during all of this and we very proud of him.

As usual, I am busy with work as we are in the middle of our audit and year-end review. Deb is continuing to study each waking moment she isn’t working, at the gym, or putting up with me!

October 2008

October has gone by and we were able to enjoy staying in Indy and catching up with family and friends the entire month! We have been “on-the-go” the entire summer and it was wonderful to stick around town. We love to travel and get out and see different friends and family, but I think Deb and I were ready to get back into our routine a little bit.

As usual, we have had a lot of things going on. On October 19th, Deb’s Uncle George had a heart attack and was air-lifted to Roanoke, VA. After stabilization and having a stent procedure, he returned home only to be taken back to the hospital a few days later due to more chest pains. He had 2 more stents put in and is back at home doing well. We pray he is doing alright and continues his recovery. On October 14th, the Carroll family went to meet with the bone marrow coordinator for St. Vincent’s Hospital. She was very patient and knowledgeable. Dad, Mom, Beth and Laura went to the doctor appointment later that afternoon to learn more about the change in chemo treatment for Dad. In an attempt to get “ready” for the bone marrow transplant, we have had to switch some treatments to some more aggressive options. It sure is nerve-racking and hard to understand things you can’t control (especially with our personalities!). Pete, Laura and Claire moved to Indy in late October. We helped them unpack some of their items into a self-storage facility while the rest of their stuff went to Rowin. They have been accommodating to their new life and jobs, along with living at Rowin (finished basement). We look forward to spending time with them.

We attended a Purdue football game in early October and drove up to Lafayette with Ben and Julia. Jeremy and Erin came along and we did what Purdue fans do, priority number one is to have fun and priority number two is to maybe watch the game, because it may not be a good game to watch (Purdue lost to Penn State)!

As mentioned in the September update, we had a “Light the Night” fundraiser to raise awareness for blood cancers. We were very touched by the turnout of family and friends and we had nearly 40 people in “Bob’s Crew.” It was a very spiritual night and I hope everyone found it enjoyable. We enjoyed free hot-dog dinner, a picture slideshow, a few speakers and then a short walk around downtown Indy.

Deb and I participated in a few Halloween parties. We went to the Post’s house where we decided to recycle our old “Flintstones” costumes. The second party we went to the Rock and I was Dr. Emmett Brown from “Back to the Future” and Jeff was Marty McFly. Deb went as “Divorced Wimla” to the second party since I decided to not be Fred Flintsone!

Deb has continued her studying for the exam to be taken in probably early March. This has been a pretty sizable commitment of time and she only has a few breaks on the weekends. I’ve been taking this time to get accommodated with my new position and get ready for our year-end which is Oct. 31st.

September 2008

September has flown by with lots of plans on the weekends and plenty of other things to keep us busy during the week! The first weekend in September we went to the regular season opener for the Colts vs. the Bears in the new Lucas Oil Stadium. We tailgated with several people (Beth, Tom, Tracy, Lawton, Sonja and Scott) and even though the Colts lost, it was a fun day and we enjoyed being there for the first regular season game in the new stadium!

The following weekend we went to southern Ohio for our 3rd annual “Carroll” camping trip. We enjoyed great weather for the 3rd straight year and the usual crowd was there (Beth, Pete, Laura, Claire, Jackie, Josh, Jackson, Mike and Anne). We played volleyball, Corn-hole, Catch-phrase and simply got a chance to enjoy the outdoors. One of the highlights included when Deb and I were on a hike with Mike and Anne and Deb just about stepped on a little snake! She jumped back several feet and ran by the snake quickly. She and Anne both seemed shaken up by the snake and didn’t want to go on another hike!

The 3rd weekend in September had us on the road again to WV for Nathan Walker’s wedding. We arrived in Charleston Friday night and enjoyed a nice Saturday of watching football and relaxing before heading off to the evening wedding. Deb and Anna went shopping for a little bit while Randy and I enjoyed watching several college football games! The weather couldn’t have worked out better for the outdoor ceremony at the Capital and the reception was at the Women’s Club of Charleston.

The last weekend in September had us relaxing at home. We had my parents over to watch the Purdue vs. ND game which was close at half-time but ended up being a 17-point ND win. We also went to an engagement party and a comedy club during that weekend. We spend a majority of the weekend quoting the comedian from the club! I kicked of another season of flag football on the last Sunday in September…who knows how much longer I will keep playing?!? (Deb isn’t playing because of the finger she broke a year ago).

Other than the weekends, we have been busy at work. Deb is studying for a sports specialty exam for physical therapists. This has created a 1-2 hour commitment from her each day and she has been doing very well on that schedule. I’ve moved jobs into the “Corporate Accounting Manager” position at Hurco. This is a small promotion that will create a lot of exposure to different things, allow me to train and manage my old position, and attempt to take on new responsibilities.
As mentioned in previous months, Dad was supposed to receive a bone morrow transplant this fall/winter and there is an update on that situation. He is not responding as well as the doctor hoped to his chemo so that transplant could be January, but more than likely late winter or spring of 2009. We continue to pray for the best and hope things continue to progress in a positive manner for him and our family. We are participating in a “Light the Night” fundraiser in October, and we should have pictures next month!

August 2008

We spent the first weekend of August up at Lake Wawasee in northern Indiana with some friends from our flag football league (Liz, Jeff, Diane, Brandon and Chris). The weather was perfect and we had a great time playing Jenga (when Keith had to jump off the pier at one point), playing Trivial Pursuit and Gender Wars (guys lost both times), and some late night euchre battles (when Brandon and Keith lost and had to do a bunch of funny things the next day, including getting the beer and the “truffle shuffle”).

We spent the next 2 weekends in Indy. We enjoyed the pool and tried to catch up from a busy summer. We were also preparing for some busy times coming up in late August and early September. We attended a few birthday parties for Meg Miles and the Nondorf boys, and took a tour of the new Lucas Oil Stadium (new home of the Colts).

Dad is doing well but seems more fatigued as more and more cycles go on. The news from the doctor is good as he seems to be doing well with the chemo and other medication he is on. In September, we should know when his bone morrow transplant will be (Nov, Dec or possibly Jan). Mom appears to be doing well, having the ability to make it to some chemo appointments and all doctor appointments.

We attended Tim Benck’s wedding in late August. Tim is a good friend of mine from my first day in college. We ended up in the same fraternity and have stayed in touch ever since. The wedding was in Chicago and we stayed at Joe and Ali Rago’s house on Friday night and the guys (Matt, Jason, Joe and I) stayed up until 3AM playing caps. The wedding was outside, which made it a little uncomfortable with a tuxedo on, but we were happy to get inside to the AC once the ceremony was over! Apparently, we were a little thirsty and instead of drinking water, we consumed some “adult beverages” and by the end of the night we were having a great time! Somehow, during the song “Shout!” (one of my favorites) I ended up on the ground being spun around by everyone!

For Labor Day weekend, we took off and headed to Davis, WV for Anna’s 60th Birthday party. It was a great weekend and the party never ended. We arrived on Thursday evening and by that time, several people have already arrived and the party had officially kicked off. Too many people were there to mention everyone, but it was great to see so many people that we had only seen a few times since the wedding. A huge “circus” like tent was put up in the backyard in Davis to help in case it rained and with all the decorations, it was really a great party. Deb and I broke away for a few hours to go on a mountain bike ride (a group went hiking and some others stayed at the house). Well, I decided I was ready for the X Games and tried to get over a big rock…and the rock decided that I didn’t need my back tire anymore (popped it!). We had to walk a few miles back to the town. The next day we went rafting and the water was low so we rafted on “duckies” (which are one-man kayaks, but look more like inflatable canoes). This made it a lot more fun, except for Deb fell out once and banged her knees on a rock. She was OK, but nevertheless, we were ready to go back to the Davis house by that point!

That’s all for this month…see you in September!

July 2008

The big news this month was our birthday bash for Deb! She turned the big 3-0 in grand style! We rented a house in New Buffalo, MI and ended with 10 of us total in attendance. Most of the crowd arrived on Thursday (7/24) and we even got a chance to check out some wineries (Round Barn and Tabor Hill) after the beach on Friday. We spent the Saturday at the beach and spend the evenings playing corn-hole, ladder-ball, bocce, euchre, beer pong, poker, catchphrase and a few other games. We grilled out every night and ate well and probably drank a little beer! The beach was wonderful and everyone was pretty tired by the end of the weekend. Along with the great weekend, Deb received a digital camera, a cool tripod, a pair of pants and a nice shirt for her birthday.

This month also included the 17th Annual Carroll/Wahman “Beach-mo” event. Every year, we head up to St. Joseph/Benton Harbor, MI for a nice weekend of rest and relaxation! We were able to coordinate this event with the extended July 4th weekend this year which allowed for a little extra time to hang out. Everyone was in attendance this year and the weather cooperated with 2 great days at the beach. A few late nights of euchre and board-games along with spending the entire day in the sun really had mostly everyone tired by the end of the weekend!

I am not the best person to ask about how Dad is doing, but I would say he is doing OK. He appears to be getting a little more tired with each chemo cycle. The good news is that his blood levels have done better since his last blood transfusion, which is great since it means one less trip to the hospital. He had a doctor’s appointment and Beth was able to attend. From what we have gathered, everything appears to be progressing well and the doctor was encouraged by Dad’s progress with the medicine and chemo therapy. Pete, Laura and Claire came for a visit in mid-July to attend a wedding and this allowed for Deb and I do a few hours of babysitting. I’d say we learned a lot, but basically all we got out of it is that if she cried thenchange her diaper…and if that didn’t work, feed her and she seemed to be happy! Beth came for a nice visit the week of Deb’s birthday and we were able to go to an Indians game with her before we left for Michigan.

We attended a wedding for Angie Biggs on July 12th. Angie is one of Deb’s first friends when she moved to Indy and one of the reasons Deb and I met (the guy that introduced Deb and I was a boyfriend of Angie Biggs a few years ago). It was a nice ceremony and it was one of the first wedding receptions I can remember when I was the sober driver for Deb!

We have also been trying to enjoy some time by our pool at our condo complex and do some small projects around the condo. We are looking at possibly buying a new TV for this football season. I finally broke-in my bike helmet and biking gloves I got for Christmas at a biking trail here in Indy. I had a great time and it is definitely challenging…that thing wore me out for a few days! That is just about it for the month of July!

June 2008

Deb went to Washington D.C. for the National Race for the Cure on June 7th. This was an opportunity for her to see several of her aunts and uncles along with her family for a weekend. She left on a Friday morning and spent the day with Aunt Barbs. Randy, Anna and Julie joined the party early for the Race the next morning. On Saturday evening, a large group went to a Washington Nationals game. What a great park- who would have thought there would be enough room for a stadium in downtown DC. Sunday, she drove with her parents to Charleston to spend the week with her parents. She helped power-wash the house, go through several childhood memoir boxes, helped get the deck ready to paint, and simply enjoyed hanging out with her parents.

Dad is doing OK. He has his ups (feeling great some days) and downs (fever, chills and shortness of breath) and is getting used to not really knowing how he will be feeling a few hours from now. As you can guess, that can be pretty frustrating but he and mom are trying to adapt the best they can. As I write this memoir, he has accomplished one cycle of the chemo treatment and starts the second cycle tomorrow. He seems a little more tired and at times anxious about whatever the next appointment/treatment is coming. Overall, some of the tears have been replaced with a little laughter. He really doesn’t like too much attention, so I guess I should stop writing about him for this month!

Deb and I went to Chicago to visit Jeremy and Erin Anderson during the middle of June. We arrived on a Friday evening and we had a nice dinner at a Mexican restaurant. Having a lot to catch up on, Jeremy and I were up until 1:30AM. Deb and I went to the Cubs game (vs. White Sox) the next day with Joe and Ali Rago. We got a chance to hang out with them and have a few Old Styles (draft beer served at Wrigley). After the game, Jeremy, Erin, Deb and I went to a nice steak dinner followed by an improv comedy show. The show was very similar to “Whose Line is it Anyways?” but the subject matter was based on current events. It was very entertaining and also impressive at the same time. After a nice brunch on Sunday morning, we left and were back in Indy by the afternoon.

While we have been in town, we have enjoyed going to the Rathskeller, hanging out by the pool on the weekends when the weather permits, and finishing the flag football season with another championship! Laura (and Claire) and Beth came to town for a quick visit on opposite weekends. Deb went to her friend Angie’s pink and pearls themed bachelorette party and did some wine tasting around Indy. We look forward to seeing my family again at Lake Michigan over July 4th weekend.

May was a very difficult month. Even though we had fun on a few trips, we have received some news regarding my dad’s health. He has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, which is a cancer of the plasma cells. He is going to start chemotherapy on June 2nd with a bone morrow transplant coming sometime in the fall/winter. This news has hit our family pretty hard and we are trying to be as up-beat as possible. It appears that there will be several treatments going on for the next year or so and we should have a better idea as we move along how well he is doing. We appreciate the support and prayers of all our family and friends. As we received this news, we were fortunate enough to get a chance to see Beth, Pete, Laura and Claire for a few days before heading off to San Francisco.

May started out with a fun trip to New York with Randy, Anna and Julie. We went to Shan Wade’s wedding and made an extended weekend out of it. We all arrived on Thursday and went to a Yankee’s baseball game. It rained during the game, but it was great to see Yankee Stadium. Friday we went to Good Morning America (yeah, I held a pink sign on national television) and also went to the Statue of Liberty. Friday night we went to see “Chicago” on Broadway and then ended the night at ESPN-zone for a beer. On Saturday we went to do some window shopping and then went to the wedding. Now, I’ve never been to a black-tie wedding, but I’ve worn several tuxes at weddings. Apparently, when you put that tux on, you feel like you can do whatever you want…and this includes dancing with the mother of the groom and playing the “air guitar” around the dance-floor. I guess I should also note here that I got one of the waiters to give me a bottle of wine to take back to our room…which Randy, Anna and I finished off around 2AM!
Deb and I were also fortunate enough to take a trip to San Francisco in May. We arrived on a Sunday and went to a baseball game between the Giants and the White Sox. Brad and Jenn showed us a nice day and we had a great Italian dinner in North Beach. I had a training seminar the Monday and Tuesday we were there, so Deb had a massage and also got a hot fudge sundae at Ghirardelli square. On Tuesday, which was also our second anniversary, we went to Scoma’s (seafood) for dinner and had drinks at the Top of the Marc (great panoramic views of the city during sunset). On Wednesday, we went to Alcatraz and rode bikes across the Golden Gate Bridge and had lunch across the bay in Sausalito. After taking a ferry back and see Coit Tower, we were ready to relax. Thursday we rented a car and drove to Napa Valley. We tasted at 4 wineries (Sterling, Peju, Plumpjacks, and Black Stallion). We enjoyed a nice dinner at Mustards and were off to Sonoma the next day. Again, we went to 4 wineries (Cline, Ledson, Chateau St. Jean, and Sebastiani). We had dinner at A Girl and a Fig and were ready to head back to San Fran and not taste any wine for a few weeks! On the way back to SF, we stopped by Muir Woods and did a quick 3 mile hike. Those had to be some of the oldest trees in the world! We spent our last day with Brad and Jenn, who showed us around to Haight and Ashbury, Golden Gate Park, the Pacific Ocean, and the Mission District.

So as you can see, May was a very busy month with a lot going on. We are ready for a few weekends of Indiana and relaxing with family and friends.

April 2008

April was an eventful month for both Debbie and I. We have several things planned this spring and summer and 2 of our trips have already happened. We went to Claire’s baptism in North Canton and I traveled to Singapore for work.

The baptism in Ohio was great. Deb and I arrived on Friday evening and had time to hang out with Laura, Pete, Claire and Beth. We were able to spend some good time with Claire before she got a little fussy around 9pm. Dad, Mom, Frank and Chelsea showed up right around that time. Apparently this is normal and by 10:30 she had calmed down and was ready for bed! As Deb said, it is kind hard to sleep with that many “Carroll’s” around due to the noise factor. But Claire has learned very quickly that if she is going to be heard, she will need to get loud (which she did a few times)! She was able to reach “Carroll” status a few times over the weekend. Some highlights include Beth giving Claire a few “life lessons,” a family portrait after the baptism outside the church, playing cards on Saturday night, and Debbie had her first “double-loner” in euchre while we were playing!

On Sunday morning, Deb and I got up and started on our way back to Indy and she dropped me off in Columbus, OH for the beginning of my flight to Singapore. I flew to Detroit, then to Tokyo, and then finally to Singapore. I boarded my plane at 11:45AM on Sunday and landed in Singapore at 1:45AM on Tuesday (due to passing the International Date Line, it wasn’t as long as that sounds). The overall travel was about 30 hours. The one advantage of flying that far to do some work is that we got to fly business class. Seriously, if you have to fly, this is the way to do it. Food wasn’t too bad, the seat fully reclined to almost lay flat, as many movies as you wanted (only a few were good), and as many beverages you needed! Let’s say that a glass of wine, a 7 & 7, and a Tylenol PM will put you to sleep no matter what time you think it is!

Singapore is a very wealthy country. It is about the size of Indianapolis and it has about 4.4 million people (Indy has about 1 million people). It took a few days to get over the 12 hour time difference, and as soon as we go over that it was time to go home! We came back on Saturday at 7AM and arrived in Indy on Saturday at 6PM. Highlights of the trip include going on a riverboat ride through the downtown district, traveling to an exotic Island to see Underwater World and pet stingrays, and heading to the “southern most point of Asia.” Another typical question is the food, and here is a list of what we ate and drank: Squid, Stingray, Octopus, Jellyfish, Sea Bass, Duck, Chicken, White Fungus Desert, Yam Desert, Coconut Milk, Tom Yum Soup, Several Thai dishes, etc. The trip was great and a good experience. We also went to a 1 million square foot mall which I was definitely the tallest person there by at least 4 inches.

I was a confirmation sponsor this month for Chris. It was a good experience and I was honored to be asked by Christopher to be his sponsor on that special day.

We spent our spare moments this month cleaning the condo along with going through and doing our annual “donation to goodwill” organization. We are looking forward to our trip to New York and San Francisco during the month of May!

March 2008

Deb went on her annual ski trip with her friends from work. You know, we mention this trip every year as it being with “work friends,” but it really is just a bunch of people that love to ski that happen to know people that work at MSMC. They had a tremendous amount of snow and sun and really got a good amount of skiing in along with some good stories about skiing the slopes and having drinks afterwards. Deb spent a week on this year’s trip, something I don’t think she has done since 2004.

While Deb was out of town skiing, I had a good time of my own. I went to a beer festival with Tom and Brandon, playing in the basketball tournament of the Chatard Alumni League, and got some things done around the condo. I also went to South by Southwest in Austin, TX for Tim Benck’s bachelor party. It was a good time and the warm weather was a nice welcome from Indiana for a few days. SXSW is a music festival that has bands from all over the country and world. We had a good time and really enjoyed the music, drinks and weather. Depp, Rago, and Benck went…along with some of Tim’s buddies which I didn’t know.

For the first time, we went back to WV for Easter. We arrived in Charleston on Friday evening and had a nice weekend with Randy and Anna. The Walkers came over on Saturday night for dinner and drinks. With Purdue and WV still in the NCAA tournament, I was busy glued to the TV all weekend. As with every year, Deb and I fill out brackets in a battle that we have yet to figure out what we are playing for, but I won the 2008 battle and remain undefeated! This was the closest year and all she needed was Xavier to win 1 more game…

Deb and I became Uncle Keith and Aunt Debbie! My sister Laura and her husband Pete had their daughter on March 26th early in the morning. Claire Katherine Vandervaart weighed in at 8lbs and 15ozs at about 12:30 in the morning. She was born via a C-section which will cause Laura to have a little longer recovery. Deb and I are excited to meet the little one for her baptism on April 19th and get a chance to see Pete and Laura. Mom and Dad were there for the birth and were excited to have the chance to greet their first grandchild into the world.

This month also marked the start of flag football for me. This was the first season since the Fall of ’03 that I have played flag football without Debbie. She is competitive so it will be interesting to see if she can come to the games. She skipped the first week claiming she is going to be a fair weather fan (it was raining!) Well, April is going to be a busy month as I will be off to Singapore for work and we will gear up for a month full of travel in May.

Ski WV

We visited Davis for President's Day weekend. A little skiing, lots of friends and lots of fun!

This month included our annual trip to Davis, WV for President’s Day Weekend. This year we ended up inviting Tom & Tracy, along with Brandon and Diane (who came along last year). We arrived on a Thursday night around 8pm and enjoyed some white chicken chili along with getting settled into the new house that had been renovated over the last year and a half. As much fun at the trip was this year, it was definitely missing one key factor, significant snow and colder temperatures! The resort is pretty good at making snow, but if it is 40 degrees outside, it can be a little difficult. The weekend included some Siriani’s pizza, a day-hike to Blackwater Falls, playing corn-hole with 30 mph winds, meeting Julie’s friend Jay, Anna winning a “winner-take-all” poker tournament, everyone being initiated to Dutch Blitz, listening to a blue-grass band at the Purple Fiddle, and a few shots of Wild Turkey and Tequila!

We didn’t end up skiing on Sunday due to rain, so we ended up doing some napping, hiking and drinking. We enjoyed a nice meal over at Kathy’s along with fajita night at Randy and Anna’s house. One of the funnier facts of this trip was that even though Randy and Anna had the house finished and completed, they had to stay at Kathy’s because of all the friends that Debbie and Julie brought. Friday was the best day for skiing and Diane and I graduated to doing some double-black diamonds! I will say that my legs started to get tired on the second day so maybe that may have been a little aggressive.

My 3 year anniversary was at Hurco this month, and I was given a promotion. I am now the “Corporate Treasury Manager” and along with the Accounts Payable department reporting to me, I am going to be in-charge of the hedging for our foreign currency and attempt to get more centralized cash management for the company. What I enjoyed about this promotion was that there are times in your career that you may think that you need to leave your current job to get that next promotion and the management at Hurco recognized that and decided they wanted me to stick around.

The 2nd weekend in February was Laura’s baby shower, so Dad, Pete, Chris, Mark and I went to Pat Flynn’s for a beer and to watch some sports. The shower went well and I think that Pete and Laura really want to have the baby here and get started on the next phase of their life, as a family.

Last weekend Deb got sick very quickly and randomly on Saturday evening. Initially, we thought it could have been food related, but as the evening went on, it appeared to just be the flu. We decided to call the doctor, which happened to be Beth, and she called in a prescription at CVS. My favorite part of picking up the medicine was that the pharmacist said, “Do you have any questions?” I wanted to say, but didn’t, “Apparently you haven’t looked at the last name on the pill bottle and our credit card!”

Well, we are looking forward to a busy 3 month ahead with trips to Utah, Texas, Chicago, California, and New York. All of that with some busy schedules at work should allow us to keep us occupied for awhile!

January 2008

January 2008

As busy as the holiday season was, this was a very nice way to start off 2008, in a very quiet manner. We had a few things we did this month, and the biggest of those was my trip abroad to Germany.

To help out at work with the accounting software in Germany, I was asked by the IT Director to tag along on his next trip to Germany. We left on Saturday the Jan 12th and came back on Friday the 18th. While we were in Munich, we went into town on 3 separate occasions. One time we walked around town and met the Germany Controller for dinner. We had some good beer, espressos and pork! The 2nd trip into Munich was to the BMW showroom and International Restaurant. We enjoyed the cars and also a nice dinner (duck was excellent). The 3rd trip was the night before we left, and we had a great time! We closed down 2 bars and one of the employees of the Germany office really showed us around and different sites. We stopped by the Hofberhaus, which is a very large tourist attraction, but we didn’t stay long because he wanted to show us some more authentic German breweries and restaurants (don’t forget the Franziskaner!). When we weren’t playing, we were definitely working. We would normally get picked up at around 9am and we would work until maybe 7 or 8pm. I think I helped a great deal when I was over in Germany and maybe it could lead into some more international trips through work.

When I got back, we celebrated my birthday on a few different occasions. We went to dinner with my parents at The Cheesecake Factory and then to Sakura on Monday night with Tom, Tracy and Diane. I received several nice gifts, mostly gift cards to places that I needed to do some shopping! One of the best gifts was a CD from Beth, which was from Bob Seger and had one of my favorite songs “Old Time Rock n’ Roll.” Deb gave me a nice pair of pants and tickets to the Purdue game vs. Iowa. Dad and I went and had a good time.

At the end of the week, we ended up having another surgery for Deb’s hand. The bone was simply not healing with the screw they had in there, so she went it to have it removed and hopefully that will allow the bone to heal. This has been a very tedious and frustrating situation for Deb, but hopefully at the end of the day when it is healed, we realize that there are bigger problems in life and this is one of the many small battles we will have in our lives!