Work Conference

I go to a conference for my job every 6 months in Atlanta.  I was just there two weeks ago.  I try to meet new people while I'm at the conference for networking and also to help with hopefully getting more projects for the company I work for.  However, being one of only a few women out of hundreds of men attending the conference can be interesting.  I took a couple of guys to dinner one of the nights and then sat next to one of them during the meetings the next day because he was the only one there from his mill and I was there by myself that day.  He's a really nice guy, we talked quite a bit.  When I was getting ready to leave from the conference, he gave me a hug goodbye.  I don't really get that.  I also got a hug from one of my company's salesmen and another one from a salesman that I know from a different company.  Why can't I just have a handshake?  I think I'm too nice.

I also just received the following e-mail from another guy that I normally talk to each time I go to the conference (who, by the way, is married and has 3 little boys):

Ann,

I'm very sorry we missed the opportunity to get caught up during the Fall 2010 BLRBAC session. To be quite honest, being able to spend some time with you during these semi-annual sessions has become a highlight for me (ok, I admitted it!).

I want to thank you again for sending along my urgent recent request for assistance. Paul's input helped immensely.

But none of that helped with my Ann fix!! haha

Hope to see you soon.

errrr.....awkward!

A couple of stories...

Story #1

My little sister, Leah got married at the beginning of September and then had her reception a couple of weekends ago.  Her reception was down in Centralia, where my family has gone to church forever.  I knew I would see a bunch of people from church and was looking forward to talking to some of them.  I did get to see a few of those people, but there was one lady I talked to that just makes me laugh.  She has a daughter that is a little younger than me and I haven't talked to this woman probably in over 10 years..maybe?  So, the first thing she asks me after we say hi to each other is, "how many children do you have now?" 

So, I bluntly said, "I'm not married." and smiled. 

And then she said, "Oh, well you're going to have A LOT of children."

After which, I said, "well, I'm not married, so who knows?"

And then she just started talking about how all of my sisters and me look so much alike.  I just thought it was funny that she really doesn't know anything about me and what is going on in my life but automatically thinks I must have a lot of kids.  Is that because my mom decided to have 12 children?  I'm not mad about what she said to me, I just think it's weird that she would ask that first. 

Story #2

I saw Minus the Bear play at the Crocodile last week (awesome performance, by the way).  I was with my friend, Corinn and decided I really needed earplugs.  I went up to the bar to buy some and there was a girl standing in front of the bar, who at first, I thought was working because she asked me, "what are you drinking?" 

But when she asked me, she put her arm around my back, just a little.  I thought, hmm, that's kind of weird, but it was loud, so she needed to shout for me to hear.  So I was waiting my turn and she ordered her drinks (at which point I figured out she wasn't working there) and then she turned to me and said, "are you sure you don't want anything to drink?  You can put anything on my tab."

So I said, "oh thank you for offering, but I'm ok, I'm just getting earplugs."

But I did tell her that I liked her headband, it was really cute.

And then she told the bartender I needed earplugs, because that's what girls do for girls when they like them.  And I bought the earplugs and she brushed my back and then walked away. 

I really can't remember ever being hit on by a woman before, it was kind of flattering because she was really cute, but at the same time, why couldn't it have been a guy?  Seriously?

the dangers of biking!!

Joseph has threatened me that he will remove the link to my blog from his blog since I don't ever write on here.  I've decided I am going to try to start blogging again.  TRY...

Jared and I are planning to bike/run in a duathlon next weekend.  I've been biking more this summer and I think I'm pretty ready to bike 12 miles and run 3 miles.  Last weekend, Jared and I went on a practice bike ride near Lake Sammamish.  It was a fun ride, right next to the lake and it was good for me to ride with Jared, so I would push myself to go faster.  On the way back, we turned onto a trail and I noticed it was a little wet and had leaves on it.  I thought to myself...I should slow down, it might be a little slippery.  But, it was too late, I got to a corner too quickly and my rear tire slid out and I hit the ground in seconds.  Jared was right behind me and crashed as well.  His bike actually flew up and on top of me.  I'm still a little bruised from it.  This was the worst of it:

Ha, ha, I know it's disgusting.  It's still healing up, I should have a nice little scar from it.  I had just talked to my almost 8-year old nephew a couple of days before about his bike wreck, he had it pretty bad with his chin, elbow, knee all looking like my elbow.  The last time I wrecked on a bike was when I was 9, so this wasn't fun.  I'm just praying it doesn't rain on Saturday for the race.  I will be so much more nervous, if it does!

Monkeys!

I only have time for a quick note and I don't know when I'll be able to post again because I'm leaving tomorrow morning for another paper mill.  To get there, I will drive 4 hours, fly 2 hours and travel by train 6 hours.  I am not looking forward to it.

The monkeys were back in the tree in front of the house I'm staying in this morning.  They were jumping from branch to branch, they're so cute.  Although, as I was taking photos of them, one got on a lower branch and started making these awful screeching noises at me, it was scary.  He was not happy with me.  I tried to get some good shots, but there's only so much my camera can do.

The one above is an action shot, you can see the monkey jumping in the bottom, just to the right of the center.  Anyway, there were two different kinds, one with a black face and one with the white/pink face.  There were also a flock of these huge birds with a big beak.  They were so neat looking.  The monkeys were chasing them out of the tree for a bit.

 

And then I had to go to work.  At least there are some neat things to see around here when I am not working.  And as far as work goes, we have wrapped up what we came here to do.  I don't know if I've mentioned it.  We were starting up a system we designed.  It's a pollution control system.  Which, I think is pretty ironic considering each morning I leave my room in the morning, the sky is completely filled with smoke from everyone burning their trash.  And then inside the paper mill, I see all sorts of tanks overflowing to their sewer that shouldn't be sent to a sewer line.  But they might have a treatment system for the sewer lines, I'm not sure.  Anyway, I guess it's good that the paper mill is starting somewhere.

Some of the animals in town

There are animals walking around freely all over the place here...cows, dogs, pigs, goats.  I guess the cows, pigs and goats are actually owned by people, but they just let them wander around.  Like today at the market, I asked Raju about some of the cows and he said the cows will just try to get some free food and that is how they end up eating.  I feel bad for the stray dogs, they are all over the place, but most of them do look fed and not too scrawny.  I think people feed them, probably because they think they might be that dog when they die. 

If you look close at the one above, you can see two cows in the middle of the street and two motorcycles dodging them. 

Oh and here are some of my roommates.  I think I've seen 4 different frogs so far. 

I've seen a group of monkeys here, too.  They were playing up in the tree in front of the house I'm staying in one morning and then they were playing up on top of the temple another evening, but I haven't seen them lately.  Hopefully they'll come back before I leave.  It was so funny watching them play on top of the temple.

Sunday Market!

There isn't much to do here in the evenings, so if you like reading about what I'm doing/seeing here, then you are in luck.  Thank goodness for wireless internet!

It's Sunday evening here and I had to work in the morning and then a little in the afternoon.  I haven't felt too comfortable walking outside of the mill complex by myself and luckily, Raju went outside with me today.  Sunday is a busy day around here.  This is the day most of the people do their shopping.  The market is just outside the gates and was packed this afternoon.  There were quite a few vegetables that I have not ever seen before, but I've probably been eating them.  I don't really know what I'm eating most of the time, I just know if I like it or don't.  So far, I've liked most everything.  They have so many different varieties of vege dishes.  My favorite thing so far has probably been the mango Slice soda...so yummy!  Anyway, some shots from the market:

They had so many dried red peppers!

I still got a lot of stares in the market.  I guess I do stand out quite a bit.  I'm glad Raju went with me and explained what a lot of the vegetables and nuts were.  We walked by this sweets stand and he told me he would buy me some before we leave and that they are so delicious.  I'm a little leery, though.  He had me try this sweet milk dessert thing the other night and although the taste of it was ok, it had this really weird texture.  Most of the sweets at this stand looked more like spices.  So, we'll have to see.

More of Dandeli

I had a little bit of free time this afternoon while some things were being fixed on the system. I took a walk around part of the mill complex. They have all sorts of buildings here, a research center, hospital, gymnasium, employee's club and lots of housing. I was walking down one road but decided to turn around because it was where people lived, these houses were tiny and not the bigger apartment buildings they have here and it was even more run down than the rest of what I've seen. They also have a playground across the street from the Hindu temple. They even have teeter-totters. I loved those things, too bad parks don't have them anymore at home. You can see a couple of buildings behind the park, those are some of the apartment buildings.
I had to take a photo of their ambulance parked outside the hospital, it is a van that is probably only 4 1/2' tall. I rode in one of them (not the ambulance, but another van) and they technically seat 8 people.