Episode 33: January 2008
Highlights of the month include:
· Christmas Vacation Continued: Traveling back home via San Francisco;
· Theatre:
Enchanted April;
· Weekend in Austin, Texas.
We ended 2007 in Melbourne, Australia, ringing in the New Year at my sister, Carol’s, house where she held her “Aloha 2008” party. After recuperating from the big party, we prepared to finish up our big vacation. On January 1 – our last full day in Melbourne – we went to the beach with Carol to escape the heat, got some sun, and had some fish and chips (a must do when in Australia!). After a few hours, we went back to Carol’s house to prepare for yet another party, this time our farewell shin-dig. My relatives and friends came over for dinner and to say their goodbyes to Neal and me before we headed back to the U.S. We also said our goodbyes to Carol that night as we spent the night at mom’s house. The next day, mom and my little sister, Candy, took us to the airport and said their goodbyes before we boarded our flight. The goodbyes were tearful – it seems to get harder to say goodbye every time we see each other – but we had a wonderful time in Australia and it was nice to be back and to see everyone.
From Melbourne, Neal and I first flew to Auckland again. After a two-hour layover there, we boarded our long-haul flight to San Francisco. Like our journey on the way to Australia, we decided to break up our return journey with a short stop in San Francisco. Upon arriving, we checked into our hotel, got cleaned up, and then headed into the city to explore (and try to beat the jet lag). We walked down Market Street to the waterfront and followed the Embarcadero all the way to Fisherman’s Wharf. Along the way, we stopped to buy tickets for a tour of Alcatraz (to be taken two days later). While at Fisherman’s Wharf, we saw a hop-on/hop-off bus nearby and decided that it would be a nice way to see other parts of the city. So, off we went!
The bus took us all over the city, including Chinatown, the Golden Gate bridge, the Haight/Ashbury district (famous as a gathering place for the hippies of the 1960s), and Market Street. After taking a round on the bus, we got off near our hotel, got changed, and then headed to Chinatown for an authentic Chinese dinner. After checking out a few restaurants, we settled on one on a side road that had a lot of Asian patrons inside – a sure sign that the food must be good and authentic. And, indeed, it was!
The next day was a rainy one and so we kept indoors for most of the day. We did a bit of shopping along Market Street and boarded our hop-on/hop-off bus again to tour the city again and take more pictures. We even managed to return to Chinatown for a nice dim-sum lunch.
The following day – our last in San Francisco – we experienced an amazing storm. Heavy rains and 80 mph winds created a surreal sight – windows blown out of buildings, streets blocked off to traffic, and umbrellas being turned inside out within seconds of being outside. The wind was so strong that we could hear our high-rise hotel creak as it swayed slightly in the wind! This was supposed to be the day that we were taking our tour of Alcatraz. When we woke up that morning, we thought it would be highly unlikely that the tour would still go – visibility was dismal, the water was supposed to be very choppy, and the wind was a force to be reckoned with. But just to be safe, we called ahead and, to our surprise, were assured that the tour was still proceeding! So, we grudgingly got ready and headed into the storm. After only five minutes outside we were completely soaked and our umbrella was rendered useless. We navigated our way down to the pier using a combination of walking and taxi only to find, once we got there, that the tour company had finally decided to cancel the day’s tours! We made it back to the hotel and, after changing into warmer and dryer clothes, spent the remainder of the day catching up on work – much needed after three weeks away – and staying dry. That evening (after weather conditions calmed significantly), we caught up with some of Neal’s family friends: the Sandhus. Dr. and Mrs. Sandhu and their son Teji live in San Francisco, and their other son, Ken, was coincidentally visiting from Canada at the same time. So we all enjoyed a wonderful dinner together at a nice seafood restaurant in Union Square. It was great to see the Sandhus and for me to meet Teji for the first time. Although our trip to Alcatraz was foiled by the weather, we really enjoyed San Francisco nonetheless!
After arriving back home on Saturday night, we spent Sunday relaxing at home, taking care of the unpacking, and not doing too much else. On Monday, it was back to work for the two of us. Before leaving for Australia, both of us were offered new jobs and promotions to begin the New Year. Neal is now the Finance Manager for our Alternative Feestocks business. His focus is now on driving the economics of mergers and acquisitions and projects that Dow is exploring to get access to feedstocks that are not closely tied to natural gas and oil. My new job is the Global HR Director for the Marketing and Sales and HR functions. It is more like the role I had in Switzerland, focusing on partnering with the business/function leaders to drive HR strategy to get their businesses where they need to be. The largest focuses of the role are organizational design, talent management, and change management. I have responsibilities for the HR graduate program, which means I have 12 direct reports – our recent graduates who are working across the HR function on projects until their rotational period ends and they get “real” jobs in the function.
I began the working year boarding a plane to Houston for a series of meetings over the following two days. Later that week after I had returned to Midland, I went to the first of an eight-week belly dancing class held at the local community center for an hour each week after work. It was great fun but much harder on my shoulders than I imagined it would be. My book club girlfriends met during the week also, and it was great to catch up with them and hear all about their Christmas celebrations. We also caught up with our friends, Marcelo, Dave, Patty, and Michel, that weekend for a few cocktails followed by dinner and also ventured out to see Sue and Rob’s new baby, Meilin, who was born while we were in Australia.
Late last year, I was accepted as a board member of the volunteer association Big Brothers Big Sisters of Michigan. The agency aims to pair up children (up to 17 years old) with volunteer mentors. It is a very worthy cause, and they are doing some wonderful things in the community, so I am proud to be a part of it. We had our first board meeting of the year this month. In addition to being on the board, I am a member of the finance sub-committee, whose focus is on the all-important element of a not-for-profit agency: funding and income generation.
Neal surprised me with an evening out, including a wonderful dinner followed by a play at this very cute little theatre that we had never been to in Saginaw called The Pit and Balcony. Once again, the talent that exists in this country for amateur theatre is really amazing. The play we saw was called
Enchanted April and we really enjoyed it. The other notable thing about the evening was the extreme cold temperatures that we experienced. Temperatures got down to a bitterly cold -17C (-4F), which left the only unexposed part of us (our faces) feel like they were going to freeze and fall off! The rationale behind fashion items like knee high boots and fur coats all of a sudden became very clear to me. Having now experienced such cold, I, too, would forego fashion for the sake of being warm in these temperatures. Humans should not be allowed to live in these conditions! This was to be the beginning of a cold spell in Midland which we were glad to get out of the following week when both of us had to travel south to Houston.
I went to Houston for a North American sales meeting for one of our two largest groups. The meeting involved some fun evening activities, including a comedy night, karaoke, and a team building drumming session with a great group called Drum Café leading the way. Neal went to Houston for meetings on a potential acquisition deal and a project evaluation, so we took advantage of both being in a warmer climate and headed to Austin, Texas for the weekend. It was my first time to Austin (Neal has been a few times), so we did the typical tourist things. We enjoyed the sun and the open, college atmosphere of the city by walking around most of the weekend looking at the architecture and doing some window shopping. We took a trip to the capitol building (the capitol of each state in the U.S. has a capitol building where the state government meets) – a very pretty building on the inside and out. We explored the noted shopping district of South Congress and generally had a wonderfully relaxing weekend (and we very much enjoyed the liberating feeling of not having to walk around in our coats and snow boots). Austin is home to some great food, which we took advantage of while we were there – our favorite place was a tapas restaurant called Malaga on 4th Street. It is also a city famed for its band scene, which we took time to experience as well. We went to one of Austin’s most famous bars, the Continental Club, where we saw a really great unknown band with very impressive talent. Our weekend in Austin was a great little getaway – for those that get the chance, it is a city worth visiting.
So far it has been a great start to the New Year and our new jobs. Hope you enjoyed your own New Year celebrations and got 2008 off to a great start, too. For those of you in the northern hemisphere, stay warm! Until next month, take care.
