Episode 44: March 2009
Highlights of the month:
· Deb presents at two conferences
· Weekend in Colorado Springs
· Weekend in New York
March was another busy month at work, but we managed to fit in a few weekends away. At the beginning of March, I presented at two HR conferences in back-to-back weeks. The first was in Houston and the second was in Colorado Springs. The topic I chose for both conferences was “Driving Employee Engagement in Turbulent Times.” It is a topic I am very familiar with, especially given the current environment at Dow. We decided to make the trip to Colorado Springs a family affair, and Neal joined me for a long weekend there. The conference was held at a sprawling resort called The Broadmoor, located at the base of the mountains that overlook Colorado Springs. We enjoyed all that the resort has to offer and made use of the hotel’s spa, pools, and restaurants. Besides relaxing, we fit in a day trip to the Royal Gorge, a massive canyon cut into the earth by what is now called the Arkansas River. There are two ways to cross the gorge: a cable car and a suspension bridge. We did both, much to the delight of Neal’s vertigo!
We followed up the long weekend in Colorado Springs with another weekend trip, this time to New York City. The NYC weekend was much quicker. We flew in on Friday and left mid-day on Sunday. While we were there, we just enjoyed being in the city again. On the first day we were there, Neal surprised me by taking me to an Australian-inspired café in lower Manhattan called the Tuck Shop. I filled up on my favorite traditional Australian snacks, including meat pies, sausage rolls, vanilla slices, and lamingtons. Yum! We continued the day by walking through Soho and doing some shopping. That night we visited what could now be one of our favorite restaurants in NYC, a Greek place called Kefi. The next day, we walked around the city taking in the sights and finished up the day by seeing a Broadway show called “In the Heights.” It was fantastic and we highly recommend seeing it.
On our last day in the city, we visited Brooklyn to have a pizza at Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, a famous place we heard about. The line was about 30 people deep outside, but we waited it out. Maybe it was the wait, but the pizza did not overwhelm us. Neal and I agreed that the pizza place around the corner from where we used to live in Zurich was better. Before heading back to the airport, Neal and I walked lunch off by strolling across the Brooklyn Bridge, something Neal had never done in all his past visits to NYC.
The rest of the month was pretty casual outside of work. We got together with friends for dinners, including a French-themed night where Neal and I tried our hand at our first savory soufflé that did not turn out too bad.
And that was March. Until next month, take care.
