Archive for the year 2009
Germany Day 5
Posted on March 5, 2009 by Brian under Life, Travel.
Today was a great day. I got a lot accomplished at work and we are making great progress in getting the new system up and running for the US. I got access to the new and permanent test bed today. This will be the system that is copied over to the Integration side in a few weeks so the testing of this system is crucial to the success of the US. I have to spend all day Friday running through the check list that I created and ran on the previous days. I need to see if the errors that occurred before come up now or did the development team fix them (they will not be back until Monday). I think it will be good to see the system with the copy of the Live data that is loaded. I can test response times and determine what areas I will need to train and what areas will be issues when it comes to the users. For the most part the new system is not that different from the old, with one major exception, Its far easier to use and follows a logical process. The previous system did not follow this process and was very scattered in how you entered and retrieved data. All-in-all, I think this new system will be a great success in the US and will assist in limiting the amount of issues that will occur.
Now to the reason I am really happy. I FOUND FRIED CHICKEN!!!!
I was taken to a little food shop on the corner next to the Viega building. It has chicken halves (that’s right, Halves not pieces, HALVES). and they are roasted. If you want it fried, they take the half and drop it into a deep fryer. They you have a crispy chicken. I got that and french fries for lunch and could not have been more pleased. The people around me kept looking at me because I was eating like I had not had a meal in days. Which is not far from the truth. I think I may go there again for lunch. I need to take a picture of the meal, its quite large. Its the first time that I ate a meal and was nit the slightest bit hungry a few hours later.
I don’t know what I am going to do tonight. They have a bar down stairs so I have a feeling that it will be very noisy later in the evening. I found a site I can watch movies from so I may just watch a few films until I pass out.
9 days left then i am back home ot family, friends and a familure surrounding. I think I am going to demand to be taken to Freddy’s after I land. I miss good-ol American burgers. Enjoy the photos and I should have more this weekend if the weather holds out. It rained yesterday and we were advised of more rain so I will hope that it passes quickly like it has since I arrived.
More later.
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Brian’s New Hotel Room
Posted on March 5, 2009 by Ching under Travel.
Brian requested to be moved to a room in the main building where the internet connection is better. He got his wish, but ended up with a much smaller room. As small as the original room was, I guess he didn’t expect that it could get any smaller. It did.
Being able to connect to the internet was a much greater priority, though, so Brian is enduring the new room. He does seem to be having a better time. No more allergic reactions. Thank heavens.
I will post some more of the pictures he sent as time allows. For now, I’m going to go to bed. Good night all!
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Pick Up Sticks Jewelry
Posted on March 4, 2009 by Ching under Wishlist.
My Pick Up Sticks jewelry arrived today. Hurrah!
I originally saw the Cherry Pi pendant at Von Maur about a month ago. The Pick Up Sticks pendants were inside the locked display case and no one was around. Brian and I didn’t have much time and Brian doesn’t really enjoy shopping and stuff, so I didn’t get to check it out fully.
Anyway, I was able to price it when Jan and I hung out at the mall over the weekend. Von Maur wanted $26 for the pendant and then another $50 for the ball chain. That was just too much money for me, specially for a novelty necklace.
Luckily, I found the tooQt web site. I got the Cherry Pi pendant and a couple of charms (True Love and Lucky) and three ball chains for a lot less than what it would have cost me to purchase the Cherry Pi necklace at Von Maur. Gotta love the internet!
I decided that I’ll wear the Cherry Pi necklace by itself, but I opted to take the smaller pendants and attach them to my Art by Amy Scrabble tiles necklace since they were more like charms anyway.
There are so many more charms and pendants that I want both from Pick Up Sticks and Art by Amy. I think their jewelry pieces go pretty well together because they are that same kind of novelty style. Create-your-own jewelry is just so addictive!
P.S. My Cherry Pi necklace is just in time for Pi Day, which incidentally is the day that Brian is due back from Germany.
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Cannady Crew Baptism
Posted on March 4, 2009 by Ching under Family.
You can hear Eli in the background! At least, I think it’s Eli.
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Germany Day 4
Posted on March 4, 2009 by Brian under Travel.
Today was a little better. I got a new room with a solid internet connection. Its not as big as the one I was in but the bed is much softer and the window actually has a curtain to block out the light from outside. For breakfast I actually had Scrambled Eggs that were not too bad. I had to put salt and pepper on them to give them flavor but they were edible. Unlike the eggs I got yesterday. I had 2 bananas and 2 glasses of OJ. So far I have eaten far healthier than I ever did in the states. For lunch I had a big box of French Fries. They use the French term pommes frites here (dammed French), but they were not bad. The Turkish place is being very patient with me. i eat there a lot because its close and they have decent food. Tomorrow I plan to go to a Hamburger place. I was told that it was pretty good. Maybe for dinner I will go to the Turkish place and branch out and try something new. I took a to-go menu and used Lio to translate some of the stuff so I would know what I was eating.
Tonight I went to dinner ate at really nice hotel just on the outside of town. It was a thank you dinner thrown by the SAP team to the IT people in Germany. I am considered the adopted bastard child of the German IT department so I was invited as well. I had a strip steak, cheesy potatoes and European green beans, they are skinnier and tougher then normal green beans, kind of like the Germans, lol.
Everyone but me and one other person had beer. Its the staple in Germany. The dinner was elaborate and heavy which I am finding out is very typical in Germany, but it was good. The best thing I have had since I have been here. I took some pictures of the food which got some laughs form the people I was with. I didn’t let it get to me though. These will be the first real pics of foreign food that we will have on the Foodies site I am sure.
I got into my new room, there will be pictures of that as well. Its OK, its older and smaller than the other one I was in and its noisier then the other one as well. But it has a constant internet connection that I don’t have to steal from the neighbor. I think the guy next to me is snoring, it sounds like someone running a vacuum cleaner. I hope the earplugs I brought will tune that out. I am really sleepy though, maybe I will just pass out and not know the difference (that’s my hope). I knew I would have a trade off. But I needed internet, I could not work without it. And with me waking up at odd hours of the night I figured I could use the connection to get some of the reports done. I want to stay on top of things so I don’t have to do them all back home.
Well I am going to go to bed know after I send an e-mail to my wife. I will detail more of my trip later.
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