San Francisco Days

OK, so I’ve been home for almost 2 weeks now and have not posted any pics or updated you on my journey to Germany and Switzerland. Well it was another adventure. I’ll start off by telling you that I had to set up my filght to meet a coworker in Zurich. She was comming from Ireland, and I from San Fran. In order to meet at the same time I had to make 2 connections along the way, 1 in New York and Paris. Well JFK is under construction and not easy to get around or find your terminal, but I did manage to remember how to navigate thru and find my terminal, which to my supprise I found out I was the last passenger to board, and latter found out from Scott theat the flight left early?! Well I slept all the way to Paris, and had a very difficult time finding/getting to my terminal . The people at the airport were very unhelpful. But I did make it safely to Zurich on time, but that was more than I could say for my luggage. My baggage did not arrive with me on my flight or the next flight. So off I went to my quality Summit with what I was wearing. We did find a Wal-Mart, yes in the middle of a small German village of 30,000 there was a Wal-Mart, where I bought a snappy little outfit. Everybody at work had a good laugh at the idea of me buying clothes at Wal-Mart. I was hoping this was not an omen of how the week was going to go, thankfully it was not. The next day Dennise and I set out on our adverture to Neuschwanstein Castle. This is the castle Disney was made to resemble.

We were not able to make it inside due to lack of time. Maybe next time. The summit went on with out any issues. It was held at a beautiful golf and wellness resort Oschberghof. The summit went very well. My director did offer me a new position and promotion, which after the talks yesterday, will be very good. I’ll keep everybody updated as things progress.

After the summit, I spent a day in Zurich on my own. It is a beautiful city.

I did make it to Fraumunster Cathedral to see the Chagall stained glass. I sset out walking around and got lost as usuall. After about 2 hours of wandering I ended up at Lake Zurich. At that time I did not care I was lost, there was a beautiful park that was perfect for a rest. I then consulted my map and plotted a course back to my hotel. I ended walking around for about 4 hours. I now feel I coul be a taxi driver there. The next day I flew back with no tales to tell except I had nobody sitting next to me the whole trip. Makes for great sleeping.

Well for now I will be in the states until our cruise. After that my director hinted to me that the next summit will be in October. I think it might be in the northern part of Gremany. Looks like I might become the world traveler.

If you remember waaay back in February, Roger was excited to post New Addition to the Apartment . He purchased a signed, original Ralph Steadman print online titled “King and Queen” and waited anxiously to have it shipped. It arrived safely and in pretty much perfect shape. That was the easy part…

Anxious to put that baby up on the wall, we walked two blocks down from where we live to a large, custom-framing and art chain store. We spent quite a bit of time picking out the perfect frame, matting(s) and border (insert your own queens for the “King and Queen” joke here). After springing for the museum glass, Roger plunked down a load of cash and sat back the ten long days they said it would take to have the frame built and the glass cut. Ten days - nothing. Waited two more weeks, no word. Waited two more weeks, no word. Waited another two weeks and called the place again, it had finally arrived. A couple more days to mount the print and we’re done! By now you’ve probably guessed… right, wrong frame.

After waiting all that time we briefly considered taking it with the incorrect frame, but it just didn’t look right. Anyway, started the process all over again and they finally finished it. Ten days… four months… pretty close. Roger got back from Germany last night, so one of our projects was to hang the art today. The happy ending is, it looks fantastic. The long-promised pics are below.

Hi everyone from beautiful Zurich. Well tomorrow I will get the Joy of a 16 hour plane ride, but I will be back home again. Can`t wait to see Scott, I might even cook something other than Tuna Burgers for him.

The Quality Summit in Germany went well, and I even had a big suprise dropped on me. The director of quality wants to promote me to combine and manage 2 departments where we work. It was a little odd of him to tell me this at the urinal, but it is good none the less. Well Im almost out of time on the computer, so I will give a full update when I`m state side.

Later for now
Rog

So, after 10 years together, I now know what I’ve always suspected. Right, I’m totally unable to care for myself without Roger. We’re not talking incontinence or anything like that, but I can’t cook a decent meal, can’t pack a spectacular three-course lunch, can’t pick out a dress shirt and pants that go perfectly together and can’t entertain myself. Evidence: I had three, yes three, tuna burgers and a bottle of wine for dinner last night and I’m spending Saturday evening updating the blog. How long has Roger been gone you ask? 30 hours. Man, it’s gonna be a long week.

Palm Springs was great as usual. We met a friend of ours there who we haven’t seen in two years, which was great. As opposed to our last trip there a couple months ago, we returned to staying at our favorite resort and it felt like coming home. It was 105 degrees the day we got there and it was heaven. Spent a lot of time relaxing, sipping cocktails poolside and feeding our faces. The culinary highlight was the Chop House. Oysters Rockefeller, a ribeye steak the size of my forearm, a totally decadent flourless chocolate cake and some tasty wine to wash it all down with, mmmmmm.

We did manage to pry ourselves off a chaise lounge long enough to revisit the Palm Springs Aerial Tramway and hike around Mount San Jacinto State Park. It was nice to cool off for a couple hours (it was 30 degrees cooler up there), but we couldn’t wait to get back to the heat. There are a couple photos we took from up there below. One is looking across Long Valley to the summit of Mount San Jacinto. The other is the view you get from 8300’ when you turn around and look out over the Coachella Valley. That’s Palm Springs in the foreground and I-10 way out there in the distance. The Tramway was pretty cool too. It’s just like a giant, rotating ski lift. People got pretty freaked out at how fast it climbed the mountain and screamed for life when the gondola rocked when it passed over a tower. Too funny. We kept thinking how much Dar would have liked the ride.

That frozen pizza is calling my name, so I’d better go see what it wants. Stay tuned for tales from Roger’s Deutschland adventures.