So last night I was not able to sleep but for a couple hours. This is getting OLD!!!!! I don’t know what it is, maybe I need to unplug from technology earlier then I already am. I am sure I will figure it out soon.
Today was a pretty good day, I talked to much in the training that my throat hurts a bit, but that is OK. I didn’t know what to do for dinner so I just ordered a pizza – good ole standby 
Alright, I am going to wrap this up so I can do the travel blog – so busy!!
Today, right now, I am doing laundry and packing and listening to a podcast. Multi tasking the crap out of this day
I am traveling to Atlanta today and the hardest thing I am faced with is deciding how to do the blog thing. I want to continue to do my travel inspired blogs as separate things from my regular blog, but I guess I am just going to have to be creative on the content of the regular daily blog…
I am a little sad to be leaving my sweet puppies, but I am always glad to travel for vacation and even for work. In packing today I am using all my cool stuffs, new luggage, clothes packs and just all those little gadgets that make this a little easier.
Welcome to 2016 in that before I travel now I must charge so many devices, my Beats, Kindle, iPad, iPhone, MacBook, mouse, camera, and my watch! Today is a little different because I am having to do laundry today which in reality I should have done it yesterday. I am not really pushing my time, but I would have rather been packed last night or earlier than just now at 15:11 when I need to leave here at 16:30. About the only thing left now is putting the last bit of laundry away and taking a shower
It took me forever to find the purse that I have now and I am not even 100% in love with it. I got a Kate Spade Cobble Hill cross body. I love the bag the thing that I don’t like is just that there is a little bit of chain on the strap and I just don’t like that look. The reason I bring it up is that my mom loves my wallet that goes with the purse. I have been looking for one for her and can’t find one. Now I am debating on getting a new one except it won’t really match and that just drives me crazy!! Such problems
OK, I need to get going on my shower and maybe I will blog some more when I get to Atlanta or maybe that will be on the travel one
I wanted to follow up with the Beckley blogs because it was so much freaking fun!!!! The first day riding around with my awesome friend had me a bit giggly because it was so windy and up and down and just crazy. He assured me that he was taking it much easier then he normally would be
We went high railing a couple times, once was just a little but, but the second time was like 20 miles and it was so amazing. I also got to go to like 6 different towns and saw all kinds of cool things in Thurmond and Hinton.
I didn’t really do anything crazy like food wise, but we did manage to go to a place called Biscuit World. It was good, had a shaved ham and cheese, but the biscuit was HUGE
One of the most memorable things about the trip was two things really, but very related First my TomTom is set to avoid toll roads and when I was getting the rental car the lady asked me if I wanted the toll thing and I was like No, that’s crazy! Um, I realized that I had made a huge mistake when TomTom had me turn down a single lane road… When it was all done it was about 45 minutes longer than if I would have paid a whopping $4.00 in tolls My friend found this hilarious. The related item was when we were at a location he asked me before we got out of the truck if I had a jacket, um yes yes I do, that is a silly question sir. Turns out it was freezing and I should have put that stinking jacket on silly, but no I walked all the way in and stood there freezing But no real foul because I ended up not actually having my jacket – ha ha ha jokes on you
Another thing worth mentioning is the last nights dinner. Not because it was good food, even though it was very delicious food, it was because of the awesome “show”. It was called Fujiyama and was in Beckley. It was a hibachi restaurant and the person who was doing the cooking was amazing. He kept putting the sauce on the food, sorry, the sexy sauce And he was squirting it in a very suggestive way I wish I would have even thought to take video – PRICELESS!!!!!!
There were so many random times that I just could not stop laughing uncontrollably. It was such a great time. I have thanked my tour guide so many times, but he really did go above and beyond and it was GREAT!!
Today is the last day I am in Merrillville and I am sitting in the hotel waiting on Starbucks to open. I am officially sick, my nose is stuffy and all kinds of snotty – YUCK!!
I have been up for a couple hours now because I am very happy to be going home today. We have the two new puppies that I have not met yet and of course I do miss the little Penny Dog – oh and my human family
I think that in a couple days I will make a special blog to reflect back on this year. I need to figure out how this website is going to be laid out, I am not sure that I have the travel blogs correct just yet. I need to make sure to have them focused on the place I am and not just how I am feeling – that belongs in the normal blogs.
Anyway, Starbucks finally opened so I am going to get this coffee thing going and I will see about posting my 2015 Review on the site
So it has been very windy, rainy and scary in my current location! I am happy to be here though got lots done with the group so far. They did tell me scary stories of where the job actually is, which is Gary, IN. I have been on the road for about 10 days now and am finally sick – not that I am happy to be sick, I just have come to expect it every time I travel on the planes 
I am sitting in the hotel room now helping people in the field and on a conference call. I was happy to not go out into the field today, it is just so different from the other two cut-ins. I will have to be available to help them this afternoon so hopefully it won’t go too late.
I went out last night and grabbed me some Panda Express – because I am a sucker for that place!! This morning was Panera – because I am a sucker for that place!! I really wanted some pancakes, but didn’t feel like going to Cracker Barrel by myself, oh well maybe I can convince someone to go with me at home There is a White Castle here, but I am not sure that I am down for that, might just be too bad.
I think I am going to have a pretty relaxed tomorrow, but it really depends on how much I get done with people today. I am a little bummed that I don’t get to see the city, Chicago that is, but oh well
For the last week I have been in West Virginia for another cut-over and just support / training. It has been a while since I have been to a place and was just overwhelmed with how many sights to see. I can only remember a couple that were even comparable – Chicago, the first time I ever went and Canada, specifically Revelstoke.
I am still processing everything – it really is a beautiful place. I got several good pictures, but I was so focused on absorbing it all that I really didn’t take enough
As usual with my work experiences everyone I met and worked with was great. In m y experience, the railroaders – the ones out there everyday – really look out for visitors. They want to make sure that you see good stuff and are having a good time. So polite, I have said this several times, I really do feel very lucky to have stumbled into this career and being able to experience what I have is a real privilege. I get to associate with very smart, happy, and wonderful folks!!
Well, I am kinda tired so I will edit this later to add the link to pictures.
This week I am in Atlanta, well really just one full day and that was yesterday. I had a training class at the REDI Center with the Construction Foreman for CSX. It went really well and there were about 52 people in the meeting room. Some were managers, but they all had a genuine interest in the new software.
When I got here I had rented a car because it is a little ways from the airport and about 5 miles away from the airport the car died. Transmission issues was on the dashboard. So the good news is that it was a Chrysler 200, which is what kind of car I almost got instead of my Dart! The bad news was that I was sitting on the side of the interstate in Atlanta in a broken down car in the pitch black of 5PM. Luckily my coworker was driving up and had not yet passed me. I only had to wait about an hour and he was there with his wife to save the day!
I knew way more people in this class then I had thought I would which was nice and seeing some of them was very nice. These people who I get to interact with are pretty nice. I am very lucky to not only enjoy what I do, but get to work and interact with great folks.
Well, I am off to the airport now and then Saturday I leave for another adventure – Beckley, West Virginia!
I am trying this from my phone so it may not be great but here goes!
Today is the last day here and we are sitting on the mall right now bathed in sunshine! It is a wonderful day and I wish that the whole trip could have been like this but over all t was retry great anyway.
Today we are going to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving. Gonna see how that money is really made Taking a quick stop at the restrooms in front of the Washington Monument where we just got done taking a bunch of photos in the nice light. Alright – off to see the money!!!
The tour of the Bureau of Printing and Engraving was pretty cool. It was actually short and sweet, but the machines and the process that you could see was interesting. It did have an overwhelming smell of money though and after just a bit of time it was bad. They sold all kinds of stuff there, shredded money and uncut money sheets and stuff, but I just got an magnet.
We just finished up lunch at the USDA. They have a cafeteria that is open to the public that some security guard said was pretty good. It was good, but I am not sure that it is like special food or anything. It was pretty cool that they are huge into recycling and stuff.
Now we are just taking our time headed back to the hotel so that we can catch a bus to the airport and head home. I think 4 days was a bit much, but it was nice that today was by far the best day weather wise that we have had. yesterday would have been good, but Saturday we walked so much that I was just exhausted and I think Paul was a little worn out as well.
I will probably take some time in a couple days to write again about the trip when everything has had a little bit of time to sink in. I will also try to post the pictures while we are in the airport and I am trying to put descriptions on everything so it will be easy to know what it is
Today I am going to try to blog during the day rather then coming back to the hotel and doing it at night. I was going to try to do that yesterday, but the weather just would not allow it. I think that today we are going to focus on museums as we did most of the monuments yesterday. I do want to go to Union Station just to see it today at some point. Anyway, check back if you are watching for updates!!
Well we started off by trying to go to the Bureau of Printing and Engraving but it was closed today so we are going to get there tomorrow. Then we walked over to the National Museum of Natural History and saw several of the exhibits. But then all the exhaustion hit me like a ton of bricks. I just couldn’t do anymore so we headed back to the hotel. Paul and Carlos went to get some food and now we are all just relaxing in the room for a bit. Not sure if we will get back out again today – most stuff closes early today and it is already 14:00. Going to try to see about a night tour, but I am betting those don’t happen on Sunday night.
Luckily we were able to get a tour tonight!! It was really awesome, the only problem was how COLD it was!!!! All of the monuments we went to were really pretty nice lit all up, especially the Lincoln Memorial. We got a lot of good pictures, but I don’t have most of them. The pics with the regular phone wasn’t that great with all the lights, but I will try to post them anyway. We also got to see Union Station as that was where the tour started and then the tour also went in front of the White House and that was good because we didn’t get to walk over there.
Well, it is very late now and we have had a very long day so I am going to finish up some other stuff and rest my tired bones! Won’t post pictures until tomorrow, sorry
Today was another pretty good day trip wise, but still pretty poor weather wise. It was very cold and very windy, but only a slight drizzle as opposed to the rain we saw yesterday.
We started today with some breakfast from Starbucks – well, coffee Then we were on our way to the mall. We got off the train a stop early because there was a delay and that put us out at Federal Triangle. This brought us to the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center which doesn’t sound very great, but Paul has this camera that takes amazing 360 degree pictures!! So it actually make for some great pics. We then crossed the street to Freedom Plaza which is like a map of the city and we took some more pics.
Then we were at the mall and the first thing we saw was the Washington Monument. I am not sure why, but this is my favorite one. There was some sort of special thing going on where it was like they were setting up for a concert or something. But we were still able to have clear shots for pics, even if you couldn’t actually see that far away due to the weather.
We walked towards the WWII Memorial, which was pretty cool. Very big and pretty. We continued down along the Reflecting Pool to the Korean War Veterans Memorial. This one is another of my favorites, it has soldiers walking through the brush like they would have during the war. It also had a very nice wall with images like ghosted into it. Paul got a good panorama of that.
Lincoln Memorial was next. This is pretty amazing, it is so huge. We walked all the way around it and then went inside. Such an amazing scale and looking over the entire mall, it is a great thing. Got some good pictures in there too. After that we walked through the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. This is cool looking and such a nice concept. We didn’t get to see anyone doing like a pencil rub due to the rain, but people were looking for the names of loved ones anyway and that was pretty nice to see.
After that we had to kill some time before we could go up in the Washington Monument so we just walked down the mall. But then we were right back for the ride all the way to the top!! This was very cool. Got pics from up there although you couldn’t really see too well because there was rain on the glass and the visibility was poor.
For lunch we ate at the National Gallery of Art Sculpture Garden Cafe. This was where we had walked through the day before and I got the AMOR and spider pics. The food was nothing spectacular but the seats were a very nice surprise!!! We needed a break because we hadn’t stopped basically all day and it was like 14:00 before we even ate.
Hirshhorn Museum & Sculpture Garden was next. This building is round like a doughnut. So the middle was missing :). I got a pic of a cool sculpture called Subcommittee. I don’t know, I just liked it. Next we were going to go the the Smithsonian Castle, but apparently it is closed for renovations so onwards we went to the National Air and Space Museum. This was pretty cool, lots of planes obviously, but it was the end of the day and they were closing soon and we were all pretty tired. So we left about 5 minutes before they closed and headed back to the hotel.
Well that about sums up the day. Sorry if it was a bit long but that is what this is for after all Hope you enjoyed and go to the picture gallery to see the cool shots!!!