Today was the annual EMC tailgate and customer appreciation event, and honestly, I wasn’t very impressed this year. There were a lot of changes this year, some from EMC and their sponsor partners and some from the general atmosphere. You can tell this year that they didn’t go as “all out” as they have in past years. For starters they didn’t hand out as many tickets to the game, in fact this is the first year that I didn’t have tickets. That’s not a big deal though as I am not a super fan or anything. Besides they have TV’s there with good sound so we can watch the game too. Well, at least that is half right. They had the TV but no one bothered to bring the sound cables to connect them into the speakers, so we had no commentary. Also, the food this year wasn’t up to par and the caterers were downright rude, and they seemed to be understaffed. So it took forever to get anything to eat, at least the drinks were flowing good though! In addition my old co-workers, Chuck and Dan, whom I was really looking forward to seeing, didn’t show up because they didn’t get tickets this year either, and that is the main reason they go. While it was still a decent time, it just didn’t live up to what I have come to expect from an EMC event, in fact, Melissa and I left right after half-time. Hopefully next year will be back up to standard….
Category Archives: Melissa
Company Picnic
Today was the first company (Secure-24) picnic I have gone to that I was also able to bring the family too. This was a nice change for me, at my old job (Truven Health / Thomson Reuters) the company picnic was always held during the week and during normal business hours, which meant you could only go if you could get out of the office without impacting work and that it was employees only. This was a nice change indeed! Melissa and Kylie were both able to attend and there were lots of things going on. In addition to all the normal picnic foods and drinks being supplied the company also bought out an entire ice cream truck. So we were able to walk up and order anything we wanted that they had, and it stayed there all day until they were out of everything. So they literally bought out the entire truck! The kids all seemed to love this. I think Kylie most enjoyed the bouncy house, as she stayed in there pretty much all day. A number of the management team took turns in a dunk tank and certain people had a very long line trying to dunk them! We stayed for quite a few hours and had a really good time hanging out with my co-workers and friends. So far working for Secure-24 has a lot of benefits and a really great culture and even after 10 months I am still really happy I decided to accept a position here.
Company Tiger’s Game
Tonight Melissa and I took advantage of one the perks my company extends to the employees and enjoyed complimentary tickets to the Tiger’s game. This was a special night as it was also Melissa’s first major league baseball game, not that I have been to so many more, as this was only my second or third. We rode down with Nicole and Alex and met up with Brian and Aimee, and prior to the game the company opened a tab at the Dirty Trick for some pre-game libations. Even though the Tiger’s lost it was still a very fun night with some pretty awesome people! Hopefully we can have the opportunity to do something like this again in the future.
Monster’s University
Kylie, Melissa and I went and saw Monster’s University today. It was pretty good, but I think I liked the first one better. Kylie got a kick out of the props around the movie theater that she could take a picture with though.
Father’s Day Slumber Party
Happy Father’s Day! Today we spent the day at Chris and Tracey’s new house for a nice little cook out. The new house has a lot of shade in the backyard which really helped to cut down on the heat and made being outside really enjoyable. The kids all had a blast running around and playing together. Unfortunately Kylie doesn’t get to hang out with her cousins as much as we would like to, but that makes days like today really special. Watching the kids all playing together and having such a good time is always great. After the day was done Kylie got to stay and have a slumber party with her cousins, she had been looking forward to this for a while and was so excited that she didn’t even remember saying goodbye to Melissa and I when we left. She called me from Aunt Tracey’s phone a while later to say that she didn’t remember me telling her we were leaving. I found this kind of funny in a way. She was so excited and so wrapped up in wanting to play with her cousins that she didn’t even remember giving Melissa and I a hug and a kiss and telling her all the usual “be good” and “listen to your Aunt and Uncle” before we left. It wasn’t until after she had a shower and they were calming down and relaxing, trying to prepare for bed, that she “realized” that we were gone. Needless to say, she had a great time and no issues being away from home. She is already looking forward to the next time she has this opportunity.
The Rest of Our Trip
The rest of our time in Chicago seemed to fly by pretty quickly. Maybe it was due to the excitement and happiness of getting engaged, or perhaps it was because we were busy the entire time exploring the sites in a city we love being in. I don’t know the cause for certain, but I do know that the time, though fast, was much appreciated. Here’s a recap of our daily adventures…
On Friday (05/10/13) we woke up and decided to go to Adler Planetarium. While there we took in a couple of shows and walked around to check out the place. It was all very interesting and we had a good time. This was the first time in my adult life (I had gone once on a field trip as a child to one) that I had visited a planetarium, and considering how much I enjoy astronomy I found it all to be very fascinating. Once we finished up there we decided to walk back to the hotel and stop by a few other places we were interested in seeing along the way. This included walking back past the Field Museum and noticing some things on the grounds that we hadn’t seen last time; like this replica Olmec Head from San Lorenzo. We then made our way over to Grant Park to see the beautiful Buckingham Fountain From there we meandered over to Millennium Park to see the famous Cloud Gate sculpture (also known as “The Bean”) which was extremely interesting. Melissa got a kick out of the Crown Fountain as well, particularly when it looked like the people on the wall were spitting out water. In general there is a lot of art and culture in and around The Loop area. We eventually made it back to the hotel to drop off everything we had collected. After a brief rest we headed off to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner followed by a failed attempt to see the John Hancock Observatory at night due to the thick fog covering the city. This was our busiest day of the trip and we walked well over 8 miles in our adventuring. Needless to say we passed out when we finally called it a day. All the pictures we took from Friday can be viewed here in the gallery.
Saturday (05/11/13) was the day we decided to spend at the Museum of Science and Industry as there were two exhibits that we were really interested in seeing. The first exhibit, and the one Melissa was most interested in, was called Animals Inside Out and it is an anatomical exhibit of animals without their skin. Through a process known as Plastination, invented by Dr. Gunther von Hagens, the internal structures of a specimen are preserved in remarkable detail. We were able to view, among other things, a bull, a giraffe, and a camel from a very unique perspective! The second exhibit we were very interested to see was the U-505 Submarine, which is the only German submarine in the United States and was captured during World War II. Not only were there plenty of displays around the submarine providing information on things like the torpedos and different periscopes, but we also got to take a tour inside of it! The space was super cramped with our small tour group and I can’t imagine how it would have been with the even larger crew that was used to man its operations. If you’re in Chicago and have the chance I would highly recommend going to see this exhibit, as it is on permanent display, in fact I wouldn’t mind going to see this again myself! Once we finished up at the museum we took a cab back to the hotel as it was much too far to walk back from, and after dropping off our souvenirs it was right back out to adventuring. Seeing as the weather was nice and the skies were clear we made off for the John Hancock Observatory, located high atop the John Hancock Center. The view of the city from up here was simply amazing, and we would both like to come back here on a clear night to see the city all lit up! All the pictures we took from Saturday can be viewed here in the gallery.
Sadly our trip had to come to an end today. So we packed up and left the city we love and headed home. Along the way we stopped off to call Kylie and my Mom to let them know that we got engaged as we wanted them to hear it directly from us before finding it out via Facebook or someone else. Additionally we wished my Mom a very happy Mother’s day, and then headed off to Melissa’s parent’s house for Mother’s Day and to finally share our good news. Melissa was practically bursting to tell them as I had not let her call or tell anyone over the weekend because I wanted us to enjoy our time together. She actually waited for a few minutes to see if anyone noticed the ring, and once we told her Mom the screams of enjoyment were deafening. It was a very nice ending to our trip, but I must admit it is very nice to be home now and I am very much looking forward to our own bed.
We’re Engaged!
That’s right, after all these years I finally asked Melissa if she would marry me, and she said yes! Needless to say she was very surprised. Here’s what happened… We drove out to Chicago today to spend the weekend out here to celebrate Melissa’s birthday. When we got to Chicago we were actually to early to check into our hotel, so we decided to go to Navy Pier first. Navy Pier is the one place in Chicago that we always visit when we come to the city, and was the place that, unbeknownst to Melissa, I planned on proposing to her at. Thankfully she choose to go there and not someplace else first when I ask her where she wanted to go to pass the time until we can check in to our room. So we go to Navy Pier and begin to gradually walk around like we normally do, slowly making our way down the pier towards Lake Michigan. The entire time I am trying not to rush her down to the end of the pier so it doesn’t seem odd.
Additionally the sky was slowly turning grey and the clouds were rolling in, clearly indicating that it is planning on raining. Thankfully that eventually came up, and knowing how much we both like looking out over the lake I was able to nonchalantly suggest that, perhaps, we ought to head down to the tip of the pier before that rain came. She thought that was a good idea seeing as we could roam the inside of the pier any time. So we get down to the end of the pier and we are looking out over the lake, her back against my chest as she’s leaning back with my arms around her. Then she gave me the perfect lead into the proposal; she said “I love you.” Why is that the perfect lead in? Because her and I have this little banter sometimes where one of us says “I love you” and the other asks how much, but this time it went a little different… When she said she loved me, I asked her how much, and she responded with the usual “all my heart.” However, this time, I did not respond with the usual “me too,” instead I said “Prove it.” This took her off guard and she said “What?” with a slight giggle. So I again said, with all seriousness “Prove it” but this time as I said it I lightly pushed her forward and away from me by her hips. As she began to turn around she started to say something that sounded like “What?!” with an annoyed tone but then she saw me down on one knee with a ring out. As her hand went to her mouth I said “Prove it, spend the rest of your life with me. Will you marry me?” She had a few tears in her eyes and she said nodded and eventually got the word “Yes” out, allowed me to slide the ring on her finger and then stand up and embrace her. The picture to the left was taken moments after she said yes and this is the first picture of my beautiful fiance! Shortly after this picture, the rain we mentioned earlier began to fall in fat heavy drops by the bucketful, chasing us indoors. So far the only people we have told that we are engaged is the hotel staff, who very thoughtfully sent us complimentary room service with champagne and chocolate covered strawberries. We will tell the family on Sunday, but for now, this is our time…
Here are a few more photos of shortly after the big moment:
Happy Birthday Melissa
Happy Birthday Melissa!
Today we decided to go to Chicago in May to officially celebrate. So today we had an exciting time doing laundry! Afterwards we went to Olive Garden for dinner because it is her favorite and then came home to relax. We are already planning the things we want to do while we are in Chicago; as usual the top of the list is Navy Pier. Beyond that we are planning on museums, the Cloud Gate and walking Michigan Ave. I am sure it is going to be an excellent trip.
It’s a Cajun Thing
Today Melissa and I went out to my manager’s (Keith Bankston) house for a traditional Cajun Party. Keith is from Louisiana and had something like 60 pounds of fresh crayfish flown up so he could throw a spicy crayfish boil for his team from work. 
Additionally he somehow managed to get a couple of our vendors to sponsor part of the cost! So in addition to the crayfish we had some really good traditional jambalaya, corn-on-the-cob (which was also spicy because it was made in the crayfish water), some potatoes, charred alligator (which was also flown up) and of course many libations. It was our first time having crayfish, and while they were way too spicy for Melissa, I thought they were excellent. They were extremely spicy though, and unfortunately I made the mistake of inhaling some of that spicy, pro tip – don’t do that. It was a really good time, with good food and good people. Hopefully we will do this again in the future, and I learned the correct way to suck the heads out of a crayfish, which, FYI, are extremely spicy.
Trip to Lansing-ish
Today we went to Melissa’s twin nieces Jorga & Riley’s 3rd birthday party, and as an added bonus Kylie came with us. This is the first time Kylie has ever chosen to go to one of Melissa’s family events. Normally when we ask her if she wants to go she says no, so I normally stay home with her and do something else while Melissa goes. I am really happy that Kylie finally decided to come, because she had a really good time running around with the girls and playing with everyone. Hopefully over the summer she will be willing to go out there again.