Ghost outlet

Around 5pm I found myself pretty lonely in the office. In the US people come in very early (compared to Europe) and therefore leave between 4-5pm. I grabbed my full size rental (I was nicely upgraded as I arrived so late last night… I have nothing against being upgraded but this Chevrolet Impala is too big for only me and 1 suitcase) and drove to the Cincinnati premium Outlet, key shopping destination for any foreigner in town.


I found a ghost outlet. Apparently a cold Monday evening is not the preferred moment for shopping and many shops where empty. The busiest, Gap, had maybe 10 customers... on the one hand it’s really nice to shop without people around, without rush, without queue; on the other hand it gave me a weird feeling of abandoned or dying place. So many people working there for 1-2 customers, how can this work? I guess week-ends are making up for ghost Mondays.

Xander's baptism

This morning Nadia and I quickly got dressed and joined Laura at her place to prepare the buffet for the lunch after the baptism. The buffet was a mix of home prepared food and ordered food. For example the beef roast was cooked here but the vegetables were ordered. A typical way of preparing a buffet, I was told. Truth be told he did make a difference to have half of the food already to re-heat vs. cooking everything but deeply inside, I know I would have cooked it all :)
At 1pm we arrived at the church and joined the other 9 families whose babies were getting baptized. As usual in the US, everything is big. Why baptize only 1 baby when you can baptize 10?

The ceremony was simple. The priest was a bit odd, searching pages and his lines (like it was his first time). Xander didn't cry when put into the water (unlike others making the family very proud). Later he was dressed in Mike's grand-father's baptism dress... a legacy.

After the ceremony, we took pictures, a bit like for a wedding except this time it was the baby with everybody.

Once back home, we heated the food and enjoyed the buffet all the way to the carrot cake.

I'm really happy I got to be there and share that important moment in Laura's life.

 

PS: I'm not very satisfied with my pictures. I guess by spending quite some time with an expert I get to start to see things I would have ignored in the past. I actually got frustrated because the light of my flash was not good making big shadows or not allowing to focus on everything I needed, especially a moving baby. I'm now seriously considering buying a external flash.

I love shopping in the US

After completing the list of errands needed for the baptism tomorrow, we found ourselves with a couple of hours before dinner. Naturally we hit the mall. Laura is my shopping buddy and we never miss an opportunity to shop.
My key objective this time is to get new pants. With my now successful diet, all my tailor made ones from China are too big and I find myself with empty hangers.

First stop was Banana Republic where we were nicely given a 30% off coupon. They give it to anyone entering the shop. Nice isn't it. Of course I made the best out of it once I had found THE pants perfectly fitting me.
Nadia needed a coat so we went to Macy's. She didn't find one but I did. A nice purple coat, 70%, perfectly fitting me despite it comes from the Petite collection. I struggle to buy pants long enough but apparently my upper body can fit in a Petite model... weird.
When I was paying, the cashier asked me whether I had my 15% off coupon. Quid? no of course. Never mind she pulled one from below the counter. Thus on top of the 70% off, I got another 15%. Combined with the exchange rate (20-25% off), this coat is becoming very cheap. Would have been even cheaper if I had taken the Macy's card, entitled me to an extra 15% off.
No wonder I love shopping in the US. That's the only place where I can buy good quality clothes for at least 2600% off :)

It's almost like going home

I arrived last night in Detroit. I'm spending the week-end with my friend Laura and her family. Sunday there is the baptism of Xander, her 3-month old baby. As there are many relatives coming over I'm staying with her parents. Her sister flew over from Saint-Louis. And last night over dinner it was like the old days. I've spend several summers with them when I was a teenager (not to say young :) ) and they've always welcomed me as if I was family. We had too much food, chatting, catching up on everybody's life, debating the news, the weather, whatever topic we can think of.
Now that I am with all of them again I realize how much I miss seeing them. Enough talking, let me enjoy every minute with them!

Copy & Paste

Note for the future: put someone really competent (not claiming) to brief the person designing the auction website for your event. Otherwise you will end up having to ask 8 people to spend 2-3 hours each doing some stupid copy and paste... Hard to believe but given how the system was built, we either copy and paste or redesign from scratch and we don't have time anymore :(
Highly frustrating. Good that I have a long flight ahead of me to copy, paste, copy, paste, copy, paste, copy, paste, copy, paste, copy, paste, copy, paste, copy, paste, etc.

30 days to go

Only 30 days to go before the employee event Aurelie and I  (together with another 10 people) are organizing will take place.
Despite we started earlier than last year the preparation, 1 month before the event we still have a lot if things to do. It seems no matter how early you start, there are always last minute things or changes.
This year we're organizing an auction of Talents for charity. 150 talents haven been offered by our colleagues. Cooking, sport, well-being, photo, music, you name it. The list is long and diverse. It's actually amazing the hidden talents from the people working around you.

Impressive German organization

I'm in Frankfurt for a research. First time I'm doing such research in Germany and I am impressed by the level of organization of the agency.
We arrived to find the room ready, with all the documents printed in advance, with the wifi code available, headsets are working perfectly.
There were food (fruits, biscuits and sandwiches) and drinks and even gummy bears!
Groups started sharply on time.
For the first time I'm in an agency where everything is under control. No chaos nor mess, but organization and order.
Impressive.

Too early

Waking up at 4:45am to catch a 7am flight on a Monday is definitely too early.
It's going to be a long day.

Not Fair

I'm in Madrid, first time ever and... it's raining.
I had bought a small travel guide about the city planning to explore a bit the city early in the morning, before work starts. Unfortunately it's raining heavily making walking an unpleasant exercise.
You could argue that given I'm spending the whole day in meeting room it does not matter the weather outside, but it does.
I came to Spain hoping for sun and ironically it's raining in Madrid while it's sunny in Belgium. Really not fair.

This said, what I have seen of Madrid was really nice and clearly calls for a city trip, which I will plan over a  week-end in the spring or summer...

Valentine's day surprise

I knew something was cooking as Wolfram asked me to stay in the bedroom while he was hiding something in the guest room. I chose not to open the locked guest room with the other keys in the house to preserve the surprise.
And surprised I was.
This morning, I found behind the door a huge balloon that.... sings when you press it! "How sweet it is to be loved by you"
What I had not anticipated was the 2nd surprise, waiting on my desk.

In a nutshell, all the women in my department were jealous and saying how lucky I was to have such a boyfriend.
The men however didn't like this idea much as "it sets high expectation with women".
I really don't see where the problem is.

Finally

After a month of almost daily calls to my insurance company since the expert's verdict, I received a letter this week and the money on my account this week-end.
6761.50 euros, that's what my car was worth based on the expert minus the franchise I had to pay.
File is closed.

Afternoon nap

It's so nice to spend the afternoon napping with your brother/sister :)

My mother was right

When my mother was over for New Year's Eve she did some of her magic on our orchid (the one Alex and Silke got us, that by some miracle was still alive but just leaves) and instructed not to move the plant from one specific spot. It will bloom, she said.
Skeptical, I kept the orchid where indicated, watering every now and then. And guess what?
My mother was right!

It looks like we will get flowers soon.

Nice letter

These days all the letters I receive are bills. With emails people rarely send mail, i.e. write a letter or a card and send it across. So when I found an envelop from the US tonight, I knew it was special. And indeed, it was the card announcing Laura's baby!
I knew already as she shared the news via email, but it's always nice to get the announcement.

What's even better, is that thanks to a timely business trip I will be there for his baptism. All of a sudden a trip to Cincinnati is much more appealing when I get to visit my friend and her family on the way to and from there.

Metro - Boulot - Dodo*

* Subway - Work - Sleep
Except for the fact that I'm taking a car to go to work and not the subway, my life this past 2 weeks has been pretty focused on work. Lot's of work ahead in the coming months, lot's of travel :) as well but at the same time, it's a new category for me and I have to learn a lot.
This translates into long hours and being exhausted at the end of the day, thus not doing much outside of work, thus limited activity on the blog.
Hopefully as I get back on the road and find my marks in my new role, I will have soon interesting things to write about on my blog.

27min

27min. That's how long it took me to bike from work to home this morning.
My bike has been sitting on the parking lot at work for quite some time now. Every now and then I would talk about bringing it back home... but it never happened.
Until today.
I don't know if it's the fact that I don't have a car anymore and want to have one extra way of transportation at home. Or maybe it's because of the campaign at work around biking to work.
Whatever the reason, this morning, I drove to work with Wolfram. We ensured there was enough air in the tires of my now rusted bike (yeah, yeah, made in China is not built to resist Belgium weather) and I left.
Biking turned out pretty easy. There is a biking track most of the 8.3km so I can bike safely.
It was tough when going up hill, especially with frontal wind, given my bike doesn't have gears. My bike is pink, with a basket at the front and a lovely bell... but no gear. Clearly it's not meant for heavy biking but it fulfills pretty well its role.
27min after I left work I arrived home. My bike is now sitting proudly in the garage, right in the middle of our parking spot.
I'm not sure I would consider biking to work on a regular basis but every now and then it could be nice. Still, I need to shower once I arrive and on top of carrying the computer bag I need an extra bag with clothes etc. With 10-15kg extra load on the bike, not sure it will be so easy.