I was elected by my company to represent our product at Hannovermesse in Hannover, Germany. Siemens and other industrial companies participate in fairs like Hannovermesse to promote their products, their services, and their company values to prospective customers. Since I’ve been begging my management for the chance to travel to Germany (a primary reason for me to work at Siemens), they finally heard my calls and sent me on a trip full of hard work and hard play.
Back when we were still assembling the yearly Great Blue Heron flyers by hand, we always threw a yearly party between winter and spring to get together and produce the mailer. Even though we now started outsourcing the mailer, we still get together around the same period for some social time, and what better holiday to do it then St. Patty’s Day?
I got the invite to go hang out with my Blue Heron friends up in Canandaigua, and dropped in on their snowboarding event, the Sean Slayer Showdown. I really never tried a snowboard before, and it gave me some motivation to learn next year, but in the mean time, I shot some footage of the stunts they were doing, and was blown away by their dexterity and skill:
A common occurrence around my house that happens when Nathan visits; I sit on the back-porch with him while he puffs on a cigarette. Usually, being very knowledgeable about insect species, he picks off a few from the porch lights, tells us a few things about the creature, and lets it go back in to the wild. But tonight, he found something fairly unique.
Every year for The Great Blue Heron Music Festival, Nathan and I attempt to make some sort of serious art installation. Last year, we made an animatronic flying bird that turned out to be very challenging due to its mechanical complexity, so for the 2012 Festival, we decided to attempt something a little more… static.
I have been doing the small, local festival circuit for a few years, and have been really anxious to try to one of the larger domestic festivals. Bonnaroo seemed to fit well; I had a few friends interested in going, and the festival also boasted a killer line-up this year. My friends Maranie, Kristen, and Evan signed up for a little RV excursion, and we crammed in to the little camper for five days away from home.
Finally, after a cold and reclusive winter, May Day at the Great Blue Heron Music Festival arrived with perfect weather and lots of work to do.
Arriving Saturday night, Nathan and I drove through sunset that eventually dissolved in to an excellent view of the May supermoon that lit up the entire Heron property all night. We spent most of Saturday with our friends bringing each other up to speed on our lives at home and making plans for traditionally busy May Day Sunday morning.
I had the distinct pleasure in participating the wedding proposal from my dear friend Adam to his lovely soon-to-be bride, Krista. Adam had been mentioning a musical wedding proposal for months, but the idea came to fruition rapidly over the last two weeks.
It’s hard to believe that no matter how much I like to travel, and even though it is only 6 hours away, I’ve never been to NYC in my life. So, to get away for a weekend, I bought a $45 dollar Megabus ticket and a hotel room in Manhattan and skipped Pittsburgh for a weekend.
You wouldn’t believe how fast two 60-pound pooches can destroy a room. Our living room had always been a bit dated (wallpaper is just disgusting…. really), so combined with the collective dirt, dander, and fur that our old carpet was subjected to, my mom decided that it was time to drop a little cash and renovate our living room.
