April: Wolverhampton, UK
10. I LOVE the UK!
9. Soccer, er. football, is the WAY of life, ESPECIALLY in Wolverhampton (go Wolves! and I watched Manchester United win! Hurrah!)
8. Pub food (at "The Spread Eagle", really, that was the name) is the best
7. They have no idea what a coke with grenadine means ("what's grenadine?")
6. Everyone says, "At the present" when they are working on something...(ex. "When is the machine coming?" "they are working on it at the present.")
5. Thai Chili flavored crisps (potato chips) are the BEST!
4. The Chinese food place played 50s and 60s music; the Italian place played 80s elevator music
3. Shopping by myself in Wolverhampton was really nice
2. The other employees at Goodrich Actuation Systems UK were AWESOME! (one even bought me some biscuits (cookies) because he heard I loved them)
1. "Stay LEFT of the blue arrow when driving!!!!"
May: San Marcos, Texas
10. There is a HUGE outlet mall in San Marcos and my big accomplishment was that I didn't buy anything!
9. I'd tell you what I worked on while at the San Marcos facility but then I'd have to kill you :)
8. "What kind of devil bird chirps at night?!"(Kit "Failure to Launch") Mocking Birds and Black Birds are REALLY loud!!!
7. I got lost EVERY night...all those "outer highways" can get really confusing
6. "the Oasis" is a really incredible restaurant on Travis Lake...food, eh, atmosphere, AMAZING
5. It was SUPER hot in MAY....I know because I was sawing metal outside for half an hour...the power saw was broken.
4. I LOVE the Texas accent, "Used to could...", "You was yella" etc.
3. Texas Pride is alive and well
2. Austin IS weird, "Keep Austin Weird" - the lizard man in the airport PROVED it
1. Seeing old friends makes every trip WORTH IT! (thanks Kevin, Sarah, and Percy!!! and welcome new friends Joe, Tim, Brigid, Carrie, and Melanie)
May: Riverside...again
10. There's a WHOLE lot more to do in Riverside than Alex and I originally thought! This time I went to the Sanrio (Hello Kitty) store for over an hour. (instead of Toys-R-Us)
9. I love being so close to family. I can meet up for a movie, drive home for dinner...etc.
8. Meeting up with friends from the other plants is a blast!
7. The second week of Lean Training was an interesting exercise, our team rocked!
6. "Juan, the Male Room is different from the Mail Room...", sometimes when you've been working on a process flow ALL week, people tend to read fast.
5. I had Japanese, Spanish, Chinese, Greek, Irish, and American food all in Riverside
4. "Let me introduce the team,....oh and here is Michelle....everyone knows Michelle..." (Thanks Juan)
3. Bomb scares are anonymous, "Of course the bomb scare would be anonymous, it's not like someone is going to call in and say, 'hi my name is george, I'm calling in a bomb threat.'" We were evacuated for about an hour.
2. I love going to these training things, I get to meet people from all over Goodrich and the best part is I get to see them all again!
1. There's nothing better than being able to go home for a holiday (Mother's Day)
June: Cleveland, Ohio
10. It's REALLY green! and there aren't any fences
9. The Winking Lizard is an awesome wings place: Magma is intense. Lizard Lips are really good too
8. Bang Bang Shrimp was totally worth it
7. There really is a "wrong side of the tracks": we literally crossed over the train tracks and the homes DRASTICALLY changed
6. The architecture is really unique, in some parts it's like Boston (bricks and mortar) and others like a brand new city of Iron (Rock Hall of Fame)
5. Canadians are still funny
4. Surfer's drivers licenses get great reactions from people (Zack's: "I don't know what you was doin' but I definitely want to be a parta dat", "there's my wild man", "I didn't think it was you man", "WHOA"
3. Getting nicknames: "Snappy from ASG News"
2. History lessons at the steak house are better than paid tours of the city (House of GYNORMOUS steaks...seriously bigger than my head)
1. "There are surfers in Ohio too?!" We literally saw a guy with a surf board strapped to the top of his car, it was upside down, but hey, it was a surf board in OHIO! :)
