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Saturday, June 30, 2012
Update from Austria
Getting to an update here in Austria really quickly now before we leave for France tomorrow. My flights to Austria and my connection in Germany went fine. Arrived with my luggage and all. So no complaints there. :)
Yesterday I arrived in Vienna around 2pm. Drove out to the house in the countryside, had some food and then went swimming in the pool. Today I had an appointment at the hairdresser and then we went for lunch afterwards and more swimming in the pool later in the afternoon/evening.
All ready and packed to go to France tomorrow I think. Tomorrow we are driving to a town near Geneva, Switzerland, staying there overnight and then on to France the next day. Spending a week in France and then we will be back in Austria on Sunday next week.
Next week I have plans to meet up with some friends plus we of course have the funeral to go to as well. Keeping busy as always. Luckily everything is mostly happy but not everthing can be happy of course, such is life.
Will try to update from France. Will depend on the availability of wi-fi at the places we are staying. We will see.
Mail Update: Received letters/still owe a response to: Jessica/DE and Nina/WA.
Posted by Hanna at 03:48 PM in Austria , Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Tuesday, June 26, 2012
All packed and ready to go
Ok so seems like I am packed and ready to go for the most part. I decided to pack today even though I don't leave until Thursday. I am figuring that way I can relax tomorrow night and have a nice dinner with Mike without having to stress about packing. I am all set now, just need to pack a few last minute things tomorrow. As always I have the feeling that I am forgetting something but let's hope I figure out what it is before I actually have to leave.
I am looking forward to my trip to Austria even though there have been some recent developments as of late (my great aunt passed away very unexpectedly yesterday) that make me sad. But in a way it's good I'll be there for the funeral service and be able to spend time with my great uncle and family since I probably wouldn't have been able to go otherwise. Looking forward to going even if it isn't all happy. That's the way life goes sometimes unfortunately. The other day before all this happened I was thinking about going to their house while visiting Austria and was remembering last year's visit where we had a really nice time, having coffee and cookies and catching up. They have always been more like another set of grandparents to me, spending lots of time while growing up. It's weird how things can change in an instant. But again it's just the way things go I suppose. Trying to keep a positive outlook on things.
Work has been really crazy these past few days and I am sure it will be nuts until the moment I leave. It will be nice to be away from work for 2 weeks, can't deny that.
Mail Update: Received letters/still owe a response to: Jessica/DE and Nina/WA.
Posted by Hanna at 10:08 PM in Austria , Travel | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Busy Week
What an annoying Saturday so far. We have had a crazy heatwave this week (100F=38C with humidity) and last night it finally broke with thunderstorms all around the area. A bunch of thunderstorms rolled through the area and I am guessing it knocked out the internet connection in one of our offices. We use that internet connection for the handheld computers so they can download the correct data for the deliveries. And we can also use it to remotely print paper tickets if there is a problem with the handhelds. Well since the internet connection was down none of the handhelds downloaded any info for the routes for today. So Mike went into the office here in Danbury at 4am, we printed the tickets there and then Mike had to fax everything to the other office. It's about a 45 min-1 hr drive each way so Mike didn't want to drive there unless he really had to. But faxing over a 100 pages took an hour and a half probably too. So Mike ended up staying at work since it took him till almost 6am to get everything faxed. I didn't really get back to sleep either, just drifted in and out for a bit before getting up and going to work around 7.30.
I am really hoping the rest of the weekend goes better. :) It's been a busy week, working on all the route changes for the summer with the schools ending/summer camps starting up plus the upcoming 4th of July holiday. This time of year is always kind of nuts at work.
Had fun at the Fiona Apple concert in Ithaca on Tuesday though. The theater where she played didn't have A/C or at least it wasn't working so it was super hot but still worth it. A great show. Coming back to work on Wednesday mid-day wasn't any fun but what can you do?
Less than a week till my Europe trip now. Leaving on Thursday next week (28th). Still have a lot to get done before then. Some personal errands (also need to remember to get my I-Pod updated) plus lots of work stuff. By the time I get on that plane I'll be more than ready to go. :)
Mail Update: Letters went out on Thursday to: Charles/TN and Carmen/Malta. Received letters/still owe a response to: Jessica/DE and Nina/WA.
Posted by Hanna at 01:54 PM in Travel, Work Stories | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sunday, June 17, 2012
Relaxed Weekend - Upcoming Fiona Apple next week
What a horrible week at work. I am really glad we had both Saturday and Sunday off to make up for it a little bit. On Tuesday one of our main servers at work died so Mike has been busy trying to restore everything back to normal. All of our data is safe (we have back-ups) but the server also had one of our main programs we use for our invoices and reports on it which meant having to figure out how to re-install that on a different server, get an updated version of it, so on and so forth. I won't pretend I fully understand what Mike's been dealing with. I just know it's been a mess.
On top of that it's always busy in my department around this time of year, schools ending, summer camps starting up. Plus the 4th of July holiday just around the corner. So there is lots and lots to do. I need to figure out the delivery schedule for the holiday by the end of next week so we can inform all of our customers in time.
By the time I get on that plane to go to Austria (June 28) I'll be more than ready to go. I am very sure of that. Definitely looking forward to my time in Austria and France. But there is still sooo much to do before then.
Next week on Tuesday we are off to Ithaca, NY for the day (about a 4 hr drive) Seeing Fiona Apple there. It's the first concert of her tour. We will stay overnight and then head to work Wednesday morning and be at work by Wednesday midday. Looking forward to a day away. Mike is also seeing Fiona Apple the day after I leave for Austria, June 29. She is actually playing in Danbury so Mike and our friend Tim are going to that show too.
Mail Update: Received a letter/still owe a response to: Charles/TN and Carmen/Malta.
Posted by Hanna at 02:40 PM in Austria , Travel, Work Stories | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Harvey - New York Weekend
Can't believe it's already late Sunday afternoon again. Where did this weekend go? Can't complain though. We had a really great weekend. Were off both Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday we slept in and then took the train into New York in the early afternoon. Walked up from Grand Central and hung out at McGees pub for a while having some appetizers and drinks. McGees is apparently the pub where the creators of the show "How I Met Your Mother" used to hang out when thinking up the idea for the show so the pub McClaren's in the show is based on McGees. Had fun hanging out there. You can see the "How I Met Your Mother" inspired drink menu here if you want. :)
When we were done here we walked over to the Studio 54 theater to watch "Harvey". What a great play. Jim Parsons did an amazing job. It was great to see him live. He honestly was perfect for the role. Everyone else did a great job too and it was a really good performance.
After the show we walked back through Times Square to our favorite Italian restaurant in the theater district Osteria Al Doge. Had my favorite lasagna and Mike his ravioli in butter sage sauce. Nice ending to a great day. Caught the train back home after that and were home around 2am.
Today we slept in and had a relaxing day at home. Went grocery shopping and I did a few things in the yard but that's about it. Later I am going to make quesadillas (with kalamata olives and jalapenos) while we watch some shows.
Mail Update: Received a letter/still owe a response to: Carmen/Malta.
Posted by Hanna at 04:16 PM in Food and Drink, Performances | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Monday, June 04, 2012
Weekly Update
Finally getting to my weekly update for last week. Meant to do it over the weekend but somehow that didn't happen. Was off on Wednesday last week which was nice. Mostly a very relaxing laid-back kind of day. Worked in the yard for a bit and then spent the rest of the day watching movies (Jumanjii + No Strings Attached) and writing letters.
Saturday I had to work but luckily it was a pretty quiet day all in all. Sunday we had off and decided to drive to Fairfield to go to a neat burger place called Flipside. We had a $20 Groupon for it (I actually got that for free a while ago as a special sign-up bonus) so we basically got $20 off which was nice. Had a delicious spicy burger with jalapenos, pepperjack cheese and chipotle mayo. Very messy but good. Also had a nice strawberry mimosa (champagne & strawberry puree). Later in the evening we watched the MTV Movie Awards hosted by Russell Brand which was pretty amusing.
Today is Monday and another week. Pretty busy Monday. We will see what the rest of the week brings. Tomorrow I have another dentist appointment for some fillings. And in more fun news on Saturday we have tickets for a Broadway play ("Harvey" starring Jim Parsons) Looking forward to that.
Mail Update: Sent letters on Thursday to: Celia/MA and Lotte/Denmark. Letter also went out to Charles/TN before that. Received a letter/still owe a response to: Carmen/Malta.
Posted by Hanna at 03:12 PM in Food and Drink, Performances | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack