On the Mic with Mike

God works in mysterious ways… 

Little Miss Lindsay has been home since Tuesday morning this week with a little cold. It was the first time we had to go get her from the day-care because she was sick. I have to admit, that I got a little rattled at first when they called and said she had a temp of 102.2. So, I took her to the Med Express and spent the rest of the day at home with her. She was clearly not herself. In most cases, this would have been the ideal scenario, because Grandma Jan and Papa Bob typically baby-sit on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Luck would have it that Grandma had jury duty this week and Papa was out of town. In the end it worked out pretty nice, as I ended up being able to spend the afternoon with her today as well. She was feeling much better today, so we decided to visit Grandpa at the John Deere dealer. I just couldn't resist tossing on her Cabela's hat. It says "I Hunt For Hugs" on it and matched her onesie perfectly. Yep......she was definitely Daddy's little girl today. When we got to the store, Grandpa was waiting on a customer, so I sat Lindsay up on the counter to wait. After a few minutes, the farmer looked over at Lindsay and said "Hi there. You sure are a little cutie." Leave it to my little critter to smile back and then let out a nice big belch. Talk about a proud Dad. =) Later I tried to explain to her that just because she was wearing camo, didn't mean that she shouldn't have manners. All-in-all, it was wonderful to spend my afternoon with Lindsay. Days like these are just priceless!

As of yesterday morning our Yarmouth facility is now live. Since Friday morning we have logged over 60 hours of work, compared with less than 18 hours of sleep. It was great to see yesterday that all of our hard work paid off with a smooth transition to the new facility. Other than a few normal move-related issues, the go-live was a success, especially when we look back at how many things could have easily gone wrong. Being able to look back on a relative success like this makes all of the hard work worth while. Now......back home to my loving family!

First I must apologize for not posting very often. Things have been pretty hectic this past month, especially with work. However, for the most part the end is now in sight. As I sit here enjoying a nice waffle at the hotel (which are great, by the way), I realize that all the hard work by or team will finally be put to the test this weekend. This evening we will begin the physical relocation of the equipment, with the go-live taking place Monday morning. Things have gone pretty well thus far and hopefully that will carry through to Monday. In any case, I hope to at least be able to enjoy some more great seafood while I'm here.

I miss you Jill and Lindsay!

This week I am out in Freeport, Maine at our new facility. Things went better than expected yesterday and despite our 1:30 arrival at the office, we still managed to squeeze in a solid day's work. We even managed to get pictures of my coworker, Adam mopping the closet floor, and let me tell you, his skillset doesn't end at network infrastructure. That was one clean floor!

After work, we went out to eat at The Muddy Rudder, a local seafood restaurant. I had a delicious sampler that consisted of breaded/broiled haddock, shrimp, scallops, and lobster drizzled with butter and white wine. It was a true testament to the freshness and quality of seafood in Maine. After dinner we hopped over to Gritty McDuff's, which is the local brew-pub. They have a great stout! All I have to say is that Maine is a Beautiful state. It reminds me a lot of our very own Upper Peninsula.

As always, it's nice to travel but I miss my girls back home. At least I was able to see them on the webcam this morning. Time to see what's in store for day 2...

So.....here it goes. I'm finally posting my first Feisty Friday rant. For a background on Feisty Friday, check out this post.

Today's topic: The wonderful world of fast food.

This afternoon I had another episode of an all too familiar occurrence at fast food restaurants. I ordered a sandwich from McDonald's and upon opening the box, envision this: The bun is centered in the box. The all-beef (hopefully) patty is slid off to the right-hand side, partially propped up on the box and nearly 30% NOT on the bun. The slice of cheese has been gracefully applied to the back of the bun, nearly 25% hanging off of the bun. At this point it is evident that nearly no cheese is touching the burger. There is ketchup and mayo oozing out of the back and well onto the bun. There is a pile of onions in the corner of the box.

While this is a more extreme scenario than usual, more moderate examples seem to occur on a much too regular basis. I have worked at a McDonald's and as a short-order cook, and let me assure you, assembling a burger is not exactly rocket science. I really have to wonder if some of these burger engineers can color within the lines. Perhaps they are too rushed?? If so, I would gladly wait an extra 30 seconds to get a sandwich that I do not have to reassemble while driving down the freeway. At any rate....here's hoping that my next fast food excursion will be better.