Earlier this year, John Deere opened a new facility in Pune, India called the John Deere Technology Center - India. Most of our IT work is going to be done over there in the future and a lot of engineering support work as well.
On Monday, my boss asked me to take a trip over there in September to train a new team that will be assisting with my current project. Sooo...twist my arm...I said yes. How could I turn down a free trip to India???
I'm pretty excited about it - that's one place I've always wanted to visit. I've been working with Indians here in the states for about 6 years and have heard lots about the place. There's definitly some scary things about going - disturbing poverty, lots of petty crime, lots of people (Dehli has more than 10,000 people per square kilometer), crazy wild traffic, lots of strange food, terrorist threats, bird flu, and so on. Not to mention the 20 hours of plane riding each way. I'm not really too worried about it though - I'll be traveling with 4 others including one native Indian.
The flight will be horrible - I leave Chicago and land in Dehli 25 hours later (14 hours flying plus 11 hour time zone changes). We will get to spend the first weekend sightseeing in Dehli and Agra before flying to Pune for work the next week. We'll be able to see the Taj Mahal while in Agra. That's the stop I'm most excited to see.
It can't all be fun though. After settling in, I'll spend the next two weeks working with the team in Pune. They work different hours than we do - normally later morning (10 or 11 am) until late evening (8 or 9 pm) so there won't be much time for sightseeing during the week. I think they do that some because of culture and some because they need a little overlap time to work with extended teams in the U.S. I will hopefully have some more free time on the next weekend to see some more of the area.
All-in-all, I'm very excited to be able to go. I'll take lots of pictures and try to post about my experience frequently while I'm there.
Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Sunday, August 27, 2006
More vacation pictures!
Ben and Hairy Grandpa. Grandpa was about the only person the whole trip that Ben would trust to hold him!
On the trip home, Lizzy donned her goggles and fell asleep. She slept for a couple of hours like that!
Our handsome (and beautiful) kids in Rocky Mountain National Park.
Some of the cousins at Lily Lake at Rocky Mountain National Park.
Vacation Pictures
Tammy and Ben at a water garden in Boise. 
Adam taking refuge under a wooly mammoth at the dinosaur museum in Vernal.
Anna enjoying nature in Ashley State Forest near Vernal.
Beautiful Lizzy!
Vacation, finally
Well it has been sooooo long since we had a real post, I thought I would dig in and try it. Even though it has been so long ago, I would like to post about our vacation a little bit. Maybe it will be better this way anyway. Now you won't have to endure the blow by blow version, but get the condensed version instead. Lucky you.
First stop: Boise, ID to visit our friends the Adams'. We haven't seen them for over 3 years, but things just seemed so comfortable and normal like we still saw each other every day. We enjoyed visiting with them, playing games with them, seeing a little bit of Boise with them, and planning grand trips with them. We also got to see what great chiropractor Jason has become. He adjusted both Greg and Ben. Ben was really having a hard time before that, and then was great the rest of our trip. Thanks Jason! It was fun that the kids got along pretty well too. We hope it won't be three years until we see them again.
Next stop: Salt Lake City, UT to visit various people. We spent one night with our friends the Staffords. The kids have been looking forward to this for months and enjoyed every minute of running around crazy together. We enjoyed catching up with Clay and Markell and seeing their cute, very sweet, adorable baby, whom we hadn't seen yet. It was also fun to see their new house, and visit with some other folks we knew from Iowa, the Hills. We went to the zoo together, where we had a good laugh over the Staffords 2 year old taking all her clothes off so she could properly play in the fountain! We enjoyed being with them and appreciate the good people that they are.
The rest of the time in Salt Lake was spent with my family. Swimming with grandparents, playing games with aunts and cousins, attending the temple, going to the Sweet's candy factory (which was very fun by the way, and they give free samples :)). I also found a little time to visit my mother's grave. The girls enjoyed playing with my cousin's daughter who is Lizzy's age and Adam enjoyed exposure to "Gilligan's Island" by my cousin Mark. We also spent lots of money at the Distribution center and Deseret Book. It was great! Oh yeah, one of my very favorite things was going to see the movie "The Testaments" at temple square. That movie is awesome. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. It was all a lot of fun.
Next stop: Vernal, UT to visit my dad and his wife, Nancy. By this time we were feeling pretty tired, but we still managed to have some fun. We went to the dinosaur museum, which is a must when you visit Vernal. We also got to see were they are going to build their new house, and eat lunch in a nearby very peaceful state forest. Then while I took a nap, Greg and my dad took the kids swimming at a nearby reservoir. Of course we enjoyed some fabulous food made by Nancy as well. I think by the end the kids weren't even afraid of all the animals anymore!
Next stop: Estes Park, CO for a Finch family reunion. The scenery was absolutely stunning! We enjoyed the mountains so much for their beauty. It is a busy place though, and I wouldn't exactly call it tranquil, but it was very enjoyable. We enjoyed being with Greg's family very much (even though we were TOTALLY exhausted by this point). We haven't seen his sister Tami and her family for several years. The cousins had a ball getting filthly together and we even managed a few short hikes, and a little shopping. This is a place Greg and I would like to return to by ourselves so we can go on some longer hikes, where it is bound to be more tranquil. I even told Greg I wanted to move near there because I loved the mountains so much. We will look forward to another Finch family reunion.
Last stop: Grand Island, NE. Why you ask would we stop here? Yes it was on purpose. I found a neat little water park that seemed just the right size for our family and only cost us $20 for all of us to get into, so we thought we would give it a try since it was on the way home. We loved it! It was so much fun. It was good for our family to have some time just for ourselves, and unbelievably, I think we all enjoyed it very much. Lizzy loved the lazy river. Anna loved the wave pool. Adam loved the big, huge, fast drop slides. Ben loved just being in the water. Greg and I just enjoyed all of us being together and having fun, and watching the kids have so much fun. It was a great stop.
Home again: We were utterly, totally, completely exhausted after vacation and were just dumped right back into life as soon as we got home. I think our next vacation won't be so long, and maybe we'll try to stay put longer than a few days. It was nice to escape some of the responsibilities we have here, but I am not sure if it was very restful and renewing. We loved seeing our family and friends though, and that made it worth it. Well if you made it to the end, congratulations. You now know how we felt after vacation. Tired of it. Ready to move on to something else ;) I know, I know, you are thinking, "This is condensed?! Yikes!"
First stop: Boise, ID to visit our friends the Adams'. We haven't seen them for over 3 years, but things just seemed so comfortable and normal like we still saw each other every day. We enjoyed visiting with them, playing games with them, seeing a little bit of Boise with them, and planning grand trips with them. We also got to see what great chiropractor Jason has become. He adjusted both Greg and Ben. Ben was really having a hard time before that, and then was great the rest of our trip. Thanks Jason! It was fun that the kids got along pretty well too. We hope it won't be three years until we see them again.
Next stop: Salt Lake City, UT to visit various people. We spent one night with our friends the Staffords. The kids have been looking forward to this for months and enjoyed every minute of running around crazy together. We enjoyed catching up with Clay and Markell and seeing their cute, very sweet, adorable baby, whom we hadn't seen yet. It was also fun to see their new house, and visit with some other folks we knew from Iowa, the Hills. We went to the zoo together, where we had a good laugh over the Staffords 2 year old taking all her clothes off so she could properly play in the fountain! We enjoyed being with them and appreciate the good people that they are.
The rest of the time in Salt Lake was spent with my family. Swimming with grandparents, playing games with aunts and cousins, attending the temple, going to the Sweet's candy factory (which was very fun by the way, and they give free samples :)). I also found a little time to visit my mother's grave. The girls enjoyed playing with my cousin's daughter who is Lizzy's age and Adam enjoyed exposure to "Gilligan's Island" by my cousin Mark. We also spent lots of money at the Distribution center and Deseret Book. It was great! Oh yeah, one of my very favorite things was going to see the movie "The Testaments" at temple square. That movie is awesome. I had forgotten how much I enjoyed it. It was all a lot of fun.
Next stop: Vernal, UT to visit my dad and his wife, Nancy. By this time we were feeling pretty tired, but we still managed to have some fun. We went to the dinosaur museum, which is a must when you visit Vernal. We also got to see were they are going to build their new house, and eat lunch in a nearby very peaceful state forest. Then while I took a nap, Greg and my dad took the kids swimming at a nearby reservoir. Of course we enjoyed some fabulous food made by Nancy as well. I think by the end the kids weren't even afraid of all the animals anymore!
Next stop: Estes Park, CO for a Finch family reunion. The scenery was absolutely stunning! We enjoyed the mountains so much for their beauty. It is a busy place though, and I wouldn't exactly call it tranquil, but it was very enjoyable. We enjoyed being with Greg's family very much (even though we were TOTALLY exhausted by this point). We haven't seen his sister Tami and her family for several years. The cousins had a ball getting filthly together and we even managed a few short hikes, and a little shopping. This is a place Greg and I would like to return to by ourselves so we can go on some longer hikes, where it is bound to be more tranquil. I even told Greg I wanted to move near there because I loved the mountains so much. We will look forward to another Finch family reunion.
Last stop: Grand Island, NE. Why you ask would we stop here? Yes it was on purpose. I found a neat little water park that seemed just the right size for our family and only cost us $20 for all of us to get into, so we thought we would give it a try since it was on the way home. We loved it! It was so much fun. It was good for our family to have some time just for ourselves, and unbelievably, I think we all enjoyed it very much. Lizzy loved the lazy river. Anna loved the wave pool. Adam loved the big, huge, fast drop slides. Ben loved just being in the water. Greg and I just enjoyed all of us being together and having fun, and watching the kids have so much fun. It was a great stop.
Home again: We were utterly, totally, completely exhausted after vacation and were just dumped right back into life as soon as we got home. I think our next vacation won't be so long, and maybe we'll try to stay put longer than a few days. It was nice to escape some of the responsibilities we have here, but I am not sure if it was very restful and renewing. We loved seeing our family and friends though, and that made it worth it. Well if you made it to the end, congratulations. You now know how we felt after vacation. Tired of it. Ready to move on to something else ;) I know, I know, you are thinking, "This is condensed?! Yikes!"
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Just a quick entry. Very cool.
Hi. I know we haven't posted in a while. It is on my list of things to do. This was too good not to post though. Greg's cousin has spina bifada and is in a wheelchair. He doesn't let this slow him down though. He rides at skateparks and stuff all the time and is amazing. He just got in the Guiness Book of World Records for doing the first wheelchair backflip. Here is a link to the Las Vegas news who did a story on him. Seriously you have got to watch this.
http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=5285116&nav=menu107_2_9
http://www.kvbc.com/Global/story.asp?S=5285116&nav=menu107_2_9
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