Farewell to a Friend

I really intended for this blog site to be for fun, but I've found that it can actually be much more than that. It can be a route for personal expression. I don't know how many of oyu actually read my posts because I really only get responses from a few loyal readers. I hope that this post gets read by a large number of folks because the person it is written about deserves to be remembered, I only hope Ido him justice!

Yesterday morning I came into work as on most Monday's with the anticipation of a heavy workload and lots of new and exciting discoveries to be made by the end of the week (yeah I know, it's only soap). Unlike most Monday's it turned out to be a very sad and somber day. The message light was blinking on my phone, and I thought OK who just couldn't wait until Monday to add something else to my schedule. Unfortunately it was the phone call I never hoped to receive. The sister of my friend and coworker had called to inform me that he had died.

Ellis Gregg was more than just a member of my team, he was a brilliant scientist, a damn funny man, and he shared my deep appreciation for a finely brewed ale! Professionally ellis was a continuous liquids processing expert. I've never known anyone else that could design a system, that would run to specification, after a mere 5 minute conversation. This leaves a big hole in my organization that will be hard to fill!

Personally Ellis was one of the funiest (if that's a word) people I've ever met. Of course his humor was sort of twisted. I need to give a little background here before I can continue: I take my team on off sites each quarter. The typical off site has been for us to take a 1/2 day off on a Friday and go somewhere to have lunch, a few beers, and discuss what happened over the past three months along with what's coming up in the next three.

One particular off site we decided to go to one of the many parks around the Cincy area. I was going to grill out steaks for the team and we would sort of relax, goof off, throw a Frisby, etc. (Let me now appologize to my friends in the park service) Ellis brings his golf clubs. Well actually just his driver and a bucket of balls. We pretty much had the park to ourselves, which was a good thing because Ellis t's up and starts wacking the balls to try to hit the tree line. With that accomplished he decides he should try to hit the lake on the other side of the road. With that accomplished the only target remaining was the road itself! Yep we could see the wheels turning, but we couldn't stop it before it happened. He let loose with a swing that would have made Arnold Palmer proud. The ball went high, but hit it's mark right on the crest of a hill smack dab in the middle of the road. It bounces high, and right over the park ranger's car that pops up over the hill. "Oh man, we are so busted!", we thought, but he didn't even see it. After he passed we fell over laughing and the clubs were promptly returned to Ellis' truck.

I'll never forget that day, and I'll never forget Ellis!

I now have two tasks remaining that I will likely put off until the end of the week, neither of which did I ever expect to have to do. I'll need to box up all of Ellis' pesonal belonging's from his desk to give to his family, and I'll need to prepare a job posting to look for his replacement. Life goes on.

Good Bye Ellis, We'll miss you!

Back Home Again

Well, I'm back. It was a good trip, with little to no excitement. These days that's a good thing! Hopefully I'll have some photos in a day or two. I had to go low tech with a disposable camera due to the hightened security.

My travels took me to Frankfurt, Germany and then to Newcastle, United Kingdom (England for those of you who may be geographically challenged). The weather cooperated with just one day of rain in each location, and then sunny days the rest of the trip. Frankfurt was vacation and Newcastle was work related.

The photos that I'll show are from the area surrounding Frankfurt. I was able to visit an operating Benedictine Monastery in Seligenstadt (Blessed City). It had a beautiful vegetable, fruit, and herb garden in the center of the monastery that was a gift of Keiser Karl. You may remember an earlier post where I showed a statue honoring Keiser Karl der Grosse (Carl the great!). Anyway, the photos of the garden don't do it justice. I'll try to post them as soon as Lightnin is able to get them scanned for me (not trying to rush you dear!).

Security was interesting. It was good to see that it was hightened, but it would help if everyone would pay attention. Not only was it broadcast on every news station around the world, but there were plenty of signs everywhere at the airports decribing what you could and couldn't take on the plane. It also explained how to make the lines flow smoothly by having your boarding pass and passport available, removing your shoes, belt, and everything from your pockets. Simple right? Well apparently not! I would say that at least 1 out of every 3 people either cannot read, do not watch the news, or are just plain too stubborn to follow the rules. I think the full strip and body cavity search is not too much to ask for them, and then maybe they'll get with the program so that the rest of us can get on with our travel!

OK, I'm done ranting! So, Like I said, I'll try to post some of the photos in a couple of days with a bit more explanation of what you'll be seeing.

Wiedersehen, Tseuss! (Sabrina - I'm not sure about the spelling here, so let me know!)

Travelin' Man (Again)

Just a brief post today to let you know that I'll be on the road again. I'm heading back to Europe for about 9 days and will likely write about my travels when I return. Unfortunately I wil not be taking my camera this time. the security restrictions have limited the size of carry-on to just fit my smaller laptop pouch, no room for the camera. I just don't want to risk someone grabbing it from my checked bag. This sort of thing happens more often than you think, and like I said, it's just not worth the risk.

I'm looking forward to the long lines and baggage searches, don't get me wrong I don't mind if they stop and search everyone prior to boarding, in fact I would feel a bit better if they did! It's just that I always seem to get picked as the "random search" everytime I travel. Of course Lightnin says: "Well hell, just look at the photo on your passport that's why!". I just hope they haven't upped the caution level to full body cavity searches! ;-) I'll let you know how the trip goes.