jersey. . . . again :-)

 Michele and her Manager Travis spent this last week in New Jersey again. She is becoming a world traveler. Wonder where her travels will take her? How exciting too have this experience. Their friends at FAST decided for them to have the New York experience. PIZZA and BEER! From Michele's mouth. . . . BIG and GREASY! And Michele is not much of a drinker. But it is the experience.

After eating they walked a few blocks and got this beautiful view. A view of the New York skyline from the Hudson River. 

There are basketball courts all over. Michele said this was taken about 10pm. People were just playing away!

All for this! See the tv at the end of the table? Yep. That is Topeka. Michele works each and every day with the FAST guys. New Jersey and Topeka. How interesting! Either here or there.

Mishi. . . . .

Jersey. . . . . again. . . . . 

Per Michele's Facebook status ~ "This week I've traveled 3,486 miles! Kansas to North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Illinois and back to good ole western Kansas!"

The view from Michele's 15th floor executive suite

One World Trade Center

 

News from Jersey

Hey all... Michele here. Just wanted to share some news and a story from my coworkers up in Edison, New Jersey. They were back at work only two days after hurricane Sandy went through. The first day they were back in the office, only a few people made it in because of the gas lines and many people didn't have electricity and needed gas to run their generators for their families. The office building had power ran by generators, however they had no internet. I do have to say they are a pretty creative group, as they took turns streaming internet off of their smart phones that day! They worked hard to make sure the storm didn't slow down the progress on the new system. We sent them gift baskets to show them how much we appreciated their hard work and dedication!! (We tried to send them gasoline and propane, but after looking into it we found out there was strict regulations and we couldn't do that, so we settled on gift baskets). 

Earlier this past week, I was working with one of their actuaries named Jim to report issues I was finding in my testing. He was not responding to my emails and I was getting rather irritated! Any changes to our next release had to be in by Friday so the programmers could get them implemented this past weekend. I rolled over to our webcam and popped up the team in NJ. I asked them where Jim was, and they all started laughing! Apparently, Jim's car had been stolen that day and he was working to get a hold of the insurance company, but with so many calls still coming in from the hurricane he was having a hard time. They all knew it wasn't a funny situation, but with everything they had been through the past few weeks all they could do was laugh or they would go crazy!!! Poor Jim... a hurricane, 9 inches of snow PLUS a stolen car! What a week!

New Jersey

Michele here... I just got back from a business trip to New Jersey! The company I work for is teamed up with a technology firm located in NJ. I traveled there last Sunday with 3 other coworkers to work on a new IT system that we are building together. We have an October 27th deadline to get it implemented and running. The trip was mostly all work and no play, but we managed to squeeze two late evenings in of site seeing. The first night we took the train into NYC around 5:15 pm and arrived at Penn Station, which is underneath Madison Square Garden. We walked down Broadway Street and through Times Square, Rockefeller Center, and saw the Empire State Building! We also did some quick shopping in the NYC memorabilia shops and stopped in at the M&Ms World store. It was 3 floors of M&Ms madness, which I thought was pretty cool myself! We got back pretty late and the next day was a rough one. The last evening we were in town, the company we are working with wined and dined us at a fancy restaurant along the Jersey Shore. The tide was literally less than 10 feet from where I sat and we had a beautiful view of Long Beach. We had five courses! They ordered shrimp and octopus for our appetizers. Yes, I said octopus! I tried it and felt like I was on an episode of Fear Factor. I will have to say, I held myself together very well in front of the executives of the other company. I then proceeded to order a 10 oz. steak =). We headed back home late Friday and faced delays out of Newark and Chicago, but I finally made it home and have spent most of today relaxing!

Overall, it was a very productive trip! I am grateful for the opportunity to have went out there and learned so much!

The Empire State Building

Broadway Street & Times Square

The M&Ms World Store

The set of "Good Morning America"

Rockefeller Center

Another view of The Empire State Building

The Hudson River

Long Beach (Jersey Shore)

 Baked Octopus at The Avenue off Ocean Avenue

Times Square. . . .

Mishi was in New York tonight!! Wow!