Google

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Tuesday in Athens

Liz convinced me that we should go to the Y to workout, and she also managed to convince me that I should get up at 4:30am (yes AM) to leave at 4:45 for the Y. We did the bike and then I swam. After work, we did “Track” but it was raining. So, we did the treadmill instead. We did half mile at a time – not all out but hard. It felt good. Liz even made us do jumping jacks! Fun day. I ended up getting room service for dinner. 

Monday, June 14, 2010

Monday - On the Road Again

Since we got home so late, it was rough to make it out again to the airport for a 2pm flight. I had phone meetings all morning, and I was frantically doing laundry and packing at the same time. FUN!

I met Liz in Atlanta and got the rental car (not sure what rental car god I angered to get a Ford Escort). We headed to Athens a bit worried about traffic. Thankfully, it wasn’t bad. However, the rental car had a governor on it. It kept beeping at me when I got above 75 that it was nearing “top speed,” and that was really annoying. 80 was as fast as it would go. Weird. It also had terrible handling.

We checked into the Indigo Hotel. I hadn’t ever heard of it, and I was surprised to know it was in the Holiday Inn chain. It is like a copy cat version of the W Hotels, but it also has a “green” twist. For example, your room key has to go into a slot in the room (like in Europe) to keep the power on. We decided later that it is all a marketing ploy because it doesn’t even turn off the TV. I left my TV on thinking that it would shut off when I left and removed the key, but it was still on when I returned (even after the room was cleaned!). It did turn off the bathroom lights and changed the temperature to 72. The hotel was nice though, and the staff were very friendly and helpful.
As we are walking to dinner at the Last Resort, Liz tells me her birthday is Wednesday. I felt horrible that I scheduled the trip on her birthday. Bummer. The Last Resort was PACKED with kids there for orientation at UGA. We put our name in the list for an hour wait, but we decided to wander around. We found the Taco Stand and ate there instead. It was a little odd, but it was really good. I thought the fish tacos were amazing.

Sunday, June 13, 2010

Sunday - Home from Reunion

I started out today with a 2 mile walk with my brother and Tracy. On the way back, I ran and then added on a mile to go by Paw-Paw’s old house. It was a great run, and I enjoyed getting to spend some time with them.

We went to Joan’s for brunch, and she outdid herself again. We had breakfast casserole (my FAV!), and we even had sausage balls (I was shocked to know that Mike G hadn’t ever had them!). It was nice to spend some more time chatting before all of the departures.

Most everyone left soon after brunch, but our flight wasn’t until late. So, we spent the day at the pool. Then, we went by Joan and John’s again before going to Shrimp N Stuff. I LOVE Shrimp N Stuff. Shrimp Poboy. YUM

Of course, our flight was delayed because 8pm wasn’t late enough to leave. :) We didn’t end up getting to the house until after 3am. It was a long night, but it was good to get home.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Saturday Neal Family Reunion

Today was FREE TIME! We always joke about free time in our family. We started the day with a 4ish mile walk with Grams, Papa, Mike, and I. We went by Joan and John’s house, and then went down by the seawall. Galveston still has a lot to go to recover from the hurricane, but it has also come a long way. Many buildings were new, and many had been repaired.

After our walk, we had breakfast and then Mike took the boys to see the Moody Gardens exhibits. Grams, Morgan, and I went to the butterfly exhibit. It was pretty small, and I think we saw more butterflies outside than inside. However, they did have this play area of mazes and education info at the end. We did enjoy that (even though it was HOT!). Even Grams got into the action as she “flew” on the butterfly zipline. We I took the girls to the Teen Spa (FANTASTIC IDEA). We signed them up for a mani and pedi for later in the afternoon, and we went to the pool. Chocolate milkshakes were had, and I had fun having drinks with the Neal family crew. I hear that someone wiped some drink on someone’s pants…hmmm…too bad I missed that part! We had a great time.

The girls LOVED the teen spa. They got their nails done, and then we all took a shower for the Neal Family Portrait. My group wore blue shirts, the Neals wore red (LOTS of red shirts), and the Hyatts wore green. It should be an awesome picture. :)

For dinner, we went to the Fisherman’s Wharf. We had a FABULOUS dinner with a beautiful view of the water. The old ship, Elissa, was right off the balcony, and she is beautiful. The food and wine were great, and the company was even better.
We ended up playing “Family Feud” with mom playing the part of “Richard.” It was a lot of fun even though our team lost. :)

Friday, June 11, 2010

Friday Neal Family Reunion

I got up and went for a run on the Seawall. It was really windy out, and then the wind came from the side along the seawall. I did 5 miles, and I was SOAKED when I got to the hotel. We went to the water park called Schlitterbahn. It was AWESOME! It had the fancy bracelets you can buy that let you put money on them and then you don’t need to carry a wallet (since you are in the water). I love that! Mike, Tracy, Mike, and I spent some quality family time at the pool bar. It happened to make awesome chocolate milkshakes, so the kids also liked it. :)

We rode several rides (some pretty fast!), and we floated on the river in the tube several times. It even has a white water section. VERY FUN!

Friday night, we ate at the “boat club” by the water. We had BBQ. It was very nice to be outside, have good food, and be able to mill around and chat. After dinner, the kids went swimming while the adults talked. GREAT DAY!

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Neal Famil Reunion Day 1

Today, we leave for the Neal Family Reunion! WOO HOO! First, Morgan had a dermatologist appointment, and the doctor was referred by a dermatologist down the street. I didn’t even think that it might be a long way from our house, so I was ready to leave by 8 for an 8:50 appointment. I looked online and then called to be sure. WOW, it is a long way. I was nervous that we would make it in 50 minutes with traffic. Thankfully, the traffic wasn’t bad. They did a skin biopsy of Morgan’s knee and elbow to try to figure out what is going on there.

She has had a rash for a while that we have tried to treat with creams (thinking eczema) before we got the referral to the dermatologist. We were a bit concerned about the stitches since she would be at a water park and would be swimming, but we wanted to get it over with. She was brave although she did NOT like the numbing part. :)

We got a new cream to use and went on our way. Our flight was at 6:00, and we had a lunch at Wiregrass to talk about the acquisition news. It was kind of an odd day, and I was happy to get on the plane!

We had a good time on the flight, and Mark and I were being silly. Morgan and Katie made a pact to have one sit by the window on the way out and the other on the way back. :) They did pretty well on the flight. Morgan must have eaten 10 bags of pretzels though, and she kept asking for more.

When we arrived, we got the rental van, and we headed to Moody Gardens Hotel. As we got to the check in desk, the entire Neal clan was there waiting. It was so great to see everyone again! I couldn’t believe how big Hudson was! (He is the most recent family addition at 20 months). We went to eat in the hotel restaurant as we were starving. It was nice to be there!

We got fabulous gift bags from Joan that had directions, snacks, Neal family cozies, etc. How nice and thoughtful! The hotel also gave the kids a pack that had goggles and other swim toys. Nice! We were excited to see everyone, but it was great to get into bed!

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Acquisition Mania

Here we go again! Today, the news was released that Allscripts is buying back the majority of Allscripts from Misys, and then Allscripts is buying Eclipsys. Since I started with Medic in 1997, there have been so many acquisitions. First, Medic was bought by Misys. Then, the founder of Medic, John McConnel, bought A4. Allscripts then bought A4. Then, Allscripts and Misys combined through a complicated transaction where Misys was the majority but Allscripts and its products were used. Then, in 2008, Bond was acquired by MediNotes and then MediNotes was again acquired by Eclipsys. Now, Allscripts is buying Eclipsys. So, by the end of the year if all goes as planned, I will have changed jobs once but been through 6 companies that are all now the same. What an interesting ride. I really think this is a good thing for both companies in the long run. It is always challenging combining companies, and I have learned a lot of that first hand over the last few years. Here's to hoping for a smooth transition!

Monday, June 7, 2010

Interesting Things

I have a statcounter on my blog that shows general information about hits I get on the blog. It is always very interesting to me to see how people find my little blog. Sometimes, they are disturbing, and other times they are hysterical. I get lots of searches about kidney stones, stopping smoking, waterproof casts, argostoli, greece, and diet stuff. It is shocking to me that almost 22,000 times someone has clicked on my blog one way or the other in the almost 3 years that I have writen stuff.

Today, Morgan and I tried out the new google video chat. Morgan absolutely LOVES video anything. We tried to video chat a few people, but they were away. :(

Today, I saw a blog saying that Kindles were in trouble because of the ipad. I do love my Kindle. Maybe it is just because I had it before the ipad, but it is small, light, and easy to use. It makes it easy to download, and it is easy to read in all kinds of lighting. I do think the ipad is super cool, but I can't figure out what I would leave at home if it were for personal use only. It is MUCH heavier than the kindle, and I would still need to take a work computer. I hoe the kindle makes it.

Also, today, the iphone 4 was announced. It looks super cool. I think I might need to upgrade soon. :) Man, I love technology. I love to explore cool new things. I love the way it connects people and things more. Love it!

Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Three YEARS Smoke Free

I cannot believe that I quit smoking three years ago. WOW! I was thinking today how hard it was to quit and how I never in a million years thought I would actually really quit. For those of you who didn't know me then, I was a hard core smoker. I would wake up in the middle of the night to go OUTSIDE to smoke. I would plan out things to make sure I could smoke. I didn't do a lot of things because I couldn't smoke and do them. Even time was wasted that could have been spent with my family because I didn't want to not smoke to do things with them. I would shower many times in a day to avoid smelling like smoke. Such silly things for such a stupid habit.

I am SO happy today to realize that I conquered such a huge thing. It was hard, and I did it. I can't even imagine being a smoker now, and I never in a million years could have been a runner, swimmer, biker triathlete like I am becoming now if I still smoked. So, here's to life. :)