Sunday, January 30, 2011
Surprise!
Tonight we threw a surprise 60th birthday party for my mom. I think it's safe to say she had no idea and we shocked her socks off. Can you tell? It was awesome.
Friday, January 28, 2011
36 Hours
...is precisely the amount of time James was on the ground in Japan. So that means he spent more time in airports and in the air than actually in the country. Wowzas. That would definitely not go over well for me and my internal clock. Luckily, James handled it okay and he came through the whirlwind travel week in one piece. And to top it off, he found out today he has to spend the next two weeks in Canada! He's a traveling man and I'm a lonely wife. At least his passport is making out well these days!
Anyway, back to Japan. Because James is such a smarty pants (he would never admit this to you but since I can't get him to write this blog himself, I'll gloat for him) his company put him in charge of developing a brand new high tech machine to enhance their fleet of Tsugami CNC machines. Don't know what those are? That's okay, I don't really either. Basically, as I understand it, these machines are capable of making all kinds of parts - from medical devices (think knee replacement systems and bone screws) to aerospace products and everything in between. So customers contact James' company and say, "I want a machine that will make __(fill in the blank)__ and I want it in my factory producing parts by __(fill in deadline)__." Then, it's James' job to determine what is the best Tsugami machine for the job and decide what attachments and tools the machine needs to make the product. From a blueprint he writes the program to make the product and ensures that the machine can make it within tolerance. Sometimes these parts are microscopic! After the machine gets shipped to the customer, James has to be there in person to provide training on how to run the machine and make the parts. This type of training is usually the reason he has to travel so often.
L: bone screw ; R: spool for robotic medical arm
The company that makes the type of machines James specializes in is Tsugami and if you couldn't tell by the name, they are based in Japan. Because James is part of a team working to develop this new machine, he will be making several trips to Japan this year. The purpose of this first trip was just a meet and greet. I don't know many people who fly across the world just for a meeting, but that is essentially what this was. They toured the Tsugami facilities, talked a little shop, went out for a fancy meal (apparently Kobe beef is the "best thing ever") and then got back on the airplane to fly home.
Such a short trip didn't lend itself well to sightseeing but here are a few of the pictures James snapped on his way to the Tsugami plant in Nagaoka, Japan. Nagaoka is located 3 hours outside of Tokyo. To get there and back James rode Japan's 300 mph high speed rail, which apparently is something to see/experience in it's own right.
Japan's 300 mph high speed trains
James spent his last (second) night in Japan in Toyko. He'll be heading back to Japan in three months and probably a few other times over the next year or so. Hopefully the next time around he'll have more time on the ground and experiences to share with us and maybe, just maybe I'll get to tag along on one of the trips! And you know me...I can PROMISE you there will be photos!
Japan has as much snow right now as we do...well, almost.
A little slice of Toyko at night
Somehow during that short trip, James managed to go shopping. He brought back some Japanese tea and a loose leaf tea kettle, a bottle of Sake and some interesting looking dried sea creatures which he swears are delicious. I don't know about that...
Anyway, back to Japan. Because James is such a smarty pants (he would never admit this to you but since I can't get him to write this blog himself, I'll gloat for him) his company put him in charge of developing a brand new high tech machine to enhance their fleet of Tsugami CNC machines. Don't know what those are? That's okay, I don't really either. Basically, as I understand it, these machines are capable of making all kinds of parts - from medical devices (think knee replacement systems and bone screws) to aerospace products and everything in between. So customers contact James' company and say, "I want a machine that will make __(fill in the blank)__ and I want it in my factory producing parts by __(fill in deadline)__." Then, it's James' job to determine what is the best Tsugami machine for the job and decide what attachments and tools the machine needs to make the product. From a blueprint he writes the program to make the product and ensures that the machine can make it within tolerance. Sometimes these parts are microscopic! After the machine gets shipped to the customer, James has to be there in person to provide training on how to run the machine and make the parts. This type of training is usually the reason he has to travel so often.
L: bone screw ; R: spool for robotic medical arm
The company that makes the type of machines James specializes in is Tsugami and if you couldn't tell by the name, they are based in Japan. Because James is part of a team working to develop this new machine, he will be making several trips to Japan this year. The purpose of this first trip was just a meet and greet. I don't know many people who fly across the world just for a meeting, but that is essentially what this was. They toured the Tsugami facilities, talked a little shop, went out for a fancy meal (apparently Kobe beef is the "best thing ever") and then got back on the airplane to fly home.
Such a short trip didn't lend itself well to sightseeing but here are a few of the pictures James snapped on his way to the Tsugami plant in Nagaoka, Japan. Nagaoka is located 3 hours outside of Tokyo. To get there and back James rode Japan's 300 mph high speed rail, which apparently is something to see/experience in it's own right.
Japan's 300 mph high speed trains
Japan has as much snow right now as we do...well, almost.
A little slice of Toyko at night
Somehow during that short trip, James managed to go shopping. He brought back some Japanese tea and a loose leaf tea kettle, a bottle of Sake and some interesting looking dried sea creatures which he swears are delicious. I don't know about that...
Sunday, January 23, 2011
14 Hours
The time difference between Connecticut and Tokyo, Japan is 14 hours. As I write, it's 10:30 PM Sunday night and 12:30 PM Monday afternoon in Tokyo. James is currently flying over the North Pacific about three hours from touch down in Tokyo. He left our house at 6 AM this morning. That's a long day. On his way home, he'll leave Tokyo at 3:30 PM and arrive in Connecticut at 3:30 PM...on the same day. Excuse me while I try to wrap my head around that.
Delta Flight 275 en route from Chicago to Tokyo. L: 3:40 PM, EST R:10:15 PM, EST
Delta Flight 275 en route from Chicago to Tokyo. L: 3:40 PM, EST R:10:15 PM, EST
More details to come about exactly why James is in Japan. I made him promise to take photographs while he's there too. We'll see how that turns out. Stay tuned!
Friday, January 21, 2011
Snow Love
It is winter. It is January. Sometimes it snows in January. Sometimes it snows a lot in January.
Lately folks here in Connecticut have been whining a lot about how much snow we've had in the last month. Yes, we've had some big snowstorms. Yes, sometimes they have disrupted work weeks and busy schedules. Yes, my work is also piling up and yes I will likely have to work off hours and even some weekends to make up for it. But I'm not going to complain a bit about the snow. I'm going to embrace it. Because snow is beautiful and it's only here for a few months a year. In case you still don't believe me, I took a few pictures for you after a fresh snowfall this morning.
Lately folks here in Connecticut have been whining a lot about how much snow we've had in the last month. Yes, we've had some big snowstorms. Yes, sometimes they have disrupted work weeks and busy schedules. Yes, my work is also piling up and yes I will likely have to work off hours and even some weekends to make up for it. But I'm not going to complain a bit about the snow. I'm going to embrace it. Because snow is beautiful and it's only here for a few months a year. In case you still don't believe me, I took a few pictures for you after a fresh snowfall this morning.
How can you argue with snowflakes?
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Hooked on Books
James and I can easily melt away a day in a bookstore. In fact, it's one of our favorite date night activities. Maybe I shouldn't technically call it a date night because once we actually step foot in the store, we're usually off in different directions scouting books on topics that generally do little to peak each others interests. For example, one might try looking for me first in the arts & crafts section or maybe where the cookbooks hang out. On the other hand if you want to find James, try the manufacturing and technology section or perhaps the dog aisle. Romantic, I know.
Anyone have any recommendations for a good vegan cookbook??
Ahhh, I could spend ALL DAY in this section!
A new favorite - so much to learn!
At least he's easy to find and I know cute girls wouldn't be caught dead here.
Will need all the help we can get in a few months!
Did I mention James is going to Japan next week?
Apparently we're willing to sacrifice Goal #13 (save more money) to get a leg up on Goal #1 (read 20 books) - see this post if you have no idea what I'm talking about. I guess our next date night should be at a quiet coffeehouse so we can get started on this pile. Seriously, romantic is just not how we roll.
Anyone have any recommendations for a good vegan cookbook??
Ahhh, I could spend ALL DAY in this section!
A new favorite - so much to learn!
At least he's easy to find and I know cute girls wouldn't be caught dead here.
Will need all the help we can get in a few months!
Did I mention James is going to Japan next week?
And here's the result of date night...
Apparently we're willing to sacrifice Goal #13 (save more money) to get a leg up on Goal #1 (read 20 books) - see this post if you have no idea what I'm talking about. I guess our next date night should be at a quiet coffeehouse so we can get started on this pile. Seriously, romantic is just not how we roll.
I'll leave you with few pics from a book I just couldn't pass up...you know I can't resist a polar bear!
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Snow Day
New England is currently experiencing a good ole Nor'easter. In the past 12 hours we got almost two feet of snow.
We've had our share of snow so far this winter. These are from a family outing last weekend shortly after a fresh snowfall.
We've had our share of snow so far this winter. These are from a family outing last weekend shortly after a fresh snowfall.
Friday, January 7, 2011
20 Goals for Twenty-Eleven
James showed me this Dilbert comic last week shortly after a discussion of our 2011 resolutions (he totes his Dilbert calendar around as if it were a Bible). Apparently he thinks I'm a little too much like Dogbert (the white dog). Okay, maybe I am... but just a little.
I started out thinking I'd name this post "11 Resolutions for 2011" or something catchy along those lines. Then I began jotting down our resolutions and realized there were a lot more than 11 (yikes, what does that say about us!?). I didn't end up whittling down the list but instead decided to call them goals rather than resolutions. Having 20 "resolutions" just sounds like a recipe for failure. Some of them are really more like goals anyway. So here they are, in no significant order other than the order in which they popped into my head. Some are mine, others are James' (see Dilbert strip above) and with luck and a little hard work, hopefully all will be accomplished in the next year. The fact that I'm proclaiming them to you all on this blog is a good way of keeping us honest. Oh dear, I'm already dreading the "2011 Revisited" post this time next year!
And now, introducing our 20 Goals for 2011...drumroll, please!
Goal #1: Read at least 20 books. Anything goes here - bios, non-fiction, trashy beach worthy novels, self-help books, even short stories if we get desperate next December. =)
Goal #2: Run 1011 miles in 2011 (Cary). Running 2011 miles sounded a little too ambitious even for me, especially considering I haven't even run once yet this year, oops. Also see Goals 4 and 8.
Goal #3: Volunteer somewhere. More than once.
Goal #4: Change up our fitness routine. This means less running (except for those 1011 miles, see goal #2) and more yoga/spinning/climbing/karate?
Goal #5: Stop biting my fingernails (Cary). This is gross and I've had the habit since I was five. Time to grow up and havepretty nails like the rest of 'em.
Goal #6: Go vegan for an entire month (Cary). I always wanted to try this but have used family gatherings (among other things) as my excuse. Really, this just means I have to plan around months with big eating holidays because my parents and in-laws will probably go bananas on me - they are still getting used to the vegetarian thing and it's been SEVEN years!
Goal #7: Declutter. This applies to our lives as well as our basement.
Goal #8: Participate in a bike race (Cary) and a 5K road race (James).
Goal #9: Complete an ultramarathon (Cary). This means any race over 26.2 miles. Marathons are so 2010.
Goal #10: Lose those five pounds that came with 2010 and do it without dieting (Cary). Goals 2, 4, 6, 8 and 9 should help with this.
Goal#11: Find a new date night activity. Dance or cooking classes might be fun.
Goal #12: Restore a piece of furniture. I've always wanted to do this and the new house will come with a lot more space to fill!
Goal #13: Be smarter about our finances. coupon. calculate. budget. track. save.
Goal #14: Reinvest in relationships. You know, "make new friends and keep the old."
Goal #15: Dress up more (Cary but James could stand to do this more often too). Not talking high heels here, just add a little more dazzle to the dubs before leaving the house in the morning. Maybe even try a little makeup...or maybe not, that was never really my thing.
Goal #16: Participate fully in the house building process. Make smart decisions. Take it all in. Have few regrets.
Goal #17: Add three new "green" routines to our lifestyle. That's vague because I have no idea what just yet.
Goal #18: Open an Etsy site to promote (hopefully sell!) some of our creative projects.
Goal #19: Patience & Communication. Just keepin' it real here. There's a lot of love in our family, but we're not always the best at being patient (mostly Cary) and communicating about what our immediate needs are (both of us). We have our squabbles but the brilliant thing about our relationship is that they never last more than five minutes. We have been blessed with the inability to stay mad at each other. However, it's always easy (in retrospect) to see why we ended up in the squabble in the first place and it almost always goes back to the source: impatience and miss-communication. So we'll be working on that.
Goal #20: Reduce stress. In theory, goals 1-19 should help a lot with this...or, perhaps this will backfire and having proclaimed goals 1-19 will simply add stress to our lives.
That's it! I'm cutting it off at 20. Is that too many? Dang, I've always had a problem with trying to be an over-achiever (oops, there's #21). Is this a recipe for disaster? Maybe. We shall see. Hope you stick around to find out! What are YOUR goals for 2011? Do share!
I started out thinking I'd name this post "11 Resolutions for 2011" or something catchy along those lines. Then I began jotting down our resolutions and realized there were a lot more than 11 (yikes, what does that say about us!?). I didn't end up whittling down the list but instead decided to call them goals rather than resolutions. Having 20 "resolutions" just sounds like a recipe for failure. Some of them are really more like goals anyway. So here they are, in no significant order other than the order in which they popped into my head. Some are mine, others are James' (see Dilbert strip above) and with luck and a little hard work, hopefully all will be accomplished in the next year. The fact that I'm proclaiming them to you all on this blog is a good way of keeping us honest. Oh dear, I'm already dreading the "2011 Revisited" post this time next year!
And now, introducing our 20 Goals for 2011...drumroll, please!
Goal #1: Read at least 20 books. Anything goes here - bios, non-fiction, trashy beach worthy novels, self-help books, even short stories if we get desperate next December. =)
Goal #2: Run 1011 miles in 2011 (Cary). Running 2011 miles sounded a little too ambitious even for me, especially considering I haven't even run once yet this year, oops. Also see Goals 4 and 8.
Goal #3: Volunteer somewhere. More than once.
Goal #4: Change up our fitness routine. This means less running (except for those 1011 miles, see goal #2) and more yoga/spinning/climbing/karate?
Goal #5: Stop biting my fingernails (Cary). This is gross and I've had the habit since I was five. Time to grow up and have
Goal #6: Go vegan for an entire month (Cary). I always wanted to try this but have used family gatherings (among other things) as my excuse. Really, this just means I have to plan around months with big eating holidays because my parents and in-laws will probably go bananas on me - they are still getting used to the vegetarian thing and it's been SEVEN years!
Goal #7: Declutter. This applies to our lives as well as our basement.
Goal #8: Participate in a bike race (Cary) and a 5K road race (James).
Goal #9: Complete an ultramarathon (Cary). This means any race over 26.2 miles. Marathons are so 2010.
Goal #10: Lose those five pounds that came with 2010 and do it without dieting (Cary). Goals 2, 4, 6, 8 and 9 should help with this.
Goal#11: Find a new date night activity. Dance or cooking classes might be fun.
Goal #12: Restore a piece of furniture. I've always wanted to do this and the new house will come with a lot more space to fill!
Goal #13: Be smarter about our finances. coupon. calculate. budget. track. save.
Goal #14: Reinvest in relationships. You know, "make new friends and keep the old."
Goal #15: Dress up more (Cary but James could stand to do this more often too). Not talking high heels here, just add a little more dazzle to the dubs before leaving the house in the morning. Maybe even try a little makeup...or maybe not, that was never really my thing.
Goal #16: Participate fully in the house building process. Make smart decisions. Take it all in. Have few regrets.
Goal #17: Add three new "green" routines to our lifestyle. That's vague because I have no idea what just yet.
Goal #18: Open an Etsy site to promote (hopefully sell!) some of our creative projects.
Goal #19: Patience & Communication. Just keepin' it real here. There's a lot of love in our family, but we're not always the best at being patient (mostly Cary) and communicating about what our immediate needs are (both of us). We have our squabbles but the brilliant thing about our relationship is that they never last more than five minutes. We have been blessed with the inability to stay mad at each other. However, it's always easy (in retrospect) to see why we ended up in the squabble in the first place and it almost always goes back to the source: impatience and miss-communication. So we'll be working on that.
Goal #20: Reduce stress. In theory, goals 1-19 should help a lot with this...or, perhaps this will backfire and having proclaimed goals 1-19 will simply add stress to our lives.
That's it! I'm cutting it off at 20. Is that too many? Dang, I've always had a problem with trying to be an over-achiever (oops, there's #21). Is this a recipe for disaster? Maybe. We shall see. Hope you stick around to find out! What are YOUR goals for 2011? Do share!
Monday, January 3, 2011
2010 Revisited
Happy New Year! Sorry, we're a few days late. We spent New Years in New York (upstate) at a wedding on NYE in Buffalo and a few days in one of our favorite small towns, New Paltz. It was a nice little getaway, but holy driving, Batman!
Congratulations, Jim and Carrie (we make for perfect couples).
These guys lived at the B&B we stayed at...I think a Coo is in our future!
I wanted to pick a few adjectives to describe 2010. At first glance, they seemed all over the map but upon further reflection I realized they were spot on (side note: this is exactly why blogging is so awesome - you don't have to try and remember everything you did because you wrote it down - give it a try, it's magic I tell you!). Okay, on to the madness. Our 2010 year in words can be summed up as: blissful, stressful, accomplished, sad, celebratory, busy, balanced (maybe I should have said antonyms not adjectives!). Twenty-ten was a mixed bag of ups and downs but James and I came out of it feeling good about our year's accomplishments, decisions and hard work. While we still have big changes coming up in 2011 and beyond, we can honestly say we feel more settled than ever before. Settled into marriage, settled into our careers, settled into our life together. Twenty-ten has been our best year together - ever. That's saying a lot.
One of our favorite climbing spots, the Shawangunks (The Gunks), New Paltz, NY
I had to squeeze in a few more pictures from this weekend. But alas, to the point. Here's our speedy recap of the past 12 months...
The Chadwick family welcomed a new baby girl into the world in January 2010, Aubrey Noel (also know as "BA" or "Aubs"). James and I refinished and moved into a larger apartment. Brother Curt and sister-in-law Mandy decided to make the leap and move back to Connecticut. James and I reached the summit of Mount Washington last winter. After several failed attempts to cure years of running related injuries, I tried acupuncture to fix my problems. It didn't work, but this did which allowed me to participate in a 24 hour, 200 mile relay race and a marathon. 2010 was a year of losses too, my Grandma Beth died, James lost his grandmother who I never got to meet because she lived in Poland, and my great aunt Barbara passed. They will all be missed dearly. I chopped off my hair. James likes it long so now it's growing again. Collectively, together and sometimes apart, James and I traveled to Hawaii, California (more than once), Vermont, Illinois, New York, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Maine, Utah, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Maryland. These trips generally involved a cocktail of work, play, friends, family and fun. James worked his tail off and got a big promotion - it was clear from his company holiday party this year that the whole place loves him, I was so proud. We both also found time to enjoy our other creative passions. Our wedding pictures were published on professional blogs and even in print. We celebrated our first anniversary and we pushed forward with the biggest decision of our lives together (so far), to build our first home.
Phew! New can you see the need for so many adjectives?! Twenty-ten was a great year, but here's hoping 2011 is even better! Stay tuned for our New Year Resolutions - that post is up next and there are quite a few of them!!
Congratulations, Jim and Carrie (we make for perfect couples).
These guys lived at the B&B we stayed at...I think a Coo is in our future!
I wanted to pick a few adjectives to describe 2010. At first glance, they seemed all over the map but upon further reflection I realized they were spot on (side note: this is exactly why blogging is so awesome - you don't have to try and remember everything you did because you wrote it down - give it a try, it's magic I tell you!). Okay, on to the madness. Our 2010 year in words can be summed up as: blissful, stressful, accomplished, sad, celebratory, busy, balanced (maybe I should have said antonyms not adjectives!). Twenty-ten was a mixed bag of ups and downs but James and I came out of it feeling good about our year's accomplishments, decisions and hard work. While we still have big changes coming up in 2011 and beyond, we can honestly say we feel more settled than ever before. Settled into marriage, settled into our careers, settled into our life together. Twenty-ten has been our best year together - ever. That's saying a lot.
One of our favorite climbing spots, the Shawangunks (The Gunks), New Paltz, NY
I had to squeeze in a few more pictures from this weekend. But alas, to the point. Here's our speedy recap of the past 12 months...
The Chadwick family welcomed a new baby girl into the world in January 2010, Aubrey Noel (also know as "BA" or "Aubs"). James and I refinished and moved into a larger apartment. Brother Curt and sister-in-law Mandy decided to make the leap and move back to Connecticut. James and I reached the summit of Mount Washington last winter. After several failed attempts to cure years of running related injuries, I tried acupuncture to fix my problems. It didn't work, but this did which allowed me to participate in a 24 hour, 200 mile relay race and a marathon. 2010 was a year of losses too, my Grandma Beth died, James lost his grandmother who I never got to meet because she lived in Poland, and my great aunt Barbara passed. They will all be missed dearly. I chopped off my hair. James likes it long so now it's growing again. Collectively, together and sometimes apart, James and I traveled to Hawaii, California (more than once), Vermont, Illinois, New York, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Maine, Utah, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Maryland. These trips generally involved a cocktail of work, play, friends, family and fun. James worked his tail off and got a big promotion - it was clear from his company holiday party this year that the whole place loves him, I was so proud. We both also found time to enjoy our other creative passions. Our wedding pictures were published on professional blogs and even in print. We celebrated our first anniversary and we pushed forward with the biggest decision of our lives together (so far), to build our first home.
Phew! New can you see the need for so many adjectives?! Twenty-ten was a great year, but here's hoping 2011 is even better! Stay tuned for our New Year Resolutions - that post is up next and there are quite a few of them!!
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