Note: This is a personal (and thus perhaps boring to many) post. A while back I combined all my blogs into one and simply prefixed each post title with a label.
So, if you are only interested in VFP then feel free to skip this and any other non-VFP related entries :-)
But, to the readers who have stayed on (hi Mum) I hope you enjoy the update:
The last few days have been great. We started out sight seeing where all good tourists should: at the Mall of America. Australians would be overwhelmed by this place. It is massive. It has a 7 acre theme park in the middle of it for starters! I bought some shoes at Nordstrum Rack (you won’t believe how cheap stuff is here) and Michele bought some clothes.
By the way, be careful to leave those little ‘friends’ at home if you visit:
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We took in the native cuisine of the area (including Johnny Rockets, Famous Dave’s, Olive Garden, California Pizza Kitchen, Starbucks, Bonfire Grill and Ben & Jerrys. Shops have inclued Gap, Barnes and Noble (this leaves Borders in Sydney for dead would you believe it!), Restoration Hardware, Macy’s and ofcourse Pottery Barn. Only Hardware Depot and Circuit City to go and I think we’ve covered off the major attractions.
On a more serious note, we did go for a drive around St Paul and checked out the cathedral, and some of massive houses on Grand Street. Very impressive.
Initial thoughts on the city are that everyone is very polite and helpful. This was the same reaction I had when visiting Vegas a few years back. I know there is a tip-for-good-service culture on the US ofcourse, but it seems to rub off on everyone. We’ve had nothing but warm, friendly vibes from every direction. Yeah, I know it has only been 5 days but that’s my initial impression.
Yesterday I had to get back to work (I can log in remotely from here) and continue working on a proposal for a client. Sadly I spent most of the day getting through my email backlog. I’ve really got to do something about this millstone called email. Its been less than a week and I had 781 emails to get through. A few were spam etc, but when you wade through all the demands on you, there is still a hundred or so emails that need attending to. Tried to attend to most of them, and then dump the rest in Pending folder I guess {g}…
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I worked all day and much of the night getting that under control. Around 1am (Minnesota time) Jackie woke with the inevitable. It was time. Jackie and James headed off to the hospital! It was time for Jackie to go into labour. (Jackie is my wife’s sister in case you missed my earlier posts. We are here primarily to help them with the new baby.)
Btw, here’s a picture of Jemma (our niece) – she’s 2 years 8 months.
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And as I close off this post (at around 4:20pm on Tuesday 21 November) it is with much excitement that I can relay the news that Jackie gave birth to a very healthy boy an hour or two ago. Jemma now has a baby brother named Jack.
