Mad few weeks coming up.

I have a crazy few weeks coming up.

We are in the last half of what looks to be our last release with our current client. We have had the luxury of being in the ThoughtWorks Chicago office for most of the engagement since February. So we're taking a trip to Kansas City tomorrow to show our faces and then most likely will be spending the first week of August there too. Goodness knows what project and in what city I will be working out of after mid August!

Tim is playing the the World Series of Poker in Las Vegas this weekend, (so proud....). He is leaving for there on Wednesday night. I'll be following him on Friday, once I've got back form KCMO on Thursday. I
I've never been to Vegas, so I'm pretty excited. Although not so much about the heat down there. 40 degrees celsius on a a good day. We have some friends joining us down there, so if Tim's still playing at least I'll have some people to keep me company.

I'll be heading back to Chicago on Sunday, Tim may or may not be with me depending if he's still in the tournament or not.

Then on Wednesday night we fly out to the UK!!!! So so so very excited. It's the first time i've attempted a long weekend to the UK, so we'll see how I survive! It's my cousin Amy's wedding on the Saturday, so it'll be great to see all my family at once. Unsurprisingly I already have my eating itinerary all planned out. Fish and Chips, BBQ and surfing on the beach, roast dinner and a good few pints down in the local pub. Can't wait to be back!

The rest of the summer is shaping up to be pretty cool too. In mid August Tim and I are going back to Canada to visit his family, go to one of this friends' wedding and dropping in on everyone in Calgary. then in September I'll be catching up with Miss Danielle Topping in NYC for a girly weekend. It's a tough life ;-), no really it is......

It feels weird posting without any pictures so here are some that I took last night at a friends house for their 4th July celebration up on the roof of their place, and some others from this summer.

San Francisco - Anne's Birthday Trip May 2010

For my birthday this year Tim and I headed out to the west coast, to San Francisco. 

We flew out during the day on Friday, it was actually quite nice not to just rush from work to the airport on Thursday night like we normally would for a long weekend, but its does mean you lose most of that day, however we were much more relaxed!

We were staying at The Clift, a hotel that I had found on my latest obsession www.jetsetter.com. Turned out well. We were a few block from Union Square and the Trolleys. Once we got in we set off in hunt of some food for a picnic lunch the next day. We used the Trolleys, which although are a tourist trap and actually pretty handy to get around. We bought 3 day passes which turned out to be pretty worth the money. 

Those trolleys are mad, there is a poor brake guy with and actual giant lever on the back of the trolley, and is the only thing stopping you from flying down the super steep San Francisco hills. Rather him than me. We hopped off near China Town and wandered towards the Italian area, where we found lunch for the next day and a lovely bistro/cafe to sit in the sun and watch the world go by. Good espresso too.

Saturday (birthday day) was jam packed. We took the trolley down to Fisherman's wharf. I love being down by the sea, hanging out with boats and seafood is one of my favourite pastimes. We watched them turn around the trolley at the end of the track, amazing that they still just do it by hand, and then headed off towards the Golden Gate bridge for our picnic. It was an irritatingly hazy day (as I'm told it often is in San Fran), so we couldn't quite see the top of the bridge, but it was awesome to see it anyways.

After the trek there and back we went for a quick walk through Fisherman's wharf, lots of yummy looking crab and seafood stands. And of course the pier 39 Sealions.

We then jumped on the Ferry to Alcatraz Island. There is a great audio tour around the old prison island. It's amazing to imagine what it would of been like to of been there, both as a prisoner or as a guard or their family. You can even hear to sounds from the city from the Island, must of been tortuous on its own. There's a great view of the city from the ferry and from the island. We returned back to the hotel to discover we both were seriously sunburnt.... you would of thought we'd learnt by now. We met a bunch of Thoughtworkers that Tim and I are friends with for a birthday dinner. Awesome to see everyone again, and also to meet new people that I'd heard an awful lot about.

On Sunday I decided that I hadn't eaten enough of the seafood at Fisherman's Wharf so we headed back there for lunch in the Ferry Building. Really good fresh crab cakes and shrimp sandwiches. We then met up with Ian and Suzi and headed towards the Haight district. Forgetting that it was the Bay to Breakers fun run that day, the place was a mad house. Definitely a time to see the more erm eccentric side of San Francisco.

 We had a lovely time in San Francisco. A great place for eating! We didn't go to the Wine Country on this trip as we thought it would be too rushed, so I'm definitely looking forwards to that someday in the not too distant future hopefully.

Baconfest Chicago 2010

See the main website for Baconfest Chicago 2010 here.

Tickets were sold out within the first day of sale, the very first Baconfest came to Chicago in April. I was sat in Atlanta airport waiting for my flight back to Chicago in February and I got a text from Tim saying "Fancy going to a Baconfest in April?" my reply was "You really need to ask?! I'm in." We love bacon.

Our friend Steve had been to a preliminary  run in the Fall at The Publican. They asked a bunch of guest chefs to cooks a bacon-oriented dish and it was up to the audience to taste and judge the best. It was such a success they organised a fully fledged Baconfest for the spring.

For $45, you could choose from the morning shift (11am to 2pm) or the afternoon shift (3pm to 6pm). There would be 12 chefs from local restaurants, with their bacon-inspired dishes. You also got a goody bag, drink tickets and access to the downstairs vendor area.

Some sample dishes:
Bacon Tacos with Ramp salsa and truffle cabbage - The Primehouse.

Vanilla Bacon Icecream with Ahi Amarillo caramel and a Curry Bacon Crumble (YES! Bacon icecream!) - Chalkboard

Spring Pea Bacon and Pecorino Salad - The Purple Pig  (one of my favourites)

Pork Belly Frisee Salad with Soft Boiled Quail Egg - Balsan (this WAS my favourite)

Bacon snickers Bar and Bacon Cappuccino - Atwood Cafe. (By all accounts this was really good, but they'd run out by the time we got there :()

At the bar there was:

Bloody Mary - with bacon in it...

And... Bacon Vodka Milkshake...

There was a vendor selling area downstairs. I never realised that Bacon could be put into so many things...
Bacon flavoured popcorn, chocolate covered bacon, bacon cupcakes.... to name just a few. There was also an awesome array of bacon-inspired board games, jewelry (?!) and action figures.

There were a few die-hard bacon fans sporting some awesome t-shirts too:

For the first few dishes I said "This is genius, and a bargain.....". Tell you what, after all of that I was feeling pretty yuk. When you walked into the room there was literally a wall of bacon fat air that hit you... So lack of air was a bit of a downfall. It would be awesome if it was outside next year in a street vendor style. Also, I didn't even get to try everything as lots of the chefs had run out of their dish pretty quickly. But, for the first year, it was an awesome experience. Sign me up for next year!

Spring Skiing at Park City, Utah

We managed to get away for a final weekend of skiing before the season is over for the year. Yay!

We took off Friday and Monday and headed to Park City. Amazingly easy to get to. A three hour direct flight from Chicago to Salt Lake City and then a 40min drive up to the base of the ski hill. Added bonus was that Ryan and his now fiancee Helen were instructing at next door Deer Valley. Ryan, George and I shared a house together in New Zealand one season when we were all ski instructing. So it was great to catch up with them.

We were staying at Park City Mountain Resort in a little condo right at the base of the ski lifts. Tim was brave enough to let me help him learn to ski too so that was really awesome. After a few runs on bunny hill we were up and about exploring the mountain. There are some really good progressive greens meaning that even beginners are able to explore the mountain and not be confined to one or two runs. By the end of the three days Tim was pretty much parallel turning, yay!

The snow was surprisingly good for  end of March. I was expecting slushy, patchy spring snow, but what I got was fresh powder and some beautifully groomed solid snow. It was pretty quiet there too, no lift queues and there were many times when I went of skiing by myself, leaving Tim with a pint, where I was the only person on the run. Georgeanna and Tycoon were my favourite runs so far.

The facilities are great, lots of on mountain places to stop and eat or get a drink, good rental equipment for Tim. What I love about skiing in North America is its all about the "Customer Experience". People scrambling over you to help. 

We also spent a day at next door resort Deer Valley. Which is where Ryan and Helen work. Now that place is like a parallel skiing universe. I read a really entertaining article about it, which pretty much sums it up. http://www.deervalley.com/about/ski-magazine-deer-valley-goes-extreme.html

It's all about the Customer here. There are gourmet restaurants all over the slopes. Amazing dreamlike mountain lodges and gold taps in the bathrooms. Normally you walk into the public toilets at a ski resorts, and people are sweaty from skiing, kids have runny noses and it smells a bit funny. At Deer Valley there was one woman in there with GOLD Gucci ski pants and another doing her lipgloss. Nuff said.

The town of Park City was also really lovely. An old mining town, there was a great vibe and some good grub. There's a handy free shuttle bus that goes between all the ski resorts and the town. We had a really lovely time and I would definitely go there again.... next season...

I am so happy when I'm on top of a mountain. It was great to get away for the weekend, really felt like my blood doesn't go round properly unless I'm on snow.

Norah Jones Concert

I got to see Norah Jones in concert at the iconic Chicago Theatre last month.

I wasn't sure what to expect, and was worried that as her music is quite downbeat it would be hard to sit and watch it for a couple of hours, but I really enjoyed it. Tim fell asleep, granted, but we had just had a lovely dinner at Cibo Matto and a few glasses of wine.

It was amazing to see someone who's music I have listened to and played for such a long time. From what I've read she has had quite a transformation in her performing style. Supposedly when she first started performing years ago she just hid behind the piano and didn't say much. Now, however she was up and about the stage, playing a guitar and singing. She seemed to have a real sense of humour and lots of banter with the audience. She also had some very nice shoes...and a truly gorgeous voice.

The Chicago Theatre is amazing inside. Giant chandeliers, red velvet everywhere. I felt as if I had gone back to another era and should have an evening gown on and be dripping in diamonds, perhaps with one of those long cigarette holders. The seating is very high and steep so you get a great view from everywhere, a great intimate feel for a concert venue.

St Patrick's Day in Chicago

I should say St Patrick's Day weekend.... I'm not sure many people in Chicago actually know that St Patrick's Day is on the 17th March every year and is on a Wednesday not the Saturday that all the celebrations are on.

Anyways.... The city goes crazy. Everyone is Irish. Or Chi-rish as they like to call themselves. Now obviously I guess having lived in Belfast for 3 years I have a different view of St Paddy's day celebrations than your average American, but still.... you are not Irish if a distant five times removed relative knew someone who was Irish. So there.

I ventured out on an appropriately soggy Saturday to see what all the fuss was about, and specifically to see the river dyed green. Yes, you heard right, they fill the river with green dye.. apparently it was the mayor's idea.

Literally everyone in Chicago is wearing leprechaun green and it's next to impossible to get into a pub. Everyone also seemed hammered and it was only 11am. They also have a parade in Grant Park, which I only caught the tail end of.

Either way it's quite the spectacle and probably worth seeing if you are in the area on St Paddy's Day. http://www.chicagostpatsparade.com/

New City - New Client

I have finally experienced what it's really like to be a consultant.... travel!

For the first 6 weeks of my current client H&R Block I was travelling between their head quarters in Kansas City, Missouri and one of our ThoughtWorks offices, Atlanta. You really feel the grind, and your short weekends at home become very precious.


The view from the TW Atlanta office


It's the smallest team that I've been a part of, just 4 of us. 1 client principal/project manager and 3 devs. Although quite daunting at first to be in such a small team, it also allowed me to shine, and to play a few different roles. Developer / Business Analyst / Quality Assurance depending on the hour.




The Hilton President in KC, viewed from the HR Block HQ


The whole project was a short 6 weeks, at times frustrating we definitely delivered what we and they wanted.

I have now transitioned onto another team with the same client. This time we're based in Chicago. Yay! It's great to actually spend some time in Chicago and I'm more than happy to be able to spend more time with Tim. Hoping to be able to make some proper friends here too.

A gorgeous evening in Chicago, from our space in the TW Chicago office


The team is larger and fully staffed with all roles, and much more rigorous agile. I'm getting the chance to work with some awesome people. Always takes a bit of time for me to find my place in a new team, but hopefully I'm getting there. Should be an exciting project!