Eastbound & Up

So as I have alluded to previously, dearest Bucket has acquired a mini passport for herself this summer- 2 of the 3 stamps courtesy of Mama's job.  The first was in early June with a week long jaunt to Finland and the second was in late July with a week long trip to London.  I neglected to post about either of these trips for a multi-part reason: 1) well, you see how grossly behind this blog has been and 2) I generally don't post about work.  However, because my job isn't one that historically has required a lot of travel and now that Ryan and I have started this little zoo family, I foresee my travel plummeting for the near future.  I decided that it was okay to post some pictures of some of the extracurricular, non-worky things we did on each trip.  I'll save you the snoozefest that was the purpose of our trips as I assume most of you aren't accountants and thus don't get amped up about things like "spreadsheets," "rates," and "site visits."  I personally was very excited and felt fortunate to be able to go on each trip- I really have some amazing co-workers/bosses.

First up, Finland.  This was my second time to travel to this charming little nordic land.  It was mainly as I remembered it- chalk full of light headed people with a strong affinity for fish and potatoes.  The difference was that this time we went in the summer rather than in the winter.  This meant that the daylight lasted like... all day.  Seriously.  I kept waking up and seeing the sun coming through the curtains of my hotel room and having a mini-panic attack that I'd overslept only to look at the clock and see 4:00 am.  It was weird.  Fate did not mean for me to be Finnish and I'm comfortable with that.  I'll perform narration of our trip through photographic commentary.  Isn't that everyone's favorite anyway?

Because seeing people in PPE never gets old.  The men are definitely rocking it better than yours truly.

 The yard HSE coordinator was a Houston expat and he took us to dinner on this little boat.

I'm looking very travel-worn but this serves as photographic evidence that we indeed ate on a boat.  I had... wait for it... fish.

On another day the same week our awesome expat tour guide took us to lunch at this little place on the water.  The fare?  You guessed it- fish.

Preeeeeeetty jazzed about our fish.  Actually, one night this week the guys took me to Chef Jani's restaurant, Bucco, and it. was. amazing.  I did not eat fish... I ate scallops.  It's too bad I was busy stuffing my face and didn't take any pics.  If you ever find yourself in Pori you should definitely go visit him.

Did you know that Angry Birds was created in Finland?  No?  Then you clearly haven't visited Finland.

The last day of work my boss made us be rebels by stopping off at the Yyteri beach on the way to work.  It took us about 20 mins to find the beach down this rickety walkway clearly not made for a pregnant woman in wedges, but it was well worth it.

On a totally unrelated note, it's hard to get sand out of wedges.

Because Pori is so small, we had to fly to Helsinki, stay the night and then fly out to the states the following morning.  While in Helsinki our last evening, Chef Jani recommended a restaurant for us to go to called Bronda.  It was heavenly.  Like seriously maybe the best meal of my life but certainly top 5.  I'm not a photographer of food, but I'm going to subject you all to these so I never forget it.  I don't remember what much of this was other than delicious though.

Scallops.

Osso bucco and something else that was also amazing.

Dessert.  Equally as out of this world.

While wandering around the city trying to walk off some of our fantastic dinner we happened upon a car show in the middle of the city which apparently takes place the first Friday of each month.  It was funny to me to see so many American cars.  There were lots of 1997ish mustangs like Jen had.  Oddly none of them were headed to Sonic like we usually were though.

Good to know that some of America's obnoxious bumper stickers have made it across the pond.

Old Ford.  That's about as technically savvy as I get when it comes to cars.

Uspenski Cathedral.  We walked by it, I took this picture and had no idea what it was until I just googled it.  #besttouristever

Really awesome old ship.

Everyone else had a beer and pretzel in the United Lounge pre-flight out.  This was my pregnant lady substitute.

Next up- London!  I have also traveled to London a time or two for both work and for fun.  It was just as I remembered it- chalk full of people with intelligent sounding accents, snappy dress socks and a strong affinity for beer.  The difference in this trip was that the office that we were going to visit had changed locations to right by St. Paul's.  So we got to know a new 'hood, which was fun.  Unfortunately the self-proclaimed photographer of our previous trip did not make this one, so I fear that I have less visual proof that this trip took place.  I'll see what I can find in my photostream for you though.

We ate dinner over at the Cinnamon Club one evening and got to walk by Westminster Abbey.  Delish food- highly recommend.

We also went to see Jersey Boys and I took zero pics (who's shocked?)  So I hijacked this one from the interwebs.  It's hard to say whether I enjoyed the performance by the actors or the performance by the several older women in the audience who were singing and dancing in the aisles.  Either way- it was definitely a win in my book.

Here's a view of St. Paul's after walking out the doors of the office we were working from.  Did you know this is where Diana and Charles tied the knot?  My boss' wife did.

My boss and I snuck over here during work hours for the quickest tour ever on the last day we were in town.  Shot of the ceiling.  I wasn't supposed to take this picture.  Please don't report me!

The building in the forefront between the two towers is where we were working.

We climbed all the way to the top.  They put this little hole in the floor at one point just so you can see how quickly your blood pressure can rise.  This is a view of the very bottom floor.

London Eye, the Thames, etc.

View of the office we were working out of from the highest observation deck.

Ta-da!  The front.  We were so lucky to have such gorgeous weather while we were there.

And that, my friends, about sums up the fun touristy parts of my two work trips this summer.  I hope you have enjoyed this short break from my pregnancy catch up tour as much as I enjoyed these jaunts across the pond.  Oh, and OF COURSE, a huge shout out to my Baby Daddy (plus Nonnie & Pawpaw for their assistance) who took such incredible care of our princess for two whole weeks so Mama could play career woman.  Sure I picked her up from school in pajamas one Friday upon my return but overall, he could not have been more successful.  I don't know what I did to get so lucky, but I sure am glad I did it.  Thank you, love!

Pretty amped up about her impromptu jammie day at school.

Melissa's Birthday

Two weekends after we arrived home from our stellar vacation, I finally got over my mourning period and decided to venture to the Big D (and I DO mean Dallas) for my dear former roomie, Melissa's, birthday on May 12th.  My more American Idol-obssessed half had to work and thus I was YOYO (you're on your own- shout out to you Court) for this little road trip.  When you have the Dirty Dancing CD though you're never really alone, are you?  I have to admit that it was nice to do a little travelling that did not require the use of a passport and/or waging war over a cramped airplane arm rest with a male. 

First, a little diatribe on my love for Melissa.  My 5th year of school she was 1 of my 2 incredible roommates.  As you have likely read on here before- when we graduated we all moved to different cities.  Courtney to the Big Apple, Melissa to Big & Rich Dallas and your's truly to the home of SPM (you know my name).  Melissa & I spent almost every waking moment of our last semester in school together because we shared a bathroom, took all the same classes, participated in the same CPA study program and took our CPA exams at the same time. 

Sometimes we shared a little too much.  For instance there was the great SS incident of 2k6 as well as a time when Melissa shared a little bit too much about her workaround methodology for when one of our shared appliances was out of commission.  Yet somehow, I still adore her.  Some might say that it's our mutual love of sushi, coffee, and a good banter sesh that keeps us bonded.  I, however, attribute it solely to the fact that we both have a deep affection for Huang and terribly delivered lines from Ice on Law & Order SVU.  When you share such deep rooted beliefs in life as sentiments regarding TV characters, how could the relationship not be eternal?! 

Enough love session, hmmm?  We don't need anyone's head get any bigger.  Somehow each year for Melissa's birthday I am travelling.  I don't know why or how that happens- it's clearly one of the seven wonders of the world.  This year though I was not and I seized the opportunity to visit for Melissa's birthday which happened to double as a house warming for the new house she and Blake bought when they got married.  Melissa's sweet husband toiled over 94 pounds of crawfish while the rest of us milled about and enjoyed telling old ridiculous stories and creating new ones. 

Melissa and Blake have an absolutely incredible group of family and friends.  It was a very productive day for yours truly as I: 1) learned what you do when you're retired from Scotty P (it sounds a lot like college to me), 2) was introduced to boiled garlic AND pop chips- life changing, 3) planned a future best-seller with Melissa's friend Stevie, 4) tried to help Katie plan an escape route from Mexico and 5) was witness to the greated Whitney dance tribute ever performed by Lauren.  Not too shabby for an evening's work, right?

Obviously I was very busy being productive and took no photos.  The good news is that I have pleeeenty of stock photos of Melissa to include here.  No picture-less posts todaaaaay!  Thank you to the Covingtons for inviting me, feeding me and housing me.  You're lucky I ever decided to leave.  Thank you to all of Melissa & Blake's friends and family for being so much fun.  Happy Birthday Mopelia!

It's getting in huuuuuuuur.

 

If you must cook, you should look good doing it.

 

Little wifely love.  Melissa, Cinnamon disappeared while you were shopping for that belt.

 

Literally the night before we took FAR.  At least if the whole CPA thing hadn't worked out she could be a Where's Waldo aerobics instructor.

 

Did I remember to turn my chi off?

 

Is that a martini strainer or are you just happy to see me?

 

Ohhh, the great layering debacle of 2k6.

 

Whipped it good.

Genev-ing on a Jet Plane

Hello long lost loves of my cyber life!  So it was recently brought to my attention that it's April and I haven't posted at ALL.   Blogger: fail.  I would like to correct that BUT we are currently in the car on our way to the airport to visit the McClain Family Swiss.  (I don't know how to link from my phone app so check out my links to the right.)

I promise upon my return to catch up by posting some pics from Austin's birthday- per usual we are behaving in a completely dignified and adult manner. I can also promise to post way more than you care to see or know about the McMartin clan's travel adventures... So hopefully the allure of upcoming photos of flip cup from Austin's birthday and pictures of Ryan and Jonathan in euro fedoras with their faces smeared in crepe will cause you to find forgiveness in your hearts for my blogging absence. 

A travel guru story for you before I post this bad boy. 

Dad: you should remember to pack all valuables in your carry on.

Me: I don't have any valuables to move.

5 minutes later I took one item out of my suitcase and moved it.  Who got called up to the big leagues?  My chi. Duh. No 80s hair for this lady. 

Okay - you guys be good and promise not to have too much fun while we are gone.  Thank you mom and dad for watching Lola, McClains for hosting us and my incredible boss for letting me take vacation right now.  We are so very lucky!  

Finnish-ing Strong

(Get yourself a snack... this is going to be a long one.)

TUESDAY
On Tuesday morning, our little trio was split up.  Marina stayed behind in London to do Genesis-y things and Ilhan & I set off for the airport to catch a flight to Finland for TOF-y things.  We were slated to fly into Helsinki and then hop a flight to Pori.  Sounds simple enough, doesn't it? 

On the flight from London to Helsinki, I buried my nose in a The Girl Who Played with Fire and thus was completely unaware of my surroundings.   While I was busy trying to unravel the complex maze of Lisbeth Salander's brain, I missed the fact that we arrived into Helsinki 1) to a f'realz snow storm and 2) to a zoo because the kiddos were all out of school for "half term".  (What is half term?  American school children, we may have really missed the boat on this). 

Anywho - based on these 2 things, upon touch down we were already 30 minutes deep into a 1 hour layover.  After getting bused to the terminal and doing some Olympic class run-walking, we arrived to our gate 3 minutes before scheduled take off time to find that... our plane was already gone.  (Insert Nintendo "Game Over" music).  I picture the pilot laughing menacingly at us as he flew off while tapping his fingers together... but that's neither here nor there.

We noted that the next flight to Pori wasn't until nearly midnight, 8 hours after our originally scheduled program.  Upon a quick glance around the airport it became evident that may not be the best option- no matter how interesting it might have been to see how many Karl Frazer duty free chocolates I could eat in an 8 hour time span.  After many calls to the regular Finland fliers at the office, the folks in Pori, and the travel office in addition to a delightful face to face with a Finnair customer service rep- it was determined that taking a bus to Pori would be our best option.  The bus trip was 3 hours which would put us into Pori well before the next flight... and without the chocolate hangover.  Win-win! 

The bus trip actually went remarkably well.  Sure, the stops seemed to be in random parking lots and sure we had to change buses about 1/4th into the trip without realizing it but these are the things that make travel interesting, right?  I enjoyed another few hours of quality time with Lisbeth Salander and Kalle Blomvkist - LOVE those guys! 

Having never taken the bus before, we weren't really sure where it would take us.  Ilhan pulled the "stop" cord when we were across the road from the airport, thankfully.  I'm not sure if that was a true stop or not?  Either way - that rental car was going to be ours.  So we filed out and rolled our suitcases across the icy, snow-covered road as well as the icy, snow-covered parking lot like the professional travel gurus that we are.  Luckily no one was around to watch this journey, or it might be on YouTube now. 

We made it to the entrance to the airport where the automatic doors welcomed us into the warmth and we felt like we had finally made it.  We looked around expectantly to see a welcoming Europcar agent to congratulate us on our feat but found... no one.  Not no one at the Europcar desk but no one in the airport.  Period.  Cool feeling.  Luckily Ilhan found a phone and somehow got a hold of someone.

Miraculuously after finally getting the car (which informed us the temperature was -4 degrees celsius), we made it to the hotel without further issue.  The restaurant attached to the hotel was called "Amarillo" and had a Tex-Mex-y theme.  It's always interesting to see other countries' take on this genre as any Texan knows.  I noted that nearly all the "Mexican" food included pineapples.  Interesting combo burrito there.  I played it safe and had a chicken sandwich and a big beer that were both delicious.  After that we called it a day.  Phew.

Blurry airport picture of Pori.  For some real comic relief, picture Ilhan and I tredging through this with rolling suitcases.

WE MADE IT... wait... where is everyone?

Finnish looks hard.  I think their motto must be... if everyone else uses 3 letters for a word, we'll use 9.  And 6 will be vowels.

I think this is probably the biggest hotel room in Europe period.  Thanks Sokos hotel!

Is that a...? No... it can't be...

Oh yes.  That is most definitely a red rubber duck in an otherwise very starkly decorated bathroom.  Keen eye for decor those Fins have.

WEDNESDAY

It should be noted that this was the first, and only, day of our trip that we did not set foot on an airplane.  In an unrelated story, it may have been my favorite day. 

So Wednesday morning we woke up and headed to the office.  I know that part is boring to hear about and I would usually refrain from sharing details.  However, this day I got to do something really cool that was work-related.  So, like it or not- I'm sharing.

The whole purpose of Ilhan & I going to Finland is because that is where our yard is located... which means that is where the drawings that those crazy** engineers come up with are brought to life.  We were really going to touch base about reporting issues with the Finland team, but it was a special treat to go when I did because we just started our 15th spar, Lucius, in December/January.  Which meant I got to see it!

What is a spar?  In Amy lingo it's the huge thing that goes in the Gulf to drill for the oil.  There are lots of variations of the huge things that go into the Gulf - TLPs and jack-ups, but this one looks the coolest in my humble opinion.  Per wikipedia it is actually a much longer definition than I care to put here... so if you're curious... check it out.

Marko was kind enough to give us a tour of the yard and I got to take lots of pictures.  As you'll see below.  I know it might be hard to understand what is going on with all the highly technical language I use, but just do your best.  It was easily one of the coolest things I've gotten to do for a job and it gave me a lot of pride in my company and the things we do.  It's so cool to see the tangible evidence of all the hard work our engineers put in.  It's also humbling to see how SMART people are.  So much smarter than me.  If it were up to me, we'd be trying to get oil out of the ground with the world's longest straw chain.  I think we can all agree it's best that I stick with the 10 key, huh?

** I can say this because Papa Bear is an engineer.  Thus I have the rights to use it playfully.  It's science.

Ihan & I rocking that PPE (personal protective equipment).  Wearing your hat on the side of your head makes it cooler.  Or maybe it's a sign I didn't know how to adjust it.  I think we'll stick with the former.

Marko, our fearless tour guide, Ilhan & Merja.  Soaking in that knowledge.

Woohoo!

Big crane that moves steel from one side of the hall over to the cutting machine.

Chains that would rival Flava Flav's.

Spar Hall on the left.  This picture doesn't really capture it's massive-ness.

I'm a regular snow bunny.  How lucky is Ryan?!

I believe this is a 1/8th piece of a hull ring.  Please note how many levels of scaffolding there are... and this is only 1/8th of a full ring.

The bending machine.  It bends/shapes the pieces.

Outside where the spar gets assembled and shipped out.  Looks like a carnival to me!  But much safer, obvi.  (Last sentence added for the Safety Department's benefit).

A buoyancy can doing an impression of the Goodyear blimp.  It's a pretttttty good impression if I do say so myself.

Next time you complain about the lighting in your office/cube, remember that you could be working inside this bad boy.

I believe these are 1/4th pieces but they could have been 1/2 pieces of ring pieces.  What I do know is that they are insanely large.

Same piece, different angle.  See the guy in the top left hand corner for scale.

The rest of the day was spent discussing spreadsheets and getting to know our counterparts at TOF.  Don't worry - I didn't take pictures of that.  :c)  For dinner, Ilhan & I ate at the courthouse in a cool restaurant.  It was within walking distance from our hotel, so we got to walk in the snow.  I resisted the urge to make snow angels because something tells me that is not professional behavior.  All in all, this was an awesome day.

Order in the court(house)!  Do you get it?  Because we ate dinner there... so we literally ordered dinner in the courthouse.  KNEESLAPPER!

THURSDAY

On Thursday we woke up and spent the morning at TOF finishing up some reporting discussions (again- no photografias).  Around noon, we headed to the airport to make our return trip to London via Helsinki.  On our way to the airport we tried to stop to fill up the car with gas like excellent rental car patrons.  Surprise, surprise - we could not get either of our cards to work.  After trying unsuccessfully to pay a man in Euro to use his card to fill up our tank at one place and stopping at a second to encounter the same issue, we decided that whatever they charged us to fill up the car the rest of the way was well worth not having to have another conversation in Fin-glish.  Upwards and onwards...

When we arrived to Helsinki there were, of course, more travel tales.  We couldn't get our boarding pass for our flight to London in Pori for some reason that I never did really understand.  We were told to go to the transfer desk in Helsinki to see our customer service friends who would print it for us.  After all, I'm sure they missed us after a 48 hour absence.  Shockingly, our customer service rep friends told us they couldn't print our tickets to the Promiseland and that we'd have to get them at the gate.  Then I couldn't buy chocolate at the duty free store because I didn't have a boarding pass.  You know- usual stuff.

The remainder of the day went off without a hitch... other than having to be manually checked in to the hotel in London because their system was down.  At the end of the day though- we arrived in London and stayed at the Hilton in the airport.  We had the best dinner of the trip at the Asian bistro in the lobby and called it a night. 

I love this diagram - it shows the stats of all 14 spars we have built, in order.  They have it blown up on the wall in the TOF office.  Note the huge link of a mooring chain in the bottom right hand corner on the ground.

It's a tradition to throw a bell out the window at TOF to kick off the manufacture of all the spars we build for Anadarko.

Mantyluoto is where the yard is.  Pori is where we stayed.  Just in case you thought I was making the existence of these locations up, I took a picture of the sign from a gas station.

Looks like a Christmas card, right?

In case you want a Christmas card with some birch trees as well.  While I was taking this picture Ilhan was trying to get someone who spoke only Finnish to help with the gas pump.  Clearly I was very helpful.

Okay, last one- I promise.

So... this is the runway in Pori.  One gate.  One plane at a time.  Lots of snow.

Nakemiin & kiitos (good bye & thanks), Finland! 

FRIDAY

We woke up bright and early and headed back to the U.S. of A.  The travel heavens smiled upon us and we made it back and safely home with no hiccups.  To boot, I finished The Girl Who Played with Fire AND the first Hunger Games book on the flight home.  I highly recommend both!

So that, my friends, was last week for me!  It was such an amazing experience and I feel so fortunate to have gotten to go.  My boss is the best!