Bearcat Football keeps rolling.....

I love San Diego, I was just there in April. There are many great things about the city: the weather, the zoo, most importantly it's the birthplace of my dear friend Ski! Adam didn't get to really enjoy any of those things while he was there, but he did get the most important thing: a victory!

UC football is now 5-0 and ranked #20 in the country. They have their biggest challenge next Saturday against Rutgers. Rutgers was in the top 10, but fell to #21 after loosing to Maryland. The game will be nationally televised on ESPN2 so be sure to check it out.

As part of the success of the team, I have become even more popular at work. Not even people wanting tickets, people generally just want to share their excitement about the team. Although that is the one downside of all this attention. It's great that the games are sold out, but it used to be I could get enough tickets for myself and some friends, however, now I am only guaranteed a ticket for me. If it gets to the point where I can't get a ticket, then we have some issues.

Other than football, I've been keeping busy with work, school, and studying for the series 7. The only good thing about taking on all of this is that Adam is busy with football so I wouldn't be seeing him a lot anyways.

I also wanted to share a cute story about our nephew Luke, who might be the cutest kid ever (of course currently tied with his sister Olivia, and brother Mason). Luke has always been a big fan of his Uncle Adam, he would even call him "da da" when he was a baby. Last week his mom was driving with him past a local high school where they were having football practice and Luke said "I love to tackle Uncle Adam". Apparently the last time we were in Chicago in July they were playing around tackling each other. Apparently Adam is REALLY out of shape now that a 2 year old can tackle him! I'm hoping to get some more video of Luke the next time I see him since he has become a popular feature on the blog....this time no more sideways video!

GO Bearcats!

UC FOOTBALL AP #24!!

Just a quick note, the new Associated Press (AP) college football ranking for this week and Cincinnati is ranked #24 in the country!! This is the first time since 1976 that the Bearcats have been ranked. I attended the game against Marshall last night and will update more about that later. I'm very excited about the recognition the team has received, not only because of Adam but because they players are all very nice as people and I'm glad to see them have some success. The Bearcats travel to San Diego next week to take on the San Diego State Aztecs. The game is on TV but due to west coast time it starts at 10pm for those of us on eastern time.

GO BEARCATS!!

Toulouse and Barcelona

I think I am over my jet-lag and ready to update on my trip. I had a wonderful time abroad, although I missed Adam a lot!

France is a wonderful country because you can get a 1/2 liter of wine for the same price as a soda, really the decision is made for you! The school was about 1 mile from our hotel so we had to walk there but it was a very enjoyable walk. There was an outdoor market every morning on our way there that was a delight to observe.

I will say that some of our lecturers in France were really hard to follow, I don't know if it was a cultural thing or a crazy professor thing. Once professor talked about how French people from the north had clear eyes and people from the south had dark eyes, I'm still trying to figure out what clear eyes are!

The first couple of days were rough because I was still adjusting to the time change as well as the late dinners. I also made the mistake of trying to keep up with my german friend, Juergen on our second night out by trying some new french beer. It was actually pretty good (not as good as the wine though). I realize that Germany is known for their beer for a reason.

Juergen and "Red Dawg" that night

A group of us in the Capital Square in Toulouse

They eat dinner there around 8-9 o'clock and of course you have to check out the nightlife. Our hotel was within walking distance of the main part of town so that was helpful. Most nights we wandered to the main square and just choose a restaurant. I also had crepes a few time because I love them!! Yummy! I also enjoyed baguettes and croissants every day as well.

Yummy baguette!!

The best day in France was our day off when we took the train to Carcassone which is about a 45 minute train ride from Toulouse. They have a wonderful fortress and castle there. I walked to the train station with my friends Julia, Chris, and Pat and was voted the best French speaking representative in our group (which is very scary). I had to go to the ticket booth to purchase our train ticket, it may not have been so bad if I wasn't trying to buy a train ticket at the bus station! Luckily the train station was right next door. As we were walking out the door, we ran into Martin and Verena, some germans who were in our MBA program. Lucky for us, I was relieved of my "best French speaking" duties because Martin speaks french and was responsible for purchasing our train tickets. Carcassone here we come!!

From the outside of the fortress

A view from the top of the fortress

Julia and I in front of the fortress in Carcassone

After spending the day at the fortress, we were ready to back to Toulouse to rest. Unfortunately, when we got to the train station the next train didn't come for awhile. We purchased our tickets and decided to wait in the park near the train station. My friends Julia, Verena, Juergen, and I sat on a park bench together. We passed the time by betting that Juergen couldn't catch a fly. Now most men I know probably would have tried for a little bit but would then grow tired and quit....not Juergen! He spent close to an hour amusing us by trying to catch a fly (just imagine what a person trying to catch a fly looks like from far away to someone who doesn't know what he's doing). He eventually caught not only 1 but 2 flies! It was the best money I ever spent! Next time I think I'll have him try catching flies with chopsticks!

Verena, Julia, and I on our park bench where we watched Juergen catch 2 flies!

The next couple of days were spent going to visit Airbus, learning about the EU, and experiencing French culture by eating baguettes and drinking wine. Julia and I even saw a Frenchman wearing a beret and carrying baguettes! Our trip was complete. The next thing we knew, it was off to Barcelona!

We got to Barcelona around 10pm. At this time, we were starving and tired. We decided to go grab something to eat new our hotel because we were too tired to take the metro anywhere. Our hotel was nice but it was kind of far from everything but the metro stop was close. Everything around our hotel was closed! We were beginning to think that we were never going to find anything but then we finally found a place! I had tapas and sangria! Yummy! Yummy! I had something called bombas....I don't know what was in it but it was very good and I ate a couple of them. The sangria was also really good and not very expensive. I think the restaurant we were at specializes in venison because there were some cured deer legs that you could get a slice from, I decided to stick with my bombas!

The next day we had some time before our first class so we took the double decker hop-on, hop-off bus tour of the city. We only got to see half of the bus line due to time. Barcelona is a beautiful city! It is still a typical big city but I've been to Paris, Vienna, St. Petersburg, and Barcelona is definitely ranked up there as being a beautiful city. The buildings have beautiful architecture and the hills and water front definitely add to its beauty. I won't bore you all this the 100s of pictures I took of buildings, but here is one I particularly enjoyed!

I forget what this building is, but it's pretty!

Our lecturer in class was another odd one. I'm not really sure what we were suppose to learn, but we definitely didn' t learn it. After class, Julia and I went shopping down the big shopping street in Barcelona. I was really excited to shop there and thought I would find great gifts for my mom and sister. There really wasn't a lot of items there and all the vendors were selling the same thing. If my sister wanted a chicken in a cage or a turtle or a sketch of Penelope Cruz, then I would be in luck.

Julia and I walked all the way down to the waterfront. While we were there, we looked for some yummy places to go eat and then decided to take the metro back to the hotel. The only problem was that we couldn't find the metro. We had a map and according to the map, we were in the right area, but we wandered around for awhile looking for the stop. Finally I saw the tiny sign hidden behind construction equipment.

By the time we got back to the hotel, it was late so everyone else was already gone for dinner so Julia and I got ready and enjoyed a relaxing dinner along the waterfront with just the two of us. Very romantic, I know.

The next day was full of company visits to LaCoste and Mango (both clothing companies) and had a lecture about team management in Spain. The LaCoste visit was interesting, they put a lot of work into their product but I will don't plan on paying $70 for a polo shirt.

We had a little bit of a break so we took the metro to see La Sagrada Familia (The Holy Family), this beautiful cathedral designed by Antoni Gaudi. It was under construction but you could still tell it was a beautiful church with amazing detail.

La Sagrada Familia

The lecture on team management was actually more of an exercise. We were given a case and told to discuss how managers in north america would resolve it and how managers in Spain would resolve it. After that, we were going to be chosen at random to play roles of the people in the case and resolve the problem. The first group would be managers from north america and the second group was managers from Spain. You may be wondering how mangers from Spain resolve problems....well don't ask me because I don't know! Lucky me though, got chosen to represent the general manager for the Spain team. Did I mention that the Professor video taped the discussion and made us watch it and plans on showing other classes. I look like an idiot because I have no idea what I'm doing and the video is probably already on You Tube or something also.

Later on that night I was kind of in a cranky mood because all week long there has been a group of about 13 people traveling to dinner together. It is a headache to try and coordinate that many people. A few of us (about 5) planned to try and get together to go out to dinner without everyone else coming. I didn't dislike anyone in the group (although I did enjoy some more than others), but trying to make that many people happy had grown weary on me. We were planning on avoiding the lobby and taking the back stairs, but we didn't follow through on our plan and when I can down to the lobby the group was there asking "where are we going?"

I'm normally a nice, "the more the merrier" type person, but after a week of playing cruise director I was spent (Woody and Ski---flashback to me in Cancun). I was not happy and it was definitely showing. It ended up okay because we kind of split off anyways and agreed to meet somewhere for drinks later. This probably would have worked out better if we had cell phones to coordinate with, but we all ended up back at the hotel bar for a couple of drinks together.

Our last day in Spain was spent visiting Freixenet, a sparkling wine company. It was a good visit and we got to see the plant and, of course, had some samples! I was going to bring some bottles home with me but an American couple on our tour said that we could get the bottles back in the states so we bought bottles but drank them in our hotel room before we went out to dinner that night. It was very good. I think I should drink sparkling wine more often!

Julia and I sample the sparkling wine

Our last lecture got cancelled so some friends and I were going to go shopping since I hadn't found anything yet for my mom and sister. We went to a big shopping that we drove past on our bus tour and all the shops were closed! Darn siestas!! We ended up walking to the art museum and around the Olympic complex where the 1992 Olympic games were held. They did a beautiful job using both new and old facilities to host the games. I was especially thankful for the escalators they installed to get up the hill. Gracias Barcelona!!

Julia, Pat, and I in front of the art museum wondering where our friend Amir is?

Me at the site of the 1992 Olympic track competition

The next morning it was back to the U.S.! It was a wonderful trip, I learned a lot and had a good time but I missed Adam and am glad to be home with him.

Back from Toulouse and Barcelona

Hi everyone! I am back from Barcelona and Toulouse! I had a wonderful trip but I am glad to be back home. I'll write more later because I have some stuff to get done there first (mainly getting my photos ready). While I was gone, I see that the Bearcat football team kept Coach Kelly undefeated at UC by beating both Oregon State and Miami (OH) severely!

Also, a great milestone occured while I was gone. Adam cleaned the bathroom, remembered to change the sheets on the bed and the towels and even......did laundry!! It took a lot of training, but I think he has come a long way. I'm so proud of him!

Check back in this week and I have something posted about my trip as well as some photos.

Roger Federer and James Blake

Some of you may know that I have a slight crush on tennis player Roger Federer. There is an ATP tournament here in Cincinnati that all the big name players have to participate in order to maintain their rankings. I bought tickets to the championship match with the hopes that Federer would be in it (some of the matches are during the weekday so those were out). It's normally a good guess that if Federer is entered in a tournament, that he will be playing in the championship. I was really excited about the matchup between him and American James Blake (he's the second highest ranked american player behind Roddick). Even though I enjoy Federer, I was still cheering for Blake since he's american.

My tickets were not so great, but really the facility here is great and there really aren't any bad seats. I went with Adam's friend Maria, who also enjoys tennis. We watched the Bryan brothers play in the doubles match (they are Maria's secret boyfriends). Maria's parents happened to also be at the match, and were in a suite. They had a couple of extra seats, so Maria and I got to move and watch the game from up close. I had a really good time and was very excited to see Federer up close. Although the match was not as good as I had hoped (Blake, like those before him, had a great tournament but stumbled once he faced Federer). It was still a good time. Enjoy the photos!

Luke's Greatest Hits Vol. 2 & Oliva, goddess of the Dance

Another video of Luke singing....this time he incorporates some dance moves! Again, I'm sorry the video is sideways, I will do better next time! I still think it's enjoyable to watch

Olivia is not going to be out performed by her brother! She displays her singing and dancing talent...again, sideways. If anyone has seen home videos taken by my father, then you would not be surprised at my lack of video taking skills

Luke's Greatest Hits Volume 1

Below if a video of my nephew Luke. He loves to sing and his Uncle Adam and Aunt Michelle love to hear him sing! I know the video is sideways, I took the footage sideways on my digital camer and I have spent hours trying to figure out how to flip it. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to share! It took me awhile to convert the file code to one that would even play on the computer. To enjoy, just tilt your head or laptop screen.

My first blog

So, I never thought I would have time to do a blog. However, I have recently become obsessed with reading my friend, Allie's (aka Ski) blog so I decided to give my friends and family something else to do to procrastinate. It will also come in handy to provide updates on what Adam is doing during football season since it is difficult to get a hold of him this time of year.

You will be happy to know that UC won their first game of the season versus Southeast Missouri State 59-3. Overall the team played well, but there are definately some areas to work on before playing Oregon State next week. The game next week, Sept. 6th is nationally televised on either ESPN or ESPN2. Unfortunately, it will be on the same time as the Colts-Saints game as well (Go Colts!!) I will not be watching either game because I will be in France for a 10 day study abroad for grad school. I'm sure I will have lots to post next time.

I took my german friends to their first american football game last week (they are in the mba program with me, although they are full time but we have some overlapping classes). My friend greatly enjoyed the cheerleaders because they don't have them at german sporting events. He took as many pictures of them as he did of the football game. I never realized how confusing of a sport football can be when you have no idea of the rules or objective.

I'm enjoying my new job at Fidelity and have started preparing for my Series 7 exam on Nov. 9th so if you don't hear a lot from me then, it would because I'm crazy and trying to balance work, grad school, and series 7. I guess it is better to do it now during football season when I don't get to see Adam a lot anyways.