Tracey

Brazil - still here! Day 4/21

lady_bird — Wed, 25 Oct 2023 17:00:00 GMT

I'm really enjoying everything about this experience so far and I'm so glad for the opportunity and the ability to be here!

I worked my half day from the hotel yesterday, and it was lovely! There's a pretty good setup in the room with a desk, pull out shelf for a better keyboard height, and a wired Internet connection that is free and was plenty fast! I made a couple of trips down to the lobby for coffee and it was nice to have an excuse to go for a walk like that! I worked until about 1pm to line up with noon back home which is when my half day usually ends. Once I was logged out, I went down to the front desk to extend our stay another week. There will be someone else from the Peterborough site joining us next week, so we'll stay at the hotel where we have been for an additional week and figure out a plan for after that. It sounds like this is getting to be the busy season down here, so accommmodations will be harder to come by. Already they are almost fully booked for next week.

I also had picked up some items from the breakfast buffet to bring up to the room for lunch. I wound up with a charcuterie style spread with some meats, cheeses, crackers and a pear. Not too shabby (for free!)

I headed down to the gym and pool area after that. I got on the treadmill and went for about a 4km walk while watching Love Is Blind on Netflix using my phone. What a guilty pleasure! At least walking on the treadmill while I watch makes it feel like a productive use of time! LOL I then did a 40 min yoga video from YouTube. I had the gym to myself, which was nice. Early in the morning and in the evenings it is PACKED in there! While I was walking on the treadmill, I had noticed a yellow sign on the first stair into the pool that said it was closed. I was too far away to see the reason, but I was disappointed because I'd hoped for a swim and some time by the pool when I was done in the gym area. By the time I was done my yoga though, the sign had been removed so I put on my bathing suit and headed out. The water was so warm, and also refreshing at the same time. It was 39C/102F here yesterday, and full sun! I got out of the water and hung out in a lounger in partial sun (so it was on my legs but not my face/chest where I tend to burn) and read for about 30 min. Once I was dry, it was getting uncomfortably warm, so I headed back up to the room to shower. By this time, it was around 4pm. Dan, Chris & Steve left the factory and headed back to the hotel shortly after 5pm.

We were meeting a bigger group for dinner last night, there are other employees from out of town (one from Monterrey, Mexico and one from Houston, Texas). They joined us as well as a few additional employees from the offices at the factory. We went to Braz Pizzeria which was also nice and close to the hotel for us. There wound up being 12 of us in the group, and we didn't meet until 7:30pm so it was an extended meal for sure. It was close to 11:00pm before we left the restaurant! It was really enjoyable though! Lots of rounds of beer (an Italian Soda for me), lots of laughs, lots of pizza (and a Caprese Salad for me). I met lots of new people and for once wasn't the only woman at the table! The employee from Monterrey Mexico is a woman as well.

Speaking of which, working in the offices for the factory here it's nice to see so many women. I feel like it's almost 50/50 here, where it's closer to 20% in Peterborough. Mind you, I'm just sitting in one area, there are several other office areas that I haven't been through yet and I suspect Engineering would be male dominated for sure.

It sounds like we'll be going for lunch with more of the Engineering team today, not eating in the cafeteria. Then tonight, they will be taking us to a traditional Brazalian BBQ restaurant which I'm really looking forward to experiencing! I've heard so many good things from co-workers who have been here to Brazil before.
Update: We went for lunch, it was super cool! It was an open air restaurant on the water. It had a salad bar, and then a wood fired hot food station with all kinds of meats, grilled vegetables and savoury pastries. You get a plate, load it up and pay by weight. I'll try and do a post in a bit with a bunch of photos, I'll have to do it later (maybe tomorrow) from my personal laptop. I can't upload anything to the Internet from my work laptop.

We're working on plans for this weekend, we're hoping to do some exploring in the Campinas area where we are. There is a free zoo in walking distance. Dan went there on Sunday with Chris & Steve while I napped but he said I'd really enjoy it. There also was a craft market just closing down when he was there, so we'll make sure we go in time to peruse it as well. We also need to do some laundry, and do want to pay the fees for the hotel to do it for us so I found a laundromat a 10 min walk from the hotel that we'll also take advantage of. I'm also doing some research into a tour of a coffee estate/plantation/farm (I've seen it called all of those terms) because how cool would that be? It's supposed to rain a lot the next few days and into the weekend, and I saw through the hotel's website that there is a 3.5 hour train tour that we can do, which would be a cool way to see more of the countryside and who knows, maybe some other citites? That's as far as I got into researching that. More work to do tomorrow.

Let's celebrate! My blog is 21 years old

lady_bird — Fri, 12 Aug 2022 19:38:21 GMT

Friends Only

lady_bird — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 16:32:30 GMT

My LJ is friends only, but I'm always open to adding new friends! Leave me a comment and I will add you back!

LJ 18th anniversary

lady_bird — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 17:38:34 GMT

This blew my mind just a little bit...

#mylivejournal #lj18 #happybirthday

Friends Only

lady_bird — Wed, 30 Jan 2013 16:51:01 GMT

My LJ is Friends Only. Comment though, and I will gladly add you! I love making new friends. :)

I love my LunaPads!

lady_bird — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 17:17:15 GMT

I know I haven't talked about these in a while, so I thought I would. I've been using cloth menstrual pads for about 3.5 years now and I totally love them! I originally switched for environmental and comfort reasons, and I've stuck with them for the same. They are so much more comfortable than disposables and it feels really good to not be throwing my pads out too! I just found this video, and thought I'd share it with you guys. I'm fully open to answering any questions you might have too, ask away!

30 Day Meme: Day 04 – What You Ate Today

lady_bird — Sat, 14 Aug 2010 00:42:43 GMT

Day 01 – Introduce yourself
Day 02 – Your first love, in great detail
Day 03 - Your parents, in great detail

I had breakfast on the go this morning because I spent the morning running errands. So, I went to Tim Horton's. Toasted cheddar cheese bagel with cream cheese and an large Earl Grey tea with milk & 2 splenda (bag out). I ate the bagel in the car and drank my tea while getting a pedicure.
For lunch, I took a friend out for her birthday. I let her choose the location, so we went for fish & chips. I don't particularly like french fries, so I got my fish with rice and coleslaw. It was awesome!! I had it with a glass of water.
I had a snack when I got home, some stoned wheat thin crackers with light cream cheese. To drink I had a Crystal Light.
Dinner was home made pizza. Whole wheat dough from the freezer (made in the bread maker a couple months ago). Tomato sauce, mushrooms, pepperoni & mozzarella cheese. To drink we split a club soda & peach juice combo.
I was craving some dessert, so I had some peanut butter off of a spoon. Yum!
I'll also have a glass of milk before bed, I do that just about every night.

Day 05 – Your definition of love, in great detail
Day 06 – Your day, in great detail
Day 07 – Your best friend, in great detail
Day 08 – A moment, in great detail
Day 09 – Your beliefs, in great detail
Day 10 – What you wore today, in great detail
Day 11 – Your siblings, in great detail
Day 12 – What’s in your bag, in great detail
Day 13 – This week, in great detail
Day 14 – What you wore today, in great detail
Day 15 – Your dreams, in great detail
Day 16 – Your first kiss, in great detail
Day 17 – Your favorite memory, in great detail
Day 18 – Your favorite birthday, in great detail
Day 19 – Something you regret, in great detail
Day 20 – This month, in great detail
Day 21 – Another moment, in great detail
Day 22 – Something that upsets you, in great detail
Day 23 – Something that makes you feel better, in great detail
Day 24 – Something that makes you cry, in great detail
Day 25 – A first, in great detail
Day 26 – Your fears, in great detail
Day 27 – Your favorite place, in great detail
Day 28 – Something that you miss, in great detail
Day 29 – Your aspirations, in great detail
Day 30 – One last moment, in great detail

Yay!

lady_bird — Tue, 11 May 2010 17:03:19 GMT

Back from the dentist and he was cool with not freezing me first. I really had to convince him I'd be okay, and would let him know if I wasn't...but I was and it went fine. Now if I could only get the taste out of my mouth...yuck!

V-Gift

lady_bird — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 18:04:32 GMT

Someone just sent me some very lovely tulips!! Check 'em out. They were sent anonymously, so thank you to whoever sent them. You brightened up my day! :)

Birthday Wishes

lady_bird — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 14:28:47 GMT

To my wicked cool cousin poeji

Deerhurst Pictures

lady_bird — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:59:55 GMT

The rest of our weekend at Deerhurst was a blast! We went snow tubing in the afternoon and had so much fun, I'm glad we went. We were tempted to just stay in our room and watch the olympics, but we made ourselves go out in the end. Then we got to the hill and it looked so steep and icy that we almost chickened out. A nice lady told me it was fun and not as bad as it looked. So I went, and I loved it and went down 3 more times the last on a double tube with Dan. The haul back up the hill was brutal, but the ride down made it worth it!

Me with my ski gear

Strap skis on. Check.

Dan had the camera the whole time, so I didn't get any shots of him on his skis. He took a bunch of pictures along his ski though, and from the lookout point. Looks like it was beautiful up there!

That's all of Deerhurst.

Now onto the snow tubing.

That's me on my tube at the top of the hill. I'm kind of in the middle, you can see my blue pants with the yellow stripe and my white hat. You can see in this shot how steep and icy the hill is!! The nice man in the white coat gave me a push to get started, I think I'm actually leaned back asking him to do just that in this shot.

There I go!! Not the best pic, as the automatic lens cover got stuck half open, but you get the idea.

This was my second run, not quite as scary, more thumbs up worthy. ;)

Dan's was too!

Heading back up with my tube. It was heavier than it looked!!

Dan got unlucky, his didn't have a tow rope!

Some crazy people going down in a group of 5!! They went again later as 10 with two in each tube. They were nuts!

This was our last run. We had the two tubes that were tied together, so we went for it!

I couldn't stop laughing this run. I could tell how perfectly the camera was lined up, I was impressed with Dan's self-shot ability!!

On the straight away

I passed Dan and pulled him with me!

Opening Ceremonies

lady_bird — Sat, 13 Feb 2010 03:16:14 GMT

Wow...that is an absolute MOB of Canadian olympic athletes!!!

Edit: Seriously Nellie Furtado? That is the most appropriate dress/shoe combination you could come up with? Hmm...

Pay Off TV? Check!

lady_bird — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:31:06 GMT

I went to The Brick at lunch today and paid off our TV. The gift certificates from GE covered $600 of it, Dan's grandma gave us $200 for Christmas so I dug 12c out of my wallet. I'd say the TV was well worth 12c! :D

Happy Birthday

lady_bird — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:54:52 GMT

Happy Birthday Julie!

Happy Birthday to my beautiful, caring and best friend bellajellybean!! I hope you have a fantastic day today and are looking forward to your celebration with me on Saturday! (I know I am!) :D

Another Christmas Party Photo

lady_bird — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 15:04:18 GMT

From my company party on Saturday night.

Seriously....Only In Peterborough!

lady_bird — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 14:37:11 GMT

This is how effed up my town is. For real. Click the link!

GE Christmas Party

lady_bird — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 02:19:06 GMT

Here's Dan & I before the Christmas party on Friday night. Julie took our picture once we were all ready to head out. We kept with the tradition of getting ready at her house, since the party is always on a Friday night. Expect to see repeat outfits in a couple of weeks for my company Christmas party too!

lady_bird — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 19:34:27 GMT

Any of you guys use feeds successfully/regularly on your LJs? Anyone want to help me figure out how to add some to mine?
Thanks!!

My Zenni Glasses Arrived!!

lady_bird — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 19:16:46 GMT

And I love them all!!

lady_bird — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 20:11:04 GMT

1. FIRST NAME: Tracey
2. AGE: 29
3. LOCATION: Bailieboro, Ontario, Canada
4. OCCUPATION: Office Administrator. I work in the service department at a company that makes big steel drilling machines. We install these machines all over the world, and they call in here when they have issues. I give the call to the appropriate tech to troubleshoot and failing that I make travel arrangements to send a tech to site. I also am the receptionist here, and do all kinds of filing/reports and other basic office type stuff.
5. PARTNER: Dan. We've been together almost 13 years and married very nearly 6. He's an Engineer at GE Canada. He's currently working on a prototype for a wind turbine.
6 KIDS: Not yet...working on that though. Hopefully 2-3 though and close together in age as well. I'd settle just for one to start though, I never though that would be this difficult!!
7. SIBLINGS: I have one brother named Jody. He's 18 months younger than me and lives in Ottawa, which is about a 3 hour drive from here. Is about to become a dad any day now. I also had a half brother Scott who I met for the first time when I was about 20. He was my dad's from a previous marriage that I also had no idea existed. I knew Scott for about 2 years before he died from brain cancer.
8. PETS: 2 cats. Nano & Pico. They are almost 6 years old and are sisters from the same litter. They are farm cats from Dan's parents house.
9. WHERE AND FOR WHAT DID YOU GO TO SCHOOL?: This gets kind of complicated. I went to Nipissing University in North Bay for 2 years in the teaching program. Decided that wasn't for me, and moved closer to home and attended Durham College for Office Administration. Much better fit although I am technically still one credit short of actually having that diploma. I've also done some night school courses in various Microsoft Office programs. I hope to some day actually have a piece of paper that says I've graduated from something other than high school. I will likely finish something off while I'm home raising kids.
10. PARENTS: My Mom and Dad are Jane & Gary. They've been married for 33 years I believe. They retired and moved back to my mom's hometown of North Bay just over 6 years ago. They are planning to move closer to me (North Bay is about 4 hours away) once my grandparents both pass on and no longer need my parents in North Bay. Probably a few years down the road still.
11. HOBBIES: I enjoy knitting (although am currently on a break from it because it was causing problems in my wrist), cross stitching, cooking, reading, being online and watching movies.

Hmm...

lady_bird — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:52:28 GMT

Combining "no problem" with "you're welcome" on the phone comes out "your problem". Note to self...choose one of the two in future!

Couples Survey

lady_bird — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 15:27:56 GMT

Stolen from killrwhale

♥ What are your middle names?
Dawn & Owen

♥ How long have you been together?
13 years this December

♥ How long did you know each other before you started dating?
4 years

♥ Who asked who out?
I asked him out. It was to a high school semi-formal. I was pretty sure he was going to ask me (all our friends had just told him I liked him) but I'd been out for a bit because I'd had surgery, so I thought he might not ask because I might not be up to going. I'm glad I asked him when I did too, because another girl asked him out the next day and he tells me he would have said yes to her too!

♥ How old are each of you?
We're both 29, we'll both be 30 this fall.

♥ Did you go to the same school?
Yes, from grade 7 up.

♥ Who is the smartest?
Dan's more book smart, I'm more intuitively smart.

♥ Who is the most sensitive?
Definitely me

♥ Where do you eat out most as a couple?
We hardly ever eat out...um...the most would probably be East Side Mario's, because I keep winning gift certificates for there!

♥ Where is the furthest you two have traveled together as a couple?
I had to look at a map to see which place is actually furthest from here: Rome

♥ Who has the craziest exes?
I guess I do, I have one and he has none. Mine wasn't really crazy though...

♥ Who does the cooking?
I do

♥ Who is more social?
I am.

♥ Who is the neat-freak?
Him

♥ Who is the most stubborn?
He is

♥ Who hogs the bed?
Me

♥ Who wakes up earlier?
He does.

♥ Where was your first date?
The high school semi-formal

♥ Who has the bigger family?
He has a bigger immediate family, he's the oldest of 5 kids.

♥ How do you spend the holidays?
The holiday day itself is spent with my family and we usually see his at some point around the general area of the holiday. They never celebrate on the actual day themselves, so that makes it easy.

♥ How long did it take to get serious?
A while actually. The dance was in December and we hung out more as friends at school but he didn't ask me out again until April when he finally got his driver's licence. We were inseparable after that!

♥ Who does/did the laundry?
Me mostly.

♥ Who’s better with the computer?
He is.

♥ Who drives when you are together?
I mostly do.

Friday Five

lady_bird — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:51:22 GMT

1. What is your favorite vegetable? Sweet Potato

2. What is your favorite salad dressing, sauce, gravy, or condiment? I love mustard, all kinds of mustard.

3. What is your favorite culture's food (American, Chinese, Creole, Indian, Italian, Mexican, Soul Food, Southern U.S., etc.)?Mexican, I love to make Tacos and burritos and all kinds of Mexican casseroles. So not authentic Mexican...just the spices and flavours and recipes.

4. What is your favorite beverage? Water

5. What is your favorite food? Pizza

lady_bird — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:50:53 GMT

I had a fantastic sleep last night and got up this morning ready to hit the cobblestones. Dan headed out early to the last day of his conference and I got ready here then headed out myself. I went back to the pub-y place again for breakfast because we'd seen signs last night that they had cheap traditional English breakfast. So I got that and it was quite nice. Sausage, rashers of bacon (which is kind of a cross between Canadian bacon and bacon), a fried portobello & half tomato, hash browns, an egg, tea & toast for about £4. It was yummy!! It was funny when I was in there though, about half the people were there having breakfast, the others were having pints!

Then I walked around for a bit, there are canals everywhere with those long boats in them, so I took a bunch of pictures and talked to some people. Everyone seems really friendly here so far. I've heard London people aren't the friendliest, but they sure are here anyway! I talked to a man at the pub last night about whether or not to leave a tip, and he was helpful (no tip since there are no servers - you just order and pay for food at the bar). Also, I took a picture of one of the boats going down the canal and the driver turned around and waved, said I should have told him to smile for the picture! Then I was standing in front of our hotel taking some pictures then trying to decide what to do next and the guy directing traffic came and ask if I was lost and needed directions. I told him I was just looking around and then I got kind of embarrassed and left. I also went and bought some postcards and stamps, and when the guy asked where the post cards were going he assumed America. Everyone seems to so far be assuming I'm American. The cabbie yesterday told me I had a "Broad American Accent". I don't think he believed me when I told him Canada. I think a lot of Americans try to pose as Canadians in Europe...

I came back to the hotel then because I was feeling tired and just kind of bad. Slept for another 2 hours or so and am feeling better now. It probably helps that it's like 9;30am on my body's time now not the 2:30am it was when I woke up at 7:30! :P So I guess I am kind of feeling jet lagged this time! Oh well, hopefully I get over it soon!

Dan just got back to the hotel, he's all done with his conference now and we're going to do up our trip budget and what we want to do this afternoon and the rest of the days (roughly) so we know how much we have to spend on stuff. I think we're also going to go and find a grocery store to get yogurt and stuff for breakfast tomorrow. There's a fridge in the room here we can use. I'm just catching up a bit online again right now. Dan is checking his work email and catching up a bit there before we can head out. He still technically is on business here. :P

We were thinking about going to the National Sea Life Birmingham but it is lined up to the road with kids. This week is a school holiday. Plus, it would be £17 to get in which is doubled to get Canadian. It's crazy, everything here seems to be about the same price as Canada, except that pounds are much higher than dollars!! Tomorrow I think we're going to head to Warwick Castle. We'd have to buy our tickets online today though, since they are getting really sold out (School holiday again) and they're much cheaper online!

I should have some pictures to upload this evening! :)

I'm Here!

lady_bird — Wed, 27 May 2009 18:30:31 GMT

I'm in England! It took me a long time to get here, I left work at 5pm yesterday to head to the airport and finally checked into my hotel at 5pm today which was noon Canada time. My flight was delayed which then delayed my bus. The good news is that I managed some sleep on both the flight and the bus...so I'm not in bad shape. How I sleep tonight will determine how my jet lag will go I guess. I usually adjust to this kind of stuff easily though, so I'm hoping this time is the same. Dan met me here at the hotel shortly after I arrived. We went for a walk and he showed me the convention center where his conference is. There are also all kinds of pubs and restaurants there, so he sat with me while I ordered and started eating my dinner. I got a chicken, leek & ham pie with chips, peas & gravy. I really wanted a hot meal and this was cheap and tasty!! Dan left just before I was done to head over to the conference formal dinner. I decided not to go, for several reasons. It would have been nearly $60 for a ticket for me, I'm tired, and it likely would have been boring conference talk anyway. I'm happy to be fed and back in the hotel now, which is 7:30. I plan to have a hot shower and get into my PJs and spend the rest of the evening surfing around online and watching TV!