Phoenix Botanical Garden Jan 2013

In January I went on a business trip that tool me from Phoenix to Las Vegas, to several areas in UT and then to Cleveland OH and finishing the month in San Francisco CA. 

While I was in Phoenix on the weekend I went to the Botanical Garden. I got a Groupon for 2 admissions for the price of one. I unfortunately didn't get to take any of Elizabeth's kids with me so I made some random person's day for getting them in free. 

Summer

They had these sculptures made from fruit, vegtables and tree branches that resembles each season. 

Winter

Autumn 

Spring

It was really incredible to see the different type of cactus and trees that grow in the dessert. 

Many of them made me think of Dr. Seuss 

Couple of rabbits playing. 

They had these strange sculptures all over the garden. 

It was wonderful basking in the sun of 60+ degrees. I loved walking around without a jacket on in January. 

Wood Xylophone 

This cactus was so strange. It reminded me of intestines. 

This cactus seemed like a scary creature that would over take you and pull you in and burry you in the grounds. 

Chiles!!

I liked the spiral design of this cactus. 

This one is just funky!!!

I loved the bright red flowers. 

The bumpy things on this cactus are prickly pears. 

It sure is interesting to get to see all the different types of vegetation in different habitats. 

New England Snow Storm Feb 8-9

 We had a nasty snow storm on Friday night through Saturday afternoon. It was so bad that there was a driving ban on the roads. Public transportation was shut down at 3:30 Friday afternoon and all cars and drivers were to be off the roads by 4pm. If you were caught on the road you would be fined for being out. 

The wind was high and intense. I never lost power which was great because I got a lot of stuff done that I needed power for. 

This was about 10pm on Friday night. With all of the wind there was a lot of drift snow. 

Saturday morning we still had about 4 hours of more snow before it was going to stop and this was how much was at my door step that made it under the porch. 

Nice and even till you get to the road. The snow was up to my hip all the way from my bottom step out to the street. I was glad I had a shovel in the basement so I didn't have to trek out to the garage and try and get it from there. 

The fence on the other side of our driveway. 

As you can see it would have been a little difficult to get to the garage. My landlord came over to clear the snow with the snowblower. It took him 2 hours. Can you imagine how long it would have taken if I had to do it by hand. Yup I would say pretty much all day. It took me 30 minutes just to get the snow cleared from my door to the edge of the house.  

Sunday morning snow pile up. 

Here is the pile between my sidewalk and the street. 

Here is our pile after the snow was cleared. A lot of it made it over the fence if it hadn't of I think the snow would have been to the roof of the garage. 

If I need to get into Broadway Dollar, I might just miss the store, or if I find it I might have a hard time figuring out a way to get on the other side of the snow hill. 

If you park on the street during a snow storm you may want to draw a map of exactly where you parked so when you go to dig out your car you dig out the right one. Otherwise you will have a very happy neighbor. 

Pile of snow to the side of the street. Makes it hard to see if cars are coming around the corner or not. 

Yup you are seeing what you think you are seeing. Those are windshield wipers sticking up out of the snow. People do that a lot out here so they don't have to scrap free the wiper blades. 

In some places to allow traffic on streets they are moving it away. I would like to know where they take all of these truck loads of snow. 

This is in front of my house. They are taking away some of the piles of snow. 

Entertaining Work Clients

In December 2012 I flew out to Las Vegas for a trade show. I really hate early morning flights because it means getting up at 3am to get to the airport in time to make your flight. 

But what makes those early morning flights worth it is the sunrise I get to enjoy. 

I have an extremely hard time sleeping on planes so I enjoy watching Gods beauties blossom as the world begins to come alive.

Well worth giving up some sleep to witness this. 

We were at a pharmacy conference and Bill Clinton was the keynote speaker. I was actually very impressed with the work he has been doing in health care across the world. I will get a chance to listen to him speak again in March. 

As part of this conference we were able to meet up with some clients. A very important client was staying at our hotel and so one night we invited them to join us for dinner. 

My co-worker has a membership to a club that gets him into prestigious clubs all over the US so we got to go to the Foundation Room at the Mandalay Bay that is just below the Mandalay Bay words on the top of the building. 

It was a pretty cool view of Las Vegas. 

This is the room where we had dinner. We were given a private room and had a good time. The food was good but very expensive. I was glad I didn't have to pay for it.