CHEESE!!!

KRISTEN-

Your CHEESE is on its way!!!

11 inches of Snow

Well winter has officially arrived in Madison. Here is a view from my balcony. We received about 11 inches of snow last night. The majority of the snow came during a thunderstorm. They call it "thunder snow" when a thunderstorm comes through and there are times of really heavy snow.

Bracing for a Long Winter...

It snowed all day today, but none of it stuck. Here are a couple pictures of the snow outside of my office. It is kind of hard to see. People here don't even think that it snows in Oklahoma and that our winters are warm. They should have been in OKC for last year's ice storm.

Only in Wisconsin...

I know the picture isn't very good, but this shows a polka band right outside the door of where I voted... only in Wisconsin! I am going to the Democratic Election Night Party here in Madison soon, so I will take more pictures.

Proving Mandy wrong...

I don't know if you saw Mandy's reply in my last post, but she accused me of exaggerating concerning my company in order to make my blog more exciting. As I was working, on a Sunday might I add, I took a quick picture of the circus themed conference room. Notice the big round fireplace and animal print chairs!

In conclusion, my blog is exciting on its own!!!

Pictures from Work

Here are some pictures from my new office. The campus is crazy and pictures do not do it justice! It is modeled after the Microsoft campus, but some of it turned out like Disneyland. Each building has a theme. One building looks like the New York City subway system, one looks like a jungle complete with a replica of the Indiana Jones cave! My building is a garden theme. My carpet is purple and there is a huge papier mache dalmation playing in a fake garden outside my office door!

Here is a picture of my desk.

And here is a picture of my desk when I am actually working!

Here is a picture of my office. My desk is on the right by the window. I really need to hang up some stuff.

This is a picture of our training center. It is about the size of the OKC airport. Each lounge is named after a NASA program (Voyager, Eagle, Hubbel, etc.). The training rooms are organized by pairs and have a theme (Lois & Clark for the Superman theme, Rosencrantz & Gildenstern for Shakespear, etc.). This is definitely a company of nerds!!!

This isn't the best picture, but it gives you an idea of how the courtyard sits between all of the office buildings. There is a stream flowing through the center complete with fake ducks!
Here is a picture of some of the buildings from one of the parking lots. The majority of parking is underground so you mainly just see grass when walking around campus.

Here is a picture of the cafeteria. It kind of feels like a huge high school cafeteria (there are typically a bunch of 22 year olds sitting around). The food is great! A complete meal is under $3 and is usually gourmet. A couple of the options today included pulled pork with chipotle mashed potatoes (it was great) and butternut squash ravioli with brown butter and gorganzola.

Although we have many conference rooms, this one is my favorite. Every conference room has a fireplace and has a theme. Some of the themes include circus, an airport hangar, a snowpalace, and a barn. I am not sure what the theme of this one is, but it appears to be floating on this little pond.

Pictures from Madison!

Here are a few pictures from downtown Madison. It was about 70 degrees this day which is far warmer than the average! I will post pictures from work soon.


This is the state capitol building. It is only one foot shorter than the U.S. Capitol.





Madison has the nation's largest farmers' market. I found so much good stuff for a good price including cheese! The market spans the grounds around the capitol building.


These mums were at the market. They were huge and each only $6!



The farmers' market included much more than just fruits and vegetables. Some vendors had different types of meat including beef, pork, and even ostrich and emu. Several displays featured fresh baked goods such as breads, pastries, and cookies. I couldn't resist taking a picture of the Obama campaign logo cookie. It is very apparent that I am now in a liberal area!




State Street is the main entertainment area downtown. It connects the Capitol with the University of Wisconsin. It features many shops, restaurants, bars, and coffee shops.


Another view of State Street.



This view of State Street was taken from the top of Madison's art museum. Although the museum features a small collection, it is totally free to the public.



I had to snap a picture of this marquee on State Street. OKC's own the Flaming Lips are playing here.


Downtown Madison is located on an isthmus between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona (one means sunrise and the other means sunset). This is a picture of Lake Mendota which is adjacent to the University of Wisconsin.



This picture is of Union Terrace. It is attached to UW's Student Union. Students and alumni sit on the terrace and drink beer while looking out onto the lake.

This is the center of the UW campus.