Saturday, June 19, 2010
Skyline
This blog has been short on pictures so far, so here is one we took tonight of the skyline. Pretty amazing sight. More to come on our adventures in the next few days.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Flying to HK
Well, we are finally settled in Hong Kong after several months of anticipation and preparation. None of that preparation came close to preparing us for the brutal trip over. We left the Westing Peachtree, our hotel in Atlanta, at 7:45am with our travel partner Eric and arrived at our apartment almost 25 hours later.
Our first flight from Atlanta took us to Newark - a quick 2 hour jaunt up the east coast. As we descended into EWR, we got a great view out the left side of the plane of the NYC skyline, which is one of my favorite sights from an airplane. It's such an impressive sight, and I can never get enough of it. When I was flying in and out of Laguardia for 7 months in 2007, I made sure to always get a window seat on the left side of the aircraft because it gave great views of the city both arriving and departing.
Another great part about the NYC skyline is seeing the Statue of Liberty. I'm sure it will be more meaningful on my return trip, but none the less, it was a cool reminder of what we were about to leave behind. Don't worry Lady Liberty - we'll be back. I look forward to seeing you again in August.
Around 3pm EST, we settled into our seats on the Boeing 777 headed to Hong Kong. The TV screen in the seat in front of me showed our long voyage that would take us up and over the North Pole and down into China. When I went to India in 2006, I endured a 15 hour flight sitting next to the lavatory. This trip was much better a) because I wasn't next to the bathroom b) because I had someone to travel with and c) because of Continental's video on demand system that let me watch several different movies rather than running the same 1 or 2 movies every few hours. All in all, the flight went relatively well. I even got to look out the window at the North Pole (or somewhere close to there), which was pretty cool. It was very white and looked pretty cold, in case you were wondering.
When we landed in Hong Kong, we didn't have any troubles getting to our place. The airport was relatively quiet, our luggage came out quicker than it does in Wichita, we walked right through customs and onto the train. After getting off the train at Hong Kong station, we caught a cab that took us to our apartment. More on that later - time for some exploring now. Kowloon - here we come.
Our first flight from Atlanta took us to Newark - a quick 2 hour jaunt up the east coast. As we descended into EWR, we got a great view out the left side of the plane of the NYC skyline, which is one of my favorite sights from an airplane. It's such an impressive sight, and I can never get enough of it. When I was flying in and out of Laguardia for 7 months in 2007, I made sure to always get a window seat on the left side of the aircraft because it gave great views of the city both arriving and departing.
Another great part about the NYC skyline is seeing the Statue of Liberty. I'm sure it will be more meaningful on my return trip, but none the less, it was a cool reminder of what we were about to leave behind. Don't worry Lady Liberty - we'll be back. I look forward to seeing you again in August.
Around 3pm EST, we settled into our seats on the Boeing 777 headed to Hong Kong. The TV screen in the seat in front of me showed our long voyage that would take us up and over the North Pole and down into China. When I went to India in 2006, I endured a 15 hour flight sitting next to the lavatory. This trip was much better a) because I wasn't next to the bathroom b) because I had someone to travel with and c) because of Continental's video on demand system that let me watch several different movies rather than running the same 1 or 2 movies every few hours. All in all, the flight went relatively well. I even got to look out the window at the North Pole (or somewhere close to there), which was pretty cool. It was very white and looked pretty cold, in case you were wondering.
When we landed in Hong Kong, we didn't have any troubles getting to our place. The airport was relatively quiet, our luggage came out quicker than it does in Wichita, we walked right through customs and onto the train. After getting off the train at Hong Kong station, we caught a cab that took us to our apartment. More on that later - time for some exploring now. Kowloon - here we come.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Starting work again
Tomorrow is the first day of work again. Although the HR and technology orientation that I will go through in Atlanta should be reasonably familiar, I find that I’m still anxious about this first day of work. Maybe because in a few days, I’m going to be traveling half-way around the world and working in a (very) foreign culture. I am extremely excited about the opportunity, and can’t wait to settle into our apartment. First, however, I’m going to land in Atlanta, meet up with the other guys working in this international program, and have dinner with them while watching the Lakers game.
Leaving Los Angeles
Warning: Semi-Long blog post coming right up.
OK you've been warned. I’m actually writing this note (after a considerable absence from this blog) on the plane to Atlanta, where I will begin my internship tomorrow morning. The last several weeks have been rather hectic, however, and I wanted to take some time to recap before digging into the details of our upcoming adventure.
Fortunately, we found a Wharton MBA student to sublet our apartment in Los Angeles for the summer. She is very nice and reminds both of us of Melinda in some respects. We couldn’t have been happier with the arrangement except for one small detail – her internship with Hulu started on June 1, and my classes at UCLA finished June 4. We ended up spending our last 1.5 weeks in LA staying with our wonderful friend Priya in her amazing Santa Monica apartment overlooking the ocean. During our ‘homeless’ stint in Santa Monica, we discovered several of the amazing restaurants along Main Street, including Le Grande Orange, the Urth Café, and Shoups (I recommend the Vinnie Breakfast Sandwich, named after Priya’s boyfriend Vinny).
After a wonderful stay in Santa Monica and a few stressful last days at school, we packed every cubic inch of our car and headed out. As we prepared to leave, we saw that the van from the A-Team movie was parked across the street. Little things like that kill me about LA.
After taking my pic with the van, we set off for Vegas, where we met up with some friends celebrating Randy Loerke’s final days of bachelordom. A few laughs and lost dollars on the roulette table later, we carried on to Flagstaff. The road from Vegas to Flagstaff took us over Hoover Dam, and we stopped to take a look at the remarkable engineering feat. Melinda had never seen the dam before and was thoroughly impressed. I look forward to visiting in the future when we can spend more time and take some dam pictures. That’s right, I really am Clark Griswold.
The smell of the pine forest in Flagstaff made me even more excited to travel on our way to New Mexico where we would spend the next few days at the cabin. First, however, was a trip to the Frontier, our favorite restaurant in Albuquerque, where we met Uncle Bart and my cousin CJ for some green chile. Over lunch, we bored CJ and Melinda with what I found to be an interesting discussion about Bart selling the Kinney Agency the week before. It sounded like a very good situation for Bart and the company as a whole – as Bart said, “Grandpa Kinney would have been proud.” The Kinney Agency plays an incredibly important part of my life story. In many ways, I think that Grandpa’s work founding the agency inspired my interest in the business world. Although it is sad to see the Agency itself change hands, I am very proud of the efforts of my Grandpa and Uncle Bart to build such a tremendous company that has meant so much to our family.
The cabin was the next stop after the Frontier, and we spent two great days there. Despite the unseasonably warm temperatures, we had a great time in our favorite place on earth. A dinner with our friends Carol and Annelle King was particularly entertaining. The Kings were nice enough to introduce us to Coconut Bliss ice cream which we absolutely loved. It is a non-dairy, organic, fair trade, yada yada ice cream made from coconut milk. We thought it was delicious, but I wouldn’t rank it above the delicious sopapillas at Rivera’s in Pecos.
Following our stay at the cabin, we set off across the plains for Wichita. Ever since I started working, I have had fewer and fewer opportunities to make the drive from KS to the cabin. Every time, I find that I truly miss the wide open spaces of northeast New Mexico and southwest Kansas. Perhaps its because the drive is associated with being with the cabin, but for some reason, I love that drive every time I have the opportunity to take it. On the way home, we stopped for an hour to talk with my Grandpa Norton and his wife Barbara. We’re pretty sure they think we’re crazy for embarking on all of these adventures and most days I think they’re right.
At 10:15, we rolled into Wichita where we spent the next several days resting, seeing family and friends, and packing our bags. Time for another adventure.
OK you've been warned. I’m actually writing this note (after a considerable absence from this blog) on the plane to Atlanta, where I will begin my internship tomorrow morning. The last several weeks have been rather hectic, however, and I wanted to take some time to recap before digging into the details of our upcoming adventure.
Fortunately, we found a Wharton MBA student to sublet our apartment in Los Angeles for the summer. She is very nice and reminds both of us of Melinda in some respects. We couldn’t have been happier with the arrangement except for one small detail – her internship with Hulu started on June 1, and my classes at UCLA finished June 4. We ended up spending our last 1.5 weeks in LA staying with our wonderful friend Priya in her amazing Santa Monica apartment overlooking the ocean. During our ‘homeless’ stint in Santa Monica, we discovered several of the amazing restaurants along Main Street, including Le Grande Orange, the Urth Café, and Shoups (I recommend the Vinnie Breakfast Sandwich, named after Priya’s boyfriend Vinny).
After a wonderful stay in Santa Monica and a few stressful last days at school, we packed every cubic inch of our car and headed out. As we prepared to leave, we saw that the van from the A-Team movie was parked across the street. Little things like that kill me about LA.
After taking my pic with the van, we set off for Vegas, where we met up with some friends celebrating Randy Loerke’s final days of bachelordom. A few laughs and lost dollars on the roulette table later, we carried on to Flagstaff. The road from Vegas to Flagstaff took us over Hoover Dam, and we stopped to take a look at the remarkable engineering feat. Melinda had never seen the dam before and was thoroughly impressed. I look forward to visiting in the future when we can spend more time and take some dam pictures. That’s right, I really am Clark Griswold.
The smell of the pine forest in Flagstaff made me even more excited to travel on our way to New Mexico where we would spend the next few days at the cabin. First, however, was a trip to the Frontier, our favorite restaurant in Albuquerque, where we met Uncle Bart and my cousin CJ for some green chile. Over lunch, we bored CJ and Melinda with what I found to be an interesting discussion about Bart selling the Kinney Agency the week before. It sounded like a very good situation for Bart and the company as a whole – as Bart said, “Grandpa Kinney would have been proud.” The Kinney Agency plays an incredibly important part of my life story. In many ways, I think that Grandpa’s work founding the agency inspired my interest in the business world. Although it is sad to see the Agency itself change hands, I am very proud of the efforts of my Grandpa and Uncle Bart to build such a tremendous company that has meant so much to our family.
The cabin was the next stop after the Frontier, and we spent two great days there. Despite the unseasonably warm temperatures, we had a great time in our favorite place on earth. A dinner with our friends Carol and Annelle King was particularly entertaining. The Kings were nice enough to introduce us to Coconut Bliss ice cream which we absolutely loved. It is a non-dairy, organic, fair trade, yada yada ice cream made from coconut milk. We thought it was delicious, but I wouldn’t rank it above the delicious sopapillas at Rivera’s in Pecos.
Following our stay at the cabin, we set off across the plains for Wichita. Ever since I started working, I have had fewer and fewer opportunities to make the drive from KS to the cabin. Every time, I find that I truly miss the wide open spaces of northeast New Mexico and southwest Kansas. Perhaps its because the drive is associated with being with the cabin, but for some reason, I love that drive every time I have the opportunity to take it. On the way home, we stopped for an hour to talk with my Grandpa Norton and his wife Barbara. We’re pretty sure they think we’re crazy for embarking on all of these adventures and most days I think they’re right.
At 10:15, we rolled into Wichita where we spent the next several days resting, seeing family and friends, and packing our bags. Time for another adventure.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Welcome to Our Blog
Welcome to The Life and Times of Kenneth and Melinda blog, a space dedicated to documenting – you guessed it, the life and times of the Norton family. The last twelve months have been pretty action packed with a wedding, a big move to Los Angeles, and the upcoming years promise to be equally, if not more, of an adventure. We (which means Kenneth persuaded Melinda) decided that a blog would be a good way to document all of our travels and activities, so we are going to give this whole blogging thing a try. Who knows, we might even spring for a fancy RV Designs design at some point…
Here are some of the things I hope to accomplish with this electronic soapbox:
- Keep family and friends up to date on our life in LA, Hong Kong, London, Kansas City, or wherever life may take us
- Document travel experiences with a little more detail than a Facebook album provides
- Provide fair and balanced reporting on our lives, assuming I can convince my wife to take part
Of course, this will also likely become a forum for other things like discussions of school/work experiences or the occasional political, economic, or sociologic rants (followed quickly by the renaming of our blog to The Life and Times of Kenneth…). We’ll take things one step at a time for now, though. Baby steps, Bob.
Here are some of the things I hope to accomplish with this electronic soapbox:
- Keep family and friends up to date on our life in LA, Hong Kong, London, Kansas City, or wherever life may take us
- Document travel experiences with a little more detail than a Facebook album provides
- Provide fair and balanced reporting on our lives, assuming I can convince my wife to take part
Of course, this will also likely become a forum for other things like discussions of school/work experiences or the occasional political, economic, or sociologic rants (followed quickly by the renaming of our blog to The Life and Times of Kenneth…). We’ll take things one step at a time for now, though. Baby steps, Bob.
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