A Tough Week at Work

Hello Friends, this is Sean writing.

As a few of you know, I have officially begun my next project at work.  I am flying to Kansas City every week to teach older folks how to be half as awesome as me.  While flying across the country twice a week and working long hours away from family doesn't appeal to some, the perks of this job are undeniable.  I plan on outlining the week before Lia's birthday below.  Spoiler alert: I was home for most of Lia's birthday, so she does still love me.

This was a special week at work.  A whole bunch of the team was in training so the onsite team was just the project manager and a whole bunch of analysts.  In order to curry our favor, our project manager planned a trip to one of the best BBQ joints in the world: Oklahoma Joes.  

We knew the place was classy the second we heard that it was located in a gas station on the Kansas side of KC.  Well, we got there and the line was out the door.  It really did live up to the hype.  I had the half rack of ribs, brisket, texas toast and french fries.  The brisket was brisket.  It was good, but really brisket is just a medium for the sauces.  The ribs, however, were phenomenal. What really shocked me were the french fries.  They were some of the best fries that I've had in a long time.  Not quite McDougal fries, but dang close. Anyway, Anthony Bourdain listed Oklahoma Joe's as one of the top 13 places to eat before you die, and he uses a lot of profanity so he has to know what he is talking about. The only negative I had for Oklahoma Joe's was that there was no sweet tea.. what a shame.

The next day I flew to Atlanta to party it up with my coworkers.  It was good to catch up with my friends from my previous project, and one of my buddies and I may or may not have karaoke'd Friends in Low Places.  The hotel we were staying at was pretty cool.  It was the Marriott Marquis in Downtown Atlanta. 

The rooms were not spectacular or anything, but the entire inside of the building was open, from the lobby floor all the way up to the glass ceiling over 50+ floors up.  It was pretty cool to be on that lobby floor looking up.

Our view wasn't bad either.  I was rooming with one of my college buddies, Andrew, and we were on the 33rd floor looking North. The conference itself was pretty typical.  Lots of learning and important people talking about complicated things.  The awesome part was the venue for our Thursday night social.  Has anyone ever heard of the Georgia Aquarium?

Here is a picture of my new friend, the Whale Shark.  I couldn't capture just how big he really was with my amazing BlackBerry camera, but I tried anyway.  There were two big glass viewing panes in the ballroom.  One of them was for the world's largest aquarium which had the whale shark and tons of different fish, sharks, sting rays, etc. and the other pane was for the cold water tank which just had a bunch of crazy beluga whales.    The beluga whales just kept ramming the rocks, backing up, and then ramming the rocks again.  I think Lia was right.. no one is meant to be cold.  Not even whales.

Please notice the artsy awesomeness of my photography.  Or just look at the really cool looking stingray swimming by.

And finally, I am going to leave you all with a Go Dores pic.  It is only fitting since Vandy grads are taking over the whole company.  Picture is of three of my frat brothers from college, Ian, Trey and Andrew, along with a new friend, Jen, and one of my current project teammates, Kaitlyn.  The theme was Country Club, so don't judge Andrew for his choice in pants.

The next day I flew home to be with my wifey on her birthday.. which I am sure will be covered in our next post.  

The Great Sandwich Revelation

So.. it took me all of 23 years, but I have now seen the light.  I have finally learned that homemade sandwiches don't have to suck.

My whole life I had just eaten ham and provolone, with a little mayo on some white bread.  Sometimes I would mix it up and throw some turkey or muenster cheese in there.  When I felt healthy-ish, I would throw it all on some wheat bread.  To be honest, I never really enjoyed those sandwiches.  I ate them because I was hungry and because they were easy.  The whole time I was mindlessly chewing those bland concoctions, I was wishing I was eating a frozen pizza, a nice steak, or really any food that had that thing called flavor.

The real tragedy is that sandwiches don't have to suck.  I have had some delicious sandwiches in my life.  We all know that the Silly Goose in East Nashville has the greatest sandwiches on earth, but have you ever wondered why?  Just look at their menu.  They don't use a plain loaf of bread or plain deli meat.  Their sandwiches are covered in sun-dried tomato or roasted red pepper aioli, instead of helman's mayo or mustard from a fluorescent plastic bottle.  Really, the only similarities they share with your homemade sandwiches are that they use bread, meat, cheese and then some kind of sauce.  They just use delicious versions of all of those things.

Making a sandwich is not rocket science.  Let's all be honest, it doesn't exactly require skill or training.  You just need to have the right ingredients.  So why is it that everyone is perfectly fine with eating such mediocre sandwiches at home?  The only thing I can think of is cost.  Have you ever bought a tiny bottle of sun-dried tomatoes?  Any chump can spread that stuff over bread, but it takes a neuro-surgeon (not a family practice doctor cough cough Laur Laur) to be able to afford it.  If I have to choose between Lia finally getting new dentures and me buying sun-dried tomato spread, then I am going to go with my wife's health and happiness every time.  If you add goat cheese, roasted red peppers, an awesome loaf of bread,  arugula and roasted walnuts, then a sandwich becomes as out of reach for the common man as other luxuries such as cars that are fun to drive and vacations that don't revolve around family.

Vacuum sealed meats and processed cheeses are cheap compared to smoked salmon and blue gouda, but is sacrificing your happiness worth saving a little money?  This all just goes to further validate the wise Daniel Tosh's view that money most certainly does buy happiness.  Have you ever seen someone sad on a wave runner?  Despite the financial challenges presented by always trying to eat delicious food, I believe it can be done.  On a semi-related tangent, have you ever wondered why there is crime in low income areas?  If you had to eat frozen bologna with tasteless cheese every day, you would want to break crap and hurt people too.

All of this to say that I have a dream... I dream that people will stop buying lottery tickets and instead send their children to school with a sandwich that excites and inspires a young mind.  I dream that adults would quit buying cancer sticks and instead treat themselves to 23 bites of pure joy every afternoon.  I dream that young, attractive, professional, married couples in Sunny Isles Beach would not feel the need to buy anymore makeup, and would instead spend that money on delicious ingredients so that we can all share in the same dream.  I dream of a world with no more lame sandwiches.  Who will join me?