August 2, 2015

Last Day at Equus. First Day at Oracle.


Last Day at Equus.  First Day at Oracle.
Todd Swank's Diary Entry for August 2, 2015


We celebrated my birthday at Benihana last week.  I turned 45 this year which is halfway to 90.  I always thought 45 was really old, but now I just think it's pretty old.  Next year, I'll be really old.


My awesome co-workers at Equus bought me a cake and decorated my office to celebrate my big day, even though I had given my notice the week before and the next day was scheduled to be my last at the company.  It was sad leaving because I worked with a lot of really cool people, but I'm excited for the new opportunities in front of me.


On Monday, I started a new job at Oracle.  I am an application sales representative selling ERP software to Mid-Market businesses.  I have been selling computer hardware for more than 21 years, but have been wanting to move over to the software side of the business for a long time now.  I finally have my chance.  Now I just hope I don't screw it up!


It's a completely new adventure for me, because I'm working in downtown Minneapolis which is a pretty good haul from Prior Lake.  With all the traffic involved getting there, it makes  more sense to take the bus which I've been doing all week.  It's actually pretty cool.  There's comfortable chairs and free wi-fi for me to surf the internet while I ride.  It's kind of like I'm being chauffeured in a big limousine, except I have to sit next to a bunch of scary, weird people.


Since I had some free time between jobs, we were able to get out on the lake more than usual the past couple of weeks.


We like to have the boy's friends come over and try to send them flying into the water from the tube.  It doesn't appear like there's any real danger involved, although we did break one rope while whipping them from side to side.  Poor rope.


We like to go see the pretty birds while we're on the boat even though it can be little dangerous on it's own when we sit directly below them.


We had the opportunity to go to the farm for a few days to visit Miss Sheri's family.  If the corn was supposed to be knee high by the 4th of July, it looks like it's grown quite a bit since then.  It was as tall as a tree by July 23.


It was Blue's first visit to the farm so he was pretty excited to be there.  He followed Sunny all over the place.


He got a little freaked out when we told him the story about the Children of the Corn, though.  He didn't want to go near the fields any more after that.


We had the chance to play some golf while we were there, although it was really, really hot.  That's the excuse I used for playing so poorly and darn it, that's what I'm sticking with.


We went to the Timmerman Family Reunion which was nice because it gave us the chance to visit with several members of Miss Sheri's family who we hadn't seen for a couple of years.  


 The boys had fun visiting with their cousins including Tiffany who has just recently become engaged to be married.  Congratulations, Riley and Tiffany!


After the Reunion, we rushed back to Minnesota to attend a party with the mentors of the Prior Lake High School Robotics Team.  Pat and Shelly Hines threw an awesome party at their home in Candy Cove in Prior Lake.  They also introduced me to kayaks with peddles which might be my new thing because God didn't really make me to be able to handle an oar.  A lot of times, I just go around in circles.


Miss Sheri and I were able to peddle around the lake with ease.  It was kind of hard to keep our balance, though, because my belly kept shifting from side to side.


Coach Volm may be a Physics teacher by day, but this guy is really a mad scientist who is a master tinkerer when it comes to brewing home made beers and creating his own flavors of wine.  He had some really good stuff, although none of us were really big fans of his watermelon based wine.  I think I'll save the watermelons for the picnics and keep the grapes for my wine going forward.


We didn't have much energy to pull off a late night, but we had a blast for the few hours that we were able to stay.  Some of these people are crazy!  I can't tell you which ones though, so you'll just have to guess.


On Sunday morning, our good friend Karl Zitzewitz invited us to go on a boat ride on the St. Croix River.  We just couldn't pass up the opportunity to do that!


Especially when you saw the other people on the guest list.  This was gonna be a good day.



We had all sorts of water activities available for us to choose from.  I tried doing the paddle board, but that thing just doesn't agree with me.  I think it's more problems with the Belly Balance again.


Luckily, the boys preferred to go on the jet skis more than everything else.  Of course, they preferred to drive it for the most part, but I got my chances every now and then.


Avery had the bright idea of bringing our knee board which he used to drag behind Karl for awhile.  One of these years, I gotta try that.


On Wednesday, Miss Sheri's college room-mate Robin Bauman came to stay with us, all the way from Hawaii!  They all went to the zoo without me, which was nice for them but not so much for me.


Apparently the new Harp Seal exhibit is pretty cool.  I like this picture because it looks like Avery is holding the thing by it's tail.  Instead of focusing on his phone which is his default position.


On Friday night. Miss Sheri's brother and his family came to stay with us as well giving us a full house of fun people to enjoy.  They also brought sweet corn from the farm which was nice.


Cathy even came and spent the night with us also.  And that's all I've got to say about the past couple of weeks.

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