Costume Parties -- Halloween 2007

Jason Becking — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 20:21:00 GMT

One of the favorite and, um, interesting events at both buildings each year is the annual Halloween Party and Costume Contest.

BJ Butler and Anthony Chatmon entertained the Pittsburg crew with their costumes and act.

In Columbia, Sondra Garton was a witch, in stark contrast to her on a normal day, Jana York was a pirate (ne’er fear, she took off the patch when pre-checking).

Tailgate Fun

Jason Becking — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 21:12:00 GMT

We try to do at least one "fun" thing per month inviting each of our team members and their families when possible.

One of the more popular events at both locations (so popular we do it twice in Columbia) is a tailgate and football game. We bought around 200 tickets for last weekend's Mizzou game, plus food and beverage to go around, and a good time was had by all.

Below is a picture of the recent festivities.

Instant Karma Got Me

Jason Becking — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 19:20:00 GMT

One of the benefits of our two labs being so close together is we can share resources. Whether it’s going down quickly for a meeting or doing something out of the ordinary in order to solve a production problem, it’s not that big of a deal to hop in the car and drive. I’m in the habit of doing so once a quarter or thereabouts for the joyous topic of health insurance. Another gentleman always makes that trip with me and we go down through the Lake of the Ozarks area, down into Southwest Missouri and then across the border to Pittsburg.

Others think there are quicker ways to go, but that route is the most fun. It also shows off the Ozarks' natural and man-made resources, which we like. While it really can be a beautiful drive, especially in the fall, there’s always an odd assortment of sights along the way as well. With the blog in mind, I set out yesterday morning around 6:00 with camera in hand, prepared to take a picture of the dead fire truck storage lot, pop-up junk yards, funny signs, and miscellaneous assortment of “stuff” along the route. I was quite prepared to make fun of lots of things along the way.

I now have two kids in daycare, which means I have more than my fair share of germs coming my way. The combination of my planned meanness and those germs bit me somewhere past Camdenton. The karmic calamity forced us to turn around and cancel the trip (the sight of me on the side of the road was not picture worthy), rescheduling for another day, and sending me home for the day to find our daughter also home sick. We both laid around and grouched at each other about which cartoons to watch while the other two members of the household got as far away from us as possible.

So, we’ll make that trip again in October. At that time hopefully the trees have started to turn and I’ll snap some shots of the real beauty. Not the head-scratching Ozarkian-wonders I was planning on sharing!

Millers Blog : Silliness

Costume Parties -- Halloween 2007

Tailgate Fun

Instant Karma Got Me