On Saturday night, we attended another company Christmas party. This time, it was for my company. Fortunately, both me and Christy were able to attend this time, instead of one of us having to stay and watch the kids. We found a babysitter, and they agreed to watch the kids for $12 an hour.
Unfortunately, finding the babysitter's house proved to be a total nightmare. We were driving at night to the city of Round Rock, following directions that we got off the "Mapquest" web site. We got lost, and we ended up driving on toll freeways four different times. On two different occasions I was in the wrong lane to pay the toll, and a camera snapped a picture of our car, no doubt to send us a bill in the mail in the near future. I didn't really Texas had so many toll roads. I wasn't used to it. In Taiwan, all the freeways require you to pay a toll (about every 15 miles or less), but I thought most freeways in America were actually "free." Eventually, after turning around a couple of times (and therefore paying the toll again), we finally found the babysitters house, and we got to the party about 30 minutes late. No big deal anyway, since most people don't show up to parties on time anyway.
The hotel was nice, but the food was surprisingly simple (pasta with marinara sauce, or ham were the main entrees.) We stayed for a little over two hours, until they gave away the four "door prizes." The "door prizes" were four $50 gift/debit cards that you can use anywhere. So the company gave away about $200 in free gifts to 4 people (out of at least a thousand people there.) Not exactly big spenders, but I guess that's just a sign of how bad the economy is right now. I remember the last company I worked for in America, many years ago, used to give out thousands of dollars worth of prizes, to at least 20 different guests. Times have really changed.
(Pictures: 1. A blurry Santa. 2. Christy and two co-workers. 3. One of my co-workers with her husband. 4. A view of the crowd. 5. Another co-worker and her husband (this couple is pretty interesting, actually. She's from Panama City, and her husband is an ex-Army soldier who met her during the American invasion of Panama.)
Unfortunately, finding the babysitter's house proved to be a total nightmare. We were driving at night to the city of Round Rock, following directions that we got off the "Mapquest" web site. We got lost, and we ended up driving on toll freeways four different times. On two different occasions I was in the wrong lane to pay the toll, and a camera snapped a picture of our car, no doubt to send us a bill in the mail in the near future. I didn't really Texas had so many toll roads. I wasn't used to it. In Taiwan, all the freeways require you to pay a toll (about every 15 miles or less), but I thought most freeways in America were actually "free." Eventually, after turning around a couple of times (and therefore paying the toll again), we finally found the babysitters house, and we got to the party about 30 minutes late. No big deal anyway, since most people don't show up to parties on time anyway.
The hotel was nice, but the food was surprisingly simple (pasta with marinara sauce, or ham were the main entrees.) We stayed for a little over two hours, until they gave away the four "door prizes." The "door prizes" were four $50 gift/debit cards that you can use anywhere. So the company gave away about $200 in free gifts to 4 people (out of at least a thousand people there.) Not exactly big spenders, but I guess that's just a sign of how bad the economy is right now. I remember the last company I worked for in America, many years ago, used to give out thousands of dollars worth of prizes, to at least 20 different guests. Times have really changed.
(Pictures: 1. A blurry Santa. 2. Christy and two co-workers. 3. One of my co-workers with her husband. 4. A view of the crowd. 5. Another co-worker and her husband (this couple is pretty interesting, actually. She's from Panama City, and her husband is an ex-Army soldier who met her during the American invasion of Panama.)
With regard to the Traffic Cameras....always remember: The LORD giveth, and Uncle Sam taketh away!!!
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