We will post on some of the interesting insights we have while we're here, but this weekend gave us a wealth of wonderful exposure to the way of Minnesotans. My work opted for a 'Winter Extravaganza' event in place of the usually summer picnic, clue #1 that people up here enjoy doing things a little differently. The event took place on (literally) a lake out in the suburbs of Minneapolis.
Nothing like some good old ice bowling!
They had an ice fishing tent, complete with a wet bar for the adults. Needless to say no one caught anything all night, but we at least got to try ice fishing...
They had fires set up so we could roast some mallows eat s'mores.
Ira liked the lemonade they served at dinner.
They also had a DJ so all the kids could get their wiggles out.
We went on a 'sleigh' ride pulled by horses, but didn't get any pictures. Some other activities we didn't play because it was getting too late and cold for Ira, included hockey, ice golf, ice bocce ball, and 'couching' (They put skis on the bottom of a couch and towed it behind a jeep on the lake).
To clear the confusion of our move to Minnesota six months after moving to Connecticut, I'll provided a brief update on why we're in Minnesota. I'm in a two year program that for the sake of explanation works like a two year Mormon mission. Within GE Capital (The 'mission') I move (get 'transfered') every 6 months to a new assignment ('area'). With each new assignment, there is the possibility of moving to a new City or State. The purpose is to give the people in the program a wide breadth of experience on different types of projects filling a diverse range of roles as well as expose them to different parts of the business so they understand the 'big picture' of how the business works. My first assignment was in Connecticut (where a large majority of the assignments are for GE Capital). My second assignment is in Minnesota. In six months I will get my Third assignment, which will probably be back in Connecticut, so we will move again.
