Sunday, May 16, 2010

May 16, 2010 - Back from China and an Uncle Again:)

Hey there, hi there and a special hello there to my new nephew Ethan Jeffery Glau born this morning to my sister Nicole and Jeff. Congrats on the little guy, can't wait to meet him in a couple weeks. Also a belated birthday wish to my cousins Derek, Emily and this week to Uncle Greg ... hope you all had wonderful celebrations:)
I will have to say that it has been some time since my last post and so many amazing things have happened!! We'll start with work I suppose since I've only worked a weekish in the last three, amazing I know. I think it's been the quiet before the storm at work where everything is going quite normally and I've had lots of time to catch up, chat with the team and start preparing for 2011 business planning ... which appears to be here earlier this year than last:) Whilst I was in China, I did miss Employee Appreciation Week (EAW) which I heard was an absolute blast. They had a high school theme this year, so many of us submitted our pictures for the Aflac School of Quack yearbook. Additionally, we did a company wide superlative vote for Mr./Mrs. Aflac, Most Studious, Most School Spirit, etc and I felt very honored to be named the Most Fun along with my buddy Rachel McCallister ... pretty funny if you ask me. Additionally, when we came back from New Orleans after our first flash mob, I thought it'd be a great idea to do one at EAW, so I asked the man in charge and he said yes. The catch was, I had to train all of the employees knowing I wasn't going to be able to be there ... sounded like a great challenge. O yes, and no executives at the company were to know since it was a surprise to them ... check it out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pY4hAnFxNH4).
Then Jenny, Jason, Meg and I thought it'd be fun to go over to China for about ten days ... and we were right, it was a blast. I went over there for some study action with about 30 Emory classmates and learned so much. The most interesting part was listening to the Chinese professors as they discussed their viewpoints on various global issues including government's role in business, their take on the Chinese/American relationship and where they see their economy over the next 10 years. I don't think people fully understand the potential China has for I believe one simple number, 1.3 BILLION!!! That's how many people that are in China, in the same amount of space that we have 300 million ... that's a lot of man/woman power to work off of:) Instead of telling you every single detail though, of course I decided to put together a video for your viewing pleasure. The highlights included the Great Wall in Beijing, the Bund and World Expo in Shanghai to include Jason and Meg getting engaged at the top of the TV Tower ... ahhh. After visiting the marketplace for some deals, an overnight train ride back to Beijing brought us to the end of our trip in the Forbidden City. For some more pictures and videos, check it out (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lx1vw9rdKzU).
Don't know if I could fit much more in over the next couple of weeks, but I'll probably give it the ol' college try. It was nice to have a relaxing weekend with Jenny and the pooch, but class starts back up tomorrow night and the madness will continue:) I hope you all have a fantacular week!
Alwayz,
Nate

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