Some Time in New Brunswick

Had to spend the week in New Brunswick attending a management training course. The class was good even though it was a lot of topics I've had training on before - you know, we all have different personality styles and we need to manage and interact accordingly and not negatively judge someone who has a different style than yourself. But the best part of these classes is that you get to meet other managers from sister companies all over the country and exchange stories and information. This class bonded very well and I hope to stay in touch with many of the people I met this week.








A highlight of the week was that Wednesday night we went out for dinner to Makeda, an Ethiopian restaurant. Colleen and I had planned to get together ourselves Wed, but instead she joined us as a group. We had a great time.


Most of us had never had Ethiopian food. Makeda is supposed to be one of the top ten restaurants in NJ. It was very good. Here is a URL to tell you more about it if you are interested in it. http://www.ardore.com/listing.asp?r=makeda12 I do have to caution you, however, that two people in our party, the same two people who shared a dish, were very sick on Thursday and while we were out drinking that night and didn't get back to the hotel until 1:30 am, we didn't attribute it to a hangover. However, it could have been the alcohol.


The atmosphere of the restaurant was very intimate, and while crowded for a Wednesday night, it was not too crowded to interfere with our conversations and enjoyment. After dinner, we went on what was advertised as a pub crawl. Unfortunately, there weren't too many pubs to choose from and we only went to two bars, one of them twice. One bar had a DJ and the other a band. I preferred the one with the band. Although we danced at the bar with the DJ and didn't dance much with the band. Part of that was the style of music as well as having the room to dance.

Interesting to see the South Carolina results come back tonight. Although it can be rather alarming to listen to the press babble about what all this means. They change their stories frequently, it seems, to make the story more dramatic. The other day, their story was that Hilary was going to lose SC and had in fact, basically abandoned that state to focus on the Feb 4 multi-state (20) primary. Today, it is the death of her campaign because she came in second place. And it is fascinating to see how they pick one snippet of a statement and frame the story one way, and then someone else will use the other part of that statement and frame a totally different argument. And, most people who are voting don't seem to pay much attention to their choice in terms of researching their position or candidate. That is, unless, you are in Iowa and had the chance to have coffee with the candidates or even have them in your home campaigning to others. Here in PA, it will be decided already by the time they get here in April. I'm still torn as to who I will vote for in the presidential election, but since I haven't changed my party, I'll have to vote Republican so I'll probably vote for McCain in the primary. My area is predominantly Republican so I stay a registered Republican so when I write to my representatives, I figure they'll pay more attention to my opinion. If I was a Democrat, I think they would just ignore me completely. I'd rather be an Independent since I never vote straight party but Pennsylvania does not allow Independents to vote in primary elections.