The Summer That Changed Everything...

 Wow, last post was in July, its now nearly Dec, what on earth have I been up to?  Well, funny I should ask me.  This summer saw some big changes here in Occasional Ambush Land. 

First, Biotech threw quite the monkey wrench early summer when totally out of the blue the company I worked for laid off most of its Research folks.  That was a bummer, I spent much of early summer helping my team get jobs then it was my turn to look.  More on that later...

Next, as I was a Gentleman of forced leisure it was time to do some fun stuff...

First was a High Adventure trip with Mini-Me-Major and his Scout Crew

We went to the Alagash waterway in Maine

The crew selected the route

We loaded canoes and off we went for a week

Camping was by the side of the water

It was in the middle of nowhere and gorgeous

In between there was LOTS of this...

This is us puling in to finish the trek -> it really was a great adventure.  I'll be back when Mini-Me-Minor is older (he's also a Scout)

The Mrs OA decided that as I wasn't now working all hours it was time for an extended vaction back to Blighty to visit Grandma and Uncle OA (AKA my Brother)

Uncle OA lives in Yorkshire, it was a great excuse to ride a train to Whitby on a day out.  Both Mini-Me-Major and Mrs OA enjoyed the Dracula connection!

Then we went off to London

To see some sights

We HAVE to have at least one wargaming reference, this is as close as I got.  A quick snap at Horseguards.

After London it was time to visit Grammy in New Orleans, excellent for me and Mrs OA as we could inflict the Mini-Mes on her, and off we went!

And now back to the job hunt.  Part of why we coud go jetsetting around was while I was away in Maine (with no phone service), I got offered a job... ...which I accepted.

First on the agenda was a team-building trip, to Aspen!

Aspen's private airport, I have never seen so many private jets in one place before

We did get a little time off, this was Maroon Bells, it was spectacular

This was more fun, a spot of whitewater rafting

Class 3 rapids, awesome!  

Then it was back to real life.  Our site is a start up, we have literally been doing everything from ground up, as a bonus we scored a super lab space with a killer view

So now its back to working all hours as we get set up and programs running.  And my job, I'm running the Biology team at the site, a bit of a step up from the last job  It's a bit scary, but in a good way, as we have recruited a great team.

This time I'm really tring to make some time for non-work things.  For example, Mini-Me-Mino has become a fan of Aliens, so we have been playing Space Hulk (more of that later), and he is wild over a new toy.  This...

Nerf ran a preorder for this, I snagged one

Yup, it is

A pulse rifle, a nerf M41A pulse rifle

It is sooo much fun

And the ammo counte works!  Mini-Me-Minor LOVES it...  (so do I!)