Will it blend?

This week, TI hosted its annual WW communicators conference here in Dallas. There were about 200 of us "marketeer"/communications types who gathered for two days to learn and share ideas with one another.

I had the privilege of speaking on a panel about viral marketing and social media. I'm by no means an expert on this topic, so I had a lot of "lessons learned" to share with my colleagues.

One of our keynoters joined us for the panel session, and I had a great time listening and learning from his experiences. He is the director of sales and marketing for Blendtec. You may have seen some of their YouTube videos from their "Will it blend?" series. If not, go check out www.willitblend.com. I promise you'll be entertained! This campaign is considered to be one of the best viral video campaigns EVER.

He gave all of us a demonstration of how to blend a rake (yes, a garden rake!) during his keynote, which I'm posting below.

Anyone want a Blendtec for Christmas? I know I do!

-T

Prayer request

Please pray for a family friend's mother-in-law, Renee Templeton. She had a terrible accident getting her home in East Texas ready for Hurricane Ike, and appears to be paralyzed from the waist down, in addition to other severe injuries. She has a strong spirit and is praying that God will use this tragedy for His glory.

We know He will, and are praying for healing and strength for Renee and her entire family. Please join us in prayer for this family.

You can check out Austin and Amber's blog to learn more at: http://fathereejoy.blogspot.com/.

-T

Oktoberfest and Aggie football

Who doesn't love all of the festivals this time of year? One of the Steiner family's favorites is Addison's annual Oktoberfest, one of the largest outside of the main one in Munich. I've been to the real one, and I have to admit that the Addison one comes pretty close. David likes it so much that he has been known to go each day during annual four-day event!

This year, we only went twice! Thursday, we met up with my friend/colleague Daniela who is from Berlin (definitely not Bavaria!) and her boyfriend Philippe. Then, on Friday, we met up with some other good friends and colleagues from David's office. The weather was perfect, and we had a great time hanging out and catching up with everyone.

On Saturday, we headed down to Aggieland for the Miami game. We rolled into town pretty early since I had an ADPi house corporation meeting. But as soon as that was over, we got picked up by Greg, Dana and Doug, and went to Olsen Field to tailgate with a sorority sister and her husband, Sarah and Matt Pearson. I think this was my first time to truly tailgate at an Aggie game, and I loved it! So much more relaxing than trying to cram into a restaurant on Northgate before the game. Thanks, Sarah and Matt! We had a fun time...let's do it again!

Here are some pics from our fun weekend.

-T

Prost! David enjoyed his beer and pretzel

Daniela and Tracy

With Doug on Friday night

Carmen biting off more she could chew!

Our tailgate hosts, Sarah and Matt

The ADPi's

Prairie View A&M performed at half-time, and they were awesome! They even spelled out TAMU, so I had to get a pic.

Ike and 9/11

Just a quick post today... We just found out that our vacation with friends to Turks & Caicos next month has been indefinitely postponed. Apparently the resort was pretty damaged, so we're looking into options for another trip. My heart goes out to everyone impacted by the hurricane season this year. If anyone needs a place to stay this weekend, let us know!

Also, my friend and colleague Missy is joining with her fiance's family and friends today to dedicate a statue in his honor. Pete was killed in Iraq last November in service of our great country. More info on Pete and Missy can be found here: http://web.mac.com/peteandmissy/Pete_and_Missy/Welcome.html.

If I get pictures from the event, I'll post them later this week. Let's remember Pete, the 9/11 victims and every soldier who has fought in defense of the USA.

-T

Farmers fight!

I can hardly believe that football season is here! Growing up, there was plenting of shouting and cheering in the Wright family household when the Cowboys, Longhorns or Horned Frogs were on TV. Even my mom gets in the action! (We love her even if she is a Longhorn.)

David and I "invested" in Season Tickets for the Aggies this year because we were excited to see what the Sherman era would bring. Greg, Dana and Doug have had the same seats for years, but we just haven't been up for the commitment until now. We've preferred to sleep in on Saturdays and watch Game Day with cups of coffee in hand, and cheer on the Aggies from our comfy couches. Of course, we've made it down to College Station for plenty of games, but the week-after-week commitment of Season Tickets has just kind of loomed out there in front of us.

So you can imagine our disappointment when our beloved Aggies were outscored last week at home. It was our first time to use our Season Tickets...the stadium atmosphere was incredible...it was a night game(those of you who have suffered through too many 100+ degrees, 90% humidity games on third deck can appreciate this)...but it was not the Aggies' night. We stumbled into our house around 1:30 am last Sunday morning grumbling about the long drive back, the poor "investment" we'd made, how bad the Aggies looked and how much sleep we were going to lose tossing and turning over the loss.

Fast forward one week, and our Aggies look slightly better than before. Hey, at least we put up more points than our opponent. We're still grumbling, but the silver lining is starting to appear, and we're "cautiously optimistic" that the season might not be bad after all.

Isn't it great to be a fan?

Gig'em, Aggies!

-T&D

Greg, Dana, Tracy, David and Doug pre-game

Good health!

We got some good news from my oncologist today! For those of you who don't know my history, I had two surgeries last fall. The first one was female-related (a story in itself) and I thought everything was fine...but I ended up in the hospital two weeks later. During the second surgery, which was to remove some scar tissue they thought was blocking my GI track, the doctors discovered I also had "incidental appendicitis." Let me tell you how weird it is to come out of anesthesia to learn you've had something removed that you hadn't planned on - and this happened twice within 2-1/2 weeks last year!

Anyway, the biopsy of my appendix showed a super-tiny carcinoid tumor. My understanding is that carcinoids are neuroendocrine tumors that are normally found in the GI tract. It can turn into a syndrome, and it doesn't respond well to chemotherapy. As a result, the usual course of treatment is preventative, and if they find something, they will operate to remove the carcinoid surgically. Unfortunately, I do know of some people for whom it was not caught early enough and are dealing with a much tougher battle than mine.

The doctors believe that my case was caught extremely early, and, combined with the tumor being so small, means that they're not overly worried about a recurrence. However, I still go in for quarterly labwork and ocreotide scans, which are three-day long tests. They inject a small dose of a radioactive substance in you (fun, huh?) and you get to lie in a machine for an hour each day while they scan you.

The interesting thing is that they don't usually see this occur as a secondary cancer and are surprised that someone with my history of childhood cancer would have this issue as well. They call me "lucky," but I know that "incidental" issue was not "accidental," but rather part of God's protection.

So, the good news is that my scan and bloodwork was all clear. There were some slight abnormalities in another lab test, so they'll repeat that in a month. But nothing to worry about for now.

Thanks for everyone's prayers. We have so much to be thankful for.

-T

Can't get this Martha out of my hair

I'm having an "easy" summer Bible study with my friends Allison and Amy. We haven't done a study together in a while - not since I started traveling a lot and didn't have time for the more lengthy Beth Moore studies. This summer (actually, it's pretty much fall now!), we've been reading and discussing Joanna Weaver's book, "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World."

It's been both encouraging and convicting. I am such a Martha! I don't mean the clean-the-house-from-top-to-bottom-while-ironing-and-preparing-a-five-course-meal type. I'm more of the cram-everything-possible-into-a-day-and-then-some-can't-say-no type.

But I'm working on it.

Have a blessed week!

-T

Blog updates, summer fun

A sorority sister, Amy Stoker, just relocated to DFW, so of course it was a good reason for some of us to meet for dinner last night. It was a ton of fun catching up with everyone. And, Amy only lives a couple of minutes away from my parents in Fort Worth. I'm so glad she is in the area!

The girls after dinner - Johanna, Heather L., Allison, Dana, Amy, Heather C., Sara and me


The surprise of the evening is that several of the girls actually read this site! And they were quick to point out that it hasn't been updated since May. Gasp! I guess I have been too busy on Facebook. Sorry about that, folks. Here we go...

All good things must come to an end, I suppose. It's been a fun summer, and in the spirit of catching up quickly, I'm posting some pictures from the last three+ months.

In late May, my sister and I hosted a surprise birthday party in honor of my mom's 60th birthday. We had a limousine pick up Mom and several of her friends at my parents' house in Fort Worth, and then bring them to The Mansion on Turtle Creek, where we had lunch overlooking the terrace. It was a great "girls' treat" and my mom was thoroughly surprised.

Sarah, Mom and me on the terrace

Toasting Mom before lunch

All the ladies on the terrace after lunch

Right after the birthday party, I left on a business trip to Taiwan. There wasn't too much time for fun, but I did manage to go shopping and check out the exotic foods at one of Taipei's night markets. Watch out, Anthony Bourdain!

In late June, a TI colleague and friend (Valerie) from our France office came to the US for a couple of weeks. We decided her visit wouldn't be complete without a trip to Fort Worth. So we played tour guide and took her to Joe T. Garcia's, the Stockyards and The Love Shack. We also went on a guided tour of the Stockyards. As a native Fort Worth-ian, I was surprised to discover that Fort Worth has its own "mini" River Walk off Exchange Avenue. Who knew!

It was fun, yet sweltering day. Valerie even met a real cowboy who bought her a beautiful hat. Thanks, Cowboy Steve!

Posing at the world's largest honkey tonk

Laura and Valerie showing off their real Cowboy hats at The Love Shack

David and I went to Puerto Rico for a week in early July. We didn't care for San Juan that much, other than the great restaurants, but the western part of the island was beautiful and reminded us of Hawaii. The resort we stayed at in Rincon - The Horned Dorset Primavera - was beautiful, peaceful and one we'll definitely be returning to visit.

Paradise found at the Dorset's inifinity pool

Trying to get a great shot while touring one of San Juan's forts

I couldn't resist a picture of the menu at Happy Belly's, on our way to Rincon - LOL.

David chillaxin' on the Dorset's beach

In late July, I had a business trip to the south of France. Valerie kindly returned the favor and took me around. Here's a pic of me at a hidden waterfall in the Inland Riviera (near the Loupes d'Gorge, I believe.)

In early August, we took a quick trip to Huntsville, Alabama, to visit David's parents. Here we are with Fritz and Nancy, enjoying brunch at Another Broken Egg Cafe.

Shortly thereafter, I co-hosted a baby shower for a childhood friend in Fort Worth. Here are Cari and I with the expecting mother, Jenny.

I then headed to Lake Austin Spa for a few days to celebrate Kelley's 40th birthday. It was an amazing trip - I just needed a few more days to really get into the spa experience. Just kidding! It was fabulous! If anyone else wants me to go to a spa for their birthday, you know how to reach me. :-)

In my summer uniform, sipping champagne

Birthday girl Kelley and I kayaking

As you can see, it definitely wasn't a boring summer in the Steiner household. I wish I could say that was my excuse for not posting more often. Stay tuned...