Fancy Schmancy

Long overdue...

Hello??? Is anyone out there? :-)

It's been - count it - over two years since the last post. If anyone is out there, you have surely given up on me by now.

Look for some updates soon, and say "howdy" if you're listening.

-t

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