New job, new dog, new apartment

Zek starts work on Monday (August 2).  He will be working at Siemens as a product manager.  It is a global responsibility, and he will be traveling about 20% of the time with approximately 4 international trips a year.

Tracy starts clinical rotations in a few weeks.  She will be spending 5 weeks in each rotation at a different hospital or clinic--more than ten rotations in all with only a weekend break in between.  That weekend may be her only rest, because during the rotation, she may be working up to 7 days a week.  She is very excited to start applying her medical knowledge, but she'll actually be responsible for people's lives!  Eeek!

Several weeks ago we invited Elizabeth, our niece, to stay with us.  We all had a great time, and Elizabeth got to see the Georgia Aquarium, Stone Mountain, ride the airplane and the metro.  She also participated in an acting camp, which finished with a musical.  She had a lot of fun and discovered that flying isn't so bad.

Zek also attended his ten-year high-school anniversary.  It was great to catch up with old friends (OK, not that old!), but he only spent 42 hours in Nebraska, so he didn't have much time to catch up with everyone.  It was still a great time while it lasted.

With the new job, we've made some other "life changes", including moving to a new apartment (on the fourth floor!).  We won't put the address here, but if you want to send us something, ask first.

The new member of our family, Kaya:

Graduation around the bend

Tracy and Zek are almost done with the semester.  We will be finishing our last classes next week and Zek graduates May 10.  To celebrate all of our hard work this semester, we've decided to take a break and fly to San Francisco for a week the first week of May.  We will stay in the city for about half of the time and camp in Big Sur the other half.  We bought about a bunch of camping equipment at REI and are ready to go!

We have certainly done a lot this Spring.  We both ran our first half marathon.  Zek beat his goal and ran it in an hour 42 minutes.  Tracy accomplished her goal (finishing) and crossed the finish in 2 hours 17 minutes.  About 1 month earlier Tracy had injured her knee and couldn't train.  She muscled through the event, though, and the next week was in a good deal of pain.

This has been a busy time for each of us.  Zek is putting 10 to 20 hours of work in at Kimberly-Clark.  We're not sure if the company will extend him a full-time job, but he is working hard to ensure that happens.  He likes the company, so please pray for the best.  This is Tracy's busiest semester of the PA program, and it has been stressful.  She will get pretty close to straight A's.  She just has to keep up the good work.  Speaking of grades, Zek will graduate with honors.

By the way, since about half of our friends became pregnant or gave birth this Spring, we want to say congratulations to all of you.  We're excited for you and feel a little left behind, so we're getting a dog.

Other highlights in pictures:

 Zek's Parents visited Atlanta in February.

Some good friends had us over for a murder mystery and dinner.  Thanks Rick and Hannah (left and middle of first picture)!

Zek attended an Indian celebration known as Holi and got "colored".

Part of our Sunday class (Life Group) on Resurrection Sunday.

Here is a link to our Picasa album for more pictures.

Christmas 2009 and New Years 2010

Tracy and I really enjoyed our holidays this year.  Here are some highlights, and you can scroll to the bottom for pictures.

As most of you know, we started off by driving to Nebraska. 
Our time in NE was great.  The weather was great for us, because a blizzard came through before we arrived and another came through after we left.  We were able to satisfy our snow fix, but it was a bit chilly with windchill often below zero.

I was able to visit the new high school and saw a high-school basketball game.  That was a lot of fun, and all the little kids we once knew are now so big!  I haven't been gone that long, but some of them are already taller than me.  Tracy and I helped out with our church's youth group in Stromsburg when we were there, so it was a pleasure to see those kids again.

It was also great to see family.  
Ana and her husband, Jack, drove in from California, a whopping 20-hour drive.  And, she had alternator problems a long the way and a rather large dog in the backseat.  We're either dedicated children or poor.

Seeing my nieces and nephews (as well as sisters and brothers-in-law) was great.  Tracy planned a treasure hunt for them, which they enjoyed, even though they tired of clue-finding half-way through.  We also enjoyed the "talent show" mom always has before we open presents.  Elizabeth (niece) sang and Austin (nephew) danced.  I couldn't believe his moves.  We must have similar genes, but not even I could break that out at his age.  Check him out below.

From Christmas 2009 Nebraska

We also saw my Heidtbrink cousins, my grandparents and my new first-cousin once removed (learn more about cousin types here), Liam.  Of course, my cousins greeted us by pelting us with snow balls as soon as we got out of the car.


It wasn't very long until we had to leave.  
We were sad to go, but really happy we were able to see so many loved ones in the time we had.  So, back to Atlanta:  we left Stromsburg at 6:15 am and arrived in Atlanta at 12:30 am, grabbed a good night sleep and then packed up for our 2:30 pm flight.  We even had some time to go out for lunch with our good friends, Rachel and Brandon.

We spent a little more time in San Juan, seeing Tracy's family.  Her sister and brother-in-law was also able to make it.  Tracy's parents held a big party on Christmas eve, and we met a bunch of her family.  We joke that when we visit Zek's family, greetings aren't a big deal, because they act like you were never gone.  On Tracy's side, though, greetings are a big deal.  A third of your time is spent greeting, a third mingling, and a third saying good-bye.  Zek had to learn that early on in our marriage.

Some time at the beach and some at the hospital
The next day we visited the beach house at Palmas Del Mar and the next a friend of Pepe's took us on his boat to Isla Culebrita (located here).  It was awesome.  We traveled as fast as 45 knots on the boat, we snorkeled and hiked up to a lighthouse.  The weather was great and we didn't burn.

Later Zek had a chance to go with Tracy's brother to work at Banco Popular.  On the way back, he let Zek drive his Nissan 350Z.  Letting Zek drive it in Puerto Rico was very generous, because the roads are horrible.  Along the way he explained to Zek what a "chicken handle" was.  It's actually called something else, but I'll keep it PG.  It's the handle you hold onto for dear life when you don't trust the driver's driving.  Later, Manuel had to be rushed to the emergency room after developing a severe stress-related ulcer...  No really.  I say I was the straw that broke the camel's back.  Of course, he had had the ulcer for a while, but he didn't realize how serious it was until that day.  Over the course of time he had lost half of his blood through internal bleeding caused by the ulcer. He is lucky and happy to be alive, but he is doing really well now.

A few more pictures
Nebraska
Puerto Rico

We began training for the ING half-marathon while in Puerto Rico.  10 more weeks to go.

Fall update

We just returned from North Carolina, where we spent Thanksgiving.  We saw our new niece and had a splendid time eating fantastic food, taking runs around the lake, and spending time with family.  Zek even got the chance to visit the shooting range with Micah, Brandon, and Rachel.  It is more difficult to aim and shoot a pistol quickly than you might expect, but Zek usually hit the target.  If he is ever attacked, hopefully the assailant will stand still for a while, so he can get a good shot in.  Sadly, Tracy has 5 tests coming up, so she had to spend a lot of time studying.

Baby Eva was the belle of the ball, and we took turns holding her.  Some of us even took turns changing her diaper, though Zek managed to escape that duty.  We feel sorry for Trishie who had to wake every couple of hours during the night to attend to Eva and who was also up early every morning being an excellent host and up late at night doing the same.

Take a look at some of our pictures:



Earlier this fall, Zek visited a corn maze with our "life group" (ie Sunday School class), the biggest in Georgia.  That was the first time in a corn maze for him and he had fun.  Zek enjoyed all of the love he received on his birthday.  He thanks everyone a bunch!  This Fall we finally received money from a short project Zek worked on this summer. That is going to help us out tremendously to make it until we get another set of student loans.


Finally, we wanted to update you about Zek's career search.  He had a number of interviews in October - November, including a full-day interview with a consulting firm.  He did well but not well enough.  Also, he'll be doing a short internship with Kimberly-Clark during the school year.  This is great news also, because Kimberly-Clark is an ideal company for him in many ways.

I'll end with a few pictures.

My team from Chennai India, who visited Atlanta to present our project:

The Saturday morning running group after a rainy run:

We were given Snuggies from Tracy's grandma, Nani, and we have grown to love them:

A baby is born! and Zek might get a job ... eventually

Rains continue to fall in Georgia.

Zek has a few interesting career opportunities.  He interviewed with Kimberly-Clark (a paper products company).  This is an internship during school and may or may not turn into a full-time position after graduation.  He also met the general manager of one of GE's businesses.  That business includes the group he worked with this spring as part of a marketing consulting project.  That might turn into another opportunity.  Finally, he has interviews with several consulting firms this week.  Unfortunately, these firms may only hire a few MBAs, and there are a lot of applicants.  Consulting work comes with pros and cons, including traveling almost every week Sunday night through Thursday night.

He is starting to relax and realize that if he don't get a job right now, it's OK.  He is kind of bummed that the job search is distracting him so much from school, and rejection is never easy to accept.  Tracy is doing well in school, and she is excited about what she is studying.  CNN Money ranked Physician Assistant the #2 best job in America. Check it out! http://money.cnn.com/magazines/moneymag/bestjobs/2009/full_list/index.html

Our new niece, Eva Maria Niebauer Fossas, was born October 9^th, 2009 at 12:54 am weighing 8lbs3oz. She is beautiful and completely healthy. God blessed Tracy with the opportunity to be there for the birth. When her sister called to say she was being induced on Thursday, Tracy left school and drove to NC and was able to make it in time to team up with Micah (sister’s husband) to help her sister through labor and see Eva Maria being born. The proud and happy parents are doing well, but exhausted. Titi (aunt in Spanish) Tracy is completely in love with our new niece. We'll be visiting the Niebauers in NC for Thanksgiving.
 

This Christmas we'll be slightly compressed for time.  We'll go to Nebraska from December 12 through the 21st then to PR from the 22nd through January 4.

How are you doing?

More pictures:

School year is in full swing!

Hello everyone.

First, I want to say that even though you probably received this via email, the blog is actually hosted at http://zekandtracy.blogspot.com/.  If you you want to reply to this email message, it should go straight to my Gmail account, but I'm not sure.

I am caught up in the career search, but things do not look good.  I thought MBA would be a good time to switch careers and try something new, but that thinking seems only to be adding to my stress.  Tracy is also busy.  They weren't lying to her during orientation:  she really doesn't have a life outside of school!

I have been doing more at church.  On Sunday I'm leading the Sunday school lesson.  On Monday the Christian fellowship at the business school starts up (not associated with our church).  I am the president this year.  I also participated in the church's talent show, breakdancing:



You can find the YouTube video above at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5a6FdYRErtI.)

A couple friends moved from a suburb of Atlanta to only a few minutes from our home.  We're excited about that.  They are great and in October they're planning a mystery dinner theater at their home.  I am excited for that.  It will be our first.

Over thanksgiving we're traveling to Tracy's sister's house in NC.  It will be a good time to (hopefully) relax.  We're excited to see you again, Trishie and Micah!

Away from India, onto North Carolina and Atlanta

Hey All,

This summer, I wrote a blog about my time in India. At the same time, I followed a blog written by a couple who use it to update family and friends on their goings-on. So, I decided to try the same thing, hoping this will be a way to keep you up-to-date on our life. I (or Tracy) will probably update the blog every month or so.

Now, I know some of you are thinking, "Why hasn't he called lately anyway?" To that I can say 2 things. 1) I've been thinking about it, and I am probably praying for you often. 2) You can call me just as well. In any event, I hope we will talk soon enough.

So, here it goes with our first post...

After leaving India, Tracy and I spent a week with her sister (Trishie) and her husband (Micah) in North Carolina. What a wonderful time of relaxation and fellowship before we ease back into life in Atlanta! Micah's sister (Rachel) and her husband (Brandon) were there also, as were Tracy's mother and mother's mother. (Did you get all of that?) As we slowly got over jet lag and our bodies settled down, we enjoyed not only family and friends but also Micah and Trishie's pool, Jacuzzi, and food.

Tracy With Trishie

Now, we're back in Atlanta. Tracy started her PA education (the actual degree is MMSc). She is so excited to get started and has been dragging (shall I say, allowing?) me to all of her events. Apparently, this year she will be the busiest she has ever been, but I think she finally feels like she is on the path to her lifelong career. She's probably 60% excited and 40% fearful. I'm excited for her too!

 

Some PA Friends (Ben top-left, Sandy bottom-left, Dave, and Sophia bottom-right)

Rachel and Brandon (see earlier mention) actually just moved to Atlanta recently, so we began spending time with them. We went camping for the first time in Atlanta, and Rachel and Brandon joined us. That was a great time as well. I brought many of the camping habits I've learned by watching my father:

• Cast iron cooking ware
• Breakfast of bacon, eggs, and pancakes
• Meals wrapped in aluminum foil, placed directly in the coals
• Starting the fire with only the previous fire's coals
  

I did not fish, but I swam in a nearby lake. I was inspired by the pictures my dad sent out of a camping trip with mom and my nieces and nephews recently. I remembered old times when I saw Austin and the others standing near my family's old camping sites, taking hikes we used to take.



Pictures from Camping at Stone Mountain

This has been probably all that you can handle for one blog post. It's been a great couple of weeks and summer. Now, I'm looking ahead to the recruiting process and applying to jobs. I'm a bit nervous about that, but I must trust God's will. I'm less nervous about classes and just have to choose which ones I want to take.