Available Lite - Asset-Auctions

I work for a company called Asset-Auctions (www.asset-auctions.com). For a better explanation of the company, feel free to visit our website. I just didn't want to bore everyone with the details. ANYWAY, I just got back from an auction that we did down in Mexico. I flew into Mexico City, late afternoon on Monday. When we started our approach and descent I was really taken aback by how big Mexico City is. You really can't describe it unless you see it. It is the most densely populated place that I have ever seen and it goes on FOREVER. I wasn't sitting next to the window so I didn't get any pictures of the town. I did take a few pictures of the folks that I work with and some of the items that we sell. This isn't the most exciting post ever, but it's at least better than work.

We had about a four hour car ride to a town called Celaya were the auction actually took place. It took about an hour and a half just to get outside of Mexico City. Then everyone drives about 140 K/hr which is roughly between 85 and 90 miles an hour. My friend Marney needs to move to Mexico because no one is there to monitor your speed! This is a picture of Michael Berliner (left) and Shawn Allen (Right). I worked with both of them when Amber and I worked for Freemarkets. Michael is an equipment specialist and Shawn is the President of the company. This picture was taken at a home-style restaurant in a town just South of Celaya. They only had one thing on the menu. It was a beef stew that came with a huge plate of melted goat cheese that you rolled up in corn tortillas and ate with the stew. It was really good. Michael wasn't that impressed since he contributes to the continued successes of the American Beef Industry.

I took this picture from the back seat of the car as we were flying down the highway. When you are the lowest man on the totem pool, you get relegated to the backseat while the President rides shot gun. Michael and Scott Britton, our VP had pity on me and let me ride in the front seat on the 4 hour cab ride back to Mexico City. I'm not really sure if I was the one that got the best part of the deal. All I know is that my mother would have been close to cardiac arrest a few times.
The weather in Mexico was amazing. When I landed I had on a shorts and a company polo shirt. It was about 68 degrees outside and I was actually cold while we were waiting for the parking shuttle. We did see a Chilean Army official putting his uniform jacket on along with his various medallions and ropes. It was interesting. It's not like you see anyone from the Chilean Army hanging out at the Airport in Texas.

This is a picture of the manufacturing plant in Celaya. This company built parts for refrigerators and then built some parts for Ford Motor Company. This is typically what a facility will look like prior to an auction. On the left there is a row of about 10 injection molding machines.

This is a better picture of the injection molding machines. These are pretty important machines but we have sold some presses that are about 4 stories tall.

Here Shawn and Ozwaldo "Ozzie" Mendoza go over some last minute details the day before the auction. Ozzie is our representative down in Mexico. He lives in California, but spends a good deal of time in our Mexico office. Ozzie is also an auctioneer that can call bids in both English and Spanish. During the auction, I would have to remind him to use more English so that the webcast operators would understand him. The Mexicans bidders thought this was very funny.

This machine is a late model Bridgeport vertical drill press. We sell a lot of these machines and they are pretty much a standard piece of machinery in any machine shop.

We had a VERY successful auction down in Mexico and celebrated at a restaurant called El Casaria. It wasn't Mexican food, but Spanish from Spain. This is a picture of Scott Britton, our head auctioneer and VP of Operations. Shawn is on the right. This isn't a great picture, but I thought that I would include it.
There were lots of fish and chicken dishes along with steak dishes that made Michael Berliner very happy. Ozzie, Micheal and I a got Ceasar salads that they made at the table. It was really interesting to watch. They made the salad dressing with all the ingredients including 4 raw egg yokes, but no anchovies. The salad was one of the best that I have ever had.

Available Lite - Disney

About three weeks ago Amber and I went with my parents on a long overdue vacation. This year we decided to head East to Florida to see some family, go to Disney and hang out on the beach. All of these activities were accomplished, but the beach suffered the most because both Amber and I, came down with the flu. Most of the pictures that I took from the trip are from Disney. We went to Epcot, The Magic Kingdom and MGM Studios. One bit of advice if you are planning on a Disney vacation, wait until September when school starts! We had such good luck. There were no long lines to wait in and park transportation was great.



This isn't the first picture that I took, but since I usually don't include any pictures of myself, I thought that I would put if first. This is Amber and me at the Hall of America in Epcot. This was our first stop after an excellent meal at a Japanese restaurant where they cook all the food in front of you.



The Giant Epcot Ball. For those of you that don't know Epcot stands for: Experimental Prototype City Of Tomorrow.

Always an important feature at Disney is water, mostly because water is a big part of Florida. Here are some water fountains that are in Epcot.



This is a picture of the MGM studios night time show that I think is called Fantasmic, but I'm sure I'll get an e-mail with a name change from either my mother or my wife. Either way, it's a must see if you are going to go to Disney in Florida. You can't really tell from the photos but there are lighted floats going by in the foreground. Behind is a giant rock mountain where Mickey encounters all the villains from the Disney archives. The most impressive feature at the show is three water spouts that shoot out a 50' by 50' fan of water that has video back projected on to it. I really enjoyed this show and so did the other 7000 people there to see it!



In order to help you spend more money at Disney, they have created a Downtown Disney that features the best in restaurants, clubs and . . . you guessed it SHOPPING! Here is a picture of a guy that has the best job in the world. This is the Lego store in downtown Disney. This guy is building the Death Star from Star Wars . . . ON THE JOB! I can't imagine any better way to spend my work time than building with Legos!


This is another picture from the lego store. You really can't tell, but this is the great wall of Lego. Each of the round bins are a different color and shape of Lego. The store provides a container so you can buy the pieces by the container. I think that every type of Lego was represented here. It really would be a Lego lovers dream come true. This is what heaven is going to look like for me . . . well there would be an equivalent music studio adjacent.



"She's the ship that ran the castle run if five parsecs, she might not look like much but she's go it were it count's. She's fast enough four you old man"

I took this picture for my friend Chadwick who loves the Millennium Falcon. This is a Lego version of the ship from Star Wars. Lego has come a long way since we played with them.



We stayed in two different Disney themed hotels. The first one was called Pop Century. Each section of the hotel featured a different Century. Our section was the 80's the outside of our hotel was decorated with Pac Man. This is a picture of a GIANT Foos Ball man that was part of the 70's section. Behind him is a three story tall Big Wheel.

The second place we stayed was the Port Orleans. We really enjoyed this property and would recommend it. I wasn't able to get any pictures, but the rooms were really nice. There is a water shuttle to downtown Disney from the property and the pool features its own water slide that looks like a giant dragon.

Needless to say, we all had a great time on vacation and we look forward to going back when we have some kids to take with us. . . but I'm not taking them until they are at least 47 inches tall!