WORKING ON MY BUCKET LISTMary Slowinski

BACK STORY

AggrekoNortheast

Rental Center (NRC)

I would like to give a little background on how I got to cross something off of my bucket list. In the fall of 2014, some changes were made to the executive committee of Aggreko. The new CEO and several other members of the committee travelled from Scotland to the United States. They visited “key” areas of the business to see how things operated in the US.

IN THE SPRING OF 2015, THE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF FINANCE IN THE UNITED STATES REPORTED THAT NO CHANGES WOULD BE MADE TO THE NORTHEAST RENTAL CENTER (NRC) AND WE HAD NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT. WE ALL BREATHED A SIGH OF RELIEF.

JUMP AHEAD TO OCTOBER 13, 2015 – THE STORY CHANGED. THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE DECIDED IT WASN’T NECESSARY TO HAVE TWO RENTAL CENTERS AND THE NRC WAS BEING CLOSED – ALL WORK WOULD NOW BE DONE IN THE SRC LOCATED IN NEW IBERIA, LOUISIANA.

Everyone was wondering what they were going to do now, some people had been with the company for 20 years. Even I looked into some different occupations.

Law and Order SVU

Universal Studios

Teenage Mutant Turtles 2016

Mysteries of Laura

Blindspot

New York Fashion Week

One of the sales reps I worked for handled all of the entertainment and events on the East Coast. Both he and his customers were very particular about their proposals and their orders had to be entered differently than other customers.

MANAGEMENT ASKED ME IF I WOULD TRAVEL TO LOUISIANA AND TRAIN SOMEONE TO DO MY JOB. I ASKED, “ARE YOU SERIOUS??”. I WAS UPSET UNTIL THEY MENTIONED I WOULD BE SPENDING MY LAST NIGHT THERE IN NEW ORLEANS. I WAS LIKE, “IN THAT CASE, I’LL GO.” I COULD CROSS SOMETHING OFF MY BUCKET LIST AND IT WOULD BE ON THEIR DIME.

SO I FLEW TO NEW IBERIA, LOUISIANA AND SPENT THREE DAYS TRAINING SOMEONE TO DO MY JOB.

THURSDAY AFTERNOON FINALLY ARRIVED, I WAS ON MY WAY TO NEW ORLEANS.!! ON THE DRIVE WE PASSED THE SUPERDOME, (WHERE I’M SURE YOU REMEMBER MANY CITIZENS WERE HOUSED DURING HURRICANE KATRINA) AND MANY, MANY CEMETERIES. I LEARNED THE HISTORY OF WHY LOUISIANA GRAVEYARDS ARE ABOVE GROUND.

New Orleans is located slightly below sea level. Because of this, the water table is quite high. When early European settlers put coffins under six feet of earth, they found that the water level would often rise above them, especially during the city’s frequent floods. Since the coffins were filled with air, the water sometimes pushed them up through the earth, causing both a gruesome site and a health hazard. To keep the coffins underground, holes were drilled in the lid to let air escape and the coffins were weighted down with rocks and sand. But this was only partially successful, and in any case, the saturated corpses didn’t decompose properly leading to unsanitary conditions. The only solution was to bury the dead above ground.

MY TRAVELING BUDDY, DAWN, WANTED TO MAKE SURE I VISITED PAT O’BRIEN’S, SO WE STOPPED THERE FIRST. I WANTED TO MAKE SURE I STOPPED AT SPIRITS AND GET MYSELF ONE OF THEIR FAMOUS DRINKS CALLED THE RESURRECTION. I HAD SEEN SPIRITS ON THE TV SHOW BAR RESCUE AND WANTED TO MAKE SURE I VISITED - SO OFF WE GO. ON THE WAY I GRABBED A $10.00 HOTDOG FROM A STREET VENDOR – I WAS HUNGRY!!

JON TAFFER OF BAR RESCUE

Jon Taffer is a bar consultant who goes into troubled bars and saves them. He finds what their problems are and helps correct them. Some keep his changes, some don’t. He did this at “Spirits” (originally known as “Turtle Bay”) on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

Spirits was formerly owned by Edward DeBoire who had a rather successful barber business. Unfortunately, he met a rather tragic death at only 33 years of age. It is said that his spirit enjoys the bar. In fact, what is now their stage was where his barber chair stood. It was clear when the stage was erected that Edward did not appreciate having his barber chair removed. To pacify him, the owners added the Barber Chair to pay homage to Edward in a fun way that they thought he would appreciate - his spirit is thought to still remain

HISTORY OF SPIRITS

JON TAFFER AT SPIRITSBAR RESCUE SIGN AT SPIRITS

RESURRECTION GLASS BARBER CHAIR

By the way, can you guess who has my Spirits glass?? LOL

Bourbon Street in November

Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras

Statistic 2015 2014

Calls for Service 3,250 2,900

Arrests 443 501

Manpower Hours 58,090 55,700

Some Police Statistics – 2015 vs. 2014

DO’S AND DON’TS WHILE ON BOURBON STREET

Don’t wear open toed shoes Don’t step in any puddles (may not be water) Don’t say YES to someone dressed in costume that asks you if you want a picture with

him/her, just say NO – they’ll harass you for money for the picture Don’t try and pet a police officer’s horse Don’t try to catch beads being thrown to someone else – definite fighting action

Do have a good time!!!

Weekend in Las Vegas – 90% chance Trip to Ireland – 70% chance

Dinner with Al Pacino – 0% Chance

Just a few of the things left on my Bucket List