It's only money

I briefly mentioned last week about various fundraisers we do to collect $$$ for the Epilepsy Foundation.  Within the last few months, we've had a number of different events to generate donations/money for the cause.  We’ve had a tailgating party, Fantasy Football, Superbowl lottery drawings, the chili cook off, March Madness, silent auctions, collected pledges from the Marathon.  The big push for collections usually starts up around the beginning of each year with a culmination at the Epilepsy Walk in April.  Lots of contests with some sweet prizes.  At Tuesday's cook off, we gave out tickets to the rodeo show (Reba McEntire), the dining train tour to Galveston, two airline tickets (round trip) an iPod Nano and even a new iPad 3.  We usually scrape up lots of donations from various suppliers to hand out some sweet prizes.  Part of my job as purchasing manager is to negotiate (read cajole) some of these donations from our suppliers.  I have been working hard to round up prizes for the upcoming golf tournament next week.  I am still holding out hope for my own iPad one day, but, since I've been batting 0.000 over the past 10+ years at this things, I guess I will have to buy my own.      


The few pictures and words I posted about Tuesday's chili cook off did not do it justice.  From a few of the ensuing questions, I thought I might elaborate a bit more.  The whole deal is organized by the HR department.  Each department forms teams to compete for two prizes:  Best chili and Best Display.  Whichever team wins will represent the company in an upcoming Houston wide event at the end of March.  There were 8 teams competing, each with their own special recipe and decorations.  The Marketing team did chicken chili (kinda bland), one did uber hot chili, another did mystery meat chili.  Decorations were, once again, over the top.  The Clinical group did the medical theme (their chili was really good) and they served the chili in spit trays and urinary jars (all sterile).  The Operations team was decorated in 60's diner styles, the HR team did a Hollywood theme and the Quality group did a 60's Groovy theme.   We even had side contests on top of the main contest.  Jalapeno eating contest.  Root Beer chugging.  Flip cup competition (sort of like a college drinking game).  Lots of opportunities to "invest" your money...

The three stooges (plus one)

Flip cup

Big turnout

Was a wet weekend.  Major storms rolled through town on Friday and it pretty much rained then entire weekend.  We are continuing to make up for last year's drought.  I think we are up to 15 inches of rain so far this year.  The back pond is almost overflowing at this point.  

In spite of the rain, we drove out to take one more look at possible reception venues.  We went back out to a golf course/country club site we toured a few weeks back.  They were set up for a wedding that night so we got to see what it would look like in full regalia.  We are still pondering 1 or 2 other sites, but this one is at the head of the pack.  

The big house

One of the table decorations

The grand staircase

Anyone up for a wedding?