Staff Bytes
The Falcons Honor Susan Greene's Nephew
The award presented by the Atlanta Falcons. (photo courtesy of S. Greene)
The following article recently appeared in the Forsythe (GA) News regarding David Greene, nephew of Susan Greene (PMO):
David Greene finally had something go his way.
Greene, a senior linebacker on the Forsyth Central football team, tore two ligaments in his left ankle during fall practice his freshman year. A year later, he tore the same ligaments in his right ankle during his first junior varsity game as a sophomore.
Though he was healthy enough to play football last year as a junior, he tore his ACL while playing lacrosse in February and is sidelined for his senior football season.
But Greene didn't quit the team or pout. Instead, he kept a positive outlook and made a choice to assist the Bulldogs however he could this fall.
The Atlanta Falcons rewarded his commitment to the team and named him a Captain in the Community winner on Sept. 13, a weekly award given to a football student-athlete who demonstrates strong leadership skills on and off the field. Central will also receive a $1,000 grant to give to a local charity.
"I try to be a leader," Greene said. "I do whatever they need me to do to help the team. It doesn't matter if I film or work in the groups. I’m just trying to do my part." Greene, who boasts a 3.76 grade point average, will attend Southern Polytechnic State University after graduation in hopes of a mechanical engineering degree. He isn't sure whether he wants to play intramural sports at Southern, but isn't afraid of another injury.
"My mom wants to put me in a bubble," Greene said with a laugh. "But I can't [worry] about being injured again."
To read the entire article, go to http://www.forsythnews.com/section/106/article/14911/.
- Susan Greene, Project Manager, PMO
Tribute to Mary McGahee
Mary McGahee will be with us always.
It is with deep sadness that we share the news that Mary McGahee, our NDB custodial support person, passed away September 11. Her funeral was held September 17 at the New Springfield Baptist Church.
In the many years I worked with Mary in the North Decatur Building, there are so many examples of how she and Kenny House worked as a team that "owned" that building. Very little got past Mary and she knew everyone and every inch of the building. She resolved problems before we knew there were problems.
Just one example, the night before the OIT SuperComputing Reception there was a terrible storm that caused light bulbs in the NDB lobby to burst, shattering glass all over the lobby floor where we were to set up for the reception. By the time I arrived at about 8:00 am, Mary was just finishing cleaning up, and had someone on the way to re-wash the floor to be sure there were absolutely no pieces of glass remaining. Amazing as it was that she had already done so much she apologized for not having it completely done by the time I arrived so I would not have known there was ever a problem or had a single worry.
Hers are very large shoes that will be very difficult to fill, and even harder in the hearts of those who worked with her. Our thoughts are with her family. Mary was a wonderful kind hearted person whom we will sorely miss.
- Kim Comstock, Business Manager, IT F&A
Pictionary Contest
This was one of the fine drawings in the pictionary contest. If you guessed "neighborhood"...you win!
We had our Enterprise Applications "Kick off" on Thursday, October 18 and we held a Pictionary competition. I snapped pictures, but was laughing so hard that only a handful came out. My daughter (11 years old) made this little movie for me (see below).
As part of Enterprise Applications team meeting, the group was divided into teams, mixing membership across the different areas of Enterprise Apps for a healthy Pictionary competition. The video does not capture the cut-throat drawing or the screams of victory!
The winning team was Tom Armour, Mike Davidson, Gerald Mosley, and Rob Vannah (all of Enterprise Applications).
- Dana Haggas, Director, Enterprise Applications
Photo of the Month
Are these the TOC "gang signs?" (photo courtesy of J. Fries)
The following photo was submitted without comment to be our Photo of the Month. We are not sure what Amir Ali (Enterprise Services) is doing, but whatever it is, he looks cool!
If you would like to submit a photo for consideration as Photo of the Week, send it to wade.moricle@emory.edu.
Ann Berry's Wild Ride
Ann Berry breaking speed limits in 1762!
Anne Berry (Enterprise Services), the senior purchasing assistant for ES, had some foot surgery in August 2012. In order to keep working, she procured the "knee walker" in the picture. For about a month, Anne would zip around the 1762 building on her walker and she became quite adept at missing toes and avoiding collisions! "Toward the end I think we needed some stop signs because I got a little too fast with that thing!" said Ann.
Ann learned the importance of planning her trips because clearance to turn was always an issue. The knee walker, which retails for $1,000, truly helped Ann maintain the high-level of productivity for which she is known. Today, she is walking normally again.
Stiles Hosts RV Reunion
John Stiles' famous vintage 1980 Bluebird Wanderlodge RV. (photo courtesy of J. Stiles)
Millions of dollars in investment along with a good bit of history rolled into the Pine Mountain (GA) RV Resort recently.
More than 100 owners of Bluebird Wanderlodge motor homes gathered at the park for an annual reunion to swap stories of their adventures and admire each other's rides.
It's become a tradition, particularly since Bluebird stopped making the motor homes in 2009. Production had been going on since the mid-1960's.
"There used to be multiple rallys throughout the year," said John Stiles (PMO), one of the hosts of the event, that lasted all week. “The main one was in Perry, GA. After production shut down, the owners continued the tradition with volunteer help."
The first rally had about 15 motor homes – 140 were expected in Pine Mountain this year. The group has gathered in Pine Mountain since 2005, some coming from as far away as California and Canada.
To read the entire article, go to:http://lagrangenews.com/view/full_story/20625414/article-‘This-is-our-family.
A few extra facts:
The Wanderlodge factory built the last coach in 2009 (sold for approximately $1.2M) and closed its doors that same year. The rights to the brand are now owned by Parliament Coach in Clearwater Florida who is now talking about resurrecting the brand. The Wanderlodge is an all-steel bus made into a motorhome unlike a camper motorhome typically made of fiberglass.
This is an all volunteer rally with no rally fees. Each attendee registers and pays for their parking site directly with the campground and we, as hosts, solicit sponsorship from commercial vendors for rally events. My wife and I have owned our Wanderlodge for 12 years now and this is our 3rd year as host of this rally.
We solicited and booked several commercial vendors and manufacturers, from many different states, that give numerous presentations on safety and maintenance. Our attendees were from all across the USA, as well as a few coaches from Canada who traveled down just for this event.
We have a large impact on the town of Pine Mountain (which is where Callaway Gardens is located) and we work closely with the town Chamber of Commerce each year in order to increase business and exposure for the town. Although we just completed Rally 2012, we are already starting planning on the 2013 rally with a Lessons Learned document from this year's rally. While we do not go to the extent of using MS Project and other such tools, there are still many parallels to hosting a rally of this size and Project Manager work at Emory.
- John Stiles, Project Manager, PMO