Marshall Yard:

I understand some are interested in learning where Kevin actually came from - he was a bit reluctant to give out the information but true enough, and it sure is fitting - Kevin came from Southern Mississippi a little town he called Expo ’se - I think he was spinning the story to fit his current run on the trade show circuit, but low and behold, he was telling the truth, just got his grammar a little screwed up, but I told him I would run with it!

Stay tuned for some updates from down south, we are going to try to track some of Kevin’s relatives.

Kevin is at it again, the little Mississippi Map Mascot, while researching Orange Groves last week, stumbled upon the Performance Raching Trade Show.  Kevin recruited our “Only One Man” Patrick - our portable exhibit guy into a road trip! The Performance racing Trade Show will be taking place at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando Florida - December 6th-8th, 2008.  Last year, there were over 1400 companies that exhibited and with over 1,000,000 square feet of exhibit space.   Kevin read that the requests for larger aisles at this trade show did not fall on deaf ears. 

Patrick and Kevin decided to hunt down an old tour bus from the 1970’s for their wheels this past week. They thought it best to do a trial run, so that they are sure the bus will make it to Florida through our blustery northern winter weather.   The tour bus is a MCI Coach Bus, well belive me you, Patrick and Kevin stocked it full of the amenities, they made sure the turtle food was in stock and that there was plenty of cold one’s in the portable fridge!

MCI stands for Motor Coach Industries, which is located in Illinois, and was started in 1933.  I asked Patrick if he had any background information on the wheels he borrowed for a friend, and he said he was not sure, but rumor has it that a famous singer from the 1970’s may have used it to travel across the country before they were well known.   I belive it over $350,000 for a brand new MCI Bus these days, so the economical solution for Patrick and Kevin was to borrow this one. Since Kevin may be maxing out someone’s credit card, I don’t think they would take to kindly to that sort of charge.

Being that Kevin was a turtle, he didn’t think he could handle the excitement of a performance racing car and decided on the bus.  He heard through the grapevine that Patrick may end up in a ditch if the power under his foot was too much!

IBIE - International Baking Industry Expo Trade Show will be held in Orlando, Florida this year, Kevin - heard about it and immediately sought out a bakers hat, and decided he needed to do a little research.   He booked his ticket through cheap tickets, we are yet to know, who’s credit card he used, so that he can attended the event. 

The IBIE International Baking Expo will take place October 7 th , 2008, he is excited, he is looking forward to visiting the orange groves down there? It made me, wonder, as well are there any left with all the construction? When he google’d Florida Orange Groves, he found a winery.  Well, I think I know where Kevin will be hanging out, he does tip one back from time to time in the wee-hours of the night. Deb caught him and joined in, and boy..the both of them sure had hangovers the next day.  

Back to the IBIE Trade Show - this is one spicy event.  With over 20,000 in attendance, the amount of exhibit space is really impressive at 1,000,000.  With new technology in the forefront of every profession it is a showcase for the latest and greatest in the baking industry, from baking equipment right down to the ingredients that are used in common recipes.

This event has not been held in Florida in the past, this will be the first time.  The Orange County Convention Center is right in the tourism district, and at the moment of this writing, my own son is down there for a National Youth Gathering, which will house some 30,000 kids from the Lutheran Churches across the Nation. 

There is alot of information pertaining to the Orange County Convention Center procedures if you will be attending a trade show there or if you are going to have an trade show exhibit at the show.  It is twelve miles from the airport, and belive it or not there are events book at the OCCC up until 2028, good god, how old will we all be.

Kevin was insulted when one of his on-lookers suggested he practice up on his cooking, since he looked so adorable in his chef’s hat, they suggested Turtle Soup. Turtle Soup is a delicacy in Louisiana, and it does seem to be somewhat of a process to prepare, and not forgetting it could contain one of Kev’s Cousin’s from neighboring Mississippi  Oh the nerve, I would imagine it came from the design group, if I had to guess.

Fabtech International is coming November 11th - 14th to our back yard in Chicago. Being that Fabtech is going to be in Chicago, Kevin decided he was going to find out just what this welding industry was all about.  He visited McCormick place, but was more enthralled with the new Soldiers Field, news is he didn’t have a field pass, and was out there trying to kick a field goal. 

He went out on the streets, and the little fella forgot his googles, boy, you can lead a turtle to water, but you can’t make him swim! Anyhow, he went to interview some of the welders, and they did tell him safety first!  Being as loveable as a turtle can be though, they opted to talk with him. 

Fabtech has an attendance of over 25,000 and over 900 exhibitors already signed up.  The industry professionals look forward to the array of products that are displayed in varies size exhibit booths.   Kevin thought the most interesting sounding event of the entire trade show would be the Job Fair, he is currently not real sure he likes just hanging out in the sales department, because its to quiet, since Nancy has been on the trade show circuit for some time now,  Deb has behaved herself. 

Therefore he opted to go downtown, the train ride was a bit rough, but he parked his ride at the Barrington Train Station where there was a kind public works gentleman waiting to help him with the fairboxes.  He couldn’t stretch his legs far enough to insert the dollar bill.

He found himself talking with some of the professionals in the industry, metal forming, fabricating, and welders.  He most liked the metal forming, he was interested in the possiblilities of bending and shaping such material in almost any way you can think.  If he could walk on metal with more ease, he would be heading home to design a new structure for his tank for when he grows, FROM THE MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF FOOD he is consuming.  Which brings him to his lunch, he suggests if you get a chance to check out some of the local restaurants downtown, one in particular, he loved was Ron of Japan’s, he sat around a large table and ate ton’s and ton’s of egg sauce. 

Kevin suggested if you can afford it to stay at the Loews Blue’s Hotel, its an electic place, and spins I Dream of Jeannie with the Morrocan theme. If you don’t have the money at least stop in the bar and visit the little room that truly reminded him of I Dream of Jeannie.

Kevin is growing, and growing, it’s a wonder why, the little mascot eats all day.  Recently we switched over his food, we purchased one with more protien.   If you are interested in Turtle Food you can find a variety.

Kevin has also been scurrying around the front of the tank since we purchased a new rock, unlike our exhibits, this is a more simple design for his ease of use. Which for the first 5 days, he was adamently not wanting to use, but the previous rock, GOT to small since he has become so large.

Its fun to see everyone stop by and talk with Kevin, as if he was human. His closest cube mate Lauren, often blows him kisses, and disgusts our Account Manager for Siemens, Nancy Galford. At one point, the cleaning of the tank almost made Nancy crawl under her desk. After she found out they used her garbage can to facilitate Kevin for a short spell, she ordered a new can. Come on Nancy, get with the program!

Our Mississippi Map Turtle dwells in the sales department, which he rules with an iron fist, and is constantly following up on all the exhibitors and making sure they are happy with their final trade show product.  Kevin has been a part of Catalyst for over a  year.  He lives with his friend JR. who will hang around Kevin’s rock waiting for him to come out and play. 

The Mississippi Map Turtle can best be identified by the crescent shaped light spot behind the eye that prevents the neck stripes from reaching the eye. The skin of the turtle is olive to brown and is marked with many narrow yellow stripes along the legs, tail, chin and neck. 

Curiosity on whether or not Kevin is a male or female, well, there is turtle genitalia on the website, figure it out for yourselves it was pretty disgusting, and we are pretty sure he is actually a she.  

Kevin likes very clean water and gets depressed when its not, he enjoys his quiet surroundings and gets a bit nervous when he hears all the potty mouth coming out of Nancy & Deb’s office.  But given the quiet and soothing voice of his care taker, Lauren, he calms down fairly quickly.  Kevin seems to be enjoying the recent addition to his diet, lettuce, as he waits patiently for feeding time, which these days, is pretty often.I sat with Kevin for a spell at his ranch, and he speaks very highly of the entire Catalyst Staff, when I asked what his dreams where, he said, he truly would like a partner, someone he can lounge with and swim under his waterfall when the lights go out at closing time.