Trains. Wow!!

This past Monday, I ventured into a building that I had not set foot in for a full two and a half years. I re-visited my former employer.

After working for Kalmbach Publishing Co. for 11 1/2 years, it had become a second home to me. (Kind of seemed like my primary home on days that I was working long hours). After such a long period of time had elapsed since my final day of work in December 2005, it was very strange walking through those doors again.

But it was a great visit. I saw lots of faces that I hadn't seen in a long time, and I even got to see my old office. But the real highlight of the visit was taking Jack to see the model train layout on the second floor. You see, Kalmbach publishes hobby magazines, and the number one magazine is called, Model Railroader. So fittingly, the company has a huge model railroad set up that company employees can work on and enjoy. This layout is also the subject of many articles for the magazine.

Jack is a huge fan of Thomas the Tank Engine. And even the layout that we saw on Monday is built in HO scale, Jack's eyes grew to the size of saucers when he saw all of the trains. All he could say was, "Wow, Wow, Wow!!" It was amazing to see his excitement. He was like, well, a kid in a candy store. Only that candy was replaced with countless locomotives and miles of HO scale track.

This experience really got me excited to start a layout at home that Jack and I can build together. What a great opportunity to bond, and to teach Jack some really useful skills. Now I just have to get that darn basement cleaned out so that we have some space for our empire.