Role call, and welcome new members!

Welcome, @bisonman! What do you photograph? If you're interested in sharing your talents with your colleagues, you can submit your work to our internal Photo of the Week Contest 🙂 See: http://newsletters.mayo.edu/newscenter/photo_of_the_week.aspx?contentID=DOCMAN-0000174421

Welcome, @solucky! Where did you move here from?

I take photos of anything outdoors! Wildlife,trees,insects,etc. the outdoors is my happy place when I’m not working.thanks for the info!

Hello everyone!
My name is Jake, and I am graduating from nursing school in May from Mount Mercy University. I am originally from Sumner, a small town in Northeast Iowa, but have been living in Cedar Rapids, Iowa for the last five years. I have recently accepted a job for Mayo Clinic hospital at the St. Mary's Campus. I will be starting my nurse residency and my career as an RN in Surgical Neurology 9th floor Mary Brigh building. My question is what is your favorite thing about the Rochester area? An interesting fact about me is that I am obsessed with Welsh Corgis. I hope to have two of them one day and name them "Braxton" and "Hicks" Glad to meet you!

I’m new and honored to be here. Newly hired at the Phoenix location as a Phlebotomist. I just moved to Arizona from California, where I was born and raised for 30 years. My husband and I decided to embark on this new journey of ours with our children. I am also a recent LVN/LPN grad and awaiting to take my state boards. I am excited to get started

Hello Everyone,

I will be starting at the Mayo Clinic in Scottsdale as an RN in the ambulatory cardiology unit on July 16th and I'm really looking forward to it. My family and I are very excited about relocating to Arizona from Texas in June.

What are fun things to do with an eight year old in Phoenix? Something unique about me is that I was born in England and raised in Holland.

Love being part of this amazing organization!!

Hi! We moved here from the northwest suburbs of Chicago. We have really bonded with Rochester and enjoy living here. It's a wonderful community for people who like to be adventurous and who are curious. We spend nearly every weekend driving around MN checking out the many unique communities and enjoying much of what they have to offer. We are especially enjoying the many small live theater venues. This is a very forward thinking community and I think transplants are especially appreciative of that. There is always something new and exciting around the corner.

Congrats, Jake! Corgis are adorable -- I hope you can make dog ownership a reality soon 🙂 When you get to that point, you may be interested in checking out the discussion in another thread (https://connect.employees.mayo.edu/discussion/potentially-puppy-advice-needed/) for some Rochester area resources.

Favorite thing about the Rochester area: It's hard to pick one. We like to take our kids (and dog) hiking at Nerstand Big Woods State Park, which is NW of Rochester. For dining, we like Newts (burgers), Hefe Rojo, 300 First, The Loop ... lots of options!

I look forward to hearing others' favorites around Rochester. And, for those at other sites, please share favorites from your communities.

I love that you're exploring the area. I'm embarrassed to say "small live theater" wasn't top of mind for me, but it's so true ... the embarrassing part is that my son has been in a few productions at the Olde Pine Theatre in Pine Island!

I bet I can guess your favorite hobby, @transom 🙂

Favorite hobby: Road trips with my family, usually west, and then making photo albums of our adventures on Shutterfly.com. I can't wait to read about others' hobbies. (For the Foodies and Travelers, check out our related discussion groups.)