Hello friends and family. I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted, but have felt the need to come back for one last chat with you. This will probably be my last post on Pleonast.

There is a great line from the song "Closing Time" that goes something like this: "...every new beginning, comes from some other beginning's end...". For us, much has changed. Not the least of which is geography. In October 2009 I finished my assignment in Finland, and returned back to the US with my family. We returned to the Atlanta, GA area and settled in Norcross, GA. Only about 8 miles from where we lived before. We are among friends we have known for many years, and we are comfortable.

And also, technology moves on. We have learned to use personal websites, Facebook, mobile text messaging, Skype and other media for communication. Alas, the days when Pelonast was my link to news and freinds are now gone. As our technology has changed, I find that I no longer visit here. I'm sorry, but I hope in the future you will look for me on other social media outlets (currently Facebook and Linked In). If you are interested in my company (AGCO Corporation), they are even more connected, with presence on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Blogosphere, and others.

I have enjoyed our conversations, and wish all of you many more kindly and encouraging discussions here.

And if you get to Atlanta, look me up. We have room to spare and are always happy to welcome house guests.

Yours fondly and with Love,

Sam Freesmeyer
FinnishTheStory

We had an amazing week last week.

I have been interested in my family history, and have been doing research online for about the past 10 years. Last summer, we finally made contact with a family of Freesmeyers in Germany. After further investigation, we determined that we are related, about 7 generations back (we have a common ancestor from the 1750s).

We visited with them this week. We spent a few days with the family we had made original contact with (Christian and Christiane), but also met brothers, uncle, aunt, cousins, and grandmother before the days were finished.

We have never met these people before (except Christian and Christiane), but immediately felt comfortable with them. We are family. We enjoyed talking about things that were common between our families, and things that were different.

Really an amazing experience!

Good night, and may God Bless!

Sam

Hi Friends!

I just returned from a trip to India. I spent 4 days in the cities of Chennai (formerly Madras) and Bangalore. It was a whirlwind trip, visiting a partner company and several suppliers. But very interesting.

I have to say that I enjoyed this trip much more than I expected. India is actually much more developed as an economy then China. They have a much better eduction system, and thanks to some strong initiatives in the past several years, they claim to have virtually eliminated the deep poverty that other Asian countries suffer from. There is still want and need, to be sure. But at least they believe that everyone now has a chance to eat and survive.

A very interesting statistic is the rate of growth of the population though. There is a very large group of children growing up in India now, who will be going through a very well developed education system, and entering the workforce in about 10 years. Where will they go? Who will they work for? What will they do?

It is interesting and a little scary. Who knows what the future will bring?

Good night, and may God Bless!

Sam

Hi friends! Another great year starts, filled with opportunity and wonder (I "wonder" what "opportunities" I will have to occupy my time this weekend, hmm?)

Weather had been great here in Jyväskylä, -20 degrees C (that's about -4F). We have snow on the ground and it is just beautiful. I find that I really don't mind the cold for the opportunity to enjoy the beauty of the snowy forests. I KNOW I'm going to miss that when we return to the US.

I hope that you are all enjoying the start of a new year. Remember that diet you started, hobby you put aside or goal that you didn't quite meet last year? Well now is your chance to put aside the guilt and start again. You get a "do over"! Resolve to do it better this year, rejoice and move on!

I love that about January. Life gives you a "do over"!

Good night and may God Bless...

Sam

Just back from my trip to China. This was a business trip organized by the Beijing office of AGCO (my employer) to introduce a number of people to suppliers in China. I spent a week traveling around and visiting different manufacturing plants. Some good, some not so good.

A very different culture to ours. Different language, different food, different habits, but all God's creatures.

It was quite an experience...

Good night, and may God Bless!

Sam