Yearly Archives: 2008

Let it Snow!

Snow FunLet it snow.  Let it snow.  Let it snow!  In the past 24 hours we’ve been dumped with 12 inches of fresh powder and it’s still coming down.  The wonderful weathermen are forecasting for another foot tomorrow.  Woo hoo.

While Jake is loving the waste deep snow, the most amazing thing is that Isaac does too.  Usually he’s the one that spends a few minutes outside and then wants to be back inside either listening to Patch the Pirate or watching David & Goliath on the computer. He’s the electronics boy, while Jake is the outdoors boy. Not this time!  He was having the time of his life running, jumping on the sled at the top of the driveway, and trying to "snowboard" on his feet.  This just meant that the sled went flying out from under him as his parents made sure DSS didn’t show up.

Great fun. Smile!:-)

Update on 12/21/2008 17:00: Still snowing now for the third day straight … more than two feet of snow on the ground … woo hoo!

Thanksgiving

Jake & IsaacAre we still allowed to write a Fall update, even though most of you have already seen the snow? Neighbors in all directions have seen the white stuff but we’ve been spared so far. I say "spared" because I don’t really relish the thought of bundling up two bouncy boys in snowsuits, hats, mittens, boots, scarfs only to have them discover three minutes later that they are too cold to stay outside and play!

The warmer parts of our Autumn season were spent going to a nearby Pick-Your-Own/Petting Zoo farm where the kids loved to run around on the haybale maze and hand feed the goats. The boys greatly enjoyed Lake Canobie Park where they experienced the thrills of theme-park style rides in trucks, helicopters, boats and more. They tasted cotton candy for the first time and decided it was good. On another weekend, we went to an open house at the local firestation. The boys loved sitting in the big trucks and especially the balloons they were given. They had demonstrated earlier in the day how they rescue people in a car accident. All that was left when we got there was a spray of broken glass on the conrete and a three car pile-up with at least one car missing its roof. After we explained what they had done, Jake very observantly stated, "Now it’s a convertible." As soon as we came home, they turned our sofa into a firetruck and adorned themselves with the appropriate attire so as to become firefighters Frank and Phil.

Our everyday life has been somewhat less exciting than all our family adventures, but the boys still find things to do whether it’s drawing on the driveway with chalk, riding bikes around the circle, helping Daddy with chores outside or wrestling in the house. They keep themselves very busy and me very entertained!

Jake celebrated his fourth year of life today, making it a very nontraditional Thanksgiving for us. For all of you who have turkey left over, save some for us! The meal of choice tonight was spaghetti! We are so very thankful to our Lord for giving us this precious child and keeping him healthy, strong, and mostly normal. Happy Thanksgiving to all 🙂

The End of an Era?

BarcelonaA momentous event has occurred.  For the very first time in more than four years, I have zero trips scheduled for the future.  Zero.  Nada!  Following the one week over in Barcelona and then a quick one day trip down and back to Washington, the airlines will be making no money off me in the next few months.

Of course while this sounds good, it’s also on the back of one of the craziest travel years to date.  Thankfully, the new position they have carved out for me in the new year doesn’t seem to require so much travel.  My internal PBC goals this past year incorporated a lot of evangelism and internal enablement throughout IBM, while next year they are much more focused on the actual technical platform and strategy.  That means that there will be far less conferences and clients.  The final tally this year was 37 presentations at 27 different conferences …

People have been asking if I’ll still be around Blue for a while.  Who knows?  I’m leaving it with the Lord for now and I guess I’ll take things one step at a time.  It’s certainly been an interesting flight and I’ve learned a lot about how large companies operate.  Now that the flight has landed, we’ll see how the ground crew operates.  Smile.  🙂