Category Archives: Friends & Family

Go Bucs!

Wow, I’ve been busy the last week or two! It started with a trip to Redmond to teach a group of Microsoft’s global ISVs about the APIs of Microsoft’s unified communications products. I got a lot of great real-world feedback about how these customers are using the APIs, which we’ll be using as we continue to work with other customers who want to add communications, collaboration, and scheduling to their applications. (Plus, while I was in Redmond I found Carolina Smoke, an unexpected bonus).

Then I came home, where Arlene and I completely redid the living room: we painted all the walls, hung the TV on a wall mount for the TV, and installed a new TV stand. Of course, none of the steps were actually that simple. For example, I’d read that Behr Silver Screen made a good projection surface, so I painted one wall with two coats… only to find out that it was not a good projection surface. Four coats of eggshell white later, I was ready to move on to the other walls. The carpet installers came yesterday, so we’re officially finished with that room (except for the speaker stands, which aren’t here yet).

Then the boys came back from their trip to Louisiana, so it was back to normal life for a day, then it was time for David’s Boy Scout camp. While he was gone, Peter, John, and Paul Flynn from 3Sharp came to town for our quarterly meeting; along with watching some truly excellent thunderstorms, we got a ton of work accomplished. It’s amazing what you can do with four smart guys locked in a room for two days.

Now we’re having a temporary lull before the big fireworks on the 3rd and our whale-watching trip to Seattle next week. I’ll try to blog somewhat more regularly, but no promises.

Major props to Peggy Simon, family friend and regular reader! (Betty says hello, too.)

Devin has earned big props in two ways.
First, his session on using DPM 2007 with Exchange at MMS was the second-highest-rated session of the day yesterday. Given the quality of the other sessions, that’s saying a lot.
Second, yesterday marked the fifth anniversary of Devin’s start date at 3Sharp. Devin has really matured and grown his skills since his start, and he’s been a major contributor to our growth and success. I look forward to having him around for the next five years– thanks, Devin!

One of the things I like best about the martial arts school we attend is that they offer a variety of elective classes. In reality, some of these electives are actually required for advancement beyond a certain rank. For example, to earn a black belt, you have to show proficiency in several grappling and striking techniques that aren’t taught in the basic curriculum. Coincidentally, these electives are usually lots of fun; the boys and I really like the Saturday sparring and grappling classes. There’s also a “Fight Class” elective that offers fewer restrictions: strikes to the legs, groin, and head are permitted, and so are some types of takedowns and ground fighting. The class is only open to students age 13 and over, so David and I have been going for the last two weeks. It’s a blast! It’s really energizing to get in the ring and apply what I’ve been learning for the last year or so. David and I have had fun sparring with each other, and it’s fun for me to show him that youth and enthusiasm are no match for old age and treachery.

Mad props to John and Becky, who are celebrating the first anniversary of the Flying Bean. I’m not a coffee drinker, but I am an aviation enthusiast, so I love going there. John and Becky are superbly friendly, and they actively support the local community. (Plus they make great hot chocolate!)

We just got back from a draining trip to visit my aunt Debby, Dad’s sister. She was diagnosed earlier this year with small cell lung cancer, no doubt brought on by a combination of a lifetime of smoking and a lifetime of living in Louisiana. Recently her health worsened quite a bit, so we moved up our plan to visit her during the kids’ spring break. Instead, Arlene and Tom left Thursday (TOL-CVG-ATL-BTR) and Matt, David, and I left first thing Friday (DTW-IAH-LFT). It took a lot of fancy dancing on the part of Delta’s Medallion desk, but we ended up with five frequent-flyer tickets, though we couldn’t get in to New Orleans because of the Jazz Festival. Sadly, Debby passed away early Friday morning, so we extended our trip to attend her funeral on Monday.

Debby was a very practical, level-headed woman with a wonderful sense of humor. When I was a kid, she used to call me “Professor” because of my bad habit of correcting everyone around me (fortunately I don’t do that much any more!) I wish I had videotaped her description of her trip to Rome to visit the Pope last year; she had us all in hysterics with her descriptions of Italian men and her banter with the priest from her home parish who organized the pilgrimage. She really helped a lot as we struggled to come to terms with Dad’s death last year, and I will forever be indebted to her for teaching my dear wife how to cook a number of Cajun dishes, as well as how she welcomed Arlene into the family and made her feel immediately at ease.

It was really great to see everyone, though it was under sad circumstances. (Well, OK, I admit it: I was only somewhat pleased to see John, Lee Anne’s dad there. He kept going on about how great Texas is for some reason.) On the bright side, we got to meet Doug’s wife Shawn (who is a real keeper! welcome to the family, Shawn!), and all of us got to play with Russ and Allyson. That helped take the sting out some.

Having recently experienced it myself, I know how hard it is to lose a parent, the more so because Jody and Eric lost their dad in 1986. That puts them in the unenviable position of having to handle all the estate details themselves, precisely at the time when it’s most difficult to do so. Fathers Ron and Pat conducted a beautiful funeral mass, and that helped, as did having so many extended family members around. As always at any family gathering, the food was excellent. We made a side trip to Dave’s Cajun Kitchen, which I recommend in the strongest possible terms.

This is a great way to make me eat more salad: serve it in a container made entirely of bacon. Methinks I’ve found a new site to add to my aggregator. (Julie, let’s try this at the next family get-together!)

This Saturday, Arlene is throwing a baby shower for our friend Rachael. The boys and I want no part of that, so we have alternate plans. First, we’ll go to Mark Wasylyshyn’s re-election pancake breakfast. With all-you-can-eat pancakes, this is a pretty good deal in my book. After that, we’ll head to karate for the Saturday morning double-header: an hour of grappling, followed by an hour of sparring. Matthew is excited that his sparring gear finally came in, so he’ll be out on the floor mixing it up for the first time. After that we should have time to grab a quick lunch before our monthly leadership seminar starts. These seminars are usually lots of fun; past seminars have focused on stick fighting, knife defense, and yoga (along with a good bit of character education).
By that time, the shower still won’t be over, so we might take in a movie, or maybe hit the library. After that, Tom and I will work on his Pinewood Derby car, and after that we can hopefully go home and feast on the leftover food from the shower.