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12/23/00


Well, you've already seen the major news. The fortune at the Chinese restaurant said it all - "Constant grinding can wear even the strongest metal rod to a needle." Either that, or I really am a good husband. Jeanie has wanted a dog for years. I've been resistant for a couple of reasons. One, a dog diminishes one's freedom. You have to get home on time, you can't just pick up and go away for the weekend, ... Of course, it's not like we don't come home every night, or take off on the spur of the moment, ... And, even though I might have gravitated to a somewhat larger dog - there was a Lhapsa Apso that I thought was as cute as a button - Jeanie has a good point that with Diego's size, we can take him almost anywhere we want, and, since we are crate training him (including "litter" box training), he won't suffer if we both end up needing to work late now and then. Also, if it is really nasty outside, Diego will have the option of "going" without having to go outside. We wouldn't have these options with a (even somewhat) larger dog. Of course the bigger issue was my lasting trauma from me being the one that had to take Samantha (our last dog) to be put down. I still haven't quite resolved this, but hopefully, I'll have lots of time to prepare...

Diego, Diego Rey del Azucar, that is - Diego, King of Sugar - for those readers who are Spanish challenged, is really sweet, cute as can be, and smart as a whip. Yeah, I know, everyone says that about their dog, but, he really is ;-). He was born October 3, 2000. He currently weighs two pounds, two ounces.

We're trying to be good parents. We have watched our puppy training tape, and we're working with him every day. He seems to already have "sit" and "come" down pat, and he's getting to know his name. That was a little confusing for him, since for a day he was Pepe. Unfortunately, everyone called him Pepe le Pew, which Jeanie didn't like, so we had to re-name him.

It was nice having Jamie home. On day, we went to the In Praise of Nature: Ansel Adams and Photographers of the American West exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Art. It was a really good show, which not only had a good number of beautiful Adams prints, but showed the works of a number of Photographers who influenced Adams. I think that the thing that I find most striking about Adams' work is how he captures light and textures in his photographs. The works I seem to like the most are the ones which contain the greatest range of tonality - from stark whites to deep blacks.

We also thoroughly enjoyed Catherine's wedding last weekend. It was a lovely ceremony in Duke Chapel, and a wonderful reception at the Barn at Fearrington Village.

Those were the highlights of the last few weeks. These past couple of weeks have also had their share of lows.

My Aero's screen cracked again. Arrg! At least I think I've figured out how it is happening. I believe it is getting mushed against the wing of the Stealth's driver's seat when I get out of the car. I guess I'll try moving it to the other pocket. I considered just biting the bullet and buying a Palm, but getting the Aero fixed was much cheaper, and I'm an old dog...

Last Wednesday was probably the worst day in my work career. I had to tell three of my team that after the first quarter next year they would not have jobs, and tell three others that they would have to transfer to a different division and do a different job if they wanted to stay at IBM. In all, I had ten 1-on-1 meetings. I only slept two hours the night before; it was not a fun day. I know from an intellectual perspective why this kind of news gets delivered at this time of year, but anyway you look at it, it stinks. It has also been review time - kind of tough to get psyched up for writing reviews when you have to deal with this sort of junk. My group will be shrinking considerably, so there will also be some changes in my job scope, as well as some restructuring of the department's organization.

Our friend Dick, as in Dick and Lisa, had a heart attack week before last. Fortunately, is was not "the big one," but, it did result in him having to have a quintuple by-pass.

End of bad news...

Dick is at home recuperating, and we're keeping him in our prayers, and wishing him a speedy recovery. He seems to be progressing well.

I've started the nightmare level of Diablo. The monsters are much tougher, but so far, Barthor is holding his own. He's up to level 29, and today reached the second act. In addition to the monsters being tougher, every time he dies, he loses experience, so it is getting really hard to gain levels.

I added 128MB of RAM to the PC, for a total of 256MB. It makes a huge difference! I can now have all the applications I want open at the same time, and things just zip right along.

Page: new good stuff, new wisdom, new pictures

12/10/00

Jamie's home, Jamie's home!

Jamie arrived last night from California. Jeanie (sick as a dog) and I went to pick her up. Her flight was even ten minutes early!

Jeanie made a pot of seafood gumbo which we enjoyed for dinner along with delicious cheese biscuits that I made from scratch - well, actually, in this case, scratch means I took them out of the freezer, and placed them on the baking sheet..

I was tired, but Jeanie (still sick as a dog) and Jamie stayed up until way after midnight talking.

Jeanie has been sick all week. Fever, congestion, hacking cough, you name it... She did not go into work all week, but, she's been working from home, which I'm sure has slowed her recovery. She did get her physician to call in a prescription for an antibiotic, and it seems to be starting to help.

Last weekend, we bought a lovely eight foot tall Christmas tree, and had our traditional tree decorating party Saturday evening. It was just Jeanie and me, but Jeanie made a lovely party nonetheless, with her famous meatballs, and chicken wings, and fried mushrooms. The tree is really pretty. It's been a few years since we had a full size tree, and I had forgotten just how nice it is to have one.

Sunday, we went to see Peter Pan, our last Best of Broadway show for this year. We're looking forward to next season already.

Some of the guys at work got me started with the computer game Diablo II. I must admit, I got somewhat addicted. Jeanie has been (mostly) quite tolerant. I finally beat Diablo yesterday, much to Jeanie's relief.

I finally have my Aero synching with my Notes calendar at work. I've known for some time what was causing the problem, but it finally occurred to me last week that while I need to sync the Aero numerous times each day, I only need the Aventail client occasionally. So, I uninstalled the Aventail client, and will reinstall it when I need it. Sometimes it takes me a while to realize the obvious...

We just finished watching "Miracle on 34th Street" (the original) which Jeanie bought recently along with "It's a Wonderful Life." I can't count the number of times I've seen Miracle, but I still enjoy it. Jeanie says it funny to hear me start laughing at a scene beforehand, because I'm already thinking about what comes next.

Site: added recipes to good stuff, and wisdom.


11/26/00

We just returned from visiting Jimmy and Kim at their new double wide transportation enabled weekend hide-a-way at the lake. It is really nice. Three bedroom, two baths, vaulted ceilings, and more. As usual, we had a wonderful time. We left early (for us on a day off) Friday, arriving around noon-thirty. Friday. Since we won't see them until next year, we decided to exchange Christmas presents on Friday. As usual, Jim and Kim did way too much for us for Christmas, and as usual, they got us wonderful gifts. We just stayed at the house for the rest of the day, getting our butts kicked playing scrabble with scrabble master Kim. Saturday, we drove over to Santee, to go to the almost dead outlet mall. We did all manage to find a deeply discounted pair of shoes at the Bass outlet, so we were all happy. We had take out pizza (which was quite good) for dinner, and played a very competitive game of rummy, which I won. We left around noon today, and arrived home around four-thirty.

On the trip, we listenedd to "The Alibi" by Sandra Brown, performed by Dylan Baker. It was a great book, and a great reading by Mr. Baker. The plot had enough twists and turns to keep us guessing, and Brown did a good job of character development, to keep us interested.

Thursday, we had a lovely Thanksgiving at our house. As usual, I did the turkey and dressing, and Jeanie did everything else, although she did scale back a little. Our menu included Aunt Lola's sweet potato casserole, a mixed vegetable casserole, gravy, rolls, cranberry sauce, and apple and cherry pie for dessert. My Mom spent the day with us, and Robby, Adrena, and the kids came for lunch.

Things have been pretty same 'ol stuff otherwise. I've really gotten in to Diablo II, both at work in multi-player mode (outside of normal work hours of course) as well as in single player mode at home.

I finally got my Aero synching with my Notes calendar again, no thanks to the losers at PumaTech. It turns out that the VPN client software on my notebook causes the Intellisync to not be able to connect to WinCE. Simply being installed on the notebook causes Intellisync to fail. I worked around this by installing Notes on my system at home, and creating a connection document that points to the .nsf file located on the notebook over the network at home. It's a bit of a kludge, and I can't update the Aero during the day at work, but it's better than nothing.


11/05/00

Mulch, mulch, mulch, mulch... (sung to the tune of Monty Python's "SPAM")

Yes, it's mulch time again. This year, as opposed to previous more youthful / less experienced years, I am spreading the load of spreading the load. A few wheelbarrows each day, rather than trying to get it all done in one. And speaking of wheelbarrows, we bought a wonderful new one. 8 cu ft capacity, 2 wheels - what a joy!

Compaq did a good job of fixing my Aero. It was gone for less than a week, and it appears as good as new. My only complaint was that they forgot to charge or remove the battery, so my backup battery was dead-on-arrival. Fortunately, we were able to pick one up at Radio Shack. The restore worked well, so I didn't lose any data. Now, if I can just get Intellisync to work, I'll be able to get my calendar back up to date. Being without my little pocket pal really did remind me of just how dependent I am on it. I'm glad to have it back.

We have a deposit on Jeanie's old car! We lowered the price by $1000, and got four calls on the first day the ad ran. I guess we just had priced it too high. Hopefully, the car will have a new home by noon on Monday.

If you had been here yesterday, you would have witnessed what might have been a first - four clean Sanders automobiles in the driveway. Clean - yes, all at the same time - amazing!

Jeanie found some nice furniture, at a very good price, for the study. We now have two new lateral file cabinets - effectively doubling the amount of storage space, and a shelving unit. Jeanie also found a nice table for the entryway, so I can now fix the tabletop fountain, and get it back in place.

We got our SINE account set up for work. Jeanie is now able to connect to work via our cable modem. She says it's not quite as fast as when she's at work, but it's not bad. I benefit too; now I don't hear her fussing in frustration because of the slowness of her connection.

The cable modem really is a wonder. Downloading stuff from the Internet is actually faster here than it is at work! I decided to purchase an upgrade to PaperPort, the image management software I have used for years. I had the option of either having them send me a CD, or downloading the software - over 53MB. I downloaded it - in less than five minutes!

Speaking of the Internet... want some "free" stuff? Check out CyberRebate. They have over a hundred items that are free after rebate.

Jeanie is fine, kids are fine, pets are fine - life is good.

page: added more Wisdom


10/26/00

Today was a better day...

I upgraded my Notes Template at work to the R5 template, which has some nice features. There were two things that bugged me about it though. So, I mustered up my courage, opened designer, and fixed them! Yea! Now I guess I'm a Notes developer ;-)

One of the guys at work loaned me a pair of cool devices that allow me to send the output from the audio card in the PC to the stereo receiver - wirelessly. Way cool! Only $69 from X-10, and they send you a coupon good for $30 off your next purchase.

Yesterday, we were officially informed that some parts of the IT group may be transferred to IGS. It was not a happy day at the T. I'm not sure what will happen to me, but for now, I'm not going to worry about it.

On Monday, when I went to take my Aero out of my pocket at work, I found that the screen had somehow cracked. I spent a while hunting on the web, and e-mail, and then an hour on the phone during which I was incorrectly transferred to four support people before finally being switched to a routing agent who routed me to the correct support group. Well, it's on its way to Compaq to be fixed, and hopefully after about a week and $100, I'll have a functional Aero back in my pocket.

The real bummer from the last few days occured this weekend. It's hard for me to believe, but I had never directly experienced bigotry - until this weekend. A bunch of our neighbors were sitting and talking about this and that. I was in the yard working. The topic of conversation turned to politics and next thing I know, one of my neighbors is telling everyone how all of the problems in the middle east are the Jew's fault, and how he hates Jews, and they're all just a bunch of kikes. Well, some of the folks start telling him to be quiet, and he says what does it matter, we don't have any Jews around here... At that point I piped up and told him that yes, in fact, there were...

I was so angry, and so hurt. I just don't understand how people can hate like that.

He came over later, nearly in tears, and offered what I believed to be a heart-felt apology. It was very difficult for me to shake the hand that he offered, but I decided that the "big" thing to do was to accept his apology. But, as I later told Jeanie, while I was able to forgive him for the words he said, how do you forgive someone for what he feels?


10/21/00

It's been an interesting nine days.

We had a nice weekend last weekend. Sunday, we had the Murphy's and Burnette's over for brunch, and then we went to see Cabaret at the Raleigh Memorial Auditorium as part of our Best of Broadway series. As with the other plays, the acting, singing, staging, etc. was very good.

The part came in for the bathroom heater, and after making a few modifications to the part, and doing some creative engineering, our bathroom heater now works once again. Yea!

If you don't watch The West Wing on NBC on Wednesdays, you should. It is wonderful. By far the best show on TV. You might also want to check out B. E. Warne's excellent site for background and details.

So far, about the only interest we've gotten in the car is from a couple of dealers who wanted to know if we were interested in trading it in. I'm not sure what the problem is. I believe the price is fair. It is much lower than other '95's for sale. Maybe I have it list too low, and people are wondering what's wrong with it.

My scanner is on the fritz. But, a nice HP support person said that they would send me a CD that would get it working again.

Work has been rough. Last week IBM stock took a dive, and a reorganization was announced at Tivoli. Unfortunately, no details have been announced, so everyone is on pins and needles. Arrg! On Friday we learned that for the first time ever, there would be no variable pay this quarter. Sometimes it feels like I just keeping jumping from the frying pan into the fire. Of course, things aren't any better at Quintiles. Their stock isn't doing too hot, and they just layed off more IT staff last week. For such a booming economy, with IT unemployment supposedly almost non-existant, it sure seems like things are tough all over.

page: added today's wisdom to main


10/12/00

Yesterday was such a productive day.

I decided to take a half-day of vacation to tackle some home related chores that I just wasn't getting to. Things like the heater in the bathroom not working, the remote for the fireplace not working, the call waiting caller ID not working, and a bunch of other stuff.

First on the list was the bathroom heater - it is getting cold... I removed it from the ceiling, did some trouble-shooting with my old analog VOM, and discovered that the thermal-fuse was bad. A quick call to the local parts distributor - a very nice person named Phil Sherman - and my part was on its way. Phil even trusted me to just put a check in the mail (which I immediately did). Wow!

Then it was on to the fireplace remote. I went to Thulman-Eastman, who had installed the fireplace and remote when the house was built. The remote was out of warranty, so I had to buy a new one. Rather than re-install it under the fireplace, which gets very hot, and which I believe is why the first unit failed, I decided to mount the receiving unit in the wall. With a little help from my Dremel tool to modify the plastic electrical box that I had to install and to cut out the hole in the sheet rock, and a little wall fishing and some re-wiring, our fireplace was back in business - better than new.

Then it was on to the caller-ID unit. I wish I knew exactly what I did :-) I pushed various combinations of the three buttons on the unit, and eventually a setup dialog appeared. I guessed at the correct answers, and I guess I guessed correctly, because now it works!

Lastly, and maybe most importantly, I finally got around to getting everything in place to sell Jeanie's old Maxima. I didn't want to publish our home phone number, or our real e-mail address - you know, too many weirdos out there. So, I got a new ringmaster number, and set up an e-mail alias. Printed nice window stickers, and placed ads in the N&O, Autotrader.com, and Autobytel.com. We've already gotten three calls. We're selling it at what I think is a very fair price $6995.00, so I'm hoping it will sell quickly.


10/07/00

Wow, time flies. Almost a month with no update. Yikes! Hasn't been cause nothing much has happened...

Let's see, starting from most recent and working back...

Mom, Jeanie, and I saw Remember the Titans this afternoon. Just the kind of sweet, moralistic movie that I like. We really enjoyed it. I don't think I'll ever understand how people can hate another person so, just because of the color of their skin, or how they choose to worship. or ...

Jeanie's new furniture arrived last night. New end tables and a library table for the living room. She is so happy. The furniture really is pretty. It's from the Bob Timberlake Gallery.

I spent Thursday afternoon and early evening chained to my desk at work. Our nephew Jay had qualified for "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?" and he asked me to be one of his potential "Phone-a-friends." Unfortunately, he didn't make it to the "Hot Seat," but he and his wife Tricia did get an all-expense paid trip to New York City courtesy of WWTBAM, and I'm still extremely proud that Jay was able to even get on the show. It does reinforce my belief that, call it what you will - fate, luck, providence, is a major factor in our lives. Jay was only bested by a second or so in the "fastest finger round." What if the faster person had been selected for the next show rather than Jay's. Yes, I do believe that to some extent we do "make our own luck," but the bottom line is that no matter what you do, your life is highly subject to the whims of the universe.

Wednesday was a sad day. We received a call that one of Jeanie's first cousins had been killed in a motorcycle accident. Fate can be sweet, but more often than not, it seems that it is cruel.

Tuesday, we joined the broadband age, with the installation of our Road Runner cable modem.
I knew that the connection would be faster, but it is amazing just how much faster it is. Web sites "pop" up now, and downloads have been as much as eighteen times faster. Wow!
Road Runner's services are not as sophisticated as Mindspring's - no forms CGI scripts for the web site, and no web access to e-mail. Oh well, for the time being, the speed is fun, and maybe they'll add more features as they get more subscribers.
From a financial standpoint, it is pretty much a wash for us. The cost of having the second phone line and the unlimited Mindspring account is about the same as the monthly cost of Road Runner.
My new e-mail address is dsanders@nc.rr.com. The new web site url is http://home.nc.rr.com/davidbsanders/. I will maintain the Mindspring account for a few more weeks until I complete my notifications to everyone.

One of the really cool things I stumbled across recently is the AvantGo service. This is a service that allows you to subscribe to channels - kind of like mini-e'zines - that get downloaded to my Compaq Aero Windows CE device. Every time I synchronize my Aero, the content gets updated. One of my favorite channels is Beyond2000, which is also accessible at their web site. Just the kind of slightly offbeat science oriented quick news stories I enjoy. Highly recommended - also works with Palm devices.

We've also watched our share of movies over the last few weeks. 28 days with Sandra Bullock was okay. Magnolia and American Beauty were interesting. The other movie was Gun Shy with Liam Neeson and Sandra Bullock. The movie got mostly bad reviews, but Jeanie and I thought it was cute.


09/16/00

Oh, it's nice to be home for a weekend! It seems like it has been forever since we've had a Saturday at home with no plans or obligations. Jeanie picked up a couple of movie rentals last night, and we decided to watch one this morning. We watched "My Dog Skip," a movie based on the childhood of author Willie Morris. It was such a sweet, touching, funny movie. Jeanie and I thoroughly enjoyed it. We spent the afternoon running errands. In the evening, we watched the other movie, Supernova, which was a waste.

You know, it seems unfair that as bad as the grass looks in front, with more weeds than not, that we have to mow it as often as we do. Oh well, it's done.

We spent Sunday afternoon at the 42nd Street Oyster Bar in Raleigh, listening to our old co-worker David Dyer play with his band Crooked Smile. The event was a combination celebration for the release of their debut album, "debut," to raise money and awareness for SafeChild, and to have a mini DataFlow reunion. Neither Jeanie nor I ever realized how talented David was, and it was nice to get to see some old friends.

After leaving the bar, we went by to visit Mom, and had a nice visit which included a stroll around the pond.

We topped our wonderful weekend with a visit to that most sinful of establishments, Goodberry's, for a luscious frozen treat.


09/12/00

We're back from vacation! Check out the new vacation button for details. I also moved some of the fun stuff to a new "Fun Stuff" page with it's own button on the main navigator. Also added Wisdom and Witsdom.


08/27/00

Not much happened during the week, other than Jeanie turning another year older :-) Rather than going out to dinner, Jeanie decided that she wanted me to cook dinner for her, which I did. It was a delicious dinner if I do say so myself, and we both really enjoyed it.

On Saturday, we drove to Charlotte, to go to Carowinds for the Tivoli Eastern Region IT Family Fun Day. We had a very nice time. On the way back, we stopped by the Bob Timberlake Gallery. Jeanie found a set of end tables and a library table that she fell in love with, so we ordered them, and expect to have them delivered in a couple of months. With this furniture, Jeanie will finally have her living room finished. Yea. After leaving the gallery, we drove just up the road to our favorite western Carolina style barbeque restaurant.


08/20/00

Whew, the past week was a bear at work. We had a security assessment review which basically consumed my entire week. All I can say is, I'm glad it's over.

The weekend was much better. Jeanie and I drove to Athens, GA Friday after work. The purpose of our visit? To meet our new grandnephew, Tyler James Melvin, son of our nephew Jay and his wife Tricia. Jeanie's parents and Jeanie's brother and his charming, intellegent, and beautiful wife were also there. We had a really nice visit, and it was a very pleasant weekend, if somewhat tiring. The drive was made much easier because we had borrowed a book on tape, the unabridged "Hush Money" by Parker. It was read by Burt Reynolds who did a great job. We really enjoyed the story, and it made the drive time pass much more quickly.


08/13/00

What a great week!

On Sunday, I flew to Austin for a Tivoli IT managers conference. It was the best conference of its type that I've ever been to. We stayed at a lovely hotel north of Austin - The Lakeway Inn - right on Lake Travis. My flight left RDU at 10.00am, so I arrived mind-afternoon, and was able to take a nice leisurely drive to the hotel. I was amazed at the number of deer around the hotel - does, fawns, bucks - everywhere it seemed!

One of the highlights of the meeting on Monday was the guest speaker, Jim Harris, Ph.D. Jim gave a very interesting speech based on his new book "Managing@NetSpeed" which can be download from the books section of his consulting web site. It gave some great insights into managing in a technology company in the ohs.

After our full day of meeting, we were treated to a dinner cruise on Lake Travis. I was quite lovely, the food was good, and I got to meet a bunch of Tivoli IT managers from other regions and other parts of IT.

After the dinner cruise, we all gathered in a suite that had been reserved for our after-dinner teaming activities. We spent until late in the evening playing Pictionary, Twister, Who Wants to be a Millionaire - having a blast, laughing a bunch, and getting to know each other better.

Tuesday brought us together for some great discussions, and an interesting hour or so with the CFO of Tivoli.

In the afternoon, we had boat races by the pool. This involved six teams each being given one hour to construct a boat that could carry two people, with only four 4x8 sheets of cardboard, five rolls of duct tape, and an exacto knife. It was a blast, and another great teaming event. Oh, and I guess that it didn't hurt that the team I was on came in first place in the race.

Wednesday, we attended the quarterly IT meeting in Austin, and then headed home, getting in to RDU late Wednesday night.

Thursday, our fish family grew by one, with the addition of a beautiful new Betta Splendens AKA Siamese Fighting Fish. Jeanie bought a beautiful vase for his new home, and put really pretty blue and clear glass beads in the bottom. The first day he seemed a little stressed, but now he seems to feel right at home.

Saturday, we finally (much to our neighbor's relief) got the grass mowed, and edged, and trimmed, and (somewhat) weeded. Then Jeanie and I headed off to meet the Murphys for lunch and home furnishing shopping with Shawn and Tara.

We then headed off to Burnadette's and Kent's for their housewarming party. They have a beautiful house, and they were gracious hosts. I got to see quite a few old Quintiles folks, and it was really nice getting to spend some time with them.

Today, Jeanie and I took Mom to see the Rodin exhibition at the NC Museum of Art. We all thoroughly enjoyed it, and we got there early enough that the crowd was bearable - just barely. Two good sites that I found if you're interested are the Boston College Sculptures of Rodin site, and the Cantor Foundation site.



08/01/00

Tivoli is such a cool place to work. Today we had a team building event for the Unix Team - we went to see X-Men The Movie at lunch time. The movie was great. Amazing special effects. I sat closer to the screen than I usually do, and got really immersed in the film.

We spent last weekend with the Murphys. Jeanie and I went up on Friday (we took the day off) to help set up for Shawn and Tara's rehearsal dinner party, and to help decorate the church for the wedding. The party was a blast, even with pouring rain. Saturday, we helped set up the community center for the reception, and ran some last minute errands. The wedding was lovely. Just the right length. After the ceremony, Jeanie and I stayed at the church to put everything back in order for Sunday services. The reception was a ball, and Jeanie even managed to get me out on the dance floor. We had a lot of fun, and it was rally nice to get to spend some time with Bob and Wendy, as well as to see Wendy's brother and sister-in-law, and Bob's sister and parents. Saturday was a late night, as we helped clean up after the reception, so we slept in on Sunday. We left around noon, and I managed to get the grass mowed and some of the edging done before it started raining again. Since the new Mr. and Mrs. Murphy were catching a very early flight on Monday for their honeymoon, they spent the night at our house. We cooked steaks (filet mignon) on the grill - yumm - and ate them while we watched The Green Mile (again). I enjoyed the movie as much the second time as I had the first. It really is a good movie.

On Monday, I awakened at 4:30am (yuck!) so we could get the kids to the airport on time. I just went on to work after dropping them off at 5:30. It was good to get in early and have some "catch-up" time since I had taken Friday off, but it made for a long day.


07/23/00

Jeanie is finally feeling better. Other than that, not too much exciting the last few weeks. I've been busy doing various chores around the house. Nothing dramatic, mostly just getting to things that I've been neglecting. I'm still really happy in my new job. Mom is doing fine. Kids are doing fine. Life is good, and we're grateful.

page: moved links for Peanut and SmileyLand to links page. Created new Just a Boy, and Buzz Word Bingo pages, and placed links on main. Updated Biography.

07/02/00

Last night, Burnie and Dave had another incredible Martha Stewart night. They have just finished expanding their patio, adding a water garden, and making new outside furniture. It looks absolutely fantastic - Wow!

Burnie prepared another amazing dinner. I had a great evening, only dampened by the absence of my lovely bride, who stayed home - still under the weather.

I'm having a little bit of goldfish withdrawal - having not visited my fish all weekend for the first time - but Steven assures me that the weekend fast will not harm them, and may even do them some good.

Today has been a quiet day. I've puttered in the yard some, while Jeanie has rested inside. I sure hope she starts feeling better soon.



07/01/00

It's 12:20am, and I'm so angry I can't sleep. I had a nice day today...until about forty-five minutes ago.

It started out well. I got to work early, and even though I had a lot to do, I was able to get the important stuff done. I had a couple of challenging meetings, which I thought I handled well.

I went to the weekly Tivoli social, and had a very nice time with a bunch of my co-workers.

I then drove over to David Neter's house (which I finally got to see after three years) and then went with him to a Carolina Cobras Arena Football game. It was a very exciting game, and the Cobras actually won, for only the second time this season.

One the way home, there was a DWI checkpoint. Turns out that my license plate had expired in March; so I got a ticket. I'm sure each of you reading this checks to ensure that your plate is current prior to starting your car each day...sure. Two problems: the law which I broke is "Operating a motor vehicle...While displaying an expired registration plate on the vehicle knowing the same to be expired" First problem - I didn't know it was expired! Well, you should have you say. Second problem: I received my license plate renewal from NCDMV in February, which I dutifully sent in. They even cashed the check on February 22, only they never sent me the new sticker and registration. So, am I at fault? Yes, I should have made sure the state did what they were supposed to have done. But, should I have to pay a $25 fine, and $86 in court costs when the state never sent me my new sticker, and I didn't realize it. I think not! Do I own the moral high ground? Sure! Would I win in court? I doubt it. Is it worth taking the better part of a work day to try and fight it - if only to fight the good fight? Unfortunately, no. State wins: state - $116, Sanders: minus $116. What a racket.

Okay, so much for my ranting. I don't feel any better, but, I won't bore you with more useless "howling at the moon."

So, what else is new?

Mom is doing well. Thanks to all of you who have asked. She seems quite happy in her new "home." I'm spending more time than I had anticipated between visits, and dealing with bills, doctors, etc., but it's nice to have her near.

I really like my new job. It is very challenging, but I'm learning a lot, and I feel like I am making a contribution. I have a really good team of people, and the environment is wonderful.

Jeanie hasn't been feeling too well lately. All sorts of maladies, which seem to all stem from worse than usual seasonal allergies.

We haven't been doing too much exciting lately. As Jeanie says - working and taking care of people. We have managed to watch a couple of good movies on video. Bicentennial Man with Robin Williams, which was very sweet, and really made me think about what it is that makes us human. And The Green Mile with Tom Hanks, which isn't nearly as heavy as we initially thought. It is long - two tapes - but Jeanie and I really enjoyed it.

For Father's Day, The kids and Jeanie all chipped in and bought me a fish tank for my office. I love it. It is a three gallon tank, with a really cool filter system built into the hood. I have two Red Cap Orandas. One is white with a red cap, and the other is goldfish colored with a red cap.

The grass in front is all dead - again. Jeanie's old Maxima won't start at all. If I had taken Maynard instead of Cary Parkway, I wouldn't have gotten a ticket. Jeanie is sick. I'm not sleepy, but I am very tired. My new computer is way too noisy. The current version of Intellisync does not work with Windows CE and Lotus Notes 5, so I can't sync my PDA with my work calendar. The June bugs ate all of the leaves off of the cherry tree again this year. Yet, life is good, and I am extremely grateful for all that I have, and just how good things are.

Oh, and for the geeks/gear heads in the reading audience, check out the SlashDot web site, and geek toys at ThinkGeek..

06/04/00

Oh, what a week!

I was pretty behind at work from having been out for four days the prior week. Tuesday night, we had Jamie, Robby and his family, and my Mom for dinner. Jeanie had rented a U-Haul so that Robby could take all of the stuff that Mom had given them to his house, and during the day, Robby had loaded up the truck, driven it to Oxford, and gotten it unloaded. After dinner, with most of the stuff now out of the garage, there was enough room for us to consolidate the remainder into the third stall, so that Jeanie and I could get both of our new vehicles into the garage. I was very tired, and a little grumpy by the time we finished, but I had promised Jeanie that I would drive Robby et. al. home, so I did. I didn't end up getting to bed until after 11:00.

Wednesday, around noon, I started feeling ill. Because I was so behind, I decided to stay at work.

Thursday, I awakened feeling horrible, and decided that I needed to stay home. Full blown cold - runny nose, headache, sore throat - the works! The only upside to being sick was that I got to spend some time with Jamie.

Friday, I decided that I really needed to get back to work, so I loaded myself up with Alka-Seltzer Plus Cold, and trudged in to work. Around 2:00, I received a call from Mom's retirement community informing me that they were transporting Mom to the hospital because it appeared that she had suffered a stroke. Jeanie and I both rushed to the hospital, and thankfully, found Mom in good spirits, appearing to be okay. The doctors think that she had a Transient ischemic attack (TIA) - otherwise known as a mini-stroke. Jeanie and I both thought that Mom had had a TIA when Mom had to be hospitalized a few months ago, but the doctors in Pennsylvania did not think so - oh well. While Mom appears to have been lucky this time, the doctors here are going to be more aggressive in taking measures to try to prevent another TIA.

Yesterday was the Tivoli annual family picnic. I thought that it would be important to make an appearance, even though I still did not feel well. We went, but I must admit, I wasn't too impressed. I did not see anyone from my department, and the food - Barbecue provided by Sister's Catering - was fair at best. It seemed like the company running the event did not arrive early enough to set up, as none of the games, etc. were set up, even by the time we left. Since it was hot and there wasn't anyone there that we knew, we didn't stay very long.

Jeanie wanted to see a movie, so we headed for the twenty screen theater at Cross Roads. We saw Mission Impossible 2 which we found to be a pleasant diversion, and much better than the first movie.

In retrospect, I should have just stayed in bed yesterday, since I feel lousy this morning.

We still need to get Jeanie's old Maxima sold, but I think we need to get the starting issue addressed, and the front painted, before we will be able to get anything approaching its book value for it.

I am still excited about being at Tivoli, although I am at that stage where I am quite overwhelmed, and I don't feel like I am contributing enough. I think my manager is starting to wonder if he made the best hiring decision... Hopefully, I will be able to really focus on work next week...



05/29/00

Well, things have stayed busy. I flew to Austin last Monday for a four day Tivoli new manager training class. The class was very good. While some of the topics were more of a refresher for me, the sections of Tivoli/IBM specific policies and procedures were worthwhile, and the general management topics gave me a good reminder of the sorts of things I should be focusing on as a first line manager.

On the flight back, I read " Who Moved My Cheese? : An Amazing Way to Deal With Change in Your Work and in Your Life" by Spencer Johnson, author of the "One Minute Manager" series. It is a quick, entertaining read, that I think should be required for everyone I know ;-)

Jeanie's car had been acting up - not wanting to start, and being generally being cantankerous. The front bumper's paint was peeling off. It was really getting to be a hassle trying to carry gardening stuff, and other large items in a four door sedan. And, it was not large enough to carry Jeanie, me, and all of Robby's family. Well, we've fixed that! Jeanie and I went SUV shopping last weekend, and Jeanie picked up her new Dodge Durango last week. One of the features that we really liked about the Durango is its third seat option, which allows us to accommodate the entire brood. Now all we need to do is to get Jeanie's old Maxima working well enough to sell it.

My flight didn't get in till after 2:00 AM on Saturday, so Jeanie and I were basically slugs on Saturday. We rented a couple of movies Saturday afternoon. The best of the bunch was "The Bachelor" with Chris O'Donnell, which kept us in stitches.

Yesterday, we had brunch with the Murphys, and then attended a performance of "The Sound of Music" as part of our "Best of Broadway" series. We all thought that the production was wonderful, and we all enjoyed it immensely.


05/18/00

Yikes, the last few weeks have been a blur!

On Saturday, the 29th of April, at 7:00am, Jeanie and I flew up to Plymouth Meeting to finish packing up Mom's apartment. Jeanie left very early Monday morning - 4:00am - to return to Raleigh for a job fair. I stayed to supervise the movers with Mom. The movers finished up about 2:00 pm, and after Mom and I ran a few final errands, we headed off on our drive to North Carolina. It was fun driving my "new" Stealth that Mom had sold me, and the time flew by, even though we got caught in three different traffic jams on the way. We finally arrive home about 2:00 am.

Tuesday, we visited Mom's new retirement community, and took a tour of the community.

Wednesday, May 3, was my final day at Quintiles, and I stayed busy tying up the last few loose ends, cleaning out my office, and completing my exit interview. Wednesday was also the day that I lost my electronic connection to the rest of the world. I had always run my personal email and web authoring software on my notebook; suddenly, I found myself with no computer for the first time in over ten years!

Thursday through Sunday were busy helping Mom prepare for her move-in on Monday, and helping her set up new bank accounts and such.

Monday, May 8, was my first day at Tivoli. It was also the day the movers showed up with all of Mom's stuff. Jeanie (who is truly a saint) took the day off to supervise the delivery of Mom's stuff at her new apartment, and the depositing of all of the stuff that would not fit into her apartment in our garage.

On Tuesday, I purchased a new HP Pavilion 8662C from BJ's. It has everything I really wanted - a 550 MHz Athlon, 128MB RAM, 30GB HD, 8MB nVidia video, CD-RW, and DVD. I bought the floor model, so I got a good deal, but since it was a floor model, I needed to reload the system from scratch to recover from the mischief that had been perpetrated on the system while it was on display. Long story short - the HP recovery CD's have a few bugs, and after "recovering," I could no longer use the modem. I spent eight hours beating my head against the wall, both on my own, and with HP support, to no avail. I downloaded drivers, tried this, tried that, to no avail. Finally, through some miracle of drivers, settings, and incantation, the modem started working and, to my relief, I was once again "connected."

Last week's evenings and most of last weekend were spent with Mom; unpacking, putting things back together, hanging pictures, etcetera. Somewhere amidst all of the work getting Mom settled, we did manage to get the roses planted in Jeanie's new rose garden, to make time to have dinner with the Murphys to celebrate Tara's birthday at the Kanki at Crabtree Valley, and to get my software re-installed on my system and my data restored.

I am really excited about my new job. Tivoli is a really cool place to work - high tech, fast paced, yet relaxed and inviting. I continue to be amazed with how sophisticated some of the systems are, and with the skill levels of the people in the department.

Well, I'm sure you're tired of reading by now, and I'm tired to writing and need to get to work, so, until next time...

page: added photo of Peanut to pictures, changed main page link to jump to photo rather than to what's new.

04/26/00

Last weekend was a wonderful weekend.

On Saturday, Robby, Adrena, and the Grandkids came to visit. Robby helped me complete the landscape block retaining wall for Jeanie's rose garden. Robby's contribution was invaluable - not only in the sharing of the raw labor portion, but more importantly, in his design and layout skills. Jeanie prepared a feast for dinner, and we all ate until we were stuffed.

Everyone spent the night, and Sunday morning was spent enjoying the kids enjoying their Easter baskets. Jeanie fixed a mammoth breakfast, and we once again ate until we were stuffed. Robby and family then got dressed in their Easter finest, and headed off to visit with Adrena's family.

Jeanie and I went to Raleigh, where we met the Murphys and Burnettes to see a wonderful production of Jekyll & Hyde. The quality of the production, acting, and singing, was as good as any play I have ever seen. Anyone who says that the Triangle area is devoid of cultural opportunities is a dolt. After the play, we headed off to the Angus Barn for yet another sumptuous meal. As icing on the cake, we were able to use the gift certificate that I had won at the Valentine's day party at work. As John Walker would say, "Life is good."


04/12/00

Jeanie has finally lured me over to the dark side ;-) Or, now that I think of it, have I been on the dark side all along, and Jeanie has finally helped me to turn my back on the dark side? The Force is with me!?!

Starting in early May, I will be an IBM'er, working as the East Division System Services Manager at Tivoli Systems at the IBM site in RTP. I am really looking forward to working at Tivoli. While Tivoli has the financial strength of being a division of IBM, they still have the energy and creativity of a small company. The people I have met really seem to enjoy both what they do, as well as the people that they work with. Their motto is "work hard, play hard," and they seem to take it seriously. Tivoli is growing rapidly, and I think that I will have tremendous opportunities. I also think that I will be able to contribute, and see the fruits of my efforts.

My last day at Quintiles will be April 30th, well actually April 28th I guess, and I'll start at Tivoli on the 8th. Yes, believe it or not, I'm taking a week off between jobs - what a concept!

In other news, we've settled on a name for our new pet - Peanut. We had actually picked a few others that we used for a day or two, but Peanut is what stuck.

In yet more news, my Mom will be moving to the area in a few weeks. I have spent quite a bit of time over the last few weeks looking for places for my Mom to live in the Triangle area. A couple of really valuable resources have been the Work and Family Benefits resource which Quintiles provides as a benefit to all of their employees, and CareGuide.com. We have picked out a really nice place for her that is only about twenty minutes away from our house. It will be really nice to have her close. Jeanie and I will be going up to Philadelphia soon to help her move.

Last Saturday was Montez's 7th birthday party. Robby and Adrena did a great job putting together a wonderful party for Montez. They have been working really hard to fix up the farm house - as best they can given what they have to work with - and their efforts have made a big difference. It had been a while since I had actually been in the house, and I took an opportunity to go through the stuff that we had left in the attic. While I found a few gems, what really hit me what how much junk we had gathered over the years. The experience provided a few new resolutions for me - get rid of the junk in the attic that we will never want or use again, and don't accumulate so much junk in the future, and if somehow, we can't stick to the first two new resolutions, for heaven's sake, don't move the junk again!

Page: I've added a number of new wisdom items over the last month or two, but I've added the items to the end of the list. You might want to scroll to the bottom of the list and read up.


04/02/00

You remember that old commercial where the lady says "I've fallen and I can't get up"? Remember how we used to laugh at it and make fun of it? Well, it isn't funny when it's your Mom...

We got a call Saturday afternoon from the Plymouth Meeting police, informing us that Mom was being transported to the hospital. She had fallen in the shower, and was not able to get up. She was stuck in the shower for almost an hour, and it was just good fortune that someone came by, got worried, and called the police. I was able to get a flight, and flew up that night. The people at the hospital were really nice, getting me a cot so I could spend the night in Mom's room, and even finding me a tray in the morning, so I could stay in the room so I wouldn't miss the doctor, yet not go hungry.

Fortunately, Mom didn't break anything, but it gave it gave all of us (Mom, Jeanie, and me) quite a scare.

Recent video rentals have included For Love of the Game with Kevin Costner which we both enjoyed, and Mickey Blue Eyes with Hugh Grant, which I almost laughed myself sick watching.

03/29/00

I decided to take a day off. Stayed home all day, and got lots of little nagging personal stuff taken care of.

Last weekend was a good weekend. Jeanie had had a very tiring week, and was in need of a restful, relaxing day. We had a quiet morning, and then took a walk around the neighborhood to check out some of the new houses that are being built. There are quite a few under construction, and the good news is that the builders have shifted back to building larger, nicer homes. After our walk around these parts, we decided to go to Duke Gardens. It was in much better shape than the last time we were there. The tulips, pansies, and violas were especially beautiful. There was a wedding in process, and it was fun to watch, although it did preclude our traditional kiss under the pergola. We then headed off to Ninth Street for a visit to International Delights for a good meal of gyros, salad, and baklava. We used to eat lunch there frequently when we both worked at DataFlow, and I still think they have the best baklava in the Triangle. My doctor said I needed more exercise, Saturday got me off to a good start.

Even though I thought that I would have a break from yard work for one weekend, the lawn needed mowing, so, I mowed on Sunday. One thing led to another, and the next thing I know, I'm digging a level base for the upper section of the new retaining wall for Jeanie's rose garden, and laying landscape block. It will be nice when it's done.

After helping with the yard work, Jeanie headed off to Oxford to visit Robby and his family; I took a nap. Jeanie gave me a call on the way home and said "you'll never guess what I bought you today." Well, she was right! When she walked in, cuddled in her arm was the cutest baby guinea pig. We have been having a blast with it (we're not sure whether it's a him or a her) and we're getting close to deciding on a name.

Monday, I was finally able to synch back up with my friend Bill and go with him to donate blood. Since he just got a new job in Raleigh, we went to the ACR center on New Bern Avenue, near Wake Med. Afterward, he took me by his house to give me the nickel tour and to get to say hi to his lovely wife and his new son. Jack is growing so fast that it made my jaw drop.


03/19/00

Last week had lots of food related highlights. On Thursday, Jeanie and I had lunch at the IBM cafeteria. It is a very nice facility, and the food was tasty and very reasonably priced. In honor of Saint Patrick's day, we had corned beef and cabbage, and an absolutely wonderful Irish whiskey laced bread pudding - yum! On Friday, I had lunch with my friend Burnie, at the new Capital City Chop House near the RDU airport. Wow! Very nice decor, yummy food; a little pricey for dinner (lunch wasn't too bad), but a great place to go for a special occasion, or when someone else is paying :-) Friday evening, Jeanie and I drove to Roxboro to celebrate our friend Bob's birthday with the gang. We ate at the Clarksville Station, and had a great dinner, and a great time.

Yesterday was spent running errands with Jeanie. We drove up to the farm, and I got to see the remains of the barn for the first time since it burned in January. All that's left are a few charred floor joists. Oh well, at least nobody was hurt.

Jeanie is on her way to Armonk, NY, for a "by invitation only" IBM HR conference. She got invited last year, but didn't get to go because she was sick, so she's really looking forward to this trip - and I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that since she'll be away from me for a few nights, she might actually be able to sleep, since she won't be subjected to my high-volume snooring.

page: added current RDU weather information to main page.

03/12/00

Yesterday was a beautiful day, occupied mostly by yard work. The day started with the delivery of ten yards of mulch, dumped (intentionally) in the middle of the driveway. Most of the rest of the day was occupied with distributing said mulch to more appropriate locations. With the help of Jeanie, Robby, and Montez (Robby's step-son), we not only got all of the mulch relocated, but got about a dozen more things planted. It never ceases to amaze me how big a difference a little landscpaping can make.

Today has been a quiet day. Mostly puttering around the house, with a few "breaks" to do some work e-mail.

I won my bids on e-Bay! I can't wait to see Jeanie's face when Buzz and Lenny arrive!

As for work, the highlight of the week was getting to teach two sessions of a forty-five minute VPN overview class for the department. I find teaching very intense, but also very rewarding. The low point of the week was the dive that the Quintiles stock price took; although I am not complaining too much - I thought it would go lower based on the beating we took in September.

page: new Wisdom.

03/05/00

This weekend's (ever notice how there isn't much worthy of mention in our lives during the week?) big event was Jeanie and me hosting a dinner party for the Murphys and Burnettes. Jeanie made a great batch of lasagna, and the most delectable baked pears with rasberry sauce - YUM! We had a delicious chocolate cake for desert to celibrate Shawn and Tara's engagement.

I spent most of the day mowing grass, running errands, and doing some spring cleaning around the house.
I made by first bid on eBay today. Jeanie had collected eighteen of the twenty Toy Story 2 Happy Meal prizes from McDonald's, and really wanted the two she missed - #10 Lenny and #15 Buzz LightYear. Both are available on eBay, but I keep getting outbid on Lenny. At least maybe I can get Buzz for her.

There were actually a couple of notes of interest from the week last week.

My left wrist/hand have been hurting lately. I think I initially injured it when I slipped on the ice during the great storm of '00. It had started feeling better until all of the shoveling and raking of last weekend. By last Monday, I could barely type. I swapped out my regular keyboard for a Microsoft Natural Keyboard. It really makes typing much more comfortable, although I find that I am much more aware of the indepence of my two hands when typing on it, than when typing on a standard keyboard.

We survived the leap year without a twitch at work. I am so tired of the media implying that Y2K was over-hyped by alarmists and was really a non-issue. It was a non-issue because of all of the diligence and hard work of many people in many fields.

Our Saucer Magnolia in the front yard bloomed this week. I was beginning to worry that it never would. It took three years, but oh was it worth the wait. Check out the picture on the pictures page.

I had my first guest book entry from someone I did not know. I guess I finally made it onto a search engine somewhere.

And finally, a poem to celebrate the lovely weather:

Da spring is sprung, da grass is riz.
I wonder where dem burdies is?
Dem little burdies on da wing ...
Ain't dat absurd?
Da little wings is on da burd!

page: new Witsdom and Pictures.


02/27/00

Oh my aching back... Since all of the topsoil from our front yard was removed as part of our topological resculpting, we decided to get some new topsoil from our friendly soil and mulch dealer down the road. Friday morning, the dump truck appeared, commanded by an extremely friendly and helpful operator. A few minutes later, twelve yards of dirt lay in a strategically placed pile.

Yesterday was chosen as distribution day - as in all of that dirt needs to be distributed over the yard. Fortunately, reinforcements appeared in the form of Robby and the grandkids. We ended up having a fun and productive day. We now have a nice even layer of topsoil over the yard, all of the trees and bushes are replanted, and only a small pile remains ready to suppliment the addition of a few new (future) plantings.
Jeanie rewarded me with a lunch of one of my favorites - barbeque from Bob's Barbeque in Creedmore - yum!
While Robby and I finished up in the yard, Jeanie took the kids to a book signing for her friend Roz Grace's third children's book, "Anthony's Surprise."
We finished off the day watching "The Prince of Egypt" and eating pizza.

page: new witsdom.


2/24/00

Jeanie e-mailed this link to me. It was quick, cute, and fun. Boy, it was right on target for me. Let me know what your thoughts are.

page: new wisdom.


02/20/00

It's scary how quickly time can slip by. One day blurs into the next, and then a week, and then almost a month.

Two weekends ago was my Mother's birthday, so Jeanie and I flew up to spend the weekend with Mom. We had a very nice time, and I'm happy to report Mom is doing great.

The week before last was extremely emotional. I received a page from our next-door neighbor on Tuesday - as I was dialing, I knew there had to be something bad afoot. Boy was I right. When we purchased our lot a few years ago, we knew that the lot next to ours was a building lot, but we also knew that the builder - David Weekly Homes - did not have a plan for a house small enough to fit on the lot. Besides, the lot had a very steep hill going down to the street, so we figured that it would remain unsold and vacant for many years. For us, the lot was wonderful. About half the lot was on the same level as our property, it was nicely wooded, and it gave us great privacy from the street. We inquired about the possibility of purchasing the lot a number of times over the years, but we were variously given the run-around, or told that we could purchase the lot for what amounted to an obscene price.
A few months ago, a builder's inspection box appeared on the lot, along with a for-sale sign from a new builder - Salman Construction. I called Mr. Salman to express my concern about the size of a house that could fit on the lot. Again, I sought to purchase the lot, only to once again be offered a ridiculous price. Mr. Salman assured me that he would build a nice house, in character with the neighborhood, and that he would keep us informed of his plans.
Well, wasn't I surprised to hear from our next door neighbor that the lot had been cleared - bare. I wasn't thrilled, but Jeanie was absolutely devastated. Not only were the trees gone, but the lot had been lowered about six feet below ours, resulting in a steep cliff between our two properties. It looked horrible from our house, and from our neighbors across the street.
I called Mr. Salman to see what we could work out, since his changes had significantly negatively impacted the appearance of our cul-de-sac. The thought among the neighbors was that the only way that a better appearance could be achieved would be to shave down our lot in front, and blend it into his lot. While we were not crazy about the idea, we felt that the way things looked was unacceptable, and that he would have trouble selling his house with such a steep drop between his house and ours.
Mr. Salman agreed to meet with me the following morning, or have his construction supervisor meet with me. I ended up hooking up with Buddy, his supervisor, and scheduled to meet him around noon. Buddy arrived promptly when he said he would, and was very nice and professional. According to Buddy, in Mr. Salman's opinion, if we didn't like the way things looked, that was our problem, and any grading that we desired was our responsibility. After some negotiations with Mr. Salman, we agreed to split the cost of the grading. While on the one hand, I guess it was a nice gesture for him to agree to pay half, on the other hand, he was responsible for ruining the look of our cul-de-sac, and we're the ones who lost all of our landscaping in front, and half of our grass, and the use of our telephone for a day, and the top soil that Jeanie had worked so hard to nurture, and ...
The only truly decent builder I think I ever met was Bob Calhoon, builder of our first house, and he gave up his business to build houses for Habitat for Humanity!
Well, to make a bad week horrible, we found out on Thursday morning that Jeanie's aunt Mary Francis had passed away. The funeral was on Saturday, just west of Winston-Salem. It was a cold and rainy day, which just made the mood that much gloomier. It is a shame that so often, it takes sickness or death to bring a family together.

Last week struggled to get better. Monday started out pretty well. The new IT Director at work organized a Valentine's Day party, and it was very nice. Lisa brought in a couple of cakes, and sparkling cider and lot's of other people brought in goodies, so most of us were buzzing around with sugar highs for the majority of the day. Lisa had also arranged to have a drawing for a surprise door prize as a special Valentine to one of the IT staff. Guess who won? I couldn't believe it either, but Jeanie and I are looking forward to our dinner at the Angus Barn! Jeanie ended up working until after midnight on Valentine's day, so we didn't even get to celebrate the holiday. In fact, she ended up working like a dog for most of the week.
Yesterday, we decided to have the date that we missed on Monday. We went to the Olive Garden, where we enjoyed our usual - Salad and Zuppa Toscana. Then we went the see Galaxy Quest. We both found it highly entertaining. It was clever and funny, and had great special effects. Lighthearted and fun - just what we needed.


01/29/00

Our neighbors really are wonderful. One of our neighbor's daughter's boyfriend has kick-butt four wheel drive truck - big tires, high clearance, etc. He volunteered to drive around the cul-de-sac and pack down the snow for all of us. After he finished, Jeanie decided to start shovelling the driveway. Unfortunately, I was on a teleconference finding out some of the details of Quintiles' recently announced reorganization and associated reductions in workforce (as far as I can tell, I still have a job) so I could not help shovel. Well, our wonderful neighbors noticed Jeanie toiling away, and in moments, there were three additional people clearing our driveway. Thankfully, they were nice enough to leave the last five feed or so for me so that I would not feel totally useless.

With the driveway cleared, and the cul-de-sac packed, I was finally able to venture out in my trusty steed yesterday. While many of the secondary secondary roads are still impassable to the mightly maxima, most of the primary secondary roads as well as the primary roads were in pretty good shape. I managed to make it in to work (even though the office was closed) and get in about four hours of much needed quality administrivia time.

Last night, the cul-de-sac gathered to help Robyn celebrate her (I'm not going to say which) birthday. We had a great time listening and singing to her collection of 45's (I guess that does give a hint). Jeanie and I had forgotten to bring something, so Jeanie was going to run back to the house to get it. I was concerned that Jeanie might slip on the ice, so I talked her into letting me go. Wouldn't you know it, two steps into the cul-de-sac, my feet flew out from under me, and I landed squarely on my butt. While my bottom and left wrist are sore, I think the major injury was to my pride.

One of Jeanie's recent movie picks was The Confession starring Alec Baldwin, Ben Kingsley, and Amy Irving. It was an okay movie, not one of Jeanie's best picks, but not a bad one either. It did give me two items to add to the Wisdom page.


01/26/00

Here we sit blanketed under a record breaking snow fall! It is absolutely beautiful. I expect that it will be a few more days before we can get out of our cul-de-sac. We spent part of yesterday helping two of our neighbors - one with a two wheel drive FourRunner, and one with a four wheel drive blazer - get back into their driveways after they had tried to get out and gotten stuck. Needless to say, we're not even going to try to get out of our driveway until the neighborhood gets plowed.

The view outside the office window is especially wonderful. It is so relaxing to watch the birds feed and frolic. And the combination of the snow and woods as a backdrop for the feeders makes for a lovely scene. Unfortunately, the digital camera can not capture the beauty - maybe the 35mm will do a better job. If not, I can still savor the picture in my mind's eye.

Yesterday, I worked a little, but mostly, enjoyed the day. Our snow shovel got a good workout. We were the only household in the cul-de-sac with a snow shovel, so our neighbors took turns borrowing it. Strangely enough, we were the only house with a snow shovel, but the only house that didn't shovel their driveway - go figure.

Last night, we had a cul-de-sac pot-luck dinner. It was a lot of fun. We are so lucky to have such a great group of neighbors.

****************

Last weekend was fairly quiet. The highlight of the weekend was meeting our friends the Murphys and the Burnettes at the Texas Steakhouse for a triple birthday celebration.

Jeanie kept her movie selection streak intact. Her pick this time - Bowfinger - with Steve Martin and Eddie Murphy. Very funny! It continues to amaze me how talented Steve Martin is. He writes, he acts, he even plays a mean banjo.

****************

Weekend before last we went to visit Jimmy and Kimberly at their hideaway at the lake. It was a great way to celebrate my birthday, and as a bonus, we exchanged our Christmas presents. As usual, we had a blast, and Kim and Jim are looking forward to a Beyond Balderdash rematch. I will, however, pass on a chicken sopa rematch.

page: pictures

01/06/00

Wow, it feels strange to write "00." It's easier when I type it that when I write a date by hand. I still have to catch myself when writing dates because I want to write "99" rather than "00." I think that the best name I've heard so far for the new decade is "the oh's." And before anyone gets too up in arms, yes, I realize that technically the new decade and new century start next year, just like the new millennium.

Over the last few days, Jeanie and I have once again demonstrated that she is a whiz at picking movies to rent, and that I'm not.
My two selections were the Eddie Murphy film "Life" and the second "Austin Powers" movie. While we thought that the makeup was great in "Life" we didn't find much else that we liked. Austin Powers had a couple of hilareous scenes, but wasn't really worth the time it took to watch it.
Jeanie's two selections were "The Out of Towners" with Steve Martin and Goldie Hawn, and "The Thirteenth Floor." "The Out of Towners" was a cute movie with some funny scenes - not a film that will make it into the movie hall of fame, but a pleasant way to spend an hour and a half. We thoroughly enjoyed "The Thirteenth Floor." It was a neat mix of science fiction and good 'ol mystery with a heck of a twist. Besides, the web site is way cool.

I had to work last Saturday, and I'm glad to have the 1999 to 2000 year change behind us. I'll be really glad when we get past February 29th, and we can put the "Y2K bug" behind us. I really am sick of "Y2K" and I've never liked the term "Y2K bug." The decision to use two digits to represent the year was not a "bug," it was - at the time - a good design decision given the existing environment. Oh well ...

Sunday, Jeanie and I drove to Winston-Salem. We visited Jeanie's aunt Mary Francis, who is gravely ill. We also got to see Jeanie's parents and spend some time with them, which was a treat. It was also nice to be able to spend some quality time with Jeanie, I just wish we could have had happier circumstances.

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