Why am I awake at 1:46 AM?
I fell asleep very early yesterday night (around 7:30 or so)...and so here I am awake at 1:46 AM typing a BLOG entry (grin). Not good. Being a lifelong PC user, I typically avoid anything Apple...not because I don't appreciate their superior design and excellent capatability with exterior devices. I just didn't want to learn yet another operating system. Ah, but then there's the iPod! I must admit, I've been avoiding it because my world of music is all "Rhapsody", "Windows Media Player," "Yahoo! Music," etc. Besides, iTunes didn't work on anything not running XP...some of us STILL use Windows 98 (hehehe). But, when you inherit an old iPod, you tend to lower your standards (grin). I LOVE the iPod...what a terrific piece of engineering for us everyday music lovers!!! I especially like how well the PC and the iPod sync when connected and how it creates your "Top 25" playlist based on the number of times you've listened to the song. Steve Jobs and Co. really have their finger on the pulse of the real world. Anyone who rides BART during the morning commute will see an iPod in every other person's ears...oh jeez, now I'm joined the ranks of that every other person! Yikes! Well, I'm now on my second cup of coffee and have some e-mail to read...hope everyone has a terrific weekend.
Maria's Birthday!
Today, our family celebrated Maria's Birthday (Number _ _ ...oh, it doesn't really matter...grin). I got home kinda late for a Friday...was very busy at work. So, we had limited dinner choices by the time I got home. Cameron picked Mimi's Cafe in Brentwood. Alexandra made the reservation for six and was told it would be about 25 minutes. Well, that didn't sound so bad...after all, it was a busy Friday. The boys played chase, punch, and slap outside...cute, huh? Alexandra was burning the midnight oil on her cell phone. We watched as they called, "Reservation for two for Mark," "Reservation for three for Sylvia," Reservation for three for Steve," etc. A young couple came up to the door about 30 minutes after we arrived and wouldn't you know it, "Reservation for two for Keith." A good 60 minutes later, we heard "Reservation for six for Alex." Ah, at last, we were getting seated. The moral of this story: make sure you split your family of six into two smaller groups of three if you want to get seated in a reasonable amount of time at Mimi's Cafe!!!" OK, they did bring a slice of chocolate mousse with a candle for Maria at the end of the meal, but guess what? The waitress asked, "Did you want to sing Happy Birthday to her?" Before I could say yes or no, she walked off and I was left to lead the song alone. Well, at least the food was good! LOL...as I tell Maria, "I ONLY take you to the classiest places."
Celebrating Alex's IronMan Triumph! (videoblog)
In honor of Alex's success at this year's 2005 Canadian IronMan Competition, we put together this video montage.
BLOG: From the IronMan.net website
2042 CATAPUSAN, FELIX OAKLAND 2:17:45
You can look up the rest of Alex’s time and all our athlete’s times here:
http://vnews.ironmanlive.com/.
We’re all very proud of all our athletes! Grea job everybody and photos coming.
*Update* (via Whitney)
Crowds of people cheered, shouted, cried as they watched Alex’s red wetsuit approaching the shallow waters surrounded by kayakers…his story had been told both at the Ironman pasta feed dinner as well as during the race so the crowds were familiar with his history. It was electric…strangers faces lit with elation…teammates filled with tears. And all of us chanting “Get UP! Get up!” as he continued to swim in the waist deep waters with his 2 volunteers beside him also telling him to get up. But with Wayne’s voice in his head (keep swimming til you can touch the bottom- it’s faster - little did he know where that mantra would really be put to the test….Wayne, you need to add an addendum to that one) Alex continued his gentle smooth Alex stroke til we almost all decided to rush out there and get his bum up ourselves…and finally…FINALLY he got up (agonizing minute plus watching him swim in shallow waters)…the crowds became completely raucous as he ran his way past his oh so proud mama and throngs of
groupies…
It was everything that Ironman can be and more.
He made the swim cut-off with 2 minutes and 15 seconds to spare.
He completed his first Ironman at 16:46:22.
The next night at the Ironman awards dinner, Alex won the Iron Spirit
award. The same award Louie won.
Just thought ya’ll might like to feel a little bit of that Iron spirit
again.
Hope this finds you all achieving new goals and dreaming ginormous
dreams.
You can look up the rest of Alex’s time and all our athlete’s times here:
http://vnews.ironmanlive.com/.
We’re all very proud of all our athletes! Grea job everybody and photos coming.
*Update* (via Whitney)
Crowds of people cheered, shouted, cried as they watched Alex’s red wetsuit approaching the shallow waters surrounded by kayakers…his story had been told both at the Ironman pasta feed dinner as well as during the race so the crowds were familiar with his history. It was electric…strangers faces lit with elation…teammates filled with tears. And all of us chanting “Get UP! Get up!” as he continued to swim in the waist deep waters with his 2 volunteers beside him also telling him to get up. But with Wayne’s voice in his head (keep swimming til you can touch the bottom- it’s faster - little did he know where that mantra would really be put to the test….Wayne, you need to add an addendum to that one) Alex continued his gentle smooth Alex stroke til we almost all decided to rush out there and get his bum up ourselves…and finally…FINALLY he got up (agonizing minute plus watching him swim in shallow waters)…the crowds became completely raucous as he ran his way past his oh so proud mama and throngs of
groupies…
It was everything that Ironman can be and more.
He made the swim cut-off with 2 minutes and 15 seconds to spare.
He completed his first Ironman at 16:46:22.
The next night at the Ironman awards dinner, Alex won the Iron Spirit
award. The same award Louie won.
Just thought ya’ll might like to feel a little bit of that Iron spirit
again.
Hope this finds you all achieving new goals and dreaming ginormous
dreams.
Alex receives Iron Spirit Award
From the IronTeam.net website:
Here’s Alex holding up the Iron Spirit Award. That would be the same award that Louie got. I certainly wouldn’t want to speak for Louie but he’d be very, very proud of you as we all are! Great job Alex, and great job IronTeam.
Here’s Alex holding up the Iron Spirit Award. That would be the same award that Louie got. I certainly wouldn’t want to speak for Louie but he’d be very, very proud of you as we all are! Great job Alex, and great job IronTeam.
I was recently quoted in USAToday about security training
How one airport keeps its security lines short by Thomas Frank, USA TODAY
Look for my quote about monitoring X-ray efficiency.
Look for my quote about monitoring X-ray efficiency.
ClassicCAM: 1998 Brandon's Birthday
Here's a videoclip of us celebrating Brandon's 1st Birthday in 1998. Notice the bickering between Alexandra (5) and Cameron (3)--they still mix like vinegar and water! ;-)
eBay was MY idea first!!! ;-)
eBay celebrates its 10 Anniversay this Labor Day Weekend.
I've been using eBay since its inception. Over the years, I've bought (and sold) a lot of neat things. But, ask Maria, over 10 years ago, I told her we should develop a website where people could buy Alexandra's closet full of clothes. I said it would foster a couple aspects: 1) People love to buy online (at least I was buying a lot online at the time), 2) Parents like cute outfits for kids, and 3) People love to "gamble." I had a concept called "Alexandra's Closet" where people could see pictures of an outfit and if they liked it, they could send me an e-mail and make an "offer." I would post the offer manually on the website and wait a certain amount of time for others to "counter-offer." Highest offer would win (the gambling aspect). So, sound familiar? I'm not bitter (much...hehehe), just illustrates that I have a lot of good ideas! ;-)
READ Meg Whitman's announcement of eBay's 10th Anniversay.
I've been using eBay since its inception. Over the years, I've bought (and sold) a lot of neat things. But, ask Maria, over 10 years ago, I told her we should develop a website where people could buy Alexandra's closet full of clothes. I said it would foster a couple aspects: 1) People love to buy online (at least I was buying a lot online at the time), 2) Parents like cute outfits for kids, and 3) People love to "gamble." I had a concept called "Alexandra's Closet" where people could see pictures of an outfit and if they liked it, they could send me an e-mail and make an "offer." I would post the offer manually on the website and wait a certain amount of time for others to "counter-offer." Highest offer would win (the gambling aspect). So, sound familiar? I'm not bitter (much...hehehe), just illustrates that I have a lot of good ideas! ;-)
READ Meg Whitman's announcement of eBay's 10th Anniversay.
Thank God It's Friday!
Well, this has been a very interesting week! I'm SO looking forward to the long weekend. Maria salvaged a broken dresser from the boys' room and converted them into "shelves" and "end tables" for our bedroom — very clever. I think she's been watching too much "Design On A Dime" and "While You Were Out." Oh, by the way, if you've been trying to view any of the videos on the blog and it didn't work, I just figured out that you need to first install Macromedia Flash 7 — it's free...as Nike says, "Just Do It!" ;-)
DOWNLOAD it here: Macromedia Flash 7
DOWNLOAD it here: Macromedia Flash 7
