1. July is gone, get over it--I had to. Summer is still here.
2. Finding 52 mole crabs before 11AM--how to keep two boys and four adults busy at the beach.
3. A little rain made my return trip yesterday mostly occur with the top up on the car simply because I didn't want to stop and take the time to put it down again after I had put it up.
4. Makayla and I had yet another happy reunion yesterday. I'm sure she is beginning to get a bit freaked out every time I go out the door.
5. Sand gets everywhere. Even places it shouldn't.
6. I wonder why the sand gets so hot during the day, but yet begins to cool even though the sun is sit shining on it?
7. I was reading movie reviews and amazingly, the Smurfs have returned in a movie. I wish they hadn't.
8. In an amazing bit of Post Office ineptitude, I had a package shipped Parcel Post from California and it took 17 days for it to get to me after the Post Office had the item.
9. Today is going to be hot. I have a lot to do--so of course it will probably rain while I am trying to do the outside stuff.
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Monday, August 1, 2011
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Reflections of July
Paul Simon wrote a song many years ago titled "April Come She Will" which recapped the months of the year from April to September. The phrase he used for July went: "July, she will fly and give no warning to her flight."
July, arguably my favorite month of the year, has indeed flown by in supersonic fashion.
July 2011 came complete with five weekends--I was home only one and I had just returned from a two week trip for that one. Of 31 nights in July, I was away for 17 of them in three very different places--Ithaca, the Caribbean West Indies, and Ocean City.
Wow. And I think I even got the lawn mowed somewhere in there, too.
Last evening, we has a fantastic dinner at a marina side restaurant in Ocean City which really capped the month of July. It was an awesome way to wind up the best month of the year.
And alas, July has flown by and we are standing on the doorstep of August.
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July, arguably my favorite month of the year, has indeed flown by in supersonic fashion.
July 2011 came complete with five weekends--I was home only one and I had just returned from a two week trip for that one. Of 31 nights in July, I was away for 17 of them in three very different places--Ithaca, the Caribbean West Indies, and Ocean City.
Wow. And I think I even got the lawn mowed somewhere in there, too.
Last evening, we has a fantastic dinner at a marina side restaurant in Ocean City which really capped the month of July. It was an awesome way to wind up the best month of the year.
And alas, July has flown by and we are standing on the doorstep of August.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Notable quote
"No gramma, I'm not bored. I like picking the dead skin off your legs. It males me feel like a truck mechanic." - Ethan, while laying on the floor beneath Chris' legs.
We were having a quiet afternoon of napping and chilling at the time.
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We were having a quiet afternoon of napping and chilling at the time.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone
Location:Ocean City, MD
From Sea to Ocean
The view from the condo is fantastic, looking right out onto the ocean. I am sitting here listening to the waves crash just over the dunes and to the sounds of sea birds calling to each other.
It has been a very long time since I have been in Ocean City. Maybe more than 10 years. And I am such a beach guy, too.
I had forgotten how pretty the low sand dunes are as they strive to protect the land from the sea and provide a foothold for shore life.
The long open beach goes on seemingly forever until it slips beneath the waves of the unstoppable force that is the mighty Atlantic Ocean.
The air is clear, although it is already hot as the day is going to be a scorcher.
And I have escaped, once again. If only for a weekend.
What could be better?
Friday, July 29, 2011
Successes and Failures coupled with Ups and Downs
It has been a bit of a wow week, as I shake off the remnants of island time and get back into the grind and pace that is my life.
I have been able to celebrate successes with friends--and today I am celebrating another success as one of our people departs for a new assignment. I can say that I am a bit envious of his good fortune--which he totally made for himself, but that he and his wife are in a place to pick up their lives and go for their dream is reassuring and at the same time reminds me how entrenched I have become in this place where I live.
I confess, I really did not want my recent vacation to end. Often, I get to the point on vacations where I am ready to go home and leave the fun behind. Not so this year. I was in no way ready to step back into the complexities of my life. I could have used an additional week, or maybe a year.
And then, upon my return, I was greeted with a personal failure of sorts. One that I knew in my head was probably going to happen, but that I had convinced myself that this time--maybe this time, the outcome would be different and restore my faith in the system I work within.
But alas, I got the same narrow-minded response that I have come to expect and that I alluded to in a blog I published on September 25, 2010 about Plug-n-Play Leadership: The Wrong Answer.
But that is my own personal axe to bear. (It is axe to bear and cross to grind or the other way around?)
It just still hurts a lot when I take a big personal risk, lay it all out there and then feel as if the paradigm du jour was blindly applied for the sake of easy out leadership.
It took a couple days, but I am mostly over it. Spending time reviewing and editing the images we captured on vacation has really helped. I have about 930 already loaded into Picasa, and there are about 100 more that need loading, but my camera had the wrong date and I need to get the date fixed before I load them into the main directory.
The sine wave of life then is full of ups and downs.
The key is whether the trend is up or down. I like mine to be in a trending up kind of position.
And it is.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
I have been able to celebrate successes with friends--and today I am celebrating another success as one of our people departs for a new assignment. I can say that I am a bit envious of his good fortune--which he totally made for himself, but that he and his wife are in a place to pick up their lives and go for their dream is reassuring and at the same time reminds me how entrenched I have become in this place where I live.
I confess, I really did not want my recent vacation to end. Often, I get to the point on vacations where I am ready to go home and leave the fun behind. Not so this year. I was in no way ready to step back into the complexities of my life. I could have used an additional week, or maybe a year.
And then, upon my return, I was greeted with a personal failure of sorts. One that I knew in my head was probably going to happen, but that I had convinced myself that this time--maybe this time, the outcome would be different and restore my faith in the system I work within.
But alas, I got the same narrow-minded response that I have come to expect and that I alluded to in a blog I published on September 25, 2010 about Plug-n-Play Leadership: The Wrong Answer.
But that is my own personal axe to bear. (It is axe to bear and cross to grind or the other way around?)
It just still hurts a lot when I take a big personal risk, lay it all out there and then feel as if the paradigm du jour was blindly applied for the sake of easy out leadership.
It took a couple days, but I am mostly over it. Spending time reviewing and editing the images we captured on vacation has really helped. I have about 930 already loaded into Picasa, and there are about 100 more that need loading, but my camera had the wrong date and I need to get the date fixed before I load them into the main directory.
The sine wave of life then is full of ups and downs.
The key is whether the trend is up or down. I like mine to be in a trending up kind of position.
And it is.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Thursday, July 28, 2011
An Evening with Josh Groban
Last evening, Chris and I headed off to downtown Washington, DC to listen to one of her favorite singers give a concert at the Verizon Center.
Josh Groban, with the help of his warm-up act, provided us with a pleasant evening of music and entertainment. I admit, right up front, that I am not a fan of this big voiced tenor who also demonstrated a musical talent on both the piano and drum set. But, he is talented and gave an entertaining performance which kept the evening moving.
There were many more women than men in the audience. I had noted this as we entered the arena--but Josh also made a comment about the men in the crowd being good for the next two hours and possibly being rewarded for their acquiescence. I did find that humorous. He also made a reference to the high ticket prices we paid for the concert and promised to sing "his ass off" for us--or most of it, and he did.
Josh sings in multiple languages--last evening, in addition to english, songs were sung in spanish, portuguese, and italian--and possibly others but who really knows?
He did cover some other writers songs--most notable being Neil Diamond when he covered "Play Me." Of course, he also covered "You Raise Me Up" which is aptly arranged to suite his uniquely big voice and broad vocal range.
The stage and set was interesting and dynamic. He used two stages during the performance--one in the middle of the audience, the other being the main stage. This afforded him better access to the attendees and showcased his style. His supporting orchestra was also fabulous.
As the concert ended, promptly after the promised two hours, I was left wising for a few more songs.
All-in-all, it was an enjoyable evening with good music in a first class concert setting.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
Josh Groban, with the help of his warm-up act, provided us with a pleasant evening of music and entertainment. I admit, right up front, that I am not a fan of this big voiced tenor who also demonstrated a musical talent on both the piano and drum set. But, he is talented and gave an entertaining performance which kept the evening moving.
There were many more women than men in the audience. I had noted this as we entered the arena--but Josh also made a comment about the men in the crowd being good for the next two hours and possibly being rewarded for their acquiescence. I did find that humorous. He also made a reference to the high ticket prices we paid for the concert and promised to sing "his ass off" for us--or most of it, and he did.
Josh sings in multiple languages--last evening, in addition to english, songs were sung in spanish, portuguese, and italian--and possibly others but who really knows?
He did cover some other writers songs--most notable being Neil Diamond when he covered "Play Me." Of course, he also covered "You Raise Me Up" which is aptly arranged to suite his uniquely big voice and broad vocal range.
The stage and set was interesting and dynamic. He used two stages during the performance--one in the middle of the audience, the other being the main stage. This afforded him better access to the attendees and showcased his style. His supporting orchestra was also fabulous.
As the concert ended, promptly after the promised two hours, I was left wising for a few more songs.
All-in-all, it was an enjoyable evening with good music in a first class concert setting.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad
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