Bringing home the Gold

Though I've been married twice and this time around I've just cleared four years, I still can't wrap my head around making it to your 50th Wedding anniversary... For now, I have nothing to compare it to and the only love affair I've had longer than my current relationship has been my martial arts training. But 50 years? I guess I'll have to see - of course, I'm hoping that I'll live that long. That, is another issue altogether.



So, my in-laws have made the magic number and we've been planning their party for the past year. Much like planning a wedding, it has been a long time in the making and all of us children have been involved, Karen above all has done the most. Though we wanted to keep it as a surprise, we learned that it was going to be impossible. After making some decisions we let mom and dad in on the idea but kept them out of the planning.



The party was a huge success and the Luau theme was perfect. Karen's attention to detail has payed off again and as you can tell by the pictures the backyard was magically transformed into a distant eating venue on a remote island hideaway.

Some of the highlights included our commemorative video and fire dancing troupe. I had a blast and after all the hard work that went into the affair I was happy to see that mom and dad were surprised and elated.



Its a testament to marriage to have anyone "go the distance" so it was a very special occasion for all of us. Its something we can all learn from and definitely something we can aspire to achieve...



Congratulations Mom & Dad! May you have many more years ahead of you...

Promotion through Attrition

Its not the most glamorous way to move ahead in a company, especially when its accompanied with double the responsibility... Today, my counterpart resigned and gave his two week notice. In spite of the fact we should all be ready for a team member's departure you're never really prepared - and we're finding out the hard way. This coupled with the fact that he's a system admin and has "the keys to the kindgom" is making management nervous. At this point I'm a little overwhelmed with the onset of added responsibility but my trip to Tahiti is helping... a little, anyway. I'll have more information later as well as "my take" on the situation but I'm hoping for the best - only time will tell.

Anyone every had to keep the jailer out of the jail before? As we go through every password, two more seem to appear out of nowhere. Maybe the first thing I should do as the newly appointed IT Infrastructure Manager is a security audit to make this process a bit easier in the future. Any ideas..?

Catalina

Seeing as how our vacation is soon upon us Karen decided that her first dive of the year shouldn't be our night dive in Tahiti... In the middle of all the things we have going on between now and then she managed to squeeze in a trip to Catalina so we could take a dive in "friendlier" water. Plus, I think its one of those things where the more experience you put under your belt the better you feel about the activity.



We had a wonderful time while on the island - we dove with another couple who are friends of ours and we spent the entire weekend with our friends Wendy and Ed and their children. It was a relaxing weekend filled with good food and good company. The view from the house that we were in was fantastic and the weather was warm but not unbearable.



Now, with only two days to go until the party for my in-laws and one week away from take-off I find myself trying to tidy things up at work and make sure there are no loose ends until we get back mid July...

So far, I can't complain about all the hustle and bustle but it will be nice to put everything out of my head for 14 days...

Scientology in a nutshell

Never underestimate a sleeping giant you may regret it...

Jenna Elfman...

I won't label her, I'll let you make up your own mind...

(Source magazine recently printed a statement by celebrity Jenna Elfman on her completion of OT Preparations)

"I am SUCH a product of OT Preparations. I don't have any attention on my case now. I'm in present time on my case.

"I went and got myself a new Clear bracelet, it so rehabilitated my State of Clear. No more thought, nothing. Very, very certain. And all I see now is future!

"I'm ready for OT 1. Wow, me. I can get that data. I couldn't have it before. Didn't know I couldn't have it. But I was not in present time to even think that I would be going on to OT I. Now, I'm here full time. I go on course from 9:30 in the morning until 10:15 at night.

"When I'm drilling, Ron is with me. I really am hearing his communication, his intention, his think on it. And I really feel how much he wants us to go free."

And here's a cute story, starring the famous "Dharma"

Finally...

It's so nice when packages arrive at my desk at work. It almost makes up for the fact that I'm at work. So, after all these months of waiting I finally received a special delivery from England; my copy of "The 20th Anniversary Concert DVD - Live at the Sheperd's Bush Empire" by Howard Jones - autographed. (Insert "Booya" here)

Though it took a long time due to production issues and conversion from PAL to NTSC the final product is great and the fact that its 2 DVDs full of an acoustic, and electronic, full band and restrospective sets make it even better. Though I could have bought it earlier it was nice to have Hojo put his John Hancock on it.

For those of you fans who'd like a copy here's the link: DTox Records. And here's a snap of the artwork from DTox's website:

New Music Monday

Duncan Sheik

Duncan Sheik is an American singer-songwriter. Born in in Montclair, New Jersey, Sheik's upbringing was split between his parents' home in South Carolina and that of his grandparents in New Jersey. His grandmother, a piano graduate of The Juilliard School, taught him to play the piano and encouraged his musical development. He graduated from Phillips Academy in 1988, after which he studied semiotics at Brown University.

History

Sheik began his professional musical career playing for other acts, including Liz And Liza (with Lisa Loeb and Liz Mitchell), and played on His Boy Elroy's 1993 album. Through connections from fellow Brown alum Tracee Ellis Ross, Sheik's music gained the attention of executives at Atlantic Records. Duncan Sheik's eponymous debut album for Atlantic spawned the 1996 hit single "Barely Breathing" in the US, which remained on the charts for 55 straight weeks. In 1998, he was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Barely Breathing."

A lay Buddhist, Sheik's involvement with Soka Gakkai has increased steadily over the years. In 2000, Sheik wrote the foreword to The Way of Youth: Buddhist Common Sense for Handling Life's Questions by Soka Gakkai leader Daisaku Ikeda.

In 2002, Sheik made a brief commercial comeback with his album Daylight, including success with the tracks "On A High" and "Half Life." Eschewing the Nick Drake-like sound of Phantom Moon, Daylight featured a lighter, more modern sound with production effects and electronic backgrounds. Sheik indicated in interviews that the record was an attempt to create an album of pure pop songs.

More recently, Sheik wrote the score for the 2004 film A Home at the End of the World, including two original songs for the film. The score was well received, even though the film was not.

Sheik's newest album, White Limousine, was released on January 24, 2006, on the Zoe Records label. The first single released from the album was the title track. Like its predecessor, Daylight, subtle electronic influences are a hallmark of Sheik's fifth studio album, as well as many songs that are politically charged. The album is both Sheik's first to be released outside of what is now Warner Music Group, and his first with companion software on a DVD-ROM to remix individual album tracks.

My Bike Commute

Everyone that knows me knows that I'm a gadget freak - My motto: "Better living through Technology". So, as part of this mantra I bought myself a Suunto x9i for Christmas. I've been trying to find various ways of using it so offset it cost but didn't really have anything useful to do with its GPS module until I found the GPS Visualizer site, which allows anyone with a GPS device to get some useful information from it and not have to buy ridiculous map packs in order to have fun with their new toy.

So, for the first time this season I remembered to turn the damn thing on during my ride home. Below is my route home, roughly 18 miles of goodness...

Farewell Everwood

Without even realizing what was going on, Karen and I watched the series finale of one of our favorite shows - Everwood. Who would have guessed that when I watched the pilot episode 4 years ago that I would be immediately hooked. Maybe I'm showing my age, or maybe I need something of the sort to offset all the horror films I watch... Of course, we would like to see more of the storyline developed but the ending was "tidy" enough to tie up all loose ends and unite all the characters with who they needed to end up with. Maybe by some small hollywood miracle, the show will be back but I'm not holding my breath. It was a good show and it made a good run. In the end, that's all you can ask for...