Sunday, June 24, 2007

Anthony Sand Soccer

Anthony's team (the Strikers) played a sand soccer tournament this weekend. What a great event and what an amazing weekend in Santa Cruz. It was clear, warm but not too warm, and a very happening place to be!! We had to be there on Saturday by 10:30 to sign in. The first game was at 1:50 and the second at 5:10. They managed to win both games and Anthony played really really well.


I fit in a bike ride between checkin and the first game. I did about 35 miles down the coast past Capitola and Rio Del Mar before turning around and riding back.

Then this morning we had to get to the beach by 8! It was again a beautiful day. No fog and warm enough at 8 to go without a sweatshirt.

The game didn't go as well this time. It was the semi-finals and we played a really strong team. But the Strikers worked hard throughout!

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Yosemite


Or as Nick would say ... Yo Smity!


We just got back from a quick two day trip to Yosemite. We left at 6am on Wednesday and got home tonight (Thursday) at about 8:30pm. The drive from Yosemite Valley is roughly 4 hours. Long but tolerable.

We stayed just outside the park at a place called Americas Best Value Inn!! It was ok, reasonably priced and given that we made the reservations pretty late - AVAILABLE! Given how large the park is - the drive from the hotel was about an hour. Fifteen minutes to the park entrance and then another forty-five to the valley.


We decided to walk around the valley on the first day and take a bunch of pictures. In total, we must have walked for about four hours. We saw all of the spectacular sites that you would expect such as Yosemite Falls, El Capitan (where we could see climbers!) and Half Dome.

We then checked out the visitors center, Ansel Adams gallery, the theater (where both Julie and I fell asleep), the stores and Yosemite Lodge. We then ate at the Mountain Room (at Yosemite Lodge) where we had an awesome view of the mountains through their wall of windows.

After that we made our way to the Curry Village. We got some coffee and ice cream and checked out this area. Took the shuttle back to our car and drove to the hotel.

The next morning we ate at a small place close to the hotel and were back in the valley in time for the bus that Nick and I took to the Glacier Point. This was about an hour and a half ride to over 8000 feet where we departed for a 8.5 mile hike. At the same time Julie went to an art class where she would do some water color painting and sketching.


The hike that Nick and I took allow us to see great views of the mountains as well as four falls: Illiluoette; Bridal Veil; Nevada; and Vernal. Because of where we started, it was mostly down hill, with the exception of at least one up hill climb of a bit more than a mile. We enjoyed our lunch with our feet dangling in the river feeding Nevada calls. As Nick said - best place in the WORLD to have lunch:)


We got back to the bottom at around 3:30, met up with Julie who had been sketching, painting and doing a bit of shopping since we left. We grabbed some food, headed to the car and were on our way by 4:30.

Notice no Anthony in the pictures. He stayed home to attend practice (check out my last blog entry).

Anthony Football - Passing League

Just a quick entry with some pictures from Anthony's passing league.


The coach with some skill position folks and a shot of Anthony dropping back into coverage playing linebacker.

Monday, June 11, 2007

Big Thanks!!

Thanks to a bunch of folks who worked for me in my last job (ok, that was only a few days ago:)) - I now have the coolest gps watch in the world!! It is a Garmin 305. Here is a picture of it. I have had it for a few days now and have used it twice. Once for a mountain bike ride and once for a run.
The picture shows a pretty killer mountain bike ride. The graph shows distance along the bottom, the grey line is altitude and the red line is heart rate. There are other things that you can show instead, such as speed. And you can have time along the bottom of the graph. You can also set up things like laps where you compare yourself to your goal. Or you can race yourself when you do the same route.


I plan to use this for every road, mountain or run. This will be a great way to track my workouts and see how I am progressing. Thanks!!

Farting Around :)

I am half on vacation, half working on FreshBrain. It is kind of hard telling which is which. For example, right now I am playing with a new and interesting site called Gizmoz.com. I created this highly intelligent widget. I also created a bunch of other recordings. I think that if you search for freshbrain, you will find them. Not sure that they are actually worth the effort.



We are also going to Stanford tomorrow to check out the Senior Project Software Faire, where we hope to see what college students are doing for their senior project and maybe get some insight into where we should be taking FreshBrain. We may also do some recruiting:)

And later this week we will be meeting with a graphic design company who sounds willing to do some pro bono work for FreshBrain.

All of this wrapped around starting up with a personal trainer, getting some runs and bike rides in and spending more time with Julie and the boys:)

Wednesday, June 06, 2007

FreshBrain and Time Off

As I mentioned in my last blog entry - my current job is winding down. Actually, it really has wound down this week. The announcement of the merge of my organization into my peer VPs organization should be going out tomorrow. My team all knows what is happening, who they will be working for and when the announcement will take place.

As a result, I have cleared my calendar and I am beginning my new career - as head of FreshBrain. But since it has been almost 19 years since I joined Sun, I want to take some time off and do a bunch of stuff that I have not had time to lately. Here is a snipit from that list:)
  • Get in shape. This amounts to at least more exercise and a personal trainer. What is my goal you might ask ... well, don't really have one. Just want to be able to ride up highway 9 without standing, do a triathlon and maybe the Alcatraz swim. This list could definitely change.
  • See the sights. Not sure what the list will look like ultimately, but Yosemite (scheduled) and the Palace of Fine Arts are a couple of examples.
  • Read a few books. I have been working on David Baldacci's "The Hour Game" for quite a while now. Need to finish it and get on with a few others.
  • Play golf. I haven't done much of this in a while ...
  • Spend time with Nick and Anthony. I will be playing golf with Nick. Anthony and I will definitely play some catch. More stuff to be planned.
  • Do stuff with Julie. Sightseeing is one example. Workouts. Walks.
  • Home projects. I have a short list. Might just keep it that way.
  • Vacations. We are going to Tahoe with my mom and Curt as well as my brother Todd, Chris, Cooper and Anea. And we will be going houseboating with the Jacobsens.
  • Take pictures with my new camera. Lots of opportunities already mentioned.
Sounds like a great summer!