Great SB Weekend

We had a great weekend in Santa Barbara at the Gaucho Reunion. This was actually not just a reunion but quite a bit more.

• Gaucho reunion - first time they have had something like this
• Phi Psi reunion - informal for those who wanted to attend:)
• College visit - yea, Anthony is only a couple years away ...

We ended up with five brother and their families, including the Tabors, Tatums, Rims, Hapners, LaFaves and the Fitzpatricks. With them came kids totaling 13 with ages ranging from 1 to almost 16!

We stayed at the Pacific Suites. This was a REALLY nice spot - close to UCSB, in great shape, breakfasts included, with lawns and a pool for the kids, an evening happy hour and space off the lobby for the adults!

We saw each other in the mornings, went off on our own during the day and met back up in the evenings and late into the night. For those of us with close to college age kids, we did a bit more touring. Most everyone met up at the big BBQ and soccer game. The UCSB mens team are NCAA Division 1 champions!!

Great to see everyone. Great chance for Anthony to see what a college is really like. Great for Nick to begin to think about it.

Highlights - Trip to Maui

There is soooo much to say about our trip to Maui that I will only give some highlights!



On the left is Nick and Anthony at the rim of Haleakala Volcano. In the middle is me on the hike to the blow hole, and the right is Julie at the end of the trail (2500 ft) at Waihee Ridge Trail.

The left picture is Julie at a Kula Lodge on the way to the Volcano in an area called up country. In the middle is a view on the way to Molikini (sunken Volcano) where we snorkeled. And the right is Anthony golfing at the beautiful Plantation Golf Course.

Rock Wall III

I finished the rock wall almost two weeks ago. Just now getting to the blog entry showing the final product. I had some excellent helpers or supervisors:)

It looks even better now having had a week of cool weather and some rain. The plants already look like they are happy and healthy and some are blooming.

It may not show, but I put in a drip system. I connected to a pipe that was already there. It was a single sprayer for the whole area around the tree. It must have been installed when the tree was really small. It is now surrounded by tree roots.

I plumbed in three dripper octopus heads with enough capacity for 8 dripper lines each. Given the number of plants, each has 6-7 tubes connected and running to individual plants. I also added a dripper line for the plants at driveway level.

My New Gig ...

After years at Sun doing pretty much a corporate job - it is time to do something new and completely different. Here is the announcement that I sent out to my organization yesterday. More on this as it evolves (I will be creating a new blog just for this).

Just a couple quick notes - Jonathan below is Jonathan Schwartz, the CEO of Sun Microsystems.; Rich is Rich Green EVP of Software at Sun; Karen a VP and my peer working for Rich; and there was another announcement from Rich that I did not attach.

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It is with great excitement and a some trepidation that I send this email giving you a bit more on what will be happening with me and our organization over the next few months.

I have been looking forward to doing something very new and different for quite some time now. And the time has come for me to take that bold step and just do it. The something new is to start a non-profit focused on developing the next generation of technology leaders. It will enhance the educational system for high school students by providing the opportunity to define and run Internet based projects using the latest tools, technologies and processes.

When I shared this with my management, both Jonathan and Rich have been very supportive of the idea and want to help make this a reality. As a result, they have convinced me that I can do this while continuing as a Sun employee. They are also very interested in helping me in other ways. They see the benefit that this will provide to the community as well as to Sun in reaching audiences that are otherwise hard to access. There are lots of details still to be worked but I am very encouraged with our discussions this far!

As you have likely already read in his announcement, Rich has decided that he will be combining the Enterprise Java Platform (EJP) and SOA / Business Integration organizations together into a single software infrastructure team under Karen Tegan Pedir. The new organization will be announced and effective in June. Until then, no changes will be made. You are stuck with me for a bit longer:)

Karen and I, together with our teams will stay focused on our mission and roadmaps while we work out the details of this merged organization.

I wanted to let everyone know that is happening now as it is starting to leak and I don't want it to be a distraction. You all are doing a great job. Our releases are coming out a planned, with continued improvement in quality, performance and stability. Our pipeline is increasing. Our bookings and revenue are growing. Our executives are very happy with the progress that they are seeing. And more importantly so are our customers!!!

Please keep at it. I am confident that the changes will be a good thing. I am committed to closing out the fiscal year and will do everything that I can to help make the transition happen as smoothly as possible. I am confident that Karen will be a great leader of this new combined organization. This is the perfect time to do this. We have the products and momentum to have a great FY08!!

Dale

Rock Wall II

Here is the current phase of the rock wall. Looking a LOT better. I was almost to the point where I never thought that I would get it done. But thanks to Greg for a saw and chissle to cut / break up rocks to solve the puzzle, Anthony for moving the unused Rocks and Nick and Julie for moving the bark - the yard is cleaned up and the wall is done.




Next is onto installing the drip system (replace the pipe sticking up with a shorter pipe and add a 8 way dripper head). And adding the plants. The idea is to have some draping plants hang over the front, put some evergreen plants in the middle and something small on the garage side of the wall.