100 Things ...

I like the 100 things list so have decided to create my own

1. I was born in 1962
2. In Peninsula Hospital (CA)
3. My mom and dad are Virginia and Ronald
4. When I was born, we lived in San Bruno
5. I am half Italian and half a bunch of other things (Swedish, English, Irish, ...)
6. When I was about 1 we moved to Concord
7. My elementary school was Woodside (we were the Wolverines)
8. My best friends were Alan and Kendell
9. I use to love riding my bike around the neighborhood, no hands, without pedaling, in the dirt, ...
10. I have a brother Todd who is almost five years younger than me
11. Todd and I get along great, although he lives in Utah so we don't see each other much
12. I started swimming on our local team when I was 4 1/2
13. My middle school was Oak Grove
14. My first job was working at the neighborhood swim club, Ygnacio Woods Swim Club
15. I also worked as a gatekeeper and lifeguard
16. I was in scouts until middle school
17. My high school was Ygnacio Valley (the Warriors)
18. I played on the football team
19. I played offensive guard and defensive line or noseguard
20. I made second team all league when I was a senior (as offensive guard)
21. I also swam one year, played baseball another year and ran track one year
22. I met my future wife Julie at the end of our Sophomore year
23. I worked at Concord Pool Center while in high school, where I delivered chlorine to swim clubs, worked in the store, did repairs and went out on jobs
24. I also worked at Pool And Game during high school and summers at college, where I worked in the store and then ran a store in Alamo
25. My first car was a Capri (given to me by my parents)
26. My best friend (other than Julie) in high school was Craig (and he is still a best friend)
27. My parents bought an Apple II
28. I went to college at UCSB (Santa Barbara)
29. I am a founding member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity (rechartering)
30. We built a volleyball court on the vacant lot across from our house (we needed 13 dump truck loads of beach sand - which we loaded by hand - to fill it)
31. I graduated with a bachelors in computer science
32. I started out as a bio-chem major
33. I enjoyed playing on inter mural teams
34. I got married (to Julie:)) the year I graduated
35. My first real job was at Amdahl Computer
36. I played a fair amount of softball and volleyball in after work leagues
37. I left Amdahl after three years and joined Sun Microsystems
38. I got my MBA from Santa Clara University soon after starting with Sun (started while at Amdahl)
39. Our first kid Anthony was born in 1991
40. We bought property and had a vacation house built at Clear Lake (sold before our move)
41. We moved to Colorado Springs in 1992, still with Sun
42. Our second kid Nick was born in Colorado in 1994
43. I actually missed his birth as I was traveling (Austin, TX) five weeks before his due date
44. Our house in Colorado Springs was huge (4200 sq ft)
45. One of our neighbors in Colorado was a four star general
46. We moved back to California in 1996, again still with Sun
47. I enjoy biking, running, swimming, and golf
48. I have completed a number of Triathlons
49. I have raced my mountain bike a few times as well
50. My best golf index was just under 10 (not there now!)
51. I have three bikes (less than I had in the past:), two road and one mountain bike)
52. I am a HUGE fan of "Life is Good" as you can tell from the name of my blog
53. We have a vacation house in Pacific Grove
54. I have had back surgery for a herniated disk
55. I have another herniated disk :(
56. I have just had my first midlife "change" (typically called a crisis, but no crisis here) and bought a 350Z convertable
57. I am a big fan of Tivo (DVRs in general, but Tivo is the best)
58. I do a lot of traveling with work (India maybe 6 times, China once, numerous trips to Europe, etc.)
59. I really like podcasts, my favorite is Buzz Out Loud
60. I LOVE spending time with my family
61. My mom and dad are divorced, but each has remarried and is happy
62. My wife is an artist (she will love this as she is still not sure:))
63. I have grown to appreciate art
    
64. My favorite TV show (other than sports) is American Idol
65. I have two blogs (this one and one at blogs.sun.com)
66. I am left handed
67. Although I eat with my right hand ...
    
68. I eat very healthy - avoid most of the things that are bad for me
69. I exercise a lot, mostly at the Sun fitness center during the week
70. I ride my road or mountain bike on the weekends and usually get a run in as well
    
71. I really like Christmas
72. If I would have been a teacher, it would have been at middle school
73. My favorite wine variety is Zinfandel
74. I am a fan of beer, especially micro-brews on the darker side
75. I am not a big reader, but enjoy it
76. I am not much for sitting and doing nothing, I have to stay active and busy
77. I like cats (and have two of them), have had dogs but am not a big fan of them
78. I am a social introvert
79. I goal oriented
80. I make lists - even on the weekends
    
81. I am positive
82. I can be a bit grumpy at times - mostly in how I say things
83. I have good eyesight (knock on wood)
84. I plan on starting a non-profit to teach kids how real business works
85. I am a Republican
86. My two favorite places in the world are the ocean (Monterey Bay) and the desert (Scottsdale/Phoenix Arizona)
87. I like rocker chicks with raspy voices and fairly hard rock in general
88. I really like the diversity in people and like to focus on what is good in everyone
89. I don't have much tolerance for inconsiderate people or people who are not nice
90. I have never tried drugs (unless you include beer, wine or two puffs of a cigarette)
91. I like wearing shorts, I don't like wearing ties (and almost never wear one - even when I meet with customers at work)
92. I would like to do something in city or state government in the future
93. I enjoy yard work, doing home projects and working in the garage
94. When I retire (for real), I would like to travel (duh) in the US and around the world
95. One of my future trips to Europe will be to buy a car, drive it there on a vacation and then have it shipped home (the choices are Porsche, Volvo (no), BMW, Mercedes and Saab)
    
96. I plan to continue to spend time with my kids as they grow up and have families
97. I want to buy a house, fix it up and sell or rent it out
98. I think that I can do almost anything
99. I do not want to slow down when I get old (because I am old ...)
100. It is good to know that there are at least 100 things that I can think of:)
     

Nice "Valentines" Date

We celebrated Valentines Day a couple of days late - with a date last night.

The main event was a Chris Botti concert at the Paramount Theater in Oakland. But before I get to that, lets talk about dinner.

We don't go to Oakland all that often. Actually, the only reasons that I have been there recently are for a sporting event at the Colosseum (Monster trucks once and a Warrior game more recently) or to visit Craig at his shop - The Outboard Motor Shop / Star Power Marine. So we had no idea where to go eat before the concert. I did a search on the web and found a good list of restaurants, but still didn't feel comfortable with a Valentines dinner at a place that I picked off the web. So called Ken - a guy that works for me and use to work at Forte Software, a company that we (Sun) bought a number of years ago headquartered in Oakland. He recommended a few places and we decided on Oliveto Cafe and Restaurant.

This turned out to be an awesome choice. It is in Oakland, but right on the Berkeley border across from the Rockrimmon Bart station. A bit of a digression. This is actually a very cool area. It feels more like a college town than I would have expected. It was really alive. There were nice specialty wine, meat, grocery and flower stores on one side and a number of cool looking restaurants on the other.

Back to the restaurant. They do a new menu each night. So they include any specials as they create the menu. We took one of these menus home since it was so cool. Todd - expect a copy in email:) They are known for making their own salami and pasta daily. So rather than go with two full meals, we went with a salami starter, we shared a "Polentina with Green Garlic and Parmesan" soup, "Ravioli of Graised cavolo nero, ricotta and Pine Nuts" as our pasta and "Charcoal-Grilled Sierra Mackerel with Sweet Potato Puree and Old balsamico" as the main course. This was all very good - although a bit on the unhealthy side ...:)

We then went to the concert. The opening act was Dana Glover. She plays the piano and sings. You might know her from the theme song from the first Shrek movie - It is you (I have loved). She has a nice raspy voice and was kind of funny in her comments between songs.

Then it was on to Chris. He is really really good. I am not a big instrumental fan, and the trumpet is not one of my favorite instruments, but he is impressive. He mixed it up nicely, had a guest singer who joined him for a few songs, brought you back to his time with Sting and his first professional gig with Frank Sinatra.

As you can tell, we had a great time!

My Day Job

I tend to talk a lot about family and other things outside of work. I don't talk all that much about what I do day in and day out. I don't really want to do that here either:) But here are just a few snippets that might give you a flavor.

I am responsible for a set of products at Sun that we broadly call the Java Composite Application Platform Sute. A suite of development tools and products that allow companies to compose new solutions from their existing IT infrastructure to quickly provide new value.

Some of the common names for this are application to application (A2A), Enterprise Application Integration (EAI), Business to Business (B2B), and now Enterprise Service Bus (ESB) and Service Oriented Architecture (SOA).

We are developing the next generation of these products in open source. The open source effort is called OpenESB. This is the creation of a community that aids in the development of these products. The larger Sun strategy is to open source everything that we create in order to gain the largest possible adoption which will result in a larger customer base and ultimately more revenue!

It is a very fun time to be in this space. The adoption of SOA is growing at an amazing rate. It is no longer a question of if a company is going to use SOA for their architecture, but rather when and how fast.

We were recently positioned in the leadership category by Forrester, an analyst in this space. Here is the press release and full report if you are interested. We are seeing great momentum with our customers and through significant growth in sales and our sales pipeline.

We are growing our partnerships around these great products. The best recent example is an HUGE announcement that we made with Accenture that focused on Java CAPS and our Identity Management solution.

There is an excellent newsletter for customers that we have created called Sun Integration Insights Program. You can sign up for it here. There is also a sample that you can look at.

And lastly ... The company that we acquired that provided us with the core of Java CAPS was called SeeBeyond. Interestingly, wikipedia has an entry for them that talks about the acquisition.

They are located in Monrovia, CA. This is close to Pasadena.

The picture is my home away from home, the Ritz Carlton (only $135 corporate rate:)).

Five minute update

I don't think that I will have time to do a nice update today, so here is a five minute one. Just the things that are top of mind.

• Is it winter or spring. Looking at the weather for next week, rain (or snow in the mountains) almost every day. Perfect - just when I am taking a week off. Oh well, I will find a way to get outside anyway and there are lots of things that we can do inside as well!
• Like playing the Wii. I think I have to buy a game for it. I have been using the game that we rented for Nick. Call of Duty 3. Pretty cool. Even a non gamer like me can play it. The best part is that you don't die easily. Or rather you can almost die multiple times, but as long as you hide for a bit and recover, you are back to full strength:)
• Work is busy and fun right now. Lots of customer issues that we are working. Shipping new releases of our products. Having HARD conversations about strategy. All things that make you think and can / will have a big impact on our success.
• Last night was "Sophomore Guidance Night" for Lynbrook. The whole discussion was around getting ready for college, what classes they should take, when to take the SAT, and so on. Hard to believe that Anthony is 42.6% done with high school.
• The kids are all school and soccer right now.
• Julie is all over the web and new technology.

Life is good!

Is this all part of my midlife crisis?

I got this magnet for Christmas from Santa (in my stocking I believe). It is attached to my file cabinet in my office. It is awesome - exactly how I feel!!

I was looking at it today and thoughts of my a few things that are happening.

I bought a new car. Not just a new car, but a two seater Nissan 350Z. Not exactly your family car.

We are booked to meet up with my Phi Psi brothers in April for an All Gaucho Reunion. This should be really fun to hang out with my bothers and their KIDS.

I plan to soon start up a non-profit. More on this in a few months ...

And I just ordered another magnet. This one is as good as the last one - in some ways better!

Is this all a part of that thing they call a midlife crisis?

What a performer

This may be another one of those - I am a bit behind. But just had a link to this sent to me and had to post. This is Jerome Murat. What an amazing performer.

Nick's Birthday

It ain't over yet - but things are winding down. They are all in their sleeping bags, so I can write up a quick blog entry ...


Today was Nick's birthday party. He and his friends started off pretty early. Here was the agenda (including the rest of the night and tomorrow).

1. Meet at 10:30 at our house
   
2. Head to Chipotle for an early lunch
   
3. Then to Sky High Sports for some trampoline play (right after lunch:))
4. Back home
5. Open gifts
6. Watch the Chronicles of Riddick
   
7. Sing happy birthday and eat ice cream cake
8. Go for a spa and swim (wow is that water cold!)
9. Eat pizza
10. Play video games, whatever ...
11. Watch another movie - Robinson Crusoe
12. Play some more
13. Go to bed (~midnight)
14. Aebleskivers for breakfast
15. And play some more
16. Everyone heads home (10-11am)

They had a good time. They sure look tired but happy. I expect that they will be up before I get up tomorrow (or later today).

Overall, a pretty good party!

Global Warming - just a little behind ...

I know that this post will seem about a year behind the times. I try to stay up with things, but finally got around to renting "An Inconvenient Truth" and had to write about it.

This was really good. I am not one to believe what I hear. But even if you are like me - there is a lot of truth in what is presented. The pictures that he showed that compared past and present really drove home how important this topic of global warming is. Below is one of these pictures - of Mt. Kilimanjaro 30 years ago and today.


There is one quote that Al used in the movie that I really liked.

What gets us into trouble
is not what we don't know
It's what we know for sure
that just ain't so

Mark Twain

So if you are like me and have not seen this. Rent it. It is definitely worth the time.

League Wrestling Tournament

Spent the afternoon at Anthony's JV league wrestling tournament. This is a tournament with 14 schools - most of which are a bit thin in the number of wrestlers that they have.

Lynbrook took maybe 12 wrestlers, so we were pretty well represented. And in the end, we ended up with a couple seconds and a few other top 6 finishes.

Anthony had a tough draw. The tournament is seeded, meaning the best wrestlers are paired up with the worst wrestlers through the brackets in hops that the top two in each weight category will end up wrestling for the championship.

Anthony worked REALLY hard in his two matches, the first losing by points and the second by pin late in the third round. I am pretty impressed with the ability of these kids. They are all in good shape and most have been wrestling for a number of years.


Above is a picture of him wrestling in his second match. This was taken with my phone, sorry for the low quality.

Sharing the blogging experience ...

Today is a new day. I have now helped Julie to begin blogging ...

We are sharing the experience. She is sitting at one computer and I am at the other. I helped her create her blog called Julie's Art Journal at blogger.com. First it was an iPod and podcasts. Then it was the world of art online, with websites, blogs and podcasts. Now her very own. What next ...

Well - we will be creating a website for her art. And who knows what will come after that!

Superbowl ... advertisements

So ... what did you think of the Superbowl today?! I was hoping the Bears would win. But Payton Manning had his day, even with the weather and the Bears supposed better defense.

But the real question is - what did you think of the advertisements. This is the most expensive 30 second slots of any tv show. As a result, they should be the best of the best. Here are my top 10. If you happened to miss them, check out the link below.

10. Coke: Black History - perfect for a game with two black head coaches
9. Snickers: Mechanic - sharing a snickers ... and a kiss
8. GoDaddy.com: Marketing - hot chicks
7. Revlon: Sheryl Crow - just because it is Sheryl Crow
6. Bud Light: Faceoff - rock paper scissors, rock wins!
5.T-Mobile: My Favs - fitting for Charles B
4. Blockbuster: Mouse - using a mouse to go online for movies, a real mouse
3. GM: Robots - just awesome, machine w/feelings
2. Bud Light: Hitchhiker - you know he picked up the chainsaw guy too

1. Sprint: Broadband - connectile disfunction

Oh - and the worst, Van Heusen. Why did they spend the money???

http://sports.aol.com/nfl/superbowlads

Wii vs PS3 (and Xbox)

During Christmas break - Nick and I drove somewhere together and had a long and in depth conversation about the future of home entertainment and gaming. The impetus for this was whether to buy a PS3 of a Wii.

To make a long story short. We decided that the company that has the best chance to win in the home entertainment system market is Microsoft with the Xbox. They are not there now, but are on their way. They have added movie downloads. They have a good gaming experience. And so on. But what did we end up buying - the Wii (Nick bought it himself).

It came down to the most fun game system. EVERYONE enjoys playing Wii Sports. We haven't even purchased another game yet. Likely Nick will get one for his birthday. But at this point all we have done is created players and played the different sports.

And we are not alone. Wii is kicking butt. I suspect that all of this will change in a few years as home entertainment systems mature. The buying decision then will be based on a broader set of criteria, but for now - the fun won over the most intense graphics and gaming systems.

The rest of the charity selections

Following my last blog entry, here is what everyone else has decided to donate to.

Nick selected Care. He wants to make sure that everyone has food, shelter, medicine and so on. He struggled as to whether to give some of his money to St. Jude Hospital.

Anthony picked Accion. This is a nonprofit that establishes a pool of funds to give out as micro-loans. He thinks that this will have the longest lasting impact as the money will be used over and over.

Julie picked Innvision for half of her donation. She picked the Arts Council of Silicon Valley. This is to insure that arts are not left out as funding becomes more and more restricted. She also decided to volunteer at two others:)

Papa picked Christian Brothers. He remembers how they made a difference as he grew up - impacting in some way many aspects of his life and creating a lasting impression. His first interaction was at Mullen High School, started by the Christian Brothers.

Mom decided on Sun City Foundation (seniors helping seniors). This is the nonprofit within the Sun City community where she and Papa live. They can see how this helps those who need help.
And as I described my last blog entry, I picked a bunch of places:)

This really turned out to be great. It is nice to hear how many ways we can help others. And it is awesome to hear the different perspectives!

My Charity Thoughts ...

We have decided to do a family project this year around our charitable giving.

We are allocating the some money to our family as well as Mom and Curt (since we are all together for Christmas) to give to their favorite charity. The goal is to broaden our perspective on charitable giving and to learn something about everyone at the same time!

There are only two only catches. One is that it has to be a nonprofit so that I can go back to Sun and take advantage of the matching program which results in giving TWICE as much to the charities that we select. And second that everyone needs to present (with visuals:)) their choice(s) and the reasons behind them. We will do this- at or after Dinner on Christmas eve.

So before jumping into he nonprofits that I have selected, here is the thinking that drives my choices.

• I am most concerned about the children and their ability to function successfully in the future
• I am concerned about the environment and insuring that it exists in roughly its current form to be enjoyed into the future
• And I want to insure that children and adults have enough food and shelter

The companies that I have selected are:

Junior Achievement

We are the passionate people behind a movement that seeks to educate and inspire young people to value free enterprise, business, and economics to improve the quality of their lives. Located in beautiful Colorado Springs, the JA Worldwide headquarters provides support for JA operations throughout the U.S., and in nearly 100 countries around the world that carry out the mission.

Altogether, Junior Achievement reaches approximately 7 million students worldwide. Through age-appropriate curricula, Junior Achievement programs begin at the elementary school level, teaching children how they can impact the world around them as individuals, workers and consumers. Junior Achievement programs continue through the middle and high school grades, preparing students for future economic and workforce issues they'll face.

We do all this with the help of our volunteers. Volunteers who so care about our youth they take time out of their day to make a difference. How do we know this? We have external evaluators measure the impact of our programs.

Boys and Girls Club (of Santa Clara County)

In every community, boys and girls are left to find their own recreation and companionship in the streets. An increasing number of children are at home with no adult care or supervision. Young people need to know that someone cares about them.

Boys & Girls Clubs offer that and more. Club programs and services promote and enhance the development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of competence, usefulness, belonging and influence.

Boys & Girls Clubs are a safe place to learn and grow – all while having fun. They are truly The Positive Place For Kids.

Peninsula Open Space Trust

The mission of the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST) is to give permanent protection to the beauty, character and diversity of the San Francisco Peninsula landscape for people here now and for future generations. We encourage the use of these lands for natural resource protection, wildlife habitat, low-intensity public recreation and agriculture.
Since our founding in 1977, POST has helped to give permanent protection to nearly 55,000 acres of land in San Mateo and Santa Clara counties — an area one and a half times the size of San Francisco and 12 times the size of Yosemite Valley.

Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties

A private non-profit organization that collects and distributes more than 30 million pounds of food each year to low-income children, adults and seniors. The Food Bank currently serves an average of 162,000 individuals each month; nearly 60% are families with dependent children. OuMission Providingng food for people in need in our community.

So there it is ... my choices. It will be fun to talk this through with everyone and see what they have come up with.

Heading to Europe and India

Just finalized my itinerary for my trip next week to Europe and India. Sounds like it will be a lot of fun, and not just a bit tiring:)

• Sunday depart SFO to London Heathrow at 6pm
  
• Monday arrive 1pm
• To Hotel to shower
• Meet my folks at the office at 3pm
• Pub and dinner that evening
• Tuesday visit customers Telewest and Harrods (maybe some Christmas shopping???)
  
• Night fly to Amstedam, taxi to hotel
  
• Wednesday visit customers Schiphol and ING
• Night flight to Paris, taxi to hotel
  
• Thursday visit with partner Cap Gemini and customer SNCF
• Night flight to Munich
• Friday visit customers BMW (and pick up a new M5!) and Daimier Chrysler Financial
• Saturday morning train to Frankfurt
• Saturday flight to Bangalore at noon
  
• Sunday arrive 1am
• Sunday OPEN (maybe catch up on some sleep!)
  
• Monday visit partners Accenture, PWC and WiPro
  
• Tuesday day in the Sun office with my team
  
• Tuesday LATE / Wednesday early flight to Franfurt / SFO
• Wednesday arrive SFO noon

I will definitely be making the most of the time that I have. There are some great customers on this list, and some good partners. I will be with the local sales folks in each country. Good chance to meet them, fill them in on what we are doing back at "corporate" and hopefully help them to do more business!

Twas the night before Thanksgiving

I am really looking forward to a long weekend!

• Going to PG for a few days. Home away from home. Wish we could get there more!!!
  

• Hanging out with the family (April and Katy will be there!). Haven't seen them in a while - should be fun.
  

• Eating a BUNCH of Turkey! We all have things we like. For me it is Turkey, green beans and stuffing!
  

• Going to see a movie - maybe Casino Royale ?!?! The new 007 - actually the first in the series, not able to make it until now.
  

• Christmas shopping ... check out the black friday deals. Ok - will be busy but there is only sooo much time and why not ...
  

• Getting some exercise - mountain biking, running, hiking, ... :) Got to have it!
  

• Watching some football (will have to find a place - no TV:)) Also got to have it!
  

• Decorating for Christmas ... The plan for Sunday. Tree, lights, decorations, music, the whole thing.
  

Hope all of you have a great Thanksgiving!

Kids Sports Weekend

It was the total kids sports weekend.

Nick played in a soccer tournament in Burlingame - about a half hour from our house. It started Saturday morning at 8am (meaning we had to get there at 7:15, so leave the house at 6:45, so get up at 6:00!).

They were playing a CYSA Class 1 tournament with mostly A teams. His team is a B team, so this was stiff competition. They lost the first game 4-2. We then played at 11:30 and won the second 4-0. To make a long story short, this gave us the most points for a second place team in the pool play.

So on Sunday we played again at 8am - this time one of the two top teams from pool play. We shut them out 3-0. So we had a game at 2:30 for the championship. Needless to say, we lost that game 5-1, but as a result ended up in second place for the tournament. Awesome for playing with mostly A teams!

The rest of the weekend was the CEEF Gala fund raiser for our schools and preparing for Anthony's end of year football party. I put together a highlights movie with pictures and video from all of the games. This took longer than expected, but was a highlight of the party.

During the party Anthony got two awards. He was again a scholar athlete (two this year on the team) and made all league as a fullback. You can guess which he was most proud of! It was the all league, but he now has a goal of four years of scholar athlete:)

Didn't get much else done - but a good weekend for kids sports!

Sun Open Source Java Technology

Ok - I usually don't put technical stuff in this blog. But thought that I would this time. But before I do, the ups and downs of last weekend ...

• Anthony played his last game Thursday night (kind of a weekend). They lost, but they scored three toughdowns! I thought that Anthony was going to get one. He rumbled for about fifteen yards on one run but didn't get into the end zone. Played full back the whole game (often times in a single back set), played nose guard (I resemble that ...), played defensive end and of course did the long snaps. Good year.
• Nick played soccer on Saturday. We had to go all the way to Salinas. It takes 5 hours door to door for a game that is two 40 minute halfs. Long time. Bummer is that they lost. The other team showed up 5 minutes AFTER the game was suppose to start, didn't warm up and went ahead by three goals in the first half. We came back and tied it up. They scored. We had shots, even bounced one off the head of one of the defenders just in front of the goal as the goalie was out of the play after diving for an earlier ball - but couldn't get it through:(
• We went to Ian's a 50th birthday party on Saturday night. Good time. Stayed with Craig and Dina over night. Kids went and stayed with Chris and Brandon. All had fun!
• Nick played another game on Sunday. Close to home. Playing the second best team and tied two all. They were happy with this result - they just keep getting better.
• Jeff and I went for a nice bike ride. Couple of hours. Still feeling it in my legs:)

Now back to open sourcing. This means making the source code available to anyone that wants to use it. The goal is to get more people using our stuff and innovating. We believe that if we do this, everyone including us will be better off. And we will build strong relationships with developers and customers. Working so far, this was just another big step on our way to returning profitable!

Ten Years Ago - This Week

There has been a bunch of email going around at work amongst the rmtc96 folks. That is - the folks at Sun who worked at the Rocky Mountain Technology Center (RMTC) at the time that it was closed by Sun in 1996. This is because it is the 10 year anniversary of the closure of the site. The announcement was made just before Halloween.

These emails have brought back a flood of memories.

• I remember when I first saw Eric Corwin in the halls of one of Sun's buildings in California. He was my bosses boss at the time I came to Sun from Amdahl, and at the time was the site director of RMTC. Julie and I had just talked about maybe moving in order to get into a nicer neighborhood and house, and into a nice place to raise our kids. I mentioned my interest and in a matter of what seemed like days, we were visiting Colorado Springs ...
• I remember that first visit. I thought that I was going to be interviewed for the job, but Eric had lined up a number of folks and asked me to start interviewing them. Guess I had the job. The site was only 17 people at the time. With me and my group, it would be 21.
• I remember the first person that I interviewed. It was Brian Smithey. Actually, I talked to his wife first. I think Brian was not home so Mary and I talked. Found out that this is the best way to hire someone ... get in good with their spouse:)
• I remember beer busts. This was a Sun tradition, and we did a good job of carrying on that tradition at RMTC.
• I remember caber tossing. That is, the dumb guy activity of trying to flip a small telephone pole (we started out small and gradually got bigger). I remember seeing divots in the grass from the second floor of our building.
• I remember time with friends hanging outside playing bocci in the forest, or tossing big rocks, and of course drinking beer.
• I remember some of the nicest, smartest, most creative folks that I have ever worked with. And I remember working on some pretty cool stuff.
• I remember Anthony and his friends playing in the yard. I remember Nick being born - while I was out of town:( And the two of them growing up a lot during the five years that we were there.
• I remember Julie building up great friendships with other moms who stayed home. And I remember how hard the first few weeks were when she was trying to find a way to make connections - that didn't take long, just a trip to the library (inside joke).
• I remember hikes, bike rides, running on trails and lightening! Actually the first real mountain bike that I ever owned.
• I remember Eric having heart trouble and taking some time off. I remember filling his role. I remember way way too much travel. I remember the site closure and how hard that was. And I remember having to leave such a great place.

Things all worked out in the end. I love California more than ever. I ended up with a great job at Sun and have stayed far longer than I would have guessed. Julie made a bunch more friends. The kids are doing great.

Great memories.

The new school year, and other things ...

Seems that I have not updated the blog for a while. So here is what is happening with us.

It is a new school year. Your first thought was Nick and Anthony, what grade are they in, what are they taking, etc. Well, don't forget about Julie. Yea, she is taking a pretty full load on her way to an art degree. She has two day time classes and a web class as well.

Anthony is a sophomore in high school. He has a full load with one honors and one AP (advanced placement) class. All of this while playing football. Kind of a nut. Way too much homework! But liking it a lot - especially the football part where he is playing middle linebacker and fullback.

And Nick is in seventh grade, his second year at middle school. As a sixth grader, they were in their own area at the middle school and didn't interact all that much with the rest of the kids. This year they are right in the middle of everything. He likes it. He decided not to run cross country this year as he is playing year round soccer, but will wrestle during that season as well.

It feels strange being the only one not in school. Ok, not really. I have no desire to go back to school:) I am doing pretty much the same thing that I was last year. All good stuff ...

Doctors ...

After my recent doctors visits - had to write a blog entry. There is definitely some good and some bad in here. Seems representative of our medical system / industry.

• Scheduling a visit - from Europe
• Bit of a challenge as we were in Europe. Wanted to go see a specialist. Of course they want you to see your general practitioner. I have had enough experience with my back to know that I needed to see someone else:)
• I called the doctor who did my back surgery. He was going on sabbatical, so did end up with the doctor who had seen my shoulder.
• Had to be a bit adamant to get them to schedule a time. Then of course they had an opening while we were still in Europe, but nothing soon after we got back.
• Had to call regularly to get a cancellation:)
• Had my appointment and we decided that I needed an MRI.
  
• Scheduling this is hard as well. They gave me an appointment two weeks out, to work around some travel.
• I got my name on the list for cancellations.
• Good thing is that they called me every time someone cancelled. Bad thing is that even though I told them when I would be back from my travels, they called me anyway.
• Did get an appointment for the day I returned:)
• The MRI appointment was good
• Only thing was that I needed them to evaluate the MRI ASAP as I was meeting with my doctor again the next day.
• They did this:)
• Second doctors appointment
• He recommended that I go have an epidural cortisone injection.
• Scheduled the appointment for the cortisone shot
• Two choices - with the experienced doctor (10,000 plus shots) or the inexperienced doctor (not clear how many shots, two years of experience).
• Appointment was either a week away or a couple of days away.
• Turns out after talking to folks who schedule a couple of times - each doctor has a day when they do the shot, so the difference in appointment dates was pretty irrelevant.
• Went with the experienced doctor!
• Meeting with the experienced doctor
• Did an exam, discussed the process, asked all of our questions, sounded like the right thing was to have the shot.
• Went back to his office to look at a model and to schedule the shot. Thought that we would also look together at the MRI. Found out that he hadn't even seen it. And found out that I couldn't' get the shot at the next slot three days away because I had taken Ibprofen (blood thinner).
  
• Discussed why he had not seen it (power problems, shortage of people, etc). Pretty annoying. Agreed to meet again to review. And that I would go pick up the MRI MYSELF and bring it to the next appointment.
  
• Also annoying that no-one told me I should avoid Ibprofen within three days of the shot or they would have to pick a later date ...
• Went to pick up the MRI
• Very nice folks helped me to determine that it made it to my doctor (not the guy who gives the shot).
• My doctor is in the SAME BUILDING as the other doctor - all they had to do is bring it over.
• We met again to review the MRI
• He showed me the L4/5 where the bulge / herniation is. On the left side of the MRI film.
• I asked to see the other film that showed the scar tissue (they did one with die that was so that the doctors could see what is new and what was a result of the surgery).
• He put this up and showed me the scar tissue on the right side of L4/5.
• I asked why it was on the right on that film and on the left in the other film.
• He said that is because the films are flipped. What looks like it is on the left is actually on the right. What is on the right is actually on the left. My surgery was to take care of a problem effecting my left side and the new problem is effecting my right side.
• Wellllll - the problem is again on my left side. When I said this - he went to his computer to review the notes (like I was confused as to what side the problem was on).
• He then said - see on the other side there is a bulge, that is what is causing the problem and that is where we would do the shot. Like it was no big deal that he completely missed it!
• Things seem to be healing up, so I cancelled the shot
• He had said that it was 90-95% likely that my back would heal itself. The shot would make this happen faster as it would put cortisone directly on the problem and help reduce the inflammation more quickly.
• But it seems to be doing pretty well itself. The pain is gone (almost completely). The numbness is going away. And the muscle strength is coming back!

So there are some positives in here. You can get appointments pretty quickly. And if you know the right folks, you get a lot of help. Most people are really nice. But it is clear that the doctors are pretty overloaded and don't really take to be thorough. So you have to take some of that responsibility on yourself.

Our Europe Vacation!

We just got back from our two week trip to Rome and Paris. What a great trip. So much to talk about so decided to narrow it down to the highlights and lowlights ...

Top Ten Highlights

1. Colosseum and Forum
Just soooo much history, hard to believe when this all was built, what it was like to live there, what it actually looked like, how advanced they were, and so on. Got to hear from Anthony and Nick just how much they know about the history. Amazing, way way ahead of Julie and me!


2. World Cup Football (Soccer)
The team in the country where we were just kept winning! We went to dinner at a restaurant in Rome with a HUGE TV, looked kind of like dorks with matching Italy shirts, and had a great time. Listened to the fans cheer while at dinner with friends and then took the metro back with some really rowdy fans in Paris (a bit scary). And saw the penalty kicks in the final while in the Chicago airport on our way home with HUNDREDS of travelers!


3. Two weeks with family and off work
Don't have to say much here. Just like to hand out with the family, bond, etc. Great to take a break from work. Very very few interruptions due to the great team that I have.


4. Vatican City - St Peter's Basilica
   
You just have to go there to see this. It is the center of the Catholic Church. It is impressive, especially St. Peter's Basilica - just HUGE. By the way, Sun powers the Vatican web site.


5. Ostia Antica
This is a small city outside of Rome. There are some amazing ruins that you can wonder around and see. Great place to run around, imagine what it was like, etc. We had a great time here!


6. Dinner w/Friends (Corrado and Martine)

We got a chance to meet up with a couple of friends from Sun while traveling. Corrado runs sales in Italy and Martine is field marketing across Europe. It was fun to talk to them, hear their thoughts on what we should see, etc.


7. Luxembourg Park and Scott Takahasi
On the last day of our trip, we went to Luxembourg Park to see Scott Takahashi (a neighbor same age as Anthony) play with a band from Santa Clara. The park there is absolutely amazing. It is huge, beautiful and the weather was great. We listened to a concert under a beautiful treed area with lots of Parisians. Scott is very good and did a number of solos. All together a great show.


8. Cafe's, Beers, Croque sandwiches
It was fun to eat at a bunch of different places, especially cafe's where you are out on the sidewalk having a beer ... The food was good. And in most cases the help was good as well (there were times - especially in France ...).


9. Apartments (rather than hotels)
It was nice to have an apartment rather than a hotel. It gave us a bit more space. The kids had their own beds. And we could have a few meals at the apartment rather than going out.


10. Giverny (Julie's Favorite!!)
This was actually pretty cool. We took a train to Vernon and a cab one way, bus the other to Giverny. It is a really quaint town, lots of flowers and nice buildings. And the gardens are really nice. Julie would like to go there and do some painting in the future ...

Bottom Three Lowlights

• Back / Sciatica
A couple of days into the trip I had a sciatica problem. I had (have) muscles weakness in my left leg, numbness down my shin and a pain. With some work, we found a doctor that spoke English and got medication. This allowed me to do most things - other than sleep:)


• Lack of Air Condition in Rome
The apartment in Rome was nice and had a stand alone air conditioning unit, but it was almost useless and the weather was really warm!


• Pompidou
Ok - so I am not much of a modern art fan, but this was really bad. Cool building, so go see it from the outside. Nothing worth seeing on the inside. I think the definition of an artist of modern art at the Pompidou is someone who has no artistic talent!

That's about it.

Soccer, football and summer ...

Quick update on our Soccer lives ...

Anthony is playing CYSA on the same team that he has been playing on since middle school. The team is doing well. They are winning most of their games. They tied today and if they win tomorrow they go on to play in the tournament. Anthony is doing well - mostly playing sweeper. He is learning to use his size and effort to make up for his lack of speed. And his skills are getting there ...

Nick just finished his season. His team was going through some changes, merging with another team. So at the suggestion of his trainer, he tried out and made a class 1 team. He will go from being at the top of his class 3 team (there is no class 2) to the lower of his new team. They are more skilled, but the coaches think that his desire and speed will allow him to play at this level while his skills develop.

Football for Anthony has ended for the school year. He trained a few days a week since the season ended and just finished a couple of weeks spring ball. He will be back at it in a week or so (once school ends). This will go the whole summer until a couple of weeks before school starts, when they will start practice for real. Anthony can't wait!

And summer is just about here ... I can see that it will go quickly. We will try to fit a lot in:

• Our big vacation to Rome and Paris
• Nick's summer theater conservatory
• A short houseboat trip
• Some time in PG (I hope)

And some pool time:)

Catching Up ...

Seems that I am on a monthly update pace ...

The last month has flown by. We are almost at the end of the school year. Nick has finished soccer for the season. Anthony has a couple more games. And other than today (and tomorrow???), we are having weather that finally feels like summer.

I have been on a fairly hectic pace, but not what I was on a couple of months ago. Last week was JavaOne (the largest developer conference in the world - with roughly 15,000 geeks in attendance) and Horizons (the customer conference originally held by SeeBeyond, the company that we acquired, and continued by Sun). I spent most of my time at Horizons talking to our customers and doing about 45 minutes of the keynote:)

The real highlight was having Anthony come to visit on Thursday after school. He took a cab from home to the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Here is a quick run down of what we did before I drove him home ...

• Spent a couple of hours touring the exhibits looking at all of the cool products and talking to folks doing the demonstrations. Quite an eye opening experience.
• Attended the evening keynote where Motorola presented the future of mobile. The best part was when Anthony leande over and said - "I could do this for a job."
• Chatted with a number of Sun employees that we say as we wondered around.
• Attended the JavaOne bash. This is the big party that they have where there are some very cool entertainment. We saw the guys from Myth Busters. And Anthony played one of the best online gamers of all time (didn't get his name). Where he got OWNED:)
• Went to dinner with some of our customers. We went to One Market where we ate with a few of my team as well as some customer.

Other than that, I have been doing my normal trips back and forth to Monrovia to visit my team. I took on some additional responsibility for our Portal product. And I did a big organizational change to complete the integration of the acquired SeeBeyond engineering team with the one that existed at Sun.

And what about workouts ... you ask. Well, not doing too well, but getting some in. More like every other day than every day. But did manage to exercise at a place called Club One in San Francisco and feel like I got my money's worth.

So back to the office on Monday. Looking forward already to Memorial Day Weekend and three days in PG!

Back from another trip ...

I just returned yesterday from another trip. This one to Hyderabad India. If I am counting right, this was my 7th trip to India. Never my favorite place, but I am getting pretty use to it!

Some interesting tidbits from this trip.

• It takes nearly 24 hours to get there and get home. I fly San Francisco to Frankfurt to Hyderabad on Lufthansa.
  
• The flights take significantly longer coming home as compared to going there. The San Francisco - Frankfurt leg is 10:35 going and 11:10 returning. The Frankfurt - Hyderabad leg is 8:45 and 9:45.
• There is now wireless internet on the flight to and from Frankfurt and Hyderabad.
• Hotels in India are really expensive. I paid $170 this time. Last time in Bangalore it was just over $200.
• The weather is already pretty hot in Hyderabad. It was close to 100 degrees for the four days I was there. It will get hotter in the next couple of months! Bangalore is 5-10 degrees cooler.
• They are building what the call Hi Tech City in Hyderabad. It is pretty amazing. The buildings are REALLY impressive. And all of the big names are there.
• We just put up a very cool sign on top of our building. This was possible as we just completed the renaming of the legal entity there from STC Hyderabad Limited (when it was SeeBeyond) to Sun Microsystems Hyderabad Limited India.
• The salaries are increasing pretty quickly for engineers. We pay 1/3 to 1/4 of what we pay in the US. But the pay is still amazingly low for what they would call the office staff. They make somewhere around $150 / month.

Glad to be home. No long trips planned in the near future. I will spend a couple of days in Monrovia next week and am expecting to get to Japan over the next couple of months but that is not yet scheduled. And my next trip to India is likely 5-6 months away:)

Bikes, Runs, and Swims?

Fitting workouts in with everything else is just plain hard.

Work, travel (with work), kids, household responsibilities all just get in the way. I know that everyone goes through this. But here is how I stay motivated ...

• Switch things up
• New activities - if you road bike, then mountain bike. If you run, then hike. Do aerobics. Do spin classes.
  
• Old activities differently - if you run , take a different path. If you mountain bike, try a technical climb. Go rock climbing.
  
• Distract yourself - wear a MP3 player. Think about your next career, how to help your kids, dream about a vacation.
  
• Go on a vacation
• We just got back from Arizona. I went on five hikes, ran five times and mountain biked twice. It was all soooo different. I came back totally recharged:)
  
• Set a goal
• Do a triathlon - always a good one to get you working.
  
• Shoot for a certain number of days or hours working out.
  
• Get energy from others
• When you find someone that is doing more, try to determine how they do it. Get positive energy from them:)
• Look at the people that you don't want to emulate and use this to generate positive energy!
  
• Make it fun
• Go with friends.
• Pretend that you are racing someone (and beating them of course).
• Run some stairs - backwards.
• Just find some way to make it less bland!
  
• Set yourself up to succeed
• Rather than plan to do five workouts and plan all five of them, set a goal of four workouts and schedule five. This way if you miss one you still succeed. And if you get them all in, you over achieved.
  

Let me know what you do and use these if they are helpful!

Not what I would call a European Vacation!!

Last week was my European trip. I would not call this a vacation, but it turned out to be GREAT. It has taken me the whole week to recover (including 4 days in Monrovia - it is nice to be home).

We started off the trip with a flight to Milan via Frankfurt. We left on Sunday afternoon and arrived in Milan at 2pm Monday. This was just in time to get to the hotel (45 minutes), take a quick shower, take about a 45 minute nap, and head into the offices in the Domo area (30 minutes) so that I could meet with two reporters for local technical periodicals. Not sure what they got out of the meeting - guess we will see when they write their articles. Then it was out to dinner with the folks there in Italy along with the rest of the group that was doing the European roadshow. We got back to the hotel at about 11:00pm.

Up the next morning for breakfast at 7:30 and to the Sun offices for our first day of the roadshow. This was the smallest group. There were about 30 customers. We did our presentations and met with customers during the breaks and at lunch. Then it was off to the airport for our flight to Amsterdam. We arrived in Amsterdam at about 11:00pm and after a nearly hour long cab ride we arrived at our hotel in Amersfoort. After a short call home - got to bed at about 1:00am.

Next morning up again at the same time and off to the offices. The day went similarly with the exception of more people (more like 65) and a much more interactive audience (better English speakers). There were three reporters there. I managed to spend time with each of them together and separately. Then back to the airport and off to Paris. We arrived in Paris at about 9:30 and drove to the hotel. It was a very cool drive as we headed down Champs Elysees straight toward the Arc de Triomphe. This was the most sightseeing we did the whole trip:) We got to the roundabout around the Arc de Triomphe and headed off to our hotel. We got there about 10:00, met downstairs for a drink at 10:30 and headed up to our rooms at about 11:30.

Next morning the same thing, only this time I had a customer meeting at 8:00am. Then it was the regular presentations and finally off to a customer site - Carefoure, the equivalent of the Walmart of Europe. Great meetings with the customers. Things went well enough that we almost missed our train to Brussles. The drive was just over an hour from the customer meeting. There was soooo much traffic that we finally got out of the car and ran down the streets to the train station. We ran to the train, got on the closest car (they didn't want us to since it was not our car), and two minutes later the doors closed and we were off. We had to huck our bags through the whole train to our car in the front. We arrived in Brussels at about:00, headed down for a drink and got to bed at around 11:30.

Next day the same, but with a bigger crowd (about 80 - forgot to mention that this was also the case in Paris). We did the same, fitting in three customer meetings and then off to the airport again. This time it was back to Frankfurt where I stayed over night and took a plane out the next morning.

So that was it - pretty busy. Great customer interactions. Tired but pumped up. No chance to get a workout in (except in Frankfurt on the way home - very nice gym). My body can't handle this on a weekly basis, but I would do it again in a minute - next year. In the meantime, we will be doing a US roadshow and then one in Japan / Asia. Not sure which I will do. And I will need to take a trip to India likely in April.

Good news is that with all of these miles, we have just booked a vacation to Europe ...

Where did January go?!?!

It is already January 26th - where did the month go?

This has been a busy month. Work, customer meetings, a trip to Austin, a trip to Monrovia, bike rides, runs, and so on. And I am about to head into an even busier one!

I will be taking a trip to Europe. I leave Sunday and return on Saturday. I will spend roughly a day in Milan, Paris, Brussels, and Amsterdam. Add in travel time and that doesn't leave a lot of time for sight seeing:)

Then the better part of a week in Monrovia, a week in the bay area, and then off on vacation to Phoenix.

That means March is right around the corner:)

Back from the holidays

Just back from the holidays and found a couple of noteworthy topics to write about.

The first one is Hawaii. We spent a week there before Christmas - returning on Christmas Eve! I was thinking about how different the lifestyle was there as compared to home. Lots of small things.

Reading the paper

I read the local paper. There were some pretty interesting articles such as the one about a swimmer that was attacked by a shark. I normally read the sports and business sections. But there just isn't all that much interesting there, so read other sections. What I did read had a direct impact on how I swam in the ocean. Didn't go out as far:)

Workouts

I normally workout at the Sun exercise room doing the stationary bike, treadmill or elliptical trainer. In Hawaii I ran along the ocean path, swam in the ocean, played football catch, played paddle ball, snorkeled and went for long walks.

Phone calls

Oh yea, didn't really do any of these other than when I got a call that our pool was overflowing and the people watching our house wanted to know how to let some water out:)

Internet

Nope, didn't do that at all. There was a couple of internet cafes but didn't bother.

So there is a lot of truth to the way technology is changing our lives. But once you are in a place like Hawaii, it is really easy to let go. We did make a couple of calls to get dinner reservations, and we did book the trip online well before. And we did get notified that our plane was on time with a message to Julie's phone. Might just take some time to really integrate into the Hawaiian lifestyle.

Twas the Night Before Hawaii

And all through the house not a child HAD ANY CLUE where we are heading tomorrow:)

I am really looking forward to the next couple of weeks. Tomorrow we are off to Hawaii for a week. When we return on Christmas eve, Mom and Curt will be here. We will have Christmas and a couple of days later Todd and Chris and the kids will be here. And then at the end of the break, Dad and Darlene will be here (still not exactly sure who will be here when, but I am sure that Julie knows).

It is even better given how much prep there is both at home and work getting ready ... Today I flew down to Monrovia and back this evening. My second trip this week. Today was primarily because there was a Holiday Potluck. Since lots of the folks there work for me - I wanted to be there. We of course did work as well. Now my guys will take it from here over the next week. I did manage to close hiring of a guy in India. Got an announcement out for a guy that is moving to the US from the UK to run a part of my organization. And got my product management team working to prepare for my next trip.

And I caught up with two of my friends to schedule some things when we return from Hawaii.

Not bad!

Boys and Girls Club - Your Legacy

Julie and I attended a Boys and Girls Club fund raiser dinner last week. This was a good time for a good cause. But I got a lot more out of it.

The guest of honor was Rigo Chacon. I remember the name growing up. He was a news reporter for ABC 7 news. He has done a number of things since then and left a real legacy.

It is that legacy that really got to me. His son Rigo Jr. spoke about his father. He did a phenomenal job describing what his dad meant to him. What he stood for. How he spent his time and money. Things that he did back in the town that he came from. Rogo's father had just passed away a couple weeks before the dinner. So his memory was fresh in Rogo's mind. Rigo talked about what his father meant to him. What he stood for. What they learned from him.

So what will my legacy be. What did I get from my mother and father. What do I remember. What did I learn. And what am I passing along to my kids. To the community. What will I be remembered for.

It really makes you think!!

What a week

The week sure has gone by quickly. It is now Friday - my last entry was close to a week ago, on Sunday night. I was complaining about how bad our football teams are. This week's talk radio is all about how maybe the 49ers will end up with Reggie Bush. Is that a good thing or now. There are opinions on both sides. If we got him we would have the game breaker that we need and we would be back to scoring touchdowns. If we trade him we can fill a number of holes on the defensive line, wide receiver, etc.

But that isn't what I wanted to talk about. This week it is all about how close we are getting to Christmas and the vacation that we are getting ready to go on. Anthony and Nick don't know that we are on our way to Hawaii NEXT SATURDAY! We are going to have them pack up as if we are going to PG. Get in the car. And drive to SFO. It will be fun to see how long it takes for them to realize that we are not heading in the right direction:) My guess is that it will be a half hour. They will be reading their books and at some point will look up and not see the sand dunes and ask - "where are we?"

We will then give them an envelope. The envelope will have some money in it to spend while on vacation. In the envelope will be a clue as to where we are going. Maybe a word scramble with words like Hawaii or Maui or Hula or if we get really mean Mele Kaliki Maka. It might take a while ... but they will get it:)

So I am really excited. I can't wait. And I can't wait until we can put them through this next Saturday.

49ers and Raiders

What a lousy weekend for bay area professional football fans. We went to the 49er game against the St. Louis Cardinals. Alex Smith actually looked ok the first half. Early on he through short passes, sometimes shovel passes to a back right in front of him, but none the less he completed a bunch of passes. And just before the end of the quarter he threw the ball down the field and had some nice completions. But during the second half he really looked bad. I have been giving him the benefit of the doubt, but wow was he bad. He really looks like he has no idea out there. By the end of the game he was unable to find anyone - throwing interceptions that were just plain poor.

I am picking on Alex here. He is not the only problem. The bottom line is that the 49ers are just outmatched. Almost everyone they play is better. I am impressed with coach Nolan. He has the team playing hard. I am seeing some improvement. And I was very impressed by the rookies who started on the offensive line. But they are in need of better players. Until they get some, I don't expect us to win.

We did have a good time as we had good seats and the day was nice. It was the first pro game that both Nick and Anthony have gone to. They were impressed with the stadium, look of the field, size of the players, person who sang the national anthem and halftime activities. And with the small crowd, we could get something to eat and make it back to our seats well before halftime ended!

Once we got home we turned on Sunday night football. Our hope was that we would see a better game. The Raiders were playing San Diego - a bit of a rivalry. The game started off pretty good. The Raiders were hitting hard and making some good offensive plays. But as the game wore on, and especially after halftime, things really got out of hand. The Chargers started to own the Raiders. By the end I was pretty depressed. The situation is worse with the Raiders than it is with the 49ers. I think that the Raiders have enough good players. They just aren't winning. I can see that Randy Moss is hurting. But the problem is deeper. Maybe it is the coach or maybe the quarterback. Or maybe both.

So tonight I am watching some basketball. And there is soccer on shortly. I am loving college football. Cal is good. USC is great. I am looking forward to the Rose Bowl!

Headgear

Ok - so maybe I was out to lunch with my ideas about a soft society. How about this one ... my thoughts on headgear. I have to admit that I am actually pretty mixed on this one. I guess I see both sides.

This all started with my last trip to Sportmart (now Sports Authority). As you walk in, there on the right side where they put the seasonal sports gear was their snow skis, snowboards, boots and of course helmets. I stopped to look at them and they are actually pretty cool. Kind of like skateboarding helmets, but they look way more comfortable. There are awesome colors including camo.

But my first thought was - are we over the edge. Are there enough accidents to warrant helmets? I never wore a helmet. I don't remember hitting my head when I crashed - and it isn't like I never crashed. I have seen a number of people brought down the hill on stretchers, but it always appeared that they had leg problems, not head injuries. So I did a bit of web searching and found a site that has some interesting statistics. This data doesn't support the need for helmets. It does point out that there is a real need for wrist braces when you snowboard, but that isn't the topic!

I did find a site that has some data around head injuries. It even describes the kind of injuries that occur, and it does appear that a helmet would help with these.

But this is about headgear not helmets for snow skiing or boarding. There are a number of different types of headgear to consider. Here are some examples.

• Football - most people would agree that helmets are a good thing. But what if they continued to wear leather helmets rather than the helmets of today. Would there be more or less injuries. I firmly believe that there are harder hits today than in the past because of all of the body armor that is worn today.
• Rugby - the players don't wear helmets. Would there be fewer injuries if they did? I suspect that there would not since they would hit each other harder. But what about headgear to protect concussions or just their ears. Seems like this would be a good idea. There appears to be a raging debate on this very topic. Maybe it helps with cauliflower ear?
• Biking - well, I have to admit that after taking a really hard fall on my mountain bike where I launched over the handlebars, flew head first into the dirt, and woke up with my bike a ways away from me, I am sold! I would never ride a bike without a helmet and am amazed at how many people ride on the road without one.
• Wrestling - we are making Nick wear headgear when he wrestles. This is to protect his ears not so much his head. Seems like a good idea to me.
• Soccer - this is the latest rage. Headgear for soccer players. To protect from concussion. The data on all of this seems pretty limited. The topic is new and decisions to use headgear appear to be based on a study in Norway around heading the ball. This debate continues as well.
  

I did find one interesting article on the whole subject. Take a look. Their thoughts are not all that different from mine:)

One last interesting data point. I was talking about headgear to a senior who both bikes and snow skis. He said that he of course wears a bike helmet but what was a surprise to me is that he also wears a helmet when he skis. He said that it is because at this point in his life, he wants to enjoy what he has left and doesn't want an accident to screw that up!

So I am pretty mixed on all of this. Where do you draw the line?

The Soft Society

It is the day before Thanksgiving - lots of thinking about how much we will eat tomorrow, and what football games will be on. But I was thinking about something else today when I took a walk to the grocery store to get something to eat (the cafeteria was already closed).

As I was walking to the store, it hit me how soft we have become. We don't walk much. We walk sometimes for exercise, but not much just for fun or just as another way to get somewhere. We don't even ride our bikes for that purpose. We get in the car and drive. Wow - I am starting to sound like an old man.

That wasn't the purpose of this. Well, I don't think there was a purpose. But it just hit me how our activities have changed. The kids still play outside, but they rarely meet up with a bunch of friends and play football or baseball at school. When they do - they have a great time. But it doesn't happen all that often. Some of this is out of fear. We don't feel comfortable with our kids out of our sight, or out of close sight. We are worried that they will be kidnapped. I guess there is more of this going on than I think. Or maybe it is just more visible. It is a HUGE leap to allow kids to ride their bikes to school.

There are lots of other examples of this. How many people do their own gardening vs having a gardener. How many of us do the physical things that we or the generations before us did. Not all that many, unless we are doing it for a purpose - to get in shape:)

Kind of reminds me of the comment that Steve Young made the other day about Chris Simms - he said:

I worry that he grew up in a much different atmosphere, a laissez-faire kind of atmosphere. And I'm worried he really doesn't have the mental toughness to deal with the information overload that comes with the NFL.

Chris' dad Phil didn't take to well to this:) He fired back with his own comments on Steve. Steve then resonated to these and tried to clarify. But all that Steve was saying is that he grew up in a Soft Society. My point exactly:)

So not that this necessarily is really good or bad, just an observation. As you can tell by my comments, it is a bit concerning to me. Maybe the pendulum has swung too far.

RBS

I saw a great advertisement the other day (ok, not great for those who actually have a problem, but hang with me anyway). It was for a drug called Neurosil. They said - "Discover how you can take control of your 'Restless Leg Syndrome'." RLS (Restless Leg Syndrome) - now that is a new one. This is for people who can't keep their legs still, they have to keep moving them. And the drug is intended to help those who have this sit still. I thought that I would look up the definitions in the Merriam Webster Online Dictionary.

• Restless - continuously moving
• Leg - (know this one)
• Syndrome - a group of signs and symptoms that occur together and characterize a particular abnormality

So it hit me. I have RBS - Restless Body Syndrome. It is not just my legs but my whole body that need to be continuously moving:) Finally, I understand. It is not just extra energy but rather I HAVE A SYNDROME.

PS: Now when I told Julie this - she thought the B meant Butt, but I like my choice better.

Workouts and Travel (and other related challenges)

I am home from a short one day trip to Monrovia. It is Friday, my schedule is pretty light, but I have a bit of whatever is going around. So this may be yet another day that I go without a workout.

Which led me to the topic of the day ... :)

It is just too hard to get enough workouts in. Yea, yea, as I always say, it just has to be a priority and you will make time for it. But it is a priority for me - just maybe not enough. But that being said, I am having a heck of a time getting them in.

So what gets in the way ... and what to do about it.

• Travel - short trips to Monrovia (LA) and long trips (India, UK, etc.)
  
• Important Team - multiple locations, biggest part of biggest software acquisition that we have done, significant revenue riding on the products my team builds
• Big Job - lots of expectations around customer visits, presentations, etc.
• Old Age - more injuries than I have had in the past, calf is taking forever to heal, same story for shoulder separation
• Kids - want to spend time with them when I am not traveling / working!

I know, no simple answer. I just have to keep working on it. Just a couple more emails and I think I will go for a short run before my next call ...

Christmas Shopping and the Web

Well - Christmas shopping has sure changed. It use to be that you decided what you wanted and went to the store to get it. Not anymore. It is either way easier or way more difficult - not really sure ... Now you decide what you want, and use the web to help you to find the best one or the best price or maybe just to make sure that you didn't miss something.

Maybe a hypothetical example will help. I don't want to use a real one just in case Anthony or Nick read this:)

So say I want to get a basketball hoop. I could drive to Sportmart and Big 5 and Sears, check out what they have, and then go back to the place that has the best one. Or if I don't have time, I might just buy one at the first store that I stop at. But if you do either of these, when you get home you are not sure you got the right thing or the best price.

So you go on the web first. Look at everything that is out there, and then decide what to do with all of this information. You might then go to a store and look at what they have, then either buy it there or buy it from someone on the web. You have to think about the price, cost of shipping, time to deliver and reputation of the company. But what if you can't find a store that has what you found on the web. How do you decide if it is good? You can look for reviews or feedback from customers. Places like www.epinions.com maybe ...? Now you might have enough information to buy on the web.

But is this enough information to make the right decision? What about eBay or craigslist? Better check there as well. But this is even more confusing. Now you see a bunch of new stuff. Why is there so much new stuff being advertised there? Huh. Now I have to go back and look at the web for reviews or feedback. And do I trust the seller? And there is of course the used stuff. Some looks like a good deal, but do I want something used?

After all of this, I finally decide to go to Sears and buy one. But I am pretty happy because I am informed. I guess this is all good. At least I was able to do most of the research while watching Monday Night Football!

Time to get back to it ...

It has been a LONG time since I added to my blog. My bad. Time to get back to it.

My goal is to add to this at least a couple of times a week. Even if I add only a few sentences. I would like to get to the point where I add pictures on a regular basis as well. We will see.

So this was a great weekend. We went to PG on Thursday night. I worked from there for about half a day Friday and took the rest of the day off (and a beautiful clear warm day it was!). I decided that I would treat Friday like a work day. Got up, took my shower, had my coffee, ate, and got to work. I had a couple of scheduled calls and made a couple of others as well. It worked out really good - with the exception of not having connectivity. I went with Julie, Nick, and Anthony into town where I went into Kinkos and connected. They went to the store and bought frisbees ...

Once I was done checking mail, they picked me up and I was done for the day:)

We went back to the house, dropped off my stuff, and went out for a game of frisbee golf. We ended up giving Julie 2 strokes, Anthony and Nick 1 stroke and I played even. After about 2 1/2 hours of play we ended up with a three way tie for first, and me in second:) It was a blast!
We had dinner at latitudes (the old Tinnery at Lovers Point) and headed to the book store.

The bookstore was a reward for both Anthony and Nick's good quarter. They both have been playing sports and did very well with their grades as well - both almost getting straight A's!

... since I am just starting this back up - a quick update. Nick did cross country and is almost done with wrestling. Anthony just finished football ...

Saturday turned out to be just as clear and nice as Friday. Julie and I left the kids and went for a two hour walk / hike at Point Lobos. If you haven't bee there, you have got to go!!

http://pt-lobos.parks.state.ca.us/

We headed back just in time for lunch and the Cal / USC football game at Snarleys. It was a bit of a blow out, so we stayed only until the half. We left Julie to her art and headed to Big 5. Got a trackball and smashball sets and headed back to the house where we played in the park for hours ... We ate at home and watched Batman Begins - good movie if you haven't seen it.

And today was nice as well. We played at the park and at the beach in the morning, then headed home home just after lunch - there are always chores to keep up with.

So overall, awesome weekend.

What a week ... kids now off on break

It has been a while since my last update. Too many things going on to keep up like I would like to.

Finally got back into some decent workouts. That pretty much takes up the first few hours of the day. If I am successful in getting to the gym at around 6:00 (usually closer to 6:15), I can get a decent workout in and be out of there around 8:00. That gives me a chance to get something to eat, ready some email, prepare a bit, and there pretty much isn't a day without a meeting that starts at 9:00. The rest of the day is typically booked. I may have an hour free and maybe another hour at lunch, but they end up filled by checking email, making a few calls, etc.

So this week I got three workouts in. Not bad, and they were reasonable quality:) I then of course had things scheduled for the evening, either a dinner with folks from work or an Anthony soccer parents meeting, or ... what else happened this week??? Don't remember anymore.

We did manage to get some packages wrapped and ready to send off. We had better finish tomorrow so that they arrive by Christmas.

Now onto a weekend. The boys are off for two weeks. They are pshched! I will work M-Th and then be off Friday and the following week. I will be ready - quite busy at work and looking forward to hanging out, friends, family, Christmas, and PG!! The fun begins this weekend with a play tomorrow night and Imax Polar Express on Sunday.

Hope you all are having as much fun as we are ...

Christmas in Full Swing

Well - it is Sunday. Julie and her buddies spent Friday and Saturday on their annual San Francisco Girls Christmas Weekend. They had a good time. I hung out with the boys while they were around. Anth went bike camping at Mt. Diablo. Wow has it been cold, hope they found a way to stay warm. And Nick spent the day at Theater doing a weekend conservatory. I drove them around, did some Christmas shopping (thanks to Amazon!), and did a few things around the house.

Now it is Sunday and we are doing more Christmas stuff. Just finished this years letter. Tried a top 10 list. You all will have to let me know what you think. Julie has been putting up the rest of the Christmas stuff. I will put away the boxes and we will be done ... well, mostly.

Time to do some wrapping and maybe a bit of work on the Art Studio. Just about done with the drywall! Then off to a family movie - maybe National Treasure.

New to Blogging!

Hey I thought - what is Dale talking about? He wanted to set up a 'blog' for my friends and I who are headed this weekend for our 6th annual girl's Christmas Shopping Weekend in San Francisco. Well, we girls are slow to get started on a new technical thing, but once we start it becomes quite addictive. We all are email and evite addicts now even though we were slow to start! We'll get to blogging soon I'm sure.

As far as life being good.....well need I say more with our 6th annual Girl's Holiday Shopping Weekend in the festive city of San Francisco - finishing the trip off with show tickets to the performance of "White Christmas"???!!!

WFH

It has been a work from home (WFH) day today. Dropped my car off last night so without today ...

I slept in until 7:30! That is longer than on the weekends. What's up with that ...

Then on the phone most of the day. Boy am I lucky. I have the best staff that I have ever had. All incredibly competent. All I have to do is aim them. As my mentor says ... monitor and inspect. That is all that you can do.

I did manage to find an hour to go for a run. I am really happy with my Polar S625x. It measures speed, distance, heart rate, and altitude when I run, and speed, distance, cadance, heart rate, and altitude when I ride my bike. Pretty cool! I download to my laptop and can see graphs of how I am doing. I ran 6.3 miles along the flat train tracks. My heart rate was a bit higher than I would like, but not bad. The path is great - ok on my back and no cars ...

When I got back Nick was getting home from school. He said - "Dad, I was really focused at school today. I did two extra worksheets that I would not normally have done. And I got most of my math done." I am thinking - what is he talking about. Then I remembered, tonight is the first night of rehersal for the Tom Sawyer play. He is getting into the mode of using his time wisely so that he stays on top of things with all of the time that he will be spending rehersing. Pretty sweet!!

That's enough for now. Time to get back to work.