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!

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.

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.

Get your own at Gizmoz.com

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:)

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!

Winding Down ... Ramping Up

This is my 19th year at Sun. I was all ready to leave to start a nonprofit when the most amazing thing happened. Sun (Jonathan our CEO) asked me to stay on as an employee and follow my dream. Why would Sun do this you ask ... well, because it is a good cause and a good thing for Sun. I will expose a large audience of students to Sun and Sun technology. The payoff for Sun will be down the road when these kids grow up and run their own businesses.

But this entry is not about the nonprofit. Take a look at the new blog that I created on FreshBrain.

This is all about timing and changing of my career. I am down to the last week or so of my old job. I will be traveling down to Monrovia next week to meet with my folks for the last 1:1. It will be my last staff meeting. And by the end of the week, we will announce the new organization.

I plan to take about 6 weeks of vacation over June and July. The list of things that I want do do during this time is already growing:) I plan to play some golf with Nick. Get in shape for a triathlon. Do a few house projects. And then get into FreshBrain full bore:)

American Idol - What Happened to Elliott?

Ok - I am an American Idol fan. For those of you who watch, I knew that Melinda was going to be voted off last night. She is the best singer, but just not an idol. The two that are left are more of what I would expect from idols. And now I am convinced that Jordan is going to win. She has come a long way, certainly most improved. Blake is fun to watch but just doesn't have the range that Jordan does. So he is next to go and Jordan will win it all!!

But the real point of this post is about Elliott Yamin. He sand last night. He was on last season and made it a long way - down to the final three if I remember right. He was kind of cool, a pretty good singer and got better as time went on. But he was not the best looking guy in the world. Bad teeth, kind of grungy looking. I knew that he had his teeth done, but check out the picture of the before and after.


I couldn't find one from last night. He has continued to change his look. He has even more hair and lost weight. Quite a transformation ...

First pictures with my new camera

The weekend before last Saturday was a long day of soccer. Nick tried out for the ODP (Olympic Development Program). This is an opportunity if selected to play with some strong kids, against high caliber teams and potentially move to higher and higher levels of play (regional first, then state and national). I don't think he is quite ready, but he has come a long way over the last year or so.

Anyway, the point was that it was a long day. Nick had two try outs. One from 9-11 and the other from 1-3. Both were about a half hour away. Then Anthony had a game at 4. So I spent pretty much all day watching soccer (I did make a couple of phone calls and went for a run).


But the good news is that I took some pictures with my new camera. I got a Canon XTi,a 70-300mm lens and a 2GB memory card (good for about 430 pictures). I am just getting the hang of it - here are a couple of pretty good pictures.

I am sure I will get better, but am happy with the initial results.

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.

----

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.

My Beautiful Kids

Just got a new laptop. It is an Apple MacBook Pro with a HUGE screen. Pretty nice. It has all of the cool tools, including iPhoto, iMovie and something called NeoOffice - based on openoffice.org.

The first thing my kids played with was Photo Booth where they took pictures of themselves. Here they are:)

Good Fortune :)

At lunch on Friday got a great fortune (Sun's cafeteria - fortune cookie) that I wanted to share ..

Your Efforts Will Result in Much Profit

There are lots of ways to take this - all of which are positive:)

American Idol and a Look Alike

Most of you know that I am an American Idol fan. Thank goodness for DVRs - with three shows a week, I am sooooo happy not to have to watch all of the commercials.

Before I get to the perfect look alike - I have to give you my favorites this year.

• Blake Lewis is my #1. He is cool, can beat box AND sing. He may not win because he knows he is good and his attitude might cause him problems if he isn't careful.
• Lakisha Jones is next. She is just plain awesome. Best singer of the bunch, but maybe not as strong all around (looks, style, etc.).
• Stephanie Edwards is a close third. She has a great stage presence, style, looks and can sing!
• Melinda Doolittle may be the second best singer, but I don't see her as an idol.
• And Chris Richardson is pretty good.

So there is my top 6:)

Now on to the look alike. I listen to the KNBR morning show with Murph and Mac. They have callers who call in with look alikes. The one that really got me was today when they compared Sanjaya with Mowgli from the Jungle Book. I think it is perfect. You decide:)

Audio Leadership Conference

Sun is now holding two leadership conferences a year. One where all of the VPs are invited in person and all directors electronically (through webcasts or audiocasts) and one where everyone attends electronically. Today was one of the later. So I had a choice. I could sit in my office (home or work) and listen in OR I could go for a bike ride and listen in while getting my exercise.

As you might expect, I choose the bike ride. The conference was from 8:30 to 11:45. I was on my bike at 9:06 and made it home at about 11:40. What a great use of my time and I got a 40 mile bike ride in as well:)

I did run into a couple of problems. As I got into the hills I started losing reception so I had to turn around. I decided to drop for the 15 minute break so had to stop to dial back in. And at one point along highway 9 as I was almost home I lost reception and was dropped so had to dial back in.

But all in all - a great way to spend the time:)

Check out the route that I took if you are interested.

Happy Birthday Todd

It is my brother Todd's birthday on the 7th of March. We celebrated it today as he was in the state:) He came to Sacramento from Utah this morning as part of a prize that was auctioned off to raise money for a local charity. The prize was a dinner for eight by a world renowned chef :). He and his partner Mike owns a very cool restaurant in Ogden Utah called Bistro 258. Check it out!

Anyway - back to the birthday. Since he is about to turn 40, we had to have some fun with his getting old. So he got a package of Depends (adult diapers), one of those things that holds all of the pills that older people need (seven days with four compartments for each day), Tums, Exlax, some over 50 vitamins, and some Grecian Formula.

Oh, and we did get him a watch. But it was way way more fun buying him all of the other stuff:)

Happy Birthday Todd!!

Rock Wall

I spent time this weekend working on a rock wall around the tree in front of our house. It is getting there, but what a pain. It is like a giant jigsaw puzzle. There is a piece that will fit - it is just a matter of finding it. Here are a couple of shots of my progress thus far ...