The Famous Edward Tufte - trip to the city

Today I took one of my staff with me into the city to attend a lecture given by Edward Tufte. I'm sure you have never heard of him but I assure you he is a legend in the Statistical analysis crowd and is the foremost expert in analytical design or as the New York Times put it,"The Leonardo da Vinci of data" . It's great living so close to Manhattan as most of the really unique and once in a lifetime events happen and I can cheaply attend without getting on a plane. The Manhattan center is only a block or so away from Penn Station which is my entry point into the city via the train. I took a couple of boring pictures but you might find them interesting. The really great thing about the lecture is it included all three of his hardback books which I got autographed. They will make great conversation pieces for my office and are actually fascinating to read.

Shot of the Manhattan Center where the Lecture was held.

Taking the Long Island Railroad into Penn Station.

My new hardback books. Will look great in my office.

View down 34th street. Empire State Building.

What we are watching on on the Tube this Fall

This request came from Dad who wanted to know what shows are coming up this fall. I rarely watch anything that is not in High Definition and I have a PVR which can record two channels at once and in HD so we rarely watch commercials either. Most of these just started a week or so ago so they are still new. So here is our latest recording schedule:

MONDAY
cbs - CSI: Miami

TUESDAY
nbc - The Biggest Loser
nbc - The Office
cbs - NCIS
cbs - Amazing Race (starts tonight!)

WEDNESDAY
nbc - The Apprentice: Martha Stewart
nbc - ERing
cbs - CSI: NY
abc - Lost

THURSDAY
nbc - The Apprentice: Donald Trump
cbs - Survivor: Guatemala
cbs - CSI

FRIDAY
cbs - Numbers
scifi - Battlestar Galactica
usa - Monk

SUNDAY
byu - The Spoken Word (hahaha, just kidding of course)
abc - Americas Funniest Home Video's
cbs - Cold Case

Save me 50 bucks... shave the dog

In my daily battle to keep my dog (Heather is the enemy), I decided it is time for a haircut. The dog keeps getting her hind legs caught up in her thick hair, sorta looks like she is doing Yoga with a back leg over her head stuck there. Part of this is because her nails are an inch long and I can't find the nail clippers. So I whipped out the old electric hair cutters and grabbed some shears and went to town. I'm getting pretty good at it (last time she looked like a sheep with a shaved butt). When I finished, the hair pile ended up to be bigger than the dog.

In an attempt to save money, I have become a dog groomer extrodinaire

Fog of War... Sunday

Today I was "thrown under the bus" as the Bishop puts it as it is my month to conduct and count and do everything. Officially I should have had one more week to prepare but this being Fast Sunday I got an early initiation. Heather and Isabelle said I did a great job as we had several ward business items and I struggled through it. Heather is helping to organize and plan the Primary Sacrament meeting program in a few weeks and today they took over the chapel to practice songs etc. It's a lot of work, and on Tuesday she also has the cub scouts Raingutter Regatta which she has not even started working on. I found some great web site resources for this stuff and now have an excel spreadsheet with the race heats and fluffy award names like "most unique boat". As usual Heather and I will be running the show (only 8 boys or so). Our fast for the ward leadership this month was for new members (stable, complete families that are strong church members need only apply). Supposedly this is how Heather and I ended up in Long Island 4 years ago and in Patchogue on just such a fast.

Reading scriptures on a Sunday afternoon, Aubree has the right idea here.

Going to the Movies with Isabelle

Today is Saturday and I got to take Isabelle out to the movies (Heather is too busy with Church prep for Primary haha). We saw "Corpse Bride" by Tim Burton. One of our all time favorties is "Nightmare before Christmas" which is in the same vane. We loved it, you rarely see a magical movie like this these days. Funny how they take such a morbid theme and make it into a great story. Anyway, I really enjoyed it. We then picked up Heather and Aubree and did our usual Saturday ritual of Costco and Chili's. It's good to be home.

Isabelle standing in front of the Theatre.

Tonight's dinner is... Outback

Xyron

Eat'n good in Pheonix Arizona

I finally have a chance to catch up on my blog and send my pics. Remember that the most recent posts will be on the top and work backwords.

I am now in Arizona. I am here to meet with our Xyron division managment team all day on Thursday then it's back to NY on Friday. I checked into my hotel which is a resort suites on a golf course (reminiscent of Laurence Welk) and drove down the road to find some grub. I found a Cheesecake factory which I happen to love and next thing you know I am chow'n down on yummy Orange Chicken and took home two slices of cheescake to go. Eating is the only upside to traveling I say, so I'll make the most of it.

Orange Chicken at Cheesecake Factory.

Goin for a sunday drive in Beverly Hills

On Sunday we went for a drive to find Hollywood and Vine and to see the lifestyles of the rich and famous in Beverly Hills. We rode the sunset strip and ooed and ahwed at all the wealthy homes and cars.

The famous hollywood Hotel on the Sunset Strip.

Downtown Hollywood Grauman's Chinese Theatre

Hollywood is a strange place, the stars are out.

All Work and no Play....

We decided to take a break from our long weekend of moving servers and equipment and decided to take a ride out to Six Flags magic Mountian. There were no crowds so within about 2 hours we were able to hit 8 or so extreme rides. I had John and Mike with me. John gave out after the third ride but Mike and I are equally nuts and we did what no human body was ever intended to do. These extreme rides are designed to make you wait long hours for one ride, not consecutive pounding on the brain and body. let's just say that I felt sea sick, migrane headache, and food poisoned all at once. In otherwords, I had a blast. The final ride that killed the day was of course my all time least favorite ride, the rapids. Mike insisted we go on it and of course we got soaked from head to toe (while the other 11 riders came out dry as a bone!).

The lines are non-existent! Riding the Goliath at Six Flags.

Superman, the ride. At Six Flags Magic Mountain

How many NY'ers does it take to plug in a Server..

Myself, John, Mike, and Alfredo from LA plus a consultant that works for me are all here to move server equipment from our LA facility to Buena Park (near LA). I won't bore you with the details but let's just say it was a grand success. I got to get my hands dirty and really miss the good old days when I actually worked not supervised.

The new server room, fun stuff.

Taking a stroll through the new facility.

On my way to LA

So the journey begins. It takes me 1 hour to get from Patchogue to Jaimaca Station via the Long Island Railroad, then another 15 min on the Airtrain (Monorail system put in just a few years ago) to JFK. Then a long 6 hour flight on JetBlue to Long Beach. I'll take some pic's of the fun I have while there.

Taking the Airtrain to JFK Airport

Endocrinologist you say? What's that...?

So those of you who do not know of my long history of medical problems let's just say that I'm quite a challenging patient. Recently I have been working with my Urologist to try and find a root cause of my kidney stone issues which appear to be on the rise (from 1 every 5 years to several in both Kidney's in one year). I was sent to an Endocrinologist to check out a potential for Hyperparathyroidism which seems far fetched but my PTH tests showed high. So I pushed this visit off for several months thinking it would be another kook doctor who blows me off in 5 min. I was pleasantly surprised when the doctor gave me a very thorough examination and asked more questions than I know how to answer (I even got to drink water while two doctors squeezed my neck to check for who-knows-what). Now I get to run another litany of blood, urine, and ultrasound tests to see if I need surgery to remove an overactive gland in my neck. The interesting news is that this may actually be my silver bullet to cure what ailes me as this thingy can cause both kidney stones and pain/fatigue symptoms along with a host of other issues. You never know....

A view from my perch, waiting for the doc to show up.

Yet another visit to Connecticut

It's off again to Stamford for another meeting. I can't wait for this company divesting deal with Dymo to go away so I can avoid these last minute meetings. It's been a busy month and getting worse, I will be in California (Ca-lee-for-nee-ah, as Ah-nald would say) during the weekend for an office move then back to New York for meetings on Tuesday and back out again to Arizona on Wed-Friday. I was also asked to be in St. Louis today but Stamford took priority, and may need to go to Toronto in a couple of weeks (trying to get out of that one as my boss will be in town the same week), oh, and It's been suggested that I attend another meeting in Belgium in the next few weeks (I told them no-way, no-how). Good thing they cut my department travel budget (although I am technically on the corporate budget which I padded for just such a reason).

I always wonder when passing through the Throgs-Neck bridge why it was named as such so here it is and wonder no more:

THE ORIGIN OF "THROGGS" NECK: Actually, the man for whom the southeast Bronx community was named after went by the name "Throckmorton." In 1631, John Throckmorton and his wife, Rebecca, sailed from England with Roger Williams and seventeen other passengers aboard the "Lyon" and arrived in John Winthrop's colony in Massachusetts. Because of religious persecution in Massachusetts, Throckmorton moved with Williams to Rhode Island to form a new colony based on religious tolerance.
Fearing imminent invasion by the Massachusetts colony, Throckmorton fled to the southeast Bronx in 1642. With the permission of the Dutch governor of New York, Throckmorton started his colony with 35 families. However, due to an Indian uprising, the colony only lasted one year. Link to source

On the Throgs-Neck Bridge again.

Aubree has a new chair

We have been debating for quite some time now on what kind of Hi-chair to get Aubree and we finally broke down and got something at Target. This is an inexpensive (Heather has trained me not to use the word "cheap") fold away chair that is easy to use. Aubree loves it. Our first meal together with the new chair, Isabelle loudly exclaimed "welcome to the family Aubree!" so I guess it is official, table for four.

Aubree chill'n out in her new seat.

It's got to be... Applebee's!

We are out shopping on Saturday and this is our go out and eat day (which is the only reason I tag along haha). Today our pick was Applebee's which is close by the Target. I had the yummy buttermilk shrimp and Heather had the key lime chicken, Isabelle also had buttermilk shrimp and I am still hungry as a result hee hee.

Isabelle coloring her activity book at Applebee's.

Heather & Aubree at Applebee's.

Typical Saturday at Target

It's Saturday and we are getting ready for Sunday again. We love new things on Long Island (a new store is a rarity, everything here is just plain "old") and there is a brand new Target that has recently opened up near the house (10 min away approx.) so we are trying to see if we can get our shopping done here rather than Walmart which is twice the distance away.

The girls standing in front of our newest Target Store.

Stranger in a strange bed

Yes, it's Friday, no, the room is still not done. The quick "Labor-day" room makeover is now extending into the week. Isabelle is now living in the Den on an Aero-bed (I knew there was a reason to buy that bed!). I tend to look at these things with an outside view looking in, my highly valued project management skills aside... let's go back one week before the project started and try and evaluate this task Heather has undertaken and see if it passes:

1. Labor day weekend - Plus
2. School clothes shopping not done yet - Negative
3. Grocery shopping not done yet - Negative
4. First day of school is 2 day's away - Negative
5. Bedroom design involves 4 colors of paint and massive re-work - Negative
6. 6 month newborn in the house that needs constant attention - Negative
7. Responsible for singing time and sharing time for Primary that next week - Negative
8. Started a book from the library that you can't put down - Negative
9. Husband has Sr. Management meetings and will be home late all week - Negative
10. I could go on but then I will also be joining Isabelle on the Aero Bed tonight - Negative*

Excellent, now that we got that out of the way, I hereby declare this one day simple task a two-week project subject to massive delays, budget overruns, moody girls, employee and management strikes, and overall management pressure to complete the project at all costs. Looks good, go for it!

*To avoid consequences from number 10 above let me clarify that this post is in pure jest, we love Heather and without her drive and ambition the house would have white sterile walls and cease to be a "home".

Isabelle camping out in the Den, dreaming sweet dreams of getting her room back.

Stay away! Back to School madness

Funny story. So Isabelle went to school and there is always something that we missed for school supplies and therefore have to get them for the next day. So being the smart, caring father I decided to stop by Staples on my way home from work so that Isabelle could have her yellow highlighters and 3 composition notebooks for class on Thursday. I instantly knew I had a problem when I found that it took 20min or more to find a parking spot in a rather large lot. So I walk into the store and there before me is pure chaos in it's finest hour. I've never seen so many people packed in one store, literally every square foot was occupied by an individual (a fire marshals dream I'm sure).

I fought my way through the masses and luckily the notebooks and highlighters were on displays near the front of the store and then I proceeded to blend in with the rest of the consumers to wait in line. I noticed that the lines went to the back of the store and wrapped up and down the isles for all registers but one particular line took a sharp right turn into another line and I just got in that one (express lane for the non-sheep I say, baaaa). Needless to say the lines moved slower than molasses and even though I had a short 30 feet or so it still took forever. If you have ever been in this type of situation, you will recognize that most people get very awnery after a couple of hours stuck in line, let me tell you, you don't know nothin till you wait with a bunch of impatient, cuss'n new yorker's! So I get to the cash register and go to pay for my meager 4 items and get my receipt and look down and you can follow the conversation: "excuse me, where is my stuff? Where did you put them?", "what stuff?", "umh, you know, the stuff I just paid for and you scanned and bagged?", "I don't know what you are talking about, I have no idea!", at this point I am given the New York "I'm ignoring you" treatment.

Being the sensible person I am, I then proceeded to fight my way back into the masses and collected for a second time the original items and went back to the cashier and asked for a bag, then bagged my items in her clear sight and explained that I am now taking the items that are on my receipt and leaving. "ya, whatever" and with a brush of the hand I was done.

After this wonderful experience I get home and of course my loving, caring, wonderful daughter who knows what Herculean lengths I went through to get her the items says "you got the wrong colors! way to go dad..." sigh... As a side note, my stupid company manufactures composition notebooks and I can get a case for nothing if I want, you can imagine the irony. Some day I'll have to tell you about my adventures in the office trying to find a pack of Oxford index cards (another fine product that my company makes, good luck finding one in the office!).

Staples on a Wednesday late afternoon, unbelievable crowds.

Jared and Michelle's Family - Blog

Hey Jared and Michelle have a blog now, sheesh, about time folks - > Jared and Michelle's Family

Duncan Hines Desserts - Lemon Pound Cake

Duncan Hines Desserts - recipe for the lemon cake.

Yes, Papa John's Pizza

This picture says it all, the pizza was so good. Isabelle ate so fast the camera could not keep up with her blazing speed technique. Happy Labor day everyone!~~!~~!~~!

Pizza day for Labor Day!

Heather, nimbly tasting my cake

Heather of course did not want to eat any of my cake, so she just nimbly takes teeny tiny bites of it. As you can see, I have had one little slice, hmmmm, where did the rest of the cake go...? I think those little bites add up over time.... whatever makes you feel good I guess. She is just making sure "all" of the cake tastes consistently good I guess, what a great wife!

No cake for you!

Mmmm, Lemon cake

Everyone knows how I love Lemon cake. This is a lemon cake modified to be a lemon pound cake with lemon glazed frosting on top. Mmmmm, lemony...

I saw the recipe, Heather made my dream come true

Isabelle's Room Makeover

Heather and Isabelle have decided to play thier own home fashion makover show by demolishing Isabelle's room. I helped move her bed into the middle of the room and got to take down all the ceiling fixtures and wall plates. Heather is going to stip the wallpaper and re-paint the room for Labor day (she does not realize that Labor day is not named as such so that we can "work"). This just goes to show that my original prediction is true, "every room in this house will get decorated at least twice before I can rest" now you can see why I said that. Of course I really don't do any of the work, I just like to complain.... and be right all the time haha.

Isabelle's Room, soon to be demolished.

End of Half-Day Friday's for this summer

What a bummer. Today is the last half-day Friday at work as summer has officially come to an end here. I'm celebrating by wearing jeans and a t-shirt today at work (end of casual Friday's as well). In true fashion, I had a sesame seed bagel with plain cream cheese today with OJ. I included my magnetic metal sculpture in the pic so you can see how creative I am while at my desk all day. You can find Desk Toys on the web or in my case at Target. Other good news; yesterday as I was searching for gas to put in my car (yes, it has risen to 3.75 now) I noticed in downtown Patchogue that there has been a new Papa John's Pizza place put in that we have never noticed before! This excites us very much as you may have noticed we are huge Pizza conisours here in New York and love new restaurants especially when they open up in our town. You can even place the order on-line so I'm lovin this new place (you can guess what we will be eating this weekend haha). As much as I love the NY pizza parlor where you have to fold the thin pizza slice into a sandwich and watch the grease drip off your elbow while trying to eat it, I miss my Pizza Hut (blasphemy in NY!).

On a different note, next week is back to school week (7th Sept.) and Isabelle is ready to go. I'll post a blog focusing on this next week. As a Home Teacher I got to go over to one of my families homes last night and give their three boys Father's blessings for back to school (part member family), I really enjoyed it. I will give Isabelle her back to school blessing for Family Night on Monday. I would highly recommend you Priesthood members out there do the same, and include a blessing for your wives so they can survive the school year also.

Gotta get back to my real job now, only have a few hours left to build my magnetic sculpture masterpiece and get my monthly management report out. Half-day Friday..... Fond farewell....

My last half-day Friday bagel of the Summer

Charles and Stephanie in Pleasant Grove - Blog Link

Hey, Charles finally got a blog up and running. I have added links on my blog and you can find it here ---> Charles and Stephanie in Pleasant Grove
Alternatively you can goto: http://chiablo.blogspot.com/

Gas Prices on Long Island - ridiculous!

Ouch! I have gas pump shock! Yesterday, literally overnight, the gas stations here went from 2.90 per gallon to 3.19 per gallon. This morning they have moved up to 3.50 per gallon. You can't tell me that these bone-heads who own the gas stations paid for new gas overnight, I'm sure the gas sitting in the tanks is the same gas from last week. One station near us had the price still under 3 dollars and there was literally a huge line up to get gas. I say, peal back Alaska and get the drills a goin'. You just know this is going to raise the price of everything.