Happy Hanukkah

Sunday evening the phone rang and it was my nephews calling to thank me for their Hanukkah gifts. It was very nice to hear that they had already started celebrating and that everything arrived in time for the holidays.

The girls are all excited about Christmas of course. They are off from school for 2 weeks and are spending time with their friends and getting everything ready for Thursday. We will be doing a Christmas Eve lunch which will be a nice new tradition.

I am also looking forward to the holidays. We decorated the Christmas tree Sunday, Sam finished wrapping some gifts and we did some baking. We also cracked into Mom's fruit cake - delicious as usual. Now all we need is a bit of snow to make it look more like Christmas.

Before I go I want to wish everyone a Happy Holiday Season. Whether you are celebrating Christmas, Hanukkah or something else I hope it is happy and safe for everyone.

---- cu

Good Things .....

It has been a great few weeks - lots of things happening - all VERY positive and all keeping me smiling. One of those is Tika's success in her art. She is getting ready to compete for a spot in a summer college program, the next judging is in January, and she has been preparing for it. She sent me this pic the other day - I think it is a great drawing and I think she has lots of potential as she keeps getting better and better.

For me I had a great day at work. I had a call from one of our PR people today and they wanted me to speak to Renay San Miguel, a former CNN Anchor who now writes freelance. He was writing a story on a report that was being released by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. I spent about 30 minutes talking with him and his article came out online this evening. Of course he did not use everything but the highlights were pretty good. Here is the link CyberSecurity Article. Hopefully the customers I work with will appreciate the comments.

Have a great week - only 16 days to Christmas :-)

---- cu

Race update ....

The official results were posted and my official chip time was 2:03:20 which is 6:10 faster than the clock time. This was due to the corral start that was used and I had placed myself in the second corral with an estimated time of 2 hours. The 2:03 time meant a pace of 9:25 which I felt was pretty good considering the couple of months without running. Also the course was a fun one which was a bit hillier than I was used to. So now I begin planning for 2009 and trying to see what I want to accomplish for the year.

The rest of the Atlanta trip was fun. We did our Thanksgiving dinner - chicken (turkey was a bit much for two), a nice rice pilaf, sauteed broccoli and a nice wine. Not a traditional Thanksgiving meal but for two after a Marathon it seemed like a good fit.

Friday we headed out to do some site seeing. We walked from the place we were staying in Midtown down to Centennial park to hopefully get to the Aquarium and Coca-Cola World. Turns out the lines at the Aquarium were a bit crazy so we went to Coke World first. It was very interesting and if you ever get a chance to taste one of the Italian Coke products called Beverly I would encourage you to. It is an experience. After we left Coke World we headed over to Centennial Park to walk through it - caught a small water show and then grabbed some lunch before heading back to the apartment to get our act together and head out to do some shopping before dinner.

Saturday we packed up, cleaned up and started to drive back to Virginia. It was a fairly uneventful drive - fun but nothing to cause any pain like the drive to Atlanta. With stops it took about 10.5 hours so sharing the driving did help. Overall it was a great few days - a good race, good company but very nice to get home. Now looking forward to having teh same kind of fun in 2009 with a few races :-)

--- cu

First Half Marathon ....

some other personal firsts and personal records.

First of all HAPPY THANKSGIVING - my first American Thanksgiving as an American.

Of course it turns out I am not doing the "traditional" American thing as today was The Weather Channel Atlanta Marathon/Half-Marathon. This was my first half-marathon and as such a new personal record for distance run. I finished the 13.1 miles in 2:09:30 - a good bit slower than my normal pace but not having run for 8 weeks because of my ankle I will not complain. My running friend Blanche did the full Marathon and set her own personal record running the 26.2 miles in just around 4:24. Of course she was very excited about that.

It has been a pretty great trip so far. We drove from Virginia to Greensboro, NC on Tuesday and stayed with some friends of Blanche. A nice dinner and hung out at Harry's place for the night. He has a great dog, Mel, who is just a bundle of fun. She is a terrier mix, I think Airedale and Jack Russell. We left Wednesday AM to complete the drive to Atlanta, The traffic was HORRIBLE and we were in fact worried that we would not make it to Atlanta in time to pick up our race registration. We did make it - obviously.

So the rest of today will be relaxing and then making a pseudo-Thanksgiving dinner (chicken, rice and veggies). Tomorrow we plan to sight-see a bit before heading home Saturday. Hopefully our legs will hold up for walking :-)

Have a GREAT holiday

---- cu

Next Big Race .....

So this week will be an interesting one - not only is it Thanksgiving week which means a couple of days off - but I am heading to Atlanta to run a half-marathon. This will be my longest race to date.

The motivation for the race is a good friend of mine, Blanche, who is a frequent marathoner (is that a word? I guess so as I did not get a spell check error), wanted to run it and she figured it was a drive down and asked if I wanted to run the marathon as well. I acquiesced to the half as it seemed the next logical step for me in racing. So we are driving down to Atlanta Tuesday afternoon so we can get ready for the race on Thursday morning. I am a little bit anxious as it has been a few weeks since I have run after my adventures on Old Rag but I am feeling great so I think the half will be a perfect race.

I will make sure to post an update from Atlanta - it may be short as I may post it from my cell - depending on if I can get regular internet access.

Have a GREAT week ---- cu

Grades ....

It is that time of year ..... the weather has cooled off a bit ... ok more than a bit ... and the first semester is over for the girls.

The girls received their report cards the end of last week and they all did FANTASTIC. Sam brought home 2 A+'s, 4 A's and 2 B+'s (in Honors Science and Honors History). I do not remember grading when I was in elementary school but these days those grades are all 90 and above. Kris had all A+'s except for an A in Algebra 2. What a way to start off her first year in High School. Tika continues to amaze as well - 2 A+'s, 2 A's, a B+ and one C in English. She only had a couple of grading elements in English for the semester and she already has bumped up that grade - but again - a C is above 77. I know she wants to bring that up to at least a B though. Of course I was very proud of them all especially since they all are doing advanced classes for their grades - Sam has 3 honors courses and pre-Algebra; Kris has one honors course, pre-AP History and Algebra 2 and Tika has AP History along with Computer Math.

Keep up the good work girls :-)

---- cu

November Karate Tournament

The girls were having a great time yesterday at the local karate tournament. It was not a big tournament but the girls all had good competition in their divisions. As usual the tournament was held at Broad Run High School. All the girls competed in all events - which was great as Kris had been reluctant to compete in Kumite since her Nationals in Miami when she took a couple of nasty punches. We were all very proud to see her get back into the ring to spar.

Tika did have a small issue that I was worried would throw her off a bit. As you all know Tika is well "decorated" with ear piercings. Honestly I have lost count but she is always responsible with them. Well yesterday two of her piercings could not be removed. The rules of the tournament say no earrings so even though no one would have said anything, because of the circumstance, she was pretty distraught about it. She eventually decided to leave them in and compete. I was a bit worried that the situation was throwing her off when she missed a piece of her weapons kata - but the trooper she is she recovered well and because she kept composed she did win the event.

The end results - Sam brought home Bronze medals in Kobudo and Kata and a Silver in Kumite. Kris brought home 3 Silver medals and Tika swept her division with 3 Golds. Of course I am extremely proud of all of them - Sam for her tenacity, Kris for getting back into the ring and Tika for refocusing herself and overcoming. As soon as I get some pics I will post them.

Have a great week ---- cu

Another Proud Day ....

It is always hard for me to write that title line, especially with my kids as I am proud each and every day of who they are, what they do and how they have grown. Today however was a big day for Tika. Tika is in the running to attend the 2009 Summer Residential Governor's School Program for Visual and Performing Arts. The program is one whereby students submit their artwork and are adjudicated first at a county level and then at a state level. After these adjudications students are evaluated to determine who will be selected to attend a month of school during the summer. The program that Tika would be in would have her at Christopher Newport University.

So with all that information as to what the program is - today Tika found out that she is one of 11 students in Loudoun County to be selected to move on to the State competition which will be held in January. She, of course, is very excited. She is also worried as she figured out she will need to learn to do laundry. I will try and get some photos of her work so we can post them here.

Keep your fingers crossed for her. She has a great amount of talent which we hope the judges will recognize.

--- cu

NASA and Palo Alto ....

I had the pleasure of visiting NASA at Moffett Field in California for a day this past week. Moffett Field is located at the south end of San Francisco Bay, near Palo Alto. It is interesting not only for the NASA facility but also for the hangars that are on base. Hangar #1 was used for dirigibles and is so large fog sometimes forms near the ceiling. Today Google has a couple of aircraft that they keep on base. They pay NASA for the right as well as allowing NASA to have some scientific equipment kept on board.

While I was in Palo Alto I swung by a bike store. The store itself caught my eye but when I walked in they had a bike on display that debuted in the 2008 Tour de France. It is manufactured by Look. Talking to one of the guys that worked there he said it was not for sale but as equipped would run around $12,000. Of course I had to take pictures. The interesting thing is how the handlebars are engineered to be so integrated into the frame. There is very little space between any of the components. It was a fantastic looking bike.

Speaking of bikes - it has been a great few days to ride. I was out Friday and Saturday and hope to get out tomorrow. Yesterday when I was out riding I did hit a pothole and blew my back tire. Fortunately, since I was in Oakton, I had a spare tube and cartridge.

Looking forward to this week - Tika has her art evaluation tomorrow for the Governor's school tomorrow. Her work is excellent - I am sure she will do well and I will keep everyone up to date.

Hope everyone has a great week

---- cu

Happy Halloween ---- the day after

Hope everyone had fun. I know I did. It is not many Friday nights you get to go out with your 16 year old daughter - but we both love Halloween so it was a good night for us to go to Bennett's Curse. For those of you unaware of it, Bennett's Curse is a "Haunted House" attraction in Hanover, Maryland. It is a well done event with two separate areas. The downside for the two of us is we do not scare easily - or some would say at all. Those in our group would say the latter as they were screaming and cowering while myself and Tika strolled through the event enjoying more the reaction of others.

Sam and Kris also enjoyed their own Halloween parties - Sam going trick and treating with her friend Nick and Kris at a friends party. Tika did get Sam ready by doing her make-up and think she did a GREAT job.

I of course did my own make-up - you be the judge - but a TV crew came over to film me while we were at Bennett's Curse. If I find the clip I will post it. I also carved a couple of pumpkins - one from Tika's second favourite movie and one to follow Sam's costume theme.

I hope you had as much fun as we did this Halloween. Have a GREAT weekend - it is sunny and warm here. Warm enough that yesterday was a bike day and so was today. Today was not as good as I got a flat while out riding. Thankfully I had one last CO2 cartridge - otherwise it would have been ugly as I was in Oakton which is a loooooong way from home.

I will be posting some stuff from my Palo Alto trip in the next day or so - feel free to check back

----- cu

Chili weekend .....

Another great weekend.

Saturday was a bit damp ---- OK those of us in the Northern VA area would know what an understatement that was but it did allow an opportunity for an old style curl up on the couch and watch a couple of movies.

Sunday was a great day weather-wise. My friends that ran the Marine Corps Marathon had a nice day to run - congrats to all. My girls had school project day - Tika working with her friend Jenny cooking at Jenny's house while I helped Kris and Sam with theirs. We also made it a cooking day - some homemade chili with my own jalapeno peppers and then baking some chocolate chip cookies. Kris's friends supposedly love them so we will need to do a distribution this week before I leave for California.

I am looking forward to Halloween - I do enjoy the holiday. This year myself and Tika will likely end up going to a haunted forest. I will need to make sure I get to see Kris and Sam before they do their own things - supposedly Tika has been doing a great job with makeup on Sam - I will post pics after next weekend.

Hope everyone has a great week.

---- cu

An interesting week ....

It has been an interesting week - busy - but interesting.

So first off I am now officially a US Citizen. I took my oath on Tuesday which was sort of a surprise since I was under the believe that there would be a lag between the interview and the oath. So now I have a couple of small things to finalize - getting a US Passport and then making sure Social Security know that I am a citizen now but outside of that - done. Of course that also means the girls are citizens - and now I just need to figure out when to go through the process of getting them their passports.

Work-wise the week has been busy. A couple of very long days with conferences and meetings. A couple of nights out with friends celebrating (mild celebrations) the citizenship did not help. It was nice to be able to relax last night and I plan on making this weekend a relaxing one. I have not even had a chance to exercise much so I need to get back into that swing of things.

I did get to finish a new book this week - Kite Runner. A GREAT book. Parts of it were hard to read - brought up some personal memories but I guess that made it even a better book if it can touch you in that way. I would like to thank Blanche for loaning me her copy to read :-)

A friend of mine also had a birthday this week - she turned two yesterday. The picture is when she was little - 4 months old. She has grown a bit since then but not much. So a big HAPPY BIRTHDAY FRANKIE :-)

I hope everyone has a great weekend

---- cu

The weekend ... a good one

This past week end was the 5th Light the Night walk in the DC area. I volunteered at 3 of them and as you already know I feel that they were fantastic events. The people I met were great. The stories I heard inspiring. I became a bone marrow volunteer by registering my DNA for potential matching in case of a need for a transplant for others. Again I would encourage people to do the same thing. You can find information at www.marrow.org. I did take a couple of pics on my cell phone from the last walk I was at in Bethesda so I thought I would post one. If you click on the pic it will take you to a YouTube video of the DC event and an interview with the person in charge of the area where I helped out. You can even see me in the back at one point :-)

This weekend was also a bit of a reach out weekend - reaching out to someone who has been important to me and will always be - no matter in what capacity. I hope they know that I am being upfront and honest with everything - as I always am. If things worked out then the smiles would be permanent.

And now I get ready for my Naturalization interview which is this afternoon. I hope my knowledge of US History and politics does not fail me. Wish me luck.

I hope everyone has a great week

---- cu

A Special Day ....

Today is a special day --- a very dear and special friend has a birthday today and it is an important one. I will not mention which important one but it is a good one ;-)

I just wanted to make sure that I give it proper recognition so here goes .....


I hope she has a GREAT day and that this one is just one special moment in a lifetime of special moments.

Happy Birthday Bloo :-)

All kinds of stuff ....

So the title of this was going to be more birthdays, volunteering and Canadian Thanksgiving but that was getting way too long.

So this was a great long weekend. Saturday evening I volunteered at a Light the Night event in support of Leukemia and Lymphoma. It was very inspiring to meet the people that have fought these diseases - to meet their families and friends. I met a high school senior who has fought the disease for the last two years and her strength was incredible. Again I want to encourage people to register for the Bone Marrow registry at marrow.org.

On Sunday myself, Tika, Kris and one of Kris's friends, Bree, went to see Religulous. A good movie that raised some interesting questions. It was nice to be able to get the kids involved in open conversations. Sam then came over and we cooked a big Canadian Thanksgiving dinner - turkey, potatoes, stuffing, broccoli and a vegan dish for Tika with tofu, snow peas, bok choy and ginger. We finished off all of that with some cherry pie. It was a great evening.

Monday - yet another special day - HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM. Here in Virginia the day started with a great hike and then myself and Tika went to DC and I taught here a bit about using a SLR camera and she ran through a roll of film. She seemed to be enjoying things and we had lots of time to talk and explore. It was a thoroughly great day.

Looking forward to a good week coming up. Hope yours is great as well.

---- cu

Brussels and NATO

A busy week ... not necessarily a bad thing but I will be catching up for a couple of days. I flew to Brussels, arriving Monday AM. I was booked into a very nice hotel, Conrad Brussels, that was a few minutes walk from the Grand Place. The arrival Monday was a bit of a challenge as there was a general strike in Belgium and most public transportation was closed. National trains, local trains,, trams and most buses were not operating so there were a lot more cars on the road so traffic was nuts. The rest of the week was fine though - weather was good, no rain at least or not when I was out, and work was great. The presentation to NATO went very well and I had lots of people track me down to discuss things over the day and the following day.

Brussels is a wonderful city, lots of interesting architecture, history, good restaurants and good beer :-) I did get to walk around a bit Monday and then again Wednesday late afternoon so of course took a few pictures. Most of them were around the city center and the Grand Place. I did get to use the train system for doing some getting around as well but did not have my camera with me then. I did get to go out and do some chocolate shopping :-) and Tika, Kris and Sam did appreciate that.

It is nice to be back but I look forward to going back to Brussels again some time.

----- cu

Birthdays & Volunteering

Happy Birthday Dad!

Yesterday was my Dad's Birthday so I had to make sure that I gave him one more Happy Birthday wish.

Today's update being done from Brussels. I arrived a few hours ago so I am just trying to get my body accustomed to the time change and lack of sleep from the flight.

It was a good weekend, other than mixing up my flight time which made me miss going to see a movie with the girls - so we are going to do that next weekend. I did get to volunteer at the Leukemia and Lymphoma Light the Night walk this weekend. It was a great way to spend a Saturday evening. I got to meet some great people who were really inspiring including a 5 year-old girl who has survived her cancer to date. She has gone through 170 chemo treatments even though she is only 5. She is so full of life and energy. I left the event realizing how lucky I am, to be healthy myself and to have those close to me also to be strong and healthy. I did register as a bone marrow donor in case there is something I can do to help someone else. I encourage anyone who reads this to look into registering yourself. It does not require you to donate it just gives you the chance if the need/opportunity arises. You can look into it at http://www.marrow.org/

Off to get something to eat to see if I can get my body back on a reasonable clock.

---- cu

Tuesday Hike ....

Tuesday was vacation day. Of course a relaxing vacation is to head to Shenandoah Park and Hike Old Rag. For those unfamiliar, Old Rag is a easy to moderate hike with some nice big boulders on top of the mountain. Seven of us met in Centreville and then drove out to the park. Depending on where you check the hike supposedly takes anywhere from 4-1/2 to 5-1/2 hours and we had planned to do it in less than 4.

We started hiking a little after 8 and as we headed up we could see the fog was settling in so big spectacular views was not going to be an option. Two of us, myself and Siri, kept a steady pace and we were soon ahead of everyone stopping a couple of times so we could keep the group together. We hit the summit in 1-3/4 hours had a quick snack and then decided to head down. Most of the group decided to climb back down the way we came, a 3 mile hike, while Siri and myself decided we would take the 4-1/2 mile trail that included the fire road. We of course made it a challenge to see who could get to the parking lot faster. One other person decided to join us and off we went. Well we made the parking lot in under 45 minutes (yes we were moving) and decided to cool off in the spring close by.

After everyone else made it down, all in less than 3-1/2 hours, we headed to Thornton Grill in Sperryville for some lunch and then back to DC. It was a great hike and my legs reminded me of it this morning.

Have a great week and cu l8r .....

A month to study ....

Things are moving fairly fast on the naturalization front, or at least they appear to be moving. I just received notice for my interview which is October 20th. This interview is where they test knowledge of US History, understanding of the language etc... Not sure where it fits on the timeline for naturalization but I am a bit surprised it has come up this quick. I guess I should be excited about it - but it also means I will need to take a look at the example questions to make sure I do not make any mistakes. I guess it is convenient that Tika is taking AP US History - maybe I will get her to quiz me.

---- cu

Back from Ottawa ....

It was a long weekend but it was a fun one.

Went to Ottawa for a couple of days of work and then had some down time as well. Some former colleagues had arranged a reunion/fund-raiser. The reunion part was people that had been at Entrust mostly during the IPO time. I got to see people who I had not seen in 10 years as well as catching up with friends who are living all over. It was a great event and we raised over $27,000 for the Ottawa Hospital Foundation.

I also got to spend some time with my brother Wayne and the family. Nothing like playing catch and doing chalk drawings on the driveway. I also got to catch up with my dear old friend Malcolm, who also happens to be Martika's godfather. We had a great evening catching up and having a few beers (ok - one more poured then should have been).

All in all a GREAT weekend.

---- cu

Reston Triathlon ....

What a variety of a weekend. Saturday I was volunteering at the Reston Triathlon packet pick up. The early morning was ok but by mid morning Tropical Storm Hanna let us know that she was going to have an influence and at times it was truly raining horizontal. The day was great - I got to meet lots of great people in the AM and even get some insider information which will be good for next years race. I got to spend most of the afternoon in a great long conversation - thanks for the tea Miho :-).

Sunday was the day of the race - sunny and warm. Because of the rain Saturday they canceled the swim, too much debris in the lake, so the race became a duathlon. I volunteered as a bike marshal - making sure the bikers were safe and that the drivers knew what was going on. It was a little bit frustrating knowing that the race dropped my worst event and that there were a number of people that dropped out leaving empty spots. It would have been great to race - BUT volunteering is very rewarding in a different way. Again I met some great people and left the race motivated to make sure I am in and ready for next years event.

Off to Ottawa Wednesday --- hope all have a GREAT week.

Gary

A break in New Mexico

It has been 4 or 5 years since I have been in Albuquerque so when I found out I had to be here this week I planned a half day just to go hike in the Sandias which is something I have done every trip out here. Usually I hike to the peak but this time I decided to get adventurous and it paid off. I pushed myself a bit and tried some new routes that I never would have tried before. So rather than just hiking I ended up doing a bit of hiking, some scrambling and a good bit of bouldering. The bouldering was the most heart racing as it meant pushing (well in this case pulling) myself. I tried some 20 and 30 foot boulders and had a blast. A few scratches etc but nothing major.

For some perspective Sandia Peak is over 5300 ft above Albuquerque which puts it at over 10,600 feet elevation. Normally I would do the peak but this time I stopped somewhere just shy of 10,000 ft and then scrambled back down through one of the canyons - which was as hair raising as some of the bouldering. The picture on the left was one of the routes I came down.

There is a lot of cool stuff that you can see - some of the other pics are self explanatory - well the eagle got way too close for comfort. I suspect I was near a nest. The cactus above was one I found on the lower trail.

It was a fun 3 hours. Looking forward to a productive week as well.

.... cu

Race Day ...... updated

It has been a good week ..... I had very productive meetings in Miami with one of our partners and I look forward to working more with them. They were also very hospitable and we had a couple of good nights of Italian and Spanish food - with a couple of drinks ;-)

After the meetings I stayed in Miami for an extra night to see a good friend and had a fabulous time. Good company, good food, a nice exhibit at a local art center and a Duck Boat ride around the South Beach area that was a blast. It was a busy weekend as I flew back late Saturday knowing that I had the Leesburg 10K that I was running at 7:30 Sunday. A half hour delay meant I did not get to sleep until almost 1 AM.

The race itself was good - picked up my registration stuff in the AM and then had like 30 minutes to warm up and hydrate before the race. The weather was nice - high 60's - low 70's. It was a good crowd - over 1600 runners. This being my first running race I did not know where to start in the pack so I tried around the center. Slow getting started because of the crowd but eventually I was passing people left and right and very few passing me on the outbound leg. After the 1/2 way turn around no one passed me and I even had a couple of guys comment on my pace - which was nice :-) Not real fast - ran the 10K in 51:00 (at least I think that is what the clock said) Official time - 50:13 so a 8:05 pace. Ended up finishing 198/670 that ran the 10K; 25/102 in my age group and they also did a first timers group where I was 3rd of 42. Kris and Sam were at the finish line to hear the announcer say how I kicked it on at the end - a guy tried to pass me in the last 20m and I was having no part of that - so I sprinted to the end and got in just ahead :-) After the race myself and the girls grabbed some breakfast.

Now I get to play catch-up until later this afternoon when myself and the girls go to see Batman in I-MAX with the Barnes' men. Looking forward to seeing that movie :-)

cu ......

Another Good Weekend

Does a good Friday count as the start of a good weekend? I got up Friday wanting to run. Decided to add some distance to my usual runs. To put this in perspective I have been running a little over a year so for me a long run has been 5 miles. Friday I planned out a 10K route and figured if I needed to I could walk a bit. I not only ran it but did it at a good pace for me - just around a 8:30 mile. I felt great.

Saturday when I got up I was wondering if my run the day before would affect my ride. I was about 22 miles into my ride and pulled up to a stop light. A fellow biker who I had passed some time before came up breathing hard. The only words he said were "Man you keep a wicked pace". I smiled. We rode for a couple of miles and he broke off, I went to Purcellville then turned around and completed the full 50 miles. A good encouraging ride.

Then to top off this weekend my girls were in Detroit at the AAU Junior Olympics. Sam brought home medals in Kata (bronze) and Kumite (silver); Kris brought home silvers in Kobudo and Kata and; Tika brought home three bronze medals. I was very proud of all of them. It has been a great competitive year for them.

... cu

Sunday in DC ....

This Sunday myself and the girls (Sam, Kris and Tika) headed into DC to check out an exhibit at the National Gallery and drop into some other places. Sam was a trooper since galleries are not her thing. The exhibit was one of Martin Puryear's work. The picture is of one of his well known pieces that myself and Tika had seen at the MOMA in NYC last December. The exhibit was one that Tika really wanted to see and since Kris is a big art person she enjoyed it as well. There were some new pieces that we had not seen so it was a good visit at NGA.

The exhibit was spread across both buildings so we also went and visited the Afghan Treasures exhibit in the East Building. I guess I never realized how developed the Afghan culture was - never imagining the cities that existed there rivaled Greek and Italian cities of the time. It was enlightening. By then we were getting hungry so we decided to let Sam choose where to eat. As we walked out of NGA we stopped into the Natural History museum to see their "Crystal Skull" since the girls had seen the movie.

We ended up at Gordon Biersch for lunch - I made a mess, Tika teased me about it and then realized she did as well - that apple did not fall far from the tree :-). After lunch we headed into Georgetown - the girls wanted to see first hand the "Exorcist Stairs". Was kind of nice since it gave Tika a bit of insight into Georgetown University.

It was a fun day ....

.... cu

VA Cyclists are great .....

I know I will sometimes complain about cyclists not obeying traffic laws but when it comes to other stuff they are great. I went out to Purcellville today for a quick 50 mile ride. When I got to Purcellville I noticed that my front tire was feeling a bit low but nothing too dramatic. As I was riding back I came onto Charles Town Pike and noticed that the tire was done. Not sure if it was a pinch flat from the low pressure but there I was a good 16-17 miles from home with a flat. I pulled over and pulled out the spare tube I carry. I had at least 6 people stop and offer aid. I said I should be ok - I did not have a pump but I had cartridges that I thought were fine. One guy stayed as I changed the tube. When the time came to fill it ---- well both cartridges were empty. Another guy had stopped at this point and we used his pump. The whole time we were working on it, maybe 2 or 3 minutes, everyone that passed offered aid. Needless to say I was grateful. Not sure what I would have done without the extra help.

The other bit of good news was that Tika got her AP History grade back. She received a 4, highest possible is a 5. The 4 means she receives a college credit for the course. Woo hoo for Tika. This must be the summer of Tika :-)

.... cu

What a weekend ...

It was an interesting weekend ...

Saturday I went on a nice long bike ride - just about 70 miles. On my way back I came upon an accident scene on the trail I ride. Turns out an inattentive cyclist hit a pedestrian. No one there seemed to be trained in Emergency Management or first aid so I stepped in. The woman that was hit had a pretty serious injury to her arm but outside of that seemed mostly ok. The situation made it easy to keep her calm while calling for an EMT who eventually took her to the hospital. Her boyfriend seemed to appreciate the help - and of course I was glad I was able to make things a bit easier for her.

I had promised to post the video of Tika's win at Nationals - excuse the jumping at the end - I was just a little bit excited


Have a GREAT week ahead.

.... cu

Great day .....

Today was one of those days that was just overly pleasant. Got up early as always did some work, I had a nice bike ride in the morning for an hour, then headed into the office. Cleared off a few things before I headed to lunch with a friend who is now working in one of the agencies that we work with so it was a bit of work and a lot of good personal time. KJ (we will use that) is a great person to have as a friend. She is open and honest and is sincere in wanting the best for people. She is great for boosting my self confidence, and that always puts a smile on my face - a definite friend. So we had a great lunch in DC and then I headed back to Vienna on the metro and it did not breakdown (as opposed to my last metro trip from a lunch in DC). When I got home a bit more work and then an hour reading by the pool. How could a day get better :-)

In case you are wondering - reading a book on Buddhism. An introductory book. I just finished Dan Brown's Angels & Demons so I needed something a bit more substantive. And no Mom I am not converting to Buddhism (even though the hair cut fits)

.... cu

AAU Karate Championships - Final Report

Saturday was a big day for Martika. She competed at the finals event in Kumite and SHE WON. See the an article on her win at Loudoun Extra.

Finals is a big deal for the competitors. Everyone comes to finals to see the top athletes compete as well as to see the "event" of finals which includes demonstrations and special awards. Rather than 10 rings with action in all of them they create four rings and put them center stage (as it were).

Tika was very excited going in and she knew she could win - she just had to go in and compete like she had been all week. She was quickly up 2-1 when Emily, her competition came back with two quick scores to tie it 2-2. Tika responded right away - she was not losing - and won 3-2. Jerry, one of her coaches looked into the stands and said he could see how high I had jumped - he never thought I had that sort of vertical leap. When Jerry asked Tika if she saw how high I jumped she had said she did not but wished she had, but she did hear me throughout the entire match, even with all of the noise in the arena. I like to think she heard "Dad" through everything else :-)

Of course this is a big thing for Tika, in her 7th National Championship. This was one of her goals. It does not diminish how well her sisters did this week as well with Sam's first Silver in Team Kumite and her first time on Television. Then of course Kristen making it into the top 4 in her division for the first time ever. I was so proud of all of them.

I will post pics as soon as I get some from some of the folks that had good cameras and had good access.

Next up for them --- a couple of days in Canada with their Mom and then they are off to Junior Olympics in Detroit the end of the month.

.... cu

Sam made the news ....

I guess some parents would not be proud of that - I am sure Jeffery Dahlmer's parents were less than excited to hear he made the news - but in my case - I am excited. Sam was competing yesterday in a team sparring event at the AAU US National Karate Championships. Turns out the local media was there and this morning they showed a short bit of Sammy sparring. It is about 8 or 9 seconds into the video that is on the right.

And yes I was very excited to see her on the news. In case you are wondering, she won the match and her team took home Silver for the tournament.

--- cu

More Good Grades & Immigration stuff ....

Got home this evening and waiting in the mail was Samantha's report card. I was worried that it was only sent to her Mom's house. She did FANTASTIC - straight A's in fact A's in US History/Geography, Accelerated Math, and ART; A+'s in Music, Honors Science, Language Arts, Phys Ed (of course) and keyboarding. What a GREAT report card. Now I just need to track down Tika's.

Also waiting in the mail was a letter from US Citizenship and Immigration Service. In it they stated they received my application, it was being processed and that I would be contacted in 90 days for an interview. Not sure what that entails but it is progress.

Finally - been tracking my exercising for months - this month was the first month I hit over 300 miles on my bike. On top of that I ran over 30 (best month for running has been almost 40).

There is more news but I need to make some personal connections before I blog about that.

Not a bad day ----

---- cu

Beach Volleyball and good grades ....

Today was our annual company picnic --- which also means my annual beach volleyball game. I did not get any pictures from this one but I do have one from a previous year. Of course this year I am a bit thinner - my triathlon training and eating better has got me down to under 175 lbs. It was a bit hot today - over 95 so we took it easy - only 30 minutes or so of playing. My team did win :-)

Kris's report card showed up the other day. A+ in Health/PE; A in Honors Science, Art, Teen Living, Honors Civics and Geometry; B+ in Guitar and a B in English. On top of that she scored a perfect score on her Civics SOL. Of course Dad was very proud. The fact that she goes in High School with HS credits is VERY cool. I hope to see Sam's and Tika's soon.

Looking forward to next week - a few days in Albany and of course Canada Day. Hoping it will be a good Canada Day - my hearing is Monday so I will likely need a good pick me up. Hopefully after Monday I will get to see some people I have not seen for a while. Been a stressful few weeks/months.

... cu

It has been a loooong week .....

The last week has been VERY tough - some VERY good days because of the kids - and then others where the days could just not go fast enough. This week has been one where things are totally out of my control and I cannot reach out and change that. I sit and wonder if anyone else has the same challenges - not knowing what is going on - seemingly powerless to do anything about it - but wondering what is going on with things - knowing things have changed but not able to know if anyone knows. This blog has been the one thing that has help me keep my sanity --- but who knows who reads it (except I know Mom does). Hopefully the other important people are reading it - hopefully.

More cell phone camera play ---- to try and lighten things up :-)

Hope this coming week has things happening - even just a message that there is a chance - so I feel like progress is being made or at least there is hope.

cu .....

Kids reminded me of this ...

I was driving the kids home this evening and Sam started talking about Thunderstorms. It reminded me that I had seen something on the news lately and it was one of those amazing stories that I had to share. Here is the link - Luray Lightning JRT

cu ....

Another good day .....

Woke up this AM - all ready to go for a nice bike ride. I planned to ride out to the western end of the W&OD, from my place a little under 50 miles. Had a bite to eat and while it settled decided to check my e-mail. What a pleasant surprise I had. A dear friend who I had not spoken to in over 2 years had e-mailed me. I was taken back at first but when I read her message I was pleasantly surprised that my blog was one of the things she had read. I am glad she e-mailed - it had been way too long.

So today started as a good day - and stayed that way. I did get my ride in - met some nice people from Wisconsin during it. Took some pictures - the one here is a Bridge that crosses over the path west of Leesburg. One day I will have to look into the history of it. I would imagine it has been there since the rail line was in use. Got to do some reading in the sun as well (cycling creates BAD tan lines).

Camera phones are great. I can have it with me riding and snap some photos or when the girls have an event grab some pictures or video. I can also play with it. This pic will have meaning to only one person. I hope they see it.

Anyway - a GREAT day. I hope I get to stay in touch with my friend and I hope she is able to smile every day.

cu .....

Next step .....

So I went ahead and did it - I sent in my papers for Naturalization. I have been living/working in the US as a Permanent Resident for almost 7 years, but today I sent in my paperwork to change that. Looking at the Immigration Service website - the process may take a while but it is started.

I have had a lot of time this week to think about things and my GREAT day with Sam and Kris yesterday helped me to decide to go do the things that I needed to finish - things that have been left hanging out there. A good friend made me realize that I have not been all that good at finishing what I needed to and the positive outcome with Kris and Sam helped me to motivate me just to get things done. If they all turn out as great as yesterday - BONUS. One big part of finishing things is getting my hearing scheduled to finalize things with my divorce. I wish the County clerk would give us that date before I leave for Albany the week after next to see the girls compete at Nationals - fingers crossed.

After all that is finished we will see what happens :-)

---- cu

I have GREAT kids ....

OK - I will not take all the credit for my kids being great but I know that I have great kids. I have been living apart from them now for 2-1/2 years. Their Mom and I are just now finalizing things legally and there have been struggles - both between myself and their Mom and in my relationship with my kids - especially with my oldest daughter (16). We have our ups and downs and right now it is more down but I always let her know I will be there to support her. Over the past few months my two youngest (12 & 14 - all girls) have been very open about things but today they surprised even me.

I know they love their Dad but today was the day to have a conversation with them about me and relationships. I guess the biggest surprise was that my 14 year old asked why we had not had this conversation earlier. After I picked myself up from that we had a great conversation about families and relationships; about the future and about the next few months. They really did surprise me with how open they were - both about how they felt but also about how understanding they were that people need relationships - even Dads. Sam was worried that I might date one of her teachers and she was not excited about that - LOL. It was especially nice to hear that they were first concerned with Dad being happy since they knew that I would always be there for them.

WOW - what GREAT kids - now I know why I love them so much.

---- cu

Happy Graduation Kris!

It is hard to believe that I will have two daughters in High School next September. Kristen had her graduation ceremony from middle school last Wednesday. She looked great. She was very polite, no surprise there, when she received her diploma and met her new principal. It is hard to believe that they are growing up so fast. I guess it is things like this that make a guy appreciate Father's Day so much more.

I look forward to celebrating a lot more of these special days - they make all the struggles worthwhile.

.... cu

First Triathlon Completed ....

This past weekend I completed my first Triathlon - Reston Sprint. It was a Sprint, so not long, but it was fun. I think I will do a couple a year to have goals to reach each year.

The race was a 400m swim, 20 km bike and 5 km run. My official finish time was 1:18:20. Everything worked great other than some challenges getting my clips in on my initial bike mount. I had what I felt was a GREAT bike ride (36 min for 12 miles) and the run was pretty standard (9 min mile). I passed a few people and only had two pass me. There was one guy that I frogged leaped with a few times and at the VERY end he came on me with a hundred or more yards left so I decided to turn it on. I sprinted (as best I could) for the last 100+ yards. The other guy was younger and had much longer legs and managed to keep ahead of me. I made the line but was just about ready to hurl. I held it in and was fine after an orange slice.

Again - it was fun - and I did better than I had expected - 140 of 418. Definitely will be doing it again next year - see if I can do better. To get ready - maybe some swim lessons and to keep up my routine of running and biking.

... cu

Two weeks later ....

14 days ---- that is how long I was out of training. I last ran in London and within a day of that I started what eventually became Bronchitis. I did not know that until a week later - so I had taken the week to try and get through my "cold". Well when I saw the doctor he said it was bronchitis so another week of imposed rest. Yesterday I went for a short run - a little over 3.5 miles. Felt good - no troubles. This morning I got up and decided to try out the new chain on my mountain/commuter bike by riding to work. 25 miles later the chain was great and I was doing ok. I struggled on a couple of hills but all in all felt good. Now the question is can I get back in shape for the 1st of June and the Reston Sprint? Ishi means determination - I will need all I can muster.

--- cu

The kids keep bringing it .....

Yesterday was the AAU Karate Regional Championships. It was a great day so I was kind of disappointed that I could not ride my bike to the tournament. Still getting over my bronchitis and doing some work on my road bile and I need to replace the chain on my mountain bike - todays job.So I ended up driving to see the kids compete and to cheer them on. They all did great - Sam was rocking in a tough group and came home with three silvers. Kristen competed in weapons and Kata and came home with one silver and a 4th place finish. Tika was competing and coaching and came home with one gold medal and two silver. I have some pictures in a slideshow on the right. If you click on them you will go to my Picassa album. The next tournament up for them is the National Championships in Albany the end of June.

As for myself - I am hoping to start back this week with some easy training so I can start to get ready for the June 1st race. Good news is that even though my doctor said I had bronchitis he said I was in really good shape - lower BP and resting Heart rate - guess the training is working. Now to get back at it and watch what I eat for the next couple of weeks.

---- G

What a busy few weeks .....

It has been a busy 3 weeks or so ---- it started with a trip to SanFran for a few days - a good trip but VERY busy. Days were basically 12 hour days. I did manage to fit in two runs - each just under 7 miles down through the Embarcadero. It was of course windy but running near salt water was GREAT - felt like I could run forever.

The next week was in DC and it was a beautiful week. Got to swim, run and ride lots. Bike commuted one day - about 50 miles round trip so a good ride. The miles all felt great. I knew the week after would be rough on training - so I started to prepare for that.

Little did I know that the week in London would be so rough. Do not get me wrong - Love London - but where I was in Earls Court area - not a great place for running etc... I did get in 6 or 7 miles the day I arrived - from Earls Court - through Kensington - Knightsbridge and into Hyde Park. I love running in a new city - all the new things just make the miles float away. I ran by the Diana memorial along with the Prince Albert memorial and rolled back to Earls Court. The few days in London were busy as well but I did get to enjoy some of the city - got to run into the British Museum, the Natural Museum (really cool animatronic dinosaurs) along with Harrods. In all cases I do mean run - spending less than 30 minutes in each.

The worse part of the trip was coming down with some sort of chest "thing". I have been hacking up a lung since mid last week. That of course has meant bad nights sleeping and I have not been able to train. Hopefully will get this cleared up in the next day or so - only 5 weeks to the race.

--- G

Proud Dad :-)

This past Sunday my 3 girls competed at the AAU Karate Virginia State Championships. It is still hard to just sit and watch and not be coaching them but I did occasionally slip into coach mode - especially when they were sparring - BUT it was great to see how they have grown in their karate over the last few years. My youngest, Sam, is a natural talent and came home with two State Championship titles (in weapons and empty-hand kata) and a bronze in sparring - which I know disappointed her. Kris, loves the friendships she has developed in karate and enjoys competing and is looking great. She is on the verge of moving to the next level - she brought home a silver medal in weapons kata. Tika, my soon to be 16 year-old, reached another level at last years National Championships when she ended up in the top 5 in the country in one of the most competitive divisions in all of the sport. She has achieved this because she works hard and gets involved - helping teaching and as a coach herself. She also came home with two Gold medals in empty-hand Kata and sparring and a silver in weapons. She just keeps getting better and I know she works hard. Tika also spent most of the tournament helping others - whether in the ring as a coach or helping keep people organized.

How could a Dad not be proud :-)

cu

FINALLY!!!!!

After 4 attempts I have finally received my updated passport. When I started this process my passport was actually current - but after the second request for pictures it expired. It took 4 applications - 5 sets of pictures - VERY painful. It does not help that I have to do this remotely - as this is for my Canadian Passport - and then I get to do it every 5 years - YAY!

Anyway - it is done now - so the traveling will kick in - April likely SanFran and definitely London. Then in May maybe Egypt. Woo hoo - I think ;-)

cu

First ride of the spring ....

Decided to take the bike off the trainer and get it outside. Well it was my mountain bike since I am rebuilding my road bike - but it was still nice to get out. I wonder if the heavy mountain bike with those 2+" tires is as good a training tool as I think. It was not a huge ride - just under 25 miles - a reasonable pace 16 mph - but nice to get out. Really motivates me to get my road bike back together so I can get it back on the road. The plan is to switch the tires on the mountain bike for commuting during the week and then use the road bike on the weekend. I hope to start commute riding in mid-April. A couple of days a week to start. It is 25 miles each way so that will add 100 good miles for a week on top of the weekend riding. Less than 10 weeks for the Sprint - so all the time on the bike will help.

cu

High School Math ----- way too many years later

Less than a week before Spring break and my 15 year old daughter has a math test tomorrow. Grade 10 but doing pre-calculus. It has been way too many years since I have used any of it. Even with a degree in Computer Science with a major in math it takes some time to re-remember long division of polynomials - but that is ok - any time I get to spend with her is great :-)

Work is still hectic - on top of how busy my existing project is I have the London trip the end of April (still waiting for my passport - damn Canadian Passport Office). Then I just found out last night that I may have a trip to San Fran two weeks before that. On top of that the trip to Cairo is still hanging out there - maybe I will get lucky and that one will move out to later in the summer. Of course with all these trips training for the Reston Sprint becomes a challenge. I have yet to start to train on my swimming but weekly my bike and run mileage is climbing. It will be nice to hit April when I plan to ride to to work (25 miles each way) at least two days a week.

Well better get back to helping with math - before the batteries on this laptop die

cu

What a week .....

Saturday AM - @ Cariboo for my coffee and my Lemon Poppy Seed slice. This has been a hectic week. Work has been very hectic, requirements definition for the integration program I am working on has dragged on MUCH longer than it should have but I see the light at the end of the tunnel and it is not the 9:30 from Philly. I did have the opportunity to speak at the Economic Security Working Group, a working group run out of NTIA within the Department of Commerce. I had been involved with this group in its previous role in dealing with IT/Telecom and Critical Infrastructure Protection, but since 2003 their focus has been on economic security. It was good to see some familiar faces and hear some familiar voices on the conference bridge. I also was able to sit in on discussions of the February 2009 move to Digital TV signals and hear some potential impacts that I had not spent too much time thinking about (who out there owns a battery powered TV for emergencies?). I also sat through an interesting discussion on the usage of statistical analysis in critical disaster planning and evaluation. OK - Stats at college was the course everyone loved to hate but on Thursday I saw real life usage of all that stuff I learned 20 odd years ago.

Triathlon training is coming along. Time spent running and riding increases each week and I will start training in the pool this month - next couple of weeks actually. I should get my road bike reconstructed this week and then I think a quick tune and a change to less aggressive tires on the Mountain Bike so I can use that as a commuter for at least some of the time.

As one can notice - I am also starting to use the blog a bit more - finding it a good stress relief as well it has helped me get more organized. I now am using my Google Calendar for planning along with a training log. One step at a time in getting organized.

G

Too funny ....

Not having had the opportunity to vote here in the US - not naturalized yet - I relish in the US political process. Most of the time - it is followed by a long groan - but occasionally I see something that makes me smile. Walking back from my local subway just now I see a bumper sticker for a gentlemen who at some point was running for a congressional seat - his name - Al Weed. One needs to think about those banners on CNN - "Weed for Congress".

G

Late Winter at River Bend

This past weekend was just the perfect time to get out for a quick stroll through River Bend. My two youngest daughters and myself spent 90 minutes strolling through River Bend park and down into Great Falls. "Dad-time" with his girls is a challenge at times - their Mom keeps them busy - not bitter but at times disappointed. But days like Sunday make up for it.

We caught site of this tree as we were watching the Loons in the Potomac - and grant it my LG8500 is not my preferred camera - I could not resist.

G

Where do the days go .....

Maybe I need to start using eCalendars for my personal life as much as I do for work. Last Friday I woke up at my regular 5 in the morning only to realize that I had missed the registration for the Reston Triathlon by almost 36 hours - which meant that the 600 competitive slots for the race had been filled for at least 30 hours. Well I have to put it behind me and find another race to run. The TriRATS Yahoo group has been great in providing some recommendations - I just need to find the time to do a little more looking into it.

I did start replacing my bike frame. My old one tool a small hit and the aluminum dented very nicely. No other damage so I figured for this year a new frame would suffice. Of course I have all the tools to switch out Shimano elements and I have a Truvativ crankset - sigh! Another trip to the bike store.

I do need to get this organization thing down though - I have increased weekly training over the last 4 weeks - but have yet to add in swim time - which also means I have not looked into how to improve my swimming. I now have two potential trips coming up - speaking at a conference in London in April and a potential meeting in Cairo in May - so I need to get organized so I do not ruin the training goals with the trips. Once again timing is tough but how does one turn down trips to London and Cairo.

Well I guess I could be doing some organizing or continuing this post ......


cu

New job & scheduling training ....

So this year saw the start of a new job - well not really a new job so much as a move within the company. It was one of those opportunities that was hard to turn down. It certainly will not mean I am any less busy but I no longer will have a daily 100 mile commute. The 100 mile commute will be on an infrequent basis but my regular commute will be about 25 miles - which is perfect for riding. The new office also has a small gym for weights and is in Tysons so I can also run. Seems like it should be perfect for training - if I can schedule around the work and travel. Already looking at being in Cairo the week before my first Sprint Triathlon. I guess planning is going to get more and more critical.

The riding to work will also be nice so I have less dependency on my 4 wheels - which has been costing some extra $$s the last few weeks :-(

The job should be fun though - working with governments and other people for protection of Critical Infrastructure. Seems like planning for things will be big part of my work and non-work life for this year.

Now all I need to do is to find some good books on re-learning to swim. It is not that I cannot swim - BUT I certainly need to learn to swim more efficiently. February will be the first time in a pool in many years so I need to get some training aids to get me over that first big hump.

First day

Well - this is it - my first day. One would think that this would not be such a big leap having maintained my own website for years and maintaining others as well but the blog thing really has not been an avenue for me - at least not until now. Maybe some music will help - turn on iTunes - shuffle ------ OK I forgot to remove the Christmas music from the playlist - live with it for now.

So I have had to think about what this blog will be - and I think it will end up being my motivation for training this year. And I may use it to brag about my girls so their grandparents can see how well they are doing ;-)

Training this year is for a couple of triathlons. My plan is to compete in a Sprint and an Olympic distance race. Of course it is something totally new for me - but I started running last year and got back to biking. Now I just need to start thinking about swimming as a element of the sport as opposed to drowning prevention. Don't get me wrong - I can swim - just not all that efficiently. So January will be setting a baseline - stripping off a few excess pounds and getting a base for building up my biking and running. Beginning of February will be evaluating my swimming and getting any help I need there and then start in February to work from a plan so I can get fully committed.

I know once I write that plan the determination will kick in. I just need to write that plan.

CU