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.

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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

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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

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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.

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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.

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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.

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