I have a fascination with the days leading up to Independence Day, especially when it occurs later in the week. People prepare differently. Some, buy fireworks weeks in advance, prepare their barbeques, get all their ornamentations out, and celebrate! Others become hermits, trekking away to campsites far away, celebrating very independently, and ( Read more... )

Everything is starting to normalize. My body went through hula-hoops since my arrival on Sunday, at one point I convinced myself it was the next day, then would sleep whenever the opportunity presented itself. Jet lag is rough; I’ve dealt with it before but never to this extent. Eight hours forward four weeks ago, and then back for a week, then ( Read more... )

I decided to abandon my original idea of sitting in the hotel all afternoon and instead walked Orchard Road (more information here). The walk, especially in this heat and humidity, is not overly enjoyable. I told myself I’d never do it again (I did it last in 2004), yet here I was, walking it again. I made it three-quarters of the way, crossed the ( Read more... )

My trip to Singapore has been busy with very limited time for enjoyment. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday were constant, filled with discussions on every aspect of the project. I gave up taking notes early on, as I knew my memory would serve me better than occasional four or five words in a text editor. Wednesday, I arrived at the office at 8, met ( Read more... )

Tonight’s my last night in Germany. This brings to mind a song by Queensryche, Last Time in Paris, even though I’m in Essen and this won’t be my last time. Didn’t do much today, had a few meetings, then went with one of the team to pick up a few remaining gifts which were for the older children. I purchased Jessica’s gift four days ago; she’s not ( Read more... )

My first week in Germany is ending and I’m no worse for wear. I haven’t drank this much beer since my early twenties; I’m starting to question whether my liver is rotting. We’ve eaten some excellent food (except for Thursday’s lunchtime gnocchi, which was horrible) and had a lot of fun. A culmination of three Americans, one Kenyan, one German, one ( Read more... )

I hate it when I haven’t posted in a few days; too much to recap and there’s always something forgotten. Maybe I’m getting old or at least more gray. Maybe all those gray hairs are ruining my memory. It’s nice though to forget things every now and then especially when people remind you that you’ve forgotten something they needed you to do.

The ( Read more... )

I have begun the bread after a fifteen minute delay (I left the yeast at the grocery store yesterday and started making the dough today at 1:30, had to run to the grocery store again). There was a plan to start making the bread last night but the Rockies were playing their tie-in against the Padres and I wasn’t about to miss the game. After ( Read more... )

I'd like to recap my whole week as it truly has been a week from hell. Jessica and the children were wonderfully and unbelievably supportive of me during the week and I'm truly thankful for having such a wonderful wife and family. Where to begin? I think I'll start with the technical and work my way to the non-technical more family oriented ( Read more... )

I'm never this bad. When I travel I can go for almost a week before I start to miss Jessica and the children. With her and Rylin being in New York and New Jersey until this upcoming Tuesday afternoon it's like there's a level of silence in the house that's quite uncomfortable. Tyler, Kylea, and Ayden have been wonderful these past twenty-four ( Read more... )