Wednesday, August 03, 2011
Remember me?
The process of updating this blog has obviously been tough for me lately. I have so many other things drawing my attention that it's tough to get over here and post an update. I know that there are ways to get it done, but I don't want it to feel like work.
I got online today to check out my neighbor's blog. He retired recently and is heading out on a cross-country ride on his Harley. I saw him off this morning with his SUV and trailer with his two bikes. He will cross the country to his brother's house in Virginia and then start the motorcycle riding part of the trip. If anyone is interested, he plans to blog his trip at:
http://GonzoCrossUSA.blogspot.com
(If I am less lazy later, I will turn that into a hyperlink.)
On the personal front, things are well. I still have the same job. I am about to transition from one customer project in Canada to another customer project in Canada. That will carry me through at least the end of the year at which point I will have been working exclusively on international projects for 4 straight years (starting with my New Zealand and Sweden trips in Dec 2007)!
Bethany turns 18 years old today!!!! She is very excited about starting at San Diego State University at the end of this month. She will be living on campus, although we still have a few details to learn about that.
Hayley had to make up her 2nd semester of Geometry with a summer school class to improve her grade. From what she is telling us, she is doing a great job! She has her final tomorrow and it sounds like she is on track to get an A this time.
Honestly, I am not sure what all Andrew is up to lately. He still lives with my mom in Costa Mesa and spends a lot of time on his passion: music. He is doing some sort of self-employed web site design work now too, but I don't know many details around that. I think he is just finishing his first project now.
Thanks for letting me share again, even if it has been a while. Even if no one has time to read it, at least I got a little writing practice again!
I got online today to check out my neighbor's blog. He retired recently and is heading out on a cross-country ride on his Harley. I saw him off this morning with his SUV and trailer with his two bikes. He will cross the country to his brother's house in Virginia and then start the motorcycle riding part of the trip. If anyone is interested, he plans to blog his trip at:
http://GonzoCrossUSA.blogspot.com
(If I am less lazy later, I will turn that into a hyperlink.)
On the personal front, things are well. I still have the same job. I am about to transition from one customer project in Canada to another customer project in Canada. That will carry me through at least the end of the year at which point I will have been working exclusively on international projects for 4 straight years (starting with my New Zealand and Sweden trips in Dec 2007)!
Bethany turns 18 years old today!!!! She is very excited about starting at San Diego State University at the end of this month. She will be living on campus, although we still have a few details to learn about that.
Hayley had to make up her 2nd semester of Geometry with a summer school class to improve her grade. From what she is telling us, she is doing a great job! She has her final tomorrow and it sounds like she is on track to get an A this time.
Honestly, I am not sure what all Andrew is up to lately. He still lives with my mom in Costa Mesa and spends a lot of time on his passion: music. He is doing some sort of self-employed web site design work now too, but I don't know many details around that. I think he is just finishing his first project now.
Thanks for letting me share again, even if it has been a while. Even if no one has time to read it, at least I got a little writing practice again!
Labels: Andrew, Bethany, Hayley, School, Work
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
Spring Cleaning on Steroids!
I had to go all the way to Toronto to find time to post another update! Unfortunately, this posting is all about cleaning and lots of nasty dust. I will try to find a better topic next time, but if you are feeling masochistic then read on...
The theme of our lives lately has been Spring Cleaning. However, this is not your ordinary cleaning process. We have lived in our house for 10 years now and we literally had some things that had not been put away since we moved in. For example, we have a small retreat area on one side of our bedroom. That was an ideal space to store some shelves from the old house until we found a place to put them. Fast forward 10 years and it was finally time to put them up.
To start the process, I took the entire week of Spring Break off from work. Bethany was in Europe on a school trip (probably a much more interesting story than this, but that is her story to tell). We took some time each day to find something fun to do with Hayley, but mostly she was on her own.
Our job was to dig into that retreat area, file or put away what we wanted to keep, shred or throw away the garbage, and do something with those shelves. The amount of dust that had built up was really embarrassing. I'm talking why-am-I-admitting-this bad! On top of that, we shredded literally YEARS of old records. We burnt out a shredder in the process (more on that later) and it felt like an early Easter as I went around the neighborhood leaving large gift bags of shredded paper in our neighbors' recycling bins. It's amazing just how much paper can accumulate if you don't keep up a system of taking care of it!
Regarding the shredder, it was a cheapo unit that I bought years ago for around $25. When it decided that it was done, we found an ad from Staples that included a $50 trade-in for any old shredder towards the purchase of a new one. So now we have a much better shredder that keeps eyeing our daily junk mail with a gleam in its eye.
Why were we doing all of this? You may have guessed: we had cleaning people coming. True story! I had purchased a certificate for 50% off from a local cleaning company and they would do what we wanted them to do. Celeste had specific jobs in mind for them after we cleared away enough debris for them to get to those jobs.
Beyond the cleaning crew, we also had a painting crew coming in next to paint the upstairs "hard parts" (we had done the bedrooms already). The cleaning was needed to get ready for the painting. However, the cleaning crew never showed up. Long story, but we got our money back. However, that left the jobs they were going to do up to us. However, we were out of time during our Spring Break week for that.
Last weekend we finished the job. That included packing things from the play room, taking pictures from the walls, getting rid of even more dust from hard-to-reach places, moving furniture, etc. We got it all done and ready for the painters. Wow was I ready to come to Toronto and get some rest!
While I am here this week, the painters have done their thing. Next weekend we start the process of putting everything back.
It will be nice to have a cleaner house, freshly painted, with a lot less clutter about to go back to.
P.S. Lee (if you read this far) - They do not have Sky News on the local channels here. However, my customer did comment on the major political shift to the right that happened this week that corresponds with your comment about this new conservative news channel.
The theme of our lives lately has been Spring Cleaning. However, this is not your ordinary cleaning process. We have lived in our house for 10 years now and we literally had some things that had not been put away since we moved in. For example, we have a small retreat area on one side of our bedroom. That was an ideal space to store some shelves from the old house until we found a place to put them. Fast forward 10 years and it was finally time to put them up.
To start the process, I took the entire week of Spring Break off from work. Bethany was in Europe on a school trip (probably a much more interesting story than this, but that is her story to tell). We took some time each day to find something fun to do with Hayley, but mostly she was on her own.
Our job was to dig into that retreat area, file or put away what we wanted to keep, shred or throw away the garbage, and do something with those shelves. The amount of dust that had built up was really embarrassing. I'm talking why-am-I-admitting-this bad! On top of that, we shredded literally YEARS of old records. We burnt out a shredder in the process (more on that later) and it felt like an early Easter as I went around the neighborhood leaving large gift bags of shredded paper in our neighbors' recycling bins. It's amazing just how much paper can accumulate if you don't keep up a system of taking care of it!
Regarding the shredder, it was a cheapo unit that I bought years ago for around $25. When it decided that it was done, we found an ad from Staples that included a $50 trade-in for any old shredder towards the purchase of a new one. So now we have a much better shredder that keeps eyeing our daily junk mail with a gleam in its eye.
Why were we doing all of this? You may have guessed: we had cleaning people coming. True story! I had purchased a certificate for 50% off from a local cleaning company and they would do what we wanted them to do. Celeste had specific jobs in mind for them after we cleared away enough debris for them to get to those jobs.
Beyond the cleaning crew, we also had a painting crew coming in next to paint the upstairs "hard parts" (we had done the bedrooms already). The cleaning was needed to get ready for the painting. However, the cleaning crew never showed up. Long story, but we got our money back. However, that left the jobs they were going to do up to us. However, we were out of time during our Spring Break week for that.
Last weekend we finished the job. That included packing things from the play room, taking pictures from the walls, getting rid of even more dust from hard-to-reach places, moving furniture, etc. We got it all done and ready for the painters. Wow was I ready to come to Toronto and get some rest!
While I am here this week, the painters have done their thing. Next weekend we start the process of putting everything back.
It will be nice to have a cleaner house, freshly painted, with a lot less clutter about to go back to.
P.S. Lee (if you read this far) - They do not have Sky News on the local channels here. However, my customer did comment on the major political shift to the right that happened this week that corresponds with your comment about this new conservative news channel.
Friday, April 01, 2011
We work, work, work, work, work, work, work, work...
My blog was dormant for a long time mainly due to heavy work demands on my time.
The dwarves sang their working song with such joy. I enjoy my work, but I don't live for it. However, being a consultant leads to busy times and slow times. You dread the slow times because consulting is all about utilization (i.e., being busy). You dread the busy times because they usually lead to trade offs in life between long work hours, family time, helping with homework, volunteer activities, etc. For me personally, the trade off is usually met by cutting back on activities that are fun for me personally and sleep.
The key is to remember that this is all a phase. The need to spend time with the kids for homework, volunteer work for their groups, etc. is drawing to a close soon. Bethany will be away from home next Fall leaving us with just 3 people at home. Hayley is just 3 school years behind her. I expect that a few years from now I'll look back at these times fondly and wonder why they are gone. I am saving up a lot of the fun things that I want to do for then when I will have the time to do them. Maybe that will keep me from looking backwards too often.
I have heard an expression that no one ever gets to the end of their life and regrets that they didn't work more hours. Really? I'm sure that there are plenty of people that are miserable at the end of their life because they weren't willing to put in enough work hours. For me, the trick is balance. I need to work enough to provide for my family and hopefully have something left over to retire someday. However, I need to be around my family enough to enjoy and share the fruits of my labor. I hope that I will look back at the end of my life and think that I found a good balance of work, family, and meeting my personal needs.
The dwarves sang their working song with such joy. I enjoy my work, but I don't live for it. However, being a consultant leads to busy times and slow times. You dread the slow times because consulting is all about utilization (i.e., being busy). You dread the busy times because they usually lead to trade offs in life between long work hours, family time, helping with homework, volunteer activities, etc. For me personally, the trade off is usually met by cutting back on activities that are fun for me personally and sleep.
The key is to remember that this is all a phase. The need to spend time with the kids for homework, volunteer work for their groups, etc. is drawing to a close soon. Bethany will be away from home next Fall leaving us with just 3 people at home. Hayley is just 3 school years behind her. I expect that a few years from now I'll look back at these times fondly and wonder why they are gone. I am saving up a lot of the fun things that I want to do for then when I will have the time to do them. Maybe that will keep me from looking backwards too often.
I have heard an expression that no one ever gets to the end of their life and regrets that they didn't work more hours. Really? I'm sure that there are plenty of people that are miserable at the end of their life because they weren't willing to put in enough work hours. For me, the trick is balance. I need to work enough to provide for my family and hopefully have something left over to retire someday. However, I need to be around my family enough to enjoy and share the fruits of my labor. I hope that I will look back at the end of my life and think that I found a good balance of work, family, and meeting my personal needs.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
BSA Troop 339 50 year reunion
For those of you that I enjoyed some Boy Scout years with, I got a call this weekend about an upcoming 50 year reunion for Troop 339 in Costa Mesa.
Here is the email that I received:
Thanks for contacting me. this is the right e-mail to send info for the roster of troop 339(Still the best troop in town).
So far we have about 220 names of former and present scouts. Still there are lots of open spaces to fill in.
The reunion is planned for the fall of 2012. Please start collecting your own album of all awailable pictures, news prints and memories.
Surprise it will look good.
For the troop roster please send:
Your DOB, Rank, Years active in troop, Phone number, address and e-mail.
Please let u know of other scouts you remember. If you just have a telephone number or e-mail. Lets do an excellentT339 scouting out job of all former members.
Scoutmasters you had at your time. Please write down camping stories. Scoutmaster Dalton Pittman, Ron Litke and Bob Hatcher where are you? The eggduplicator stilll lives on and got some relatives too.
Please send what ever you have whenever to this e-mail. We all thank you for your avtive help.
In good scouting i send greetings from
Lilo and Klaus Gruenbeck
T: 714.545.6035
omalilo@netzero.net
Here is the email that I received:
Thanks for contacting me. this is the right e-mail to send info for the roster of troop 339(Still the best troop in town).
So far we have about 220 names of former and present scouts. Still there are lots of open spaces to fill in.
The reunion is planned for the fall of 2012. Please start collecting your own album of all awailable pictures, news prints and memories.
Surprise it will look good.
For the troop roster please send:
Your DOB, Rank, Years active in troop, Phone number, address and e-mail.
Please let u know of other scouts you remember. If you just have a telephone number or e-mail. Lets do an excellentT339 scouting out job of all former members.
Scoutmasters you had at your time. Please write down camping stories. Scoutmaster Dalton Pittman, Ron Litke and Bob Hatcher where are you? The eggduplicator stilll lives on and got some relatives too.
Please send what ever you have whenever to this e-mail. We all thank you for your avtive help.
In good scouting i send greetings from
Lilo and Klaus Gruenbeck
T: 714.545.6035
omalilo@netzero.net
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Updated Profile
Thanks to all that have come to find me again despite a long absence. I will try to make short updates that fit into my schedule better.
Today's update: FlyingVan pointed out that my profile was a bit stale. I had to dig around a bit, but the profile is updated. Nothing too exciting in the update, but at least there are no out-of-date facts there now!
Today's update: FlyingVan pointed out that my profile was a bit stale. I had to dig around a bit, but the profile is updated. Nothing too exciting in the update, but at least there are no out-of-date facts there now!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Quick Updates
Since my posts last year...
I have been traveling back and forth to Canada (Toronto and Montreal) a lot for a customer. The project is continuing and I am about to head back again.
Andrew is working at "Prehistoric Pets" - a store in Fountain Valley that sells pets such as reptiles and arachnids. They also do birthday parties with said animals. He is also taking music classes to expand his musical skills. He still lives with my mom on Costa Mesa.
Bethany just decided to become an Aztec. This is breaking news. She will officially be at SDSU in late August, but the payments started last night.
Hayley keeps active with Club Volleyball, Girl Scouts, Sea Scouts, and of course school. So far she has been able to effectively manage all of these activities, but it keeps her (and us) very busy!
I have been traveling back and forth to Canada (Toronto and Montreal) a lot for a customer. The project is continuing and I am about to head back again.
Andrew is working at "Prehistoric Pets" - a store in Fountain Valley that sells pets such as reptiles and arachnids. They also do birthday parties with said animals. He is also taking music classes to expand his musical skills. He still lives with my mom on Costa Mesa.
Bethany just decided to become an Aztec. This is breaking news. She will officially be at SDSU in late August, but the payments started last night.
Hayley keeps active with Club Volleyball, Girl Scouts, Sea Scouts, and of course school. So far she has been able to effectively manage all of these activities, but it keeps her (and us) very busy!
Labels: Andrew, Bethany, Hayley, Work
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Dusty...
The action opens with Rob peeking in and noticing that the place is kind of musty. Rob does a little bit of dusting then heads out the door with a mental promise to return soon.
