Southwest Virginia Blogs

We go through an interesting process each Christmas.  Each member of the family puts together an email of gifts that they might like.  We have been downsizing the prices of the items on the list for a couple of year now.

What is really important is getting together and enjoying each other's company, not how much loot you haul back home.  We have found that it is lot more fun opening a bunch of stocking presents than it is a couple of bigger presents.  The biggest challenge each year is getting that email our of everyone.  We have one member whose list is still missing.  I actually had fun thinking of the things that I want while trying to have them be relatively inexpensive.

We have a couple of presents that get re-gifted each year.  I also tried to broaden the kids horizons a little by sometimes slipping some potted meat or other Boy Scout emergency food into their stockings.  Seeing their faces when they come upon a can of Spam is a favorite part of the holidays for me.

The older you get, the more you understand that the relationships you build do not need material gifts to keep them going.  What they need is time, effort, and your full attention when you get together.

I like to think that life is more about whom I care about than what is the latest item that everyone is trying to buy.  There was a very sad story in the Raleigh News & Observer about a death related to the theft of two new Sony Playstations.  How did we get the point that people are stealing games and being killed for it?

You just have to hope that you can keep family out of the craziness.

We go through an interesting process each Christmas.  Each member of the family puts together an email of gifts that they might like.  We have been downsizing the prices of the items on the list for a couple of year now.

What is really important is getting together and enjoying each other's company, not how much loot you haul back home.  We have found that it is lot more fun opening a bunch of stocking presents than it is a couple of bigger presents.  The biggest challenge each year is getting that email our of everyone.  We have one member whose list is still missing.  I actually had fun thinking of the things that I want while trying to have them be relatively inexpensive.

We have a couple of presents that get re-gifted each year.  I also tried to broaden the kids horizons a little by sometimes slipping some potted meat or other Boy Scout emergency food into their stockings.  Seeing their faces when they come upon a can of Spam is a favorite part of the holidays for me.

The older you get, the more you understand that the relationships you build do not need material gifts to keep them going.  What they need is time, effort, and your full attention when you get together.

I like to think that life is more about whom I care about than what is the latest item that everyone is trying to buy.  There was a very sad story in the Raleigh News & Observer about a death related to the theft of two new Sony Playstations.  How did we get the point that people are stealing games and being killed for it?

You just have to hope that you can keep family out of the craziness.

We go through an interesting process each Christmas.  Each member of the family puts together an email of gifts that they might like.  We have been downsizing the prices of the items on the list for a couple of year now.

What is really important is getting together and enjoying each other's company, not how much loot you haul back home.  We have found that it is lot more fun opening a bunch of stocking presents than it is a couple of bigger presents.  The biggest challenge each year is getting that email our of everyone.  We have one member whose list is still missing.  I actually had fun thinking of the things that I want while trying to have them be relatively inexpensive.

We have a couple of presents that get re-gifted each year.  I also tried to broaden the kids horizons a little by sometimes slipping some potted meat or other Boy Scout emergency food into their stockings.  Seeing their faces when they come upon a can of Spam is a favorite part of the holidays for me.

The older you get, the more you understand that the relationships you build do not need material gifts to keep them going.  What they need is time, effort, and your full attention when you get together.

I like to think that life is more about whom I care about than what is the latest item that everyone is trying to buy.  There was a very sad story in the Raleigh News & Observer about a death related to the theft of two new Sony Playstations.  How did we get the point that people are stealing games and being killed for it?

You just have to hope that you can keep family out of the craziness.

We go through an interesting process each Christmas.  Each member of the family puts together an email of gifts that they might like.  We have been downsizing the prices of the items on the list for a couple of year now.

What is really important is getting together and enjoying each other's company, not how much loot you haul back home.  We have found that it is lot more fun opening a bunch of stocking presents than it is a couple of bigger presents.  The biggest challenge each year is getting that email our of everyone.  We have one member whose list is still missing.  I actually had fun thinking of the things that I want while trying to have them be relatively inexpensive.

We have a couple of presents that get re-gifted each year.  I also tried to broaden the kids horizons a little by sometimes slipping some potted meat or other Boy Scout emergency food into their stockings.  Seeing their faces when they come upon a can of Spam is a favorite part of the holidays for me.

The older you get, the more you understand that the relationships you build do not need material gifts to keep them going.  What they need is time, effort, and your full attention when you get together.

I like to think that life is more about whom I care about than what is the latest item that everyone is trying to buy.  There was a very sad story in the Raleigh News & Observer about a death related to the theft of two new Sony Playstations.  How did we get the point that people are stealing games and being killed for it?

You just have to hope that you can keep family out of the craziness.

We go through an interesting process each Christmas.  Each member of the family puts together an email of gifts that they might like.  We have been downsizing the prices of the items on the list for a couple of year now.

What is really important is getting together and enjoying each other's company, not how much loot you haul back home.  We have found that it is lot more fun opening a bunch of stocking presents than it is a couple of bigger presents.  The biggest challenge each year is getting that email our of everyone.  We have one member whose list is still missing.  I actually had fun thinking of the things that I want while trying to have them be relatively inexpensive.

We have a couple of presents that get re-gifted each year.  I also tried to broaden the kids horizons a little by sometimes slipping some potted meat or other Boy Scout emergency food into their stockings.  Seeing their faces when they come upon a can of Spam is a favorite part of the holidays for me.

The older you get, the more you understand that the relationships you build do not need material gifts to keep them going.  What they need is time, effort, and your full attention when you get together.

I like to think that life is more about whom I care about than what is the latest item that everyone is trying to buy.  There was a very sad story in the Raleigh News & Observer about a death related to the theft of two new Sony Playstations.  How did we get the point that people are stealing games and being killed for it?

You just have to hope that you can keep family out of the craziness.

We go through an interesting process each Christmas.  Each member of the family puts together an email of gifts that they might like.  We have been downsizing the prices of the items on the list for a couple of year now.

What is really important is getting together and enjoying each other's company, not how much loot you haul back home.  We have found that it is lot more fun opening a bunch of stocking presents than it is a couple of bigger presents.  The biggest challenge each year is getting that email our of everyone.  We have one member whose list is still missing.  I actually had fun thinking of the things that I want while trying to have them be relatively inexpensive.

We have a couple of presents that get re-gifted each year.  I also tried to broaden the kids horizons a little by sometimes slipping some potted meat or other Boy Scout emergency food into their stockings.  Seeing their faces when they come upon a can of Spam is a favorite part of the holidays for me.

The older you get, the more you understand that the relationships you build do not need material gifts to keep them going.  What they need is time, effort, and your full attention when you get together.

I like to think that life is more about whom I care about than what is the latest item that everyone is trying to buy.  There was a very sad story in the Raleigh News & Observer about a death related to the theft of two new Sony Playstations.  How did we get the point that people are stealing games and being killed for it?

You just have to hope that you can keep family out of the craziness.

There are times when God asks nothing of his children except silence, patience and tears.

C. S. Robinson

Thursday night my baby took me for a date on the town for dinner, the Borat movie and some live music.   I can't say that Borat wasn't very funny but it ended up getting so offensive in general that I think I spent a big part of it with my mouth hanging open.......I think viewer discretion really applies to this one.

Friday was tree trimming night and Saturday everything got off schedule.  While decorating the house my sister called and they had taken my dad to the hospital.   He spent the night and it appears he will be needing blood pressure medication.  My dad has always been very healthy and active so we knew he had to be serious to go to the ER.   He was having spells where he tasted chemicals and then would black out.   But they have him fixed up and back at home today............of course we were very relieved.  Papa is a very important person to a lot of people, especially 5 little kids.

Since Amy and Delane had Christmas plans and the boys were to stay at mom and dads they got to come home with me instead.  But I think you can tell from the above pictures that they had a pretty darned good time.....at least I hope so.

This morning they played dress up before their mama and daddy arrived and called themselves "The Nut Brothers" .  They were little nuts alright...........

They reminded me more of those "Wild and Crazy guys" from SNL....Ben especially reminded me of a younger, and much slimmer, Dan Ackroyd.

So here is a little video to the tune of Sharp Dressed Man....the only problem is I had forgotten how much I like ZZ and about the time I get into it the music the video is over....it is a short one.  Hope you enjoy..........

There are times when God asks nothing of his children except silence, patience and tears.

C. S. Robinson

Thursday night my baby took me for a date on the town for dinner, the Borat movie and some live music.   I can't say that Borat wasn't very funny but it ended up getting so offensive in general that I think I spent a big part of it with my mouth hanging open.......I think viewer discretion really applies to this one.

Friday was tree trimming night and Saturday everything got off schedule.  While decorating the house my sister called and they had taken my dad to the hospital.   He spent the night and it appears he will be needing blood pressure medication.  My dad has always been very healthy and active so we knew he had to be serious to go to the ER.   He was having spells where he tasted chemicals and then would black out.   But they have him fixed up and back at home today............of course we were very relieved.  Papa is a very important person to a lot of people, especially 5 little kids.

Since Amy and Delane had Christmas plans and the boys were to stay at mom and dads they got to come home with me instead.  But I think you can tell from the above pictures that they had a pretty darned good time.....at least I hope so.

This morning they played dress up before their mama and daddy arrived and called themselves "The Nut Brothers" .  They were little nuts alright...........

They reminded me more of those "Wild and Crazy guys" from SNL....Ben especially reminded me of a younger, and much slimmer, Dan Ackroyd.

So here is a little video to the tune of Sharp Dressed Man....the only problem is I had forgotten how much I like ZZ and about the time I get into it the music the video is over....it is a short one.  Hope you enjoy..........

Baby says "no way"

I could post on how my normal Christmas decorating weekend came and went with only 2 items being pulled from the Christmas stash into our living room.  I thought of writing about the re-organization of our walk in closet Saturday morning or the presents I am delighted to have gotten Saturday for the kids.   I could write on the diet I am going on to be able to wear my bathing suit in St. Martin's this February.

But since most of you can relate to leftovers from the weekend  I want to share my own.

I spent almost all day at mom and dad's yesterday.  We had a truly scrumptious sit down dinner and I had set up shop with my backdrops in the house to work on family shots.  1: I wanted practice for the real paying gigs coming up and 2: I needed a family portrait shot for advertising.

I found that one on one I am great with the kids.  Especially "my" kids because I can pull their personalities out and capture it fairly well.  Children like me.  With two I am still pretty good.  But a whole gaggle of family was harder than I thought.  If it wasn't my slow focusing it was a little one moving or squirming or my lens didn't fit them in well enough.   I don't particularly care for the wide angle I use now....the one I want will be close to a grand so I have to wait.  I started with the best zoom and portrait lenses instead.   And when I pulled out my wide angle that I had to use to capture mom and dad with the kids or Jackson and Ben doing karate moves I found later that there are spots from where the dogs licked me in the face with the camera one day..........

Well practice makes perfect!   

So here are some of my favorite LEFTOVERS!

This is my favorite shot of the day.  Why?  Because real families aren't perfect and this actually fits Melanie's family more than a perfectly posed shot.  Caleb is nearly smothering his mother, Seth is wild with Eric hanging on for dear life and Izzy, in her true form, is oblivious to all behind her and is instead focused on herself and her perfect pose.    I love it.

Can't hold on to the baby.

A Tumble.

Why is this an outtake?..... Where's papa and Ben?  Rollie's lens problems.

And look...Seth can do that with a perfectly straight face!

I thought Delane wouldn't jump in for a family photo because he didn't want to end up in a newspaper ad.  Now I think he had other reasons......

Baby says "no way"

I could post on how my normal Christmas decorating weekend came and went with only 2 items being pulled from the Christmas stash into our living room.  I thought of writing about the re-organization of our walk in closet Saturday morning or the presents I am delighted to have gotten Saturday for the kids.   I could write on the diet I am going on to be able to wear my bathing suit in St. Martin's this February.

But since most of you can relate to leftovers from the weekend  I want to share my own.

I spent almost all day at mom and dad's yesterday.  We had a truly scrumptious sit down dinner and I had set up shop with my backdrops in the house to work on family shots.  1: I wanted practice for the real paying gigs coming up and 2: I needed a family portrait shot for advertising.

I found that one on one I am great with the kids.  Especially "my" kids because I can pull their personalities out and capture it fairly well.  Children like me.  With two I am still pretty good.  But a whole gaggle of family was harder than I thought.  If it wasn't my slow focusing it was a little one moving or squirming or my lens didn't fit them in well enough.   I don't particularly care for the wide angle I use now....the one I want will be close to a grand so I have to wait.  I started with the best zoom and portrait lenses instead.   And when I pulled out my wide angle that I had to use to capture mom and dad with the kids or Jackson and Ben doing karate moves I found later that there are spots from where the dogs licked me in the face with the camera one day..........

Well practice makes perfect!   

So here are some of my favorite LEFTOVERS!

This is my favorite shot of the day.  Why?  Because real families aren't perfect and this actually fits Melanie's family more than a perfectly posed shot.  Caleb is nearly smothering his mother, Seth is wild with Eric hanging on for dear life and Izzy, in her true form, is oblivious to all behind her and is instead focused on herself and her perfect pose.    I love it.

Can't hold on to the baby.

A Tumble.

Why is this an outtake?..... Where's papa and Ben?  Rollie's lens problems.

And look...Seth can do that with a perfectly straight face!

I thought Delane wouldn't jump in for a family photo because he didn't want to end up in a newspaper ad.  Now I think he had other reasons......

The beautiful late fall day we had yesterday is just a memory.  The temperature will not make it above 50 degrees Fahrenheit.  There is also a cool north wind.

Cold weather does make it feel like the holidays, but I enjoyed yesterday's warm weather.  Still there is certain beauty in the dark skies and muted colors.

Our son is not going to be able to join us for Thanksgiving this year for the first time.  He will be greatly missed.   We still miss my mother who now hasn't been with with us since  2003, and our Lab, Chester who died the same year.

Getting together with your family is one of the real treats in life.  It is nice to have a fancy meal, but the most important thing is the opportunity to renew the ties that bind us to one another.  Our family likes to say that home is the one place where you are always welcome.

We have a cat.  During Thanksgiving we have a visiting cat and dog.  Somehow they manage to get through the holiday.   It's too bad  others can't figure out how to coexist like the cats and dog.

This morning I read that Canada is having another debate about Quebec.  It seems that Quebec wants to be a nation within a nation.  I thought that was already the case in 1987 when we left Canada, but I guess it is hard to satisfy the separatists.  The good news is that Canada can debate even its own citizens to sleep so I am not too worried about a Canadian civil war.

We spent so many years in Canada that I always think about Canada during Thanksgiving.  Thanksgiving was the holiday that I missed the most when we lived in Canada.  Thanksgiving is the American holiday to me.   While we all live independent lives in independent countries,  I still think our interdependence is the key to happiness whether were talking provinces, countries, or families.

Thanksgiving is a good time to relax and enjoy those that love us unconditionally.

I read an article, "Lost and forsaken in Canada," in today's Toronto Star.  It was about an immigrant to Canada who in despair had jumped to his death from a bridge into Highway 401 traffic.  The Toronto paper described him in this manner.

Jiang Guobing was well-educated. He had a doctorate in nuclear engineering from a prestigious U.S. university but apparently that was not enough for Canadian employers.

Having immigrated to Canada from Honduras as a child, I understood his despair. Coming to this country with very well-educated parents and watching them struggle and never achieving their dreams was very hard...

I think that's what happened to Jiang Guobing. He lost his way. He felt like a failure, not only to himself but to his family.

Having lost a job in corporate American myself, I find it easy to guess some of Jiang's feelings.  I'm sure being highly educated and probably successful, he felt very frustrated not being able to work in his chosen field. 

I am one of those high tech people, who no matter what the company said, really got rid of me because I was too old and expensive.   I was also a little too ethical for their tastes, complaining loudly when they mistreated people working on my team or when they played around with the financial results.

When you've been very successful all your life and have been in same company for twenty years, losing your seat at the whim of new under forty manager who was also your fifth manager in two years is a little galling, but it is a regular occurrence in corporate American.  If you are over fifty and in the technology business, you're probably an endangered species.  It doesn't matter how successful you are, likely you are considered a dinosaur even if you are very technical.  If that isn't the case, consider yourself very lucky to be working in an enlightened company.  I can assure you Apple wasn't and probably hasn't changed.

Leaving Apple wasn't the end for me.  It has been the beginning.  Though not everything has been perfect or worked out as planned, I can say that in spite of the many challenges, 28 months after leaving Apple, I continue to put bread on the table, and the future is very bright.

I have learned a tremendous amount since I left Apple.  I actually can talk from experience about Linux, Windows XP, lambda speed networking, and how to market products through the web.  I continue to believe that my sales techniques can be of great value to companies, and I recently provided some sales help to a telecommunications company.  I even manage to sell a few of my own  high quality prints by the web.  Now I am just finishing up some last courses in real estate so I can take advantage of the broker's license that I got by passing the North Carolina state exam in September.  Going back to school, while intimidating, hasn't slowed me down.  I think it has accelerated the changes brought about by my developing web presence.

In fact I would have to say that beyond my close friends and family, the family I developed from friendships on the web has been key to keeping me from being lost and forsaken at 57.

My writing for the web allowed me to develop a new identity to replace the one that I lost when I left Apple.  It kept me from becoming just another anonymous old guy who got replaced at tech company.

I've written lots and been written about enough to drive my numbers to the point that I'm very excited about my web stats.  On Feedburner, I have 1,385 subscribers to my two main blogs.  Just this week, Typepad has recorded over 22,000 visitors to my two main sites, and the numbers seem to be increasing rapidly.

Writing for no monetary compensation has given me something to fall back on whenever I was between jobs.  It's been a great way to get my thoughts sorted out and to find a great support group of people who believe in the intrinsic value of communicating through the web.

I don't pretend to have any great secrets or wisdom to share with the world through my blog.  I do hope that my observations help others enjoy another perspective. Usually it has some pretty neat pictures of the mountains or ocean attached.

Filling in the blanks of knowledge that have been created by our increasingly mobile and fractured society is one of things that I believe blogs do best.  We've become a society where Google is the local authority.  I think blogs to it better if you can find the right one.  The conversations I've had on the web have been good ones that would be hard to duplicate if I were limited to just the people in the this geographic area.

I fill more connected because of my web presence.  That along with absolutely stellar family, friends, and business associates has helped smooth my transition from the dysfunctional world of Apple to a new life where I can't wait to get up every morning and see the sunrise, whether it is over the mountains or the water.

I wish Dr. Guobing had been as lucky.

On another note, this is post 1,001.  I made it over the top.