Thursday, November 10

Our yard is (almost) complete!

The landscaper has preety much finished the yard now - our grass gets laid tomorrow and the BBQ and hot tub should be delivered by the end of next week! Yay! I'll post pics when everything is done.

Thursday, October 27

More pics . . ..



More to come tomorrow . .. .

Tuesday, October 25

Landscaping . . .

So there's always something going on when I'm not at home. We now have a four foot deep, 11 x 11 hole in the side yard to accommodate our ground level hot-tub extravaganza. This is a major engineering exercise and I had to come up with the primary design for the walls and support structure for the decking that will cover the tub when it's not being used. Got me thinking about getting into the business ;-) Then again, may be not . . . .
Pics will be posted tonight when I get home from work.

Sunday, October 23

Pics!

As requested, here's some pics of the yard transition . . . . . more pics will be posted as and when available!

Tuesday, October 18

OMG

It's been toooooo long since I posted. So much happening and not enough time to deal with it all. . . .. We've got our back yard in "transition" from grass and a couple of trees to a party haven complete with firepit, BBQ, waterfall and hot-tub. We should be finished by early November so we'll be all set for the rainy season :-) I'm working at a site in Irvine right now so I have a 100 mile round trip commute 3 days a week which, in southern CA, can make for a long day but at least I'm working and staying out of trouble.
I've resolved to start a daily posting schedule for this blog, and it's likely to be a mix of personal and technical postings with a tilt towards family communication. Maybe I'll start another site that I don't update either . . . .

Friday, August 26

Hoots, man!

Getting close to the second annual trip to Pleasanton for the Jockfest at the Caledonin Club's Highland Games. We're heading up to the east bay next weekend to hang out and watch men in kilts play bagpipes, throw big lumps of metal, and look like they just walked off the set of Braveheart. Should be fun! They have the biggest Mass Pipes and Drums this side of the Atlantic (or so they say) with about 800 people playing together. It's a great way to close the event. I've got my kilt out and ready to go, complete with a family tartan t-shirt I pikced up the Highland Games in Vista a short while back so everyone will know who I am :-)

Friday, August 19

Time for an update

So I've been remiss in posting lately (it looks like I've averaged about one post a month for the past 6 or so . . .) but I have been busy! Honest!
Work has picked up and I am almost enjoying the hour long commute each way to a client site in Irvine. We incorporated last month as a tax strategy as we are now both self employed and it is showing savings already although there has been considerable stress involved in getting everything set up. But we're getting there.
A couple of our friends have bought new road bikes so we can go riding together, and it looks like they may both be joining us for the TNT Solvang program - this could turn out to be the funnest program, like, ever! The rides are short and relatively slow, but it's early days yet :-)

Friday, July 22

This is getting to be a habit

So I just realised that I haven't posted in 6 weeks. Shame. I'm thinking of starting a new technology based blog (work related) and this one I'll keep for family and friends.
We had some visitors this past week (Billy, Helen and Nicole Paterson from Avonbridge) and we enjoyed their company immensely. Helen has sold a couple fo properties lately, so her work is picking up, and I just landed a contract for some work up in Irvine that will keep me busy for a couple of months at least.
Helen got a new road bike this month so we are starting to go out riding together again (after a break of a couple of years!) and we are planning to 'do' the Solvang program for TNT. Wait for the letters from Helen asking for contributions :-) Since I'll be coaching only Helen will be looking for money . . . . .
That's a quick update - I'll fill in more later.

Tuesday, June 14

Time Flies . . . . .

Bouncing around reading blogs elsewhere and realized I hadn't posted in forever. Since I last posted I've been for an MRI on my neck and given the all clear for my cycling endeavors (which is just as well - I participated in "America's Most Beautiful Bike Ride" a couple of weekends ago). It was a tortuous ride around Lake Tahoe thanks in no small part to low temperatures (under 50 Fahrenheit for most of the day) and howling winds with gusts up to 60 mph. My team (San Diego Chapter of Team in Training) completed with no major problems other than one of us hitting the ground hard less than a mile from the start line.
Now that the TNT season has passed, I'm going to spend more time focusing on expanding contracts for my company. Things are looking bright, and I'm sure the summer months will see me travelling on engagements for IBM again. I'm (almost) committed to coaching the TNT team for the Solvang Century next year so I can't let my bike sit and gather dust in the intervening months - I want to hit the road for at least 100-150 miles a week.
I went to my friend Kirk Spindleman's memorial service yesterday. Kirk was a fit 55 year old bike racer who had battled against stomach cancer over the past couple of years and had been working until very recently. He was in hospital when my team left for the Tahoe trip, and was diagnosed with a brain tumor the same day. Two days later, on the day of our ride around the lake, Kirk died. During the service I found out what a conderful person I suspected he was, and this has had a profound effect on me. My involvement in TNT and its fight against Blood Cancers will be unwavering over coming years and I expect to broaden my involvement in similar causes related to cancer. Rest In Peace, Kirk - we miss you.

Tuesday, May 24

Where have I been?

Crikey. Almost went a whole month withouth posting. Just been having too much fun!
Got back on my bike again after the travelling, and have been packing in the miles in preparation for the bike ride in Tahoe next month. I even managed to put more miles on my bicycle over the past two weeks than I did in my truck . . . .358 miles in 11 days :-)
Work is rather slow at the moment but that's more to do with my lack of enthusiasm as opposed to there being no jobs for me. Gives me time to catch up on book keeping and such. At least Helen's work is picking up again after a dry spell after moving house and having family here for a while.
Went back to the doctor to get a check up on my neck after I started experiencing symptoms similar to those before my surgery last year. Got an MRI and it checked out Ok. I guess I have to live with the condition now, and understand how to use pain management to my benefit.

Tuesday, April 26

How Well Travelled are you?



Your Travel Profile:



You Are Extremely Well Traveled in the Western United States (84%)

You Are Very Well Traveled in Western Europe (71%)

You Are Very Well Traveled in the United Kingdom (63%)

You Are Well Traveled in the Northeastern United States (57%)

You Are Well Traveled in the Midwestern United States (50%)

You Are Somewhat Well Traveled in Canada (40%)

You Are Somewhat Well Traveled in the Southern United States (31%)

You Are Mostly Untraveled in Eastern Europe (20%)

You Are Mostly Untraveled in Latin America (13%)

You Are Untraveled in Africa (0%)

You Are Untraveled in Asia (0%)

You Are Untraveled in Australia (0%)

You Are Untraveled in New Zealand (0%)

You Are Untraveled in Scandinavia (0%)

You Are Untraveled in Southern Europe (0%)

You Are Untraveled in the Middle East (0%)


Wednesday, April 13

Viva Las Vegas!

Sitting in the airport in Las Vegas after a trip with Robert to see the city (and for me to get some work done). We ate well, spoke with a buddy of mine at Cheesburger in Paradise, and watched people in and around the strip. Really interesting stuff.
So work continues to go well - I may be extending the work I'm doing out here in LV, and another client needs more assistance on an almost weekly basis :-) Helen's family are almost all here - 10 in all, and only 5 short of the whle gang. It's been really cool to have everyone over to see where we live, and also to see them all anyway. All we'd like now is for my siblings to make the trip ;-)
I upgraded my laptop to support a full-blown collaboration server installation so I can demo/train with it as an option to get more business. We'll see how it goes once I finally get it installed which should be next week sometime. Time to shut this sucker down and go eat. L8R!

Friday, March 25

Blackberry Blues

I've been thru the mill with my BB in Columbus,GA during a business trip but it's all good now :-)
Sitting in Atlanta airport waiting to head home for a 36 hour visit for the second straight weekend. But my BB is working fine now - I'm using it to post this entry whilst trying not to spill hot sauce from my wings on it. . .
I've gone from Blackberry Blues to Crackberry Rocks!

Monday, March 7

Back to normal?

So my folks headed home on Satruday and now things are settling back into the old routine, if the old routine means me on the road all the time ;-)
I've now been confirmed for a contract in Georgia to do some work for IBM at a client site and that will probably mean 12 days away, and I'm still doing stuff with my clients in Las Vegas each week.
I'm also trying to squeeze in a Real Estate qualification so I can maintain my license for another few years. Maybe once I get past this one I'll actually get around to selling houses as well. Every little bit counts!

Monday, February 21

Wow!

So I'm two weeks into my new foray and it's been very interesting. I have a few contracts lined up and I'm close to having a web presence up and running. At the OCLUG meeting last week Dave mentioned the new LotusUserGroup.org initiative so I signed up and notified the team that I'd be interested in moderating a forum for a week. So I might be a new name in the Notes/Domino community this year!
Things have been moving so fast in the past couple of weeks and on top of everything my folks have been here on vacation. Helen has been amazing considering I've been out of town for six days (so far) and I've still got another six days out before they leave. I owe her big ;-)

Friday, January 28

Time for a change

So I quit my job today. I missed the whole "be your own boss" thing from my contracting days in Scotland and things fell into place for me to sub at IBM, so . . . . I'm a sole proprietor consulting company now! I've got some other stuff lining up that will keep me busy until at least the end of the year.
I guess it's time to get geeky again to show the world that I really do know Notes and Domino, but I might just do it on my new website ;-)
Since my company was only formed on Monday I don't have a web presence set up so I won't post a link here until it's up and running. Enough for now. Time to go eat.

Tuesday, January 18

Wednesday, January 12

We're In . . . .

. . . the new abode. Now I remember why I don't like moving so much :-) We have stuff all over the place, the bedroom closet is in disarray (somewhat self-inflicted . . I am cedar lining it and installing a custom closet), our offices are a little disorganized and the dogs are not quite settled yet. But you can't have eveyrthing, right?
Oh well, back to the old grindstone. My folks are heading over for a month long visit next month - I can't wait!

Saturday, January 1

Happy New Year!!

2005 is going to be great, I'm sure of it. We move into our new house next week, Helen is starting the year with 2 deals in the first couple of weeks and my job gets better all the time.
It's too freaking early for me to be typing this, considering I got home 5 1/2 hours ago but I wanted to post an entry today and I didn't want to turn my lapotop on later on. So since I got up early I figured I'd get it over and done with.
Happy New Year!