Welcome to Bruno's Space: Life in motion...

Updating Photos...

Sat, 13 Oct 2007 18:33:20 GMT

I have finally started updating my photo albums with more recent pictures. Things have been pretty busy around here, and in case you didn't know, we shipped another big update to Spaces. This time, we even launched a new product called Windows Live Events. You can read more about it on our team space, The Spacecraft. The official blog entry is here.

I have really been delinquent about getting photos uploaded, despite the large volume of them that I have actually taken in recent months. We have been busy enjoying the changing of the seasons, celebrating Christopher's 2nd birthday, and visiting the more rural areas around Seattle in hopes of taking in the fall colors. The photo albums give some context for where we have been, but most recently, we went back to Snoqualmie Falls to check it out. We have this unofficial goal of seeing the falls in every season. Apparently, it looks pretty cool after a wicked snow storm.

So that has been the jist of what's going on. I will try and get back into a more regular posting rhythm. :-)

An afternoon at Rattlesnake Lake

Thu, 23 Aug 2007 06:15:35 GMT

We took a few hours this afternoon and went for a walk at Rattlesnake Lake. Since we have been home most of the week not feeling well, this was a great way to get back into the swing of things, relax, and enjoy the outdoors on a northwest summer afternoon. If you are in the Seattle area and want to check this place out, it's worth the drive, and offers a decent place to picnic, hike, or swim. I posted a few photos of the trip, and plan to post a few more later. As you can see though, it was a pretty quiet day on the lake. My little pal certainly enjoyed the seemingly unlimited supply of rocks to throw into the lake. I really enjoyed watching him do that. What a picture...

Under the weather...

Mon, 20 Aug 2007 06:21:48 GMT

It's funny how life catches up to you, just when you think you have a leg up on her. For the last 4 months, I have been working pretty hard... and I am not just saying this because there is a high probability that my boss reads my blog. I think even he would agree with that assessment. The truth is, whenever you push yourself a lot, for an extended period of time, eventually you reach a saturation point... and that's when things start coming apart.

I started feeling lousy about 3 days ago, but it really hit me on Saturday morning. I started with the usual headache, stuffy nose, etc., and then it just blossomed from there. Lousy germs... Anyway, I was planning on taking some time off this week to spend with the family, as a bit of an informal vacation around the house. As it turns out, the first part of that will likely be spent sleeping a lot, and trying to return my body to full health. After I am feeling better, I will start getting more hardcore about my eating, sleeping, exercising regiment. Hopefully that will prepare me for the inevitable winter months and the corresponding flu season that comes with them...

Let's hope that I can get a couple days of actual vacation in this week... :-)

Blowing the dust off...

Mon, 06 Aug 2007 05:33:41 GMT

I have really been meaning to get some updates out on my space. As you can plainly see, my last update was nearly 3 months ago. That is just unacceptable for a guy who actually works on this product. Nevertheless, there are a number of good excuses for why I haven't been posting, but in truth, I should try to find more time to post updates.

After my last post, I took a trip to Maker Faire in San Francisco to represent Windows Live Spaces. It was a good trip, and I posted some photos of the experience. We published a Maker Faire Space for the occasion as well.... and that is definitely worth checking out. If you have never heard of this event (as I hadn't), it is definitely worth researching.

After the trip to SF, I took an emergency trip to FL to be with my Dad who needed open heart surgery. He had gone into the hospital after not feeling well, and ended up with a triple by-pass. He is recovering well now, but it was tough to see him have to go through that. He has had difficulty with his heart since he had a heart attack on Christmas day 05. Two heart attacks and 8 arterial stents later, and he required the by-pass. The hope is that his arteries will be sound for 15 more years after this surgery. You see, my Dad is a diabetic, a disease he acquired in his late 40s from extensive agent orange exposure during the Vietnam war. Much of these problems are directly related to the disease... but that is a story for an entirely separate post... The important thing is that he is getting better.

After the trip to FL, we did find time to do some vacationing locally, and I will be posting some photos of that soon enough. Christa's family was in town for about 10 days in June, so we took a trip to Victoria, B.C. as well as the typical tourist spots in and around the Seattle area. Fun was indeed had by all...

Now here we are in August, and I am having some trouble recalling what we did in July :-). I am certain that we stayed busy though, and as we move into September, we will likely remain busy. Nevertheless, I will get back to being more regular with my posts so I don't get this sort of bloggers block again. It would be great if my friends that read this, would actually leave me a comment or a message, instead of sending me an email wondering what has been going on with me. :-) That way, I know who is being left in the dark by my lack of posting...

31... A look back

Tue, 15 May 2007 05:15:19 GMT

Today marks the beginning of my 32nd year of life... yes, it's my birthday today. I found myself being rather introspective today, and pondering where I have been in the past year and what may lie ahead in the next 364 days of my 32nd year.

So last year at this time, the beginning of age 31 began with me starting my journey from the east coast to the west coast. Since it's been nearly a year since we arrived on the west coast, it's only natural to say that I spent the bulk of age 31 getting acclimated to a new job, new part of the country, new house, new friends, etc. Hence, the "theme" of my 31st year could be characterized as "New beginnings". These were all interesting and fun things for me, and for Christa and Chris... and I can honestly look back and be glad we did them. 31 was a good year.

Of course, the year was fraught with some challenges as well. I would list them out, but in reality they all ended well, so why dredge them up right? The truth is that I am very grateful for my place in life, and certainly feel fortunate to have the support system that I do in Christa and Chris. With them in my corner, every year should be better than the next. So far, I haven't really figured out yet what the "theme" for my 32nd year will be. I figure it will probably be obvious by this time next year.

Florida Trip: Beaches and Turtles...

Mon, 05 Mar 2007 04:32:04 GMT

On Sunday, we went to Juno beach, walked on the beach, and paid a visit to the Loggerhead Marinelife Center. You can check out their web site at: http://www.marinelife.org/index.htm . The good folks at the Marinelife Center rescue and rehabilitate sea turtles of all kinds. It's a great place to get up close and personal with these very large and interesting creatures. The cool thing about this part of Florida, is that it is not uncommon to observe sea turtles in the wild, whether diving, swimming, fishing, or hanging out on the beach after dark. The not-so-cool thing is that some of these poor critters had some unfortunate experiences with humans which ultimately led to their stay at the Marinelife center.

Overall, we enjoyed the visit... though Chris was a bit nervous around the turtle pools. Rightly so I suppose, some of the turtles were larger than him. Nevertheless, we had a good time. The beach was pretty deserted due to the overcast and cool weather they were having at the time.

Florida Trip: Family gathering

Sun, 04 Mar 2007 04:32:04 GMT

This past week, the three of us jetted off to sunny Florida for a bit of respite and a family visit. Naturally, the first thing we really did when we went back to Florida was to hook up with family. We had a small gathering at my parents place where we were able to hang out with some of our extended family from Philly who were in town for vacation as well. In a family that is large and spread across the country, this almost never happens... Needless to say, we enjoyed it very much! Check out the photo album.

Powered up...

Fri, 19 Jan 2007 06:58:48 GMT

It was pretty obvious from my last entries that I don't like living without power. I have always been pretty honest about the fact that I am not much for "roughing it". That's the beauty of living in the USA where, for the right price, you can obtain the comforts you desire.

So today, the electricians came out to wire up my shiny new generator into the main breaker panel. I have been waiting for this day, and every passing wind storm that has blown through over the past 3 weeks has left me feeling more uneasy about the stability of the power grid. So, now I no longer have to worry as much. If the power goes out again, I will have enough standby power to run critical electric (e.g. Coffee Pot, Heat, Lights, Microwave)...notice those items were listed in order of importance.

Being the "tool and gadget" guy that I am, I thought I would share a bit about how this nifty little system works. It all boils down to a simple circuit breaker that enables the power to flow from the generator into the main breaker panel supplying power to any of the available breakers in the box. At the same time, it disables the flow of power from the main utility line. The generator gets hooked up to a port on the outside of the house using a weatherproof 20 ft cable. So, power goes out >> fire up generator >> flip some switches >> light the place back up. Beautiful! The nice thing about this design is that it lets me control which breakers I choose to run based on the load that the generator can handle. In my case, 7000w running and 12000w peak should be enough to run everything but the 30 and 40 amp breakers, of which there are 3. If I get really serious about running everything and want to upgrade to a 15000w generator... no problem, just have to change the generator. I added some photos below to illustrate the point.

So, in the event we have another storm like the one on December 14, I will be better prepared than before. If not, well then I can now successfully run any household appliance in the middle of nowhere. Either way, I think I'll sleep a bit better at night knowing that my family will be warm if something does happen again.

Not much to report...

Wed, 10 Jan 2007 05:32:29 GMT

So I have been getting a lot of emails and IM's inquiring about where I have been since my last blog post. Turns out, 5 days without power sort of threw me out of my normal rhythm and only now do I feel things returning to normal. If you add to that the usual hectic holiday times, vacation, and then getting back into work... time tends to fly by. So for those of you paying attention, here's what's going on with me.

Christmas and New Years went well, we did get power back a few days before. So, final preparations were sort of hurried and it seemed like it flew right by. Look for some updated photos coming soon in the new photo album. We had some visitors during the holidays, which was nice. My dad joined us for a bit, followed by Christa's mom. Both got to experience the power outage, and since they are both veteran hurricane survivors... it was more of an inconvenience than anything. Both enjoyed the visit with the grandson more than the parents... I am pretty certain of that. :-)

The high note was of course watching Chris discover the joys of Santa Claus' generosity toward children that are good all year long. I doubt that he comprehends that the pile of toys under the tree is much more than just that, but it sure was a blast watching him stare at everything when he first came downstairs.

Generally, we love Christmas... it's our favorite time of the year. We made the best of it despite the setbacks and Santa made sure that next year, backup power will be available if this happens again...<wink> Seriously though, we felt pretty fortunate to have the exciting and rewarding year that we experienced in 2006, and we are excited about our 2007 adventures. So, keep reading... and feel free drop a comment from time to time.

Powerless against being powerless...

Mon, 18 Dec 2006 04:31:59 GMT

Anyone watching the weather channel in the U.S. has probably heard about the widespread damage and power outages from last Thursday's wind storm. Although they likely hyped it, this has been a pretty serious matter. Coming from someone who has spent the past 2 years living through 4 major hurricanes, this has been a bit of a bigger pain in the ass. Turns out, Florida Power and Light knows how to deal with widespread power outages a lot better than the local power company here. Well, it stands to reason that they have had a lot more experience dealing with it, but the terrain here is much more difficult... so in the end I guess they are doing their best to hook everybody back up. Nevertheless, if you haven't guessed yet, I am still without power. I finally took the family and checked in to a hotel in a part of town where life goes on normally. I have no idea when I will have power back... which really sucks. So far, I am doing fine... the family is fine... and we are more inconvenienced than anything.

Funny side note... the espresso huts that I mentioned in my previous post turned out to be a bit of an oasis for the coffee lover in me. Turns out most of them run on generator power... and the coffee is good. I have not been able to validate Bill H's claim from his comment on my previous post...

6 Months already?

Thu, 14 Dec 2006 19:26:37 GMT

I recently passed the 6 month mark of being at Microsoft and living in Washington. I am feeling good about the changes, and really enjoying my new work and home life. That said, I have been meaning to write a blog entry about the differences between living in Washington versus Florida... sort of a Northwest vs. Southeast comparison of norms. Mind you, I don't plan this to be exhaustive... just a few things I have noticed...not complaints... just observations.

Espresso Huts

I think Washingtonians love coffee... no one would deny that this may in fact be the coffee capital of North America. The espresso hut pheomenon is interesting though. Picture a tool shed (of the old school backyard variety) made of wood, positioned randomly in a parking lot, with a "serving window" and a generator, and that is what an espresso hut is like. They are everywhere... from a suburbian strip mall to a rural road.... and some are drive thru! Cool or weird? No opinion since I haven't had coffee from any of them yet... perhaps, Starbucks just hasn't devised a mobile property that can compete.

Garbage Collection

Nothing is really that strange about the function of garbage collection... just that I get a monthly bill for it. There is the actual process of separating the recyclables, yard waste, and regular garbage but that part is somewhat normal. The weird part is the quota system and the bill. For instance, if the lid on my garbage-company-supplied trash can is not flush, then I will be getting a higher bill for the trash... to the tune of ~$5 a bag. Environmentally friendly, but a little steep if you ask me. I mean, I don't think it costs the company any more to pick it up... so why then the extra charge? If it's to encourage recycling, well I think they are accomplishing that by giving us a recycling receptacle which is 2x the size of the garbage can! By contrast, in Florida I paid for garbage collection in the yearly tax bill, and you could put just about anything on the curb you desired. If you were to leave a nice case of beer with some "unusual" trash, you didn't have to worry about disposing of that "unusual" trash. By unusual, I mean abnormal garbage items... like old carpet or ceramic tile... not contraband of any sort.

Air Conditioning

Very few people have this... of course, it does not get that hot. Personally, I am all about climate control... we now have one in our house...

Power and Water

I found that electric is very innexpensive due to the surplus of energy produced by the various clean energy initiatives around Washington. This is very cool. Gas however is pretty pricey and my house at least, is a combination of both. It is actually cheaper for me to run my air conditioner in the summer than the heat in the winter... clearly the opposite of Florida. Additionally, water is expensive. My normal consumption in Florida was about $30 a month... here, about $75... and I don't have a lawn sprinkler system.

Other Differences

There are some other interesting things to mention that I will list but not comment too much on... maybe I will write a part 2 to this eventually... but for now, I think this covers my early observations.

Sales tax is a killer at ~8.5% ... whereas Florida is 6.5%
License plates are required on the front and back of the car. Not sure the purpose of the front, as the numbers are not readable in a rear view mirror. There are only 5-8 types of plates you can get, where Florida has 30+ different styles... including such controversial plates as "Pro Life". (see for yourself)
People drive the speed limit here and don't use the horn... a welcome change from Florida. The "finger" is still a widely accepted form of negative "Road communication" but it's use is not as prevalent as on the east coast. I don't hear much about any "road rage"... and certainly no one here would know what a "Blue Hair" is. :-)

Overall, as I mentioned... we like it here. I think whenever you move, you have to expect that it will be different. You can choose to embrace those differences, or gripe about them. I think if you gripe, you never will really be happy anywhere but where you left... if even there. Me, I am a "go with the flow" type, but I have preferences. In a nutshell, having preferences but being flexible probably helps sustain my happiness in day to day life. I ultimately enjoy a sprinkling of the right changes in my life... and I would say our migration out here was the "right" sprinkling... for both work and life. Stay tuned...

3 years today...

Wed, 29 Nov 2006 20:58:40 GMT

Today is our 3rd wedding anniversary. When I consider how cold the past few days in Washington have been, I am reminded of the day we actually got married. It was an unseasonably cold November day on the Florida coast with winds of 30+ mph and temperatures in the low 60's. It was hardly a day for a beach wedding. Despite the weather, things went really well that day and I remember the time just flying by. And so, 3 years has past, and yes it has flown by. Despite the many adventures we have experienced over the past 3 years, we continue to enjoy every minute of our time together... several of which get cataloged here on this blog. So without getting too sentimental, I just wanted to thank my wife for 3 of my best years. Happy Anniversary Christa.

More Snow...

Mon, 13 Nov 2006 17:36:39 GMT

Since we had such a good time on Saturday, we decided to go back for more. We all had fun of course, and Chris got a chance to get out and explore the snow. I added some additional photos to the album. Enjoy!!

Snow Day...

Sun, 12 Nov 2006 02:56:49 GMT

We have been getting some rainy weather lately... natrually right, it is Washington. We have also been hearing that there was some snow in the mountain passes since the temperatures have been so low. Today, we decided to take a ride out there and check it out. Christa and Chris have never seen snow! For Chris, that is understandable, considering he's just over a year old, but Christa has gone 34 years without seeing it! Evidently, she has never been skiing or even on a vacation where there was snow. I was dying to take them out there to check it out.

It was really amazing, just as I imagined it would be... about 15" of pretty fresh powder and nearly undisturbed. The ski lifts were not open yet, but that didn't stop anyone from bringing a sled or just hanging out with their dogs and throwing some snow balls. I hadn't realized how much I missed the winter, and was a bit dissapointed when we finally headed back to town where it was actually still autumn.

Some great pics to go with the story are in the photo album... here's a few... Click here for those.

Go check out the rest...

Halloween Today

Wed, 01 Nov 2006 04:26:44 GMT

Today was the first Halloween that Chris could really participate in. Last year he was not old enough to go trick or treating... although we dressed him up anyway. So this year, we got him a costume and took to the streets on a quest for candy. He really looked good... he quite enjoyed being pulled around in his wagon, and having the neighbors make a fuss over him. This Halloween proved to be quite memorable for us, being that it is our first in Washington. As it turned out, it was very cold and felt like Halloween should feel... crisp, breezy, and full of fall colors. It's cool to see Christa experience all of this for the first time as well. Halloween from her perspective (and mine in recent years anyway) was always a balmy 85 degrees and completely absent of fall colors. I like that this is a new experience for her, and that she gets to share that with Chris. I am posting a couple of pictures that illustrate the fun we have been having...

Weekend ends on a high note...

Mon, 23 Oct 2006 05:26:04 GMT

The weekend started off sort of lousy. My Tivo, cornerstone of my entertainment experience, passed on to that electronic scrap heap in the sky. It started acting funky about a week ago. I rebooted a bunch of times and then it was fine for a while. By Friday night, it was over. Finally, I decided to give the do not resuscitate order. Of course, there is an upside... I broke down and ordered a DVR from my cable provider. The net effect was a bump of $10 on my bill for the DVR, but the bonus was that it gave me HDTV at the same time... sweet. Picked that bad boy up on Saturday and by 5pm I was back in business. It would seem that even the analog channels look better now... bonus.

As luck would have it, the rest of the weekend turned out to be even better.... For starters, my lawn is looking fabulous, and received a much needed trim. The garage was cleaned out and organized well enough that I was finally able to get my car in there. The sun was shining all weekend, and... we were finally able to take a trip to the Woodland Park Zoo and show Chris the animals. Keep an eye out for some pictures of the zoo trip, as I will post them shortly. So, all things considered... the weekend ended on a pretty high note.

Apparently, I am not the only one noticing the benefit....

Thu, 19 Oct 2006 19:06:48 GMT

If you read my previous post about commuting at Microsoft, then you are going to want to check this out.

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?dist=newsfinder&siteid=mktw&guid=%7B924C5506-E8B0-4BAD-A26B-1C4FC3F21BF5%7D

Apparently, I am not the only one who thinks this is a good deal.

When in Rome...

Tue, 17 Oct 2006 05:11:45 GMT

You know the rest of the old saying "When in Rome...". Well, sometimes it's worth a try actually. Today I took my first trip aboard a King County Van Pool. Yes, I decided to try what is one of the cultural norms at Microsoft... carpooling. In this case, it was a van. King County has this great program that Microsoft takes part in, called RideShare, which essentially helps match you with other locals in your area that are commuting to the same place you are. They provide the van, gas, and maintenance, and the group of riders does the rest. Someone handles the accounting, others share the driving, and the rest show up and ride. It is a very cool program, especially where bus service is lacking, and best of all, it helps save money on gas, wear and tear on the car... not to mention helping the environment. My goal is to try and ride 4 times per week. I am hoping to be able to use the time to do some pre-work thinking, planning, and preparing that might actually help me be more effective. Additionally, the rigidity of the schedule actually gets me into and out of work at a regular time which helps me spend more time with my lovely wife and son.... which is actually the most tangible value from this effort. So far, so good... give me a few weeks and we'll see how it goes.

Fall has arrived...

Sun, 08 Oct 2006 04:23:25 GMT

The cooler weather is officially here in Washington. It has been consistently cool for the past two weeks so I am officially declaring fall has arrived... For a family that recently left sunshine x 365, this is a bit of a change. Truthfully, it's a good change though. For Christa and Chris, this is their first autumn ever. I spent 17 years in Pennsylvania so I have seen plenty of leaves turning and the change over from Summer green to Fall colors. For Christa, it's the first time in 34 years that she has ever seen fall colors...

So far it has been a very pretty season. The trees are turning, the rain has been falling, and the chill in the air makes it feel like Halloween is coming. We recently took a trip to a pumpkin farm to get some pumpkins, fresh vegetables, and of course... pie. I posted some pictures that are worth checking out... Chris and Christa had a great time... and of course, so did I. I am anxiously awaiting Halloween so we can take Chris trick or treating... The fun part is that he gets to dress up and go door to door... and Mom and Dad get to eat his candy! So stay tuned... it should be a blast.

It's all about fresh content...

Thu, 28 Sep 2006 15:22:22 GMT

I was partially scolded yesterday by a friend on the east coast, who regularly checks up on me via my WL Space, for not posting anything recently. He's totally within his right to do so, given that my last post was 3 weeks ago which is pretty unlike me. I don't have much in the way of excuses, other than I have been pretty consumed with normal life stuff... which is a pretty lame excuse. So what have I been doing? Well, since we left off, my mother-in-law came to visit, we had Chris' first birthday, and I have been busy at work helping build the next great release of Windows Live Spaces. I have had some other things going on in between those things that I will probably omit from the blog, but let's just say they weren't fun and I am moving beyond them now.... no worries though... all is getting normal again.

So my friend was right... its all about fresh content with WL Spaces... so, I am back... and I will make sure I keep this fresh. While I am here, I will mention a few random things....

- Congrats to my buddy Sridhar for his new job with Oracle... good luck my man.

- Congrats to my boy Chris for making it a year with a pair of new parents...

- Finally, my brother Mike and my brother-in-law Rolland have been updating their Spaces with fresh content... go pay them a visit via my friends list...

Thanks for the kick in the pants Pat.... More to come....

Touring with Mike...Day 1

Mon, 04 Sep 2006 04:00:41 GMT

Mike arrived in Seattle last night. It has been several months since we hung out together so it was good seeing him and glad he was able to make it out here.

We started today by attempting to check out the Woodland Park Zoo. I emphasize the word "attempted". Here is a word to the wise... if you in Seattle and want to check out the Woodland Park Zoo... don't drive your car. Parking was perhaps the most difficult I have every experienced. Twenty minutes circling 4 parking lots and a neigborhood to no avail... so we bounced. Turns out it was better to leave anyway. We headed into downtown Seattle to check out some local attractions. We cruised the waterfront, the public market, had lunch at Anthony's Bell Street, did some shopping and then headed home. We had fun. I posted some photos for those of you tracking our activities this weekend.

Tomorrow... we are planning to do something a little more adventurous... so stay tuned.

Mike joins us for the holiday weekend...

Sat, 02 Sep 2006 16:26:53 GMT

My bro Mike is joining us today for the long holiday weekend. This is his first time to the west coast so we have to give him the five star tour of the great northwest. Naturally, we have a lot of fun things planned over the course of the next few days. Mike is a fairly open minded guy and will probably enjoy his west coast experience... at least I think he will. Hopefully, we will get some good photos and post a couple of blog entries about our experiences. I am always telling him to update his space, so hopefully this will give him a reason.

Lawn: Part I

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 05:47:54 GMT

So I have been meaning to blog about the struggles with my lawn. After moving into this place, I began realizing that the previous owner did next to nothing to keep things updated from the gardening perspective. The lawn in particular has suffered the most. After much dialog with my neighbor who has battled his lawn for years and finally earned success, I realized it was likely an uphill battle for this season and decided to wait before making my move. The single biggest problem: It's not very green.

On Saturday, I made my first move. A laborious exercise in thatch raking, cutting, spreading moss killer, watering, seeding, fertilizing, and applying some lyme is what I would categorize as round 1. Since then, I have watered once per day and now we are finally getting a bit of rain. So, 3 days into this fight and I am starting to notice a change in the color... it could be the iron in the moss killer or the lyme, but who knows... I could just be seeing things... no seed germination yet though.

Ugh. I think Christa thinks I am nuts for obsessing over a lawn, but when my neighbors lawns look green and lush, and mine looks like a fire has recently been extinguished on it, I am sorry... but I have to fix that. So stay tuned... I haven't figured out my next move yet... just hoping to see some green blades here soon....

Cash is king...

Wed, 30 Aug 2006 05:36:26 GMT

It's a statement that you would often hear me say if we were hanging out on a regular basis... it's a true statement, cash is king. If I had my choice whether to be paid by check or cash, well... who wouldn't take cash right? The age old problem though is that there is little protection from losing cash... short of you protecting it with your life anyway. Well, I recently discovered that in today's world, it might be even more difficult to protect yourself from credit theft.

Yes ladies and gentleman, despite my best efforts I have become a statistic, a victim, whatever you want to call it. I noticed today that someone has dipped into a bank account of mine back in Florida. Apparently, it's not so difficult to get hold of credit card information these days and just start charging random things against it. Furthermore, the bank is not to quick on the uptake either. I think the larger banks have been more hip to the scam so they tend to profile your transactions looking for those "out of the ordinary" things. The smaller, more hometown banks just haven't caught up yet I guess.

So, needless to say I was pretty pissed off about the whole thing. To make matters worse, the bank will take its sweet time getting the funds back into the account so in the meantime I need to make other arrangements. I guess the fortunate part is that it was an account I used for a hobby business back in the day, so there wasn't much in there to begin with (Hence the word "hobby"). It just drives me crazy not knowing where I tripped up in my efforts to keep my info secure. I have some theories though, and neither one is particularly glowing for the organizations that may or may not have contributed to the "compromise" of my personal credit data.

So rather than rant on and on about it, I will just say the following. Let it be completely understood that no matter what you do to secure your personal credit information, your security is only as good as the institutions you choose to do business with. In my humble opinion, we have to start getting a little more hardcore in this country with the way businesses handle data. We need some tougher laws around personal data protection... We can leave that topic for another day though...

First Shoes

Sun, 13 Aug 2006 05:53:03 GMT

Today we went out to get Chris his first pair of shoes. We have been talking about it for a while, and since he is nearly standing on his own now without holding onto anything, we figured it was time. As usual, Christa knew what she wanted to get. She tends to research things on the net pretty well and always gets the skinny on what is the best for him. The pair she found was pretty nice for him... standard white with little trains on the side. They are certainly different than the ones I had, and quite a bit more money too. Nevertheless, I want him to have the best so we got them.

You know, being a dad has been a great experience but one thing it often does is remind me that I am not getting any younger. Reality is that time just passes quicker than we like to admit and suddenly our babies are not babies anymore. Of course, my mom is reading this and saying "now you know how I have felt since the day you were born..." The truth is, once I saw him in those shoes it hit me right in the face... he's going to walk any day now. Not a big deal right? Sure, its just another growth step for him, me, and his mother. Its a bit of a scary thing though. I mean, it seems like just yesterday we were bringing him home from the hospital and looking at each other saying... "now what?". He has grown fast and given us a lot of happy moments. He will be a year old next month and I guess I am going to blink and he'll be five. I have to wonder what went through my dad's head when I got my first shoes. A seemingly simple thing, who would have thought it would trigger all this introspection. I am looking forward to all the little things of the future as well... just hoping I will always be smart enough to take the time to enjoy every little growth step.

He looks great by the way... he's becomming a little dude now. He's not just this baby we carry/stroll/cart everywhere we go. Thankfully I get an opportunity to grow with him, because I am definitely not ready for him to grow up fast. Check out the new photos and see how proud he is of himself... and his mom. I think we all know how his dad feels...

Blackberries: Hidden wild delicacy or non-indigenous weed?

Thu, 03 Aug 2006 04:15:42 GMT

So moving to the Northwest has been exciting. Anyone who regularly reads this will probably deduce that I have been enjoying it. One of the new things I am experiencing in the Northwest is wild blackberries. They typically grow in almost any road side thicket or green area, and the local lore suggests that they were brought here for some unknown reason and all they are is a pain in the a*s.

So since moving in, we have had them growing in the green belt behind our house for some time. Recently I decided to go up there and cut some of the vines as they can get pretty long and thorny. While up there, I thought: I wonder if these are edible? So I asked around and consistently got the same answer... "sure, but I am not sure I would eat them". So I have been thinking about eating them to see if there is something good there that I am missing.

Monday, Christa's long time friend Jody came to town to hang with Christa for a few days. So one night this week, I come home and there is this bowl of blackberries on the counter. Curious, I ask where they came from and was told that Jody went up to the green belt and picked a few. So, now that I know that Jody has eaten them and is not doubled over in pain, I decide that its worth trying. To my surprise these are quite good... so much so that I actually polished off the remainder of them. So tonight, I headed up to the green belt to extract a few more. Although the crop is not quite ripe enough to pick, I am thinking I might be on this wild blackberry train now for a while... I am not sure what the alure is here... maybe just the fact that I can grab some wild fruit from my back yard... maybe they are just something I have been missing in my diet... whatever the case, I can see why people hate them and why people love them. They overgrow your yard, but man they are tasty. So for now, I am sticking with hidden wild delicacy. Still, at my age, peer pressure sometimes works to get me over that "what if" hump.

Hot Summer Days...

Mon, 24 Jul 2006 05:27:25 GMT

The title is perhaps the understatement of the year... well not really, but it definitely underscores the reality of recent days here in the Northwest. It has been consistenly in the 90s for the past few days, and for people without air conditioning... its like being back in Florida again during hurricane conditions... only we have electricity to run fans. Seriously, it is way hot... so naturally we do what we can to stay cool... taking long car trips, cold showers, and chillin in the blow up pool!

Chris got to go into his blow up pool for the first time. Initially, it was pretty cold... so a few pots of warm water later and he was in his glory. Check out the photo album to see a glimpse of his antics. So we did that for the past few days and he seems to be tolerating the heat ok.

The caviat to this whole blog post is that we have a contract to get air conditioning for the whole house... but probably by the time we get it the heat will have subsided... nevertheless... August is right around the corner. Check back with me in a couple months when it rains for 30 something days straight and see if I complain about the heat then... :-)

Seriously though, why air conditioning is not more mainstream up here just escapes me. I think maybe there might be something to this global warming thing...

Trip to Lavender Fest...

Sun, 16 Jul 2006 06:32:42 GMT

So we had one of our first adventures outside the local area today. We took a drive to Sequim, WA which is supposedly the lavender capital of North America... who would dispute that claim anyway? Anyway, Sequim (pronounced SQUIM... not sure why they spell it differently) is pretty far from us and almost to Port Angeles or near the Strait of Juan De Fuca in Washington's Olympic Peninsula. Check it out on this map.

Anyway, the background here is that my wife loves lavender... she wants to grow nothing but in the back yard... so, given that we live so close to the lavender capital of North America... why not give it a try? The drive was quite nice actually. We took the long way around via Tacoma, then up Route 16 through Bremerton, Poulsbo, then across Hood Canal. Now, Hood Canal is especially interesting... of course, most people don't realize it, but Hood Canal is the main artery for our country's pacific based nuclear missile submarine fleet... So, naturally I was hoping to catch a glimpse of one of those beauty's heading out to sea... but alas, Hood canal was quiet today.

So Lavender fest was interesting. It's not everyday you see an entire weekend long festival dedicated to an herb... but we visited a few of the 10 farms exhibiting, we picked lavender, checked out the shops, music, and even had lavender ice cream... yes, lavender white chocolate ice cream. You know me, I had to give it a go. Honestly... it was great. I would actually buy that stuff if someone made it. So then we treked back east and decided to take the Bainbridge Island Ferry back to Seattle instead of driving around. It no doubt doubles the time you spend on the road, but it was incredibly scenic going back across the sound.... Check out the photo gallery postings to see some of the pics...

So that was Lavender fest... I am pretty tired tonight. It was nice getting out as a family today though... we have been so focused on moving, unpacking, working, etc. that we just haven't done anything fun and interesting. Christa's friend Jody comes to visit in a few weeks... probably there will be more in store then. Here is one of the pics from today... go check out the rest.

What's going on?

Mon, 10 Jul 2006 06:05:08 GMT

I would say quite a bit if I had to summarize it... Between work life, home life, and life as a Dad... well there isn't much time for much more, so I guess its a good thing I don't have many hobbies! Lately we have really been trying to get the house in order. (I know, I know... where are the pics... soon, I promise)

This weekend, I built... should rephrase that... I augmented our built in fireplace, mantle, shelving unit to accomodate our TV, AV components and TIVO. Well, the upside to this effort is that TIVO is back in action. Otherwise, I am in some serious pain tonight. I actually finished the unit this morning, but this afternoon yielded some yard work which was the final curtain for this body.

Truth is, for a 31 year old guy I am not in that great of shape. I could definitely be about 10-15 lbs lighter, but more importantly could have more muscle. I have plenty of energy and I usually work until I fall over, but its the getting out of bed the next day that really hurts. Of course, gardening out here in the hills of Western Washington is no easy task. This house is built atop a lot of packed clay and rocks... which makes digging a bit more challenging than Florida was. Hence, the exhaustion. I do have to thank my neighbor Sam though. He heard the clanging of the shovel against rock and brought me a handy garden pick to dig out the rocks. That helped tremendously... not to mention the quick gardening tips for planting in this part of the country.

So the weekend was pretty packed overall... got the entertainment center installed, pictures hung up (though not all), part of the garden planted, did some work from home (for work that is), and still had time to spend hanging out with my 2 best pals... (not the cats... ok then 4 best pals). Not a bad way to spend 48 hours of free time.

By the way, both projects came out looking pretty good... now... off to bed.

New pictures of the boy...

Sat, 01 Jul 2006 04:12:48 GMT

Check out the photos gallery... I put up some new pics of the boy, our new neighborhood and some fun we had tonight. I will be posting a few pics of the house soon. I just didn't get around to taking any yet. A lot of my friends back in Florida have been asking about it... hang tight... they are coming. For now... check out how big my boy is getting!

Mom's visit...

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 18:45:59 GMT

So I dropped Mom at the airport this morning for the journey back east. I think she really enjoyed it here and totally understands why we made the move. I don't believe she ever thought we were making a bad decision, just don't think she knew much about where we were going... and to a mom, that has to seem like a far off place for your oldest boy, his wife, and your grandson to be.

Nevertheless, she had some good NW experiences while she was here... 2 Mount Rainer sightings (including one stellar view this morning), a 300 ft waterfall, mountains, trees, etc. So I think she really enjoyed herself. It was great having her here too... she got to spend time with her grandson and daughter in law, which was enjoyed by all.

So, I am hoping that she will visit again soon and bring Dad next time around. With all the unpacking, setting up, shopping, etc., we didn't really have time to do any real NW sightseeing... which for those of you who have been here... is a must.

Master of none...

Mon, 19 Jun 2006 17:04:32 GMT

So I would venture to say I am a bit handy around the house. My Dad taught me a lot about fixing things, doing handyman stuff, and certainly using my common sense, brains, hands, and ther right tools to get things done. I guess you could say I fit the "Jack of all trades, master of none" philosophy. I would much rather attemp to fix something than call someone to do it for me... if I screw it up bad, then I will call someone :-). Anyway, I mention this because this past weekend was full of doing things like this while getting the family settled into our new house.

We moved in Friday. Things went pretty well with the exception of having an amazing amount of stuff cluttering the house... Saturday brought appliances, carpet cleaners, cable, etc... and that's when the fun began. You see, moving always initiates a bevy of ancillary things to fix, install, assemble, etc. So, if you haven't a clue what to do with tools, you are most certainly going to have your work cut out for you. In my case, the appliance guy managed to get the hot water valve under the sink that connects to the dishwasher to leak after he installed the dishwasher. He then promptly instructed me to call a plumber to rectify his mistake. So, here we are, having hired a professional to install the dishwasher, left to call another professional to clean up his mess. Nice.

For those of you who don't me, plumbing is probably my least favorite handy task to work on... besides not being all that skilled at it. Nevertheless... I summoned the master (Dad) for a quick walkthrough. Several walkthroughs later, I had the parts, waited the customary 24 hours to build up my confidence... then went at it. Thanks to Dad, the old guy at Home Depot who showed me what to get, my neighbor Phil for the use of the flashlights and pipe wrench... and we are back in business with the dishwasher.

In hindsight, the task was pretty simple... its the not knowing that seems a bit scary. Step by step though, I got the job done... and that makes me feel pretty good in the end. Overall we got a lot accomplished this weekend... despite the occasional diversion like plumbing or my nasty head cold. Just glad we were able to shower this morning.... ;-)

We Meet Our New Neighbors...

Thu, 15 Jun 2006 06:41:23 GMT

So, whenever you move to a new neighborhood you expect to experience new things. Today Christa got a taste for Northwest living I suppose... While its not unique to the Northwest, a visit from a deer is far better than a visit from an Alligator... which is what we used to worry about.

So this critter dropped by this afternoon for a bit of a snack (roses I think) and she (Christa) grabbed a couple snaps of the visit. I was warned that there could be some Bear in the community where we live too... but for now, we will welcome our new friends like we do most animals and see how things go. I know people say that deer are a nuisance, but the truth is... it was their land first. I think to be a good earthly citizen, you have to respect creatures of all types... especially when it comes to getting a meal. I mean, everyone needs to eat! So, we may need to plant more roses eventually... but losing a few flowers to our furry friends is hardly a high price to pay for an nice experience, a few photos, and a blog entry... Maybe once I get settled, I will hang a salt lick and see if we can get a good show going.

Settling into the Emerald City

Sun, 04 Jun 2006 06:43:42 GMT

We all arrived in one piece thankfully. Travelling with 2 Cats, an 8 month old, a wife, and a mom-in-law is not without its challenges... add to that some nasty weather that creates a flight diversion to an alternate city, and you have yourself an interesting day. All things considered, travel went pretty well. Incidentally, Continental Airlines is about the best deal in the United States if you ask me... I have flown to Seattle a few times on Delta, Continental, and even US Airways back in the day (direct from Philly)... and believe me, Continental runs one heck of a timely, curteous, and pain-free flying experience.

So we are here... and guess what? It does rain a good deal here. To some people, that might seem like a downer but actually... its not bad. When the sun comes out, this is one beautiful place to be... (check out some pics in the photo section soon enough). Otherwise things are going well. Moving is a very time consuming and challenging process and I would say we are juggling quite a few things right now that make it a bit stressful. The good news is that we have found a house and are looking forward to settling into it soon. I start my new job on Monday which of course is our primary reason for being here... and I am quite looking forward to not only getting back to work, but actually getting into a new team, product, and set of responsibilities. So stay tuned... things are starting to get interesting... :-)

House hunting... packing... loading... moving...

Fri, 26 May 2006 03:16:17 GMT

It's been a few days since I have written anything about the ongoing transition. The past 5 days have been a bit blurry, but somewhere in that timeframe we were able to fly out to Seattle, do a lot of house hunting, make an offer on a house (which was ultimately accepted... whoo hoo!!), fly back to Florida, have the entire house packed, and then, have the entire house loaded into a 73 foot Semi truck. Man, what a process. I would not be doing the people orchestrating this entire thing justice if I did not mention how smooth and professional this whole process has been. My hat's off to everyone involved... so far, fantastic job!

So, stay tuned for some moving pics... Seattle house hunting pics, and more about the transition... thus far, its been occasionally challenging but, fun, exciting, and rewarding. The coming days should be very cool...

Final Days...

Sat, 20 May 2006 02:04:31 GMT

Today was my last day at work before starting my new job in Seattle. Preparations are in full swing of course, but leaving my crew of nearly 5 years was bittersweet. Inevitably, whenever someone leaves a job people want to go to lunch like mad, so if you are interested... check out the photos of one of my lunches with some of my former co-workers. We had a great time though... both at lunch and during my stay there. I will definitely miss my old crew. Good people are hard to find in this life, and I feel fortunate to have worked with a great many good people.

The upside to this whole excerpt though is that I will be going to work with another good group of people. How fortunate am I huh?? Truth is, I do think they are great... at least they seem so. I take great pride in being a good judge of character, and I have a great feeling about my new team... so, no worries... I will sit back, enjoy the ride, and get ready for some new career adventures.

And so begins the quest for a house...

Wed, 17 May 2006 03:29:29 GMT

This is a difficult process. Finding a home in a place that you really know little about can be a daunting task. Fortunately, I am using the vast resources of the internet as well as several friends/acquaintances to help the process. Like the South Florida real estate market, Seattle has seen its share of the housing boom. To think that people are lined up to pay half a million dollars for something that won't be completed until late 2007 is just amazing. This is something we are used to down here, but we also get the bonus of paying exhorbitant taxes on top of that.... For example, on that same $500K house... figure 10K in taxes for Palm Beach county... and what do you get for your tax dollars? If you figure it out, blog it here for me...

Nevertheless... I am looking forward to potentially owning a craftsman style Seattle area home though. As a Frank Lloyd Wright fan, I have always wanted to live in a house that has the sort of character he built into his homes... I realize that is a stretch of a comparison (considering modern construction) unless I plan to purchase something built circa 1906... but I think the prarie-like style that Western Washington offers is pretty cool... Wish me luck... it should be fun.

31 Today...

Mon, 15 May 2006 02:45:36 GMT

So, I turned 31 today. It was a good day actually... since it was also Mother's day, my wife and I got to sort of share special occasions. The best part of the whole thing though would have to be blowing out the candles with my son. This is the first birthday I have had since he joined our family, and let's just say I have been thinking differently ever since. It's true what they say... this is what it is all about.

The packing is going pretty well actually. Thanks in no small part to my brother-in-law for the hours of man strength that he donated to my cause. In retrospect, 2 years ago to the day I was having dinner with my wife on the Seattle waterfront thinking how cool it would be to live there... today, it's almost upon us. It's funny how life works...

So stay tuned for some birthday pics... don't let the snow on the roof fool you... I am still 29 at heart...

Finding some time to Blog...

Fri, 12 May 2006 02:19:54 GMT

So, as I mentioned we are moving to Seattle. This is exceptionally cool, but it is a bit of work to get everything to fall into place... even with the help of some fantastic relocation specialists. I am finding a moment though, to write a bit and to reflect on what the coming weeks will likely be like. To say it will be hectic adds a bit of a negative connotation to it, which always runs counter to the way I think... the truth is... it will be fast-paced, exciting, and ultimately very rewarding... and I will enjoy the heck out of it no matter what.

I spoke with a guy today who will likely be mentoring me into my new job. I think that conversation cemented the whole thing in my mind... I am essentially doing exactly what I want to do, where I want to do it, and with the company I want to work for... How freakin cool is that???? Stay tuned...

New Spaces, New Places...

Wed, 10 May 2006 03:02:01 GMT

So, Christa and I are packing it up and moving out to Seattle this month. This is a huge deal of course, moving my family across the United States in pursuit of some new adventures. Needless to say we are really excited about the journey. I am hoping to cronicle some of those interesting moments here on my space... So stay tuned, friends, family, co-workers, whomever... it should be a great experience!!!