Touchdown Jaguars!

The corner stone to our visit to Tucson this weekend was the Jacksonville Jaguars playing the Arizona Cardinals. Alex did a really good job in school this semester and his reward was tickets to the game. Alex and I were joined by Grandpa and Uncle Keith. It was a pretty chilly day by Phoenix standards with game time tempurature in high 50's and a strong westerly wind. Alex and I ended up wearing just about everything we brought with us as well as some winter clothing we borrowed from Grandpa and uncle K. Of course our seats were in the shade which made it feel even colder! Still as Alex said, there was gametime electricity in the air and the excitment was high. The Jags and the Cards played a really tough, hard faught game that the Jags finally clinched in the final minute. Dad and Uncle K left right after the game ended to go warm up in the car, while Alex and I stayed to watch the players mingle and greet each other on the field and see the press conference of the Cardinals coach Dennis Green on the big screen TV. I think we were the last fans in the stands when we finally made our way back to the car. We always like to stay and soak up as much of the atmosphere as posible, we just don't want the experience to end. It was a great day of football and another wonderful future memory for Alex and I.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Happy thanksgiving to all my family.

Our day was full of fun, relaxation, friends and family. We celebrated our Thanksgiving holiday wiht Dad and Bonnie and our friends Paul and Karen and thier daughter Jessie. Chris and Bonnie prepared an amazing feast of Citrus herb Turkey, Mashed potatoes and gravy, candied carrots, candied yams, stuffing and home made pumpkin pie. After dinner headed over to our friends Rick and Donna Herbst. They always have a fun group over for Thanks giving. They out do themselves every year with dessert selection. This years selection included two kinds of pumpkin pie (Chris' homemade was the best!) pumpkin cheese cake, carrot cake, homemade fudge. I'm so thankful that Dad and Bonnie were able to join us this year, that Dad has found a partner and soulmate to share his life with. I am thankful that I am blessed with such a loving and supportive wife and kids that are loving, caring and respecful.

On the Safe side of Sideways

Today was a special adventure. Dad and Bonnie joined Chris and I for a day in the Santa Barbara wine country. I was able to take the day off so the four of us could do this little get away while the kids were in school. We started off in the quaint Danish village of Solvang for a light lunch. There are some really nice shops here so we walked off our lunch by strolling the streets. At one point Dad and I snuck away to find a Geocache that was in the area. We then proceeded to the LaFond Winery in nearby Buellton after our tasting we refilled our glasses with our favorite vino and headed to the picnic area for some bread, cheese and dark chocolate. The setting was beautiful, with golden brown leaves on the vines and crystal blue sky overhead. It was nice to just sit and talk and relax. We then headed to the Melville Winery for our final tasting of the day. This is my favorite winery in the entire area. Great setting, beautiful decor and good wine too. Our final stop was at Andersen's Pea Soup to do my final Geocache of the day. It was a virtual that had 11 questions to answer. More that I would have done, but it was still fun. We headed south around sunset and made a stop in Ventura harbor for dinner at our favorite little fish shack Andrea's. From there we headed home. What a fun day.

Paying a visit to Ronnie

Dad and Bonnie are in town for the Thanksgiving holiday. Yesterday the kids and I took them to the Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley. The last time I was hear with the boys doing a geocache on Presidential Libraries, we only toured the outside garden area of the grounds. Since that visit, Reagan passed away so this location is now also his burial site. Also new is the Air Force One Museum. The Boeing 707 that was as Nik put it yesterday "President Reagans Ride for his international trips" is on permanent indoor display, pointing out a window that is the entire wall of this huge building. The view of the surrounding hill of Simi valley from this vantage point are spectacular. It was also a picture perfect day, with crystal blue sky's, excellent air quality and temps in the low 80's. We spent about 3 hours touring the museum. which really has something for everyone, from a reproduction of the Oval Office at the white house as it was during Reagans terms, to some of Nancy's beautiful gowns from formal functions to the highlight for me of Air Force One and its companion Marine One, the helicopter that shuttles the president from the White House to Andrews Air Force Base where Air Force one is housed. It was a fun visit and once I would recommend to anyone.

Podcast Convention Wrap-up

The boys and I are home from the Podcast Convention. It was a really neat experience, and I'm happy that I could share it with Nik and Alex. Nik was super excited to get a chance to see Leo Laporte give the keynote address to open the show. He is such a fun personality and very comfortable on stage. Nik had a smile on his face from ear to ear during the presentation. Oh, did I mention that Leo is a Mac guy? Know wonder Nik and I like him so much. Later in the day we where back in the keynote hall because I was looking for a quite place to call into a conference call with a client. While the boys were sitting there waiting for my call to end Nik spotted Leo chatting with some other people. I also spotted Patrick Norton, Leo's partner on the Screen Savers, Call for help and my favorite podcast TWit standing near Leo. Next thing I know, Nik and grabbing Alex so the two of them can go an introduce themselves to Leo. Leo also introducted them both to Patrick and Nik ended up chatting with Patrick for about 5 minutes. Alex even get a picture of Nik and Patrick. We then walked through the exibit hall. There were quite a few products being introduced for making personal podcastes. It was fun to be in the middle of so much energy surrounding this new technology and new community.

Live with Leo

At the Portable Media Expo in Ontario, CA. Nik and Alex have joined me at the show. The big attraction for Nik was the opportunity to see Leo Laporte, who was on The Screen Savers on the old TechTV. He is now the host of one of my favorite Podcasts, This Week in Tech also known as TWiT. We have wireless right here in the keynote all so I'm blogging this live and Alex is on my PDA on the NFL.com web site. The hall is jammed, at least 2,500 people here for the first ever Podcasting convention. People here from over 44 countries. It's pretty cool.

Happy Halloween

Our family had a fun Halloween weekend. Caties school had a fall festival with lots of games and good food. All the kids dressed up in their costumes. Catie hooked up with her friend Makenna and they both had a ball. Saturday morning we made our annual trip to Lombardi Ranch a rustic old produce farm that gets all decked out for Halloween. They have a Huge pumpkin patch, a 5 acre Sunflower field with a maze through it and lots of good things to eat like caramel apples, corn on the cob and snow cones. With Halloween on a Monday night this year, I had to try and get home early. Unfortunately all the other parents in SoCal must have had the same idea and I ended up sitting in traffic for three hours and missing my chance to go trick or treating with Catie. I did get to spend time with Alex passing out candy. Catie's Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz costume was very cute, she looked great. Once she got back to the house she recalled to me all the houses in the neighborhood that had the best candy, especially those that gave out the holy grail of trick or treating...The full size candy bars!