I’m off to Joisey for two days of training. This time I’m getting trained, not giving it. It will be nice change of pace.

Look for more blogging as I while away the hour(s) in the airports.

You know how you feel when you cross the finish line after running a marathon? You don’t? Yeah, me neither. But I imagine it isn’t too far from how I felt Saturday evening after a day sailing with the family on Lake Gaston. I’m still sore from it but there’s a definite smile on my face. It’s a good soreness.

We started planning right after breakfast. Kelly packed the food and dressed the kids while I retrieved the boat from our storage place and got it ready to sail. We were headed north around 11 AM and got to the lake a little after noon. This was our first time launching at this lake (though not the first time sailing) so we had a little time to figure out what to do. Fortunately, rigging the boat came relatively easy and I did it all with a little help from Kelly. About an hour later we had the boat in the water. I motored the boat over to the Naylor’s dock while Kelly parked the car there. She came aboard there and we were off.

The wind was picking up the whole time we were rigging the boat, so I had a feeling we were in for a good sail. After we motored out to the wide part of the lake, I popped up the motor and began raising the sails. After that, it was smooth sailing in every sense of the word. The wind was steady and strong, with some gusts strong enough to scare me into releasing the mainsheet at least three times. We set a course to the eastern end of the lake, where we turned around in front of Eaton Ferry Marina. As luck would have it, the wind back wasn’t as strong as going out – and we were sailing upwind – so we had a more leisurely trip home. I was glad it picked up near the Naylors as I took pride in not putting the motor back in until we were done.

After dropping Kelly and the kids off at the dock, I went back to the ramp to unrig the boat. Kelly did an outstanding job backing the trailer down the ramp, so well that I think she picked up a new responsibility! Another hour or so and the boat was ready for storage.

The family fared very well on the boat. The kids were happier when below as they were freed of their lifevests. Both of them shrieked with delight every time I hit a wake or a good gust heeled the boat over. Both seemed to be unbothered by the rocking and got the hang of balancing fairly quickly. Neither one of them slept any, which would have been nice as Travis for one was getting very clingy towards the end.

I did most of the steering though I did turn it over to Kelly for a bit. Other times she opted to stay below with the kids, sometimes as a result of the strong gusts affecting the boat. When the kids get more comfortable in the cabin, we can relax a bit more and focus instead on the sailing.

This time of year should be good for breezes so the odds are we’ll be out again soon. The boat’s big enough that getting wet isn’t an issue. That should extend our sailing well into the cooler weather.

Our boat’s also big enough that I shouldn’t have to work as hard at sailing it, but I certainly did. The previous two times we’ve sailed, the wind was light enough that I didn’t have to adjust the main sheet at all: just point it into the wind. With the kind of gusts we got Saturday, though, if I didn’t mind the mainsail we would have gotten a taste for just how far our boat will heel! Had I thought about it ahead of time, being on an unfamiliar boat with big gusts of wind and the kids on board might have terrified me. Instead we all did just fine. It shows that as a sailor, I’m more capable than I gave myself credit for. Kelly and the kids are, too.

Oh, and we think we’ve got a name for the boat: Whimsy. It just seems to fit.

Being on the water Saturday made me forget about all the hours I’ve spent this month crammed into a too-small airline seat or locked inside an airport terminal. Now, how many days until the weekend?

I’m done with travel until mid next week. Whee. The Boston trip was successful but rather unfulfilling. The New York trip was successful and fulfilling. The only issue I have is that I left the house at 7 for a 90 minute appointment at midday and then spent six hours cooling my heels at the Newark airport just waiting for a ride home. Why didn’t I get my pilot’s license again?

The kids were obviously glad their dad was back. I grinned ear to ear when I returned to find the front door plastered with “welcome home” drawings! As if that wasn’t enough, I got to say goodnight to our not-sleeping girl, too.

Now I’m working from home since Fridays are Non-Stop Conference Call days. Between the trips and having all I need here at home, I’m beginning to wonder why I need a cubicle at the office. Now if I could only get the boat set up for wireless internet . . .

I’m on my way to Boston early in the AM to do an install and training for an important reseller. Expect little or no blogging, unless I get stuck in the airport terminal somewhere.

Thursday, I’m off to Manhattan for another day trip. This all starts a stretch of more intense travel. Whee.

The Labor Day weekend was full of fun. Kelly and I set the kids up with a babysitter Saturday and met the former owner of our sailboat for a few hours’ sailing Falls Lake. The conditions were spectacular! Tropical Storm Ernesto swept all the heat and humidity out of the area, leaving a fall-like day for sailing. Winds were from 5-10 MPH with enough gusts to give us a nice little ride around the lake. Will, the former owner, was generous in passing on his knowledge and was good company, too. If it weren’t for the limits on his time (and our babysitter’s), we may have stayed out all afternoon.

Rigging and unrigging the boat went much easier this time around, too, as did my experience at the boat ramp. I’ve got plenty of confidence with everything now that I feel I could sail the boat myself if need be. I also feel comfortable that the minivan can handle the ramps just fine. No need to get a bigger vehicle.

We had hoped to go out on Sunday as well but the wind was nowhere to be found. Instead we made plans to take the kids to Pullen Park. Kelly and I got into a spat around then which put me in a foul mood for most of the day. Fortunately we patched things up around dinnertime but not soon enough for me to avoid a pounding headache caused by stress. While there were some good aspects to it, Sunday was one of those days I wish I could just do over.

Monday was better, though. We met my brother’s family at my parents’ pool and had a chilly swim – the clouds had kept the temperature way down. When the kids’ teeth began to chatter I knew it was time to move on. While the kids took their naps I headed out to do some quick work on the boat, adding some wooden rails to the trailer to make boat recovery easier. I can imagine that a boat is just like a house in the respect that if one looks one can always find some work to do on it.

Now its back to work. Oh yeah, that.

Tropical Storm Ernesto passed through just east of the Triangle early this morning, hugging the eastern side of I-95 as it passes into Virginia. Winds near the center are sustained at 60 MPH, but here there is much, much less wind. The weather station’s wind gauge measured a gust of 20 MPH at 3:45 AM this morning. The gust must have been higher since the gauge is too close to the house for me to trust it. I’d say the breeze is well over what I’d be comfortable sailing in but not strong enough to be worried about falling trees.

The rain so far has been a bust, too. Yesterday got half an inch. Since midnight today we’ve had half an inch. We got more rain with the preceding cold front days ago when it dropped 2.24 inches in a day.

Still, I won’t complain about the rain. I’d been watching my lawn and trees wilt from the drought we’d slipped back into. A good, solid rain spread out over 4-5 days seems to be just what we needed here.

I’ve been incommunicado today, giving advanced training on our wonderful product to our other sales engineers. I’m flying without a net, just letting the attendees tell me what they want to learn. I’m having a blast doing it, too. It’s so refreshing to teach something new rather than the same old “introducing our product” spiel. And these guys are smart so I don’t have to belabor the small stuff. They can figure it out.

I’m getting an early start on training tomorrow in an effort to get these guys out of here before Tropical Storm Ernesto pays us a visit Thursday. Sure, the winds will be piddily by the time it gets here but there will still be the threat of flooding and tornadoes. In a way it reminds me of the first training I did when started at $LAST_COMPANY. It was held in the fall of 2003 when the last tropical storm came through Raleigh. We were in the Clarion Hotel in downtown Raleigh: the big round hotel on Hillsborough Street. I’ll never forget the feeling of standing on that balcony and hearing the wind howl through that cylindrical building.

Oh, and another thing. I took the guys back to the hotel after dinner and pulled up right behind a satellite truck for the The Weather Channel. You know if you see these guys show up you’re in for some wild weather!

The sailboat officially became part of the family this weekend, though we don’t have a name for it yet. Then again, that’s how Hallie started off and look where she is today!

I picked it up Friday afternoon and hauled it back home. It was the first time I’ve towed a boat. Everything went well until I got to my neighborhood and collected stares from all of our neighbors, who now probably think we’re loaded. I don’t think I’ll ever be comfortable with appearing wealthy (like I’ll ever have that problem!) Still I don’t like looking pretentious. I parked the boat (or more accurately, I had my CDL-carrying neighbor park the boat) between the houses where conveniently it can’t be seen until you’re right next to it.

There it sat all day Saturday while I attended a boating safety course at Lake Wheeler park and Kelly and the kids did volunteer work for Hallie’s preschool. I had been looking forward to taking it out for a sail Sunday with the previous owner, who volunteered to “show me the ropes,” but got a call during my class from him saying he couldn’t make it. Fortunately, my friend Ralph agreed to take us out and so we made plans for a trip this morning.

I had loaded up the boat with all our safety equipment when we got the call that Ralph was ready to join us. Kelly loaded the kids in the car and we towed the boat down to the boat ramp at Jordan Lake. An hour later, Ralph and I had the boat rigged and ready to go. It would be up to me to back it down the ramp and into the water.

I’d never put a boat in before. If you’ve never done it, it can be the most intimidating thing you can do. I spent fifteen minutes just getting the boat lined up to where it was straight on the ramp. Then a few more harrowing minutes later it was floating free while the minivan’s exhaust pipe blew bubbles in the lapping water. Note to self: minivans aren’t ideal for launching boats.

Once it was in the water the crew could finally board and shove off. I’m used to smaller boats where a good push with my arm can launch them away from the dock. That’s not so effective with this boat since its too big! I turned back to the outboard motor behind me, its bizarre controls unfamiliar and unlabled. I couldn’t even figure out how to lower it into the water! Our fun day was off to a very slow start. I do know how to use a starter rope, so at least I could do something. A bit of fiddling later and our engine was puffing smoke and leading us away from the launching ramps.

I discovered my next problem right then: sailboats and outboards have an uneasy coexistence. The sailboat’s rudder shared steering duty with the outboard, meaning whenever I had to turn the boat I had to steer both the outboard and the rudder. It was easy to forget which needed to be doing what.

Thank goodness Jordan Lake is a big lake! I simply pointed the boat out towards the wind and waited. Ralph put up the sails while Kelly kept the kids entertained in the cabin. With the sails raised, Ralph and I took our positions in the cockpit and waited to start moving.

We waited. And we waited. The wind that was promising a minute earlier had now dwindled considerably. The 10 MPH winds promised by the morning weather forecast had not materialized. We ended up having a wonderful float within clear view of our launching ramp starting point.

By this time it was nearing noon. Kelly and the kids had an appointment to make, so we headed back in. All told, we probably put twice as much time into rigging and unrigging the boat as we did actually sailing. That doesn’t take into account the 45 minutes it took each way to travel from our home to Jordan Lake. We made another note to ourselves to drive separate cars next time we bring the kids. That way the boat could be rigged before they arrive, making the trip more pleasant for them.

And its not like they didn’t have fun, once we were going. All the time spent working on the boat made them hot and cranky. Stuffing them then into a cabin with little air passing through wasn’t adding any to their joy. Still, they did seem to enjoy being topside when there was some wind blowing. I think they’d like to go again.

Kelly was jealous of me for the time I spent topside. She’s itching for the chance to sail her, too. We’re thinking the next sail we take will involve having a babysitter take the kids while we sail. That way we can both concentrate on sailing, rather than keeping our junior sailors occupied.

I had just gone through the holy terror of dragging the boat up the ramp when I looked back to see the wind blowing nicely all across the lake. Bah.

When I returned the boat to our newly-acquired storage space, I backed it into its slot like I’d been doing it all my life. Like everything we did today, we knew that next time would be better. My boat parking certainly improved.

So our “shakedown cruise” wasn’t the best experience we’ve had, but we accomplished what we wanted. We learned how to rig and unrig the boat, we learned how to work the motor, and we gained experience launching and recovering the boat. It wasn’t perfect, but there weren’t any disasters either so we did okay. By the time I’m inviting y’all out for a cruise we’ll have this thing down to a science.

Fair winds and following seas, shipmates.

To continue my previous post about the beach trip, we did wind up taking pictures Thursday morning. A little before everyone was supposed to meet, I surveyed the heat and light and suggested we put it off until the evening. Well, that went over like a lead balloon! We pressed on anyway, however. Some of us (ok, just me) were in a cranky mood and it showed.

Everyone was ready for something different after that, so Jeff and Suzie took their kids on a trip to Seaside while Kelly and I put ours back in the pool. Then it was baths and naps for the kids, followed by free time for Kelly and I. Kelly usually took a walk down the beach during naps but I took one Thursday. I was feeling like a slug after hearing how Kelly and my mom were getting all this exercise. After an hour’s walk I returned to the condo.

We had our cookout that evening, with friends and relatives coming over. Jeff manned the grills and I kept him company while everyone else ran roughshod around the condo. It was a screaming, giggling fest for the kids and a memorable night for the adults. In spite of the noise, I thought it ended too soon. There’s never enough time to visit with good friends and relatives.

We crashed early again that night and woke up on Friday on the late-ish side for a change. Yet another morning spent at the pool, though by now the seaweed had been pushed sufficiently offshore to allow some beach time. We played at both before doing our now-familiar bath-and-nap routine.

We had all talked about taking another stab at some pictures that evening. As the day wore on, storm clouds began to gather on the horizon. My parents were out visiting relatives in the city while we were battening down the hatches at the condo. When it looked like we were going to get rained out, I called my mom and told them we were going out to dinner instead. She sounded so disappointed we weren’t taking pictures that I was bummed the rest of the night. The whole time we were at Pineapple Willie’s I was wishing my parents were with us. Kelly had to ask if I was feeling okay.

When we saw rain bands rolling up the beach towards us, we got out check and headed back to the condo. I broke out my guitar and played for the family while lightning flashed outside. I went to bed uneasily knowing our final day of vacation was approaching.

Our last day began once again at the pool. (Hmm. Perhaps our next vacation will be to the Cary Holiday Inn.) This pool morning was special though as our kids learned how to swim! Travis would go completely underwater and kick towards us, while Hallie would jump in and kick and paddle her way to us. It was amazing to watch both of them just take to it – all in the same day! This, along with many other reasons, had us wishing it wasn’t our last day at the beach.

Saturday evening we had another round of pictures. With the sun setting and temperatures cooling off, it was an ideal time to take pictures. The shots came out fantastic and eveyone enjoyed the experience. Several of the pictures already have homes in picture frames around the house.

Our photo session went straight through what would’ve been dinner time, so everyone scrambled to find dinner. Our family was the only one to venture out, while my parents and Jeff and Suzie’s family ate in their rooms due to the late hour. We drove over to a place my parents ate at for lunch earlier in the week; a place called J. Michael’s tucked in the back of a crusty marina. After a modest wait, we were seated inside.

It was a dive by most every standard, but like all good dives it had incredible charm. The wait staff was very friendly and the mood was light. The kids worked on coloring books while Kelly and I inhaled our dinner salads. I ordered the Grouper Creole and was mesmerized by its out-of-this-world taste. Kelly had the grouper sandwich and was equally impressed. When a dive restaurant sticks around for 20 plus years, it must be doing something right. I consider it the best meal I’ve ever had in Panama City, outside of Grandma’s house of course!

Our food was so good, in fact, that it knocked the lights out of the place. Halfway through our entrees the power went out. The owner’s daughter seemed to have dealt with this before. We watched her dial what we took to be a well-worn cellphone number as she loudly denounced the crusty marina they were in. Apparently a transformer serving the marina blew up, which left the restaurant with only half its usual power. Everyone was apologetic about having to close but I thought it made a memorable evening even more memorable. I made it a point to tell the frazzled owner’s daughter that we’d be back. Food like that is worth the trip.

We stayed up way too late packing our stuff for the trip home. Sunday morning came and we were on the road by 6:45 Central time. The kids were incredible in spite of Travis’s fever we detected early in the trip. In spite of that, we made it home that evening a little before 9 PM, incredible considering the distance and circumstances. It was wonderful to sleep in our own beds Sunday night!

Vacations always leave you different from when you left. I treasure the week spent with my family, watching my children grow up and spending more time with my parents than I do in three months. I know we can’t take big vacations every year, but the time spent together is the most important thing. That’s something I can’t ever get enough of.