I just got word at lunch that my uncle Don passed away this morning. I don’t have all the details yet but it was quite unexpected. I understand he was enjoying the retired life: playing tennis or golfing nearly every day.

I owed him a phone call, too. He had hit me up a few weeks ago for some VoIP advice. I emailed him a ton of information but he wanted to get some more info. Now I won’t get the chance. 🙁

As I absorbed the news at lunch I could picture him in my mind: a smile on his face and a twinkle in his blue eyes. It reminded me how funny it is that people mourn the departed when the departed himself is having the time of his life (or death, as it were).

His service will probably be this weekend. I would be there if I wasn’t flying to Australia Friday. My thoughts are with my aunt and cousins. We’ll all greatly miss him.

Looks like I’ll be making a two week long visit to Australia in a few weeks. I’m going on a business trip to Melbourne and Sydney, providing training and sales support for my employer. There’s also a question as to whether the wife and kids will join me.

This will be the second visit I’ve made to Australia. The first one was in uniform, as my ship – the USS Elliot – visited Perth back in the summer of 1991. It was of course winter there at the time and rained practically the whole, three day visit.

The flight will mark the third time I’ve crossed the line, this time being the first by air. Even though I’m a trusty shellback, I would strongly doubt that airline passengers crawl through food scraps when flying over the equator. Maybe I’ll toss some peanuts across the cabin to mark the occasion or something.

The trip is work, make no mistake. My schedule is filling up more and more each day. For that reason I wonder if Kelly and the kids would enjoy making the trip with me, as they probably won’t see me for most of the day. Still, it will be nice to visit a country I enjoyed so much on my last visit and its always good to get out of the country and explore.

I will say one thing before calling it a night. My dad worked his last day at IIBM today, putting the cap on a 37-year career. IBM put food on our table. It allowed us to take nice vacations. Gave us great health care. It took us to many new and exciting homes around the southeast. My dad even finagled one of those new IBM PCs for us not long after they rolled off the assembly lines for the very first time. The blogging greatness you see here is owed to my dad’s career.

He’s hanging up his wingtips for golf shoes now. I’m happy for him, and very proud of him.

Bravo Zulu, Pop! Well done!

I’m back from a business trip to Chicago. Fortunately for me and my family, this was just an overnight deal. I’m putting the brakes on any more traveling for the next few weeks.

I don’t really have much else to say at the moment. Gonna just take it easy for the rest of the evening.

Been a bit too eager to burn the candle at both ends lately. More details later. Now its time for some sleep.

I’ve managed to spend a few consecutive days at home! It’s been an enjoyable weekend, one which was much-needed after all the travel I’ve done recently.

I got back from San Diego early Friday morning. I had decided earlier to work from home that day, so that’s what I did. It sure was nice being close to the family, even if I couldn’t play the whole time. Miracle of miracles, both kids – each of which is on the mend – slept soundly through the night. It was the first time Kelly has had a full night of sleep in days.

I went to a talk Friday evening, getting back home around 10:30. Another good night of sleep followed. I gave Kelly a break from parenting so she could run errands. The kids and I watched the sleet and rain fall from the comfort of the playroom. After taking Travis up for a short nap, Hallie and I made a loaf of tasty bread.

I did some work cleaning up my desk and computers before getting ready for my dad’s birthday party. It was our first night leaving the kids with a hired babysitter and things couldn’t have gone more smoothly. We were surprised to hear the babysitter had them settled a bit earlier than we could have done it ourselves. The kids seemed to like her, too.

Dad’s birthday party was a lot of fun. My sister and her family came up from Shelby to take part. The conversation was filled with wisecracks and jokes. The food and wine were excellent, too. We had to cut short her celebrating in order to relieve the babysitter. With Kelly at home, I drove the babysitter home and then went to my parents’ house for the “after-party.”

For Dad’s birthday, many of us had prepared some sort of tribute to him. My brother Al recorded a catchy song for the occasion. My neice wrote a charming poem. I wrote a little toast of sorts. Everyone enjoyed the performances! I was amazed to have left after midnight, as there was still so much energy. Good thing birthdays come every year.

Today was a typical Sunday for us, except for the chilly weather outside (19 degrees at sun up). The kids were in happy moods as were Kelly and I. After breakfast, we headed back over to my parents’ for more visiting with my sister’s family. Hallie and her cousin Victoria had a blast chasing each other around the house. Travis wasn’t quite as mobile, though he enjoyed taking everything in. It was nice seeing my sister again. We just don’t get together often enough.

After getting lunch, the family and I took a quick, chilly walk around the neighborhood. Naps followed, which were then followed by more organizing the home work area. Kelly cooked a tasty meal for dinner, after which we horsed around with the kids until bedtime. Man, its good to be home!

Tomorrow I stick around home while Kelly runs a few important errands. Then I’m back to my desk at the office – a strange place to find me as of late.

During our Christmas travels to Virginia, I flew back to Raleigh via the last of our Independence Air vouchers. Cooking up some jazz in the middle of RDU‘s Terminal A was the Tim Smith Trio. Though they were really grooving, I was one of only a handful of people paying attention.

After a moment a petite brunette sidled up to Tim Smith and whispered for the microphone. She then proceeded to belt out a spirited rendition of the Wilbert Harrison classic “Kansas City.” I thought “wow, she’s damn good for just having wandered off the street.”

Of course, she didn’t exactly wander off the street. After spinning a Zippers CD today, I identified the mystery singer as Katharine Whalen, whose quirky voice (and virtuoso banjo picking) helped vault Chapel Hill’s Squirrel Nut Zippers to worldwide stardom (and unexpectedly spark a renaissance in swing music). Tim and Katharine were bandmates in the Zippers. Their music added a wonderful treat to an otherwise boring wait for my plane.

When not playing holiday gigs at airports, the Tim Smith Trio plays at Raleigh’s Stonewood Grill Wednesday evenings. Check ’em out.

I resigned my position on TriLUG‘s steering committee tonight. My work schedule didn’t allow me to participate to the extent that I would have liked. The other committee members were feeling the pinch, and that isn’t right. It’s a shame it had to happen, but them’s the breaks.

Even so, I’ve had visions of an interesting new special interest group I am thinking of starting. It will be focused on technology and membership will consist of those people paving the way for the others: people who don’t know the meaning of “it can’t be done.” I, of course, will be the cult leader. Being first has its privileges, you know.

Look for more details soon … or not. You may not be kewl enough to get them. 🙂

Comments from non-authenticated users have been temporarily disabled due to some Russian schmuck spam-bombing my website. If you’ve already got an MT.Net account, you’re still golden.

I’ll reenable anonymous posting once I figure out an elegant way to defeat the spambots.