> Recent Entries
> Archive
> Friends
> User Info
> previous 20 entries

May 12th, 2008

10:35 am - WisCon in madison Hi there-- Just learned I shall be at WisCon in Madison WI--arriving on Friday afternoon and departing on Monday afternoon. I would love to meet up with congenial souls, so please let me know if you're around and available for a coffee or a get-together! Sorry to be off line _again_--I returned from the Caribbean honeymoon (a month away was a very good thing)and spent March moving stuff, helping family move, sorting out the apartment of a deceased friend . . . it was a lot going on plus of course taxes. Then I started my new job April 1! It's a really fun job and has the advantage of being a startup inside of an established company, so steady paychecks and stability. But all of this change and work in my life has meant that (as usual) LJ gets pushed to the background. Anyway, I'll check back and also check around on LJ too about WisCOn. Hope to see you! Current Location: NYC, PHL, MKE Current Mood: happy Tags: madison, travel, wiscon

(19 comments | Leave a comment)

February 29th, 2008

12:07 pm - Finishing up in Caribbean Hey there It's been beautiful here and really relaxing. We are so lucky! Have a great weekend. Current Location: Caribbean Current Mood: relaxed Tags: caribbean, sailing, snorkeling

(2 comments | Leave a comment)

February 25th, 2008

02:44 pm Hi there-- Sorry to be offline so very long but lots has been going on. In brief: Harried life for 1.5 years as dealt literally with insanity of another, money worries and every issue one finds in a blues song; Things calmed down and sanity and something approaching a normal life was resumed -- interrupted by the passings of dear friends; Met a remarkable man, got engaged; got a wonderful job offer . . . Got married; Fabulous honeymoon; Dear friend Robert passed away (still sorrowing as are his many friends and his family), and I am sure we will see lots of you at the memorial service for Robert. Meanwhile, back to honeymoon . . . xxx to all! Current Location: Caribbean Current Mood: sorrowing but happy 2 be here

(25 comments | Leave a comment)

October 31st, 2007

(7 comments | Leave a comment)

October 22nd, 2007

05:36 pm - Arrived in Vienna Good morning! Got to Vienna early to attend a friend's birthday party: quite a shift from warm and summery New York to late autumn Vienna. Not yet used to the cold so shivering away here. It has been overcast and gray since arrival. The party was wonderful, saw lots of old friends I had not seen in quite a while! The party was in a Gasthaus in the 13th-a very villagey section of town with all sorts of parks. We looked out over the city and all of the golden trees, but as it started to rain we retreated indoors to the warmth. Worked today but I certainly hope that there will be time to explore and take pix: unfortunately will not be able to post them until back in the USA . . . nonetheless it's good to be here and catch up with friends and relatives. How was your weekend? I certainly hope you had a wonderful time! Have a good week. Current Location: Vienna, AT Current Mood: contemplative Tags: autumn, golden trees, vienna

(11 comments | Leave a comment)

October 1st, 2007

10:12 am - Good morning! Hey there-- Getting back to normal at long last and will be catching up. Recently: Back from my friend's funeral/burial in Charleston. I'm very glad I went there. Saw E both there and NYC, and many thanks to our hosts in NYC. Great to catch up with some people I had not seen in a while. E, cannot wait till you come back to NYC! Learned another friend in the UK has cancer--I think it is "trials of Job" time, but these things happen, so must just power on through. I'll start filling you in on my life while away from LJ (or the past 1.5+ years!) in the days to come, but wanted to give a big hello to everyone--especially those of you who have been so supportive during the past 2 years. More to come, and have a great week! Current Location: NYC Current Mood: hopeful Tags: catchup, charleston, green, texture

(12 comments | Leave a comment)

September 17th, 2007

08:50 am Hello. Changes. Sorry for long absence, more on that later, but I'll have time to post a bit now and then. Lots to do with lots of work and enormous change--most good. Learned 09/16/07 AM another friend in San Francisco had a heart attack -- nasty. He is scheduled for bypass. Don't know yet when. Learned 09/16/07 PM that another friend passed away 09/16/07 in the afternoon. Feeling really sad. Need to make travel arrangements for the funeral on Wednesday. Felt like this yesterday Please forgive if I don't read back for months, but do want to catch up! How are you? Current Location: NYC Current Mood: thoughtful Tags: melancholy

(18 comments | Leave a comment)

September 25th, 2006

05:29 pm - Goodbye I mourn the passing of my friend Mike. We were in St. Petersburg together: he lectured there when I was teaching. We went to Gatchina, picked berries, drank tea, got caught in the rain, drank more tea, then we pushed the car into the gas station as we'd run out of gas. He looked over me and made jokes about A Day in the Life of Ivan Touristovich. He thanked me for bringing him here as our canal boat rounded the bend. Thank you ( Mila for the picture! ) We explored Charleston, Madison and Minneapolis. We almost died in a car crash in New Jersey. We had history. Current Location: Washington, DC Current Mood: mourning Tags: john m. ford, st. petersburg

(32 comments | Leave a comment)

June 6th, 2006

09:36 am - Rites of Spring Good morning! Sorry about the long silence: Work has been extremely busy and has also entailed a lot of travel--being on the road nearly all the time gets wearing after a while, but the work is very interesting indeed. A lot has been happening this last spring! Spring started off cold and wet ( A voyage through spring ) Off to a meeting, and I loook forward to catching up with you all soon--if I have missed something, please tell me! Have a lovely day! Current Location: Washington DC Current Mood: busy Tags: flowers

(18 comments | Leave a comment)

February 15th, 2006

09:25 am - An overnight trip away in Portugal--Porto Good morning and a Happy Wednesday to you! After our day out around Lisbon we returned to town and had a lovely fish dinner, and decided to explore more of the city--we did that the next day. (I don't want to bore you with too much Lisbon, so maybe I'll show those next time if you're interested). But we agreed with my friend to do an overnight trip, which wound up being loads of fun! She came and picked us up early Friday morning, and we drove up to Porto. That is a very dramatically lovely city on the Douro river in the north of Portugal. A glimpse of Porto from the Vila Nova de Gaia side of the Douro The weather was so warm we could wander around in light sweaters, and we had lunch in the sunshine on the Ribeira side in shirtsleeves! ( A few more looks at Porto ) Current Mood: good

(45 comments | Leave a comment)

February 10th, 2006

09:47 am - A day trip out of Lisbon Good morning, and happy Friday! When I found out at the airport that my surprise destination was Portugal, I sent an SMS to a former colleague who is based there. She and I got in touch during the weekend, and she came and took us to see the mountain city of Sintra, which was the summer retreat for the Portuguese nobility. There are so many palaces and noble homes there, all different and stunning! The Palacio da Pena ( More palace ) As we exited we took a wrong turn through the Parque da Pena, the former grounds of the palace--lovely landscaping and a beautiful walk! But, we got lost and wound up finding the Castelo dos Mouros instead of the car. These are the ruins of an old Moorish defensive castle we'd seen from above ( More Moors ) We then descended to the town of Sintra--we missed seeing the Palacio Nacional da Sintra--next time! We had lunch in Sintra and then went along the coastline to visit some of the seaside towns. ( A bit of the seaside ) We returned to Lisbon, and we'd had so much fun that she invited us on another getaway. Current Mood: pleased Tags: cascais, estoril, portugal, sintra

(22 comments | Leave a comment)

February 8th, 2006

09:00 am - Back from my surprise trip Hello and happy Wednesday. As you may remember, I arrived at the airport on a Friday, not knowing where I was going. I picked up my ticket at the airline counter at 6PM as instructed and learned I was going to Lisbon Portugal that night! In the midddle of the airport I just started to laugh--what a surprise! I arrived the next day, and my host met me at the hotel. The city was new for him and we had a wonderful time exploring the city together. Over the weekend it snowed and was freezing, so we didn't get out too much, but Monday was bright and sunny. The triumphal arch at the Praca do Comercio, the downtown square right on the river Tagus ( More of Lisbon ) The castle grounds were utterly lovely ( A stroll through Alfama ) After returning to the Baixa we then took this wonderful urban elevator, the Elevador de Santo Justo, built by a student of Gustave Eiffel. At the top of the elevator is a crosswalk to the Bairro Alto, and at the VERY top is a cafe with great views! ( Take a ride ) A view of the castle by night We then went off to eat dinner. More to come! Current Mood: happy Current Music: Fado

(32 comments | Leave a comment)

January 26th, 2006

08:43 am - Mystery destination . . . Good morning! Once again, my apologies for not updating, but once again work has been nuts. We had a huge presentation last week that went extremely well, and have been working on preparing the clients for their upcoming world tour. Back in December I was in London for work, and my host in Las Vegas joined me for the weekend. We had a great time, exploring the parks near the hotel, trying new restaurants, and walking along the river, which for me is always so lovely! We stayed in the client's favorite hotel, which was very conveniently situated right in the center of town. The London skyline, with the Eye and the Abbey complex We had so much fun in London that we thought we might try another get-together somewhere. We discussed a lot of places, and finally decided we wanted to go somewhere where it's spring. Then it took a bit of a different turn. Once we had sorted out our respective schedules (setting next week aside), I was then told that I should pack for a certain climate, then show up at the airport at 6:00 PM tomorrow night with my passport, and pick up my plane ticket. So as of tomorrow evening I am off to a mystery destination for a week: all I know is it's spring there! Wish me luck! Current Mood: curious

(12 comments | Leave a comment)

December 23rd, 2005

09:22 am - Happy Holidays! Hi there! I am finally home after several months of project work and travel! It's been a great project but really grueling, as I've been on the road between the USA and Europe and working very hard since October. Sorry, but with all the travel I could not keep up with LJ. Please if I have missed something let me know, because I know I won't be able to read all the way back to October! Back in November for my birthday I was invited to Las Vegas NV by someone I've been keeping company with to participate in a handgun marksmanship course. It was a 2-day intensive, utilizing a Glock 9mm, and certainly a very novel experience for me. The range ( A bit more of the range ) The rest of our time in Las Vegas was dedicated to seeing what Vegas has to offer. I must say that the juxtaposition of the discipline required on the range (it IS a deady weapon) with the dubious charms of las Vegas was an experience! ( Las Vegas! ) Finally the hiking--Red Rock Canyon was lovely! ( a few more outdoors shots! ) OK, that's it for now--let me try to catch up with you all, and then go Christmas shopping! Very happy holidays to all!

(39 comments | Leave a comment)

November 10th, 2005

10:14 am - Off to Las Vegas! Good morning! I hope you are well--sorry to again have been so remiss in keeping up with LJ but everything took off and it's beeen nuts (but in a goood way)! First of all I'm on a new and exciting media project, and since we are looking at 6 countries worldwide, there will surely be lots of travel this winter for me--this I have no trouble forseeing! A day trip up to Rhode Island--sunset on the bay . . . We're leaving for Las Vegas for my birthday--I've been enrolled in a 2 day handgun marksmanship course as a birthday present--this coupled with the dubious charms of Las Vegas sshould make for aan interesting birthday weekend. Camera is surely coming with me . . . and I'll touch base after I'm back. Have a great weekend! Current Mood: busy

(23 comments | Leave a comment)

October 20th, 2005

09:33 am - Back from LA Good morning! It has been a while since I last posted, but it's been colossally busy--sorry for the long silence. Just back from a long weekend in LA, spent in Santa Monica and then in Newport Beach for a friend's wedding. Absolutely lovely! I enjoyed walking down the beaches and the wedding itself was wonderful. The last few weeks have been lots of work--a big trade show coming up next week for a client, as well as a massive project we will be presenting next week. That will be a monster if we win it! So work and travel have kept me running since fall began. I've been thinking about NaNoWriMo again, but if we win this big project, I will be so busy that I reallly won't have the time. Plus too I've upgraded my system--and that is still a work in progress, as we twiddle with the entire thing, bits of software here and there . . . but I love my new Mac, plus we upgraded the laptop as well. Had a great get-together with le_poulin and bitpuddle who gave me great new camera ideas. I want to upgrade and have decided a fine new camera will be the perfect Christmas present! Bring me up to date on what you've been up to--the next few days I am in town as I am canceling 2 trips I was supposed to make but can't physically swing . . . and excuse me if it takes me a bit to catch up with your doings! xxoo Current Mood: busy

(21 comments | Leave a comment)

September 19th, 2005

10:10 am - Busy Monday week! Happy Monday! Water lilies run rampant Sorry to be off line, but the project for the folks in Atlanta kicked off last week, and it's been busy! That plus the looming deadline for the EU proposal and more international visitors, now from Poland, Australia and Austria and it's been non-stop activity, both social and work -- with no sign of stopping. It looks as though my travel schedule will be picking up again starting this week and into October. I hope it will not be as hectic as the summer. On the agenda seem to be Washington DC, Atlanta, LA, Dallas, and then the Caribbean. Let's see what actually happens. Have a great week--and I'll take my camera with me!

(13 comments | Leave a comment)

September 14th, 2005

07:45 am - Remarkable discoveries Happy Wednesday! We sailed over the weekend to a tidal island, an enormous sand bar just chock full of seagulls. Once we moored they thinned out a bit . . . But this one was utterly fearless, trotting over to our area with no hesitation I loved this little girl trying to replace the seagull's lost feather--the look of concentration! I saw some amazing stuff in LJ that I wanted to point out: A breathtaking 9/11 tribute to the Towers of Light photo linked to by bitpuddle. Thank you for showing me this photograph! An exquisite photo-essay by gorbenko. The photos are haunting, of Brno, Czechoslovakia in the 1950's. The Russian speakers will enjoy this as it's in Russian. Got lots of work done on a longer-term EU project yesterday. It won't bear fruit until next year, but it's still good to work on this. I'm still waiting for the short-term projexcts to kick in, so I feel a bit impatient on that front . . . Happy Wednesday! Current Mood: busy

(16 comments | Leave a comment)

September 13th, 2005

08:20 am - Summer starts to end Happy Tuesday! On the way to New England The past several weeks were quite busy with visitors, now the Europeans have left and the Australians have arrived! So between catching up with old friends and new projects it's really quite busy. I went to Atlanta for a project just before Labor Day. I'd never been there before, but found it quite a modern and friendly city. The project looks interesting, and we are waiting for it to kick off this week. I got back late late on Friday night, and left Saturday morning for New England for the Labor Day weekend in RI--it seems so long ago now! The trip up The swan above was a local denizen--quite fearless. We had a lovely time sailing, but that's for another day. Have a happy Tuesday!

(19 comments | Leave a comment)

August 31st, 2005

10:30 am - In a hurry! Hi there, it's Wednesday in the middle of a very crazed week! A restaurant in "Little India" -- they're actually quite tasty! It's been a mad hurry the last weeks: so many projects happening, and all of them popping this week, plus visitors from Europe. When I wasn't working I was out with the international visitors; friends who have descended simultaneously from Austria, France and Spain. My French friend brought me so many wonderful goodies from Provence that my nose went into a delicious delirium. Wonderful! I went out to the seashore with the Spanish and Austrians. Beware of Europeans near an outlet mall! We spent SEVEN hours as they bargain shopped like maniacs! Of course given the instant 22% discount between the euro and the dollar, I don't blame them, but honestly, seven hours? Other than that, it's busy, good busy. It looks as though I'm off to Atlanta for work tomorrow, and then New England for the Labor Day weekend. Have a great Labor Day weekend holiday everyone! See you in September! Current Mood: busy

(19 comments | Leave a comment)