Smithsonian Air and Space Museum

On Wednesday night in D.C., Sun employees were treated to a private party at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. As expected, it was a spectacular event and I was reminded how fortunate I am to work for Sun Microsystems.

Not many know that I have a mild fascination with helicopters, to the point that I planned a my 30th birthday around a helicopter ride. So I had to get a picture with this helicopter, appropriately named 'Spirit of Texas' . Piloted by H. Ross Perot Jr. it was the first helicopter to ever fly around the world (Sept 1982).

This is the front wheel of a plane, they always look so small on the ground when your watching from the airport or from the plane. As you can see, it is alot larger than it seems!
So I was probably the only one at the Air & Space museum taking pictures of flowers! The buffet stations had the most beautiful arrangements that I couldn't help but take pictures....
Oh this next one is just a picture of me with my Boss! ;) She is based in New Hamshire, pronounced New 'Hamsha'.

Out of Town.....

This week I am in Washington D.C. staying at the beautiful Gaylord National Resort for the annual Sun sales conference and it's really spectacular. There are only 4 of these hotels and it seems the commonality between the 4 properties is they all have an indoor glass atrium that spans 18 stories high. I took the picture below standing on the bank of the Potomac River.

The next picture is taken from the 7th floor looking down at the Atrium. Unfortunately, it's impossible to see the exotic gardens, water fountains and lazy river.
Here is a picture of me and some of my team members. Including the missing members from this picture we represent 7 states (AZ, CA, CT, NY, OR, TX, & VA) . We are truly a 'virtual' team in every sense! (The 'Boss' is in the white top just behind me.)
Monday night we enjoyed an outdoor reception that included food/drink, a live band and other forms of entertainment including....Fireworks over the Potomac! Here's my team watching the show and the best possible picture I could take of some fireworks in action.
The other great part about being in D.C. is being able to see my family that lives in Virginia but that will be a separate post! To be continued....

Abracadabra, Crazyn Goat!

This weekend we visited some friends that we haven't seen since getting back to Arizona. Richard & Kim Staffeldt are Josh's parents and Emily, Randy & Chris (I've written about him in a previous post) are their other kids.

This is very interesting, young Emily owns a Goat. It's name is Abracadabra, Abby for short. Emily is an amazing young girl who is planning to be a veterinarian. So she has had Abby for about 8 months I think and she had the incredible experience of delivering 2 baby goats just a few months ago. Unfortunately, the 2 baby goats didn't survive but as I listened to Emily tell the story of their deliveries and everything she did in the following days to take care of them trying to save their lives, I was deeply impressed with Emily's maturity and sense of responsibility at such a young age!

Needless to say, meeting Abby and hanging out in the Staffeldts backyard was a fun highlight of the weekend.

Here's Abby...
Here's Abby and Emily

Abby was pretty docile, evident in the next few pictures
My friend Lynn had this great idea of putting Nathan on top of Abby at which I first said "No, Lynn!" Then she said but it would be a cute picture at which point I acquiesced and said , "O.k."
And she was right, it is a cute picture!Of course, there came the time to put Abby back in her pen and as you can tell from this next picture, she wasn't really ready to go!

Meeting Grandpa Davidson

Nathan met my dad, Grandpa Davidson for the first time this weekend. What took me by surprise about this meeting was how quickly Nathan went to my dad. Nathan has always been cautious and has always taken his time getting comfortable with someone new and he rarely allows a new person to hold him right from the start. So when Nathan allowed my dad to hold him 5 minutes after meeting him I was really surprised. My dad said it was his mustache and that Nathan knew that he was his Grandpa. I'm sure some of that is true but I also wonder if meeting so many new people in the last 2 weeks has helped him become comfortable with new people in a shorter timeframe.

Here are some pictures ...Lydia, my Dad and me...
Greg and my dad...

Temporary Digs

We have been so blessed with the Norton's more than gracious accommodations. Unfortunately though we have turned their formal dining room into a fully operating office. We have 2 computers, 3 monitors, keyboards, phones, etc. all sitting on top of their formal dining table. So far, Greg and I are working amicably together. I think the only issue we have right now is our legs get tangled up under the table and we get in a foot fight for space but other than that we seem to be doing o.k.

When Gary saw our set up in the dining room, he actually said "I'm impressed." Personally, I'm impressed with the delicacies that Elaine whips up in the kitchen and then offers us for breakfast. She puts Martha Whoever and Better Crocker to shame! I'm eventually going to start taking pictures of her food and posting her recipes...they are amazing!

Here's a picture of our temporary digs:

Making Friends, Picking up Hobbies

Nathan is doing surprisingly well with all the new changes thrown his way in the last week. I've taken a few snapshots of new friends and hobbies he's picking up.

Nathan has been introduced to over 10 dogs in the last week! Here is Nathan and Colbie, the Norton's dog.
When we went swimming at the Harris' last Saturday, Nathan and Allison hit it off, even though she is 2 years older. Here's Allison sharing her cereal with Nathan.
As for new hobbies, Nathan has picked up sweeping. He has had a fixation on this full sized broom for the last 2 days.
Playing in the sandbox is another favorite past-time right now.

It's 'Perfect' in Arizona

We've been back for 1 week now and it just feels good to be here. Several times now Greg or I have walked outside at various times and we've both said out loud, 'Perfect'. Dry Heat is one of those things that you don't get it until you've felt and experienced it. As I write this it's 100 degrees outside but it only 'feels' like 90 because there is little to no humidity in the air. So it just feels 'Perfect'.

To build on this concept...going swimming in Arizona is also 'Perfect'. You know how when you go swimming and if you just dive in, there is a good minute of temperature shock? The water is chilly and cold because the outside hasn't been hot enough to warm the water. Or you may be one of those folks who just dips your toes in the water because you already know the water is cold and it's going to take some time to adjust to the temperature. It's not like that here.

We went to a friend's house on Friday night and hung out at their pool. In Arizona, especially during Summer, you can dive right into the water and you never experience that temperature shock. While the heat here is dry, it is still hot, it's just you don't break out in a 'sticky' sweat every time you walk outside. So when you jump in the pool here, the water is cool and refreshing, it's not 'chilly' as is often the case when you go swimming. It just feels 'Perfect'.

So here are a few pictures of our time in the pool. It was also Nathan's first time to enjoy the pool, we tried twice before, but neither time was enjoyable as it was this last time.