San Diego

We arrived safely to the wonderful city of San Diego. We feel like this is our second home...well, it almost was our second home...until the big cancer diagnosis. It is sunny and 70 degrees! We walked all over the Gas Lamp district and along the water. I forgot my camera, so no photos. This is the view from our hotel. We're staying at the brand new Hilton, that's where the CPA/PFS conference is being held.

The flight down was thankfully uneventful. There were no crowds at the airport, everything went like a breeze. The plane was about 1/3 full. The upside of the down economy is that there are no crowds. It's all very civilized. No one is hurried, people are pleasant. We might actually fly more often if we know it will be like this.

We were able to catch a bit of the football games....we were pleasantly surprised at the outcomes. Although it did feel odd cheering for the Steelers. The Arizona Cardinals are such a feel good story.

We went to a Townhall meeting with the CPA's and we were not impressed....except they had these really cool little gadgets that we used to vote or register our answers. Then the results were presented up on the screen....way cool.

Right now Dave is watching TV and the special for MLK day....it is actually the warm up/pre-game for the Obama rites. This is getting a little like Princess Diana with the worship and love....and he hasn't done anything yet. Oh well....

Oprah

We have never been Oprah fans. Our good friend worships at the altar of Oprah. She'll bring up a topic or have some information and we just look at her and roll our eyes because we know where she got it. But she says that one hour is her time. She makes herself a cup of tea and sits down and watches it...rarely recording it. Anyway, we saw a commercial promoting Oprah's week of shows the first week in January and it sounded interesting. We recorded the shows and have been watching them. We had set the machine up to record every afternoon and so now we have a backlog of shows.
There are also a bunch of webcasts that you can watch on Oprah.com....very interesting. They're about 90 minutes w/o commercials so you really need time to watch. Suze Orman (the money lady) is very direct on the webcast....makes her look like a pussycat on the regular shows.
The spirituality shows stink...too new age for us. Bob Greene, the trainer, and Dr. Oz are great. Oprah pretty much stays out of the way on the webcasts.
This is a good lesson that nothing is all good or all bad..yin and yang thing. So we're overlooking the Obama crush and new age stuff and getting some good information. Our big step out to the other side.

With a Heavy Heart

One of my very first clients, Jack Gifford has passed away. He was a very fit person, working out regularly and still playing baseball with the young guys. He absolutely refused to play on an Over whatever age team. I'm in total shock that he died from a massive heart attack after retiring for the evening on his 68th birthday.

Jack came from humble beginnings in SoCal. He attended UCLA where he played baseball and graduated with an engineering degree. He moved to NorCal and helped shape the Silicon Valley. He used his intelligence (he was REALLY quick and sharp) and hard work (he was the definition of multi-tasker) to rise to the top of the business world. He's probably best known as the founder and CEO of Maxim Integrated Products.

Jack touched many lives, not always tenderly. I was fortunate to work with him for most of three decades. In the early years it was a brutal and frustrating experience, but I'm glad I stuck around, or that he put up with me. He was a demanding person, he demanded more than you thought you could deliver. Somehow he made us all better at what we do....he would not stand for anything less. The speakerphone was annoying, the red felt-tip pen markings (they really couldn't be called handwriting) made my eyes roll, and I've never seen so many staples used at one time.

I guess because his business was in Analog Devices, he was an analog guy in a digital world. He still actually hand wrote checks, reviewed the front and back of every cleared check, and refused to set up auto-pays or use email! Just a couple of weeks ago he had an estimated tax payment due, and I told him I could pay it for him electronically......I thought he'd go nuts, but he said okay.....he could surprise....perhaps it was the purchase of his IPhone.

He began to soften as the grandchildren arrived over the past 17 years. He took more time to become involved in the lives of young people. His Foundation has given many scholarships to student athletes, sponsored little league baseball clinics in Hawaii (some of the kids were in the Little League World Series), sponsored college golf tournaments, built college baseball stadiums, improved playing fields, paid for radio programs for local colleges.

And he was more impressed with his grandchildren than with any professional ball player, celebrity, or business person he might know. I never knew him to boast, and he had plenty to boast about.

It's a huge loss for everyone who knows him. It was a tremendous honor to work with him, and yes even to be taken to task on many occasions. He is really missed.

My heart aches for his wonderful wife, Rhodine, their three daughters and son-in-laws, and the 11 grandchildren.

Slum Dog

We decided to mix things up....we went out on a Saturday night...can't believe Dave went off the hill. Of course it was all Jan's idea, she's our social director. We ate at Fuzio's, a first time for us. Very good food at a good price. Then we saw Slum Dog Millionaire...FABULOUS movie and highly recommend it.

Colonial America

Today I worked 4 hours in a 5th grade classroom. I learned more about the colonies than I did while I was in grade school. Too bad I will never be able to use this information. I was greatly impressed that the book is not nearly as biased as I thought it would be. They even discussed that John Smith changed the way they allocated the fruits of the group...no more communism and went to capitalism...since they were starving to death. Most of this may have been lost on the children, but it was encouraging to hear it discussed.

I graded papers for four hours...this will make any grown up cry. I must report that the children are in serious need of additional work in decimals, capitalization of proper names, learning there v they're v their, spelling in general, and extremely needy in penmanship.

I am totally amazed at how my daughter can keep 34 kids in line for hours. And I had trouble managing one!

New Year's festivities

We went to a birthday party for Randy, complete with food from Banchero's and a very special cake, made from scratch, made by Erin...the prettiest and sweetest little neighbor of the Greens.

We finished up the evening at Bob & Sarah's with their neighbors, friends, and family (including Lucy, their dog who was wearing her pearl collar). We had a great time and enjoyed everyone. They have an eclectic group of people that have very interesting lives. There was one Oregon State alum who brought cookies of their mascot...the beaver. Please look at these and tell me if you could tell they were beavers....without being told in advance.

Christmas Dinner

Jessica is showing her Grandma and Auntie Janice all about Facebook. So all of you out there should be really careful what you're posting...your mom or grandma just might see it!

We had a lovely Prime Rib dinner for six....with enough food for 12!

Christmas Day

We kept our family tradition of big Breakfast (at the Swenson's), I would tell you what it was but I have no idea what it's called. They were round pancakes that were Swedish or something....very tasty. Then we were off to the movies to see Benjamin Button....it was a lot like Forrest Gump. I'm just happy that we had free passes.

Oh, and we opened presents too!

Smarter than a 5th Grader

I certainly hope so....At least we're trying to keep them amused with changing the bulletin boards (if they still call them that) in Jessica's classroom. January's theme is the Super Bowl of Reading. Personally I can hardly wait for February....Red Hearts, fun!

Christmas Eve

I know...we haven't been posting lately, so here goes trying to catch up.




We have started a new tradition (copied from the Wolfords) of having a cioppino dinner on Christmas Eve. We used Diane's recipe and it is spectacular. Messy, but very tasty.....which explains the bibs.