First shot

I’ve recently developed an interest in time lapse photography and figured out how to do it using my webcam. Not sure yet how to use my digital camera for this, but working on it. Here’ s my first attempt – nothing tremendously exciting, but still kind of cool I think.

I’ve seen some pretty cool time lapse vids online and will hopefully get some better examples of my own soon. I’m thinking of maybe doing this for a BUNCO night, Justin’s birthday party, cooking Thanksgiving dinner, opening presents on Christmas, etc. Here are some cool ones that I found online from others – Cloud formations are the most fascinating to me, but I will be hard pressed to find much of that in my Arizona skies!

Hot, hot, hot!

Yes, summer is here. Summer in Phoenix is serious stuff. There are supposedly thundershowers in the forecast for tomorrow though, so maybe we’ll catch a break. More likely however is that they will just up the humidity, which is already noticeable.

So, we’ve been enjoying the pool as usual. Well, Duke hasn’t. He is not a big fan of swimming. We wanted to make sure he knew how to get out if he ever fell in, so we’ve been tossing him in and guiding him to the steps. Now Terry and the kids just do it to annoy him I think. He is a good sport – he tolerates it but it is definitely not his favorite thing. He’s a pretty good swimmer but I don’t think he’ll be jumping in on his own anytime soon.

I got back from Vegas a few days ago, which was of course just as hot as Phoenix. We operated a conference with about 1,100 people which kept our staff really busy, but afterwards we had a little time to enjoy ourselves. I actually won $100 at the casino – that was fun!

I’ve been playing Texas Hold’Em poker though mostly on the computer since I can’t seem to scare up enough people to play “in real life”. Been teaching Justin the principles of basic poker games too – which he enjoys. Nothing like good ol’ mom teaching her son a life skill, eh? Maybe someday he’ll win the WPT or WSOP and I’ll get some cash out of the deal. Hell, the boy already aspires to be a rock star/bartender – why not add poker stud to the mix?

Speaking of Justin – his 12th birthday is just a few weeks away. Where does the time go? I can’t believe I’m a mother to him, and even worse, a 17 year old! Seems like not so long ago I myself was just 17. Of course I was a senior in high school and already driving, but I digress…

Well Justin’s home and I promised to play a few rounds of dealer’s choice with him so gotta go!

News… and not-so-newsworthy stuff too

Oh blog, I have been neglecting you. For that I am sorry. Life gets so busy, and I get caught up with a hellish work schedule, family activities and such – and then when I have a little ‘down time’ I just find other things to do. But I’ll do my best to get back on the wagon – writing is good for me, and I know there are people out there who actually enjoy reading the drivel.

Kids are out of school – and I can’t believe Justin is going into 7th grade/junior high. We got him a cell phone a few weeks ago and in one week his texts rivaled that of his 17-year-old brother’s monthly use (nearly 4,000 – how does that happen?). And yes, we do have the unlimited plan – learned that lesson a while back.

The boys aren’t doing much over the summer, but next week they’ll be in Austinfor a visit with my sisters and brother. It’s a nice way to break up their summer and get them out of the house a bit. It’s tough in Arizona with daytime highs near 105 – it’s not very conducive to hangin’ at the park. They have been enjoying the pool however.

Duke has not been enjoying the pool. He really doesn’t like to swim, but we’ve been trying to get him used to it in case he falls in, so he knows how to get to the steps and get out. It would be nice to have the dog join us for family swim time, but I don’t think that’s going to happen anytime soon.

Pretty soon I’ll be going to Vegas for work. We have a huge conference (800+ people) and I’m the registration queen for that. As with most meeting registration, there’s one day of pure hell where everyone is picking up their badges, getting their materials and sometimes arguing about whether they paid, or paid the proper rate. In this case the day will be longer than usual – working 6am to 11pm. Yes it’s ugly. After that’s over, it will be downhill at least. Toward the end of the trip we will have some free time to get out and enjoy the city a bit which I will be in total need of. We’re also going to do a site visit of the Ritz Carlton and since we’re preferred clients of theirs, we will probably get the royal treatment. That’s what I’m really looking forward to.

Ok, time to get to work – will make an effort to blog more. Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Hiking photos

From Saturday 4/4/09 with the Swiss & NY Merkels – Usery Mountain, Mesa, AZ

Justin took the above photo – pretty cool, eh?

Left to right: Hannah (front), Shannon (back), Tim, Sue, Terry, Eric, Jamie (front) & Dagmar

“Pardon me, do you have the time?”

How adorable is my nephew?

Son #1

Hiking in Arizona is a lot different than in Switzerland!

Long time, no blog

That seems to be the recurring theme here, doesn’t it? We’re busy at work, busy at home, yada yada yada. Not any of that has changed of course. Let’s concentrate on ‘real’ news then, shall we?

This weekend Justin signed up for football and it will be another season of the Gilbert Dawgs. Terry will be assistant coach again and most of the team will be the same. Usually that means they will improve over last year, with a better record – and there’s really not much else to go other than up. The most important part of course is that the kids will have a blast and as icing on the cake the coaches and coach wives do too. I think practice won’t start til August so there’s still a ways to go before we get busy again with that.

Terry’s parents and brother & family are in town visiting. On Saturday we went hiking on Usery Mountain (see Flickr feed in sidebar for photos!). They really enjoyed it – it’s much different than the hikes they’re used to in their home country of Switzerland. The whole family went including Duke who enjoyed it as much as anyone. Justin took my camera for part of the trip and he seems to be really interested in becoming a photographer. A few weeks ago (after our last photo-hike) he expressed interest in photography as a career – and when we were talking about the different types of photography “football photography” of course came up. Fast forward 15 years and we may have a Sports Illustrated photographer in our midst!

Well Monday morning and almost time to leave for work. The weekend was another whirlwind for certain.

Wow how time flies…

Well it won’t surprise you to hear that we are keeping very busy. Justin’s lacrosse finished out the season last week with a four-game tournament. They won one, lost three and although the kids (and Coach Terry) had a lot of fun this season, I think everyone is happy to have it over with til next year. With football ending and LAX starting up right away, nobody had a break – least of all Terry and Justin.

Eric has been working a lot less hours but he seems to enjoy that. He has weekends free, for his ever-busy social life. I can’t believe he’s 17 now. I can still remember my little baby asking me to make muffins while he watched Barney. Now he’s got his cell phone permanently implanted in one hand, iTouch in the other and earphones connected to his head. He bought an Ed Hardy t-shirt the other day for $60! I know that’s really a ‘bargain’ for that name, but sheesh, I could have gotten about 8 t-shirts at Target for that amount!

I’ve been busy with work and travel as usual. Just finished up a conference of school nurses in Sacramento, California. I’m not really in love with that city though, and the convention center was hellish to work with at times, but the hotel – the Hyatt Regency Sacramento – was superb. Not only was the food fantastic, the service was incredible. My hotel contact Julie took great care of us as a group, but also did some nice things for me personally. The conference went very well and I’m glad to be home. Next month I’ll be going to Riverside and then Las Vegas in June for a huge program.

Duke has settled in to our family nicely, thought he is still obviously in the puppy stage. This is evidenced by many things including his desire to use our living room furniture as playground equipment. He also likes to use everyday household items such as socks, shoes, TV remotes, Justin’s dirty underwear and Terry’s eyeglasses as chew toys. Still, he is very smart and eager to please (most of the time) and learns very quickly. He loves his obedience classes – he’s the best behaved dog in the class!

Terry’s brother Tim and family will be coming to visit in a few weeks, as will his Dad and Mom who postponed their annual trip by a few weeks to catch them. They are renting a house together in a retirement community in Mesa, about 15 minutes from our house. The weather should be really nice and I hope they have a  good time while they’re here. They’ll be leaving just after Easter, so I’ll be having a full house for that holiday. I’m already looking forward to it!

A long-neglected blog…

Well not for lack of things to post, really – just too busy to! The biggest thing going on with us is that we have a new addition to our family – adopted on Monday night (2/16).

We found Duke through www.petfinder.com at the Friends for Life animal shelter just up the street from us. He was found on the streets and the estimate his age at 9 months. They think he is part beagle, part coonhound, but nobody knows for sure. He looks like a large dog in the photo, but he is really medium-sized. Larger than your average beagle, but not as big as a lab. He’s mostly, if not fully, grown.

One of the things that scared us a little bit about getting him from the shelter is that you never really know for sure how well behaved your dog is – or even whether he is housebroken. I am thrilled to say that not only does he know to do his business outside, he even started using the doggy door (which he very obviously had no previous experience with). He is extremely well-behaved, especially for a puppy, and we’ve only heard him bark twice. He even knows the “sit” command! We are working on leash-walking – he’s really good on it for his age, but still needs practice (which he’s getting quite a few times per day).

He has a playful streak and loves his tennis balls – he kicks them around like he’s playing soccer. He also loves the tug-rope but he sometimes gets carried away and starts biting at hands, which is obviously a no-no. We’ve taken the rope toy away for a while, until he gets a little older and learns not to snap (very common for puppies).

Well, time for a walk!

  

Monday silliness – women drivers