No more camping for awhile

I had my reservation booked weeks in advance, and on our day to pitch the tent, conditions were perfect--no rain in the forecast and daytime temperatures in the low 70's with evening temps in the 40's.

So a couple of weeks ago we drove up to Red Top Mountain State Park late in the afternoon and checked in at the lodge. Despite being nearly full, we were able to get a campsite with a fantastic view of Lake Allatoona. The view is much different than normal, however, as the lake is incredibly low.

Grilled hotdogs over an open fire were on the menu for dinner followed by smores for dessert. Sleep came early as we had big plans for the next day. I had a new gas stove to cook scrambled eggs & bacon on, and what is fall camping without hot chocolate? After breakfast we were then going to go on a nature hike, but first we needed a good night's sleep.

By the light of a full moon, we all trecked up to the bathrooms to brush our teeth and then climbed into our cozy sleeping beds. Everyone slowly dozed off to sleep... except for me. I heard the fall leaves rustling in the trees as the wind blew across the lake. I heard the crunch of fellow campers walking along the crushed rock path next to our campsite. I heard the metal zipper in the corner of the tent tapping against the metal teeth. I heard the polyester tent whipping in the wind. And I heard the owl, which couldn't have been but 50 feet from our tent, hooting throughout the night. The hours passed slowly: 10:00pm, 11:00pm, midnight, 1:00am, 2:00am...

And then around 2:30am, my youngest daughter stood up in her pack-and-play. We got her back down, but then my oldest declared that she wasn't tired at 3:00am. "Close your eyes and go to sleep," was our retort. By 3:30am, I had a full mutiny on my hands. After consultation with my wife, whose idea of 'roughing it' is staying in a Holiday Inn, I asked, "Who wants to go home?" It was unanimous, except for me. I wasn't about to pack up camp in the middle of the night and wake up other campers. So I loaded the family into the minivan, and they left for home. I then had the good fortune of falling to sleep and not waking up until my wife called at 10:30!

I did get to cook that breakfast and drink hot chocolate, albeit alone. I packed up the gear, and was especially careful in folding up the tent, knowing it will be several years before I try to push camping on the family again.

The Moody Blues are wrong

Ten years ago The Moody Blues sang the tune "You Can Never Go Home," but they're dead wrong.

This week I had meetings in Cincinnati, and two customers have offices just 5 miles from my home town of Reading, Ohio. I had some unexpected time to spare, so on a whim I decided to call two people who made a strong impression on me growing up.

I had the opportunity to catch up with my 7th and 8th grade Latin teacher, Don Lucas, over burgers and Coke. He's been retired from public teaching for 20 years, and his gain was their loss. For someone I so admired, it's almost serendipitous that we're both now in the same line of work--he owns a travel agency while I work for a dot com travel company. My next stop was Reading Junior/Senior High School to see my 8th grade English teacher, Ronda Eisenhard, who is now a counselor and coach.

My visits with Don and Ronda reminded me that I don't want my life measured by professional or financial accomplishments but rather by the quality of my relationships. They lived their lives as examples to thousands of kids, and their influence is still bearing fruit today.

FREE Software from Microsoft and Intuit

Microsoft is giving away software?! It's true. They're giving away Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007, but of course they're hoping that some percentage of customers will want to upgrade to their Professional version for $149.95.

Comparing the Express against the Professional version as well as Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting, though, and it's hard to understand why a small business would want to pay to upgrade unless they're in manufacturing, in which case you're probably going to want a more robust accounting product anyway.

For those who prefer to use Intuit's products, there is a version of their QuickBooks product that is free--QuickBooks Simple Start 2008. We've been accounting for our real estate investments in Quicken, but I'm going to try both Microsoft Office Accounting Express and QuickBooks Simple Start to see if either might be better.

Life lesson from a last lecture

If you had an opportunity to give one final speech, one last chance to be heard, what would you talk about? For Carnegie Mellon University professor Dr. Randy Pausch, that question wasn't a hypothetical. Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, this husband and father of three children (ages 5, 2, and 1), has only a few months to live. Last week he delivered his final lecture entitled "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams." It's well worth watching (but be forewarned: the video runs an hour 30).

If it seems like something is missing at the end, it is. Click here (Windows Media Player will open) and "fast-forward" to 01:25 in this other video to see the awards and honors presented to Dr. Pausch.

Update 2/22/08: Palliative chemotherapy is working, and Randy Pausch is still alive and healthy.

Update 7/25/08: Randy Pausch died today at the age of 47. He is survived by his wife, Jai, and children, Dylan, 6, Logan, 3, and Chloe, 2. Donations can be made to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network, or to Carnegie Mellon's Randy Pausch Memorial Fund, which supports the university's continued work on the Alice project.

Life-changing events

I can count on one hand the number of events that I find simultaneously scary as well as thrilling. All of these impose great change, and without exception are life-altering. In my experience, most of these turn out to be overwhelmingly positive while the risk of heartbreak always exists. My family is possibly in the early stages of such an event, and we're doing everything we can to prepare. I was recently reminded of a quote by Churchill which I find all-too fitting, however, "Planning is essential, but plans are useless."

I promise to share more when it becomes appropriate.

Second chances

It's hard being a Falcons fan this year.

The first sucker-punch to the gut happened when the Falcons traded its best quarterback, Matt Schaub, to the Houston Texans in late March. In the event they're not already aware, the Falcons will realize they traded the wrong quarterback when they get their jocks handed to them September 30 when the Texans visit Atlanta to play the Falcons.

The second hit was when the Falcons signed Joey Harrington to a 2-year contract to back up Michael Vick. Harrington is more known for interceptions than touchdowns, having thrown 79 of the former and only 72 of the latter.

And everyone knows the Michael Vick saga, whose illicit activities came to light back in April.

With a record of 0-2, last night the Atlanta Falcons' season began its turnaround by cutting the inaccurate Matt Prater (only making 1 of 4 field goals) and signing Morten Andersen as its placekicker for the 2nd time in as many years. At 47, #5 will be the oldest active player in the NFL. Playing for the Falcons last year, Morten Anderson hit 20 of 23 field goal attempts and made all 27 PATs. In addition, Morten became the greatest scorer in the history of the NFL last year with 2,445 points.

Hopefully the Falcons' next step will be to sign former Jacksonville Jaguars quarterback Byron Leftwich to the roster.

Meanwhile, Falcons tickets are readily available (and cheap) for this weekend's game against the Carolina Panthers.

Backyard Update #3

The playground is complete, the two outdoor electrical outlets are installed, the siding has been repaired, the low voltage transformer has been mounted, and all of the landscape lighting has been installed!

The most rewarding part is that my daughters love it. My oldest daughter would swing all day if we let her.

For those who have asked, this is the Cambridge Wooden Swing Set with Slide by Leisure Time Products purchased from Sam's Club. For 2008, Sam's is carrying the Woodridge version of this same set, and the only difference between it and the Cambridge is the addition of a bench seat on the lower deck.

Never forgetting

I was waiting in the carpool line to drop off my oldest daughter at preschool this morning when it hit me... today is 9/11, it's a Tuesday just as it was 6 years ago, and the time was 8:55am which was after the first and before the second plane struck the World Trade Center towers. Of course I'll never forget where I was on that date: home and safe along with my wife, who was home sick. Were it not for a late cancellation of a meeting, I would have been in a plane bound for San Francisco along with two other coworkers from the east coast. And were it not for that late cancellation, one of them would be dead. My friend and coworker in New York had a confirmed seat on United Airlines Flight 93.

My daughter wanted to know why Daddy was crying, and I did my best to explain what happened 6 years ago in language that a preschooler would understand. I'm sure I failed miserably. When she's old enough, I'll introduce her to The September 11 Digital Archive, Here is New York, or the New York State Museum's digital history of 9/11 entitled, "The World Trade Center - Rescue, Recovery, Response."