The year began with a trip to Palm Springs where we stayed in La Quinta for the Palm Springs Dog show. The desert is great in January and I got some nice bike rides in and around the region.
We came home to an atmospheric river event that showed us where some new engineering would be needed for our grave paths. The storms also dropped a huge douglas fir onto other trees blocking our route, power and internet for about a week.
We began 2022 with a drive south to Palm Springs for the dog show. This was our first big dog show. Lynda and Leo competed in confirmation, rally and obedience. They got some good learning opportunities and experience. We hadn’t been to the desert before and now we totally understand why it is such a draw especially in winter.
2021 began with a trip to Palm Springs for our first dog show. Lynda and Leo were competing in confirmation, rally and obedience. The trip was successful and we all learned a lot about the difference between the movie and an event.
Due to the pandemic and home schooling and TKD via Zoom, we decide to permanently park the cars outside and change out the flooring from hard plastic tiles to rubber mats style tiles. This would give some extra give for workouts and TKD. By this time Lynda was also participating in TKD.
In 2017, we started the year in Australia. Lynda rented a home for Gunnar, Courtney, Mom and I in the Darlinghurst neighborhood of Sydney. We used this as our home base to enjoy the city sights especially the New Year’s Eve events and fireworks.
As the world locked down, we adapted. Sure there were a few accidents (broken arm, cut forehead).
The world (ours at least) turned sideways in March of 2020. We went from having a grandnephew in first grade at Baymonte and dog training classes in Capitola to starting a home school at the dining table and Tae Kwon Do classes in the garage via Zoom.
In April 2019, Lynda received her miniature poodle Leo. Here’s a collection of shots from his first few months with us.
In January 2020, we went to the NFL playoff at Levi Stadium. The 49ers were playing the Green Bay Packers and we had seats up front on the 50 yard line. We’d never been to an NFL game and we had a blast watching people, the game and the half time show. We had jets overhead, brass bands, cheerleaders, good snacks and a lot of entertainment.
On or about August 16, 2010 on a warm evening two cats were sleeping when one decided to tangle with the other.
Just after dark, James Dean started to chase Steve McQueen through the living room. Steve launched himself from the floor into the bay window and broke through. That resulted in a trip to the vet for some stitches.
Here are a couple of shots of these two from 2010-2011
I retired from the University of California Santa Cruz in 2018 after 30 years in information technology. In that capacity, I worked on and with a variety of technologies, platforms, open source and proprietary software and hardware in addition to leading teams, providing executive consultation, physical security systems and project management.
