What I do, do, however, is: cry listening to Eva Cassidy’s ‘Over The Rainbow’, rock to Evanescence, and sway to Phil Collins' ‘No Jacket Required’. Bethoven’s Symphony Number 5 stirs me, and Bach’s ‘Brandenburg Concertos’ are almost more than I can take. Steve Tyrell’s soulful renditions of the standards and the haunting piano of Philip Glass’s ‘The Hours’ take me to another place. And cooking to Vivaldi’s ‘The Four Seasons’? Please...
I ‘get’ Jackson Pollock, sort of. Norman Rockwell makes me squint to find the place where reality and art separate. And Monet? He makes me crazy with his artistry. Poe, and Melville, and Mitchner take me to places and states of mind that I cannot describe. And Barefoot Cabernet? Where do you find wine like that for under $25 a bottle? You don’t. Honestly, I’ve had a $275 bottle of 1975 Robert Mondavi Pinot Noir that slayed me, but how do you follow that up the following weekend? Sorry, but that’s above my pay grade.
Though I'm in what is a fairly intense and stress filled job in an industry known for measuring time in "internet time" of 3 for every 1 unit of "normal" time,
I try to keep a perspective on things and not let life carry me away. I work for a living, but I do not live to work. I work hard, but I also play hard- and more importantly: I make the time to play; to make sure that my life is always fresh.
The picture at the right here is of my brother Alan visiting 08/03/02. I am so blessed to have such a wonderful family. It makes all the hard work that I do meaningful and gives me a sense of purpose. And having Colin and Marissa made me realize this in a big way. Without them, I might have ended up just grinding aimlessly through the motions of living without really realizing what a wonderful world outside of my own little brian there was.
And because of this, I can detatch from my work and enjoy my life fully
through a variety of interests as I have mentioned: sailing, reading, programming, business, writing, cooking, backgammon, history, philosophy, psychology, meditation, and science.
Here's a picture of us on vacation to Universal Studios in Feburary of 2003. What a great experience these trips
have been to share with Colin and Marissa. And after a long day of hiking around to all the sites, I park myself in a fold out lounge chair by the pool and read while the kids swim with the biggest decision I have to make is where we will go to eat that night. Life is grand!
But times change, and sometimes so do the players in the game. In June 2004 I settled into a beautiful 3 bedroom condo in Dover, continuing to enjoy my work as a web business applications software developer. With Colin and Marissa continuing to be the joy of my life, I just try not to take things too seriously.
And so that's all about me. I enjoy writing - can you tell - and so I chronical activities in my life on my family home page. I do this more for myself than for a reader's entertainment. I've got nothing to sell and no one I care to try to impress. It's just nice to be able to go back over stuff as a check to make sure I'm not pissing my life away doing nothing or by having a negative attitude.
If I see I'm not logging intereting events on my home page, then the assumption is that I'm slipping off the path. The writing acts as a confirmation that I am active and doing something to not only make my life better, but - hopefully - positively affecting others who come in contact with me in some small way. I'm fortunate that I can do that, and I have a responsitility to do it. If I am not happy, healthy, terrific, and calm then I could not influence others in a positive manner. I try to follow the basic Hopi principle of life: "Seek the way to conduct our lives in friendship and peace, without anger, without greed, without wickedness of any kind, among ourselves or in our association with any people."
So, every Sunday evening I have a private party for one: just me. I play all this great music as I cook up some selection of the night, and sometimes, sometimes, the tears just stream down my face because it’s just so much damn fun.
Anyway, welcome to my life - such as it is. Now, I have to admit to a certain amount of lightheartedness in developing all of the pages on this site, which - by the way - has its root at my family home page. Some form quite practical purposes while others... well, let's just say this is all great fun and leave it at that. I really enjoy what I do, and I take great delight in squeezing everyone elses toes about it.
Thanks for passing through.
