buckle-up

  Ritz Carlton Yacht Evrima; San Salvador Bahamas We are still far from port as we continue on our voyage through the Caribbean. Once again, for the Christmas holidays, we can be found island-hopping and today, we will shortly weigh anchor alongside San Salvador in the Bahamas. Long considered the exact landing spot where Christopher Columbus first set foot in the Americas, this island is just the tip of a very high ocean mountain.  We have journeyed far this year. Perhaps further than at any time in our married life. We have crossed the dateline and the equator. We have stood in Greenwich with longitude zero. Or 360 if you prefer. We have been moving our watches forward more times than we have at any time and our preferred mode of transportation has been ocean-going liners. There have been a number of airline hops but for the most part, we have simply been all at sea.  Seabourn Sojourn; Trinidad and Tobago This time last year we were doing a similar cruise through the is...

It may seem a little odd to lead off with a photo of Margo behind the wheel of our originally configured Corvette C6 Z51, but given how this was the very first time that Margo turned a wheel on a road that only went in one direction and where there were no speed limits, to say it was a moment filled with anxieties would be an understatement as both she and I had no idea what to expect that very first time on track. It was Willow Springs International Raceway, branded as the Fastest Road in the West and that didn’t help at all. Surely, we knew how to go fast but being on track was a world of experience away from a daily drive. The photo depicts Margo heading up a serious upward elevation shift towards what the track labels as The Omega. A series of turns designed to challenge even the best of drivers. It was much later that an instructor told us that the goal was to get through these twists and turn safely as no race was ever won by passing any other driver in The Omega. And yet, there ...

  Our appetite for travel went unabated. With October already a few days old, Margo and I begin our fifteenth year of working together for our company, Pyalla Technologies, LLC. Our client list continues to grow and for that we are most thankful. What we enjoy most though is the opportunity to spend time with our clients and even though the global pandemic remains fresh in our minds, having the opportunity to reconnect with friends and colleagues has been a reminder of just how much we missed the personal connection during those lost years. Travel may dominate our calendar but then again, it’s not all work, work, work. There are hours where we can escape the rigors of meetings to simply take in our surroundings. Ultimately though, when you pack your bags solely by sight – this item should be here and that item must be tucked in over there – then there is a brief moment where we muse to ourselves, is this normal for folks like us? Or, the light at the end of the tunnel is truly th...

  It has always proved difficult for me to spend any time on reflection. It may be easy to say that there were highlights even as there were moments of angst. Margo and I have just returned home having spent a week downtown in Denver at a HPE NonStop (formerly Tandem Computers) Conference, the TBC 2023. When held at this time of year these conferences are the annual big-tent marketing affair that draws equally from the HPE NonStop team, the NonStop vendors as well as HPE NonStop customers. With the audience and speakers drawn from all quarters of the globe, these can be invigorating times even as they are exhausting. For the event this year in Denver, Margo and I had the opportunity to occupy the Hilton presidential suite on behalf of the client. With ours and clients employees present in the suite, it was also our task to entertain NonStop community members nightly which we need to explain, meant late nights for the conference duration. All good fun mind you – yes, the president...

  The term “ Dog Days ” traditionally refers to a period of particularly hot and humid weather occurring during the summer months of July and August as they occur in the Northern Hemisphere. This period of sweltering weather coincides with the rising of Sirius, the Dog Star. I have to admit I never knew much about the meaning of this phrase other than what I heard in movies and songs, The dog days are over The dog days are done The horses are coming So you better run I can think of no better way to segue to this post’s storyline than this chorus from the song, Dog Days are Over, by Florence and the Machine. All we seem to have been doing of late is running and in this heat and yes, it’s been a very hot summer, surprisingly hotter than we experienced in previous years, exhaustion is near. As for the horse, not sure what was inferred in the song but all I can think of are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse!   For much of the summer it has be...