Movin'
right along in search of good times and good news
With good friends you can't lose
This could become a habit!
The focus on movement
continues. It has its variations but movement is so important for all of us.
Whether you consider this in the context of our physical wellbeing or the
pleasure we derive from a constantly changing landscape, ignoring any
deep-seated desire to remain stationary is an integral part of our makeup. Call
it what you want, but what is around the corner or on the other side of the
hill is what drives us. Perhaps the grass is much greener somewhere else, but
before we can add anything further, we have to move and see for ourselves.
Consider this post as the
third in a sequence documenting movement. When Margo and I look back on what
took place in 2024, I suspect the overriding theme will be movement. Or, more
precisely, the many moves we made. Home front; vacations and travel, we have
already addressed the move to our Longmont, Colorado, condominium, but is that
it? Are we done yet? Or, is it one more case of are we there yet?
As for vacations and business
travel, we will most likely crisscross the continental United States this year more
than once and when it comes to vacations, we are in the throes of reducing our
pursuit of cruising to just one a year. If only I could pen the verse to a song
as somehow, past lyrics by the Beach Boys, comes to mind; “Aruba, Jamaica, ooh
…”
We are close to putting the
finishing touches on our condo. The dining room has become Margo’s office and
it’s where we added a screen shelf just to take the eye away from her desk.
Also arriving were cabinets for our basement level wine cellar. We can neither
replicate our former Windsor, Colorado, home, nor consider what we did in our
Niwot, Colorado, home as with our condo, the challenges to how creative we can
become are more extreme. Reduced living spaces make you concentrate on accessing
only what you need. The need to pick over everything we have in place has grown
and the frequency of trips to our storage facility has picked up considerably.
Margo and I have always
enjoyed cocktails of an evening Certainly! But when it comes to what we really
like to sip late in the evening, it’s been a glass of wine. Mostly red wine
from three continents – Europe, California and anything from Australia. Our
recent choices include Penfolds, Silver Oak and Justin with a little Oso Libre
thrown in as well. Yes, we have become fans of everything Paso Robles and to
think, that’s where Penfolds has staked a claim. No surprises there.
With the move however, we left
behind 150 bottles of the better wines with our good friends in Windsor, Don
and Anne Marie Fowler, and it took a while but our climate-controlled wine
storage refrigerators finally arrived. Now for the big wine move to take place
and I am sure the Fowlers will be pleased to have their basement back.
For most of us moving has a
lot to do with the continuation of friendships and we are making this a
priority. With longstanding friends in California and newly developed
friendships in Colorado, this is important to Margo and me and with plans to
move clear across the country becoming more than just a dream, we have our work cut out for us. Choosing
a second home isn’t something you can leave to internet searches or to the
energetic responses from real estate agents sensitive to the metadata you
create whenever you visit a web site; you just have to drive. And drive we did
this past month – some 4,262 miles, as the dashboard photo above notes, with an
overall average of sixty plus mph all while achieving a very economical twenty-five
plus mpg. Over the course of two weeks, we spent eight days on the road
covering more than 500 miles a day.
Driving has always been a
passion of ours as we have spent almost our entire married life driving many
miles in cars that too were dreamsicles of ours. However, having elected to do
the entire trip in our 2021 Corvette C8 Z51, we came to realize that our choice
of a track-focused Z51 set up, was not ideal for grand touring. The suspension
is stiffer than found in regular C8s and without the MagnaRide option (blame
COVID and the breakdown of the Supply Chain) not only did we feel every
pothole, expansion insert, railway crossing but the noise within the vehicle
was such that for much of the trip, this combination of road surfaces (or lack
thereof) together with the overall drivetrain, tire and wind, noise, reduced
conversations to just the occasional muttering.
Time to switch drivers? Coffee? Mickey Ds? No, our Corvette is purely a day tripping sports car capable of a track day. Thanks goodness we have the Jaguar F Type R – a more civilized approach to grand touring. That is, until you start it! However, having said all this, the trip itself didn’t disappoint as we reacquainted ourselves to the south-eastern United States. Contrary to what the popular press may be conveying, particularly when it comes to this part of America, we found everyone friendly and willing to talk. “Mind if I join you,” came a gentle inquiry from a Louisianna police officer. “Sure thing, but can you tell me what speed limits apply in this state” I responded. “Out on the interstate, where it’s posted 75mph, you should be good up to 82 or even 83; just don’t keep changing lanes,” we were informed.
Our journey east took us
from Colorado, through Kansas, Missouri and through Indiana before turning
south and into Tennessee. A brisk drive through Georgia to finally arrive in
Florida. We had planned to visit Atlanta, Tampa and then Dallas as part of a
HPE NonStop organized customer-focused road trip. But the timing for HPE didn’t
work out so, only days before we left, all but the Dallas leg was postponed.
Surely, it made sense to cancel the road trip and simply fly in and out of
Dallas but flying has never been our thing. And we did need to spend a little
time on the Gulf side of Florida as perhaps it may prove to be an option when
it comes to a second home and one that would be much closer to sea level. Yes,
our trip to Dallas was by way of Florida and Alabama, Mississippi and
Louisiana.
We could take solace from
the fact that following COVID, we had done few long trips and we were just
itching to hit the highway. Yes, for Margo and me, the call of Americas
highways is too loud to resist and early in the drive we settled into our usual
practices – swapping drivers every ninety minutes, staying hydrated and having
enough tissue boxes within reach. Nothing to see here just a couple focused on
hitting their mileage target every day. However, when it came to the Florida
panhandle we slowed down, stopped, and took the time to enjoy the scenery. A
rarity for us but all the same, this was part of the deal after all. Sunsets
along the shores proved intoxicating and we witnessed many a display while we
slow-drove the shores along the gulf.
We spent a few days in
Clearwater, Florida, before driving along the Florida panhandle where we stayed
in Panama City Beach. We spent time in Destin even as we found a reason to head
inland to Latitude Margaritaville Water Sound. There were walks to be had and
restaurants and roadside fast-food chains to be sampled. It soon became very
clear that this part of Florida on into Alabama isn’t famed for its fine dining
venues. Then again, the beauty of the place combined with the presence of the
panhandle’s own Intracoastal Waterway, proved attractive enough for us to take
a good look around at the residential possibilities. Sill very early days but
Florida did everything it could to entice us to stay.
New Orleans has always been
a favorite destination of mine. I first went there in 1981 as part of a
business trip that my company had arranged. I was entertaining a prospect from
Sydney and the company pulled out all the stops. For me and just as importantly
now for Margo, the laid-back style of the Big Easy is hard to ignore. We walked
Bourbon Street, returning via Royal Street and for those familiar with NOLA,
it’s hard to miss and indeed, enjoy the street music that ekes out from almost
every inch of this French Quarter. This isn’t a place to go if restaurants are
on your agenda but if it’s music, bars, and boutique shopping you desire,
there’s no better place to walk than along the narrow sidewalks bordering these
streets.
Dallas was our destination
after all and once again, it was HPE NonStop community event at which I had
been asked by my client to provide a keynote presentation alongside senior
managers of the company. As I usually like to do, I kept it high-level that was
as much entertainment as it had anything to do with knowledge exchanges. Then
again, moving between the various vendor tables had me thinking more positively
about the future of NonStop. Within HPE, all other product lines are sold
through distributors and systems integrators who HPE refers to as
partners. It is HPE who invests in
development programs for them. However, many within the HPE organization
unfamiliar with NonStop, become a little confused whenever we talk about
partners who develop for HPE.
The NonStop community is a
tight-knit group that has a long association with the NonStop product
portfolio. Not surprising really as NonStop and before it, Tandem Computers, is
now celebrating its golden anniversary. To think, code written for the very
first Tandem Computer still runs today unchanged on NonStop systems – a first
and highly unique characteristic of today’s very modern NonStop. By my
calculation, only the IBM mainframe dating back to the introduction of the
System/360 has been around for longer than NonStop.
It's been many months since
I have written about our good friends, Jan and Brian Kenny and their grandson,
Colton Herta. It takes no stretch of the imagination to appreciate that the
year 2023 approved to be a horrible season for Colton. What could go wrong and
what could trip him did just that. Having opened his full-time racing career in
Indy Cars in 2019 with 2 wins and a standing of seventh place overall, he then
finished 2020 in third place with 1 win, 2021 fifth overall with 3 wins he fell
back to tenth overall but still with 1 win in 2022 before finishing 2023 with
no wins at all and with a result in the standings, tenth. At least, after five
years, he has never been outside the top ten!
Entering 2024 expectations
were mixed. Surely, he will do much better but on the other hands, was all the
excitement about his capabilities coming too early in his career? Would he become
destined to be one of those drivers who just filled the grid, running midfield
each race? And yet, it was hard to ignore that he was still fast and had
already been observed by team Andretti as such; we now agree, “you cannot teach
fast.” For this season, one change quickly became obvious. His Honda-powered racecar,
number 26, would be out on track sporting a new livery – something close to
what his father, Bryan Herta, carried late in his career.
Fast forward to early May
and already we have seen a big change in Colton’s on-track performance as well
as his overall approach to winning a series championship. He has watched the
other racers steadily work their way to the top of the series and with results
to date of a second, a third, a seventh and an eighth – two top fives plus two
additional top tens, he has steadily worked his way into the top five briefly
holding the top position after just three races. Overheard on one radio
transmission was the comment from the team, late in one race, encouraging
Colton to hold the position as the points gained would see him on top of the
standings.
No sudden rush of blood
followed by a failed over-ambitious passing attempt or a clip of a wall. Colton
looks as settled in his profession as I have ever seen him and this past weekend
was particularly challenging. He lost out badly in qualifying having run our of
fuel on his qualifying “flyer lap.” No worries, starting from twenty fourth
position on the grid, he would have to pass almost everyone. And in the time
given and with the number of laps on hand, he almost succeeded.
Entering the month of May he
was on top of the table and after this race, which could have ended so badly
for him following a very challenging start to the race, he sits tied for third
place only a handful of points behind the leader. And there is still the
world-famous Indy 500 race to come in a few weeks’ time.
What makes this story
complete and why it is being covered at this time is that following the race,
Colton was awarded the trophy as the race’s Biggest Mover. Congratulations
Colton; well-deserved and this new look and with Indy Racer Colton’s new approach
to the series, is one we can all get behind. Moving comes in many forms. Moving
up the field is always the aim of any racer but it’s a coincidence that could
not be ignored.
Margo and I are indeed,
moving up or, better perhaps, across. In life, the miles might add up as
vacations and business travel come and go . When it comes to the home front
then even here, movement has become a constant companion in our lives.
Awards may be given for some
moves but mostly they are not and for Margo and me, we have passed any desire
for awards, badges or decals. It matters little. Friendships are retained,
families are intact, pandemics survived and yes, we continue “movin’ right
along.” There will be many more chapters of this story written in time but
for now and with this post, it’s very much a case of it looking like it’s all
in front of us. With that, Margo and I encourage you to look for future posts
as we look to posts of our future.
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