buckle-up

There are times where knowing a princess is magical and then there are other times where confusion reigns. For four years now Margo and I have pulled together itineraries that combine business with a little downtime and it’s usually around this time of the year. Whether it was time spent in Sydney or simply sailing around islands, with birthday’s book-ending the period it seems more than appropriate to pursue time away from home and this year, having made the bookings a year in advance, we headed out to sea one more time. Our city on the seas on this occasion would be the Emerald Princess. Yes, she is a magical princess! Margo would be celebrating a birthday in and around the Hawaiian Islands whereas I would be celebrating my birthday close-hauled by Moorea in French Polynesia. It would be a voyage that expanded on our previous voyage to Hawaii, this time sailing over the equator and deep into the South Pacific. If the ship looks familiar it is because the Emerald Princess is a...

How often have you heard someone saying that they have run out of time? It seems that whenever the topic of time comes up, we simply do not have enough of it and yet, it’s a sobering thought when you think about. Particularly those of us working in the gig economy with no plans on retiring any time soon! I was reminded of this just recently with the passing of Clive James, an Australian critic, journalist, broadcaster and writer who was never short on answers. The way James viewed life, it was all rather simple. “Stop worrying – nobody gets out of this world alive.” At another time, James said it a little differently but it resonated even more with us: “Life is a gig where nobody leaves alive!” Perhaps it was better expressed by long time journalist and television commentator, Andy Rooney, who famously said, that “I’ve learned that life is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.” Of course, that may be just a tad crass and yet it ...

Just to kick things off, I am firmly in the camp that we still have one more year to go before the 20s decade really begins. There was never a year zero, right? But given how I am in the minority here, I suspect it’s only reasonable to expect a review of all that occurred in the 2010s that got us to where we are today. On paper ten years looks a long time but in reality, it went very quickly for Margo and me and looking back now at all that occurred, it was perhaps the most hectic period of our adult lives. The decade though does belong to Pyalla. It has had its ups and downs the same as any business endeavor experience. Of late though, we have settled into a rhythm and are enjoying working for a number of clients and we really are having fun doing so. And yes, we have reached a point where we are becoming a little more selective as it’s proved to be a whole lot more fun when you work with folks who openly see you as being part of their team. I guess that is the s...

The sea has held a special hold on me since childhood. As children, my sister Judy and I would spend long summer days on the beach at the southern end of Avoca, just north of Sydney, on the other side of the Hawkesbury. Days spent doing little other than splashing around in the surf, walking the rock-shelf that went for a mile alongside the ocean and just building sand castles was an idyllic time in my life. It was way back in November, 2013, when I last visited Avoca and I made reference to that trip in the November 12, 2013, post to this blog, Two golds and a red! But America is now my home and trips to Australia only happen occasionally and with my new home residing far from the Pacific Ocean, it takes very little to get me heading that way, no matter the occasion. Walking down to the beach at Carmel is always a time for reflection. I first started to take time to visit Carmel when I joined Tandem Computers in the late ‘80s. No matter the time of year, there is always...