Postcards From My Life

Dear Reader,

My friend – and Day Camp 4 Developers Camp Counselor alumni – Thursday Bram quoted me in her most recent article for Distracted Enterprise, Time to Disconnect: 5 Ways You Can Avoid Being Disturbed on Vacation. In the article, I talk about my trip to Bonair last year and how I successfully disconnected for a week despite working closely with Zend on ZendCon and planning the very first DC4D.

Four others contributed their tips as well to this interesting and short read.

Until next time,
I <3 |<
=C=

Dear Reader,

Yes, I got a tattoo. This one is my own design because the lovely and talented Kathy (was was very supportive of me getting it) won’t color the design she did for me.

The design is one I’ve doodled in my Moleskin for a long time. More recently, I’ve been drawing it on my hand using a Sharpie. (A sharpietoo, if you will) I added the colors recently partly for my love of diving and partly because I bought a red sharpie.

Anyhow, for those that missed the tweet, yeah, I got my ink.

Until next time,
I <3 |<
=C=

Dear Reader,

I don’t think I have ever done a restaurant review on this blog so this will be a first.

The story so far…

This story started back in early May. Every now and then I like to take the lovely and talented Kathy out to a nice restaurant, most of the time to one a little more expensive than we can afford but hey, she is worth it. In early May, I chose Flyte World Dining and Wine, (@FlyteNashville) knowing her burgeoning love for wine. I made reservations through their online booking service and we went. The food was impeccable, the service outstanding, the only real complaint I had was that they sat the two of us at a table that shared a back bench with two other tables. To each side of us were large parties. The result was that neither Kathy nor myself could hear ourselves think. I asked the seating hostess to move us to a more secluded table as this was a romantic tryst but I was told that all the tables were reserved; even though clearly 1/2 the restaurant was empty.

We finished our meal and even though every other detail was great, the noise level left us unsatisfied and convinced that it just wasn’t out kind of restaurant.

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Dear Reader,

I have never considered myself a great father. The fact that my kids grew up happy, healthy and only slightly outside of societal norms can be attributed to the lovely and talented Kathy more than myself. The best that I can say is that my dad, as good as he was, was flawed. I’m better in some ways than him, worse in others and flawed in different ways. I am praying that my son, if he becomes a father, learns from my mistakes and is a better father than I. If nothing else, I hope his flaws are different from mine.

I do, however, know some men that I consider to be great examples to those of us who are fathers. I won’t name names because my point is not to call anyone out or embarrass them. I tell you about them because they deserve to be celebrated.
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Dear Reader,

Today was the day! Podcamp Nashville 2010, downtown Nashville at the Cadillac Ranch. As always with the Nashville camps, overall it was great experience. The sessions were quality with speakers like Mitch Canter and Kate Gallagher. It was great to meet some new friends and catch up with some old ones.
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