4 yrs later...

4 yrs later...
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole

I bought this flag and decided I wanted to put it up over the house about 4 years ago, I have 3 of the 4 I want. The two from Scotland, the US and I still need to find a German one (of equal size) so I went out and bought all the pieces, and put it all together painted it the whole deal.

Today it went up, and it was toasted with a shot of Scottish "Honey" Whiskey Liqueur :-)

I need to fix the line it's a bit long and so tomorrow I will probably redo that part but otherwise it's up and I'm a happy camper!

Father's Day...

Coming back from my business trips it was refreshing to find myself whisked away by Nicole and Jason to Köln and then to one of the local small zoo's.

This the first father's day where Jason was a bit more "aware" of what was going on and he of course helped make my present.

This will of course be going up on my office wall, check out the hand prints!

Then there was the indoor "playground" in Köln,

Which consisted of climbing, crawling, sliding, bouncing and everything else you could think of! He had a blast as did I but I do think I was more tired than he was at the end of the day.

We also hit one of the local zoos, tons of animals and all but none of it really seemed to interest Jason too much. He did find a few of the playground rides interesting and there was one that made a fun (loud) ringing noise when he stomped on the metal covering so that of course was a must do. It was not until the end and we were ready to leave though that he "really" got into something and that was this ride, it was a spaceship that when up and down (after putting 50 cents in of course) we tried it on a whim and I think he went 3 times before we finally had to pull him out and go - he loved it!

Jason with Gran and Granpa

 

Jason with Gran and Grandpa at the airport waiting for them to check in for their flight home. It was a short stay but we had fun, can't wait for the next trip :-)

Jason's visits from Gran, Grandpa and Auntie

Last week we had company from the US, they were suppossed to arrive on Saturday around 12 and due to delays in the US they finally arrived at 8pm instead so we lost a bit of time there.

The weather like the last time they were here was horrible, snow and rain so we were stuck at home quite a bit but not totally.

We did manage to get to the park, as you can see Auntie Sabryna and Grandpa had quite a bit of fun ;-)

Jason found their sliding quite funny...

Despite the weather we did find time for at least one icecream in the hand, not the really cool dishes though...

Then Gran got Jason his first slide which has been a total hit!

Bumped but good

Just arrived at the airport, I should have been here yesterday actually by this time I should have been with Nicole and Jason but it seems that Delta overbooked and I was on the short list.

I opted to give up my seat as they offered a very nice deal and then because of another problem they offered an even nicer deal - needless to say I am arriving a day later and about 6 hours later than originally planned but in exchange for that hardship I will be able to take Nicole and Jason (or just the two of us) on a very nice flight somewhere for basically NOTHING! Thanks Delta!

Finding "Pirates" in Florida

You would actually think - giving the history and the area - that it would be quite easy to find my Pirates game here but I've been to about 5 hobby shops and card shops around the area and I've yet to find one that actually has the cards on hand.

Web says this shop or that shop but if I go or call they don't actually have the cards.

So what's the deal? Anybody in the Jacksonville, Florida area that knows where I might find my cards? I didn't actually bring any with me but if anyone knows of a game playing I would love to go and at least watch.

Atlanta Airport

Just a few more hours until I make it to the Jax airport and I hope that Nicole and Jason will be there waiting for me but at the same time I know it's a long drive for him all the way to the airport and maybe it's just better that the two of them stay home.

I don't actually mean that but I'm trying not to sound selfish but oh well....

It's funny taking this route (blogging live from the airports) as a few years ago that just would not work but it's kind of cool that the airports have all the WiFi now although the Atlanta airport requires you to pay :-(

My iPod has been a godsend though as the light for my seat on the plane was not working so I've been listening to all the Podcasts that I did (ego I know) as well as all the ones that the guys at PodTech did at the SDN Day and the SAP TechEd. So sorry honey it's a keeper ;-)

Actually so much so honey that when Robert Scoble goes live with the ScobleShow in the next couple of days I might have to go for the iPod Video because he might publish the video with me in it - but mainly because of all the video interviews he did during the conference!

Almost home!

Just at the Las Vegas airport (free WiFI) and I'm almost home, won 60 at the tables, lost 37 on the slots so go figure. Got Jason a little gift and Nicole one as well so I think am I am OK there ;-)

Missing home and Jason and Nicole and can't wait to get back but I still have several hours ahead of me flight is at 22:30 and I don't get to Jax until tomorrow morning at 9:00 so major bummer but still I will be home and my first priority is to try and stay awake but considering I got around 8 hours of sleep since last Sunday I'm not sure how well I will do.

I had more meetings this week at this SAP TechEd then I did at all 3 last year put together so I hope that is not an indicator for Amsterdam :-(

3 Blocks from my High School

IMG_1408
Originally uploaded by Craig & Nicole Cmehil.

Before taking a job in the corporate world and moving north I basically grew up by the beach. This photo was taken around about the time Ernesto was bearing down on us last week (he's gone but the next one is on the way) and the beach was bascially emtpy. I was at the same beach in the same location two days later and it was jammed packed with kids and families and everything.

Today though was Labor Day in the US, I was working so no rest for the weary but everyone else was enjoying the day off and basically the last day of summer, for those of you not familiar with Florida that basically just means it's time for wetsuits when you go surfing.

So the reason I was out at the beach was to pick up my little sister from a birthday party. Now normally I wouldn't mention this but when my dad and I got there the gentleman who offerred the use of the condo's pool and facilities to the young birthday boy came over and said hello.

The gentleman turned out to be Michael W. St. Jean (pronounced St. John), who happens to be running for Governor of Florida right now. I've never actually sat back and spent any length of time talking to someone in politics at least nothing more than at the local town level.

He has a website, Michael W. St. Jean, which I checked out and I gave him my contact info so we continue our conversation which lasted for 45 minutes and was quite interesting especially his plans for education. So I hope he does contact me if not I figure after SAP TechEd next week if I've not heard then maybe I'll give him a call.

More photos and stories to come...

Berlin, April 17-18, 2004

Well just back from a weekend in Berlin! It was great and the weather couldn´t have been better. OK, I got a little sunburn but nothing much!







The town is amazing, so much history and culture and things to see and do. We did a whole city tour on Saturday, including dinner and the IMAX. Then on Sunday we did the boat tour on the Spree followed by sleeping on the lawn in front of the Berliner Dom.







The town is proud of the whole bear thing too ;-)



And for those of you who don´t know there really are two sets of crosswalk signals, one set is on the West side and the other is on the East side.