26th Day of December, 2009

Including today, there are five days left on this year... Will make a summary of it on the 31st.

Meanwhile, on the 24th, Christmas Eve, we hosted a small party and friends came with their families. We had a exquisite arrange of foods: deer in onion sauce, wild pig 'au jus', home-made chicken fingers, deep fried whole turkey, pastry ring of steak, dirty rice, two different types of capresse salad, dirty rice, cole slaw, Hawaiian rolls, and more, brought by everyone, and drinks ranging from the soft drinks - colas, to the other soft drink - light beer, to wine, to the real stuff.

Danny and Donna Authement came with their daughter Denise and her husband Paul who drove in from up-state New York; their son Danny Jr. is on assignment somewhere in the Pacific. Hank and Terri Douglas came in with Mr. D - their Dad, Shelli & Paul, and Shauna & Mark. Fireman Dan and Claudette Hughes came solo as Cassie just got married this past Saturday. Pat Ross was also flying solo since she had an early Christmas with her daughters in Maryland. And then there were us: Alex, Leah, Jan and I. Since Shauna Douglas is with child and expecting in February, and Mr. D is her grandfather, we actually had four generations in attendance: a true extended family affair!

We played lots of pool (I beat pool-shark Danny for the first time! He later avenged that though...); then, after dinner, we played a game introduced to us oldies by Alex & Leah called "beer-pong": trying to sink a ping-pong ball into an array of beer glasses at the other end of the table; if you sink the ball on a glass, your opponent drinks that glass of beer, and vice-versa. FUN! Last, we sang Christmas carols. It was a varied arrange of voices and tonalities. Very enjoyable. We closed a very special and rainy night that way!

Later, in the middle of the night or early morning, Jan woke me up to winds of about 40 MPH that had knocked over all our patio furniture and a camping grill I had in the balcony; it was a little surprising and scary; the house stood well to the challenge; it all finished well.

Santa came on Christmas Day and brought all sort of goodies for everyone; we were all very good this past year! We spoke with all our away family: Clarissa & Valentina - my older girls, my Mother, my sister, and Rick and Pam (Jan's brother and sister-in-law). The rest of the day was a lazy, totally unstructured and enjoyable day, ending it up with a dinner of turkey, mashed potatoes and corn casserole.

The Chargers beat the Titans; that means the Dolphins are still alive!

Merry Christmas!

23rd day of December of 2009

It snowed again the day before yesterday... This time it stayed on the ground until last night when it was unusually warm - in the 50s... Here are Pancho & Bella trying - again - to figure that white stuff out...

Yesterday, we made Hallacas... Hallacas are a traditional dish in the Venezuelan Christmas folklore; they are made out corn dough and a filling made of a dry stew of chicken and pork; this year I added deer meat! It is usually a family affair in which many members of a family (or families) have different roles as follows (the corn dough was kneaded earlier in the afternoon, and the filling was made a couple of nights ago):

1. The first 'work-station' makes the corn dough into small balls; pass them on...
2. Second w/s flattens the dough, with the hands or a rolling pin or any other mean to a 1/16th of an inch thickness; passes it on...
3. The third w/s puts the filling in the center of the flattened dough; passes it on...
4. Fourth w/s put in some 'trimmings' (sliced olives, raisins, sliced almonds or crushed pecans); passes it on...
5. The 5th w/s folds the package into a resemblance of an envelope and puts it on top of a square of aluminum foil; passes it on..
6. The 6th w/s wraps the package - tightly - in the foil and puts it into a 375° F preheated oven for about 25 minutes. Traditionally, the hallacas are made on top of, and then wrapped in, smoked banana leaves - and then boiled. For logistics reasons (impossible to find the banana leaves), I substituted the leaves with aluminum foil and baked them instead of boiling them (a lot cleaner!).
7. Last, but not least, there is the wild card who is helping when somebody needs a break, refilling drinks (because this is a drinking affair!) refilling supplies, and doing anything else that may be needed...

We (Jan, Alex, Leah and me) and the Douglas (Terri, Shelli, Hank, Paul and Mr. D) made about 70 hallacas yesterday evening... Many were eaten then, and some more this morning. Tomorrow, we will finish that batch!

21st Day of December, 2009

Alex & Leah drove up from G'ville, FL this past Friday evening. They left at around 2:30 PM EST and, although they caught some of Atlanta's rush hour on a Friday evening, they were able to make it to Hawks Bluff at around 9 PM CST; they went directly to Pat Ross' place were we had a cookie exchange... It's been snowing on a off since then, with snow staying on the ground for days!

Saturday early afternoon we went to a 'country wedding' and then, in the evening, had a small gathering in the house, for Christmas (as if we needed an excuse!).

Took in some football yesterday with mixed emotions... The Dolphins flopped against the Titans, but the Bucs dismantled the Seahawks for their 2nd win of the year!

Right now it is snowing again and it is gray and cold and wet... Intend to go shopping today to Cookeville!

That's all for now...

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

The VW experience did not pan out... I had received an e-mail of "Thanks but no, thanks" and then another invitation to yet another interview which eventually got cancelled. I've moved on to some other interests...

The Venezuelan Leadership Development initiative continues to progress... I have involved Cesar Lopez, my brother-in-law as an expert on foreign exchange processes in Venezuela to ensure the financial viability of the initiative...

To close the business side, I continue to work on developing a PeopleTek practice focused only on the leadership journey that IT people travel through... Still shaping up...

On the personal side, today marks the 179th anniversary of Simon Bolivar death, and also three years since I last saw my second daughter, Valentina. I guess there came a point in time at which I ceased to add value to her life...

Had planned to make a trip to South Florida t retrieve Christmas Decorations, fix up the house in preparation for sale and to bring more 'stuff'. Decided the effort and risk did not match the potential benefits and rewards... Cancelled it!

We finally contracted for a front entrance to our house... It is being built as I write this; expected to be ready to go right before Christmas!

That's all for now...

6th day of December, 2009

More veried information...

First, after receiving the 'rejection' email from VW, they called on Thursday to aske me to come over for the next level of interviews... Mixed feelings; on one hand, my self worth is reassured by having gone to the 3rd round of eliminations (being rejected on the 2nd round wasn't good to my self esteem), and on the other hand, there seems to be organizational and communications gaps within VW... Oh well, there may be an opportunity tio fix that....

Second, it snowed yesterday morning; Jan and I woke up to about 3" on the ground and still fallinfg (here is a pic)... It did not melt as fast as we expected; the tepperatures have been low and, as I write this - 8:43 AM CST - it is 21° F outside....

And third, it was Hank Douglas' birthday yesterday and we celebrated in our house. Since Terri's mom has been seriously ill, Terri has been spending most of her time away from home and we decided ho have Hank and his dad (Mr. D) here... I cooked a leg of wild pig and made a cake... Danny & Donna came over and Terri showed up later, as a big surprise for Hank...! Here are some pics...

3rd day of December, 2009

Several items of information...

First, I spent most of the morning (and part of the afternoon) yesterday quartering and deboning the hog... In all I got three big hams (one of the front legs had been too damaged to harvest by the shot that killed the animal), loins, ribs, bacon and the neck. I froze almost everything except the neck, which I put in the oven at 275° for about 6 hours... What a delicious meat!

Second, I had applied for some IT-related jobs at VW and had a set of interviews last week; well, I received a 'Dean John' e-mail from them today declining me; oh well, already moving to plan "C"...

2nd day of December, 2009

Last night, at about 5:30 PM, got a call from Sammy... "What cha doin?" was the usual sound on the phone... "Hey, I got two hogs; do y'all want one?" Faster than I could tkink, I said "Yes! How much is it?" Sammy responded "It don't cost nothing. Me and Doug are gonna get 'em now; you can take yours to the processor if you want..." "OK", I said, "Which one?"

Sammy did not know where I could take the hog; he said he would hang it for me in his barn for the night and I could take it in the morning...

Since Sammy was going to 'process' his himself, I called back and ask if he could give me a hand with mine, instead of taking it to the processor... I went there and Doug (Darryl's brother) and Sammy had already started to gut out the first one... There were two females, pregnant both, killed by the Mnenonites at their farm, no more than 20 miles from here... That means that, withing two to five years, we will have feral hogs around here, the worst pest ever!

Doug and Sammy gutted and skinned the first one and gave it to me; unfortunately, one of the front quarters had beed shattered beyonf repair by the bullet; but I satil got over 80 lbs of hog in a cooler in the garage that I have to quarter and 'process' today!

OK. So, I haven't reported anything here for the last 11 months... I intend to change that today, now!

It is about 32 degrees up here in the Plateau and there i a frost, not quite snow, in the ground... Jan and I will be running some errands in Sparta today and working the rest of the day... Yes, working I said... I will be calling down to Venezuela, again; I will be calling an expert on foreigh exchange processes to consult with them on that particular subject (how do you get paid in USD when you do work in Vzla?)

The girls made it safely to FLL; Alex drove a good part of the way and then Leah took over and brought them home; they made it in about 13 hours keeping a healthy pace and driving on the safe side of the speed limits. Very proud of them!

On Monday, Alex took off for Gainesville at about 7 AM, and Leah went to school. Alex was able to mail me my medicines via UPS from Gainesville (I had only brought supplies for two weeks), and they made it here on Tuesday at about midday. Good job Alex! Leah discovered that her credit card was missing and then, to complicate matters, her car started acting up. She took the car in Tuesday to a mechanic who’s been looking after it for the last few months. She picked it up on Wednesday night and the mechanic could not find anything wrong; and so, he charged nothing. Very proud of her handling of all her responsibilities under adverse circumstances!

Jan and I have been working full time, while trying to get small projects done in between calls; doing them after work is a challenge since it starts getting dark at about 4 Pm and by 5:30 it is pitch black! At any rate, we had DirectTV installed late last Sunday, late enough not to see the Dolphins debacle, but early enough to see the Eagles send the Vikings packing… Additionally, progress has been made in the wood trimming, electrical trimmings (relocating or changing plugs/suckets), installing the mirrors in the kitchen bar, building the stairs rails and banisters (what a big job that is!), finishing the installation of the elevator, etc.

Yesterday, and for the first time since we’ve been here, it snowed (well, that could be an overstatement); in the middle of the afternoon the sky went gray and the white flakes started to fly. It lasted for about 15 minutes and then it stopped suddenly; the sun came back out and all the flakes melted. But it was terrific while it lasted!

Also yesterday we had another first: the first ever flat tire on the Escalade; holy Toledo, what a process that is to lower the spare tire (mounted underneath the trunk), shake it lose (from the hoisting wire), and then place the jack underneath the carriage; at any rate, live and learn…

Jan and I (and the pups) are driving back on Saturday, providing the local tire dealership receives the new tires we ordered on time tomorrow; otherwise, we will drive Sunday…

The girls drive to FL by themselves!

It is Sunday, January 04, 2009; Alex and Leah left for Fort Lauderdale at about 8:30 AM CST; should be arriving there, God willing, between 9:30 and 10:30 PM EST.

I had asked my boss’ opinion on Friday about me staying one more week up here in ‘the Bluff’; since I received no feedback at all by yesterday afternoon, I decided his silence was loud enough and I had to return with the girls and Jan would stay up here one more week. However, at about 7:30 PM last night I got a message from him apologizing for not answering before and saying that it was OK with him for me to work from here next week. So, I and Jan get to stay for one more week and Alex and Leah went back to the Florida home to go to their respective schools…

After we decided this last night, we went out to grab a bite at the Pizza place that replaced the Down Yonder; as we walked in there were Stuart, Terri and Hank Daniels; after a brief conversation they left, but not before inviting us to go watch the Dolphins game with them; and so we planned. However, as we were getting ready to go watch the game, the DirectTV guys called saying they were on their way to install our TV feeds.

While waiting for the installers, Jan and I hung the drapes and window treatment in both Alex’s and Leah’s rooms; good team work.

The guys got here at about 1 PM and, as I write this, they are still working on it and I am following the game via the NFL web site; it is half time and we are down 3-13.

This morning the temperature climbed up to the upper 60s; almost shorts & t-shirt weather; as of now is 52!

End of 2008; begining of 2009...

… and so it was that 2008 came to an end. The Temperellis (Mike, Nancy, Jesse and Rocky) left early Tuesday morning heading back down to Florida. We had a great time. They made it down uneventfully, except for a small glitch (a 2-hour traffic jam caused by a wreck) around Orlando.

Paul Bradley, a VP of Sales for PayCargo who works out of Nashville, came to work with me; we had a very productive day in which we exchanged ideas and agreed on PayCargo critical success factors…

Pat Ross invited us to come over to her house (about ¾ mile away – closest neighbor) for end of year celebrations; we will be there.

The elevator doors were installed (no more falling through shafts!) along with some of the railing on the stairs, and the replacement of some exterior fixtures that had been damage by staining; and, in the typical fashion of two steps forwards and one step backwards, as we were leaving for Pat’s, I dropped a frozen roast beef in the sink to defrost for the New Year’s day dinner and the sink fell off; I mean, it became completely unglued and unhinged from underneath the granite slab. Jimmy will be here today to fix it…

At any rate, we went to Pat’s and had a great time; I don’t know yet most people’s last names but Danny & Donna and DJ, Sammy & Nancy, Hank & Terry, Fireman Dan and Claudette were there, along with us and Pat. We made some Glühwein (spiced wine – German style) and took it to Pat’s; people experienced the sensation of warming up from within!

On January 1st we called my mother (her 80th birthday); we also hung drapes in the basement, built a standing coat rack, assembled a bench for mud room, installed a dead bolt on an outside door, built a fire pit.

We are starting to plan the return to South Florida… and so begins 2009!