Meg and I competed in our first ever rowing competition this weekend. We certainly didn’t plan on racing when we signed up for learn to row; but we improved faster than we thought we would so we felt comfortable entering a regatta. We still need a lot of practice; but we’ve got great teamwork.

Tara receiving her diploma for a Bachelor’s of Science in Nursing! Meg and I are now the proud parents of TWO college graduates. The years went by in the blink of an eye! It doesn’t seem that long ago when the kids were only just starting elementary school. Congratulations Tara!

Mom, Dad, Brandon and Tara at dinner Dad’s 80^th birthday dinner celebration at Fleming’s Steakhouse. It was a great time. Today is his actual birthday. We celebrated one day early.

Tara being recognized on Senior Day. Its hard to believe it’s been four years already. It seems like just yesterday that Meg and I were on our way to Trine for the first game of her collegiate career. Congratulations Tara! (click it to big it)

Here is a photograph of Brandon in an iconic pose in front of the Cathedral of Learning just before the start of the University Of Pittsburgh, Swanson School of Engineering’s Senior Recognition Night honoring 2013 graduates. Congratulations Brandon! (click it to big it)

Here is a video of Tara scoring the game winning goal in short time against Tiffin back in September. It made the highlight reel for 2012 for UC soccer! It’s hard to see the clock in the background but there were just 23 seconds left. As you can see, she was very excited! The parents were going crazy on the sideline too. Side netting, upper third — it doesn’t get any better than that.

Engines to power. Turbines to speed. I always wanted to say that.

By now, you have probably figured out that “we’re not in Kansas anymore”. Considering how many WordPress installations I’ve set up and configured for others, it was more than a little ironic that I stubbornly clung to my “original” web site. In the process, I’ve also switched from Apache to IIS 7.5. Apache will always have a fond place in my heart; but it was definitely time to move on. Every reason single reason that made it the web server of choice back in 2003 is no longer valid; especially since there still isn’t an official 64-bit version for Windows. It was past time to change. And, now that everything is up and running, I am glad that I did.

I still haven’t decided what I’m going to do with the photographs. The new home construction photos are, most likely, permanently offline. We love our home; but its “new house” days ended a long time ago. But, even though we’ve lived here for a while, will always be the “big house on the hill” that we dreamed about in olden times. I do plan on finding someplace to put the photo of me standing next to the SOLD sign. Most of the other photos were pictures of the “kids”. We will certainly keep them around for ourselves. But, now that they are older, it’s probably better to use more recent photographs. Everyone was as kid once; but, as time passes, some pictures aren’t as cute anymore (at least to the subjects).

I don’t know how often I will post. But I definitely will make updates more frequently than I did to the old site. So, as they say before fights in the UFC, here we go!