Sanibel 2013 Part 1

Sanibel 2012 was such a magical time, we decided to give it another go, but even MORE.

Vacation started on Friday, with us dropping the dogs off at the Pampered Pooch and waiting for the taxi: Pamela had been our packing professional and had got us beautifully arranged for the trip. The house is clean and ready for us to return... and we wished the cold weather farewell. The lines were pretty short for our early afternoon flight, and we even had time for a quick lunch at Ike's to start our trip. The flight took off on time, and landed a little early. It was bumpy, but no puking.... Isaac was definitely restless and didn't really want to sit still, but we made it through. We were up in the front of the plane (not first class, though) so we were off the plane nice and fast.

Getting the car was a bit nutty - we had rented a small SUV, but realized with our luggage, it wouldn't work and requested an upgrade. They accommodated for a pretty small fee (interestingly, the guy wrote down the "standard" upgrade rate, and our discounted upgrade - 75% off, but didn't SAY the numbers - just pointed to them with raised eyebrows). But then he couldn't find the truck in his system, and walked us OUT to the lot... and then couldn't find the car, so did yet another upgrade in the lot, with a hand-written note on our form... which didn't really thrill the gate guy, but he waved us through nonetheless.

We headed straight to our Chicago friend Rick's parent's house in Cape Coral - Rick and Kari are of course the parents of Bailey and Ty, the twins who I have known since they were less than a year old - they're as old as my relationship with Pamela - which means that Pamela and I are now in the "junior year of college" phase of our relationship. Whatever that could possibly mean. The house is on a boat canal, and we took a little cruise before dinner. We discovered this feature of so many houses out here - the enormous screen structure - sample at http://superscreening.info to see what these huge screen structures are like.

Off to dinner - Rick's second cousin opened a small italian restaurant in Cape Coral, and it was simply wonderful: The owner was a hugely loveable creature filled with smiles, hugs, and laughter: She kept coming over to chat, and the food was delicious - many of us went simple - I had spaghetti and meatballs and sausage. Halfway through, a trio of plates emerged with fettucini alfredo, which I was told was delicious. Dessert was cheesecake and cream puffs. We left stuffed. Isaac was tired and excited and we played a lot of tag in the parking lot between courses.

Bed was at the Marriott right on the bridge to Sanibel - a huge king suite bought with points from my travels. Lights out immediately. We slept in, had room service for breakfast, and then a few hours of swimming at the resort. Rick and Kari joined us for a little cocktail in the sun. Big excitement out on the dock: A pair of dolphins were hanging out just 20 feet out from the dock. They were swimming around and around, surfacing, flapping their tails, and generally showing off.

Lunch at the Lazy Flamingo - the land-side not the island one - with grouper sandwiches, raw oysters, and conch fritters with cool iced tea. A completely Florida lunch, in a very Jimmy Buffet style old school bar atmosphere. We parted ways with Rick and Kari, and headed to Target to stock up for the Island. Happily, there were no heart attacks (or exposed boobs) at this Target, just a little panic as Wells Fargo decided that they couldn't understand why I was charging things in Florida when I am supposed to be in MN. After a few min on the phone, all was cleared up, but it was an ANNOYING moment. I do love me some fraud detection (just 2 weeks ago, somebody started using one of my cards to buy textbooks in Russia, and they shut that DOWN), but not necessarily when it IDs ME.

Crossed the bridge to the island and found our resort - just a half mile further up the road/beach than last year. Much larger complex, and a lot of teenagers. LOTS of teenagers. Not really that LOUD, but present. But who cares about teenagers when we have COUSINS? Yes, the Wisconsin arm of the family is here for the same week, in the same complex, just a few units away. Seeger, Liam, Julian, Trent, and Clyde. Plus friends from back home, Bill and Gracie. Bella and Isaac were out the door and running around, and we suspect that will be how the week goes. Of course there was swimming - first a visit to the ocean, then some serious pool time.

Off to Jerry's for shopping, libations, and a little dinner. Made it home, unpacked, and then off to bed... Isaac passed out pretty quickly, but Bella took some time to unwind with Catching Fire... Lights out by 10 for the kids, and 11 for us. ZZZZzzzz.

Easter Sunday: Isaac was back to the early wakeup, and Pamela surprised me by getting up FIRST, taking the early shower, and being generally the conscious person in the house. It was wonderful to be lazy, if only for a little while. One of our treats from Jerry's was small boxes of sweet cereal, and the kids were loving their breakfast of Lucky Charms and Cocoa Puffs. And hey, the Easter Bunny found us out here! YAY! The kids found their "Baskets" - actually mesh bags for shell collecting - filled with toys and chocolates. As the kids played with their new treasures, I pulled on some clothes and took a little run: 2.1/4 miles for a refreshing wakeup, listening to the new Depeche Mode album.

The day itself was a BLUR of fun - lots of pool time, lots of beach time, a little couch time. A little grimness - a dead bird on the lawn, a dead bird washed up on the beach, but some really cool beach finds too - a lot of crab parts and some bright coral pieces! Bella was very into the hunt.

The kids were all a PACK running around with some "secret agent" game where they were all wearing sunglasses. All day excitement. Isaac was in-and-out of the game, choosing to pair up with kids when possible: Trent for a while exploring the elevators, and Gracie at the end of the day, hunting for lizards and practicing cartwheels. He's really more of a one-on-one kind of kid. Dinner was tacos, and we met up with the Wisconsin gang to celebrate cousin Scott's birthday. A little cake, a little scotch, and some good laughs.

We ended the day with a walk down the beach as the sun set. It started with just me is Bella having a little stroll, and we met on the way back with Pamela and Isaac... One the way to the room, Isaac challenged us all to a race back, and sprinted off, and we caught up to him distracted by a climbable tree: Bella taunted him "That's how it works with the Tortoise and the Hare" - Eventually, Isaac did actually catch back up to us and was the first through the door and into bed.

Well, that's what happened so far. It's time for bed! Just 7 more days? WOW.

Vacation Vacation Vacation

I have one thing on my mind right now.  VACATION.  In mere days we will be headed out to paradise, and it is very very hard for me to focus on non-paradisiacal activities.  There is work I could be doing in the evenings - there are Powerpoints to tweak, spreadsheets to wrangle, proposals to generate.  But tonight, I just want to go on vacation.  I am not doing my Just Do It challenge either - after my steak, I let Piano slide.  When I get BACK from Vacation, I will re-dedicate myself, but for now, please, GET OFF MY BACK.  Go play "The Sting" soundtrack if you want to hear "The Entertainer"  I'm busy thinking about seashells.

We went to Target last night to "refresh" our vacation wear:  Pamela said "our challenge is to be the most colorful family on Sanibel".  I got Isaac and myself some seriously retina-searing ensembles, and I cannot WAIT to bust them out.   It wound up being quite the shopping trip.  Thank goodness for the tax refund.

I've been having more fun with color recently, sporting bright yellow or red pants, bright orange and purple shirts...   part of me is saying "MINNESOTA if you cannot be a little less gray and miserable, then I will overcompensate."  Only Isaac rocks a brighter color scheme these days - and that's protective so that we can easily spot him as he sprints off into the distance.

At Target, Isaac decided to go stealth:  He said "3-2-1 DISAPPEAR" and he did disappear.  He was never further than 20 feet from me, and always came out when I hollered, but in the meantime, he slunk low to the ground, hiding behind clothing racks, and generally disappearing.  It was a little unnerving, but he loved it.  A few times, I rounded a corner to find him standing on an end cap, posed like a mannequin, hoping I wouldn't notice him.  That made me laugh, and I wish I could have got a picture of it.

One of my favorite things to do nowadays is to "move like Isaac" - the kid bounces around like a lemur, so to enter a room and move around like him AS AN ADULT is both visually stimulating AND a good cardio workout.  I think that simply moving like him for an hour would put anyone into shape.

Update on Bella:  Her friend Minori did write back with some pictures - she's wearing glasses now!  Bella was so thrilled she fired back a new message right away:  I hope this keeps going - it's very cute.  And hey, if they decide they want to get together, I'd love to take her to Japan.  Watashi-no Nihongo-wa totemo subarashii desu!  (my japanese (language) is totally fantastic).

Finally, Pamela's out doing another Silpada party - I'm really happy for her doing this stuff - because it's giving her a reason to reach out, be social, go to parties, and connect with friends.  We've been in our shells for the past few years, and we need to get out.  I am hoping to perhaps connect with the neighbors a bit more in the coming months - once the thaw comes through...

DID I MENTION I am sick of winter, and want to go on vacation?  SO READY FOR THIS.

Just Do It Update

This morning I hit my first goal - 10 30-minute piano practice sessions.  We are going out for a steak dinner tonight at Pittsburgh Blue in Edina.  The rest of the family is now envious, and has vowed to "catch up" on their projects...   Objective Achieved?

I'm adding to the repertoire:  When I was a kid, I focused on the Suzuki method, but many of my non-suzuki friends would sit down to the piano and do the intro to Joplin's The Entertainer.  I recall being mildly envious of them, playing a "popular" song rather than the classical pieces I did...

So I downloaded some sheet music and got to work on it this morning:  My first thought is that I am probably happy I didn't try it back then - lots of big octave spans and jumping left hand comping.  I don't think my hands, though long-fingered and unquestionably elegant, would have been happy with those big fisted chords.  My hands are now just great for that sort of thing, however.

The current play list is, then:
 - Scales to wake up the fingers
 - Suzuki Book 2, pieces 1-6.
 - The Entertainer
 - Somebody by Depeche Mode.  Of course.

This is quite fun.

The Sweetest Words

My best man Erik once said "the six most beautiful words in the english language:  'You were right, I was wrong' - I can never tire of hearing that phrase spoken to me."

I'm just finishing up a very interesting project:  The whole direction healthcare needs to be going is in the safe and reasonable sharing of patient data across the inpatient and ambulatory and post-acute care spectrum.  Patients need to know that every provider they see knows what they've been through, and that what they tell THIS provider will be shared with the next.

But the way healthcare is stratified and siloed, it's been very hard to do this.  So I was brought into a project to design a working framework for a regional health system - a hospital with 150 employed physicians across 60 offices, working with an affiliation of 150 more independent private practice and specialty physicians.  Over a dozen medical record systems, no shared network, and most worryingly, we saw several meetings devolve into shouting matches.  These people want to share data about patients, but could barely tolerate communicating with each other.

We approached it as both a governance and cooperation project AND a technical project.  My first architecture suggested that BOTH sides move a little and put data into a co-owned system that they'd all maintain.  We got serious pushback from the health system side, and the kept making changes to my architecture... by the end of last week, it was looking as though our proposal was literally to endorse two parallel systems, one for the health system, one for the private practices to share.

Of course that would be twice as expensive, and it wouldn't fulfill the core requirement of data sharing that we were brought in for, but i was able to somehow draw a bunch of "interconnect" pipes so that evern though they were parallel, they were replicating data, so it was sort of like sharing, only we each have our own copy.

FINALLY this week, I had a really good conversation with some of the key sponsors (who were having a little sticker shock at the cost of the parallel solution) and got them to come ALL the way back to my original recommendation.  The CIO actually sent a note to his team saying he finally understood the benefits of the shared architecture, and credited me with having the right vision from the start.

Today was my final presentation to the board here in Michigan:  There were still some strong reactions in the room - mostly from some of the "parallel-istas" who hadn't yet seen the light, but I knew that the key sponsors finally understood.  And most gratifying, at the end of the meeting, a core group of 5 doctors, a mix of the privates and employed, who had previously been actually yelling at each other....  they sat and talked about the benefits they'd all see in this architecture.

It was something that got me thinking that this might actually do something positive for the patients out here.  And it felt good...   And let's be honest, it felt good to have them finally understand that I WAS RIGHT.   HA!

But it is also a strange thing to say "here you are - the next steps are yours" and know I'm not going to be working on this unless they call us back for a new engagement.  Part of the consulting "thing" is that you need to learn an environment really well, figure out what they really need, help them start down that path, and then you need to move on, because us consultants are EXPENSIVE.

There are definitely BAD consultants who don't go deep, don't learn what's unique about a site, and don't leave an actionable plan.  I pride myself on not being that bad consultant, but the problem with going deep is that I wind up caring... and it can be hard not to see them through the engagement.  I have to wish them well and hope they do the right things.

So it's bittersweet to finish an engagement like this.  Those nights of tweaking Visio diagrams until midnight...   it's wrapped up and done.  So now I'm sitting in a cute tiny airport waiting for the one flight that will take me home today.

Bella's bad year

Tonight just before bed, I found Bella at the computer, tears in her eyes, with the start of a letter up on the screen:  It was a note to her friend in Japan, Minori.  She turned to me and said "I just miss her so much" - and her note said "when you left, my life changed forever".

I know I've written about this time before, but it was fresh in my mind and I want to reshare:

First grade was a tough one for Bella:  That was the year that her classmate Grant came to school having just stated treatment for brain cancer, and they spent all year watching his struggle, as disappeared for treatment, ballooned up from steroids, lost his vision and ability to walk, and ultimately lost his life.

Bella's teacher that year was not the most nurturing of people - sort of a brass tacks kind of lady, so Bella clung to her close friends.  Minori was one of her closest.  Minori's family came from Japan and her dad worked for a biomedical device manufacturer...  and at the end of the year the family was transferred back to Japan.

Between the loss of Grant and the loss of Minori, Bella was definitely on-edge.  It didn't help that this was also when I was traveling a lot - That was the year of Cleveland...   basically for her whole year of first grade through half of second, I was gone 4 days a week.  Later that summer, her other best friend Miles left for Austin Texas.

She went into second grade with her dad missing, her two best friends gone, and having watched a friend die..  and she had that brass tacks teacher again too.  It's no wonder that she had a nervous breakdown.   Yes, kids are resilient and make it through things...   but I know she stores things down deep, and suddenly tonight she decided that she was really really sad and missed her friend.

So I helped her finish her letter, and we found some pictures and pasted them in.  And I packaged it up and emailed it to Minori's mom.  Hopefully we'll hear back.  Maybe they'll video-chat now?  Bella steals my phone to video chat visit with her dear friend Aleena every day after school...

Anyway, I have a good kid, and she's made it through some sad times.  I'm glad she can let her feelings out sometimes.

Old Minneapolis

There's a Facebook group that posts old pictures of Minneapolis, and the ones that resonate the most with me are of course the ones from the late 1970s and early 1980s, when I spent a fair amount of time down there.  We were more "free range" kids back in those days:  I grabbed a handful of change, walked the 6 blocks to the bus stop, took the Number 5 downtown and back again.

I was remembering our family nights - maybe we did this a lot, maybe it was only a few times, but they imprinted strongly on my memory:  I remember the 4 of us walking to the bus, riding it down, walking down a side street to a tiny Japanese restaurant called Asuka:  Carrie would get Tempura, Dad would get sukiyaki or some similar "lots of things in a big pot".  I would get Yakiniku, which was basically spicy beef and no veggies.  I do not recall what mom would get...   I'm not sure if they did ShabuShabu there?  Hmmm.

After that, we would walk back up to Hennepin and pop into Shinder's:  It was a wonder of a place - huge and sprawling:  Magazines and periodicals in the front to the right, Books off to the left, and straight back to the comics.  If you went THROUGH the comics to the left, there was the porn...  and the skeevy gentlemen had to mosey past us kiddos to get their fix.  As a boy, I was undeniably CURIOUS about what was behind the gate, but never spent much time trying to catch a peek:  I suspected that if I showed too much interest, either the parents OR the employees (stalwart trustees of the innocence of youth) would say "this is a boy who may NOT COME BACK IN HERE" - I wanted access to those comics, thank you very much.

After the comics were purchased, we'd walk the extra block up to 8th to catch the 5 back home:  The block between had a couple of theaters, but I remember the actual corner being very dark and boring.  I wondered why Shinders couldn't have been one block over - at least we could have looked at the brightly lit window displays.

At the bus stop, there was a hot air grate without a fence around it, and we'd stand on it basking in the warmth while waiting for the bus.  I'm not sure we ever really knew what the schedule was - I don't recall my parents wearing watches - the bus just CAME every 15 minutes or so - either you caught it or you waited for the next one.

There were a couple of variations on this family trip - I recall at least one time going to the Nankin Chinese restaurant, and the joke at the table was that you couldn't find your food under all of the water chestnuts.  I also remember going to a crepes place called The Magic Pan, but don't remember liking it at ALL.  I also know there was a Best Steak House down there but I think we went to the one up on 56th and Nicollet instead.  If we were ever downtown during the DAY, you know we went to the Brother's Deli - with the theme song "Kibbitz and Nosh!  At the Brother's Deli!"

After school and weekends, I took the trip downtown by myself or with my friend Jeaner - we saw movies at the Skyway, we shopped for comics (and maybe were a little bolder with trying to work out what was behind the frosted glass beyond the comics...  but I still thought - IF CAUGHT, they will tell my parents next time I come in with them.  I actually thought the dudes at Shinders would take Mom aside and say "he was here last week, and we caught him trying to look at the adult magazines... WE THOUGHT YOU SHOULD KNOW Ma'am."  At which point I would be sent away forever.)

Of course as we got older (6-7th grade) we discovered the record stores too - Harpos/Hot Licks became Northern Lights, which was awesome...   there was never any reason to go into MusicLand - overpriced and NOT COOL.  Video Arcades popped up (Pops on 6th was the one to visit - the "arcade" on Block E was trouble).

The landscape of that 4-6 block area of Minneapolis imprinted on my brain:  For years into adulthood I would have lucid dreams of walking around that version of downtown Minneapolis, though the stores would change in the dream, and new streets would appear, leading to a new adventure.  But in those dreams, it was always dusk or night - the times when tired, full of Japanese food, and comics in hand, we would wander back to the bus stop.

Five Days In

I have been a good boy and have been working on piano every night.  I am now to Suzuki Book 2, song 5, a Bach Minuet.  Tonight I played book 2 songs 1-5 through twice, with some extra work on both 3 (the happy farmer) and 5 (bach minuet 2).  Tomorrow I will add 6 (minuet 3) to the repertoire.

This is FUN!

Also, I have been playing the drums nightly - heck by the end of March I might actually have some half-decent chops back.  Then it's time to form a neighborhood BAND!  But will anyone want to play Visage's "Fade to Grey" with me?

Just Do It

Motivational Bribery at the House.

While I've mused about "100 hours" and what can be done, I'm now lowering my sights - there's a lot you can learn just by practicing it 10 times.  It helps that I'm desperate for ways to incent Bella to practice her guitar - she really is good, and when she practices, she gets better so incredibly fast...

So I got an idea:  The JUST DO IT list:  A name, a task, ten checkboxes, and a reward.  For Bella, it's 10 times practicing guitar, and she gets a trip to Yogurt Lab.  For me, it's 10 times practicing piano, and I get a Steak Dinner.

It's not for chores.  It's for creative endeavors.  Isaac wanted a task, and we suggested drawings, but he decided to integrate his dual loves of music and getting people to do things, his JUST DO IT is to get at least 1 other person engaged in a Family Music jam session.

We shall see how this works - but 10.  Ten.  X.  We should be able to make these goals.

My goal here is not to get 10, but to get 100.  I think we will set up tiered goals once we hit 10 - make 20 and up get more intense.  I'm figuring when I get to 100 on Piano, the Dave Smith Instruments Prophet 12 will be released...  

And I'll have some time for it - I'm in a low-billing phase right now - I'm going to spent dime on sales and methodology build this week and next:  I'm sitting home while many in the company (and most of our customers) are out at a big trade conference...  So looking forward to some time for improvement.

Pie-anna

As you know, the family music zone has been established, and in the weeks since, we've had some good times there - If anything we tend to get into competition about who gets the keyboard - everyone wants to play the keys:  I might need to get a second and third keyboard down there - rebuilding the deathstar from my old Harriet days?  Surely a nice Jupiter 8 and a PPG might be welcome?  (Did you hear that sound?  It's Pamela's teeth grinding, and she doesn't even know I'm writing this).

Moving the drums downstairs was easily the best idea - I can plug in my iPod and play along:  Tonight it was two Simple Minds songs, a Tears for Fears, and my new favorite love/hate song "Survival" by Muse.  Fun drums and a million fast fills.  And I can do it after everyone's asleep and nobody's the wiser.

As I've been playing the keys to accompany Bella's guitar playing, I have taken steps to actually start playing piano songs - I laid hands on my old Suzuki Method books, and am pleased to report that I am now playing approximately as well as I did when I was 10.  It was very strange to realize I still had muscle memory of a few of those songs.

It put me in the mind of my catastrophic experiences playing piano in college.  I had let my "chops" such as they were lapse well into high school and had fully embraced my new wave "pose over a two finger melody" method.  But part of me still thought I was good at piano:  I still went to piano lessons, but I forgot to practice, and thus I completely failed to advance.  In college, I kept trying to dodge the concept of piano, but had to take lessons as a part of the department...   and thinking back, again, I did not practice, and I did not advance in skills.

But since I was also mister synthesizer, I considered myself a good musician, just "in my own way"...   and if it was just that, it would have been fine, but some strange part of myself kept thinking of myself as a "Secretly excellent piano player if I just applied myself"  This delusion came to a head for me when a girl I liked who played Cello asked me if I played piano.  I said yes, and she said we should do a duet (which passes for courtship in a music department).  She gave me some sheet music and we set a date for a week later.

In that week, I did try to practice, and realized I really couldn't read music, I couldn't play those notes, my hands couldn't do those chords...  but somehow I still went to the date, with a strange feeling like I'd be able to pull it off.  It was some seriously deep delusion, and it was 15 minutes into the date and me not even able to play the first page, while she played very nicely...   I blocked out how I tried to pass it off, but I don't recall ever really fessing up.

I did try not to put myself into that position again - a flautist tried the "let's play a duet" thing a year later with me, and I was quick to say no, that's not what I do, and proudly played her one of my noise compositions.  She figured out I did music, but different music.

Long way around, but really some of those experiences have led to deep "piano shame" for me.  So I'm looking forward to re-approaching my the piano - getting back in at about the same place I was when I was good, and trying to have fun.  Also, it's a good and safe thing to be learning this with Isaac and Bella listening.

So my goal for this week is simple:  re-learn how to play Schumann's The Happy Farmer.