Wednesday, November 30, 2005

Boston Again

In case you were wondering about the previous picture posts, I was in Boston on Monday and Tuesday. More meetings and a dinner, and of course a few cocktails at the Beantown Pub. All in all, good times. I was initially on the 6:45 shuttle flight to DCA last night but we got out of the meeting right at 5pm and I scrambled over to the airport and got on a 5:45 flight with about a minute to spare. This got me into DC at 7pm and home by 7:30, before the boys went to bed. Besides, Ted Kennedy and his secret service agents were on board, so it must have been safer.

I'm back in the office now and I don't think I have any business travel coming up in December. It will be nice to stay in one place for a little while. Kumie, Nicole, Joe, the boys and I are going on the Santa Train on Friday. Should be a hoot and give me plenty of photo opportunities.

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Boston


Boston
Originally uploaded by homerclees.
More boston

Monday, November 28, 2005

Franklin street


Franklin street
Originally uploaded by homerclees.
Boston star

Sunday, November 27, 2005


This is some Russian guy, I mean Grandpa pointing out a boat on the East River with the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges in the backround. Grandpa and I took the boys down to South Street Seaport on Friday night while the girls were shopping. Our drive back to Virginia went well yesterday and we only ran into traffic a couple times. The boys finally fell a sleep on the trip back on the Wilson bridge, about 4 miles from home. I will probably put up a collection of Thanksgiving photos on durpenters.org in the next few days. I've got a bunch of work to do right now.  Posted by Picasa

Friday, November 25, 2005

Fire Trucks and Model Trains





So last night we saw real fire trucks and this morning we went to Citibank Center and saw the annual model train show. I got lots of great video of the trains and some more from the carriage ride we took in Central Park before lunch. The boys have been on about every kind of conveyance possible in the past few days. Subways, taxi cars, horses, and we plan on taking them down to the South Street Seaport to check out the boats when they get up from their nap.

Grandma and Momma are out shopping right now so Grandpa and I were responsible for getting them home from Mid Town, feeding them and getting them down for a nap. It all worked out well. I'm teaching them to play pac man on adams new (vintage e-bay) video game machinces. Good times.

Last night we ate a lot and took a quick trip to the fire station on Great Jones Ave. Company 33 I believe. We brought the firefigters cookies and the boys got to see some real fire engines. The company actually had a call when we were there and all the fire fighters jumped on the rigs and took off. Extra excitement for the boys and the rest of us.  Posted by Picasa

Wednesday, November 23, 2005

Yesterday we went to see Nicole's cousin Jason and pick up Cheese at the Bedford Cheese Shop in Brooklyn. Jason owns the cheese shop and the Verb Cafe right next door in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn. We took the 6 to the L train and the boys loved it.



Adam, a friend, Nicole and I went to Spamalot last night and had dinner at John Allens. The show was funny but since Adam and I had both seen Monty Python and the Holy Grail a couple hundred times a piece, it wasn't as funny as someone who had never seen the movie. It was different and had music but the jokes were basically the same. Dinner and drinks afterwards was probably the best part of the night.


Today it was FAO Schwartz and the Central Park Zoo. I got some good video of the boys in a subway and watching penguins and sea lions. They were bushed when we got back and are still sleeping. Many pictures with my good camera as well. I'll have to load them up when we get home. More soon.

Tuesday, November 22, 2005

6th ave


6th ave
Originally uploaded by homerclees.
Empire state

Rain

Long drive with lots of rain tonight. Good to have that done and looking forward to eating a lot. Happy Birthday Mae, we forgot to call but you're only one so you won't remember.

Mark Carpenter
General Manager
Web Strategy and Operations
www.aarp.org
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld (www.BlackBerry.net)

Sunday, November 20, 2005




We had a nice morning today starting with the boys first ride in Papa Car in their new big boy car seats. We loaded them up and headed out to the end or the runway of National Airport. Sam sat in the nice Park Policeman's car and got to push the siren button three times. The park police was there to stop some idiot from flying a kite in the flight path for the runway. Why that seemed like a reasonable idea to the kite owner is beyond me.

They ran and ran and we stopped at a playground in old town on the way home. Good times.

Saturday, November 19, 2005

The End of Wacky Dave Birthday Posts

I finally uploaded a bunch of pictures from last weekends trip to Charleston, SC to celebrate Wacky Dave turning 50.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/homerclees/sets/1399403/

Good times but I'm glad I'm home this weekend to catch up on all the stuff that needs to be done around here. I think I'm done with golf for a while. It's getting too cold and my game was only so-so last weekend. I didn't get to play as much as I wanted this season so will have to pick up the pace next year. We built our first fire in the fireplace last night and watched the Adam Sandler version of the Longest Yard. Pretty funny actually or maybe it was the wine.

More wine and fire tonight and of course the big game at 7pm ET. Go Cal again.

Thursday, November 17, 2005

I forgot to point people to an article I'm quoted in a number of times from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It turned out pretty well but I never said this "AARP, which defines seniors as anyone older than 50" I would never say that but that's what the reporter quoted me basically saying. AARP Membership age begins at 50 but I NEVER use the word "senior" when talking to reporters. I don't think I've ever seen myself quoted in print when the reporter didn't misrepresent something I said or didn't say. Arg...

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05317/605690.stm

BTW, just to clarify. I'll be pulling for Cal to win the big game on Saturday. The picture of the big game flags at Stanford was simply to illustrate the point that it's a BIG GAME to both sides.

GO BEARS!!

Wednesday, November 16, 2005

Publishing on the Web Course

So I was Stanford faculty for a couple days and talked at a Stanford Publishing Course. I think the whole thing went rather well and I got a good discussion going with the participants. I went out with BJ Fogg and his partner last night and got on a plane at SFO around 7:30 this morning. I have a busy couple days but next week should be pretty easy being Thanksgiving and all. I need to post some pictures of the boys soon. I'll work on that.

Oh yeah, the big game is this weekend and Adam and Gil will be there. It's at Stanford this year and the campus is getting ready for it.

Tuesday, November 15, 2005

Dinner at Stanford

The dinner at Stanford tonight was nice and included a student singing group pictured below. I sat at the Professors table because I’m officially a visiting faculty member because I’m speaking at a conference on campus tomorrow. Good resume builder but it doesn’t mean I will cheer for the Cardinal against Cal this weekend. I also resisted the urge to buy the boys Stanford t-shirts after dinner. I’m really tired after getting up at 4:30am this morning. Time for sleep.

Monday, November 14, 2005

Sunday, November 13, 2005


Well, I sent a bunch of good phone cam shots of Wacky Dave being an idiot at an Irish Bar in Charleston but non of them have posted yet. Blogspot is not making me happy right now. This is a shot of Modean getting off the plane on Friday morning. I got two rounds of golf in and got back to DC this morning at 8am. It was a fun weekend and on top of it, the Vikings beat the Giants. The boys seem to leap in verbal abilities everytime I leave for a couple days. They asked me all sorts or questions when I showed up this morning but I'm not sure they were really listening to the answers. Posted by Picasa

Saturday, November 12, 2005

Friday, November 11, 2005

Tommy condons


Tommy condons
Originally uploaded by homerclees.
Irish guys

Terry and jud


Terry and jud
Originally uploaded by homerclees.
Charleston

Wacky Dave is AARP Age

Yes, hard to believe but true. It does make some sense since 50 is the new 30. That puts me in my 20's and I'm alright with that. We are playing golf today and tomorrow and I hope I still have the late fall golf mojo I had the last time I played a few weeks ago. Regardless, it will simply be fun to roast Dave with all sorts of ageing jokes and it's a beautiful day.

Good times.

Mark Carpenter
General Manager
Web Strategy and Operations
www.aarp.org
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld (www.BlackBerry.net)

11-11-05_0853.jpg


11-11-05_0853.jpg
Originally uploaded by homerclees.
Lonely suitcase

Wacky dave


Wacky dave
Originally uploaded by homerclees.
Old dave is Fifty

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Sleepy


Sleepy
Originally uploaded by homerclees.
Sam

Tuesday, November 08, 2005

Deja Vue

Have you ever been in a meeting where the players are different, the view out the window is new, the calendar has a different date and discussion is exactly the same as something that happened not that long ago? Well, that was today for me.

I'm on a plane, heading home from Boston and looking forward to seeing Nicole and the boys who are by way, a bundle of creativity that is never the same day to day. The boys look at life in wonder at every turn. They aren't repackaging themselves for different audiences and looking to connect dissimilars in innovative ways. They just react to all this new input they get each day and respond with unique reactions and observations.

Ok, this makes no sense but I'm looking forward to the random connections the boys make when I get to lay on the floor with them and talk nonsense.

I voted for the Virginia Governors race and associate state races this morning before getting on a plane for beantown. Nicole was giddy about the whole voting experience which I don't really get but I did feel good doing my civil duty. Hopefully all the D candidates I voted for will win tonight.

I'm hungry, I hope we land soon.

Mark Carpenter
General Manager
Web Strategy and Operations
www.aarp.org
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld (www.BlackBerry.net)

Sunday, November 06, 2005


Happy Birthday to us, happy birthday to us, happy birthday Sam and Dylan, happy birthday to us. Dylan got his purple choo choo train and Sam got a red one. They've been bouncing off the wall ever since. Aunt Elaine, Florence, Grandma and Grandpa Duritz as well as Coby, Alice and Kathy came by for the festivities. The boys have a ton of new toys and some cute new clothes. Thanks everyone..I think I'll put a bunch shots up on Flickr which you can get to from www.durpenters.org Posted by Picasa

Saturday, November 05, 2005

11-05-05_1337.jpg


11-05-05_1337.jpg
Originally uploaded by homerclees.
Nice fall day

Friday, November 04, 2005

Dylan


Dylan
Originally uploaded by homerclees.
Sleepy

Thursday, November 03, 2005

Rockin


Rockin
Originally uploaded by homerclees.
Tyler

11-03-05_1950.jpg


11-03-05_1950.jpg
Originally uploaded by homerclees.
Lenny

Aerosmith


Aerosmith
Originally uploaded by homerclees.
Kumie
Birthday Party





The school birthday party was a smash. The kids all sang and ate ice cream at 10:30am then went outside to work some of that sugar off. Good times. They will be eating a lot of sweets in the next few days I bet.

Wednesday, November 02, 2005


Ok, this is the last post about halloween. This is one of the spooky pumpkin\spider things that the boys made last week. They started going bad so we had to throw them out but I saved their art forever on silicon. Nicole and I are going to the school birthday party tomorrow at 10:30. Should be fun to see all the kids dive into a cake. Three year ago on this date, we were having our first halloween party in this house and Nicole was starting to feel sick. She went into the hospital on the 4th and tada, kids on the 6th. They've come a long way baby...Posted by Picasa