Sam and Dylan enjoying a snack before bed. They are in their camo sweat shirts and cowboy hats that JuJu brought them the last time she visited. Mom is behind me doing all sorts of wacky things to make them laugh. Gotta go to bed. More later.. 

Wso meeting

David

No Snow...

Ok, I think this snow thing isn't going to work out. I've seen a flake or two but once again, the local weather stations blew this way out of proportion causing schools to close and people to stay home from work. This is not good for productivity.

So Adam didn't get the Oscar last night but neither did Martin Scorsese for the fifth time. That's pretty good company but I know he wanted it, who wouldn't? The important point was that he looked pretty funky, had a great attitude in the interviews and rocked the house. He probably also had a great time at the party's afterwards. He'll get one eventually but it might take another shot or two. He has it in him.

More soon...

It's suppose to snow a whole bunch tonight and tomorrow depending on how a storm from the south tracks up the coast. Their are a ton of little things that determine a good snowfall in this area but it appears they may all come together in the next 24 hours to create havoc. I'm posting this picture of me and the boys that Blanca took last Friday. I rarely get in the pictures because I'm taking them so here I am. All the snow in the background is gone now but soon to be replaced. Nicole and I are going to nestle in and watch the Oscar's tonight and cross our fingers that Adam wins. The odds are in his favor this afternoon at the official gaming sites with the Phantom of the Opera a close second. I usually hate these award shows but when your brother in-law is up for a golden bald statue and performing, it becomes a little more exciting. I'll be sure to post a champagne toast to ol Adam tonight after he brings home the gold. More later... 

I got home around 9:30am this morning and Blanca and the boys were enjoying the fresh layer of snow. Sam came out to the cab where I was getting my bags and paying the driver to tell me that I was in a "taxi car". We played around for a while and now they are off to Chuckie Cheese for an early lunch and some running around. It's nice to come home to these smiling little faces.

Early lines

Airport

A funky lamp at the place we had dinner tonight. I had dinner with Robert and Eric from Sallie Mae and Bruce from NASDAQ. Good food and lots of people watching on Ocean Blvd. I have a 6:50am flight and need to go to sleep. I'm looking forward to bringing the boys to work with me tomorrow afternoon for a couple hours. I need to do some office cleaning and I think they can help, not.. 

Cleavlander

Southbeach

E-business executive meeting

A 9 am start time for the the meeting and we have a good size group this year. I guess the Florida meeting is always better attended than the summer and fall versions in the northeast. We are in nice meeting room at the corporate offices of Royal Caribbean Cruise lines with a great view of the ships in port today.

I'll try to get some south beach shots up this evening.

More later...




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

I'm not liking the fact that my e-mail postings are not being posted to this blog in a timely fashion. Hopefully my morning post will show up shortly because blogs are useless if they aren't timely.

More soon...

A flower from the grounds of the Sheraton Biscayne Bay where I'm staying. It's a nice reminder that spring is only a few weeks away in Washington DC. I have meetings all day tomorrow but will have dinner in South Beach tomorrow night. Good times... 

E-business council

Dinner

02-23-05_1131.jpg

Golf

Miami

Just landed in Ft. Lauderdale and in a car on my way to Miami. Very tired and ready for bed. I'm playing golf with Bill Angell at 7:30 in the morning so don't have much time to sleep. Bill runs the e-business executive council I'm meeting with tomorrow afternoon and Thursday. He's a lot of fun and not a bad golfer for an ex-Madison Avenue marketing guru.

I'll post some golf course shots and other sunny south Florida pics before the meetings start in the afternoon.

More soon...

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

02-22-05_2311.jpg

Miami

AARP Being Attacked by the GOP

Now this is funny. The GOP is attacking AARP on it's Social Security position by running ads saying AARP is against the troops and for men kissing. http://suburbannomad.blogspot.com/2005/02/attacking-aarp.html This blog has a copy of the the anti-AARP ad running on American Spectator and a mock ad for the GOP. Now, I'm not sure what this has to do with Social Security and private accounts but it shows how fear politics has reached a new level.

You can read an AARP response to the the very same people that brought you the Swift Boat veterans campaign last fall in the AARP Social Security Blog http://aarp.typepad.com/socialsecurity/ .

Also, I posted the pictures from Sioux City yesterday. http://www.durpenters.org The family group shots turned out pretty well and I will send you the full resolution versions by e-mail so you can print bigger copies if you choose. The camera I used creates a 6.2 mega pixel, 2000x3000 image and the web tool shrinks them down to a manageable size for posting on the site.

BTW, don't forget to check out Kumie's pictures from the Chinese New Year parade. http://www.tighttrousers.com/gallery/CNY2005 Pretty good stuff.

More soon...

Made it MSP

With time to spare. Waiting for the next leg of the trip to DCA. I bought some Minnesota Moose t-shirts for the boys. I don't think they read this blog so it should still be a surprise.

More soon..


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

Farwell Sioux City

Well, I'm at the airport hoping this fog will lift so I can start the trip home. The TP Festival was a big success with the second almost selling out. I watch the act twice and laughed my --- off both times. Had breakfast with the family this morning and looking forward to seeing Nicole and the boys.

Security is tight down here at SUX. I just had to explain every camera in my bag to TSA. Had plenty of time cosidering a 25 seat plane takes off every 2 hous here. Not quite the security lines at Dulles.

I'll try to post the pictures I took here when I get home. I think I got a few good ones.

More later...




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

02-19-05_2204.jpg

Dementia twins

Pointers

Tony

Community theater

Stage

02-19-05_0031.jpg

Late night

02-18-05_1915.jpg

Carpentandys

Chinese New Year Photo's

I forgot to post that I have a new bunch of photo's up on www.durpenters.org . Also check out Kunie's shots of that day. The link to her photo's is in the news section above the recent pictures link. I actually think Kumie's work was a little better that day. Something about black and white film, or she can take a mean photo. One of the two.

I'm at the hotel in Sioux City and it's happy hour. More later.



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

Welcome

Im here.

Windows

Snow @ msp

Yes, a box is a childs favorite toy. We ordered some new kitchen chairs and the boxes they came in are a huge hit with Sam and Dylan. I guess that means I can just order a lot of cool stuff for myself and give the kids the packaging. I'm down with that. I wonder if I can get a new BMW in a box? 

Sioux City Here I Come

I've been getting things done today so I can leave for Sioux City, Iowa tomorrow morning for the annual Tom Peterson Festival.  This is a fundraising event for Sioux City's Community Theater www.scct.org  A passion of my uncle Tom's and a treasure for that community.  I'll be MC'ing the event this year.  The entertainment is the Second City Troupe from Chicago.  Should be good times. 

 

I'll be sure to moblog the weekends festivities and take a lot of pictures of Sioux City and the Theater with a good camera for posting on the on www.durpenters.org  Stay tuned...

 

 

Hmm

Cocktail

Durpenters.org is open for business

Thanks to Kumie, www.durpenters.org  is open for business again.  It's a long story but the new site has some recent photo collections from Thanksgiving and Christmas as well as all the old galleries you came to enjoy last year.  It also has a link back to this blog and to the message boards. 

 

One really cool new feature we added is the flickr photo's down the right side of the page.  These photos will change every time I add a photo to flickr.  I can add photos to flickr by e-mail or with an easy tool on my desktop.  These will usually be camera phone pictures but will also include one offs that I don't want to build a whole gallery for on the web site.  These photo's will probably change almost daily. So come back often.  Remember, it's durpenters.org now, DO NOT GO TO THE .COM SITE.  I don't own that address anymore and don't like the damn Canadians that do.

 

Mark

Busy day

Well, I don't have any new photos today but wanted to get something in. I had a pretty good day with lots of free time to work since an all day meeting was cancelled. It's amazing how days at work fill up but when you have a whole day blocked off for a meeting that is cancelled, you get an amazing opportunity to make the day something completely different.

I'm at home now with the kids and drinking wine. They will be in bed soon but the fire will last for a few more hours. We'll get up early and go to the gym in the morning.

That's my post for the day. 12 straight days and counting.


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

Trains

Dylan and Sam with Thomas the Tank Engine and friends.

Chinese New Year Parade

Chinese New Year Parade
Originally uploaded by homerclees.

The boys with Kumie and Nicole watching the parade.

Loveable and Dreamboat wishing you a happy Valentine's Day.  

Sam on his bike 

Dylan

Swinger

Shoes

Big shoes for sam

This is not the greatest shot in the world but since it's Chinese new year, I thought i would take a picture of this arch in Chinatown. It's just a couple blocks from AARP and on the way to my gym. Nicole and I may take the boys down to the new years parade in Chinatown this weekend. You know, all those firecrackers and long dragon things. It should be pretty exciting, particularly for two year olds.  

This is a shot of the lobby of ASI's new building from the sidewalk. It will be connected to the existing AARP building but have a different address. We should be moving in sometime this fall.  

Board

Site redesign wall for aarp.org

It was warm this weekend but is it really time for things to bloom? I guess we will find out in a day or two. 

Sam sharing a tent with Maggie. I would call this a tickle attack. 

One full week of blogging

So I got a post in every day last week and it was kind of fun. I'm going to try to keep it up for a while, at least a handful of posts each week. I'm doing this one from my basement on my exercise bike. It keeps me busy during the 50 minutes of riding boredom.

Nicole and I took the boys to the park this morning. That's where the shot below came from. They are napping now then we will be off to Jud's for the superbowl. Go Pats! I hate any team that beat the Vikings this year and its been years since the Patriots beat them.

Btw, www.durpenters.org is open for business but will be getting a facelift as Kumie gets to it. Remember, its now a .org. You will see Thanksgiving and Christmas photos when we release the site update. Stay tuned.

One more thing. I'm listening to an album called Moody Bluegrass. Its a Nashville tribute to the Moody Blues. Good stuff, go out and buy it.


Mark
--------------------------
Sent from my BlackBerry Wireless Handheld (www.BlackBerry.net)

Pileup

Morning slide

Cart

Shopping

Bob

Kumi @ happy hour

Hanging out after work and watching "planets".. Their favorite Baby Einstein video. 

Chipmonk Cowboy