Dillard Daily

Summer comes to an end

2008-09-06T15:07:00.002-04:00

Another summer is coming to a close. Another year where I make grandiose plans in May for the summer, only to become depressed in September when I look back at all the new projects I didn't get done.

For all the personal objectives I didn't get done, I have to remind myself of what was accomplished:

Business continues to grow. July and August have been stronger this year than the last 2 years combined.
Business processes continue to improve and refine. We now have an official helpdesk, trouble ticketing system, and robust monitoring platform
I focused more on playing with my kids even though we didn't get to everything we hoped for
I was able to take a week off to spend at Scout camp with my son and had a blast
My wife and I have a stronger marriage than at any point in the past 10 years
We completed a major home renovation project (and started a second)

Sure I didn't get to go golfing, fishing or camping as much as I promised myself, and my kids, but looking back on the summer what I did accomplish was probably a lot more than what I planned that late spring morning.

Great Music Web Site

2008-07-30T11:01:00.000-04:00

A neighbor of mine turned me on to my favorite new web site: www.pandora.com It’s an internet radio station. You type in an artist or song, and it creates a radio station with songs that are similar. You can guide the choices by clicking whether or not you like it. You can also use links to buy the songs from other vendors. It’s great in its simplicity. Anyone can figure out how to use it. AND it plays great music. It has already turned me on to loads of new artists and songs I had never heard before or never would have through traditional radio. Check it out!!!

Perspective

2008-07-30T10:47:00.001-04:00

A couple of events recently give me pause for reflection.

The first is an annual fundraiser held on ESPN to support the Jimmy V foundation. This is an organization to support cancer research founded by Jim Valvano. If you don’t know him, he was a college basketball coach in the 80’s coaching NC State to a miraculous win over Houston for the National Championship. He died of cancer in 1993. Shortly before he died, he set up this foundation with ESPN. Here is the speech he gave at the 1993 ESPY awards when he won the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian award. WARNING: This is a tear jerker http://youtube.com/watch?v=8neQJlTvMSs. If you have had a bad day and need a pick me up, just watch this speech. I actually met him once at a bar in Charlottesville, VA. He really lit up a room and joked with me like we had been friends for years. He was quite an extraordinary person.

The other event was the passing of Randy Pausch. Professor Pausch inspired millions with his speech called “Achieving your Childhood Dreams” AKA “The Last Lecture”. Professor Pausch recently lost his battle with Pancreatic cancer. His lecture and book tell us how to live our dreams and to appreciate life.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo It’s an 1:15 long so be sure and have time to watch the whole thing.

It is amazing to me how these men could face death with such life. They are a lesson to all of us who look at the current times with such pessimism and dread. They teach us to embrace every day as if it were your last. As Jim Valvano reminds us, we should try every day to laugh, to think, and to cry. “If you do that, you’ve had a full day.” If each of us lived like that we wouldn’t have time to worry about the price of gas, or the value of our home, or wars thousands of miles away. They remind us to take each relationship and treat it as if it were the most important. To enjoy the time with others, appreciate the gifts and the times we have, and to perceiver through adversity.

While the media and wall street try to tell us we are living in such turbulent and dangerous times, I remind myself how lucky we are to live in times of such opportunity. Every generation has had its doomsday. We are no different. I remind myself I have never suffered through a depression, I never had to have a fallout shelter buried in my yard, and I have never had to fight in a war. That’s pretty lucky compared to the generations that have preceded me. Our lives are what we decide them to be. We must decide to see what is good and what each of us can do to make it better. Don’t get me wrong, I know there are bad things all over this world. My point is they have always been there, and they always will be there. Each of us just need to keep a little more perspective and enjoy and improve what we already have.

How do people keep these things up to date?

2007-03-17T16:49:00.001-04:00

I'm really not sure how people keep their blogs up to date. It's all I
can do to update this blog every couple of weeks, much less every couple
of days. Anyway, the past few weeks have been very busy for our family.
Here are some of the highlights:

Mom's house is SOLD. Yes, after over three months of cleaning and
preparation, we finally closed on the sale last week. We were all a
little emotional over the whole thing, except Mom. She was happy as I
have ever seen her. She's really glad to have this behind her. She is
finally settling into her new place. She seems to have made many new
friends. She has joined the knitting club, and she FINALLY has a
computer. Now we're just waiting for her internet connection to be
setup, then she'll be ready to go. We're all very excited to have her
join us online.

Nell went to the Oscar's. Anyone who has spoken with us in the past 6
months knows all about her trip. In the words of Bill and Ted, she had
a "most excellent adventure". Here is a link to her pictures:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=ay3jfhh9.cduwu1h9&x=0&y=-e27o41

If I can ever find her email outlining your trip, I'll be sure to post
it.

Dogtail Solutions has moved into a new office. As of 2 weeks ago we
have moved into an office in Fairfax Virginia. The commute is a lot
worse than it used to be working at home, but it's good to have an
official home. The past couple of weeks have been pretty nuts getting
settled in while keeping our client's happy. Things seemed to have
settled down this past week, so hopefully we can begin to move forward
again in growing our client base.

On the family front, we just got back from going to see the Harlem
Globetrotters. I swear I don't think that show has changed in the 30
years since I last saw it. It doesn't matter because we all had a fun
time. Everyone should go see that show at some point in their lives.
Ben found out his class play is going to be Pinocchio. Ben thinks he's
going to have a role as Jiminy Cricket. Jack earned his wolf badge a
few weeks ago, after a mad finish to meet the remaining requirements.
He was very proud of that achievement.

Hope this note finds you all healthy. We miss you all and look forward
to a time where we can catch up in person.

check out this snow.

2007-03-01T07:43:00.000-05:00

last sunday's snow

2007-02-26T00:16:00.000-05:00

The old homestead

2007-02-13T17:55:00.001-05:00

Well, after 3 months of brutal labor, the old homestead is on the market for sale.

http://www.villanirealestate.com/listings/Details.cfm?EmpID=243

The fact that our family has not done any bodily harm to each other is quite an achievement. It was a lot of work, mostly by Vivian and Betty, but the house is finally ready for sale. It officially went on the market last weekend, so we will see how it goes...Hopefully Fast :)

I'm surprised that I don't have any more emotion than I do about the house being sold. Other than about seven years in my twenties, I have only lived in 2 places; 1503 Oak Grove Drive, and 3055 Shadeland Drive. You would think I would be emotional about the place being sold, but I'm not. Who knows what will happen when someone buys it. I may be an emotional wreck. The truth is, I think its been time to move on for a few years now. That combined with the process of going through 43 years worth of "stuff" has made me ready to close this chapter.

Besides 43 years of figurines, plates and wall hangings, I went through 21 years of memories. Over the past couple of months, I have watched a lifetime of Christmas mornings and birthday BBQs, evenings on the porch shelling butter beans from the garden, playing with my friends in the backyard woods, riding bikes, playing hide and seek in the summer dusk, and sneaking on the golf course to watch July 4 fireworks. This was a great house and a great neighborhood to grow up in. A small enough house to be close with your family, no traffic, big yards, and woods to play in. Every child should be allowed to grow up in such a great environment.

As with all things, there were painful memories to go through as well as the good ones, but that is part of the process I guess. There was the time I set the woods on fire, Dad going on one of many angry episodes, the day Peanuts, our Chihuahua died. There was the last Christmas I spent at home with both parents sick, and the warm spring day when my father past away. Without these memories to go along with the happy times, we are only half a person. Memories are a powerful thing. We don't realize at the time how these events shape our lives, but if we take the time to go through that chest, we can see how they all fit together and shaped us into who we are today.

Thank you 1503 Oak Grove Dr. You were a wonderful home to us. We can only hope your next family will live, love, cry and grow between your walls as we did.

Goodbye to a dear friend and neighbor

2007-02-08T18:43:00.001-05:00

Today our neighbor and friend, Frank Stover was buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The bitter cold and cutting wind somehow seemed fitting for such a sad occasion. This was my first time witnessing a ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery. As I expected it was very honorable, and befitting for an honorable man like Frank Stover.

Frank and Rebbie have been our neighbors for the past ten years, when we first moved onto Shadeland Drive. Right from the beginning, they welcomed us with the warmth and friendliness we all hope for when we buy not just a first house, but a home. Over the next few years, we grew the kind of strong neighborhood bonds all of us hope for, but few seem to achieve in a culture that is always on the go struggling to keep up. There was always a friendly wave and hello in the morning as I left for work. In the spring and summer, there always seemed to be someone outside, often it was Frank. There were nice chats about who was doing what, or whatever seemed to be going on "on the hill". Most of the neighbors are in politics or the military, so most conversations go that way. In the evenings, Frank and Rebbie could often be found sitting outside inviting someone over for a drink and a chat. Many times they would call us to come over for a "scotch". The Stovers bridged the gap between the culture we are confronted with, and the culture we all hope for in the suburbs. They helped those of us in the starter family phase realize we could have the kind of caring and friendly neighborhood we thought had gone the way of civilized politics.

We grew that kind of neighborhood. There were baby sitting co-ops, and Friday evening Happy Hours in the summer. Dad's had poker nights, and Mom's had movie nights. Because of people like Frank Stover, this neighborhood has been a wonderful place to grow a family. A couple of years ago when I made the plunge to start my own IT support business, Frank Stover was my very first customer. No surprise that although I intended to help him out as a favor, he would not let me leave without paying me. That's the kind of person he was.

Over the past months, as Frank's health began to fail, it became our turn to return the favor to Frank and Rebbie. When the ambulance showed up in the middle of the night, we were all outside in our PJ's offering our help; driving Rebbie to the hospital, cleaning the house, or calling her daughter Chris to let her know what happened. Whatever we could do, we offered our help willingly. When I finally got the news Frank had passed, I was certainly sad, but I felt like now Frank would get the rest and comfort he had been missing as he fought to regain the zest for life his body could no longer provide his still vibrant spirit.

I was not surprised to learn during the funeral all the great things Frank did in his life. After WW II, Frank was instrumental in supporting Veterans and worked on Capitol Hill to get several pieces of legislation passed in support of Veterans benefits.

In the past few years that I knew Frank as a neighbor, he certainly was the epitome of what Tom Brokaw once called "the greatest generation". He was a fine man, a good friend, a wonderful neighbor, and servant to his country. I speak for all of us on Shadeland Drive when I say that Frank Stover will be greatly missed and fondly remembered always.

Catching up

2007-01-08T07:27:00.001-05:00

Sorry its been awhile since I posted. One of my goals for 2007 is to do more writing. Hopefully this blog will be a way to meet my goals and to keep you all up to date. Anyway I think we are all up to date on Christmas, so I won't go into that. The guys got back off to school pretty well. Jack had a hard time getting back into the homework regiment, but hopefully this week will be a little easier. Ben is getting excited for his 6th birthday coming next weekend. He is having a build-a-bear party, and a star wars cake. He's very excited. Nell is getting going with her new projects for the year and getting back into a normal routine. Work for me has already gotten busy. I hope to hire some help here in the next month or so if I can find a good candidate. The prospects for the coming year look very good. We were all sad at the Hokies loss in the Peach Bowl, but congrats to Aunt Margaret and the Georgia Bulldogs... Congratulations to my cousin Crystal who got married last weekend on the Eastern shore of Maryland. The Dillard family all got together for that, which was a nice little reunion. We're still working to clean up mom's house and hope to get it on the market for sale in the next few weeks. Well I wanted to keep these updates short and sweet, but more frequent. Happy New Year to all!!!

Moving Day

2006-11-12T14:46:00.000-05:00

So we got mom moved into her new home yesterday. It was a rough start, but it all went smoothly. I went down Friday night to get an early start on Saturday. There was some confusion about when everyone was supposed to be there and how we were going to move. I rented a truck, then Henry showed up with his pickup and trailer. Our family is not known for strong planning and communication skills. Henry, Leigh and I got started loading up. Cecil showed up mide morning, then John/Vivian got there shortly after. We got everything loaded and were off to Covenant Woods about 11:30. Thankfully there were some flat bed trailers at Covenant Woods. It made things go very quickly. We were done by 1pm.

We went back to mom's house for a pizza break, and pick up a few more boxes. Vivian, Betty, and Henry took Mom over to her new place. We met several of mom's new neighbors. Everyone was very nice. I think if mom can make an effort to make some new friends she will really enjoy it. The dinner menu had filet mignon, and I know mom loves a good steak. Unfortunately I think she and Vivian were too tired to make it down for dinner.

While the rest of the crew headed to mom's new home, I stayed back to tie up some loose ends. It still has not settled in that I won't truly go home ever again. I'm sure it will hit me in the coming weeks, but for now, there is srtill way to much to get done for emotions to get in the way.

Today's a rainy ugly day. I found my old BB gun and brought it back. Jack, Ben and I found a break in the rain and went out to shoot a few rounds. They both picked up on the firearm safety pretty quick. Jack hit the target several time, but I think its still a little heavy for Ben.

We picked up Jack's popcorm order this morning. He was one of the top 6 popcorn sellers for the entiore pack with over $600. Way to go Jack!!!

Stay tuned...

title test

2006-11-09T20:12:00.000-05:00

another test

2006-11-09T18:33:00.000-05:00

Wow what a cool tool

Test Post

2005-03-29T20:09:00.000-05:00