WSU Homecoming - Win or lose, love my Cougs!

After spending four years of college years in Pullman, there is something so special about going back.  Sure, some things change but for the majority things are still the same.  I spent homecoming weekend in Pullman this year and while walking down the sidewalks of Greek row with my favorite college roommate, Candace - we laughed about how it feels like we were just there in our old apartment.  Now we’re both married, she has two beautiful boys and I live in California.  There’s no way it was almost 8 years ago we graduated, amazing.  I don’t know if it was the pitchers of Bud Light at The Coug, the fact we stayed with my little sister who lives off Greek row or something in the crisp autumn air of Eastern Washington but it felt so awesome to be back on that campus.  I get chills driving into Pullman and seeing Bryan Tower, so many great memories.  It’s where I made the best friends of my life and had some of the best times I couldn’t possibly ever relive (as much as I’d like to try coming back as an alumni).  I love going back and exchanging stories with my friends about the things we did in back in the glory days.  One of my favorite things is during those years, everyone was in it together, people didn’t go home every weekend or disappear on Sunday evenings to have dinner with their families like other colleges I can think of.  One of the best and worst things I’ve recently remembered is how almost nobody studied abroad…it was of course an option, anyone could apply but nobody wanted to.  I remember thinking about it and feeling like I would miss something….yes, miss something in Pullman as crazy as it sounds.  That trend has since changed and everyone studies abroad for a semester now, my sister went to Rome and it was the best thing she’s ever done and I’m so glad she had that experience.  Although everyone has their own special experience in Pullman, there’s a special bond between Cougs that’s created though an undeniable amazing experience that you can’t define.  I am absolutely in love with the fact I can be anywhere in the world (I say this because it happened to me in Australia) and if I see someone in anything WSU or any fellow Cougs spot me sporting WSU gear, there’s an instant, “GO COUGS!” shouted, couple times there’s been high fives and an instant friend.  This continually happens with all of my WSU friends and with Richard and I time and again here in California.  I love the bond, love the school, love the cougs…win or lose

 I walked past this guy and he said, "hey - same coat?"  Pretty similar if I do say so myself, my friends got a kick out of that!

Rest in Peace, Steve Jobs

Yesterday was a sad day, the world lost a visionary, mentor to many, enthusiast and sheer inspiration .  It's hard to come up with a word or description to really give justice to Mr. Jobs.  Some say he was the modern day Thomas Edison and to me, he's probably one of the most influential people in my generation who truly led by excellence.  Apple has changed our lives: the phones we use, computers, tablets , the entire music industry (just to name a few).  The way we consume information has changed and Steve Jobs made a tremendous contribution.  Although I am considered a technical marketer, I’m not a huge computer hardware fanatic but I can appreciate how this one man, with the support of many, managed to change the world.  He really made a mark or a "dent in the universe" as he once said.  I've been looking back at several of his quotes, speeches and achievements.  Although beyond impressive, above all those things - I really admire his outlook on life.  He truly believed in loving your work as it consumes a huge majority of your life.  He believed in following your passion and not letting others define  you, to have the courage to go out and get whatever it is you truly believe in and desire.  There was a particular quote that really hit home for me - it was in reference to the time he realized he didn't have much time left and that gave him the courage to try and do the impossible...what's the worst that could happen?  It reminds me of that old saying, what would you do if you knew you couldn't fail?  If an average person like me can be so touched by Steve Jobs and inspired to live life to the fullest, I can only imagine how many people were touched by him in one way or another.  Can't say there will be many more quite like him - he's left his dent in the universe and forever on the Apple.  Rest in Peace Steve.

"Remembering that I'll be dead soon is the most important tool I've ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life. Because almost everything -- all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure -- these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart." - Steve Jobs  

"Today is very sad for all of us.  Steve defined a generation of style and technology that's unlikely to be matched again.  Steve was so charismatically brilliant that he inspired people to do the impossible, and he will be remembered as the greatest computer innovator in history." - Eric Schmidt, chairman of Google

"I want to express my deepest condolences at the passing of Steve Jobs, one of the founders of our industry and a true visionary.  My heart goes out to his family, everyone at Apple and everyone who has been touched by his work." - Steve Ballmer

"Steve and I first met nearly 30 years ago and have been colleagues, competitors and friends over the course of more than half out lives.  The world rarely sees someone who has had the profound impact Steve has had, the effects of which will be felt for many generations to come.  For those of us lucky enough to get to work with him, it's been an insanely great honor.  I will miss Steve Immensely." - Bill Gates

"Steve, thank you for being a mentor and a friend.  Thanks for showing that what your build can change the world.  I will miss you." - Mark Zuckerberg

"By building one of the planet's most successful companies from his garage, he exemplified the spirit of American ingenuity.  By making computers personal and putting the internet in our pockets, he made the information revolution not only accessible, but intuitive and fun.  And by turning his talents to storytelling, he has brought joy to millions of children and grownups alike.  Steve was found of saying that he lived every day like it was his last.  Because he did, he transformed our lives, redefined entire industries, and achieved one of the rarest feats in human history: he changed the way each of us sees the world." - President Obama

"Apple has lost a visionary and creative genius, and the world has lost an amazing human being.  Those of us who have been fortunate enough to know and work with Steve have lost a dear friend and an inspiring mentor.  Steve leaves behind a company that only he could have built, and his spirit will forever be the foundation of Apple."  - Apple website

SFO -> MEL -> SEA

These last couple weeks have been crazy!!  My project allowed for one last video shoot this fiscal year and boy was it in a cool place - Melbourne.  We planned this video shoot in two weeks and before I knew it I was on a plane from San Fran to Australia.  Luckily, I'm actually a really good traveler and I don't take that for granted.  One happy sleepy pill and I'm out for a good 7-8 hours, which is great because the leg from California to Australia was 14 hours.  For me, it was more like a 6 hour flight.  When I arrived, I was super impressed with Melbourne's architecture, culture, style and overall friendliness.  It was the first day of winter when I touched down but I wasn't taken back too much with the 55 degree weather, I thought of it as good preparation for Seattle the following week .  I actually had a Seattle trip booked weeks prior during the same timeframe so I ended up going from Melbourne directly to Seattle to spend some time in the beautiful  Pac NW.  The week I was in Australia, Richard had a sales conference in Jacksonville , Florida.  As much as it wasn't planned, it worked perfect to both travel the same week.  Richard stayed at the TPC Sawgrass Marriott in Florida, it sounded like a beautiful place - much warmer than my winter solstice in Melbourne!  Richard met me in Seattle the following week and we were able to spend a week together in Seattle with friends and family.  It was nice to be home in Seattle for the July 4th holiday.  Although we didn't make it up to Roach Harbor this year, it was delightful to spend a day on the lake with our friends Kelly & Jake, have BBQ's with the family and toast to America's birthday!  The entire week was filled with lots of running around and we had plans almost everyday with someone.  A couple highlights from this Seattle trip for me was Tyler's annual 3rd of July party, Karrie and Steve's wedding, homemade pizza night with Crystal and OJ, meeting Brittany & Scott's perfect baby boy Axel, a family run (with Niki) around Green lake, BEAUTIFUL Seattle weather, seeing everyone at Projectline, visiting with my Dad and being able to spend time with my sister who will be going back to Pullman in 4 weeks for Senior year!  Here are some photos from Melbourne...couldn't bring the fancy camera due to size but my little Lumix Ricahrd gave me for my b-day did the trick!

...and that's a wrap!

The only tough part of being away for the last 2 weeks was keeping up on my half marathon training.  The Napa to Sonoma half marathon is coming up very quickly, July 17th.  I must admit my evenings in Seattle and Melbourne were not exactly filled tracking mileage.  I did manage to run a bit on the treadmill at the hotel and twice in Seattle but other than that my running shoes stayed pretty cool.  Before I left I was up to 9 miles - I'm headed out this evening when it cools down (currently 93 degrees in Danville), wish me luck!

Big thanks for the little things

Lately I've been taking note of the little blessings in my life - and they're small things.  Yesterday it was a long, cool breeze that happened in the hottest part of a run with no shade.  I found myself thinking about the perfect timing, temperature and how lucky I was to experience it.  I adopted a rose tree several months ago and I noticed a new, giant bud yesterday morning and thought how beautiful it will be once it's in bloom.  I called my grandma who is healing from a big surgery (quad-bypass surgery, they had to break her breastbone) and she told me she did a load of laundry by herself.  Keep in mind the surgery was less than two weeks ago and a load of laundry solo is quite the accomplishment.  Truth be told it was a load of dish towels (happy about that, she shouldn't be lifting anything heavier) but I hung up the phone feeling thankful that she made it through surgery with no complications (that's a "thankful for a BIG thing").  She's upbeat and able to talk to me with such high energy, more than most people younger and in better health.  Not only did my grandma go through such an intense procedure this month, I've had a couple other folks in my life go through recent procedures that are not what you would call fun.  I think that's why I've been taking gratitude in the little things lately.  Everyone has their good and bad days but if the good days outweigh the bad, in my opinion you're doing pretty well.  I'm thankful for my health, happiness and wellbeing, I don't take that for granted because you never know if/when someday it won't be the case.  In the grand scheme of things I haven't been on this planet for very long but as I get older and as my friends and family also age, I've noticed life isn't always a bowl of cherries but we're lucky we're alive and have each other and our experiences to share that have made us the people we are today.  I don't know what the future holds but,  "I’m alive and well….and today, you know that's good enough for me ." (Kenny Chesney with Dave Matthews - I'm Alive). 

MDW

Memorial Day Weekend was a blast this year.  Crystal and her boyfriend OJ came to visit us Thursday – Monday and we had a blast!  Here was the itinerary of the weekend:

Thursday night: BBQ with our friends Tara and Justin, drinks at “That Bar” in Danville

Friday: Attempted Mt. Diablo (too foggy), decided to stroll around Walnut Creek, Cigar and wine tasting at Danville Cigar followed by drinks and dinner at Norm’s

Saturday: Spent the day in San Francisco w/lunch at Papalote (best burrito in SF, literally).  Crystal and OJ were able to have dinner with OJ’s family who live in our town ;)

Sunday: BBQ in Blackhawk with the Ellis’ and dinner at Maria Maria

Monday: C&OJ return home

Shout out on the GB Blog!

I periodically check up on the Glassybaby blog and noticed I was featured in the latest entry!  When I paid a visit to the Bellevue store to collect my photo contest winnings, I remember the store manager asking if she could take my photo.  She didn’t tell me it was going to be in the Blog but I had an idea as I’m a follower and notice they tend to feature customers, news/events, happenings large and small.  My two new colors, Greenlake and Kumquat are excellent additions to my collection!

Jacqui O'Day Cooper, our Fresh From the Garden photography winner, was in the store the other day and Tracy snapped her picture.

We thought you would like to to catch another glimpse of her artistic winning photo and, of course, see the comely visage of Jacqui, enjoying her prize: a "refuge" set of glassybaby. Great photo, Jacqui!

http://blog.glassybaby.com/giving_back/2011/05/my-entry.html

Calgary

It was a great visit to Calgary and I was pleasantly surprised to find the city is actually pretty cool.  I didn’t have much time to explore as I was there two short days for work but I was able to see some of the downtown and surrounding suburbs.  The purpose of my trip was a Microsoft video shoot (if you know me well, you know I do many of these and love them).  For this case, we found a small company based out of Calgary who tweeted about their experience with Microsoft products vs. the competition.  Once we were able to get in contact with the business owner, we arranged a case study and video.  I am sure several PR activities will come to this company once the video is released which is an excellent opportunity for a small business to take advantage of.  Because this particular company is so mobile, they were able to close their office and now all work remote, something I can relate to.  Typically when we do a video shoot we conduct the interviews at the corporate HQ in a conference room or office.  This case was totally different as we did the job in the CEO’s kitchen! 

We then followed the two interviewees around town, documenting a typical day consisting of client visits, meetings at coffee shops, communication via mobile device and commute.  This video was unique and I can’t wait to see it come to fruition!  I am now at the Calgary airport sipping on some coffee and waiting for my flight to Seattle.  Funny thing I noticed today going through customs – a sign featuring a large parrot that says, “please don’t smuggle me, I might be sick.”  Who smuggles a parrot?  Knowing African Grey parrot in my family, there are multiple reasons why I believe this would be impossible but there must have been some issue in the past to warrant the sign, right? 

glassybaby photo contest follow up - I WON!!

Remember that Glassybaby photo contest I blogged about a couple weeks ago?  Today, they revealed the winning photo and I’m pleased to announce I won – here is the winning photo you can find on the GB homepage (I forgive the last name type-o, hopefully it will be fixed soon)!

We were actually in the car this morning on our way to SFO when I remembered it was today, May 1^st  the contest stated they’d post the winning photo on the GB website.  After plugging the website into my phone, I was ecstatic to see it was mine!  The photo was chosen by a panel of GB employees and will be displayed in the stores, on Facebook/Twitter and on the glassybaby homepage from May 1-3, 2011.  I wish they were featuring it longer as I’d love to see the photo in the store and will actually be in Seattle on May 4^th…missed it by one day!!  I will also be receiving the Refuge gift set which are colors “Greenlake” and “Kumquat" as a prize.

The contest was called “fresh from the garden” and didn’t have many requirements, basically a photo of a Glassybaby showcasing a connection to gardening.  I thought this would be a fun project to do and after reading about it, I had many ideas as you can see from the photos posted in an earlier entry.  There’s actually a pretty funny twist to this story.  My original idea was to plan a Mint herb in my light green Glassybaby that just so happens to be called, “Mint” (each GB has a special name that somehow relates with the color or cause).  I thought it was genius.  The connection to gardening would be an “herb garden” as I’d surround the Mint plant with Basil and Oregano since I don’t have much of a traditional garden here in California.  I did move forward with this idea and it they were beautiful photos.  The day after I submitted the photos, Glassybaby posted this advertisement from InStyle Magazine on their FB page.  I couldn’t believe it…they even used Mint!  Go figure.  I knew once the panel of judges saw my photos for the contest, they most likely wouldn’t think the concept was as original as I did….which is why I needed a plan B. 

Plan B was actually where the winning photo came from (so thank you InStyle + Matthew R.) .  I thought it would be cool to set up a scene where the GB appeared to have been dug out of the garden.  The secret here is you can’t make it look like you tried too hard.  I started staging the arrangement with a shovel and in a hole, on a shovel, etc.  One idea led to another and I ended up snapping a pic with my hand in a gardening glove, holding the GB as if I had just picked it from the garden….voila!  My mom brought up a good point, the concept also mapped back to the “goodwill” image they use featuring hands.  I didn’t think about it at the time but am pleased it worked out that way. 

All and all, I’m pretty stoked.  Not just for the gift set or the featured photo opportunity but because I did the best with what I had (you can view many of the other fresh from the garden photo entries here, there was some stiff competition).  I was a bit discouraged after seeing what I though was an original idea go down the tube in a magazine advertisement, feeling for a second that I didn’t have a giant, beautiful designer-garden to work with or I don’t have hundreds of Glassybabies to showcase like I’m sure many Glassybaby fans do….but I made it work with the resources I have.  It’s a small sense of accomplishment knowing even though your environment may not be perfect, finding “light” in a creative idea is sometimes just as good.              

This Must Be The Place

This song came on Pandora while I was working this morning.  For some reason it automatically puts me in a good mood :) 

Talking Heads Lyrics
"Talking Heads This Must Be The Place"

Home is where I want to be
Pick me up and turn me round
I feel numb - burn with a weak heart
(So I) guess I must be having fun
The less we say about it the better
Make it up as we go along
Feet on the ground
Head in the sky
It's ok I know nothing's wrong . . nothing
Hi yo I got plenty of time
Hi yo you got light in your eyes
And you're standing here beside me
I love the passing of time
Never for money
Always for love
Cover up say goodnight . . . say goodnight

Home - is where I want to be
But I guess I'm already there
I come home she lifted up her wings
Guess that this must be the place
I can't tell one from another
Did I find you, or you find me?
There was a time Before we were born
If someone asks, this where I'll be . . . where I'll be

Hi yo We drift in and out
Hi yo sing into my mouth
Out of all tose kinds of people
You got a face with a view
I'm just an animal looking for a home
Share the same space for a minute or twoAnd you love me till my heart stops
Love me till I'm dead
Eyes that light up, eyes look through you
Cover up the blank spots
Hit me on the head Ah ooh

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTPqPZzH-LA

Mt. Diablo

Two weeks ago we had some friends come visit, Jake and Kelly Freeburg.  Jake’s brother lives in Dublin, CA and is reletivly close to us so we had the opportunity to hang out with them almost all weekend.  We sure had a blast hanging out with old friends in new territory.  One of my favorite parts of J&K’s trip was taking them to Mt. Diablo Saturday morning after Breakfast at the Rising Loafer (our fave b-fast joint in Danville).  We were lucky to have such an amazing day for our hike and it was refreshing to see such lush green in California since we don’t see it much!  Here are some pics from the afternoon:

A little more about the mountain (taken from Wikipedia): Mount Diablo is a mountain in Contra Costa County, California in the San Francisco Bay Area, located south of the town of Clayton and northeast of Danville. It is an isolated upthrust peak of 3,864 feet (1,178 m), visible from most of the San Francisco Bay Area and much of northern California. Mount Diablo appears from many angles to be a double pyramid and includes many subsidiary peaks, the largest and closest of which is the other half of the double pyramid, North Peak, nearly as high in elevation at 3,557 feet (1,084 m).
The peak is the centerpiece of Mount Diablo State Park, a state park of approximately 20,000 acres (8,000 ha) in area. The park was the first public open space of a complex—according to Save Mount Diablo—now including 38 preserves, including adjacent and nearby city open spaces, regional parks, watersheds, etc., buffered in some areas with private lands protected with conservation easements. Preserved lands on and around Mount Diablo total more than 90,000 acres (36,000 ha). The day use fee for Mount Diablo State Park is $10 per vehicle.[3]
Except for distant views from the Central Valley, Mount Diablo's northwestern double pyramid view is most familiar to California residents. This view however includes a minor part of the mountain's acreage, most of which stretches east and southeast from the summit through Altamont Pass to the rest of the northern Diablo range.

glassybaby photo contest

As most of you know, my family has a special love for glassybabies, the Seattle based company known for their special glass blown votives created in every brilliant color of the rainbow.  I think I may have mentioned the company’s goodwill and positive efforts in my blog before but if you’re not aware, glassybaby actually donates a percentage of their profits to those who are undergoing cancer treatment and unable to meet daily needs such as transportation, childcare, or groceries. Today, much of the money donated by glassybaby goes directly toward meeting those basic needs. Each year, the company spreads hope by supporting charities dedicated to health, healing, and quality of life.  Not only are they super cute but I feel like I’m funding a good  cause in addition to purchasing home décor.  I noticed glassybaby is running a photo contest called, fresh from the garden.  Photo entries must feature a glassybaby and have some connection with gardening...although I'm not a big green thumb - I decided to snap a couple shots of the babies I have to enter into the contest.  Here are a few of my favorites:

I planted MINT herbs in this one because the actual color is called mint.  I thought it would be creative to put a new take on “fresh from the garden” and make it an herb garden….with a mint glassybaby!