What a fun day yesterday. After getting some work done in the morning, I dropped Abbe off at The Carriage Trade Cheese Shoppe for work, and I got home hopped on my bike and had a great time at Bub’s soccer practice.

Viv and I were running the bases at Brooks Field and Viv held the camera on herself to some hilarious results…

That afternoon, after getting more coding done, I picked up Abbe from work, we headed to Jo Ann’s to get her some materials to make hats that we plan on selling to raise money for the Disney Marathon, stopped at Target for school supplies for Van and Viv, and then rode our bikes to PJ’s for dinner. After dinner, we headed to the Sand Stand for ice cream, walked across the bridge to stare at Lake Aetna a bit, and then started to pedal over to visit our friends LarryMac, Sharon, and Tim. Hanging out at Tim’s place was a blast! Tim has a little tiny puppy named Angus…

See? He’s a dainty 160 pound (not yet full grown too!) English Mastiff – so darn sweet. And here’s Abbe vs. Angus in a tug of war… I think Angus wins this one.

Larry brought over his conga and Tim got his guitars out for an impromptu jam – what a blast!

Here’s the three of us making some noise…

Movie reviews…

The Runaways – this movie was decent, and really only flawed due to the acrimonious departures of some of the members of the band. Joan Jett and Cherie Currie’s characters were great, Kristen Stewart did an awesome job as Jett. The shortcomings of the film were the performances were dumbed down a bit (based on the raunch I’ve heard actually took place) and the other members of the band (most notably Lita Ford) were nearly absent from the film entirely. That said, this film was based on Currie’s book about the band and her relationship with Jett and Lita Ford apparently would not be involved with the film.

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Small Business/Tech Links…

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Boy oh boy, the kids were pooped at the end of the day yesterday! They had a full day of camp, then both kiddos headed to Beach 3 with our friends Stephanie and Jason, we came to pick them up/oggle Stephanie’s room of wine (not kidding), and after having about an hour to chill out, we all headed over to my mother’s for dinner and a swim. Abbe and I were pretty beat too, on top of working, getting groceries, cleaning, and shuffling the kids to and fro, we also got a 2 mile run in as well. Today, we are heading to my old stomping grounds, Shawnee High School to run their outdoor course this morning.

Pictures from swimming at Mom’s…

• Dexy’s Cool J – thanks Adam
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Small Business/Tech Links…

• 10 Tips for Corporate Blogging
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Abbe and I just got in from our visit to West Chester to visit my friend Terry and his family and then on to Longswamp to spend some time with Abbe’s family. Meeting Terry was awesome. They went all out and boiled up a bunch of shrimp, king crab legs, and clams. So damn good to meet this guy that has been sending work my way and a pair of ears to listen to a lot of the past few years in my darkest days. Terry, you and your awesome family are good people.

We headed down the road to meet up with Abbe’s sisters Rachel and Emily, their significant others Nate and Mike, of course little Bradley, and a super funny lady named Liz at Snuzzle’s a great restaurant and bar run by Abbe’s friend Holly’s family. I got this insanely HUGE buffalo chicken Stromboli that was crazy delicious.

This morning Abbe and I made it through 6 miles in some brutal, brutal heat at Lehigh Valley Parkway. Gorgeous park and although we were dying through the last 2 miles, we did it and feel good for making it.

• Abbe’s Next Wine Glass

Small Business/Tech Links…

• So basically everyone is calling Steve Jobbs on his latest bullshit. HTC, Rim, and Nokia all challenge Jobbs’ Antenna Claims

I had one of those teaching experiences that just makes me incredibly glad that I decided to start teaching piano yesterday. Lori is a great, great friend of mine that I met while working at TD/Commerce Bank and she decided to learn piano. We started doing one of the first songs that involves some real syncopation between left and right hand. This is usually the point where someone says, “piano just isn’t for me” or they get it. The act of having your left hand doing something different than your right is a challenge that some just do not overcome. Lori was struggling a bit, so we broke the song down into two measure parts and she started getting it. Then she really started getting it. And a few hours after our lesson, I got a text from her saying she had just played it perfectly three times in a row. And that is what learning an instrument is all about. Creation. Pride. Achievement. And all the collateral fun and smiles that comes with getting past plateaus and limits. Nice job, Lori!

Abbe and I have been doing well on our runs again after I had to take a week off while the kids were out of school and before summer camp started. Yesterday, we ran to my mother’s home and back (which is close to 4 miles round trip) in the rain to see her new kitchen. The kitchen looks awesome, and Mom deserves it.

The Phils won another extra inning game with a walk-off shot last night, even spoiling a nearly perfect game by Reds’ pitcher Travis Wood. The only bad side to this refound swagger by the Phillies is we are now at the All-Star break, and I fear we might lose this amazing momentum. But my Flyers had a similar momentum swing just prior to the Olympic break last year and they ended up having an amazing end of their season.

And lastly, Abbe and I headed over to our friends’ Rich and Rachel’s for a couple of drinks and to visit with Adam and Suze, down from Vermont. Adam brought a bag full of horrible golf sweaters and gladly modeled them… Suze looked on at her oddly proud husband and his new possessions…

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Well, Abbe and I just took it easy yesterday and hung around the cabin at Cloudcroft for the day, while Tom and my mother ran errands. Abbe caught up on some sleep and I worked for the better part of the day.

Tom and I sat on the back porch overlooking the ponderosas and aspens, drank several Shiner Bocks and talked about all of the good that is coming on the horizon and the journey I’ve been on to get there. I love Big Tom. Much in the same way, it is important for children to see their parents in love (to learn it exists), I think best friends of parents like Tom are important in the same way. Even as a child, I saw how much my mother and father loved Tom and he loves us as well and I think Tom is one of the people responsible for me truly appreciating the value of a friendship.

Tom giving Abbe the stink eye, don't touch my fried okra woman!

We went to Big Daddy’s Dinner (great patty melt and sweet potato fries!) and had a quick dinner, came back to the cabin to watch another episode of Breaking Bad(which Tom has gotten Abbe and I seriously addicted to), and then had some beers and wine and talked.

So, sorry there weren’t a lot of pictures, but Abbe sleeping on the couch and me coding all day just doesn’t make for great shots. That said, today we are heading to Carlsbad Caverns and there should be pictures a-plenty!

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