This page contains 2009 archived Family related Personal News items

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Semi-retirement ● Some Local Wild Life ● Broke Down and Bought a New Car ● SUV vs. Dragon64
Thundor Goes to New York ● Amber Collects Food Donations for Manna

N O V E M B E R  2 0 0 9   N E W S

AMBER COLLECTS FOOD DONATIONS FOR MANNA
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As part of Amber's Senior Year activities at Somis Academy, she must provide 100 hours of community service.  She decided to develop a marketing plan to collect food for the needy through Manna, the Conejo Valley Food Bank.  Part of that plan is to work with local food markets and collect donations at the stores.  The following photos show the results of one Saturdays efforts.

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Amber would like to thank her Grandmother for all her help and support plus the management at Albertsons, located at 541 S. Reino Rd in Newbury Park and their very generous customers for making this collection day a huge success.

In addition to the two carts full of groceries she collected from Albertson's thoughtful, caring customers, someone gave a frozen turkey and there were 2 cash donations totaling $25.  The food bank was very happy.

THUNDOR GOES TO NEW YORK . . .
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Xirrus was one of the Key WiFi solutions providers exhibiting at the INTEROP Business Technology Expo in New York on the 18th and 19th of November.   My friends and business acquaintances at Xirrus asked if they could borrow my Harley for their booth display.  The bikes they were able to find for rent in New York did not project the image they were looking for.   So . . .

The booth theme was Us and Them . . . the Us being the Xirrus high bandwidth, high performance enterprise WiFi arrays represented by my Harley and the Them being their competitor's low performance WiFi access points represented by a power chair.  The booth color accents are orange, so Thundor was a perfect fit.  Pyramid Logistics provided the transportation to NY and back and thanks to the power chair, I got to ride something . . . thinking about some chrome and maybe a little paint.
 

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Photos from the Interop Expo in New York

O C T O B E R   2 0 0 9   N E W S

SUV vs. DRAGN64
THE STORY OF AN ATTEMPTED DRAGON SLAYING . . . and YES, S--T HAPPENS
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It was Thursday the 22nd, Jerry was heading home on Reseda Blvd . . . about half a mile from his house when an SUV made a left turn in front of him.  No time to even hit the brakes.  He cranked the bars to the right to lay the bike down and baled.  Next thing he remembers is someone telling him to lay still and that the ambulance was on it's way.

He managed to use all those years of dirt bike riding experience (you get off your bike a lot in the dirt) to his advantage . . . instinct is all you have when something like this happens.

Looks like our Knight Protector has a few cracked ribs, some damage to his toe, scrapes and burses.  Doctor says  about 4-5 weeks of physical therapy.  Important thing . . . he is going to be OK .

Not a pretty picture . . . he loves this bike.

Before the attempted slaying . . .  

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The bike is at Dyno Dave's Performance waiting for the other parties insurance adjuster to look at the damage.

. . . the bike will be rebuilt.  Look for future progress reports on both Jerry and his bike on the Jerry's Harley Page.

S E P T E M B E R   2 0 0 9   N E W S

BROKE DOWN AND BOUGHT A NEW CAR
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Well, we finally decided it was time for a change and better mileage so we started looking for a Van type vehicle that had some character.  Looked at the Kia Soul, Scion xB, Chrysler Town & Country and the Nissan Cube.  The Soul was a little too small, the xB, although very nice and priced right, was not that well equipped and the Town & Country was just too expensive.

When we looked at the Cube SL, we fell in love with it's many great features . . . auto lights, Bluetooth and USB connectivity, keyless entry and ignition (you just need the key fob in your pocket or purse to open the doors and start the car), a trip computer, external temp and automatic climate control.  The back seats move back and forward and recline.  From  steering wheel mounted controls, I can access my iPhone music files using the USB connector and make & receive calls using any Bluetooth equipped cell phone  . . . the mic is build into the headliner and it uses the radio speakers. With the on-board phone book, you enter numbers and make calls using voice commands . . . very cool.

Got a great deal from 1st Nissan in Simi.

SOME OF OUR LOCAL WILDLIFE
. . . no, not Amber
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M A R C H   2 0 0 9   N E W S

SEMI-RETIREMENT
Well, I finally decided to call it quits . . . sort of.  I have formally retired, but plan to continue working as a Consultant to get through this major down-turn.  In this economic environment companies will tighten their belts, but there is always a need for help with short duration projects that do not require a full time employee and where diverting thin staff is not always possible.

So, between assignments . . . assuming there are some, I work on my long overdue Honey-do list and spend more time on my Harley.