Two-year-old in town

Because the wee one is not smiling in that photo, let me post one more...

...that's better.

The folks pictured above were our guests during the last week. That would be R's mom, sister, and our little nephew.

The boy is a handful! He requires constant attention and brings a ruckus with him wherever he goes, but as far as I understand, that's pretty normal for a two-year-old, so I'll let it pass :-) He's a sweet kid. We don't get to see him terribly often, and each time we do, he appears to have taken a leap forward in development. Now he's forming sentences and running so fast we can hardly keep up with him. Check out the footage below from a walk around the block to see him in action. He's a ball of energy.


Having guests is a good excuse to carry a camera when we go out and about, so I took a bunch of photos. A few of my favorites have been added to the second half of this gallery. Check them out because I'm counting on them showing you some of what we did and where we went. (This is my way of getting out of writing a full recap.)

It was good to see the in-laws. We're not used to being on the hosting side of a visit, so I hope we did okay. I was probably too distracted by work, as usual, and probably didn't make the most out of our time together, but I'm really glad they came and were able to enjoy Santa Barbara. I know R appreciated having some of her closest peeps around too.

I'll leave you with one more shot of little Ezra. What do you think... is the SoCal lifestyle going to his head?

The 'rents

My parents were here for five nights, and I must say I really enjoyed their visit. We hit the usual Santa Barbara attractions -- wine tasting, whale watching, people watching (on the always entertaining State Street), a sunset hike up to Inspiration Point, a couple of good dinners out -- but I think the best part was simply having them around... to sit on our porch and eat oranges off the tree, to take a morning jog with my dad, to see my mom's face as she tells me about their new granddaughter. My dad kept joking about how they were going to move out here or come and visit every month, as if he expected a negative reaction out of me, but I would actually like that. I do miss them quite a bit, and since family and friends are our only real tie to Minnesota, if they all came out here we wouldn't feel compelled to move back :-)

Photos from the visit have been added to this gallery, if you want to take a look.

Okay, I'll admit it does feel good to have the place to ourselves again. That was quite the series of visitors. Now we can let the place get slightly more messy, I can have my office back full-time (since it doubles as the guest bedroom), and we can plan some new activities for our weekends. We do have some fun events coming up with new friends, so we're excited about that.

Oh, I almost forgot to tell you about the video shoot I helped with earlier this week. Back before Christmas I met this guy with some Hollywood filmmaking experience, and he recently invited me to assist with a small-scale documentary he's working on around here. On Tuesday we met at the Museum of Natural History where we followed some kids on a nature walk. I carried the equipment along the trail for him at first, but after a while he let me take the camera and capture the kids collecting frogs and insects near a little creek. Lucky for me, he uses the same camera I own (the Canon XH-A1), so that helped with my confidence. It was a fun shoot in a gorgeous setting that inspired me to do two things (1) get outdoors more and (2) shoot more video!

All that you can't leave behind, part 2

This is the season of the guest. Last weekend we had R's dad and little brother (pictured with the pirate) staying with us. My time with them was cut short, but we did hang out Friday night and all day Saturday. Activities included grilling some kebobs, hoofing it all around Santa Barbara, and hearing Threadspinner (pictured below) play at Cold Spring Tavern, a favorite venue on the side of a hill. After I jetted away, R took our guests on a whale watching tour. Word is they saw some dolphins but no whales, and as the result of a "you WILL see a whale" guarantee they received some vouchers for another chance on another day. I think we'll use them with our next set of guests (arriving in another week), so this time I'll get to come along. Expect photos. Anyway, last weekend's guests have departed. Now they are heading toward the Grand Canyon before curving back home to Minnesota. Safe travels, guys. It was good to see you.

Our Santa Barbara 2009 gallery continues to grow. You can keep up here.

I'm still in the midst of my hotel stay near the Philly airport. This business trip is different from the others I've taken. I'm not ordering scotch or eating indulgent steak dinners this time. Part of it is because I'm traveling alone. Another part of it is the fact I've been working for a more conservative company since the acquisition last summer, and to be honest I'm not sure all of their travel policies, so I'm playing it safe. Plus, in these harsh economic times, there's no need for frivolous spending, even if I feel the company owes it to me (for reasons not commented on here). Maybe I should be thankful I have a job, one that allows me to work out of my home 98% of the time.

Being back among my coworkers for the first time in eight months has been an unexpected pleasure. I had almost forgotten about some of the folks I don't work directly with anymore, and I'm sure they had begun to forget about me. I think it's important to maintain those connections. For a good stretch there I was spending more time with these people than I would with my wife. There's a camaraderie that grows out of that shared history, and it doesn't always translate over the phone or instant messenger very well. It's also the kind of thing that you don't appreciate until you've left and returned to it, if only for a few days.

You may have noticed, the title of this two-part blog entry is the name of a U2 album from a few years ago. They've been on my mind again as the release date of their new album, No Line on the Horizon, nears. It's been available for illegal download for over a week, but I'm holding out for the ritual of purchasing a hard copy on the release date and placing my full attention on it during the initial spin. I did cheat slightly, however, by previewing the album a few times (it's streaming legally on MySpace) because I frankly couldn't stop myself after hearing it could be their best work since Achtung Baby. I'll try to write some sort of analysis/reflection when the timing is right, but for now let me say there are some real gems on it. I think I'm going to be playing it A LOT.

All that you can't leave behind, part 1

Q was here! R's good friend from our time out east (and actress in my latest video) paid us a short visit last week. R gave her the whirlwind tour of SB on Wednesday. When my work day ended we drove up to Solvang where we did a wine tasting and later went out for sushi at Arigato. She left after lunch the next day. It was a quick visit, but I'm glad she made it. She was able to see SB at its sunny best, and R was able to catch up with a close friend, one of the people she misses most from Delaware.

Speaking of the east coast, I am in Philadelphia for business Sunday through Thursday of this week. I knew it was coming: Sooner or later somebody was going to ask me to return to the office, ripping me away from my own personal paradise of working from home, a home in my favorite town in the world no less. But I can deal with four days of commuting and freezing. I don't expect anybody to feel sorry for me, especially you Minnesotans.

That's my office building, snapped on the way in this morning.

The reason for my Pennsylvanian visit is to kick off a new project for a client that once employed me in St. Paul. I'm renewed and excited by the prospect of working with them again. I wouldn't be put off by a future business trip to Minnesota to see some old friends still working there (Terry, this includes you). Plus, if I could extend such a trip over a weekend, giving myself time to drive up to Duluth and meet my new niece, that would be even better. Her baptism was on Sunday, and I'm bummed I missed it.

There's more to write, including news of more visitors, but I will save it for next time. Right now I'm beat from a long day and an odd mix of the familiar and the new.

When it rains it pours

Cold and rain in Santa Barbara? Are you kidding me? Believe it or not we had a bad streak of weather... and it unfortunately coincided with my in-laws' five-day visit. Being from Minnesota, these are folks who really appreciate the sun, so I feel bad that it rained continuously for their first two days here and sporadically thereafter until they left. A sunny vacation was just not in their cards this time.

But there's more to life than weather and we still enjoyed the company! Over the weekend we managed to go for a hike, tour wine country, get out on a sailboat, and share some good meals together. Take a look at my photos from the happenings posted in this gallery.

There was one other thing that added complication to the weekend: my job. Everything I mentioned above seemed to collide with what ended up being my busiest weekend of work in probably a year. Throw in a laptop issue and some angry clients, and you've got yourself a perfect storm -- a regular clash of my personal and professional lives. I just hope my work didn't interfere with our guests' stay too much. It definitely put me on edge, but I'm hoping I didn't transmit too many bad vibes.

Things are falling back into a more serene routine now. We've got three more sets of visitors lined up during the next month, so let's see if the weather can work with us a little better from now on. It's been such a good pal in the past.

R's birthday weekend

My wife turned another year beautifuler on Friday. She joined me for a Bud Light shoot downtown from 6:30-8:30, and then we met up with a few friends at the Ale House for some beer and dessert. It was a fun night. I have a feeling it could be one of our last nights out in Wilmington, as the big move is coming up in only a month (gulp).

On Saturday we rode our bikes down to the Wilmington Grand Prix to watch part of the races and to participate in an failed attempt at breaking the world's record for largest bike parade. I don't think we were even close. After that we got spiffed up and went out for a birthday dinner in Philly. We had some fresh, tasty seafood at a place called Tangerine. The restaurant was packed with graduation parties, but it still had a nice ambience and I can't get that salmon out of my head.

I spent Sunday afternoon indulging in some much-needed computer time while R went to pick up her sister and our new nephew from the airport. They also drove up to the art museum to check out the Frida Kahlo exhibit currently on display. Later on, I had the chance to meet this young gentleman, who shall hereby be referred to in this blog as The Fonz. He is a cutie. You can expect some photos and video to be popping up on here soon.

So we have some company for two and a half weeks. One of our plans is to make a short film that we will be submitting to a contest being held by Summit Brewing Company in Minnesota. It's going to be tight, however, because the DVD needs to be received by the judges by May 27th. We're going to keep it simple, but I think we have a real shot at winning one of the prizes. C has a killer idea, R is helping flesh it out, I'm constructing the sequence of shots, and The Fonz is perfecting his acting chops. This is happening tomorrow night. Wish us luck!

Parents weekend

R, dad, and mom hoofing it to the capitol:
Mom and dad looking upon Lady Liberty from the ferry: R and I enjoying the pagentry of antique carriages:
My parents flew out here for the weekend to visit us and see some sights on the east coast. What a whirlwind weekend it was! We explored DC on Friday, New York City on Saturday, and the greater Wilmington area on Sunday, which included an afternoon at the annual Point-to-Point festival. It's a good thing my parents are still in good shape because we covered a lot of ground on foot. I'm beat... but I can't complain. Everything worked out so well -- the weather, the timing, the whole works. The best part, however, was just having the chance to see them again and to catch up in person.