6 pounds, 7 ounces and absolutely perfect.

Actually, the work "perfect" was one of the most used words the whole day by everyone around.

It was a very good day!

There was a lot going on, very busy at work.

Right now I'm sitting in an airport in North Caronlina on the way home having spent a couple of days doing requirements gathering. Did the same thing a couple of weeks ago but that was in Houston, Texas.

Requirements gathering is actually pretty interesting -- it's nice to see how it both clarifies what needs to be done technically and also helps businesses clarify for themselves what they want or need to do.

Anyway, the upcoming month is going to be wild. My younger son's wedding is in a couple of weeks and two weeks after that my older son is going to be a father for the first time.

I think that will make me a first time something too.

So, here's just a short entry to indicate that I'm still alive!

Having a great time, seeing lots of old friends -- including someone I worked with years ago and didn't recognize at all. Actually, last time I saw her, her now 12-year old daughter who is probably about 5'8" was a large bump on her mother's belly.

A lot happened in that decade.

More later about what I'm going.

But one thing that was brought home to me in connection with some issues that arose at work is the power that correct communication has to resolve problems.

I think we intuitively know about (or at least pay lip service to) that power when it comes to organizations or marriages, but I also had it redemonstrated to me on a personal level. In other words, communication that follows the formula of communication is quite therapeutic.

An interesting point is that there IS a pattern of communication that to some extent we may feel we "all know" but the fact that we "already know all about it" doesn't seem to interfer with our ability to screw up communication six ways to Sunday.

The idea that there is a formula to communication, that communication has component parts and that an understanding of the formula and those parts can make life easier is described in an online article.

d

Well, actually, a recent live album of him singing some of that stuff.

What's interesting is that the music has aged well. It's funny to look back those many years (decades truth be told). I was younger then than my sons are now. A mere kid in search of a few simple things and, of course, meaning and the answer to life.

I wonder what they'll be listening to 20 or 30 years from now, how they'll look back. I suspect that both of them will have far less to clean up from their youth than I did. So I guess in that way things have improved -- the maturing of one generation over its predecessor.

The flight home is delayed due to more weather in DC, but at least it is earlier in the day and it doesn't sound quite as extreme as it was yesterday.

I ended up talking with a pilot who was headed home on the flight from detroit to cincy. Learned a bit about how jet engines work, what it's like to be a pilot and some things about the industry.

Apparently, pilots aren't the high-paid elite they used to be -- and jet engines sounds like a pretty cool engineering feat. Relatively simple design and, it seems, pretty efficient.

Anyway, it would be nice to get home sometime today.

At the moment the whole situation is pretty funny -- hopefully I end up in a hotel tonight and getting out tomorrow so it remains so.

Here's what we did:

1) We boarded. 2) They announced we were delayed due to rain in DC. 3) The delay was extended. 4) We were told the flight was postponed until tomorrow morning and got off the plane. 5) We were told the flight was back on and everyone (but me) reload. 6) The flight was cancelled and everyone got off. 7) Now, everyone's in line getting rebooked and hotel vouchers.

Of course, I was sitting and working so didn't get in line to get a good spot and so am still not in line because I'd be at the end anyway -- might as well wait where I can do some work (though not sure this would qualify as such).

I wonder if there's any great tourist attractions in Detroit....

d

Lots of things in the last several weeks -- here's some highlights/info:

1) A couple of weeks ago my parents visited and helped us get some stuff out of a building that is going to be gutted in the not too distant future. Nice cabinets for the shed, a new desk for me. Got a lot done and it was, as usual, fun spending a weekend with them.

2) I've been playing with VMPlayer "appliances", i.e. virtual machines. Created a Mepis installation, got CF installed to it, worked nicely.

Tested a process for uninstalling the ColdFusion standalone server and doing individual CF installations on top of JRun. This worked well and I used the process to change around a client's server. Turned out the server (which was a dev box) wasn't really up to the challenge, but it was good to find out that out early on.

3) I helped to edit some articles for an upcoming edition of ABLE's magazine. I enjoyed doing it and hopefully contributed to the overall product. There's some pretty impressive stuff being done. Don't tell anyone, but I'd actually like to help out with the mag more in the future.

4) I have a trip to LA set up for 6/21 for a possible opportunity -- also will get to see friends and my son and his wife. Hopefully, will have some time to talk to someone about the ABLE mag as well.

Okay, there's a quick note. Actually quite a few things have been going on work-wise as well, but the above will do for now.

d

It was interesting to get a bit more up to speed on the scene faced by kids entering middle and high school. Probably a good thing I wasn't going through my teen years today -- the availability of drugs was bad enough back those many years ago; today things sound even worse.

One thing that struck me, though, is the contemporary idea popular in some circles that drug education should consist of teaching kids how to "safely" do illegal drugs. Talk about an attitude born out of failure!

The flip side, of course, is that there are effective ways to do drug education that truly get results. In fact an old friend of mine has, over the last 20 years or so, delivered drug education lectures to something more than 500,000 people, mostly kids.

Info on what has become an international effort, is available on the Narconon site.