Life has begun to get busy – and Thanksgiving isn’t even here yet. How many of you are beginning to feel the crunch? In November we have two birthdays in the family, my nephew and his father, my cousin. Gerard’s birthday was this past Saturday and I asked him when he wanted to celebrate – he said, Saturday. Friday I went food shopping and then that evening I found out that he had to take a class on Saturday so could we celebrate on Sunday. No problem. Saturday I took my two workout classes and bought gift cards that I needed for his birthday. That evening I set up the table and wrapped his gift. Sunday I went to Zumba, then to the bakery to pick up Gerard’s birthday cake. At home, cake in the refrigerator and all the pots, pans were out for when I needed them. Now some “me” time, I watched CBS Sunday Morning News with Charles Osgood – it was their “Eat, Drink and Be Merry” episode and one that I enjoy. I tape this show every Sunday morning since it comes on at 9AM and my Zumba class begins at 9:15 – it is a wonderful show and gives you vignettes of different things happening in the world, the nation both with a look to culture and just expanding a little bit of our mind. I wholeheartedly urge you to try it.

Now, it is time to get everything prepped. I made the salad and placed it in the refrigerator – the only thing I needed to do was to slice the avocado before putting it on the table. I peeled and sliced the onions for the mushrooms and onions I would serve to place on the steaks and I peeled and cut the potatoes and placed them in water to make mashed potatoes. Now I was getting one of the appetizers ready – I wrapped cantaloupe in prosciutto and scored with a toothpick, placed saran wrap on it and placed it in the refrigerator. I soon hear Ryan at the front door so out come the crackers, cheese and pepperoni on to the cocktail and the melon with prosciutto. I had bought Gerard the Sam Adams Winter Lager and Callum has decided he would like some chocolate milk and we are watching the Jets on the television. A wonderful afternoon with family.

Siobhan and Matt arrive not too much later and everyone has something to drink while we just sit and talk about the new house, Thanksgiving dinner – what are we having, who is making what (she is making turnips for her brother as part of his birthday gift); and, besides having purchased the pies I agree to make cornbread and pumpkin bread. We also discussed celebrating their father’s birthday – it is not until November 29th but he will not be in New York for it – so on Wednesday evening we will take him to Banzai Hibachi in their town. Today I ordered a birthday cake for him and I will pick it up on Wednesday on my way home from an appointment in the city. The remainder of dinner went fine with steamed vegetables, mashed potatoes and steak. Callum who loves cake and addresses all cake as “birthday cake” could not wait for us to bring it to the table. He was also the last one to leave the table as he ate his entire piece. Since we all enjoyed the cake – I ordered the same one for Gerry for Wednesday which we will have after our dinner at Banzai. I also picked up the gift cards for Gerry – I have some CDs for him; but, he has gotten a little difficult to buy for.

Is it terrible to say that I am looking forward to Friday? I will sleep a little later than normal since my High Performance 30 class isn’t being held and the balance class is not until 10:15. Since Thanksgiving is so early I will not be putting up my Christmas decorations – I will wait until the end of the next week and do it then. Instead I will watch some of the Christmas shows I have DVR’d since Lifetime and the Hallmark Channel decided to air them right after Halloween. Then because we are now in full holiday season I will look to take three (3) workout classes on Saturday – my only problem is that since two of them are Zumba classes I will have to wear a knee brace on each knee – they are beginning to hurt in some classes and I need to start protecting them. Surprisingly on yesterday’s CBS Sunday Morning News they announced that the average weight gain in the 6 to 7 weeks of the holiday season is only 0.8 pounds not 5 to 7 like most of us have thought. Doesn’t mean we can indulge – but, does state everything in moderation.

Have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your families.

Getting back to normal – I think that is what all of us want in the tri-state area. For some of us like me that will be easy to do – for some 40,000 others in this area; what is normal? What will their futures be? Will they continue to live in this area? I have been working from home for the last two weeks, as a result of this I have not experienced sitting in line for hours to get gas. I had filled up my tank the Sunday before Hurricane Sandy hit and in these past two weeks I drove to the gym and the grocery store; along the way I would stop at the cleaners, bank, Post Office and Home Depot. Today I topped off my tank although I was only at half a tank – I am so glad I have a Honda CRV which is excellent on gas. I have been able to work from home these past two weeks; projects are on schedule, meetings have been held and daily I have spoken to my team. But, tomorrow it is time to get some normalcy – I will go into the city for a meeting, Tuesday I will go into the office and then on Thursday back into the city for another meeting. I will only need to drive out to Long Island for one day and this will certainly be easy for me on gas since it is over 100 miles roundtrip. Do you realize that in 11 days it will be Thanksgiving? As a family we have chosen a day to celebrate it – this year it will be on the actual day, Thursday. It will just be the family as we are a small group it will only be 9 of us at the dinner. As always I will buy the pies, the Godiva turkeys for the family and I am thinking of baking a couple of bread loaves to bring.

My gym, Club Fit is collecting coats and food for the Thanksgiving season. I brought a coat in last Monday and tomorrow morning I will drop a large shopping bag full of food. This is the time of year to acknowledge how fortunate we are – and to help others have a good holiday season.

I am expecting that when I get back into the office we will have notification on the family we will have adopted for the holidays. We will receive an email with what they need and what the children would like for Christmas – as usual I tend to go overboard and will look to buy them everything on the list. I can’t state enough how much the holidays especially Christmas is for children and there is no greater joy than to see them get excited when they receive a present.

This year one of our hospitals was chosen by Cisco, one of our vendors for their Santa Program. We are all excited about this – on December 10th Santa will come to the hospital, we will stage an area for him and then he will video conference with the children at the hospital. We will look to set up a small video conference system in the play room where the children who are active can sit down and chat to Santa; for those children who are bedridden we will bring an iPad into their rooms and they will be able to chat with Santa from the iPad. Every single one of us are excited to be working on this program – it again personifies the holiday season and I have been told that there will not be a dry eye amongst us. This is normal – to be thinking of the holiday season, of Thanksgiving dinner with the family and how to help others who are not as fortunate; but, who are entitled to a wonderful season also.

I hope that for most of you – you are back to normal. At this time, please think of those that normal is an unknown.

Be Thankful

It is difficult for me to write this week’s blog without even knowing how many of you have survived Hurricane Sandy. I can say that in my lifetime which is just over a half century I have never experienced anything so devastating and that includes 9/11. To give you an update my family and I are fine and so are our homes. The worst we experienced was lack of power for a couple of days and having to throw out what was in our refrigerators and freezers – no big deal all of that can be replaced.

I still have friends who are now on a full week of no power and are looking at their second week of no power; but, they still have their homes and cars with no damage. I do have some work colleagues who I understand have had car and home damage; but, none to the extent of the individuals who lived on the shores of Long Island, New Jersey and Staten Island. I cannot even mention the folks from Breezy Point in Brooklyn who lost their homes to flood and fire – 111 of them.

In a few weeks we will be celebrating Thanksgiving – a truly traditional American holiday. A holiday that it does not matter what your ethnic background or religious belief is; because we are Americans honoring the first families who came to this land and gave thanks for their freedom. So although we may have to wait in lines for gas, may not yet have our power or cannot find our favorite food on the store shelves – let’s give thanks that we have a roof over our heads, we have a car that we can use to get us to places and that this too shall pass.

As we give thanks – let’s think of ways that we can help and support those families which have been less fortunate than us. Can we provide clothes, food to them and can we place pressure on our local and federal government to ensure that our fellow New Yorkers, New Jerseyans and Connecticut neighbors receive the aid that they are due.

Being an American means helping others – this time let’s help our own.

I'm Baack

I don’t even know where to begin – whether to discuss the conference last week or the preparations for Hurricane Sandy this weekend. Let me give you a brief overview of last week – I don’t want to jinx myself but I had no issues traveling to San Francisco either from home or from San Francisco. WOW, I know that wasn’t true for many other folks whether flights were delayed or cancelled altogether; but, both Catherine and I found us to be on the good side of the airline gods. And that states a lot as she flew from Newark while I flew out of JFK. Well here I thought that I might get that late suntan in Monterey – was I surprised when it turned out that the weather back East was better than in Monterey. Our weather never got above the low 70’s and many days it was overcast; but, there was only one morning of a major downpour – we were even able to have our beach party on Tuesday evening.

At the conference there is rarely time for me to do anything for myself as I and the other Board Members are so focused on the program, the attendees and our Exhibitors. Catherine and I were able to work out three times at the hotel gym – it was convenient that it was in the same building and down the hall from our room. We also were able to go out to lunch on Saturday and went to a mall about 3 miles from the hotel where Catherine picked up shoes and some clothes – can you believe I did not buy any shoes; but, did get a jacket and a nice sweater set. I was also able to get a manicure at the spa and were my hands nice and soft afterwards. I am very proud of the conference and the program we put together over these last many months. The content was right in line with what people were looking for and at the concurrent session there were double digit attendees and people were truly engaged and asked many questions. Something we have always struggled with was keeping individuals until the end of the last day – this time we succeeded. We had the Industry Experts and Analyst panel conducted like a talk show and everyone was invited to imbibe either on a soda, water or beer during the session; and, then we had one of the Analysts speak from Wainhouse and he was magnificent and engaging.

It was great to get home on Thursday night after having been away for a week. I have to admit that I left my briefcase and suitcase in the foyer and just went into the kitchen to have my breakfast dishes set up for the morning as I was going to the gym in the morning – then off to bed. 5:50 came awfully early; but, it was good to get that high intensity workout done and out of the way. Then home to log on and answer email messages, see how our web ex service was behaving. I had a mammogram appointment at 2:30 and needed to get on a conference call at 3PM to discuss the hurricane situation. I am fortunate that the imaging facility is only 5 minutes away and when they found out I needed to be home by 3 they took care of me quickly. Home to put together communication contingency programs for the health system throughout the hurricane – still tired and have not unpacked my suitcase yet. Saturday morning and I was off to aqua aerobics and to my Zumba toning class – it had started last week; but, because I was away this would be my first one. It was terrific and I had done 2 hours of working out for the day. Some errand to do on my way home and I would finally get that suitcase unpacked – in truth it only took me about 10 minutes to get everything either in the hamper or on the cleaner pile. We received notification that those of us who were non-essential employees should not go into the office on Monday. I advised my team and the individuals who were coming for a meeting that it was cancelled and that I would re-schedule. We are all on call throughout the storm to help with either a video or web ex meeting for the health system and I have received a few requests; but, nothing outrageous.

Sunday and it is evident that Hurricane Sandy will be hitting us; but, no one knows for sure how intense it will be. I went to Zumba this morning, the cleaners and to the grocery store to pick up a few things. It is amazing that the supermarket had no water left and the milk I normally buy was gone. Some of the towns nearby always lose power and people are preparing themselves for the worse. I am of the thought that there is not much that I can do about it so let’s go with the flow. I hope that it is not so bad that the kids cannot “trick or treat” on Wednesday as this would be the second year in a row for them – need I remind you of the freak snowstorm we had last year at this time? To everyone – that has been my week in a nutshell. Be safe, be smart and Happy Halloween.

Family Time

I know, I know – you were expecting this last night. But I spent all day Saturday and yesterday cooking – same meal, two different days. I will not see the boys (Ryan and Callum) before Halloween – next weekend I am in Monterey, CA for the Visual Communications Industry Group conference and I will not return until Thursday, October 25th. Gerard and the boys will be going to Delaware to visit Gerry on the Friday and will not return until the Tuesday before Halloween – hence my not seeing them. I wanted to ensure that we celebrated Halloween, that they had their “trick or treat” bags and the other items I had bought for them.

So why did I end up cooking a family dinner two days in a row? It was necessary to have Gerard and the boys over on Saturday because Ryan who plays hockey had a game on Saturday at 7:30PM; but, the game on Sunday was at 4:15PM. Siobhan and Matt were going to come but she had a slight viral stomach bug and did not feel comfortable leaving the house. I was actually quite proud of myself as after Aqua Aerobics I went to the bakery and picked up the cake I had ordered. I went home and read the Saturday papers and then began prepping to cook. Oh, and on Friday night I had set the table, put together the boys Halloween bags and had done the grocery shopping. Although I had bought a cake for desert – I decided that I would make pumpkin bread because Callum eats it. He has food issues with taste and texture so whenever I find out that he will eat something I make sure I have it on hand for him. I tackled this first since it takes an hour in the oven. Out it came and the house smelled of autumn with the pumpkin, cinnamon and vanilla. Pretty proud of myself. Since I had bought enough food to feed a small army I decided that I would just go ahead and just cook half of everything. Gerard had stated that he wanted to eat at 3PM, so at 1 I began chopping onions, tomatoes, garlic and then I started to brown the meat. I was making Mexican – we would have nachos, salsa, guacamole and then Mexican lasagna. I was so satisfied with myself – by the time Gerard arrived with the boys – the nachos were in the microwave ready to be nuked to melt the cheese. The Mexican lasagna was made and just needed to be placed in the oven to warm up and melt the cheese on top and I was busily mashing avocados to make the guacamole; not only that the dishes were washed that I had used.

I put out the appetizers and Gerard informed me that we did not have to eat until 5PM. For the first time in having a family dinner I was able to sit down and just enjoy talking to him and the boys and catching up – most often I am in the kitchen cooking and missing everything. We ate at 5PM and everyone enjoyed it. Callum will not leave the house until he has his dessert or cake. So I brought it out and everyone had a small sliver except for Ryan who did not want any. However, Callum wanted a second piece – I let him know that I was sending it home and he could have a second piece at home. They were gone at 6 and by 6:10 – the dishes were in the dishwasher, the table was back to normal and the house had been vacuumed. But, by 7:30 I was tired and I went to bed at 8. I have decided that I am becoming a fuddy-duddy as I need more rest lately.

Sunday I was off to Zumba and Matt and Siobhan were coming over for dinner. Well the menu was going to be the same; but, I needed to get dessert since the cake I had yesterday and it was a special order from the bakery. From the gym I stopped at the cleaners, then the grocery store and picked up a dessert from them. I decided to do the same thing and prep the entire meal before they came – this time even the guacamole was done by they walked in the door. I enjoyed just sitting and catching up with them while we first watched the Jets and then the Yankees on TV. We had dinner – I packed a goodie bag for them to take home and I gave them the dessert. Again in 10 minutes I had the dishes in the dishwasher, the dining room table back to order, the garbage out and the living and dining room vacuumed. But, tonight I was sleepy just my body was tired. I was able to stay up until 10PM and was very proud of myself. I don’t know about you – but in our family we make an effort to get together every month, be it to celebrate a birthday, a holiday or like in September there are no birthdays or holidays just to get together as a family and break bread.

I enjoy these times as too soon the boys will grow up and be on their merry way; do the same - ENJOY!!! P.S. Next week I will be at the Visual Communications Group conference hoping for an excellent turnout and will not be doing a blog - stay tuned next one will be October 28th!

It Has Gotten Chillier

WOW!!! What a difference a day makes. On Friday it was 80 degrees and that evening I was running around opening the bedroom windows because I was extremely warm and could not sleep. Yesterday it was 75; but, it was supposed to rain and the temperature was supposed to drop 30 degrees in the evening. I decided it was time to put away the patio cushions, remove the umbrella and cover the patio furniture. Although last week I moved the spring/summer clothes to the spare bedroom closet and fall/winter into my bedroom closet, I did not do the shoes or my draws – I got that done last night and made sure I had long sleeved shirts, turtlenecks and sweaters at the ready. And, boy did they come in handy this morning – once I took my bed covers off I could feel the chilliness in the air. Long workout pants on; and, a long sleeved shirt in my gym bag to wear after Zumba class.

While making breakfast I noticed that the temperature in the house was 69 – time to turn the heat on, I like the house at 70 degrees – although I would put it at 72 if gas was not so expensive. I have to marvel at how quickly the weather can turn. Have you ever pondered what happens in autumn? On the East coast we tend to get a bit of rain which has the leaves falling and turning colors, it is pitch black when I leave the house at 5:45AM and the temperature has already been 45 degrees at that hour in the morning. Then as I sit and watch the 5 o’clock news I have become aware of where the sun is – it isn’t in the same place as in the summer. The front of my house faces East and it is very apparent by 3PM that we are in fall as it is already dark in the front of the house and the kitchen which faces West is nice and bright.

In a few weeks it will be Halloween – the boys will be over to celebrate it next Saturday since I will be gone the weekend of the 19th and the following weekend they will be in Delaware visiting their grandfather. I have their trick or treat bags for them and they are full with Halloween PJs, (Callum’s glow in the dark), a Halloween shirt and their Godiva candy. I will give it to them when they come over for dinner – I have decided to make Mexican lasagna (use tortillas instead of lasagna noodles), chicken fajitas and for appetizers it will be guacamole, salsa, chips and nachos.

I cannot forget to buy candy corn since Ryan distinctly remembered that I had candy corn in leaf bowls last year. I am looking to make a pumpkin bread for them to take home – it turns out Callum likes it and anytime we find a food that he will eat I make sure that he has plenty of it. There is an apple cake recipe that I found that I think everyone will enjoy and then I will have the bakery make me a yellow cake with chocolate icing, a spider web decoration and Happy Halloween written on it. Do my family dinners seem a little elaborate – probably so. I enjoy entertaining - it is a good opportunity to have the boys understand how to sit at a set table and eat properly.

As the weather changes and gets cool my thoughts go to comfort food; stews, casseroles and to baking. I know that Callum enjoys cake, my family enjoys different bread loaves; pumpkin, cranberry and cinnamon swirl; and, I do make a mean cheese Danish. I have baked since I was in my early teens whether it was cookies, cupcakes or a cake I enjoyed making sweet things that my family would enjoy. In the fall there is nothing better than the smell of apple, cinnamon and spices in your house. Enjoy this time with your family – the color of the leaves and marvel at the beauty that Mother Nature is providing us.

Happy Fall – it is here for a very short time.

By Myself

This is the first weekend in a month that I have had to myself. I very much needed this time to get my home, my work and my life in order. Why? You might ask? I have to admit that I am one of those individuals who does not function very well unless everything is in its place and I am managing it or if you prefer a stronger term, controlling it.

It was important to me to get my house changed to its fall/winter look and I was able to complete that last weekend even as a physical detriment to myself. This Friday evening I spent the time cleaning out my draws and closet and reviewing my wardrobe in anticipation of the weather getting chillier. It is always one of those cruxes as to what will fit and what will not. I was pleasantly surprised that a wraparound dress that I bought 3 years ago and which still has the tags on it fit so nicely. The Parisi High Intensity class is paying off – I can see it with my black heeled boots – cannot wait for that first day to wear it. I also had my furnace looked at by my service contractor to ensure that all was working properly and the house would be heated nicely come this winter.

Today after my Zumba workout and running errands I decided it was time to tackle the front yard and the back patio. I took my very sharp Cutco shears and trimmed several bushes in the front yard – there is one that has absolutely gone haywire this past summer so it definitively needed an extensive trim. I then worked on the back and removed all the weeds and tilled the soil. I will look to see what I will plant in it before the weather really turns cold. I also removed the garden hoses and put these down covers I have over each of the faucets and turned off the water pipe. Next weekend I will remove the patio furniture cushions and cover the furniture – it is the last remembrance of warm weather until next April.

As today is September 30th I am a little behind in my holiday shopping. Today, I ordered for the boys Halloween shirts and pajamas – yesterday I bought each of them a trick or treat bag – I will put these clothes in the bag when I give it to them. I have started to get everyone’s Christmas list and little by little I am chiseling at the requests – my goal is to have all my shopping completed by Halloween. I also went to Hallmark on Saturday and bought all birthday cards for October and November, Halloween and Thanksgiving cards. This is the way I like to organize myself so if a “surprise” or my time is needed for something I will not feel guilty, resentful or give myself undue stress. That is my personal life. Professionally I am caught up on my projects, presentations and MOVI/Web Ex requests by my customers. I was beginning to feel overwhelmed by my job because I wasn’t getting it done in the timely manner that I like; but, all of that changed this week. And, the VCI-Group conference is coming along. Now I need to get End Users to realize the importance of this conference and get their butt into the seats.

I am determined to continue my workouts and to add diversity to them. I have again signed up for the High Intensity workout given by the Parisi School at my gym. They are introducing a new Zumba class called, “Zumba Tone” and it will be with the Zumba batons – this is supposed to help tone my over 50 arms and get rid of that flyaway flab. It is an 8 week program that will take place every Saturday from 10:30 to 11:30; so Saturdays I will do a 2 hour workout beginning at 8:30 with aqua aerobics and then I will do my 10:30 Zumba Tone class. I am psyched. No, the scale isn’t moving down; but, I know that my body is more toned than it has ever been.

Lastly, I will leave you with something I forgot to mention last week. So as you already know last weekend was hectic and on Sunday I had the whole family over for dinner. What I didn’t write about was that as I was cooking dinner I received an email from American Express regarding my Gold card (I also have Platinum) it was asking me if I had made a charge as they thought it might be fraudulent activity. After they told me the charge, $2040 to a place called 511 Inc (never heard of it) they then proceeded to give me other charges $500 to Dell (I haven’t owned a Dell computer since I was in my EMBA program); and, another for $21.90. I have to tell you that Amex was wonderful and advised me that they were cancelling my card, issuing me a new one and for me to let them know if I see any other charges on my bill that do not belong to me. By Tuesday evening my new Gold card had arrived and I was able to activate it. I am waiting for the bill to come in a few weeks to see the charges on my old card and if there is anything else to report. The one hassle was going through and remembering who I have charging directly to my card like EZ Pass and changing the card information. I know some people are bothered by this – but, I appreciate that they are aware of my charging habits, the stores I frequent, the amount I usually spend and reached out to me.

Sometimes, Big Brother is not that bad.