Where Have We Been??

Where have I been?  Well, I have been having fun at work being an early adopter of network fabric technology.  I even get a nice trip to Avaya Technology Forum and to Interop this year to sit on a panel....but you guys don't care about that.  Although, you guys may care about our new family adventures.

We have also been embarking on learning the Python Language.  I found out after many trials and errors that the younger kids just were not interested in this yet.  I am not completely giving up yet, I will revisit this in the near future when I have some more creative ideas.  Here is a picture from our Python Class....

Notice my lovely little Ellie with her hat on and her head down.  She did not want to participate.  She does not want to be labeled as a nerd.  I keep trying to tell her that it is not a bad thing, but you know teenagers.  I wish I could put her into contact with some female role model coders, but I can't force her to like it.  I think if she gave it a chance she could see the creative side of it and may like it better.  Good news is Nick is really good at it.  He has such great attention to detail, it fascinates me.  I will bring up tech savvy kids, not matter what!


Also the boys and I have created a new venture....


Introducing the BFL!!!!!!


That stands for Bolt Football League for those of you people that are not football fans.

Almost everyday that I have a day off, we head to our local wonderfully beautiful park called Forest Park and play some very intense touch football.  Right now it is just me and my four boys.   (My youngest son Sammy is all time offense to make teams even) I have to say it is crazy fun and is doing wonders in making me feel better physically.

Yesterday we were heading out to play a game during the recent snowpocalypse.  When we drove into the park I was so taken aback by the beauty of the scene, the photographer in me had to stop and take a few shots.  Below is what we saw when we pulled in....

I knew the day was going to be great when this scene greeted us.   We had a great game in the snow.  I only ended up on the ground a half dozen or so times and was still able to walk off the field.  The boys did a great job and Sammy (my 2nd grader) caught yet another touchdown pass.  I am proud of the way these kids are developing their athletic skills while we are all having fun.  I could not ask for more...Well, except for more time with them, but you can't have it all!

When it gets a little warmer outside, I am going to ask Ellie to come and take some pictures to document this for us.  I will post when I have more...



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 --Rick

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Flashback---The Peyton Manning Autograph

If you are a regular reader you know that we are all diehard Indianapolis Colts fans.  It was very devastating this year when they released Peyton Manning.  He was great to watch and we will miss him.

All of this got me thinking back.  I remembered a funny story about our oldest son who is the biggest Peyton Manning fan in the entire universe. That is not an exaggeration either.  He even knows his birthday, shoe size, and kids names. He has always been kind of a shy and quiet kid. Nicolas was trying for several years to get Manning's autograph and was never successful.  We were at training camp right after it moved back to Anderson University.  Practice was over and everyone was leaving. He was standing there telling me about how he wished he could just get Peyton's autograph.  There was a guy standing next to us that spoke up and said "Hey kid, he is over there signing on the other side of the field, you better run over and get it NOW!".  Up to that point, I have never seen him run that fast!

I was walking around to the other side to wait for him.  The crowd was huge and I thought we would be there for a while.  I wondered over to the bleachers and climbed up far enough to see if I could spot him in the crowd.  I could not see him but I could hear the big security guy by Manning yelling at someone,  "KID!!!!  Calm down!!!  Take a step back!  KID!!!!  KID!!!" He kept saying it more forcefully "KID!!!   TAKE A STEP BACK!  YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN!" I wondered what all the trouble was down there, but I didn't think much of it.  And then the guy continued on ""KID!!!   TAKE A STEP BACK! CALM DOWN!!!" I am starting to think to myself...what kind of knucklehead kid is causing trouble down there?  I snapped a quick shot of the commotion with my camera.  I could not see the kid causing trouble.  The guy in the large floppy Colt's hat to the right of  Peyton is the guy that was yelling at the kid.

Then just after a couple of minutes I see Nicolas walking back towards me staring at his autograph Superbowl ball with a huge smile on his face.  After a moment Nicolas asked me "Did you hear that security guy yelling at me?  There is no way I was walking away without an autograph this time."  I have to admit, I laughed....  Then we promptly left!  Here is the autograph:

This I believe was at the 2010 Training Camp.  He never did get Peyton Manning's autograph again.   It sits encased in a plastic container (heavily guarded with lasers and motion detectors) and is forever cherished by my goofy kid,  This is a memory I don't think I will ever forget.


How we did hate to see Manning go.  Now Nicolas keeps asking me to take him to Denver.....

Noblesville Football 2012

Noblesville 2012 football is getting off to a slow start this year, but I have still enjoyed watching Nicolas play.  He has come a long way since the days of sixth grade when he broke his arm playing in the elementary league.  He has grown up a lot and worked very hard.  The amount of effort he has put in is phenomenal. Most of all, he is finally gaining confidence and can see what he is capable of doing.  I am very proud of him.

Now he is a sophomore and a big bad defensive end.  He is listed on the program as only 156 lbs and regularly takes on guys that are 250 lbs plus.  Although they have played two games and not won one yet (today was close 13-7), I still look forward to every game, if nothing else, I enjoy watching him develop as a player.

I have added him as an author to this blog.  He is officially now the resident expert in this family for all things football.   He knows more about the Indianapolis Colts than anyone I know.  Since he just visited training camp with his camera and autograph book, I am pretty sure his first post will be about the Colts and the new QB Andrew Luck.  By the way, he did get Luck's autograph....