My kids...

After my divorce, my children moved to Charlotte, NC. It has been a few years, but we try to see each other just as often as we possibly can. It is a long way from New Orleans, but I have always tried to make it work and let them know just how amazing they truly are. Sometimes, just a memory or a glimpse of a child walking with their dad makes me get a little sad inside...and I have my moments of guilt and reflection, but I know I am a great dad. I know first hand that it is better to be from a broken home, than live in one. Now, our memories are rich, colorful and full of joy....not the struggles, sadness or pain of being in a bad marriage.

I miss them with all my heart each day. Perhaps that has always made me a more difficult person to know and love...perhaps that has made me more jaded and less trusting of my path, perhaps it has simply made me a stronger, independent soul. I know that my path is right and my children are a blessing to me, no matter where the sun sets any given day, their light always shines in my heart.

-Daddy

Moving & Valentine's Fun....

What's the next logical step to make after selling my home in Hammond?
Well, closing on a new home later this month, of course! It is in Mandeville and on the water and should be a lot better place for entertaining, having fun, drinking some good cheap wine (grin) and just enjoying life.




I don't quite get all of the Valentine's Day hype. Compelled by guilt, streams of ordinary men shuffle into their nearest 24hr drug store and peer impatiently over the sea of red (overpriced) cardboard icons of true love and herd out to deliver these gifts to their esteemed partners. Add a box of chocolate, a dozen roses and you have the perfect compilation of nausea --- that is still so appealing to most women. I think it all about control and guilt. (and whipped men) I think you love someone all of the time, all days of the year, not ones when you need to demonstrate your affection through careless gestures of prepackaged enthusiasm. (oh how grand!)
I am not saying that celebrating your bond of love is a bad thing, just don't require men to do out of pure compulsion...for only 1 day of the year.......

Ahhhh, the jadedness? the joy and the laughter......... :P
Wonder if a big box of chocolate would get me even further out of the dog house?
I wonder if the dog died of Theobromine poisoning b/c of all of the chocolate?
I wonder if I would feel different if I had grown the cacao plant myself?
Would it still be a gift or a legitimate homage????

Hey, how about a walk on the levee??????
just keep smiling and turn LEFT... LOL

I miss the simplicity and magic.

Last Parade - Trading your moments.

After all day Sunday of standing on metal stands watching and waiting for one parade Krewe after another, I finally got my last fill of parades. Visiting with my family and friends was enjoyable, but the certain misery of dealing with immature adults, jockeying for front row positions, & just being outside waiting...and watching nearly a whole day of my life get traded for a handful of colorful plastic beads, just didn't make sense. Probably just getting old some would say, others might say it was getting wiser! (or more careful of what I trade the moments of my life for)

I grew up on a major parade route, so I have many memories of chasing floats and enjoying the youthful joy of being mesmerized by the large magical parade floats since I was about 2 years old. It was an amazing joy in my life that I had attempted on a few occassions to transend into my adulthood, but it just never was the same. I have ridden several times in a some major Krewes and it is an amazing experience. When riding on the floats, you are the players, and not part of the crowd, the audience...you dictate the flow and the fun and from your seat every brief sighting of happy faces on the parade route is pure bliss. You don't witness the cussing, the jealous drunken brawls, nor the pushing and the bad attitudes. You don't always observe the drunken boyfriend and his bimbo shoving a little kid out of the way so that two grown, slightly enebreated adults can grab their fair share of plastic trinkets...and maybe for a brief moment this 38 year old girl can recapture her lost days of when she was 21 and maybe didn't have to try so hard. Fights, cussing, oh what fun...all over plastic beads, remind me this is something more, right?

I too am tired of trying so hard to realize that watching parades is a fun pastime and not just waste of time, a waste of nearly a half-day of my life...but in the midst of this bath of sour lemons, I did make some kick-a$$ lemonade! I took about 500 pictures yesterday and that was fun indeed. Captive, creative chaos all on digital media...the energy, the colors, the raw unadulterated joy was there, just all slightly less tolerable than ever before. So, these memories might have to keep me for a long time to come...

Cheers,
Andy

Promises & Progress

As much as I wanted to maintain my promise of updating this blog to myself on a more regular basis, nearly another month of my life has transpired since my last post. So, what in the world is going on in Andy's world?

Work on the network is in full swing now for 2008 and my department is actively managing a tremendous amount of activity, projects and deadlines. I only see this increasing as the year goes forward. Our short lived repreive in late December was just a mild tincap speedbump against this runaway data train. New technology, new designs, new projects... change is not only guaranteed, it is the norm.

One interesting project is our VoIP initiative. While we are currently obligated to use the Mitel IP platform (3300s and 5224 phones), it has still been pretty exhausting getting everything working 100%. From a remote branch perspective, all dialtone services are traversing our traditional data MPLS network. Our voice & data networks are uniquely subnetted, so lots of planning for MVAP, VLANs, QoS, and DHCP setups had to be developed. Greek to some, music to my ears....but in any case, it had to work & work well! Most of this complex & unorthodox design was not readily simple to configure. In fact, we were told by Mitel that our design may not work, but I think that negatively was largely predicated by the lack of understanding by the Mitel engineers rather than an opinion based upon experience and/or empirical data. In the end, it works and works perfectly.

So, where does all of this place Andy now? In a situation to relocate of course! Isn't that logical? :P

In the midst of the recent "buyers market" for homes, I am contemplating the purchase of a home on the Northshore. The prices are quite depressed, the interest rates are low (5.25-5.75%) --- so instant equity is assured and that means with slight overpayment of the mortgage, that 30 year note will be quickly dissolved. (Not that I plan to live there for 30 years!) - It will be a good thing, slightly more expensive, longer commute, but much nicer area in terms of QOL...

The skies actually get dark enough to still see the stars quite well at night!
Amazing!

Until next time,
-Andy

You asked me what I want this year...

Better Days.

Promises for a New Year -

I am the type of person that embraces design, structure, planning & raw empirical detail. That is precisely why I dislike the open-ended, often emotionally charged, short-lived compilations of "New Year Resolutions" --- They are far too arbitrary, both to create and to maintain, but I will succumb to the pressures of the free-range herd and list a few of my own aspirations for 2008. (OK - only 1)

1. Have fun --- keep smiling & enjoying life. :)

Become a better person, both to my friends, coworkers, family and the needy in our community. Continue to give back, volunteer and make at least 3 trips this year for my photography fun. Scheduled for 2008:(Costa Rica, Yellowstone, Galapagos Islands/Peru) - Simply keep on believing in the best that life has to offer and keep pushing myself for higher standards & better results. Take better care of myself physically, emotionally & spiritually. Update my blog with photos at LEAST once per week! :)

Love your family --- find new ways to show you care. Continue to care about people long after they have left --- be a true friend.

Just be Andy.

Labels --- just stick them everywhere.

Its funny. Life is... The way some people label you, define you, manipulate you, use you and then blame you for the entire process. It is natural --- people want to be happy and when that happiness is taken away for any reason, even personal choice, the grapes really are sour and you become their emotional dartboard. (Ziiinnnng! Duck!) --- I recently sent an email to a friend that was not responded to at all, assuming that my actions once again are sinister. I think instead of my actions being manipulative, I think they are concerned about being hurt with my inability to be ever-present. I enjoyed our time tremendously in the past, but I don't hold on nor look back, I am just here. If they don't want to be near me for whatever reason, then I am sorry for that loss.

It is OK and sometimes life is too domestic and if that is something that I avoid, then that is my choice. I am not EEEEEEEVIL (as my daughter would say....--- it is kinda comical when she says it) - I try to be a great dad to my children and I know I am a good person. I am just looking for something not too dramatic, not too controlling, something simple. I cannot say that with my wide variety of activities, hobbies & interests, (not to mention work schedule) that my availability wouldn't be an issue for most people, but I try to keep a healthy balance in my life.

I cannot claim to be all things for everyone, nor even anything to anyone.
I am just me, and if that is not enough for some to handle --- then I guess they will not have the chance to completely understand and enjoy me. Fun times should be OK just for the sake of enjoying life, not tied up in some sort of relationship puzzle or encaged with so many expectations. I considered each step completely and I tried really hard to be considerate of the situation, but if it is easier to call me conceited and blame me for your emotional failures, then feel free to continue...

All the best,
Andy


Lighter Notes AHEAD:
Another year is upon us....time for a Christmas post with pictures! :)