(*Note: This post is long overdue. The demands of my new job have kept me super busy but there has been enough prodding (thanks, Boaz!), guilty feelings and genuine desire to keep this blog going and moving forward.)
It's the last day of the year. For the economy and the world it's been an awful year. For us, it's been a good year. We've been fortunate. As we look forward to 2009 there are many aspirations and goals the family and I have and look forward to putting into action.
The last 3 months have been so busy it's kept me from updating you on what's happened. So first, here's a recap of the last 3 months of 2008. As mentioned in the last post, I started a new job. When I joined my team was made up of a total of 5 people. We are now up to 10 folks. I've interviewed more people than I care to remember but am proud to say we've found some quality designers to add to the flock. The job has been very demanding and I find myself working late on many occasions. I'm learning a lot and enjoying the challenges. The people who work there are very motivated and determined to make TheLadders.com a success. I have joined their quest!
As always, all of the pics from us are at our Flickr page. This includes Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah pics of course. In addition, as a bonus to my friends and family on Flickr, I've uploaded literally everyone of our wedding photos (yes, from 2001) as well. These were given to us as an anniversary present from my folks who had them translated from negatives to digital files. Thanks Mom & Dad! They are very amusing. I had more hair on my head . Taylor was 5! Smeen was 14! And Eldad had a girlfriend (not Sheila). D'oh! A lot can happen in 7 years.
Speaking of anniversaries, Carrie and I celebrated our 7th on December 8th. Seven years together.....and we've never had a fight! Believe it! (or not) because I kid (or I don't).....you decide (or not).....huh? Ok.
To celebrate, we took a whole 3 day weekend to ourselves without the kids. Let me, say that again -- without the kids. We've had very few one-night overnight trips without the kids but NEVER for 2 whole nights and 3 days. We went to Montreal. Montreal is awesome for the following reasons: it's close, it's not in the US, it's primarily French-speaking, it's compact and has tons of cool things to see and do. It was a pseudo-European vacation. We had a blast and JUST missed the 5 feet of snow they got literally the weekend after we were there.
The girls stayed at home with their GranMarty (aka Martina). Both parties had a great time.
Here's one pic to show you how much fun we had together:
Since then, we've had the holidays. They've been a lot of fun and the girls have spent much time with their grandparents. Next weekend we're heading down to Northern Virginia to celebrate the holidays one more time with Aunt Lindsey, Uncle Jason and Jake. The Thompsons will also be there and we look forward to seeing them.
Finally, and some would say the greatest of all updates -- Puddleduck is getting back together. Puddleduck was the last touring band I played with back in the late 90's and early 00's. We haven't performed in 8 years. We decided to do one reunion show on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2009 in the home of Puddleduck, Richmond, VA at Alleykatz. The first few rehearsals have gone very well (considering the nearly decade of downtime) and we're very much looking forward to seeing a LOT of old friends and rocking the house. Please join us if you can.
So, that's it for 2008. In 2009 we've resolved to learn new languages (Spanish for me, Hebrew for the girls), get in better shape (rock hard abs for me), be happier in general, and again, for me, play more music. We'll see how it all works out. Stay tuned for more updates on much more frequent basis.
31/12: Resolutions
(*Note: This post is long overdue. The demands of my new job have kept me super busy but there has been enough prodding (thanks, Boaz!), guilty feelings and genuine desire to keep this blog going and moving forward.)It's the last day of the year. For the economy and the world it's been an awful year. For us, it's been a good year. We've been fortunate. As we look forward to 2009 there are many aspirations and goals the family and I have and look forward to putting into action.
The last 3 months have been so busy it's kept me from updating you on what's happened. So first, here's a recap of the last 3 months of 2008. As mentioned in the last post, I started a new job. When I joined my team was made up of a total of 5 people. We are now up to 10 folks. I've interviewed more people than I care to remember but am proud to say we've found some quality designers to add to the flock. The job has been very demanding and I find myself working late on many occasions. I'm learning a lot and enjoying the challenges. The people who work there are very motivated and determined to make TheLadders.com a success. I have joined their quest!
As always, all of the pics from us are at our Flickr page. This includes Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Hanukkah pics of course. In addition, as a bonus to my friends and family on Flickr, I've uploaded literally everyone of our wedding photos (yes, from 2001) as well. These were given to us as an anniversary present from my folks who had them translated from negatives to digital files. Thanks Mom & Dad! They are very amusing. I had more hair on my head . Taylor was 5! Smeen was 14! And Eldad had a girlfriend (not Sheila). D'oh! A lot can happen in 7 years.
Speaking of anniversaries, Carrie and I celebrated our 7th on December 8th. Seven years together.....and we've never had a fight! Believe it! (or not) because I kid (or I don't).....you decide (or not).....huh? Ok.
To celebrate, we took a whole 3 day weekend to ourselves without the kids. Let me, say that again -- without the kids. We've had very few one-night overnight trips without the kids but NEVER for 2 whole nights and 3 days. We went to Montreal. Montreal is awesome for the following reasons: it's close, it's not in the US, it's primarily French-speaking, it's compact and has tons of cool things to see and do. It was a pseudo-European vacation. We had a blast and JUST missed the 5 feet of snow they got literally the weekend after we were there.
The girls stayed at home with their GranMarty (aka Martina). Both parties had a great time.
Here's one pic to show you how much fun we had together:
Since then, we've had the holidays. They've been a lot of fun and the girls have spent much time with their grandparents. Next weekend we're heading down to Northern Virginia to celebrate the holidays one more time with Aunt Lindsey, Uncle Jason and Jake. The Thompsons will also be there and we look forward to seeing them.
Finally, and some would say the greatest of all updates -- Puddleduck is getting back together. Puddleduck was the last touring band I played with back in the late 90's and early 00's. We haven't performed in 8 years. We decided to do one reunion show on Valentine's Day, February 14th, 2009 in the home of Puddleduck, Richmond, VA at Alleykatz. The first few rehearsals have gone very well (considering the nearly decade of downtime) and we're very much looking forward to seeing a LOT of old friends and rocking the house. Please join us if you can.
So, that's it for 2008. In 2009 we've resolved to learn new languages (Spanish for me, Hebrew for the girls), get in better shape (rock hard abs for me), be happier in general, and again, for me, play more music. We'll see how it all works out. Stay tuned for more updates on much more frequent basis.
[Jeff]