Mixing a little pleasure with business

June was a killer month.  I think I was home just 6 days during the entire month including weekends.  I decided to take only my point & shoot (a Canon SD780) with me.  So all the pictures in my gallery (click the picture below to see all of them) were done w/that camera.  Point & shoots are IMO alot harder to shoot and get good pictures than using an SLR.  The lag in shutter speed is the biggest issue and w/changing lighting conditions, it’s alot harder to get the right exposure.  I found myself defaulting to auto or program mode more and then perhaps making the biggest mistake of them all - just clicking and not thinking as much about composition.  But the convenience is just awesome.

I started the month out in Las Vegas at ops reviews.  You’ll see pictures from the event (mostly the best systems engineering team in the world).  These guys let their hair down a bit when we went go-cart racing and overall had a ball.  What a colorful group.  I was out on the west coast w/Jeff doing interviews so you’ll also see pictures from San Diego.  What a beautiful city.  And the weather was outstanding.  I was actually a bit cold at night - and then returned to Austin where 100 degree plus days have been with just most of June.

Anyway - I did manage to have a little fun in an otherwise grueling month of business travel!

Happy Independence Day

On Friday night, July 3rd, the Avery Ranch golf club held it’s annual Independence Day bash at the clubhouse.  Katie came home from school and joined us w/the Cohen family as we were treated to a terrific fireworks display.  Click the picture to see some of the photos I took of the event.

Congratulations to the newest certified divers

This weekend, the country celebrated our Independence Day.  In a way, so did 6 newly certified openwater divers.  They mastered all of the new skills needed to enjoy the beauty and freedom that only comes from the beauty of being underwater.

The class started as all openwater classes do - students eager to learn but a bit unsure of what to expect.  They completed academics this week along with 2 grueling in-water pool sessions where they learned all of the skills they would need.  This weekend, they put them on full display at Aquarena Springs in San Marcos where they simply “smoked” the class.  The last dive we did was perhaps one of the most enjoyable dives I’ve done in class as I watched everyone put their new skills on display and enjoy the beauty of Aquarena.  Each demonstrated very good buoyancy skills as they explored the vegetation and fish around the submersed submarine and then showed their buoyancy skills tackling the rings.

Congratulations to Joe, Chris, Adam, Joshua, David, and Mark as the newest PADI-certified OW divers.  Thanks for letting Nick and I in on the fun!

To see the pictures from this weekend, just click on the picture.