Odysseus is one of my heroes. He was a mighty warrior and a brave leader, but he was most famous among the Greeks for being their smartest warrior. Odysseus was the epitome of arete, the Greek honor code of excellence (of the same ilk as chivalry to the knights of late medieval Europe or bushido to the samurai of the Shogunate era) because he embodied not just the coarser aspects of warrior excellence but also the quieter virtues such as intelligence, self-restraint, creativity, loyalty, and wisdom.It was Odysseus who came up with the idea of the Trojan Horse. It was he alone who lived to hear … [Read more...]
The TN Renaissance Fair, our Memorial Day tradition
May 29, 2007 by 1 Comment
We've been doing the TN Renaissance Fair every Memorial Day weekend it seems for at least five or six year. I can imagine that we'll be doing it for many years into the future.The budget wasn't as big this year as in some previous years, so we didn't get to play quite as many games. But it seems like everyone had a lot of fun. Both of the girls tried their hands at "Dragon Joust", but alas, they did not vanquish their foe. (grin)We got to see lots of the shops, the living chess match, and the falconer's demonstration. I really wanted to see the entire knight's tournament event. But it'd … [Read more...]
Early Music with Kevin and Lara Lay
May 20, 2007 by Leave a Comment
It's been a long time since I've seen my best friend from high school, Kevin Lay, and his family. I was really happy to get an email from them recently that they were in Nashville doing an early music show over in Belle Meade on a Sunday in which I was actually in town and not traveling!The performance was at St George's Episcopal on a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon and included music by Telemon and Purcell. I think there might've been some Bach in there too, but can't recall. One thing that was really interesting about the performance was that it used all period instruments. It was much … [Read more...]
A Day at Ground Zero
March 25, 2007 by Leave a Comment
It'd been probably 10 years since I was last in NYC. The last time I came to NYC was to visit the Deloitte offices located, then, in the World Finance Center immediately adjacent to the World Trade Center. (The World Finance Center Deloitte was in then was the background building to the left with the round top. Deloitte has since moved to other digs around the city.) I had the pleasure of visiting the WTC, seeing the observation deck, and seeing the marvelous sights of downtown Manhattan.This trip brought me to Manhattan to speak at the local SQL Server user group and visit some friends and … [Read more...]
Winter Wonderland
March 22, 2007 by Leave a Comment
Nashville is very pretty in the winter snow. We usually get a few snow falls every winter, with just enough accumulation for the kids to throw some snowballs around, but not so much that the whole town is immobilized.On one of my February business trips, I was able to snap several pictures like this from the window of the airplane. Of course, the irony here is that most of February was temporate. We usually get our last and biggest snow falls of the season in early to mid-March. But this year, it all came in February and not much at all came in March. Who can say what the weather will do these … [Read more...]
A Death’s Door Experience – 2nd Anniversary
February 24, 2007 by 2 Comments
Two years ago this week, I’d come down with a headcold and by Friday, went to my doctor in search of some relief. Like most people, strong antibiotics upset my stomach. So it was no surprise to me that I spent most of Saturday suffering from stomach problems. But things started to get weird by late Saturday evening. Some time well past midnight, I started to suffer from severe chills and nearly uncontrollable nausea. After a short trip to the bathroom, I realized that I was going to pass out. Since I didn’t want to wake up face down on the floor, I hurried back to bed. There, my … [Read more...]
