c'mon Paris fans -- POST!

I'd love to hear from all you other folks. Since April 26 the only posters have been Janine, Carol, MP, Mark, Kim, Rich, Jon, and Elise. Just a note to say how you're doing would be wonderful!

MP

Mark was awarded a CEO Excellence Award

Here's the write-up from the Intelsat Intranet:

The Process Improvement Award

The Process Improvement Award recognizes an individual or a team (generally fewer than 10 people), who has achieved a measurable benefit to our company in at least one of the following categories:

• Created an innovative business idea or initiative that provided the company with a competitive edge in the marketplace.
• Developed new initiatives, products and solutions that improved customer retention, met new customer requirements or increased customer satisfaction.
• Increased the amount of company revenue for new products and technologies by opening new customer markets, identifying and approaching new growth opportunities and/or creating new technological solutions.
• Enhancing productivity or the efficiency of internal processes and procedures.
  

Mary Pat joined me for the award ceremony and the delicious award dinner at the DC Coast restaurant. We had fun.

Weekend in New York City

Kevin and I just spent the weekend in The Big Apple. As usual, it's a great place to visit, and I still wouldn't want to live there. We saw a very entertaining musical on Saturday, called Curtains. Kim's college roommate was in the show for a couple of years, but unfortunately had just left the show a couple of weeks ago as it is about to close. It stars David Hyde Peirce (Frasier's brother Miles from Cheers) and he was great.

Our primary reason for going was to see Yankee Stadium before is closes at the end of this season. It's an old and somewhat dated stadium, but it was a fun day (Sunday) in spite of a short rain delay. We also had great meals ... one at a vegan reastaurant in Manhattan ... and one at the nation's oldest pizza parlor!! Along with a trip up the Empire State Building, which neither of us had done for many years, we just did the customary long walks and stops in bars or shops along the way. A very nice weekend.

The New Haircut

My new young professional look ;)

Most Recent Project

Hello Family!  

I just finished up the most involved project that I have been a part of at Fox45.  It's an inspiring story about a man who did, and still is striving to beat the odds.  Everything was shot and edited by me.  Enjoy!

Racing For Survial

Elise's new "do"

Elise got a new "do". Chopped all that hair off! But where are the pics?

Elise??? Post already!

Rich- a professional umpire!

Hello everyone. Rich here, usurping Kim’s posting rights. I am saying hello and wanted to let you all know about some exciting news.

This past Thursday I received an e-mail from the head of the umpire school I went to in January. It said that they had an Independent League opportunity. At first I thought it was a mass e-mail and they were trying to fill spots. So I called all of my umpire friends that I kept in contact with and none of them received an invitation. Then I e-mailed them back and asked where and when and if this was some kind of try-out? They responded that, no it is not a try-out and that I had been placed in this league based on my performance at the school.

Since I have been back I had really turned the page and decided to focus on doing local umpiring along with my current job. It has been a lot of fun and I benefited from the school. I was assigned to working two playoff games this year, which is a major complement for a second year umpire. I was truly shocked to receive an assignment because they did not mention that I would be a candidate when I left school.

Kim and I decided that I would take the assignment. It is called the Boise Collegiate Summer League. You can view the website www.boisesummerleague.com if you’d like.

With the decision to go I am viewing this as a resume builder for all of the local umpiring I will be doing wherever we end up moving in the future. I will also use it to make connections in the umpire world.

So here is to a dream come true, the honor of being referred to work in a league by the most respected umpiring school in the country!!!

(And from Kim- I am sad he is going! So feel free to call anytime! But I am also excited for him and interested to see where it all leads. Oh, and because he didn't mention, he'll be gone starting this week for 2 months.)

When I think NASCAR fans of course the first group that comes to mind is our family. :) So I'm sure  you all would be thrilled to know I got a chance to go to The Monster Mile in Dover, DE to film for a story about a race-car driver from Maryland that will be airing later this month.  This was a dream come true for me, to be inside the track with all the drivers before the race and mingle with the national media.  The only disappointing part was the actual race suffered from a 3 hour rain delay and I had to leave before it started.  But I did manage to get some great video of practice and such and I'm looking forward to posting the story on the blog after it's done, but for now here are a couple pics from the track!