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Family

Grease Under My Fingernails

There was grease under my fingernails when I woke this morning. Not that I did much mechanical work, but a weekend cleaning the garage meant handling a lot of tools. Even after two showers and countless hand washings, the smudge of grease is still in the edges.

It made me think of my father. For decades he worked in the wrecking yard and the grease would never completely disappear from his fingernails. Didn’t matter if it was Sunday morning at church, a fine dinner, or a weekend away in Tahoe — the evidence of the junkyard was embedded in his …

Family, Goble Properties, Junkyard Management, Random Thoughts,

Ember

My son has always been a tinkerer. We still laugh about his childhood dream of wanting to build an airplane in our backyard. I pointed out we had no tires for the plane to land with and he said, “They sell tires at Costco.” I pointed out we had no engine, which stumped him for a little while, and then he said, “We have one in Mom’s car.”

Stubborn, focused, no problem was too large to solve … he had the perfect internal hard wiring to be an inventor. And tinker he did, from Legos to woodshop to photography to …

Family, Random Thoughts,

From This Adventure to the Next and Back

Most of us feel a touch of trepidation when we travel to an unknown place. Walking into the foreign can be both thrilling and frightening at the same time.

Even after years of going to the odd and curious places around the world — behind the Iron Curtain at the height of the Cold War, into Zimbabwe as Mugabe muscled white farmers out of the country, exploring the rainforest with machete in hand, visiting Haiti just after the USA invaded, through the giant security wall around the West Bank, or even a violent neighborhood not far from my old office …

Family,

Turkish Carpets

Okay, one last post from our vacation. Like all visitors to Turkey, we were sucked into a presentation on Turkish rugs. And guess what — D’Aun bought one! Actually, she bought three (they are small — they even fit them in our luggage).

Here’s a short video clip I took of the experience. You can also watch it here:

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Family,

Vacation – Part III

East meets West. That’s the phrase most often heard when talking to people about Istanbul. It’s unlike any city in the world, both for better and worse.

The last stop of our trip, Istanbul was where I took countless pictures, had fabulous meals, met incredibly friendly people, was irritated by the most obnoxious people, and wandered into the rich fascinating history of an amazing city.

Today’s pictures are of that amazing city, but you can also view earlier photos here and here.…

Family,

Vacation – Part II

I love to search out the oddball people when I travel. They are the ones who make you think and even more often laugh. Sometimes I’d hear people express ideas and wonder if they are sane. It’s easy to believe it’s just a trait of the country you happen to be visiting, but then I visit Facebook and realize there are a LOT of people with crazy ideas!

Anyway, yesterday I posted pictures from the first part of our trip to Greece and Turkey. Here are a few more from the various places we stopped as we slowly sailed toward …

Family, The SOLD Project,

Firsts – Five Years

Take the time to watch this video. Amazing story, amazing people, amazingly important. Proud to have a small part in it, and proud of the people who put it together.

If you subscribe to this blog and are unable to view the video, click here: Firsts – Five Years…

Family,

Vacation – Part I

D’Aun and I had a wonderful vacation through Greece and Turkey. Travel is a wonderful thing because it opens our eyes to differences, perspectives, and ideas. I met a lot of people who struck me as wonderful people, and a lot who struck me as real oddballs. Kind of like going to a class reunion!

Anyway, here are a few pictures from the first part of our trip in Greece.…