Happy Easter 2008

This year, Easter weekend was simply fantastic!



Today marked a special Easter in our family in that it was also a celebration of my God son's first birthday. Oh, he's a right handsome little man.



We enjoyed a great afternoon of sunshine and egg hunting and then a late lunch with all the local cousins back inside. Here's my God son again, this time with me.



And lest I forget, here's my beautiful daughter Hailey in all of her Easter dress splendor.

St Pat's in Columbia: 11:30pm

We're at Headliners in the Vista area of Columbia. Right now I'm really enjoying a band called Treadmill Trackstar. This quartet has (i) guitar and lead vocalist, (ii) thumping bass, (iii) drums, and (iv) a cellist. What? A cello? Yes, and this band sounds pretty good live.

Update: You can read this article for more information about the band.

Update 2: Photos!


Angelo Gianni………..Vocals/Guitars


Mike Mills…………… Bass


Tony Lee………………Drums

My photo of the cellist Heidi Carey did not come out. Sad!

St. Pat's in Columbia: 6pm Saturday

Weather not withstanding, today has turned out pretty good. More details and photos to follow.

UPDATE:

So we slept in a bit this morning (wonder why?) and then made our way over to the music festival--about 20 steps from the front door of our hotel. The threat of rain did not keep the masses from showing up.


Bradd, me and Wayne offer those not here a toast.


Bradd, Wayne, Lee (covering up "CCCP" on Wayne's shirt) and Matt.


Bradd welcomes Mark!


We also made some new friends Dillon, Jess and Robin (through Wayne). I think Bradd is in every picture...

And also there are the more unusual pictures from the day...


Red helmet, visor and white jump suit? Bet it pays minimum wage.


That stone weighs over 300 pounds (from the Strongman competition).


The bagpipes made their return again this year.

So let me sum it up:

• Beers.
• Wearing o' the green.
• Philly cheese steaks and bratwursts.
• 5 stages of music.
• Old and new friends.
• A late rain out (sorry Edwin!)
• Cards back at the hotel whiled it rained on everyone else.
• Great times!

Thanks to Wayne and Lee for making the trip over to Columbia with me. Thanks to Bradd for the awesome two story hotel room steps from the festival. Thanks to Mark and Matt, our local coalition, for rounding out the day and the cards and the fun with us. Great meeting new friends Jess, Dillon and Robin. And thanks to Columbia for another great St Pat's weekend.

YOU ALL ROCK!

St Pat's in Columbia: 12:30am Saturday

Well it's 12:30 in the morning and we're leaving Delaney's Speakeasy and stopping now at Delaney's Pub. A good start...



Update: We drank and talked and laughed until we were the last people in the whole place.





The fountain was already green at 2:30am in the morning.



FYI: All of these not-so-great photos were with my phone. I left my regular camera back in the room.

It's "St. Patrick's in Columbia" Time Again!

Well I must be getting older because it sure doesn't feel like a year since the last St. Patrick's weekend in Columbia. But it is! For those of you new to the site, or with failing memories, here's the day one and day two posts from last year.



This year should prove to be at least as good as last year. Lee, Wayne and I will be heading over that way this afternoon.

Shave And A Haircut - $5,000 And Growing

You may recall last year when I wrote about a great fund raising cause called the St. Baldrick's Foundation. Simply put, as stated on their site:

Since 2005, over $12 million has been granted for cooperative research, to help doctors work together to find cures for childhood cancers. These funds went to the 230 member institutions of the Children's Oncology Group, as well as to research laboratories and other resources used by the COG.

Additional St. Baldrick's grants have been made to 37 institutions, totaling over $2.1 million since 2005, to fund research projects or to make it possible to treat more children on research protocols which offer the best chance for a cure.

St. Baldrick's Fellowships, established in 2005, help launch brilliant new careers in pediatric cancer research, providing funds for new doctors to work under expert mentors for 2-3 years. There are now 13 St. Baldrick's Fellows, and more young professionals will be funded each year. Total fellowship funding to date is over $1.7 million.

Well I still don't possess the gumption this year to do this myself. Instead, I've added my support to a friend and co-worker. It is my hope that me and my friends and family can do more together than any of us can apart. Joey writes:

As many of you know, I will be shaving my head (yes, bald) on March 14th, to raise money for pediatric cancer research and fellowships through an event called St. Baldrick's Day. I am trying to raise $5,000 and have reached 90% of my goal. If you would like to donate, you may do so [here].

The AJC ran the below story on the cause in yesterday's paper and actually featured and quoted me. Please feel free to pass this along to family or friends who may be interested in contributing.

And it's never too late to get involved. If you are interested in getting shaved, please let me know.

Thanks,
Joey

Here's a link to the AJC story where Joey is quoted.

From what I can gather Joey will surpass his goal of personally raising over $5,000. I'd personally love to see him double it. If you feel like supporting this cause simply go to his participant page and you can make a donation on-line or even by phone.

Better And Better

Before I met my wife I thought I knew happiness. Life became so much better with her.

Before we had a son I thought I was content. Then I learned I could love someone more than myself.

Before we had a daughter I thought there couldn’t possibly be any more love within me. Then I found that love isn’t divided by the important people in your life–it multiplies.