Where Are They Now?

LIVEware 5 united once again. Here we see (from left) Bruce Lehrman, Jeff Quint and Alex Taylor. About 13 years ago, we partnered in a video conference Distance Learning company. We offered executive and managerial education on a range of business-related topics and skills. Fortunately (or perhaps unfortunately) LIVEware 5 has long since been sold and we have each moved on. Here is where we are today....

Bruce Lehrman is the CEO of Involta. A secure data service and storage company based out of Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He has been named one of the top 10 entrepreneurs in the area with company growth of more than 100 percent year-over-year.

Jeff Quint, is the CFO for Involta, but that's a sideline to his new business: Cedar Ridge Vineyards, Winery and Distillery. Business is aging nicely with whites, reds, vodka and soon-to-be-introduced Bourbon.

Alex Taylor, is the only one who remains in education. He works with the Tippie School of Management to help administer Iowa's Executive MBA programs. He is also adjunct faculty for the Tippie College of Business.

The reason we're smiling? Perhaps that after all these years we can look back at LIVEware 5 and be thankful for the experience, thankful we survived, and thankful for our continued friendships.

Hideous Birds

There is no saving these hideous birds. A flock of these buzzards were hunched over waiting for the rain to subside. They are sitting on the side of the Coralville Dam with no protection from the weather. Ugh.

Dog Days of Spring?

Peanut ready for the formal dance at NWJH. Doesn't she rook mahvalas?

Spectating can be hard work. Ask the Big Dawg. Oh wait, you can't ask him, he's too busy sawing logs. Poor kid fell asleep like this for the entire ride home from soccer matches in Muscatine.

First burn of the season is always welcome. The landscaping is beginning to take shape. So is Tootsie who will claim that round is a shape. Summer is just around the corner (kids will tell you it's less than 7 days away!).

End of Year Choir Concerts

Peanut is in the very center of this picture. Hard to see. It actually was a very nice concert and only lasted an hour. They sounded good.

Chalupa is a bit more difficult to see because there is only a profile. She is the third girl from the right next to the young lady (Rufus - from Basketball) in blue. She also sang a brief quartet verse in the 7th & 8th grade collaboration on "We Are the World".

And finally... Peanut (left) and Chalupa pose after it was all said and sung. It was a very nice evening and even Big Dawg didn't seem to mind. Next Wednesday we will see how Beaner sings with her choir.

Race Towards Summer

We are sliding quickly towards summer. The University is on break, and the public schools only have three more weeks. So the final weeks are packed with final events for the year. The obligatory choir concerts and final track meets etc... Below we see Crazy Pete taking a phone-photo of Chalupa during the 800 meter run. It was a cold day for running to be sure, but she still did ok. I believe her finishing time was 2:57.

Below we see Peanut and her team begin briefed by the Refs prior to their final tournament match in Des Moines. This was a rough outing for the Blizzards. They finished 0-2-1. The highlight of the weekend was bumping into Peanut's team from Monkeedoo. That team finished o-0-3 but had a very tough draw meeting the two best teams in their age group. Clearly this was a learning experience for both those teams.

The next few weeks are filled with more soccer, some baseball, a couple of birthdays (Chalupa on May 24, and Beaner on June 9), and several graduations (including an impromptu trip to Cincinnati??). Additionally, we anticipate a visit from Auntie E and her son (our nephew and cousin), Noah. During this visit, E and I will attend a ceremony to bestow the annual James C. Taylor award to best teaching physician as voted by the graduating residents in Iowa's Pediatric Program.

Meanwhile we continue to sketch our plans for a family trek to California. Racing into summer indeed!

Play Ball!

Beaner and I showed up for Big Dawg's little league debut. It was really cool to see him begin his baseball exploits on the very same fields where Buzz experienced his first foray with the boys of summer. Ironically, Beaner is wearing her Peppers shirt which she wore when she played softball in Monkeydoo.

Unfortunately, BD's batting debut was less than stellar. He was 0 for 1. But as you can see, his swing shows good form. In his second game... he did finally connect for a triple and an in the park homer. [The] Kid's got game!
One thing we learned is that he needs baseball pants. We found out that shorts are not (technically speaking) allowed. So we'll be hitting the sport's store this weekend to score some BB duds. Here we see him playing 3rd base. "Ready position"
Too bad his eyes are shut. Otherwise, this is a good pic of the bench. I'm sure I'll have plenty of chances to capture the "moment" ... stay tuned.

A few weekend pics

Our season's first burn. We see Chalupa, Big Dawg and Peanut taking it all in. We had a guest appearance by my college roommate Mr. Bartels. Unfortunately Sidetrack retired early. She came down with a bizarre eye infection which seemed to have been compounded by her allergies. She looked like she went 3 rounds with Ali. Thankfully, she got a diagnosis and meds on Sunday and is doing much better.

As for the burn... there are not too many things are more relaxing than sitting by the fire after a day of work.

The burn was about the only rest we had all weekend. Sunday followed with four soccer matches. Chalupa and the Magic won both their games in shut out fashion. In the second game, Chalupa was accosted in the goalie box (blind sided by the opposing team with the ball clearly in her possession) and no penalty was called! Buzz got a bit vocal (minimally) which set of the opposing team's coach who went Bobby Knight ballistic at my singular call for a Red Card. Scary that a person like that is allowed to coach young kids.

In other action, Peanut and the Blizzards won 1 - nil. The only goal was scored on an assist by the Peanut (offensive TNT... BABY!!).

Big Dawg's team won 5 - 1, and he had a goal and two assists. lSo the Taylor's were 4 - 0 for weekend soccer. After all the soccer matches, Big Dawg had ISC soccer academy. This is a fun developmental boot camp that is hosted by the ISC club. Below are the clouds that appeared overhead that eventually led to lightning and the cancellation of practice. UGH.
But true to our optimistic nature, we look for rainbows after the rainstorm, and low and behold... we found one!!! This at the very end of our street looking southeast across a recently seeded corn field (what did you expect? This is Iowa, ya know).
And such was our weekend. And so... onto our first week of May. Summer is only a month (or so) away! Whoooo Hoooo!