StillSecure, After All These Years

Father, son go where no man has gone before

I had another one of those Father- son moments with my two boys this past Saturday night. When our babysitter came down sick, we had to cancel plans to go out to dinner and instead, Bonnie and I  went out with the kids for a quick dinner and a movie.  I was drooling to see the new Star Trek movie and since it was rated PG-13 I thought it would be OK for the kids to see.  Well OK there was some harsh language and some sexy scenes (my younger son Bradley said “enough romance already”), but sharing Star Trek with my sons and seeing them becoming trekkies was a very rewarding experience.  The movie really opened their minds to the whole Trek universe, including the far out science and technology.  As a dad it did my heart proud to hear them say “live long and prosper”.

As to the movie I went in with mixed feelings about whether or not this movie would be good enough.  How could young actors take the place of my beloved Enterprise crew.  But they did a great job.  I loved the young Kirk and Spok.  Lt Uhura, Scotty, Bones and the rest were all great.  I can’t wait for the next movie in this series.  My favorite line was when Mr Spok’s father in his best unemotional Vulcan manner tells his son that he married his mother because he loved her.  The movie was a great Mother’s Day night out with my wife and kids. The whole family got into the Trek thing.

Seeing it in Boca was a trip too.  Sitting next to Bonnie was an elderly couple who were big Trek fans.  First the gentlemen told Bonnie that he knew that Mr Spok’s mother was actually Jewish. I am not sure if he meant the actress playing the role or if he really believes Mr Spok was half Jewish in addition to Vulcan and Human? In any event, when the Enterprise crew was assembled on the bridge at the end of the movie, this poor guy just couldn’t contain himself. He was crying like a baby. He told his wife that is where he wants to be.

All in all taking the family to see the new Trek movie, about 32 dollars. Lots of popcorn and soda, about 17 dollars.  Watching the movie and bonding with the kids through the Star Trek experience, priceless!  Watching it in Boca and finding out that Mr Spok may be half Jewish?  Going where no man has gone before!

Seriously, if you appreciate Star Trek at all, you should go see this movie.

Pictures worth a thousand words

This past weekend I was pointed to an article which made me sad and made me reminisce.  The assets of Polaroid which went bankrupt in December were sold to a pair of companies who specialize in picking up bankrupt name brands such as The Sharper Image, Linens-n-Things and Bombay. But for me the loss of Polaroid hit hard. Being maybe a little older then most of you, I remember before there were digital cameras. I even remember before there was one hour photo processing. You had to bring your film into a store who sent it out and in about 3 to 5 days maybe you could come pick up your pictures.  Not exactly instant gratification.  Unless of course you were lucky enough to have a Polaroid. I am not talking about the SX70 models that were so popular in the 1980’s. You know James Garner and the woman who would do those cute commercials. They would snap a picture and the camera would spit it out. Then watching the instant photo it would develop before your eyes. Sort of like the picture to the right. I guess many of you may think of that as a Polaroid. But I remember even before that.

My memories of Polaroid cameras go back to when i was a very little boy, maybe 4 or 5 years old.  My Grandfather had a Polaroid camera that looked more like the one to the left. I remember feeling a  sense of magic as he would take a picture of my cousin Jeri Dee or my brother or I. The flash bulb would go off really bright and I would see spots.  I used to love seeing the used flash bulbs, all burnt out. Don’t ask me why I remember that or why I was attracted to it.  Then my Grandpa would pull the picture out of the side of the camera. It would make a noise as it was pulled out.  Then you would wave the picture for what felt like forever, but was probably somewhere between 30 and 60 seconds.  He would then peel the front off the picture and there would be a picture! Between the smell of the flash and the unique chemical smell of the picture it was something that would stick with me and was unmistakable. I would look at those little pictures, with the colors kind of off for hours and hours. I did not understand why anyone would use the other kind of cameras that would take so long to get the pictures.  Forever after I always associated Polaroid cameras with my Grandfather.  Unfortunately my Grandfather died when I was 8 or 9. That was the end of Polaroid pictures for me.  Yes I probably owned an SX70 at some point, but that wasn’t the same.

So when I read that this is the end of the Polaroid camera there was a bit of a little boy me in who relived that whole memory again, lost that sense of magic of your Grandpa conjuring up pictures instantly and capturing some great times that now exist only in my memories.

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Sandy the Boca Bulldog

Big weekend at the Shimel house! As readers of my blog know, we lost our bulldog Jake right before New Years Eve.  Jake was about 10 years old and was the only dog my sons ever had.  After Jake we were not in any rush to get another dog.  Frankly, my wife was not sure she wanted a another dog and if she did, if another bulldog was what she wanted.

Well the week before last one of the parents we see walking the kids to school everyday told us about a bulldog puppy that was over at the Tri County Humane Society in Boca.  Tri County is no kill shelter that takes in a lot of dogs and cats for adoptions, as well as taking care of sick or unadoptable animals. 

I went in (without telling Bonnie) and was told the dog was at the vets, but that there was indeed a 3 month old bulldog puppy for adoption.  There had been like 50 people who had applied to adopt her, but they were going through the apps looking for the perfect fit.  I figured I had a slim to none shot, but filled out the application and also attached a copy of the blog article I wrote about Jake.  I told Bonnie about it because I figured nothing would come of it.  Well this past Thursday they called up that reading the article and looking over our app, they thought we were perfect for the dog if we wanted her.

Saturday morning the kids and I dragged Bonnie to the shelter.  Once we got in the adoption room, in a room full of barking dogs in cages there was one little girl sitting very quietly waiting for her family.  It was love at first sight and even Bonnie melted.  We picked her up later that afternoon!  We have named our 3 month old Boca Bulldog Sandy (as in Sandy Baby in Grease) and she has already returned a lot of the joy to our house.  For the first time in months I am watching Animal Planet again.  Walking the dog, training her, watching the kids play with her and Bonnie love her.  No we won’t forget Jake, but nothing like a puppy to make you smile!  Welcome to the family Sandy Baby!

Ain’t that America

These days our home life pretty much revolves around baseball.  My youngest son Braclley plays coach pitch in the West Boca Raton Baseball League where I coach him.  My oldest son Landon plays travel baseball for the West Boca Panthers and for recreation ball joined the Boca Raton Little League.  This is the first year for the Boca Raton Little League.  Though there are 4 or 5 different leagues in Boca, there has not been an official Little League here in over 10 years.

I heard some good things about what they were trying to do with the Little League so registered Landon in it.  Some of the games are played at the FAU stadium which is pretty cool. The kids also got major league style uniforms with their names on them.  All nice touches. 

Tonight was the opening night for the Little League. It was small town America at its greatest, Boca style. It was at FAU stadium.  Each team paraded around the field led by the official Little League mascot Dugout, while their names were announced over the loud speakers.  In Boca style the announcers were two local residents who volunteered to help.  You may have heard of them, Dick Stockton and Lesley Visser.  That’s right that Dick and Lesley.  It was very cool!  The mayor threw out the first ball. A trophy was presented for display in city hall with the names of all the players in this inaugural season and Dick and Leslie hung around and did the play by play and color commentary for the 1st game of t he year!

Put aside the Dick Stockton- Leslie Visser thing though and it was America at its best.  Kids parading, parents clapping, hot dogs and peanuts.  I love football, but baseball is still America’s game!

In honor of the Little League here is a John Cougar Melloncamp song: Pink House, set to some patriotic images.

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What I did on my holiday vacation

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OK gang, I am back and looking forward to 2009.  Hey it can't be any worse than 2008 can it?  Anyway, when I last wrote my family and I were saying goodbye to our dog Jake.  We had planned a short trip on New Years day and as it worked out, it was good for all of us to get away from the house which just seems empty without Jake. 

We were planning to go to St. Augustine and then stop at the Kennedy Space Center.  It turned out to be a great trip.  For those of you not familiar, St. Augustine is actually the oldest city in North America (settled by Europeans anyway).  Originally "discovered" by Ponce de Leon in the early 1500's while looking for the mythical Fountain of Youth, St Augustine was already a city 50 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock.  There is a ton of history to visit and tour dating from the 1500 and 1600's all the way through the late 1800's and early 1900's when the city was the wintering grounds for the Vanderbilt's, Whitney's, Rockefellers and so forth. My oldest son Landon is learning about the history of Florida in school this year, so this trip we toured a lot of places he learned about.  It was very educational and cultural for all of us.

Stopping at the Kennedy Space Center brought out the kid in me.  Seeing the rockets, the capsules and all of the space program history had me dreaming of becoming an astronaut again.  We had lunch with Story Musgrave, who flew 6 shuttle missions including a space walk to repair the Hubble Space telescope.  The space center folks have done a great job making this a real fun destination for kids and adults alike.  We stayed a second day because we could not take it all in one day.  If you get a chance, Kennedy Space Center is a great place to visit.  Also our space program is really one of the crown jewels of America. I am going to write more about that in another post.

This was our first vacation where it was not waiting on one line or another to go on a ride or sitting at a pool or beach.  I have waited years for the boys to be old enough to appreciate an educational trip like this. I am really looking forward to more of these kinds of trips in the years to come!

Now back to work and security and making 2009 a year to remember!

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Jake the bulldog

We had to put our dog Jake down today due to cancer.  He was just shy of 10 years old, but that is actually pretty old for a bulldog.  Jake was a perfect specimen of his breed.  Gentle yet stubborn, a steadfast friend and pet. He wasn't the smartest dog in the world (most bulldogs aren't), he didn't know how to play fetch and he didn't even know how to swim. But a more gentle and loving soul never existed in a dog.

I remember when I first saw Jake.  I was working at Interliant in Purchase, NY.  My wife was home in Long Island, 7 and 1/2 months pregnant with our oldest son Landon.  I was at lunch on a bright spring day in May in NY with a bunch of work friends.  The receptionist came running out to tell me that my wife was on the phone hysterical.  I immediately thought the worst about the pregnancy. When I got Bonnie on the phone, in between sobs she told me that our first bulldog, Herschel (who we had adopted from bulldog rescue) had died.  She was inconsolable.  I ran home to do what I could, but Bonnie would not come out of bed for days.  She was very depressed and going on 8 months pregnant this was not good.

I found a pretty famous bulldog breeder out on Long Island and called to see if they were expecting pups.  A nice little old lady told me they actually had a litter right now.  I called Bonnie and told her to get dressed I was taking her out after work.  When she asked where, I told her it was a surprise.  We went to the breeders house and when we opened the door we were confronted with about a half dozen fluffy bulldog puppies.  There was one little fat guy, fawn and white with a black mask who would not leave Bonnie alone.  He jumped on her legs and demanded her attention.  Even when the lady took them away, this one little puppy kept coming back to her.  That was Jake. It was love at first sight. We took him home a few days later and he has been part of our family ever since.

He was a perfect companion to Landon when he was born.  They were babies together.  Jake was always gentle with him.  When Bradley was born a few years later, Jake was the perfect dog. No matter how much the boys climbed on him or pulled his ears or nose, Jake would keep coming back for more love. 

We showed Jake in a few dog shows for bulldogs and he always won his age class.  Walking a bulldog around is different.  Some people run from them, some people run to them.  Many dogs don't know what to expect from them. 

I used to say that Jake and I walking around was "Jake and the Fat Man".  People always stopped to admire him and Jake would always oblige with a big bulldog kiss. He enjoyed the celebrity that came with his bulldog good looks. Every day was a new day for Jake. There were people to see, trees and bushes to sniff.  His favorite pastime though was picking out a place in the yard where the sun would shine down on him. He loved laying in the sun.

Most of all Jake was a great dog and part of our family.  We may one day get another dog, but we will never replace Jake. He gave love as much as he was loved.  If you have never had and loved a dog, you just don't understand the bond between a dog and his family.  A piece of you goes to sleep with them. Until we meet again, rest easy my friend.

Back from Christmas, but on my way out again

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Just wanted to drop a quick note that I have not abandoned the blog.  Just really busy with Holiday stuff and end of quarter/year business.  New Years Day I am taking the family on a mini-vacation for a few days here in Florida, so will be AWOL again.  Lots of big news though coming up in the next week or two around both the Security Bloggers Network (check out the site for some of the new look) and some news with StillSecure as well.  Stay tuned and Happy New Year to all of my readers!

A Father-Son movie moment

I still remember the first time I saw the movie Brian's Song on TV. I was 10 years old. I had never heard of Brian Piccolo, knew who Gayle Sayers was, but wasn't a big fan and was crazy for football.  For those not familiar, it is the true story of two football players who become more than friends and urge each other on to be all they can be.  Brian Piccolo develops cancer and tragically dies at age 26.  I cried my eyes out. Anyone who has ever watched the movie has cried their eyes out.  It stars Billie Dee Williams as Gayle Sayers and James Caan as PIc.  There was a remake about 10 years later and though it was good, the original has stayed with me my whole life. The haunting melody of the theme song is enough to move me to tears.

My oldest son Landon loves football movies. He mentioned Gayle Sayers to me a couple of times from some old clips he saw. I told him about Brian's Song and we talked about renting it one night at Blockbuster.  Today on the way out of the grocery store in the discount DVD bin we came across the movie. It was the only copy left and looked a bit beat up, but I thought it must be meant for us to come across. So I paid the 10 bucks and we went home to watch it.

My wife is away this weekend so it was just me and the kids.  My younger son was watching Wall-e in his room and wasn't interested in Brian's Song. Just as well, it is over his head.  Watching it with Landon was a special moment for me as a Dad.  Like me he was totally enthralled with the game clips interspersed in the movie.  But in between clips you could not but admire the friendship these two players had and what they meant to each other.  I relived with him watching for the first time the shock of someone getting sick and the doctors can't make them better.  How could someone so healthy be so sick?  Why would God do such a thing.  Landon sat through the movie and at the end when Sayers makes his impassioned speech on accepting the most courageous player award, we both sat there crying while I held him.  We both cried through the end of the movie,and then after a while, we spoke about what great players they both were and what great friends they were.

After this I dug into my junk draw to look for something I have had since shortly after I saw that movie all those years ago - a Brian Piccolo football card. I had held on to it all these years. I guess maybe some part of me wanted to share that with my son someday. When the time came, I couldn't find it!  I will tear the house apart tomorrow looking for it. But it wasn't the card that mattered.  It was sharing this experience with Landon. I know we will both never forget Brian's Song now.  Whenever he hears that song, I hope he will remember that he saw that movie for the first time, with his Dad holding him, both of us crying for the tragedy of a courageous life cut too short.  Special moments of being a Dad.

A Facebook success story

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So we all join the take your pick social network (myspace, facebook, linked in). We network up with people we know or meet.  Sometimes we even hook up with people we haven't seen in a while.  Then we start trying to figure out what else we can do on these networks.  What apps are available to get more value. But we sometimes forget that the real value in social networks is in the people.  You don't need the calendar app. You don't need the snowball and have a drink stuff.  It is really about getting together with people.

This weekend we visited a friend of my wife Bonnie's from elementary school.  Bonnie went to school with this woman from kindergarten through 5th grade and had not really seen her since.  So here we were 30+ years later and Bonnie and this woman found each other on Facebook.  She lives in Connecticut , but her and her family have a second home in Ft Lauderdale.  They were down for the long holiday weekend.  Her husband and her have 3 kids around my kids age. 

Bonnie and her friend made plans for us to come over on Sunday.  Bonnie was very excited to see her friend, but didn't really know what to expect.  After threatening our kids with lifelong video game bans if they did not behave, we headed over. When Bonnie saw her friends they were both moved to tears.  After that, they picked up where they left off 30+ years ago.  Our kids had a great time playing Wii with their kids and they had football on the TV, so Bonnie's friends husband and I did the universal male thing, talk football.  We stayed for about 3 or 4 hours and a great time was had by all.

Heading home Bonnie was so happy that she saw her friend.  It was a very special day for her.  She got home and tried to figure out how to find other friends she had.  And that is the real power and attraction of social networks.

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What are you thankful for? Its probably right in front of you

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OK, let me get sentimental here a bit about tomorrow's Thanksgiving holiday here in the US.  Sitting here at my laptop typing a blog post while I listen to "Pocketful of Sunshine" by Natasha Beddingfield, thinking about going to a party tonight, football game tomorrow morning and up to my family for a big holiday dinner tomorrow, we take for granted our lives.  In fact more than take for granted, we actually complain and wonder why we don't have it better.  Even in these tough economic times, for the most part we are spared the real disruptions and tough times that many in this world confront every day and that our grandparents faced in years gone by.

I was reminded of this last night while watching my sons baseball team practice.  I was talking to a mom of another boy on the team.  Having seen this family throughout the baseball season a couple of times a week, I never noticed or thought anything of them other than they were nice people and their son has a great compact swing when hitting.   I mentioned to the Mom that we had gone away this past weekend across the state to Naples and had a great time.  She told me that they have not had any vacation for 2 years.  Her husband lost his job 2 years ago and has not been able to find another one.  She is a licensed nurse and works 50+ hours a week and makes 50k a year.  She supports herself, the two boys and her husband on this.  They are 5 months behind on their mortgage and she is at her wits end. 

Now of course you can say why can't the husband find a job.  I don't know, but that isn't the point.  Think about the pressure her and this family live with everyday and what it must feel like hearing about others going to Disney or other places on vacation here in Florida. Thinking about trying to buy healthy foods that cost more money.  About getting the kids extra help so they do better in school.  For me it made me realize that my problems can be very small indeed compared to others, even right in your community.

So be thankful for what you have. For sure there are others who look at what you have and would be grateful for it.  Look no further than what you have in front of you and realize that no matter what, it could be a lot worse.

Happy Thanksgiving to you all!

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