30 Year Wedding Anniversary in Maui

We celebrated our 30 Year Wedding Anniversary in Maui at Kaanapali Beach which was voted the best beach in the world for 2013.

Below is my lovely bride of 30 years.  It was the perfect week.

This was the 180 degree view from our Lanai (balcony) at The Whaler in Kaanapali on the island of Maui.

We had everything that you could ask for within walking distance.

We had GREAT sunsets.  I was rather proud of myself for timing the two sailboats that were crossing just before sunset our last night in Maui on my Nikon Coolpix 9100S that I had keep rebooting because the software was acting stupid (of course) while we were there.  Note, pulling the battery and SD card out for 1/2 an hour is your best bet here to totally reboot.

You never know who you will meet.  Erik Spoelstra, head coach of the twice world champion Miami Heat was at the table next to us the first day with a nice young lady.  Very nice guy.  I told him that he was a young Phil Jackson - NBA coach with 11 rings as a Head Coach and 2 as a player.

We went snorkeling at Honolua Bay and then went for a sail on a multi-million catamaran.

You have to have a convertible in Maui.  An 8 cylinder is the way to go.  I learned the hard way the first time we went to Maui in 1989 when I had a four banger and it could not get past the diesel spewing bus in front of us on the way up to Haleakela - dormant volcano.

Below is a must in Maui - going to Lahina and having lunch at Cheese Burger in Paradise and having a few drinks.

I rented a hybrid and went for a 25 mile bike ride one day.  Hard to beat the views in Maui.

At Black Rock at Kaanapali Beach the kids like to dive off the rocks.  I am sure if my boys would have come along, they would have been doing that as well.  Not me though - not even on a bet.

I went surfing for the first time.  It was a lot harder than I thought.  When we were in Waikiki in 2000, John and Michael were 12 and 10, they went surfing and did great.  Great being that got up every time and surfed all the way in after going 100 yards out.  One of the challenges was the reason the water was breaking where we were at was the coral.  They told us that when you fall off you must do a belly or back flop to make sure that you do not hit the coral that could be 2 to 3 feet below the surface.  With everything you need to remember in terms of getting up (either the pop method or the two step method), getting balanced, riding the waves, looking out for other surfers, worrying about the freaking coral was the last thing I wanted to worry about.  I did get slightly cut and bruised after two hours.  Was it worth it? Absolutely! 

We spent every day at the beach swimming.  Tough life :)

We visited our oldest son John and his girlfriend Janet on the way back.  Here we had lunch at Tony's Pizza Napoletana - best pizza in SF.

Below is Janet, John and Julie at Sutro Baths in SF.

Above we had a great dinner at Caffe Sport.  I was first introduced to this great restaurant back in the late 1980s by Neil Groundwater.  Prior to 9/11, Caffe Sport had three dinner seatings.  They stopped that practice after 9/11 because dinner traffic in general slowed down in the city.

Below is John and Janet in the Sutro Bath area with the Golden Gate bridge in the background.  Americas Cup was going on as well, which was interesting.

[MC]2 2013 Videos NOW Available!

Thanks to AMT's Diyana Hrzic for the GREAT JOB editing ALL of these videos and for Hilena Hailu for getting these organized and posted!

As is stated at the MTConnect Institute's homepage:

[MC]2 2013 Conference Presentations and Videos Released 

The second annual [MC]2 MTConnect: Connecting Manufacturing Conference was held in Cincinnati, OH on April 10-11, 2013. With over 150 attendees, the conference brought together an energetic and inspired group of manufacturers, developers, technology builders, and technology distributors.  It consisted of business and technical tracks, and provided an opportunity to learn from the experts to understand how this game-changing technology is making tremendous productivity gains in manufacturing.  The exhibits, birds of feather sessions, and receptions also gave attendees plenty of opportunities to network.
Visit the [MC]2 2013 page to download presentations and view videos from the conference.

Michael Edstrom's Internship at AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology

My middle son, Michael, worked this summer as an internship at AMT - The Association For Manufacturing Technology.  He worked in the Communications Department helping out reviewing and writing articles as well as helping out in a variety of other ways.  AMT is where I consult and is a fantastic organization.  Michael learned a ton and had a fantastic experience.  As a father, I could not have asked for a better experience for one of my sons.  Thanks to all the great folks at AMT for providing this opportunity to Michael this summer! 

Below is a picture of Michael and me on his last day this past Thursday August 15th, 2013.  I could not be more proud of Michael.  He graduates this December from Virginia Tech with two degrees in Professional Writing as well as Creative Writing.  He is going on for his Masters Degree in English in December at VT.

We commuted in together, so Michael had to listen to my radio choices.  He probably got his fill of 60s and 70s music, Howard Stern and NPR :)