Lilacs in Rochester

I got back to Rochester Friday morning. Had been in CA for a week of work. Left a 100-degree day, Thursday. Friday in Rochester, it was 55. Yuck! The compensation is that the spring blooms are lasting a long time. The Lilac Festival ran through this weekend, I got out early in Saturday sunshine and took these pics at Highland Park.









And Tanya was with me, enjoying the beautiful day.



This isn't a lilac, but what a beautiful backdrop!



The rain clouds came in. It was showering on & off all afternoon, but in a sunny moment I got out in my neighborhood to capture the current beauty. Looking out my back door:



This is across the street:



And three doors down:



And my tulips held their petals for me:

Much Silliness Ensues

Give a ten year old a Fresnel lens and a Lucha Libre mask, and much silliness ensues. On my last trip to Rochester ... uh, visit home, uh... whatever it was, we gathered at Greg & Andrea's for dinner. Gavin kept us all entertained.

Lesson learned

Do NOT lock your car keys inside the trunk of a new car!

I was leaving work yesterday. Was all set to go when I saw I had left a bag in the office, so I grabbed 2 sets of keys - my car keys with the building key on it; and the rental car keys. (I had my backpack & purse already in the trunk, as I was going to go to an outdoor concert next.) Ran back inside, grabbed the bag I'd forgotten, back out where I opened the car trunk, tossed in the bag, dropped the car keys in my purse, shut the trunk and oh my god - it was the rental car keys I'd tossed. in. I had my New York set in my hand.

I'm now locked out of the office, with my phone & computer in the trunk. Thankfully I had my wallet, and a co-worker was still inside. He let me back in where I first called Hertz, then AAA. An hour later, I flagged down the AAA truck as it was passing by, turns out somehow they had gotten past me on their first swing through - and since I didn't have my cell phone, it being locked in the trunk & all, they couldn't reach me. So he opened the door with a wire through the crack in the window, setting off the alarm. And, of course, disabling the electronic trunk release. Perfectly logical from an anti-theft point. So, he called a locksmith out. After he finally arrived, it took him a couple hours to get the trunk open. By then I was cold, tired, and emotionally on the edge. I was observing myself trying to go to the "oh poor pitiful me, no one to call, no one to care, I'm all alooooone" place. I would then think how wonderful it was that AAA and the locksmith were available to be called upon. And both people were great, and helpful.

So Saturday in CA started out great - worked out, did work on the computer in the hotel room, then got a pedicure, lunch, got great work done at the office. But instead of seeing the Robert Cray band perform, I hung out in a parking lot as the sun went down, watching guys working on the lock. I finished the evening with some badly needed bathrobe therapy at the hotel.

Well, I'm back

Back in California again, drinking in the beauty. I am now working fulltime at IronKey, loving it even as it takes just about all of my time. Great company, great people to work with.

April was a whirlwind month. The first week, FOSE show in DC went very well:



The next week, RSA in San Francisco, went even better; IronKey won Best Mobile Security Device. As the CEO said "this definitely doesn't suck!" (Degrees of not sucking are his compliments.)

I was in Rochester for a week, then off to London for the Information Security Europe show. That one was easier - we just showed up to work it; one of our partners did all the logistics.

I was "home" for 8 days in April! Who needs a house?

It has been such a wonderful year for Spring. It started in California, in February, where spring explodes like a sneeze - everything in bloom at once. But it sweeps through in colors. First, it's white. Then yellow, then purple & blue. It was so familiar.

Then, I was in DC for peak cherry blossom season. Incredibly beautiful and subtle at the same time:










Rochester was just starting to thaw when I returned. London was at mid-spring, with lots of tulips and daffodils in bloom.

Finally, late April, back in Rochester, spring had finally arrived. It was breathtaking. I had forgotten how many blooming trees are there - cherry, crabapple, magnolias, and 2 as-yet unidentified white blooming trees. These pictures are on a walk through my neighborhood, a couple weeks ago.





This is my brother's backyard, on Cranberry Pond.


And, 3 blocks from me, Lake Ontario:


Kuan Yin, at the local Buddhist Temple. I greet her every time I drive to my house.








And this is my next door neighbor's spring show: