Ooh what a lucky man

As so eloquently put by Emerson, Lake, and Palmer in their 1970s song. I have been lucky so many times in my 74+ years on this planet. Some of the highlights ...

• the experience having four offspring and, to date, four grandchildren
• being in the right place at the right time, being Miami Beach in September 1990 for an Oracle user group conference that ended up sparking a torrid career in high tech
• discovery of high grade dysplasia, a precancerous diagnosis during a routine scope in 2013 that was arrested by a right hemicolectomy
• participating in the Canadian government's retraining program in 1983-84 that allowed me to take the four semester course at Algonquin College that kickstarted my ventures into high tech
• getting to know some folks from the Boston area that catapulted me into the Oracle Press publishing initiative with McGraw-Hill that led to the sale of hundreds of thousands of our/my books over a 15-year period
• having first-hand experiences in poor east Africa that put into perspective how lucky we are to live in Canada
• my parents who persevered through my shenanigans during my late teenage years
• learning to play guitar at summer camp in 1962 from a friend who became a well-known name in the film industry ... Saul Rubinek
• even though the academic year was a disaster, experiencing the likes of Frank Zappa, The Fugs, Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Dave Van Ronk, Eric Anderson, and more at clubs the year I attended McGill University - 1966-67
• signing up for Zoosk in the fall of 2019 which led to my meeting Dominique ... so many people have no luck finding people on the dating sites, but I found a gem of a gem
• being blessed with an innate and enthusiastic interest in the maths and sciences which was the backbone of the interests I pursued in my work and personal life
• January 1, 1983 ... September 26 1984 ... April 22 1986 ⟹ the birth dates of my four young ones
• Annabelle, Avery, Isaac, and Madeleine ... my grand kids

I believe our well being and successes are determined by the effort we put in. In the spring of 1993, a colleague from Boston was looking for someone to chair an outreach committee to the management team of Oracle, being a California-based database vendor. Mike Corey reached out to me, wondering if I would be interested in filling that position. Within the next 48 or so hours later I hit the ground running, having made contacts with our go between named Katy and set up a few followup calls to get acquainted with the mission of the committee.. 

Mike told me a while later that a number of other people he approached were PO'd that he had given the baton to me. What those other people missed was the opportunity to be a self-starter and take the horn by the bull (or maybe the other way around). My response to Mike was "I'm in" whereas there is a very good chance the other people's responses were something like "Let me know when I can start!"

Massive amount of progress on readying the place. Paty was here and we ran over a few things she needed to know as our property manager when we are away. Amongst other things we made certain she had all the keys she needs for the place and there are a lot. We covered some artwork and left them hanging on the wall or stashed some away somewhere. We bunched up the cushions on the cement couch in the L/R and covered them and some chairs to reduce the impact the salty sea air has while we are away.

About all that is left is the last minute stuff that we will do when we return from dinner tomorrow evening before we crash. It will be an early morning Sunday when a cab will be here for the airport about 5:15am. We will be back in Montreal by 9:30pm or so after a 4+ hour layover in Mexico City.