Day 104 - 115

Jan 14 - 25. Hello to all. Hard to believe January is almost over. Things have been a little more busy here in the valley. We have a lot of “things” going on at work and unfortunately the Blog has taken a back seat; (as did Barrett-Jackson and many other activities). I did run in the P. F. Chang Rock 'n Roll Marathon. I just did the Half-Marathon versus the full last time. Just another small concession to the onward march of time. I had a good time, me and 22,000 of my closest friends.

Beanie & I have been chatting on a regular basis. She’s now more that two-thirds thru her tour. We’re actually looking at when to start shipping stuff back. Cool! Jon (QA) left in early January and Brian will be leaving in late Feb-early March (~3 weeks before Kathy). Both Kathy and Brian have replacements identified. This is a good thing as they may even have some overlap time which can go a long way to transitioning the responsibilities. It’s not quite like having the Office of the Contractor Administrator Elect position, but it’s a start.

Beanie’s highlight has been another official kitty sighting. I don’t know if this is the same kitty that I have written off as lizard bait, but she said he looks very healthy; which Beanie describs as about 15lbs - or the same size as Max but with a normal size head!! Crack me up! Yep, Max is a bit of a pinhead. She said he is not completely paranoid – that is he will tolerate her being in proximity as long as she’s not too close or noisy. She got a couple of pictures, but the opportunities to actually email them home are sporadic.

The work part of the Beanie equation seems to be coming together pretty nicely. With the exception of a couple small interpretive issues, I think she’s got everything pretty much under control. I’m back on the road next month. North Carolina for a week or so and then Boston for a couple of days. I’m going to try and sneak a few day off and get up to Maine for a short visit. It all depends how the scheduling works out.

That's about it for now. Won't be too long before we can shut this thing down. Probably a good and bad thing. Take care and keep those cards and letters coming. Cheers.