SmartRegion.org

I've been a bit busy with several websites and creating a blog for my work at the Hampton Roads Partnership. Be sure to visit SmartRegion.org to learn more about Hampton Roads and sign up to receive the HRP e-News, too.

Your chance to be heard and learn how to get engaged!

Happy Valentine's Day

My honey sent me a V-gram!
awwww!

Missy "hearts" Bert, too!

Things For Which I'm Thankful

... sorry, I missed "Thanksgiving." But, better late than never.

My honey, Bert, first and foremost.

My family and friends. New and old, near and far.

My job and the opportunity to work with others who truly want to make a difference in our community.

My geekness; geek is the new "cool."

My job. Did I mention this already? With the walls falling down around us, we should all be grateful to have our health and our ability to learn and adapt. Sure, budgets may not be growing like they once were -- but hey, "flat is the new up." And for all those out there whose jobs may not be secure -- rest assured, this too shall pass.

PolarPlunge.com

Hampton Roads really DOES have it all. PolarPlunge is for a good cause, Special Olympics. It's cold, but heart-warming. If you missed it, there's always next year...

25 Random Things About Me, from Facebook

From Graphic from my Homepage Picasa Album

Honeymoon in Vegas, Helicopter Ride over the Strip

It's spelled N O R F O L K, but not pronounced that way

Ok, watch this to the end: here's a NY student at ODU who knows the proper pronunciation!

Avenue Q came to Hampton Roads

We missed seeing the Tony Award-winning "Avenue Q" in NYC in 2008; go figure, it was sold out! But, luckily, we got tix during their Norfolk VA show.

In a word, "Avenue Q" is AWESOME! Sesame Street for adults! Loved it!

Voting is a privilege

The Inauguration on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 of our 44th President, an African-American man, prompted this post. My prediction of many years ago has come to pass.

I've always said - since I was old enough to understand such matters, i.e. knee-high to a grasshopper - that the U.S. would have an African-American man as President before a woman. Here's why:

The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States to prevent a citizen from voting based on that citizen's race, color or previous condition of servitude (i.e., slavery). It was ratified on February 3, 1870.

The Nineteenth Amendment (Amendment XIX) to the United States Constitution prohibits each of the states and the federal government from denying any citizen the right to vote because of that citizen's sex. The Nineteenth Amendment was specifically intended to extend suffrage to women. It was proposed on June 4, 1919 and ratified on August 18, 1920.

Voting rights took another 50 years for women after our African-American neighbors; let’s hope voting FOR a woman into office as President doesn’t take that long.

Born Again American, watch, listen, read...

by Keith Carradine

Just a workin’ man without a job
It got shipped off to China via Washington, D.C.
And I know I’m nothin’ special, there are plenty more like me
Just the same
I thought I knew the rules of the game

I stood up for this country that I love
I came back from the desert to a wife and kids to feed
I’m not sayin’ Uncle Sam should give me what I need
My offer stands
I’ll pull my weight you give me half a chance

I went up to a congressman and said to him “you know
Our government is letting people down”
He said he’d need a lot of help to buck the status-quo
I said there was a bunch of us around

I’m a Born Again American, conceived in Liberty
My Bible and the Bill of Rights, my creed’s equality
I’m a Born Again American, my country ‘tis of me
And everyone who shares the dream from sea to shining sea

My brother’s welding chassis at the plant
He’s earning what our granddad did in 1948
While CEOs count bonuses behind the castle gates
How can they see
When all they care about’s the do re mi

It’s getting where there’s nowhere left to turn
Not since the crash of twenty-nine have things been so unfair
So many of our citizens are living in despair
The time has come
To reaffirm that hope’s not just for some

The promise of America’s surrendering to greed
The rule is just look out for number one
But brace yourself ‘cause some of us have sown a different seed
A harvest of the spirit has begun

I’m a Born Again American conceived in liberty
My Bible and The Bill Of Rights
My creed’s equality
A Born Again American, my country ‘tis of me
And everyone who shares the dream from sea to shining sea

It’s clear my country’s soul is on the line
She’s hungering for something that she lost along the way
The principle the framers called upon us to obey
That in this land
The people’s will must have the upper hand

I felt the calling once before and took a sacred vow
And faithful to that vow I have remained
I hear the calling once again, my country needs me now
And to her cause I have been re-ordained

I’m a Born Again American conceived in liberty
My Bible and the Bill Of Rights, all people living free
A Born Again American, my country ‘tis of me
And everyone who shares the dream
From sea to shining sea
And everyone who shares the dream
From sea to shining sea
A M E R I C A

Air and Simple Gifts

One of my favorite moments of the Inauguration on Tuesday, January 20, 2009 was this performance. John William's new "arrangement" for Barack Obama's Presidential Inauguration, featuring Itzhak Perlman, Yo Yo Ma, Gabriela Montero and Anthony McGill.

Mr. Perlman has appeared in Hampton Roads many times with the Virginia Symphony, and we've had the pleasure of enjoying his music.

Schmidt-Gutenberger Family Christmas 2008

Our Wedding Pictures in Las Vegas

Click on the picture above for our Wedding Album
and Happy New Year to one and all!

Heartwarming Holidays in the Military

12/19/2008 - U.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Heath Bahyi observes boxed cargo being air-dropped from a C-130 Hercules aircraft over the island of Yap Dec. 19, 2008, during Operation Christmas Drop. The drop, which is the Air Force’s longest-running humanitarian mission, is part of a tradition to deliver supplies to the remote islands Yap, Palau, Chuuk, Pohnpei and the Northern Marianas Islands. More than 180 boxes were built for the humanitarian mission, making 2008 one of the largest drops in the operation’s 57-year history. Bahyi is a loadmaster from the 36th Airlift Squadron, Yokota Air Base, Japan. (DoD photo by Master Sgt. Kevin J. Gruenwald, U.S. Air Force/Released) VIRIN: 081219-F-6911G-353

12/20/2008 - U.S. Marine Corps Lt. Col. Jonathan O. Gackle, the commanding officer of Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron 12, holds a child from the Ninoshimakaku orphanage during Santa’s visit to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, Japan, Dec. 20, 2008. Children from the orphanage go to the base every year to participate in different activities to celebrate the holiday season. (DoD photo by Sgt. Ricardo A. Gomez, U.S. Marine Corps/Released) VIRIN: 081220-M-9609G-028

12/21/2008 - U.S. Army Spc. David Cartwright, assigned to 1st Platoon, 230th Military Police Company, 793rd Military Police Battalion, 18th Military Police Brigade, feeds puppies at the Iraqi Police District Headquarters in Mahawil, Iraq, Dec. 21, 2008. (DoD photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Wendy Wyman, U.S. Navy/Released) VIRIN: 081221-N-4245W-075