Having drinks in the lounge...
Monday, June 29, 2009
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Sunday Father's Day...and the Award
Father's Day in Monterey. Aahhh Sunday. We had plans to go down to the Aquarium... however, once we got down to Cannery Row... it was close to lunch. It being father's day ... the lunch/brunch crowd was there. We ate at El Torito Mexican Restuarant for lunch. Now I know we are in California... but I was needing a Mexican food fix. The view of the resturant was great.
Seal rested and sunned on the rocks below us and there were Seaguls perched on the window seal. The waves rolled in and out and boat tours passed. Sitting there watching the ocean and margarita in hand.... made the day. After lunch we were so full that we decided we needed to walk around... so we walked, looked and touched almost everything on Cannery Row.
Bought souveniors for the kids and took it all in. The day was so cold. We were freezing... so we stopped into a Toll House Bakery shop and had Hot chocolate and warm cookies. yep, more food. Endulging our chocolate cravings. MMMMM.... We walked further
up the Row, decided our purses were heavy and feet could move no more......so went into the Spa on the bay and we both got a massage. Aaahhh! Relaxed now. I could have fallen asleep just listening to the ocean - but a massage too. I am a noodle. You can now guess that we never made it to the aquarium. We went back to the Hotel to relax and wait for the evening event with Monty.
Monty helped with registration that day and worked on his own speech/talk. He went to the speaker meeting and then the Welcome reception. It was a full day for him for sure. The conference was kicking off to a good start and Monty was very excited about the upcoming week.
As I am waiting in the room... I hear a knock at the hotel door. I open the door and there is not a person standing there...but there at my feet was a trophy.. with my husbands name on it. I was so surprised to say the least. I pick it up and look around and there is Monty hiding behind the hotel door with thumbs up and a huge proud smile on his face. He was so excited that he could barely get the words out fast enough and walking on his toes into the room.
Bought souveniors for the kids and took it all in. The day was so cold. We were freezing... so we stopped into a Toll House Bakery shop and had Hot chocolate and warm cookies. yep, more food. Endulging our chocolate cravings. MMMMM.... We walked further
up the Row, decided our purses were heavy and feet could move no more......so went into the Spa on the bay and we both got a massage. Aaahhh! Relaxed now. I could have fallen asleep just listening to the ocean - but a massage too. I am a noodle. You can now guess that we never made it to the aquarium. We went back to the Hotel to relax and wait for the evening event with Monty.Monty helped with registration that day and worked on his own speech/talk. He went to the speaker meeting and then the Welcome reception. It was a full day for him for sure. The conference was kicking off to a good start and Monty was very excited about the upcoming week.
As I am waiting in the room... I hear a knock at the hotel door. I open the door and there is not a person standing there...but there at my feet was a trophy.. with my husbands name on it. I was so surprised to say the least. I pick it up and look around and there is Monty hiding behind the hotel door with thumbs up and a huge proud smile on his face. He was so excited that he could barely get the words out fast enough and walking on his toes into the room.
Out of 20,000 Oracle members, Monty was chosen from the Board of Directors to receive this award. What an honor! The trophy reads : Oracle Development Tools Users Group -
ODTUG Volunteer Award - 2009 - Monty Latiolais.
Monty was very excited to receive such an award from this prestigous group and if you can't feel the pride that I have for my husband in this blog.... you're not paying attention. I am very proud and happy for him. He has worked hard the last few years.... and this is his reward. A short 15 minutes of fame. hee hee. No, he worked for it and deserves it.
So, to celebrate we went down to the Hotel lounge and had some drinks with friends. What a great way to start the week!
Saturday stops
Saturday - Monty is up and out the door early. His primary thoughts were on the "hands-on labs" he was in charge of.. He was starting to set up the computer rooms and helping where ever anyone needed him. The conference gives him such a "high" ...the fast pace and everyone speaking his language, shaking hands and meeting all the new people arriving and getting to know them. This gives him energy.... each person there has their own "specialty" and knowledge of Oracle. Sometime he gives them ideas.. and sometimes its them who ignites ideas for him. This is his "rush" his element... His one time a year he is overly pump up with motivation. It is great to see this on his face. Like a kid at an amusement park... waiting for the next ride. ;-)
Judy and I decide to explore around town. She knows what she wants to do first.... a fabric shop.
Judy is an expert quilter and her passion comes from fabric. She wanted to go the a shop called ""Back Porch Quilts" there in Monterey. So we went... and we looked at everything... and while we were in the shop, there was a lady in the shop that was going to do a project that Judy had done before... Judy offered up advice.. and it wasn't but a minute that she had her own audience watching her explain the stitching... At first - I don't think the owner liked her stepping in.. but then once she spoke to Judy - she was appreciated the semi-class. I tell you... there is never a dull moment around her or a day without a lesson to learn. As we were leaving the shop.. we saw a sign that said " Monterey shop-hop" with the dates. It took a minute to register with us that the dates were when we would still be in Monterey. This is Candy to Judy! A shop hop!
And for those out there who doesn't have the passion for sewing and/or quilting... the shop hop is a couple of days that you hop around from quilt/fabric store to store to watch demos and see the newest sewing stuff out there that each store has to offer. The Monterey shop hop was giving out "charms and cooking receipes" at each store. I knew soon as I saw the sign... that this was going to be one of the things on our to- do list at Monterey. It was a once in a lifetime thing for her...... When would she ever be in Monterey California again to experience her son's ODTUG excitement and go to a shop hop. Likely never would it be planned this way. We were going to find the next shops. Didn't take a minute to get on the cell phones and tell Judy's quilting friends what adventure we had ran into. They of course.... were jealous. Jealous of the fact we were in Monterey.. cooler weather... And on a shop-hop! Judy was thrilled and smiling ear to ear!
Stopped off to eat Thai food, rest our feet and re-direct ourselves. Then off we go again.
Another part of our exploring for the day.. We went and walked the beach of Asilomar. The sand was white and fine... and cool on the feet! There on the beach they were setting up chairs for a wedding.. It was so neat. The waves were high and crashing and the air was crisp. June wedding on the beach. This is for sure California.
We then drove the coast line and went into Carmel. We stopped at Chateau Julien to make our first purchase of wine and of- course... wine tasting. Check out the site.. http://www.chateaujulien.com/
Judy and I decide to explore around town. She knows what she wants to do first.... a fabric shop.
Judy is an expert quilter and her passion comes from fabric. She wanted to go the a shop called ""Back Porch Quilts" there in Monterey. So we went... and we looked at everything... and while we were in the shop, there was a lady in the shop that was going to do a project that Judy had done before... Judy offered up advice.. and it wasn't but a minute that she had her own audience watching her explain the stitching... At first - I don't think the owner liked her stepping in.. but then once she spoke to Judy - she was appreciated the semi-class. I tell you... there is never a dull moment around her or a day without a lesson to learn. As we were leaving the shop.. we saw a sign that said " Monterey shop-hop" with the dates. It took a minute to register with us that the dates were when we would still be in Monterey. This is Candy to Judy! A shop hop!
And for those out there who doesn't have the passion for sewing and/or quilting... the shop hop is a couple of days that you hop around from quilt/fabric store to store to watch demos and see the newest sewing stuff out there that each store has to offer. The Monterey shop hop was giving out "charms and cooking receipes" at each store. I knew soon as I saw the sign... that this was going to be one of the things on our to- do list at Monterey. It was a once in a lifetime thing for her...... When would she ever be in Monterey California again to experience her son's ODTUG excitement and go to a shop hop. Likely never would it be planned this way. We were going to find the next shops. Didn't take a minute to get on the cell phones and tell Judy's quilting friends what adventure we had ran into. They of course.... were jealous. Jealous of the fact we were in Monterey.. cooler weather... And on a shop-hop! Judy was thrilled and smiling ear to ear!
Stopped off to eat Thai food, rest our feet and re-direct ourselves. Then off we go again.
Another part of our exploring for the day.. We went and walked the beach of Asilomar. The sand was white and fine... and cool on the feet! There on the beach they were setting up chairs for a wedding.. It was so neat. The waves were high and crashing and the air was crisp. June wedding on the beach. This is for sure California.
We then drove the coast line and went into Carmel. We stopped at Chateau Julien to make our first purchase of wine and of- course... wine tasting. Check out the site.. http://www.chateaujulien.com/
The Chateau was beautiful. Flowers everywhere. You could smell them just by walking up. The wine was wonderful and turned out being my favorite. I am usually a red wine kind of girl... but I really liked the Sangiovase Rosato wine.. but surprisingly enough my most favorite was a white wine... Gewvrzaminer. YUM-O. We had some shipped to the house.
On the drive back to Monterey, we stopped at a road side market and bought some fresh strawberries and cherries.. two avocados. Strawberries were in season there. The farmer was nice and gave us several bites of his produce. That with some crackers and the wine ... would be a good evening snack in the hotel room.
We finally made it back to the Hyatt. We ate in the lounge bar.. Knuckles. We were pretty tired by then.. still getting use to California time. Even a two hour difference can throw your hunger and sleep time off. We headed up to the room.. awaiting to hear how Monty's day turned out.
He will be blogging too... check it out @ http://www.montylatiolais.blogspot.com/
Friday- getting conference set up and learning our way around!
Friday morning, we are up and going. Went around the Hyatt to find where things were going to be... computer labs, talks, programs, etc. The set up for ODTUG 2009. For those of you out there who doesn't know about ODTUG ... it means "Oracle Development Tools User Group"..Or in my words... The Best of the Best of Oracle/Technical computer EXPERTS! The ones who write the computer books that we buy in Borders bookstores..... the behind the scene people and data that no one seems to know or understand but other technical computer nerds... hee hee hee. An Awesome & diverse group of people that we have come to call "our friends".
I went down to meet all the names that I have heard before... seen emails from... but never met face to face. It was time to put faces and smiles to those names. Monty went around to introduce me to all.. and then found myself being "volunteered" to help out with the preparations for the upcoming conference. Judy and I jumped in and declared ourselves "official tote stuffers". The Group gives out tote bags filled with pens/pad. water bottle and CD for the conference. There we go, forming a assembly line to start stuffing. Met, Dave Schleis.. fun guy with a sense of humor... also an Oracle Dev. - but Judy & I called him "boss man of the totes" because he got us going and kept the totes moving. We stuffed 700 totes that was going to be handed out at Sunday registration. Makes one realize all the hard work and its the little things.. that make up this great team and this well know conference. Kutos to Kathleen & her ladies who worked so hard to get this conference "just perfect"!
After some stuffing, Judy & I went about our first order of business... shopping! We went and got snacks for the hotel room and a few other little things.. I even stopped off to get my hair cut to start the week because I never got around to it before we left San Antonio!
Now if you know the Latiolais clan... we plan our days and to do's around food. Judy & I both love to cook and a good
meal... so, we looked up the Food Network Fav... Rachael Ray.. $40 a Day... Monterey and started with a plan. The first $40 day meal with stars, from Rachael herself.. Cafe Fina on the Wharf. http://www.cafefina.com/ That's where we went for a late lunch. Again, fresh fish, calamari and to die for dessert.. and an afternoon cocktail. We were full and in Monterey heaven! We walked the wharf... took lots of pictures and were amazed with all the flowers and the ocean air!
I went down to meet all the names that I have heard before... seen emails from... but never met face to face. It was time to put faces and smiles to those names. Monty went around to introduce me to all.. and then found myself being "volunteered" to help out with the preparations for the upcoming conference. Judy and I jumped in and declared ourselves "official tote stuffers". The Group gives out tote bags filled with pens/pad. water bottle and CD for the conference. There we go, forming a assembly line to start stuffing. Met, Dave Schleis.. fun guy with a sense of humor... also an Oracle Dev. - but Judy & I called him "boss man of the totes" because he got us going and kept the totes moving. We stuffed 700 totes that was going to be handed out at Sunday registration. Makes one realize all the hard work and its the little things.. that make up this great team and this well know conference. Kutos to Kathleen & her ladies who worked so hard to get this conference "just perfect"!
After some stuffing, Judy & I went about our first order of business... shopping! We went and got snacks for the hotel room and a few other little things.. I even stopped off to get my hair cut to start the week because I never got around to it before we left San Antonio!
Now if you know the Latiolais clan... we plan our days and to do's around food. Judy & I both love to cook and a good
meal... so, we looked up the Food Network Fav... Rachael Ray.. $40 a Day... Monterey and started with a plan. The first $40 day meal with stars, from Rachael herself.. Cafe Fina on the Wharf. http://www.cafefina.com/ That's where we went for a late lunch. Again, fresh fish, calamari and to die for dessert.. and an afternoon cocktail. We were full and in Monterey heaven! We walked the wharf... took lots of pictures and were amazed with all the flowers and the ocean air!Friday, June 19, 2009
One small step for man...One giant step....
OK, I know this isn't earth shattering, but me having my own blog?? Well, let's just say that's a pretty big step.
I've never really been into it,...blogging that is...never really felt the need to create one of my own. But, as I write this we're traveling with my husband to a conference in Monterey, CA. It strikes me that blogging is a great way to keep everyone informed as to what we're doing...kind of a virtual postcard, if you would.
I think I may keep this thing going. With one husband, two kids, and three dogs, it seems there's always something to share with you guys.
So, here goes!
I've never really been into it,...blogging that is...never really felt the need to create one of my own. But, as I write this we're traveling with my husband to a conference in Monterey, CA. It strikes me that blogging is a great way to keep everyone informed as to what we're doing...kind of a virtual postcard, if you would.
I think I may keep this thing going. With one husband, two kids, and three dogs, it seems there's always something to share with you guys.
So, here goes!
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