It Pays to be a Good Doobie

I've been offline for a bit now as I picked up the family and relocated back to Massachusetts. Our time in California was excellent - both personally and professionally - and it was a bit sad to leave. While it's nice to be home, I did witness the strangest phenomenon this morning - tiny little ice crystals on the lawn... What's up with that???

Anyways, we have some big things in the pipeline in the coming week but to help my blogging fingers adjust to the arctic cold of New England, I thought I'd ramp back up with something lite...

I had the pleasure of getting a round of golf in with a friend before leaving CA. We played at Wente Vineyards - if you ever get out to Livermore, check it out, it's a beautiful course. <Sarcasm> As usual, I was atop my game and the envy of those around me </sarcasm>. Somewhere around the eighth hole, I spotted a money clip with a considerable amount of $$$ in it. Being the good 'doobie' I am, I turned it in to the next course official we bumped into.

An our or so later, the official returned to tell us that the owner had claimed his money and was waiting for us at the bar to buy a round. The gentleman turned out to be none other than Mike Hossack, the drummer for the band The Doobie Brothers.

Mike is an extremely interesting person who was gracious enough to buy a couple of rounds and pick up the tab for dinner. As it would turn out, Mike was in town to play a gig the following night at Wente Vineyards  featuring the Doobie Boys *and* Peter Frampton... What a bill. As if dinner wasn't enough, Mike hooked us up with front row seats for the show and after show passes.

It was the first concert I'd ever been to set in the middle of lush vineyards. What a fantastic evening we had - between the setting, the beautiful CA weather, a nice bottle of Wente Short Stock, etc;. On top of this, both bands far exceeded my expectations. If you ever get a chance to see either of these groups play - Do it. The Doobie Brothers were excellent and Frampton not only excelled as a guitarist (I had NO idea), but also highlighted his amazing personality - keeping the crowd in stitches between sets.

Looking back, my time in CA was perfect...  I got a chance to work with our amazing West Coast team, managed to meet some really bright folks in the eBiz space such as Jeremiah and Sean, and also got to close out the trip with an amazing concert... I could not have asked for more - But it's nice to be home.

Cheers for now,
LD