The WeBLOG of Harold Leyes

An Incredible 20-Year Gift!

2010-02-18T10:56:00.014-05:00

For the entire first week of February 2010, Joyce and I were treated to a cruise of several Caribbean islands aboard the Wind Surf sailing ship, starting and ending from Barbados. This trip was given to us by Dean Schreiner, and George and Glenn Slay in honor of my 20th anniversary at Coastal Computer Corporation, now dESCO, LLC. The four of us, and also Tim Brooks who was hired at the same time, worked together for many years. Dean is now the president/owner, so I continue to work with him every day. This cruise was a complete surprise that was given to us at the company Christmas party!

We drove to Miami, and took a flight from Miami Internation to Barbados. Barbados is a Caribbean island southeast of Puerto Rico in a string of islands that reach almost all the way down to South America. We set sail each day before dinner for the next island, and we would sail all night to arrive there before we awakened the next morning.

There were evenings when the winds were stiff enough to sail to the next island with sails only. When we were on the Altantic side of the string of islands, we would get that stronger Atlantic wind, but when we were on the west side of the islands, the winds were calmer. On those parts of the trip, the captain would use the engines to move us. It was always a dramatic time around 5:30 pm each night when the sails would be hoisted, and that would start to move the ship our of our current port, starting with the bow of the boat being moved first.

Our stateroom was on the lowest deck, which was great because we would feel the least movement of the ship. When I looked out of the portal in our room, the water line would be between my ankles and knees. There were times when the water was more turbulent when the waves would reach over the level of the windows and sometimes splash the windows themselves. There was a gentle movement of the ship from side-to-side when we were under way, and sleeping was no problem considering the motion. But, there were times during higher winds when it was difficult to eat dinner on the top decks because of the motion, and lying down in bed in the room on Level 1 was the best thing to get rid of the problem.

We'd wake up the next morning with a different view out our window. We would be anchored at a different port on a different island. Small orange tender boats would shuttle back and forth from the Wind Surf to the pier on the island, and we were free to walk around, go shopping, or do activities. The ship itself had internet access, but they recommended taking the laptop on the island to find access there at a Wi-Fi hotspot. It was funny to sit in an open-air, thatched-roof restaurant, fire up the laptop, and watch the emails fill my Outlook Inbox. Gilligan's Island Online!

There were several restaurants on board. We ate our breakfasts and lunches at the Veranda, which was half-inside, half-outside. The buffet was located inside, and the grill to order custom omelets was outside. The weather was great - mid-80's, dry and sunny, so we ate outside at a table on the deck most of the time.

For dinner, there were inside restaurants and on-deck restaurants. We all ate as a group each and every night. One particular night was seafood night on the rear deck, but the wind was so strong that it was causing extra movement of the ship. It was difficult to eat, so Joyce and I excused ourselves from the group. A few nights later, we ate at the same place. The winds were calm, and the skies were clear with a canopy of stars overhead. It was a delight to eat dinner that night under the open sky.

(More text and pix will be added. Check back soon!)

Happy New Year To All!

2009-12-31T11:32:00.003-05:00

Hard to believe that another year has gone by, and it's just as hard to believe that it's been ten years since the big Y2K deal! God has been good to us this year as always, and we look forward to His continued blessings in this next year.

Notre Dame Football

Charlie Weis has left after another 6-6 year, and Brian Kelly from Cincinnati has been hired. A work trip took me to Cincinnati when all the speculation was going on the week before the big hiring announcement was made. I was wearing an ND jacket both on the plane and in restaurants and stores in Cincinnati, and it always was able to start conversations about football. One lady even asked me if I was a coach :o)

For us diehard ND football fans, it's always painful to watch the team lose as much as they do these days. What a deflated feeling to stand in the stadium for a game or two each year and to see the clock wind down to zero with the home team having the lower number on the scoreboard. From what I can tell, everyone is excited about Brian Kelly coming to coach.

It's also amusing to watch the sportcasters, particularly on ESPN, reporting on Notre Dame football as a top story. Even when we are down, we are the big story in the country. Some sports guys will wonder why we are still talking about Notre Dame these days when they are losing (they themselves are talking about ND by wondering why we're still talking about ND). ND will always be ND for some reason that I can't explain....it's a feeling, a place and an attitude that I grew up with.

I heard someone say that the three hardest jobs in the country are the president of the United States, the mayor of New York, and the head football coach at Notre Dame. As can be seen by the head coach turnover since Lou Holtz left in '96, it's not for everybody. We're both excited about the new coach, and we're excited to see what will happen in the fall of 2010!

2010

It reminds me of the movie, the sequel to "2001: A Space Odyssey". I wish that our space program would have had us out to some planet by 2001, much less a second trip in 2010. Space travel is still as fascinating to me today as it was back in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo days.

Joyce, Liesl and I wish you the best this New Years and in the new year to come!

20 Years In One Place

2009-12-29T13:13:00.002-05:00

Now this is hard to believe: I have now been at my current position for twenty whole years! I moved to Fort Myers, FL in 1983, and I started with Coastal Computer Corporation (now dESCO, LLC) in January of 1990. Dean will remind you that I was hired in December of '89 but didn't start until January of 1990 because of some previously-scheduled Christmas trip to Indiana.

What have I done, and what do I do? I am a software trainer, programmer, web developer and technical writer. I travel and train new and existing customers in our software an average of once each month. (That's 12 per year times 20 years with a few extras in there, so that's just about 250 trips in the US and Canada over that period of time. Assuming four legs on each trip, that's 1000 plane rides).

Here's an article that appeared on our company website. Scroll down to the bottom of the page:
http://www.desco-soft.com/newsletters/2009december.html

Music Of The Season

2009-11-27T18:30:00.002-05:00

Here are a few little Christmas tunes for ya':

http://www.haroldleyes.com/mp3/2009%20-%20HL%20-%20What%20Child%20Is%20This.mp3

http://www.haroldleyes.com/mp3/2009%20-%20HL%20-%20Joy%20To%20The%20World.mp3

The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

2009-11-20T09:15:00.002-05:00

It's not just a cliche, it's the truth. There's an FM radio station down here in Fort Myers that starts their Christmas music programming early. That day was November 16th, last Monday. But earlier than that, we started our rehearsing of Christmas music at Riverside. We will be doing those songs throughout December including an extra service on Sunday, December 20th, and also two Christmas Eve services. What a blessing it is to play my guitar on all of that music right next to Joyce on piano. She also is responsible for choir and music selection, soloist selection, and choir rehearsal. It all brings home the true "reason for the season": "For unto us is born this day a Savior, which is Christ the Lord". Without the Savior, there would be no hope of heaven for anyone...He's the only ticket.

Fall Vacation Back Home In Indiana

2009-10-25T15:38:00.005-04:00

It's almost over, but it was a great time up here in South Bend! It was a time for football, family, friends, fall, and a bunch of other stuff.

Joyce and I attended the USC game on the 17th. As with many ND games this year, it came down to the final minute. Our seats are at the goal line to the right of the pressbox, and the final drive took place at our end of the field. We couldn't quite punch it in for the tying score that would have sent the game into overtime, but it was exciting nevertheless. ND had a second chance after a review showed that :01 was left on the clock. The intended receiver slipped, and the pass dropped incomplete. It brought back memories of the 2005 USC game here in the stadium where USC drove from inside their own 10-yard line to the exact same spot in our end zone. The difference was that they were able to score to win the game. It was great to attend another game in the stadium!

The game on October 24th was against Boston College, a university similar to Notre Dame. One speaker called them ND's "Little Brother". They had a winning streak of winning against ND. Joyce and I saw the 1993 game in person here in the stadium where BC kicked a last-minute field goal to win the game and knock ND out of the #1 spot in the rankings. The game this year was not a high-scoring game, but the final drive for BC recalled to me the 1993 game where they won at the end.

The ND defense stepped up, though, and caused a fumble and two interceptions in the last quarter. BC's final drive was killed by an ND interception, and that ended the game! Whew, but it was great to see ND win that game.

Love those stadium hot dogs in both games! We'll make a stop in Sevierville/Pigeon Forge, TN on the way home, then it'll be back in town on Wednesday. A restful vacation was had by all.

ND Squeaks Out Another One

2009-10-08T14:06:00.006-04:00

It ended up being 37-30 after one overtime period, Notre Dame beating Washington. It was another nail-biter, not knowing if the Irish were going to lose it at the very end of the game. ND stopped Washington in three goal line stands - that's a miracle in itself that the Huskies couldn't score. Now Jimmy Clausen's name is being mentioned for the Heisman award later in the year. Tim Tebow has been out for a few weeks recovering from a concussion, and Colt McCoy from Texas is #2 on the list. That's a longshot for Jimmy, especially considering that ND isn't in the Top 25. I say "let it fly" to Jimmy to rack up all the yardage and victories that he can to give him the best shot. Both ND and USC are off this Saturday, October 10th, and then they both meet in South Bend the next Saturday, the 17th. Hot dog - we'll be there for that one, and the ND-BC game the following week. We were lucky enough to be at the ND-USC game in 2005 (the "Bush-Push" game where USC won at the very end)...talk about having heart attacks at the finish of a game! Below is the 2007 game where ND wore the throwback colors from 30 years ago. See if you can find the ball and the receiver.

A Visit To Michigan State University

2009-09-23T21:56:00.003-04:00

On a business trip to Lansing, MI, I was able to walk through the MSU campus. After six MSU wins in Notre Dame stadium, ND finally beat them last Saturday in South Bend. This campus is beautiful, and it looks like ND or IU-Bloomington. I followed the music, and it was the marching band practicing next to the stadium. Here's a clip of the sounds of the band:

ND Loses To Michigan In Last Minute

2009-09-17T11:08:00.002-04:00

Thanks, Danny, for the comments you entered on the previous post of ND vs. Nevada. That sure was a great start to a new season, but the Irish lost to Michigan last Saturday in the last minute. Every source that I see blames it on the play-calling in the last minute when all ND had to do was to run out the clock. Pass plays were called which gave Michigan more time to move down the field for the eventual go-ahead score.

The ND-Michigan rivalry has been a great one through all the years. As a matter of fact, it was Michigan that taught this little school in South Bend the game of football. Notre Dame stadium is modeled after the "Big House" in Ann Arbor. Michigan is always a quality opponent even when their program is down. A loss to them isn't quite as painful as one to Navy or Syracuse.

Michigan and ND used to be neck-and-neck as to who had the winningest percentage in college football. With all of the games that ND has been losing in the last ten years, Michigan has pulled far ahead with the #1 ranking. Texas has sneaked in there as #2, and ND is #3:

Michigan: 872 wins
Texas: 832 wins
Notre Dame: 831 wins

Notre Dame Football Season Has Begun!

2009-09-10T13:48:00.002-04:00

On Saturday, September 5, 2009, the Irish started out the new football season with a nice 35-0 shutout of Nevada. It's the first time that the two teams have ever played each other. There were those in the sports media (Mark May on ESPN) that were predicting that Nevada would win, but it didn't turn out that way. Lou Holtz has even gone so far to say that it will be Florida and Notre Dame in the national championship game. We'll have to wait and see about that. The Irish look like a very different team in the Hawaii bowl game and the Nevada game than they did all during the 2008 season.

Next up: a trip to the Big House to play Michigan this coming Saturday. UM beat Western Michigan 31-7.

Driving Distractions

2009-09-04T13:00:00.002-04:00

http://www.wndu.com/hometop/headlines/57250567.html

Bravo! We were driving to the airport on Monday, and at the Gateway High School on the way, a bus was turning out of the school. A driver who was turning in couldn’t quite make the simple 90-degree turn into the school. The car ended up smashed under the bus. I saw in Dallas this week that this same kind of law was started there too.

Hopefully the tweet was worth it in this one:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KF0_7qC6YFo

Hurricane Charley Five Years Ago

2009-08-14T14:18:00.009-04:00

On Friday afternoon, August 13, 2004, Hurricane Charley headed for our area from the Gulf of Mexico. At the time, Joyce and I were staying in a 50-year old house by the river in Fort Myers while our new home was being built. The hurricane would directly hit about 20 miles north of Fort Myers, and that put us in the southeast quadrant of the storm which is the area of strongest force. As the wind and rain started to increase, we took refuge in a small bathroom that was almost too small for one person. Despite the fact that front side of the house faced the most rain and wind, none of the windows were broken. The power would be out for several days – the humidity from all the rain plus the high heat and humidity made it a real challenge. Floridians are resilient – there were four hurricanes that passed through that year (Frances, Ivan and Jeanne, coincidentally in alphabetical order), but we picked up and moved forward each time without whining and blaming.

Skydiving Five Years Ago

2009-08-11T11:13:00.003-04:00

Here's my first and only skydiving jump back in 2004. What an incredible feeling! We departed the plane at 13,000 feet, and it must have been in the 40's up there with no humidity. We had less than 60 seconds of freefall until we came through the cloud layer. I could smell the humidity as we came down into the clouds and all the way until landing. We have a few minutes of floating down before we landed back at the airport. The video guy kept falling so he could get on the ground before me to shoot my landing. I wasn't scared at all...I always knew that the ground was there to break my fall.

Notre Dame Football

2009-08-09T17:46:00.005-04:00

I was raised on Notre Dame football. Being a native of South Bend, my mom and dad would take me out to games on fall Saturday afternoons. When I was old enough, I would go out by myself, and that continues to this day when Joyce and I will go up on vacation every October to see a game or two.

In the span of years in the late 60’s and early 70’s, Joe Theisman was the QB for ND. When my two brothers and I would come home from school in the afternoon, we would throw the football around in the front yard. Joe was dating the girl next door. He happened to drop by when we were out there, and we threw the football around with him. Obviously, the things he learned from us that afternoon propelled him into the great NFL career that he had. I did tell him to go out and “break a leg”, but it wasn’t meant literally.

Trivia: Joe pronounced his last name “THEEZ-MAN”, but when he was at ND, a dorm hung a banner out the window that said “Theisman for Heisman.” He kept that pronunciation. Now if I had gone there, they could have changed the “Heisman” to “Leyes-man”, and no pronunciations would need to be changed.

Tennessee Vacation

2009-06-13T10:19:00.002-04:00

After a 3+ hour delay in getting out of Punta Gorda International Airport, we had a smooth flight right into Knoxville, TN. Jason picked us up and transported us home to his place. The first few days have been rest days, and the nice part is being able to sleep with the windows open. There have been thunderstorms rumbling through from time-to-time including when we are sleeping. Sevierville, TN is north of Pigeon Forge which is north of Gatlinburg. 80's during the day, and mid-60's at night. Rachelle is back home in our place taking care of Liesl....thanks to her!

Memorial Day Celebration

2009-05-25T21:40:00.007-04:00

At Riverside, we took this last Sunday to combine both the Memorial Day and the 4th of July celebrations. The choir, band, and soloists and narrator did a great job to honor our great country and those who have served and died for our freedom. Above is a picture of Kim and the choir doing "The Star-Spangled Banner", and below is Dan narrating with the choir.

Delta Air Lines Flying 747s Again

2009-05-25T21:31:00.004-04:00

For the first time since 1977, Delta Air Lines is flying Boeing 747 jets. There are now 16 747s in the Delta fleet that were acquired from Northwest Air Lines in the Fall 2008 merger. My first jet plane ride back in 1971 was on a Delta 747 from O'Hare to Miami. I had just graduated from high school, and Dad took me with him to a business convention on Miami Beach. What a beautiful machine, and what a thrill to watch one take to the air. The picture above is from a Delta blog announcing the addition of these 16 planes to the Delta fleet.

Star Trek

2009-05-14T09:12:00.002-04:00

Went to see it at the Gulf Coast Town Center IMax theater on Tuesday night......incredible movie!! There were a lot of connections to it and the first Star Trek series. It was great to see how the characters came to be.

What's Happening With This Blog?

2009-05-12T14:05:00.006-04:00

Since I joined Facebook, I haven't had much of a chance to do anything here on my personal blog. Thanks, Brian, for letting me know that it needs to be updated.

What's new?

- Mom left Fort Myers Beach a few weeks ago with Deb and Nanc to get back settled in South Bend.

- The shuttle lifted off yesterday to service the Hubble Space Telescope. We can see the launch if it's a clear day, but too many clouds yesterday to see it before it started banking out over the Atlantic Ocean. The shuttle fleet is supposed to be retired next year, and the new generation of space vehicles is in development now. It's called the Orion, and it's a larger version of Apollo instead of a airplane-type vehicle like the space shuttle. See it at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orion_(spacecraft)

- As it is this time of year before the summer rains and t-storms kick in every day, it's hot as blazes and just as dry. Thunderstorms are predicted to start this week. Good thing because everything is so dry and brown.

- Liesl, our cocker spaniel, is such a joy to live with. Below is her Mother's Day greeting to my mom in Indiana.

Private Pilot Ground School

2008-11-15T17:58:00.007-05:00

Since September, I have been taking a class at a local high school to prepare for the FAA written test on my way to get a private pilot's license. This is a preparation for only the written part of the FAA test and not the up-in-the-air hours in an actual airplane. Ed Fink, Master Certified Flight Instructor, teaches our class, and it's great to learn a lot of neat stuff about airplanes and flight.

Update - December 2008: I passed!

Up In The Air With Dr. Sax

2008-11-15T17:02:00.011-05:00

Friend Craig Christman now has his private pilot license, and last June, he took me up for a ride on a Florida summer morning. These are pictures from that trip. It was clear when we went up, but as time passed, the clouds started to build. That increases turbulence which we could feel. Fun stuff, and someday, I'll have my license.

Our Cessna.

Dr. Sax at the controls over the Gulf of Mexico.

The someday pilot-to-be passenger.

Fall In Indiana

2008-09-15T09:24:00.003-04:00

The best time of the year is here for this Hoosier-Turned-Floridian. Not much happens from January through August down here, except for heat and hurricanes during the summer. When I lived in South Bend up until 1983, the fall was the most beautiful time of the year up there. To this day, Joyce and I still go up every year to see family, friends, football and fall in Indiana. It's a great break from the heat and humidity down here, and it's nice to be able to sleep in the cool Indiana air with the windows open. And of course, the best part about fall is college football.

Election '08

2008-09-07T18:53:00.003-04:00

John McCain has picked his VP - Sarah Palin, and she's an excellent choice! You can tell how good she is because of the onslaught of garbage from the left. The first thing that the Democrats don't like about her is that the Republicans were the first to have a woman on the ticket, whereas Obama picked an old guy from Washington. Obama could have had Hillary.

Let it rip with your comments about anything political here. Anything is bad taste will be deleted since the search engines run around the web, and they will link any bad comments to my name.

Stay Away From Here

2008-09-05T14:57:00.005-04:00

Lastest track as of Sunday night, September 7, 2008: Looks like it will miss Fort Myers and go out into the gulf.

September 4th, 2008: There are three hurricanes running around out there in the Atlantic. Hanna is no threat to southwest Florida, but Ike might be a different story. It's projected to come around us next Wednesday morning, September 10th, 2008.

N4RNW Is Back On The Air

2008-09-04T15:21:00.003-04:00

After renewing my amateur radio license and buying a new radio, I am back on the local 2-meter and 440 repeaters here in Fort Myers. When I was last on the air, it was in the late 90's with a Kenwood HT. I took out the radio recently to attempt to use it, but found that the internal clock battery that enables the radio to retain all settings had to be replaced. It looks like the repair charge to replace that battery wouldn't be worth it (the battery was soldered in by the manufacturer), so a new radio was soon on its way. It's a Yaesu VX-7R Silver - cute little thing that's no bigger than a deck of cards (see pic below for the black version). Besides transmitting on 2M, 220, 440 and 6M, it has extended receive for everything from the AM and FM broadcast bands through aircraft, amateur radio bands, to all the way up to 999 MHz. It's fun to listen to the aircraft bands for planes arriving and departing from RSW and Page Field.

Jerry Reed Dies at 71

2008-09-03T09:49:00.006-04:00

First Chet Atkins a little while back, and now Jerry Reed is gone. To any guitarist like me, these are both great losses. Most people know Jerry as "The Snowman" in the Smokey and the Bandit movies, or the singer of "Amos Moses" and "When You're Hot, You're Hot". But, as one online account described him, he was a "guitar virtuoso". Play any of his albums, especially those from back in the 70's, and you'll hear guitar work that is so intricate and complicated that all you can do is shake your head!

Jerry was also a regular on the Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour back in the early 70's. When Jerry and Glen would get together in the Concert Spot, their singing and playing together was as good as I have ever heard.

I remember back in the summer of 1975 when I was attending a summer session at Indiana University in Bloomington, he was in concert at the Little Nashville Opry, about 15 miles east of Bloomington in Nashville, IN. I was able to go backstage and briefly meet him between shows. Great singer and great guitarist. There is an instructional DVD out where Buster B. Jones teaches the Jerry Reed style, and it'll take me years to unravel how either of those two guys play.

http://www.jerryreed.onlyhere.net/
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-reed3-2008sep03,0,6038546.story