Utah Again...

As most of you know, we came back out to Utah at the end of August. We're currently renting a condo and looking to get a more permanent abode. Here's some photos showing what it's like (with a positive slant of course)... Click on the photo to get the full effect...

Our condo...


Hiking in the canyons...

Andrew's wild 18 year old birthday party...
More hiking...

Running in Pinamar

Hello from down South...We spent the weekend in Pinamar on the Argentine coast with the boys and Luciana's niece, Lucia for the Merrell Adventure Race. Had a great time. When we weren't eating ice cream...

Practicing on the dunes...

We were enjoying the post race pleasures...of a job well done.

Nico's first race and Ale's 2nd. Nico was sure he wanted to run the 3 kms race from months ago and decided that he wanted to run alone. Ale decided to run at the last minute and said that he loved it when he finished. Crazy guy. Seems like Nico ran with his shoe too tight and today has a swollen foot. Hopefully won't create any bad memories.

With my amazing support team I was able to win the old man's age category of the 26km race over the dunes with a heated battle over that last several kms with the guy who finished second. Not bad after running a marathon last weekend. Amazing what a few books can do....

NYSE Bell Ringing

Tune into CNBC at 9:30am today for a chance to see Diana Hurwitz (Tidd) ringing the opening bell at the NY Stock Exchange. Old hat to her at this point, but she couldn't find anyone else in the firm that could go heading into a holiday weekend.

They may also post a photo on www.nyse.com

Wedding Day: Nathan & Diana Tidd

Today was a normal day, up early, a walk around the park, girls more interested in computer games than breakfast. Just another day, except we took a break to get dressed up (a bit) and ride downtown to the city clerk's office. We showed our marriage license and got a ticket, C810, and waited at Station 5 for our two minute tour through the chapel. It might sound unromantic, even sterile, but that would be because I haven't mentioned the feeling we had saying "I will."

College. Again.

12 years ago I failed out of UNH because I discovered that I was really good at, and felt the need to do more than anything else, drinking large amounts of alcohol. I bounced around from job to job until I ran out of gas 7 years ago. Big thanks to Mum & Dad for helping me get out of that rut. I've always viewed my non-degree status as one of my largest personal failures.

It's also interesting to note that I have yet to achieve sober the same salary I made when I was a drunk.

I have a very eclectic skill set and when I combine that with no degree, it makes it really hard to position myself well for potential employers. Sure, I might be really good for them, but in this economy they're unlikely to take a chance on a guy who's been out of the engineering game as long as I. So, since the jobs are scarce and mine seems fairly stable at the moment, I figured it was a good time to go back to school. I've been looking for over a year now for something, and I found it.

I enrolled at NHTI in Concord, and today was accepted into the Animation and Graphic Game Programming Associate's degree program. I don't need a full-blown B.S. degree right now, just a bit of re-positioning to mold my various skills into a semi-coherent and marketable package. The classes are at night, the faculty seems qualified, and recent graduates have secured jobs at various game houses in the Boston area - where I'd like to move to in the next few years.

So I'm in college. Again. But this time around, I'm the old (and sober) guy in the back.

Who's Birthday is today?

James and the Mighty Allagash

James and I drove to the farthest reaches of northern Maine and tackled the mighty Allagash Wilderness Waterway. 93 miles (assuming no wrong turns) of remote lakes & rivers ending near the Canadian border.

At times chased by thunderstorms, tormented by 15 mph headwinds, capsized by rapids, serenaded by loons and harassed by moose late into the night, we completed the waterway in 5 glorious days...

Click on the photo to see it in its full glory...








I was proud of my little fish until...

James reeled in this baby...