My cousin Rodney Malisos and I took a skiing/snowboarding trip to Colorado the weekend of Nov 30 - Dec 2, 2001. We spent Friday afternoon and evening on the slopes at Keystone, then spent Saturday on the slopes in Vail. This was taken Saturday morning as we prepared to tackle Vail.

In November of 2001, I went on a seven day cruise through the Caribbean. The weather was pretty rough; we sailed straight through a hurricane the very first night, and most of the rest of the week was stormy, too. This photo was taken by a passerby on the final evening of the cruise, during one of only a couple of sunsets which were visible.

This photo was taken on the same Caribbean cruise as the previous pic. Carnival had photographers stationed around the ship most evenings around dinner time. On one of two formal nights, I opted to swing by and let them snap a few photos of my ugly mug.

In March of 1998 my friends and I went to the AITP Collegiate Conference in Evansville, Indiana. While we were sight-seeing, I had Jason snap this picture on his digital camera. The state seal of Missouri is featured on the pedestal I'm resting my feet on.

I had Ora take this picture of me with my second Daytona. This car could do 130mph without breaking a sweat, and had awesome acceleration at the high end. Not that I would know, of course. Let's just say I heard that from a little birdie.

Ora suggested taking a picture of me in the Daytona (the same one as above), and I was pleased at how the picture turned out. Looking back, I miss my Daytonas, although the Sebring convertible is nice during good weather.

I got a couple hours of rest after finishing up at a client site, then I got back up at 1:45am and headed for the coast. I made it to the beach in Nags Head (just south of Kitty Hawk) at 5:30am, allowing me to watch the first hint of light come over the horizon. Sunrise was at 6:08am. I stood barefoot on the edge of the Atlantic ocean, watching the sun come up. It was a beautiful, cool morning, and the ocean was cold. There weren't many people out this early in the morning; only 5 or 6 within eyeshot. I meandered up and down the beach, visiting with those I met along the way.

The man in the black Microsoft shirt is Toby Brown. He was the original pilot for the Empower balloon, but he left the company a few months after this picture was taken. In this pic, Toby is going through some pre-flight instructions for the passengers, and his delivery of said speech was funny.

Considering that Empower was a Microsoft Solution Provider, and the crown of the balloon does look suspiciously like Microsoft Bob, I'd have to say that it was. I'm not Lois Lane, so Bob can't fool me with a cheap pair of sunglasses. The thing that looks like a zit on Bob's forehead is a pyrometer, an infrared heat sensor that sends a temperature reading to the pilot's instrument panel.

This picture was taken just prior to flight. Notice how big 105,000 cubic feet really is... The envelope of the balloon weighs in at about 300 pounds, and the basket is about 550 pounds.

This picture was taken when Toby decided to do a "Splash and Dash," where you touch down on the surface of the water, and then take off again. Actually, Toby touched down on the water, and we drifted across the lake before taking to flight again. Notice our wake, trailing along behind us. From the camera's point of view, I am the person on the right side of the basket.