Vintage Dust
Early in melchman.net 2.0 I started resuscitating old content from the failing melchman.net 1.3 and stored it here. These are the old photo essays from the early days.
I am not claiming that 2004 was long ago. I just found that I have lots of content in 2005 and 2006 but very little prior to that. Again, the change in style for melchman.net provided the gap and the hurdle for old content.
Jamaica
After a few wonderful trips to Sandals St. Lucia we considered traveling to Sandal's "home" island of Jamaica. In 2004 we went to the Royal Plantation. This was a small Sandal's property next to the very popular Ocho Rios property. They were trying a new concept when we went. They were using this small property to test a higher service Level and tried switching to a pay as you go plan from the Sandal's Ultra Inclusive.
I was not thrilled with this new concept. Karen loved the level of service and quieter feel of the property. It was till a great trip, but I asked not to return.
Photo Album: Royal Plantation, Jamaica in October 2004
Ireland
Karen was traveling constantly for almost 3 years. The only way I could see her was to catch her in the Angel Isles. The travel was beginning to wear on her health. She managed to develop a case of pneumonia that started manifesting in London. We had planned this trip to begin on her last day of training in London and we added a day in London plus 2 in Dublin and another in Cork.
She was so sick that we did not get out much. She powered through a few days and even a long night of drinking with old friends from Qumas in Cork. By the end of it the magnificent staff at theHAyfield Manor were making up Hot Toddy for her. We finished the trip and flew home.
Photo Album: Ireland 2003
Purdue Offsite
Purdue was starting to become concerned with the threatened lawsuits and bad media surrounding OxyContin. I was part of a newly formed group of developers and architects in the company. We needed to get together and meet our new colleagues but there was simply nothing in our budget to do an offsite meet and greet meeting.
I talked it over with my new manager and we took the little money we had and bought lunch. The meeting place was provided free of charge. It was my house! Karen and I worked hard to make Cedar Rock a showplace. Now it was functioning as a conference center. It did quite well, I think.
Photo Album: Purdue Offsite in November 2002
Limburg an der Lahn
Another wonderful opportunity from Purdue was the planning of our Documentum infrastructure and the GRASP and iQDCS projects. One meeting for iQDCS took us to our german associated company Mundipharma centered in Limburg on the the Lahn river in Germany. I have a deep German heritage but had never found a way to get to visit Germany. Here was my opportunity.
My apologizes to the resident of Limburg near the Dali Loco. We stayed up way too late eating and drinking on this very residential street. I had a wonderful time.
Photo Album: Limburg, Germany in May 2001
Augustfest
There are very few bits of evidence surrounding this party. It lasted 16 years and left very little trace material. The move to Arizona eventually killed Karen's Augustfest party. I let the registration on the website lapse and lost the photographs. I will see if I can pull them from the back tracks of the older PC's I have in the garage. Contribution are encouraged.
Archive: Augustfest Legend
Other Relics
My favorite place on the planet is the Sandals La Toc Resort on St. Lucia. These are my only photographic memories of that paradise. Like many "places" in my mind this was perfect to me at the time. The proper combination of personal experience, exceeded expectation and the right people made it great.
Time changes the place. New experiences change my perspective. The people move on to different or better things. It was, for that time, perfect.
Photo Album: St. Lucia
Karen spent years of her youth on a horse farm. She often commented about that time. She lamented she had not been on a horse for a long time. She found a farm near us in Connecticut and we made the trip one time while Linda and Kyle were staying at our palce.
Photo Album: Horseback