At Last, Welcome...

...to one of the two ugliest months in Michigan...and yet, I am almost inexpressibly pleased we are finally exiting what has felt like a very long winter and MARCHing steadily toward Spring.

Yes, winter has a severe and pristine beauty all its own...

...but I am so over it now...and even though March is the ugly duckling of the calendar, yet it blossoms into verdant spring and segues into gorgeous summer...

...can't wait...

(November...the other ugly month)

Was looking at old photographs the other day and came across one of my all time favorites...

Karen's dad snapped that pic as I carried her across the threshold on our wedding day...going on thirteen years ago.

Her dad's in heaven now, but every time I see this picture I remember him taking a couple of steps back to frame the shot, clicking the shutter, then lowering the camera and smiling at us as Karen and I took our first steps into married life together.

Wonderful, wonderful memory...

It was a long week at work, starting with system issues last weekend and progressing through the usual maintenance and deadline excitement...

...but it ended on an interesting note...was contacted by an old acquaintance from many moons ago about providing some IT advice to an up and coming company he's been part of for a couple of years now.

It was an enjoyable meeting and took me back to when the company I'm with today was a tenth of the size it is now...and how much fun it was helping to build it through the years.

Well, mostly fun...at the time a lot of that "fun" came disguised as stress in the form of unreasonable demands and crushing deadlines (see above illustration).

But here's the thing...most of life is educational if you're open to that concept.

A few things in life are downright revelatory...but most of those revelatory moments are perceived at first as bad, even catastrophic.

Yet it's from those defining, challenging, revelatory moments that a clear choice is presented:

You can either fold up shop and quit, or else you can form new ideas, embrace a stronger resolve, take a new direction, commit yourself to persevere and ultimately, achieve success.

I can tell these guys are at one of those crossroads, and I'd bet the mortgage they are going to take the high road to success.

And while I shan't be a part of their story, I was able to connect them with someone who may end up being part of their team.  If I was twenty years younger, I might be envious...

Watched an absolutely fabulous movie last night...

...and yes, some of my opinion is based on my love of train travel...couldn't pick a better setting in my opinion...on the other hand, I've seen the 1974 version of this story and while it's enjoyable, it's nowhere near as well done, as visually rich, as thoroughly entertaining as this version is.

For once - for once! - an A-list ensemble cast is not wasted in a sprawling, disjointed mess - which is, let's face it, what usually happens...even if the disjointed mess is still acceptable fare as it is for example in It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963).

This is well acted on every level, and the credit has to go to Kenneth Branagh who both stars as the brilliant detective, Hercule Poirot, and directs this wonderful movie.

A "ripped from the headlines" murder mystery when it was written by Dame Agatha Christie back in 1934...

...based as it was on the Lindbergh baby kidnapping and murder...it has become over time perhaps her best known novel.  Indeed it has been translated into film at least 4 times, and this one is arguably the best.

Even if you're not a murder mystery fan, do yourself a favor and give this a look.  Branagh is superb as the quirky, genius detective, doomed as he is to always and only "see the world as it should be...so when it is not, the difference sticks out like the nose in the middle of a face...it makes most of life unbearable...but it is useful in the detection of crime...eh...would you mind straightening your tie?  just a little...eh, thank you..."

And if you are a murder mystery fan, take note...Mr. B drops a strong hint near the end of the adventure we might be treated to a movie version of Death On The Nile.  If Kenneth Branagh will star and direct again, I'll take my tickets now, please.

But today, a beautiful, sunny Saturday beckons, so...

later, mcm fans...