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The volcano won the first battle.

Last week, we were supposed to have a long-planned vacation to Belgium. On Thursday morning the Eyjafjallajökull volcano erupted from its glacial hibernation in Iceland. Flights across Northern Europe were canceled to avoid the dangers of flying through the volcanic ash plume.

It gave us an opportunity to teach The Son about Iceland, volcanoes and volcanic ash while we waited to see if the volcano would calm down, upper air currents would change and, ultimately, whether our flight would be canceled. (See these great pictures from Boston.com’s Big Picture: Iceland’s disruptive volcano and More from Eyjafjallajokull.)

Five hours before our Friday night flight, British Airways canceled our flight with little prospect for re-booking a new flight in the near future.

We had gone through the hassle of getting passports for the kids. (In case you were wondering, it is very hard to get a two-year old to stand still for a passport photo.) Since the easiest way to travel internationally from Boston is to head North, we scrambled for a Plan B trip to Canada.

We looked at Montreal, but a municipal strike had shut down many venues and others were not yet open after their winter closings.

Toronto was the winner. They had some great kid-friendly places to go. We had a back-up plan for the volcanic disruption.

We first stopped at the Simon Pearce factory in Quechee, Vermont to eat a delicious lunch and watch some glass-blowing, pottery wheels and their waterfall. Then we went on to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science to see their great raptor center. Finally, we spent the night in Burlington.

After a long drive from Burlington to Toronto we settled into a great hotel and went to the CN Tower, the Royal Ontario Museum and the Ontario Science Center. All three were great for the kids (and us).

The next stop was Niagara Falls. The kids loved the scenery and the ride on the Maid of the Mist.

Our final stop was Syracuse to visit my sister and her kids. The cousins had a blast playing together.

More to come on some of the individual highlights of the vacation.

The volcano won the first battle, but we seized the victory.

Last Sunday I brought The Son to his first game at Fenway Park.

No surprise that he was more interested in the food than the game.

Still, he managed to stick around to hear the crowd sing Sweet Carolina, one of his favorite songs. He joined right in.

I am spending the day at Boston’s Museum of Science with The Son. (Mrs. Doug gets The Daughter for the day.) The museum is hosting a media day on Father’s Day. Apparently they think being a contributor to the GeekDad blog counts as being part of the media. Who am I to argue when they offer me a line-up like this:

• 10:00 National Geographic Crittercam and black holes (exhibit opens today)
• 11:30 Picnic lunch
• 2:00 Mystic India in the Omni Theater
• 3:00 Duck Tour

I will be re-telling the day in an upcoming GeekDad post.

For all you dads out there (geek or otherwise), Happy Father’s Day!

Doug Cornelius – Basketball Coach at Yuba College
Marysville, CA

Doug Cornelius – State Farm Insurance Agent
Erie, PA
Graduated from Mercyhurst College – BA, Criminal Justice

Doug Cornelius
Hilliard, OH
This Doug is employed by The Kroger Co., Great Lakes Division as the Assistant Pharmacy Merchandiser. He is also a clinical instructor for The Ohio State University.Doug is a consultant for The American Pharmacists Association Foundation, State of Michigan Flu Advisory Board, and the Adult Immunization Coalition of Central Ohio.

Doug Cornelius – Minister of Youth and Christian Education
Hamilton Square, NJ

Senior Airman Douglas Cornelius – 48th Logistics Readiness Squadron flight service center technician

And the Son with pumpkin number 2.

Thanks to the Pumpkin Lady for the Home Sweet Home pumpkin stencil.

Thanks to the pumpkin lady for the spider pattern.

It was hard to walk out the door after 13 great years. Andy Sucoff extended me an offer to join the real estate group during the summer of 1995.  It has been great working with one of the best group of real estate lawyers in the country. I was able to work on interesting and complex real estate transactions. I will miss the practice and my clients.

Don Oppenheimer transformed my practice by introducing me to knowledge management about 8 years ago. The Firm was very forward-thinking in trying to maximize the collective intelligence of its attorneys and staff. And still is. We have experienced tremendous success through the knowledge management program. It has been growing even more with The Firm’s adoption of enterprise 2.0 tools as part of the knowledge management program.

I had a great time and learned a great deal during those two chapters of my career. But, a great opportunity presented itself and I had trouble ignoring it. So, now I start a new chapter.

I am taking a few days off to relax. I have some biking trips and kayaking trips lined up. Of course, you cannot rely on New England weather.

Later this month, I join Beacon Capital Partners as their Chief Compliance Officer. It is a big change in career. But I am looking forward to new challenges and opportunities.

As for Real Estate space?

It will live on.

At least for a little while longer.

Disclaimers

A lot of changes have happened in the real estate industry, but it looks like the players in the debt markets are still trying to figure out what assets they have before they start making money available for real estate.

Bear Stearns was a big player in the origination and securitization of Commercial Mortgage Backed Securities. It was not surprising that the company took a hit from the debt markets, but is was stunning to see them disappear over the course of a weekend.

The residential market has continued to collapse after the bubble popped. It was interesting to see infomercials switch from “Make money in real estate with no money down!” to “Make money in real estate from buying foreclosed properties!”

Now that I am back, I have a backlog of posts and will return to regular posting.