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Subject:   Alek's August Plans ...
Date:      Fri, 08 Jul 2005 10:23:46 -0600
From:      Alek O. Komarnitsky - alek@komar.org
To:        family@komar.org

K-Krew,

I've decided to take a leave of absence from work for the month of August.
For those who want short sound-bite answers, I guess you can call it "mid-life crisis" 
if you want, but I beg to differ and read more below if interested.

I've been thinking about this for months, and there are a variety of 
reasons including the age-old just spend more quality time with 
family. While I enjoy having a busy life, I sometimes wonder if busier 
is better. And there is always more things I would like to
do than time to do them ... especially after the "daily grind" is done.

So what will I do during that month - maybe sit around in my
underwear all day and surf to the very end of the Internet!  ;-)
Seriously, while I enjoy fiddling with online stuff, it would be
nice to have less "pressure" on activities such as taking the kids
to school/camps (and general kid stuff), playing lunch-time
pickup frisbee (Wendy is kicking butt with her exercise program,
so I should step up in this area), misc. house projects, playing 
around with photography stuff, hanging with the family, and having 
some free time to myself to do whatever.

There is plenty I would like to catch up on, and a month is not
that long of time, so I won't be doing any major things such as
write a book or whatever. No major travel plans beyond the family
Seattle visit which should be around August 17-23rd.

This is, of course, an unpaid leave of absence, so I'm hoping
that F5 stock continues to move up and people keep checking
out my BBQ web pages so I can earn that 5 cents/click!   ;-)

Speaking of work, that hasn't changed that much, so nothing major
has "happened" recently that would cause me to make this decision. 
However, the learning curve flattened out a while ago, and I've said 
for years that the big company environment can lobotomize you;
maybe that has finally come true?!?

I've joked for years that when I hit that "mid-life" crisis
I'll trade my Delta 88 convertible in for a BMW M3
convertible - aka the Bond car. No plans/desire to do this,
nor do I want to fly to some tropical island for two weeks
with some young flight attendant (Kris probably knows a
few Delta Captains who have done this) ... so if you actually
read this far, I think I have a little ways to go before the
real mid-life crisis hits ... whatever that may be.

'Nuff rambling - I hope I answered questions you might ask;
but fire away with any comments/suggestions if you want.

alek

P.S. On perhaps a lighter note, the HULK had a fun time
at the neighborhood parade once again - check it out at:
    http://www.komar.org/hulk/parade-2005/




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Subject:   Alek's August Plans ...
Date:      Wed, 04 Jan 2006 10:04:14 -0700
From:      Alek O. Komarnitsky - alek@komar.org
To:        family@komar.org

I enjoyed the month off in August ... but dang, did it go fast.
So I've decided to take a six month leave of absence from CSC.
I still have some details to work (my bosses are supportive BTW),
and I'm targeting to start it the end of January.

Same basic reasons as outlined in my previous note.
alek

P.S. One "bummer update" is that while F5 stock has
creeped up quite a bit, I already sold it - well darn!   ;-)




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Subject:   July/2006 update on Alek's August/2005 Plans expand in early 2006
Date: 	   Sat, 15 Jul 2006 11:13:14 -0600
From: 	   Alek O. Komarnitsky - alek@komar.org
To:        family@komar.org

First, thanks everyone that called to wish me a Happy Birthday yesterday.

A few of you have asked what my plans are now that the 6 month are
just about up - I've decided *NOT* to go back to work at CSC/Lockheed.

The reasons remain mostly the same as I outlined in my original note
a year ago - ironically, that talks about the 2005 July 4th Parade and a
trip to Seattle in August - both things that have/will repeat themselves 
in 2006.

As alluded to below, I've been making a few bucks doing the Internet "thing",
but certainly not pulling in bazillions ... but am having fun doing some 
off-beat zany stuff.

Fortunately, as you get older, Mom & Dad send out bigger checks
for your birthday, so after getting a $43 whopper this year (yikes!),
I'm confident that this will provide some financial cushion as it goes 
up each year ...  ;-)

alek

P.S. While I haven't splurged for the BMW M3 Convertible yet,
I did enjoy making a "mid-life crisis" decision to spend the extra bucks
for the Fat WhiteWalls for the Delta 88 Convertible.