It’s hard to believe that it’s already been a year since I retired form Microsoft but when you think about
everything I’ve done it actually seems longer. Since leaving Microsoft I recorded my first CD, Come Fly
With Me, which was a selection of my favorite crooner tunes. I released That’s Life as a single first and it
was number one on the Amazon hot new releases list for two weeks. I then released the entire CD and
the title song Come Fly With me went to number 1. I was amazed as you were.
We then shot the music video for Come Fly With Me and put it on You Tube. It had almost 19,000 views
before You Tube pulled it for copyright infringement. It seems that though I had a license to record and
sell the song you have to have a different license to make a video. But that’s another story. I’m working
on getting it back up.
I then got to sing at a few places with the highlight being the Seattle Center 50th birthday bash. That was
a lot of fun and the MC told me I had the biggest crowd of the day. I’m working on a video composite of
that performance and when it is done I’ll put that up on You Tube.
During this time I got the sad news that I had damaged my vocal chords and needed to stop singing or
have surgery. I did neither other than taking a little time off and during that time I wrote my first original
song with my vocal coach Larry Bridges. I recorded that song with the help of Erich Benedict and we
released it as a single. It got as high as number 8 for a little while.
We then went on and recorded an entire Christmas CD with a number of great local artists. Even my
daughter Maddie got to sing backup vocals on some of the songs. We released the CD after Thanksgiving
and it did very well and since we had so much fun making the first music video we decided to do another
one.
So we made a video for the original song The Magic of Christmas and we put that on You Tube. Much to
my surprise, and probably everyone else’s, it has over 123,000 views in 97 countries and 48 of the states
here in America. I still have no idea why nobody in Nebraska or Wyoming have looked at it.
As if that wasn’t enough I also stated taking piano and Italian lessons, in addition to the singing lessons I
was already taking. And I started excising a lot and lost 40 pounds. The family and I also had time to take
a few vacations. We went to Comic Con in San Diego and to Seaside Oregon a couple of times, where
we bought a vacation rental management business. Stop by and Like the Facebook page when you get a
chance. http://www.facebook.com/OregonSeasideVacationRentals. All in all it was a very full year.
So the question is what do I do for an encore? I really don’t know. My producer thinks we should do
another CD. That could be fun. We could also make another video. Those are always fun. I do need to
get back to writing my book “Get Back Up” and I really haven’t done any motivational speaking and I guess
I should since I put it on my business card. Actually whatever I do my first priority is to make sure it is
fun. After all that’s what retirement is all about isn’t it?
I do what to take this time to thank all of you who have supported my new career. I couldn’t have done
it without your friendship and support. I wish you all a happy new year that is filled with fun.