Bill

OK so it has been since March since we last Blogged, but we got wrapped up in all kinds of things and well to be honest, blogging was not top on my list of things!! Sex, Love, Rock and Roll, starting new businesses and helping the next generations of Marlow Kids (that includes Brent, Dallas, etc) took precedence over being witty and "all interesting."

So to catch up, in no particular order:

I was bitten by a brown widow spider - the little cousin of the big bad Black Widow. The result was that I got Bell's Palsy. Intellectually a very interesting malady. The left side of my face went dead, not just in feeling but the muscles stopped working so it went slack besides having no feeling. More over I lost all taste. While all of this sounds onerous it really was very interesting. For the first time in my life I actually had a serious side!! No smile, no laughing, and no pronouncing "P's" (it just made my cheek puff up and the air flutter from my dead lips). I also lost about 8 to 10 lbs because if you can not taste, you tend not to eat very much (sounds like a great business idea to me - a drink or pill that temporarily blocks you taste buds - weight loss = big $$$$$). All my kids had a great time laughing at my serious side. You also find out how much your face depends on muscles for support Your eye does not blink (eye drops of course) and at night an eye patch. So Debbie got to go to bed with a Pirate every night - Arrrrh! OK that was enough of that fantasy. I was really good at the Stink Eye!! After about 5 to 6 weeks I have some feeling and control back, most of my taste buds and I can now close the eye.

We bought a Townhome for Phillip down at Virginia Tech. It has been an adventure to say the least We got a really good price on it, but it required significant updating! Lucky for us our friends from Ohio, Ron and Lisa, came down to help us. "Le Ron" as we call him is a master at tiling, plumbing, etc. In a week, we tore out the fiberglass master shower AND created a custom tiled shower, re-tiled all the bathrooms AND the kitchen. Since then we have torn out all the kitchen and had the cabinets replaced and created an island, replaced all the cheap railings with oak, re-carpted the entire home, painted every single inch of wall space (THANK YOU DEBBIE), repainted all the base boards and doors (THANK YOU DEBBIE AND LISA). Phillip has taken to the home repair/updating like a geek to computers or fish to water. He replaced all his locks, updated the lighting in the bathroom, installed a ceiling fan, bull nose molding, etc! Oh and did I mention he and I build a work bench for him.

We have been to the boat a number of times, enjoying it during the really crazy 100 degree weather we had.

Updates on the Gang:

Patrick worked this summer at PNC Bank in their Wealth Management Department doing marketing. He had a great time and learned a lot. He had to wear a tie everyday and look good - something that is not too difficult for him. Patrick and Marybeth had a great summer hanging out with friends and are really stoked about football season starting. Yes, Patrick got 40 yardline, 9th row tickets for his birthday and his team, THE BALTIMORE RAVENS, are consider to be one of the top teams this year. They went to a pre-season game and at the end Le'Ron McClain (number 33) saw Marybeth wearing his jersey so he came over to her and gave her his hat!!! How cool is that.

Phillip worked for Cyveillance, an internet security firm, this summer AND they like the "uber geek" so much that they have keep him on as an employee working from college. He and Mari found to time to hang out even though both were working a lot.

Debbie is doing great and helping me with starting two companies - can not say much right now about them but as they develop we will be blogging about them.

Hope everyone had a great summer!!