driesse.com

It’s been awhile since we posted anything new, so here’s a brief update for the last 3 months: 

• Went to Chicago May 1st for a big annual dinner at Ditkas with some bschool buddies.  Brooke also came along so we could visit Chicago together again as well as see some of her friends.

• Next weekend we flew to Lafayette, LA to surprise my mom for Mother’s Day.  It was a great and relaxing weekend.
• The following weekend Brian went to Houston for Greg Edwards’ wedding. 
  
• A few weeks later we saw Flight of the Conchords live in La Jolla.  They were hilarious and it was a very entertaining show.
  
• The Behnke’s came in town for Memorial Day and it was a blast seeing them (as well as taking Jared’s money playing poker).
  
• Recently, Brian competed in the Camp Pendleton Mud Run and finished very….well….dirty. 
  
• Inbetween all of that, Brian knocked out a ton of yardwork and passed the LEED AP exam.  Brooke has a few updates of her own, which will be posted soon. 

As many of you know, the development project that I’ve been working on for the last 2+ years is called Pacific Beacon.  The project is a public private partnership with the US Navy and is the first large scale privatized housing for single sailors in the US.  On March 26th we had a ribbon cutting to signify the opening of the buildings.  In addition to the ribbon cutting, each of the three buildings was dedicated after a fallen SEAL that died in the war on terror.  Two of those three were SEALs from the battle described in the book Lone Survivor.  If you haven’t read the book I highly recommend it - the first half of the book describes the SEAL training program and what it takes to become a member of the special forces, and the second half of the book describes the battle in great detail.  It’s an amazing story and it’s hard not to be moved by it.  I bring it up because the widows of all 3 SEALs spoke at the ribbon cutting / building dedication and it was an extremely humbling and emotional ceremony.  I’m proud to have worked on a project like this for the last 2+ years, and am honored to be associated with the fine people serving our country in the military.

Last weekend we went to Vegas with John and Colleen Cox.  This was the first time that Brian had been to Vegas since his self-imposed ban in Feb of 2008 (long story).  Though it ended slightly down for the trip, the most noteworthy aspect was that neither of us went to the ATM one time which is a first in our Vegas careers (note: this was Brian’s 37th trip).  In addition, we saw Elton John at Caeser’s on Saturday night and had a gay ol’ time.  Pun intended.