Suddenly all my "way in the future" deadlines are next week, including the return of Alice. Abby is dancing and singing cause she is so excited to have her sister back.
A quick update on the dogs... I now see why the dogs are vicious. i saw the owner put them out today and watched as he slugged the female (the one that attacked me) right in the head for no reason at all. This set me off and I've been fuming mad all afternoon. I called the City, Animal Control and the police department again to complain about how wrong the situation is. I even vented angrily at a title insurance representative who needed me to copy a 13 page document about my divorce decree so it was in the house purchase file.
An interesting side note... after I posted the Vicious Dogs video on YouTube, I got a message from a Pit Bull lover. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7VoSBg8g3KE It was a very sympathetic voice which is not what I expected. Most pit bull lovers want to go on about how wonderful the species is. This person commented on how stupid people can be.
The house sale seems to have taken a positive step forward. The buyer declined an inspection. He knows he is getting a good deal and doesn't want to spend the extra $400. He called me and he seems like a real nice guy. He asked if it would be OK to make copies of the house pictures that are hanging on the wall. I think we can work it that we can close on the new house before Alice gets home so we can show it to her right away and begin moving at any time. We won't need to get out of Grove Street until after December. We'll be straddling two houses for about a month and a half. Can't wait to show Alice the Coit Street house. I think she is going to like it. It will also be a distraction from the inevitable post-adventure letdown that will undoubtedly occur. It's a whole new adventure.
I also got a really great idea for Alice. Of course it is my idea and not hers so I must prepare myself for the possibility that it will not seem as mind-blowingly great as I think it is. Here is a hint... it's a volunteer opportunity that could stretch into an internship that could take her exactly where she wants to go.
I also need to mention that Mary and I had another Emergency Room adventure. This time it was for her. That kidney stone decided to take a trip part way down her urethra. This caused a blockage that backed up her kidneys and told her stomach to throw up any liquids that went in there. Turns out it is a biggee. 8mm in diameter and another one waiting in the wings. 6mm is considered impassable. This means she has to schedule a lithotripsy. Apparently there is a lot of people with stones and only so many lithotriptors. They can't get her in to bust up that sucker until December 3rd when I'll be saying, "Seriously, it's December?" In the mean time, lots of drugs.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Monday, November 12, 2007
Guess Who is Back?
After a one week hiatus, my friendly neighborhood dogs are back. I guess the story the neighbor told the police had a one-week shelf life. We noticed on Friday that they had returned. In the video below, you will see how I am greeted each time I come and go in my car. The first dog of the two is slightly larger. His chain seems to have been shortened about 2 feet since he no longer comes all the way through the fence. The second dog, a female, is the one who attacked me. Note the size of the leash holding her back.
I called Animal Control. They were very serious on the phone and told me that they would send someone over that day. (Friday) I noticed the dogs were back in the house about an hour after I called. I don't know if that was before or after the AC visit.
On October 23 I received a note from the City saying the landlord had 21 days to fix the fence. By my math, that would be tomorrow. So far, nothing has been done.
I called Animal Control. They were very serious on the phone and told me that they would send someone over that day. (Friday) I noticed the dogs were back in the house about an hour after I called. I don't know if that was before or after the AC visit.
On October 23 I received a note from the City saying the landlord had 21 days to fix the fence. By my math, that would be tomorrow. So far, nothing has been done.
Saturday, November 3, 2007
Blood Lust
Yesterday afternoon, Abby called me to come and pick her up from her mom's house. I gathered my shoes and keys and headed out the back door. When I reached my car, I was greeted in a most unfriendly way by a pit bull with no collar and no chain, just fangs and drool and barking. I recognized her as the neighbor's "less aggressive" female dog. The larger of the two I had photographed a few day before (see below right) as I was complaining to the City that the larger, more aggressive male pit bull's chain allowed it to come halfway through the fence into my yard. and he took advantage of that by greeting me in this fashion every time I walked out to the backyard.
The dog in front of me had me wondering why I had thought of her as "less aggressive". She lunged at me and I yelled at her and she backed up about 10 feet away from me and continued barking at me with full teeth bared. Each time I reached for the car door handle, she lunged at me. I reached in my pocket found my cell phone and called 911. A cell phone emergency call takes you to the State Police. They then route you to local emergency. I had to explain my situation twice while this animal lunged and roared with anger in her eyes. "Is it a puppy?" they asked. "Are you in the house?" "Is that the dog that we hear barking?" "Is he tied up?"
"No dammit! This dog is full grown and is snapping at me in my own backyard and I am in extreme danger. That's why I am calling emergency. Send someone fast!!"
I kept wondering what would happen when the police arrived. Would they shoot her? I was told by a cop friend that they would not hesitate to shoot an aggressive dog. I was not sure that I really wanted to see that happen but at the same time, I was feeling very angry and put-out that I had to deal with this on my own property, especially when I am trying to sell my house. I also thought about escape strategies but now that the cops were called, I did not want them to arrive to anything but a very dramatic situation. I had called emergency after all.
I began trying different things to see how the dog reacted. Reaching for the car door handle, putting hands in pockets, stepping toward the dog, stepping away from the dog, yelling at her, whispering to her, "good dog". Every new thing I tried caused the the same reaction: The dog backed up a couple of steps and then lunged even closer. For some reason, I thought that I needed to maintain eye contact to show that I was the dominant dog here. (Later I read that that is exactly the opposite thing you should do. Dogs see eye contact as a sign of aggression. You should look just a little off to the side and make no moves until they get bored and walk away.)
At one point, the dog did turn around and walk a few yards away. I truly thought I could make a dash for the car. But then I thought the Police would arrive to nothing. I wanted them to see how aggressive this dog was. Plus, a quick movement was sure to attract the dog to go for my leg. I had experienced that once before when I was about 18 or 19. I was on my motorcycle and my friend's dog, a collie shepard mix had cornered me after dropping in to find my friend not home. I had started my bike and the dog had barred his teeth and looked ready to lunge. After about 10 minutes I had decided to gun the throttle and leave him in the dust. As I peeled out, the dog leaped up and sink his teeth into my thigh. I dragged him several feet by his teeth. Canine is faster than Honda 550.
Around this point, the pit bull apparently decided that she needed to notch things up a bit. Her next lunge was aimed directly at my ankle. I yelled "No" over and over at the top of my lungs and kicked her muzzle with the bottom of my shoe. She lunged again and again, each time making contact with my shoe. I was pretty resigned to getting bitten. How long could I keep this up? After about 6 lunges, she backed off a little to bark at me from 10 feet away.
It had been 13 minutes (I checked my cell phone records after the fact) and I decided to call 911 a second time figuring by the time they got there, I would be bleeding. They asked me again if I was in the house. They told me help was minutes away. Abby called me wondering why I had not yet picked her up. I told her that I was under attack but help was on the way.
Around this time, the pit bull apparently decided that waiting time was over and it was time to separate me from my ankle. Lunge after lunge was driving me back step by step toward the front of the house. Each lunge was stopped by the bottom of my shoe. I was shaking with fear and dumbfounded that:
A. No neighbors had heard this commotion and offered to help
B. The cops hadn't arrived
C. I still had zero teethmarks
Then I noticed a couple of kids walking through the alley at the end of the driveway. The pit bull noticed too. She turned and bounded towards them, barking. All of a sudden, the dog owner stuck his head out the back door of the house next door and called the dog who obediently ran back through the hole in the fence, never to be seen again.
Cue the police. A cruiser rolls up and the officer rolls down the window. He asks me a bunch of questions and hands me a card with the police report number for the complaint "Dog running loose". He said he would try to talk to the owner but he may not come to the door. I tried to explain that I had been under attack for 20 minutes but the silence and lack of a suspect seemed to drain my story from any serious consideration. I started to vent about why it had taken so long but there was no attempt to explain. The birds were singing the trees. What emergency?
The officer later called me and told me that there was good news. The dog's owner had told him he was moving to Bridge Street tomorrow and was taking his dogs. He also told me that animal control would do a follow up.
I was so frightened and now I am so angry. I'm also angry that the police took so long getting there while I was under direct attack. The dispatcher could hear the dog and hear my fear. If they had arrived minutes earlier, that dog would be shot dead, I'm sure.
I sure hope this dog owner indeed becomes someone else's problem. Hope the landlord takes care of the yard. Last night, they moved one of their 2 cars out of the backyard fenced in area. Maybe it is true they are moving.
The dog in front of me had me wondering why I had thought of her as "less aggressive". She lunged at me and I yelled at her and she backed up about 10 feet away from me and continued barking at me with full teeth bared. Each time I reached for the car door handle, she lunged at me. I reached in my pocket found my cell phone and called 911. A cell phone emergency call takes you to the State Police. They then route you to local emergency. I had to explain my situation twice while this animal lunged and roared with anger in her eyes. "Is it a puppy?" they asked. "Are you in the house?" "Is that the dog that we hear barking?" "Is he tied up?"
"No dammit! This dog is full grown and is snapping at me in my own backyard and I am in extreme danger. That's why I am calling emergency. Send someone fast!!"
I kept wondering what would happen when the police arrived. Would they shoot her? I was told by a cop friend that they would not hesitate to shoot an aggressive dog. I was not sure that I really wanted to see that happen but at the same time, I was feeling very angry and put-out that I had to deal with this on my own property, especially when I am trying to sell my house. I also thought about escape strategies but now that the cops were called, I did not want them to arrive to anything but a very dramatic situation. I had called emergency after all.
I began trying different things to see how the dog reacted. Reaching for the car door handle, putting hands in pockets, stepping toward the dog, stepping away from the dog, yelling at her, whispering to her, "good dog". Every new thing I tried caused the the same reaction: The dog backed up a couple of steps and then lunged even closer. For some reason, I thought that I needed to maintain eye contact to show that I was the dominant dog here. (Later I read that that is exactly the opposite thing you should do. Dogs see eye contact as a sign of aggression. You should look just a little off to the side and make no moves until they get bored and walk away.)
At one point, the dog did turn around and walk a few yards away. I truly thought I could make a dash for the car. But then I thought the Police would arrive to nothing. I wanted them to see how aggressive this dog was. Plus, a quick movement was sure to attract the dog to go for my leg. I had experienced that once before when I was about 18 or 19. I was on my motorcycle and my friend's dog, a collie shepard mix had cornered me after dropping in to find my friend not home. I had started my bike and the dog had barred his teeth and looked ready to lunge. After about 10 minutes I had decided to gun the throttle and leave him in the dust. As I peeled out, the dog leaped up and sink his teeth into my thigh. I dragged him several feet by his teeth. Canine is faster than Honda 550.
Around this point, the pit bull apparently decided that she needed to notch things up a bit. Her next lunge was aimed directly at my ankle. I yelled "No" over and over at the top of my lungs and kicked her muzzle with the bottom of my shoe. She lunged again and again, each time making contact with my shoe. I was pretty resigned to getting bitten. How long could I keep this up? After about 6 lunges, she backed off a little to bark at me from 10 feet away.
It had been 13 minutes (I checked my cell phone records after the fact) and I decided to call 911 a second time figuring by the time they got there, I would be bleeding. They asked me again if I was in the house. They told me help was minutes away. Abby called me wondering why I had not yet picked her up. I told her that I was under attack but help was on the way.
Around this time, the pit bull apparently decided that waiting time was over and it was time to separate me from my ankle. Lunge after lunge was driving me back step by step toward the front of the house. Each lunge was stopped by the bottom of my shoe. I was shaking with fear and dumbfounded that:
A. No neighbors had heard this commotion and offered to help
B. The cops hadn't arrived
C. I still had zero teethmarks
Then I noticed a couple of kids walking through the alley at the end of the driveway. The pit bull noticed too. She turned and bounded towards them, barking. All of a sudden, the dog owner stuck his head out the back door of the house next door and called the dog who obediently ran back through the hole in the fence, never to be seen again.
Cue the police. A cruiser rolls up and the officer rolls down the window. He asks me a bunch of questions and hands me a card with the police report number for the complaint "Dog running loose". He said he would try to talk to the owner but he may not come to the door. I tried to explain that I had been under attack for 20 minutes but the silence and lack of a suspect seemed to drain my story from any serious consideration. I started to vent about why it had taken so long but there was no attempt to explain. The birds were singing the trees. What emergency?
The officer later called me and told me that there was good news. The dog's owner had told him he was moving to Bridge Street tomorrow and was taking his dogs. He also told me that animal control would do a follow up.
I was so frightened and now I am so angry. I'm also angry that the police took so long getting there while I was under direct attack. The dispatcher could hear the dog and hear my fear. If they had arrived minutes earlier, that dog would be shot dead, I'm sure.
I sure hope this dog owner indeed becomes someone else's problem. Hope the landlord takes care of the yard. Last night, they moved one of their 2 cars out of the backyard fenced in area. Maybe it is true they are moving.
Thursday, October 25, 2007
I Wish I Could Stop Thinking About My Lip
OK. So the phone rings at about 9:10 this morning. "Had I forgotten my dentist appointment?" Well as a matter of fact, I had. This was an appointment I had made just 2 days ago after receiving a medical credit card that allows me to pay back dental procedures over time. Dr. Mark has been telling me for a couple years that "# 17" really needed a partial crown. About $500 after insurance.
So I rushed in and found my self waiting for them to finish pulling a couple of teeth out of kid who had fallen and partially knocked out a couple of his baby teeth. He had slipped nicely into the time slot caused by my tardiness. So I played Bubblet on my PDA working into quite a nice average score. About half an hour later they noticed that I could have been on gas this whole time. It was time to numb me up... and with no gas to make me not care that they were sticking a needle in my mouth.
Dr. Mark started talking about needles and how they were made and why people were afraid of them. This is actually the wrong kind of thing to talk about to relax me. You actually need to distract me so I think of anything BUT needles. He seemed to use a little more numbing solution than usual and I felt my lower lip and the tip of my tongue first get prickly and then seem to disappear from my face. Oh well, the gas mask is now in place. Breathe deeply.
Skipping through the procedure itself (gas allows me to be somewhere else anyway), I'm back at home. It is 1:45pm. My tongue is OK but my lower lip is still not attached to my face, it seems. I'm hungry but there is no way I can eat anything without a lip. There is an itch where my lower lip used to be but when I reach up to scratch it, there is this fleshy blob in the way of my fingers reaching the source. Aaaargh!
So I rushed in and found my self waiting for them to finish pulling a couple of teeth out of kid who had fallen and partially knocked out a couple of his baby teeth. He had slipped nicely into the time slot caused by my tardiness. So I played Bubblet on my PDA working into quite a nice average score. About half an hour later they noticed that I could have been on gas this whole time. It was time to numb me up... and with no gas to make me not care that they were sticking a needle in my mouth.
Dr. Mark started talking about needles and how they were made and why people were afraid of them. This is actually the wrong kind of thing to talk about to relax me. You actually need to distract me so I think of anything BUT needles. He seemed to use a little more numbing solution than usual and I felt my lower lip and the tip of my tongue first get prickly and then seem to disappear from my face. Oh well, the gas mask is now in place. Breathe deeply.
Skipping through the procedure itself (gas allows me to be somewhere else anyway), I'm back at home. It is 1:45pm. My tongue is OK but my lower lip is still not attached to my face, it seems. I'm hungry but there is no way I can eat anything without a lip. There is an itch where my lower lip used to be but when I reach up to scratch it, there is this fleshy blob in the way of my fingers reaching the source. Aaaargh!
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Crutches for the Gimp
Well now I've really done it. I was carrying a big box out the back door and I came down on one of the steps just a little bit funny and the next thing I know, the box is up in the air and I'm flat on my face in the dirt. (Now where is that delicious bit of Swiss cheese that was in my mouth?). Clearly my ankle is totally f*#ked up. I'm writhing in pain, the pit bulls are barking, VHS tapes are scattered around me and I keep wondering where the cheese ended up. When the cursing subsided in about 5 minutes, I resumed inventory. My brand new chinos now have a hole in the knee and blood stains too. My elbows are scraped up but the real story is hidden beneath my sock. Not only is my ankle already swollen up double, the top of my foot has a large bump with the skin peeling off. I must have scraped it as I fell. It all looks and feels so nasty that I'm sure there is a possibility it is fractured.Luckily, I have my cell phone and I call Mary. She is stuck at work in a deadline crisis. OK, I'll just lie here in the dirt a while longer. Slowly I attempt to get to my feet. There's that cheese! Completely covered with dirt. I throw it to the pit bulls.
Finally I drag myself in the house and attempt to put some weight on it. Ouch, yes, but I don't think it is broken. I call Dr. Hazle's office and describe what I see. They say "get thee to an emergency care facility". I call Bill. He's on a photo shoot. I call Margi and she is about to start a lesson. It is Grandpa Harold who comes through for me.
Shifting to the past tense, When we reached the hospital, Andy Willey, Mary's brother was the one opening the door and finding wheel chairs for people. (He works there.) They got me into x-ray fairly quickly and then it was back into the waiting room. Margi and Abby showed up to wait with me. Eventually, they called me into the inner sanctum so I could wait on a gurney for an available doctor. A drunken Indian dude on another gurney asked me the time. He was itching to get to work but the nurses kept telling him he needed to wait around and see the results of his expensive tests. He came over and gave me a packet of cheese crackers with peanut butter for some reason.
Finally a doctor and a physician's assistant pulled up my x-rays. They could see no broken bones but were quite surprised at the amount of calcification in my foot. That's arthritis. That explains why my feet hurt so bad every morning.
I was fitted with a splint and crutches and sent on my way with some ibuprofen and instructions to stay off my feet for a week. Sucky timing indeed. Although is there ever a good time to lay around and have people wait on you for everything? Don't answer that.
Tonight Michigan was inundated with thunderstorms and tornado watches. We finally got our downpour in Kent County around 9:00. I hobbled to the porch to watch the rushing torrents wash the garbage down Grove Street hill. There was a kind of beauty in it.
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Seriously, It's October?
Holy crap! Seems like it was just summer. What happened to September? The hot humid weather really throws off the internal calendar.
The last two weeks have been all about getting the house at 44 Grove Street ready for the market. So here is the culmination of these efforts. Not all that impressive. I could have written a more attractive narrative. But the porch is painted, trees are trimmed and garage is gilded with wood putty in all the rotten places. From the outside, it all looks real nice. Compared to the other properties in this price range, seems like a real deal.
The real work is now inside. The idea is that when a buyer steps into the house they will gasp and think, "this place is so nice and roomy". This means all of our quasi-unnecessary crap has to go. I rented a storage space about 10 miles from here with the idea that it will be a holding spot until we move. My mom and Dad (and Jon) came on Saturday to make trips to this storage facility with boxes of books, shelves and other unnecessary furniture. At one point, Grandpa almost bagged a buck with his pickup truck. We were leaving the storage compound and I saw this dear about to bound into the road. I yelled and grandpa slammed on the brakes just in time to miss (by inches) this 6-point buck running at full-tilt.
So now my computer work station is back upstairs in the old location but a bit tidier. I've been working on a piece for the Children's Museum which I just finished. I realized that for the price of a DVD duplication job I coulld probably run out and buy a DVD inkjet printer for my own labels. If I can find a good price locally, I might just do that. it seems to come up more and more often.
I took Bill Hebert too see the new house and he was thoroughly impressed. I sort of needed that. There is much anxiety surrounding the funding of such an endeavor.
Mary's credit check from one of the three bureaus looked stallar. But evidently, the other two both had record of a delinquent account. About 5 and a half years ago, Mary was enjoying taking a karate class in Cedar Springs. The thing was, they required an expensive "membership". She was feeling so good about the class that she signed up for a multi-year commitment. Then all of a sudden, her husband died unexpectedly and she found herself a single parent. She could no longer make the classes. She asked to get out of the contract but the owner said that she had signed the paper and it was beyond his control. He said that something could be worked out through the company in Pennsylvania that handled these iron-clad membership contracts. They told her that she could get out of her contract by paying $480. Seeing no other way out she resolved to pay the penalty. Instead of writing a personal check, Mary went to the bank and purchased a money order to make it more official and easily cashed. Problem was, the bank does not fill in the "pay to" line for money orders less than $500. Mary just stuck the money order in the envelope and sent it off to Philadelphia in first class mail. A week later, the health-club-membership-scamming organization called to tell her that time was up and since she did not send the $480, she would have to pay the entire $1500. Puzzled, she went to the bank and discovered the Money Order had been cashed but not by the company she had sent it to. They traced it to a bank account in Philly and got the name and address of the guy who had signed his name in the "pay to" line. Unfortunately, the police were unwilling to investigate for this "small" amount and the company pretended they never received the payment. The $1500 went to collections and there it sits as a blemish on her credit score. Of course, she would not pay a second time for services that she had not received.
The bank for our home loan said that she would need to arrange to pay off the $1500 before we could get the loan. We told them that that was a "deal breaker" and I just got word yesterday that they would overlook that particular requirement. Whew!
The weather has turned gorgeous again and the autumn colors are starting to come out. I'd go take a picture but the battery charger for my old camcorder is in the storage unit 10 miles away.
The last two weeks have been all about getting the house at 44 Grove Street ready for the market. So here is the culmination of these efforts. Not all that impressive. I could have written a more attractive narrative. But the porch is painted, trees are trimmed and garage is gilded with wood putty in all the rotten places. From the outside, it all looks real nice. Compared to the other properties in this price range, seems like a real deal.
The real work is now inside. The idea is that when a buyer steps into the house they will gasp and think, "this place is so nice and roomy". This means all of our quasi-unnecessary crap has to go. I rented a storage space about 10 miles from here with the idea that it will be a holding spot until we move. My mom and Dad (and Jon) came on Saturday to make trips to this storage facility with boxes of books, shelves and other unnecessary furniture. At one point, Grandpa almost bagged a buck with his pickup truck. We were leaving the storage compound and I saw this dear about to bound into the road. I yelled and grandpa slammed on the brakes just in time to miss (by inches) this 6-point buck running at full-tilt.
So now my computer work station is back upstairs in the old location but a bit tidier. I've been working on a piece for the Children's Museum which I just finished. I realized that for the price of a DVD duplication job I coulld probably run out and buy a DVD inkjet printer for my own labels. If I can find a good price locally, I might just do that. it seems to come up more and more often.I took Bill Hebert too see the new house and he was thoroughly impressed. I sort of needed that. There is much anxiety surrounding the funding of such an endeavor.
Mary's credit check from one of the three bureaus looked stallar. But evidently, the other two both had record of a delinquent account. About 5 and a half years ago, Mary was enjoying taking a karate class in Cedar Springs. The thing was, they required an expensive "membership". She was feeling so good about the class that she signed up for a multi-year commitment. Then all of a sudden, her husband died unexpectedly and she found herself a single parent. She could no longer make the classes. She asked to get out of the contract but the owner said that she had signed the paper and it was beyond his control. He said that something could be worked out through the company in Pennsylvania that handled these iron-clad membership contracts. They told her that she could get out of her contract by paying $480. Seeing no other way out she resolved to pay the penalty. Instead of writing a personal check, Mary went to the bank and purchased a money order to make it more official and easily cashed. Problem was, the bank does not fill in the "pay to" line for money orders less than $500. Mary just stuck the money order in the envelope and sent it off to Philadelphia in first class mail. A week later, the health-club-membership-scamming organization called to tell her that time was up and since she did not send the $480, she would have to pay the entire $1500. Puzzled, she went to the bank and discovered the Money Order had been cashed but not by the company she had sent it to. They traced it to a bank account in Philly and got the name and address of the guy who had signed his name in the "pay to" line. Unfortunately, the police were unwilling to investigate for this "small" amount and the company pretended they never received the payment. The $1500 went to collections and there it sits as a blemish on her credit score. Of course, she would not pay a second time for services that she had not received.
The bank for our home loan said that she would need to arrange to pay off the $1500 before we could get the loan. We told them that that was a "deal breaker" and I just got word yesterday that they would overlook that particular requirement. Whew!
The weather has turned gorgeous again and the autumn colors are starting to come out. I'd go take a picture but the battery charger for my old camcorder is in the storage unit 10 miles away.
Saturday, September 29, 2007
To Paint, or Write of Painting
That is the question! I've been busy with the work of improving curb appeal for the house while we have this stroke of warm weather that will allow for painting, See the picture below shot at dusk. The Front door is now gray (rather than green) and the rail and cement pedestal are now dark gray as opposed to green and purple.
The deck still needs washing and painting as do some of the white rails. I also scraped primed and painted the downstairs windows that were flaking and looking like they were falling apart. A little cosmetic work goes a long way!
But the physical punishment is not insignificant. To paint the side of the rail by the rosebush first required pruning... or really removing about 80 percent of the bush. My forearms show the scratches pokes and thorn splinters of wrestling branches into two large yard waste bags.
And then there is the ladder incident... I fell off the ladder as I was descending. I stepped on the bottom rung in a funny way and twisted my ankle. I was surprised how quickly I was lying on the ground. It took me right down, I started feeling nauseous and dizzy and it was immediately clear that I had either sprained or broken my ankle. I wiggled my toes and found that that was no problem. I lay there for about 5 minutes and then cautiously stood up. A sprain. And a mild one. Can you tell which ankle is swollen?
See the smallish bruising below my ankle?
Awww... Poor me!!
Another project this week was was solving a technical problem for the CMC; my former employer. They had installed robotic cameras in the Wealthy Theatre auditorium but they were just plain not working. It took two days of troubleshooting and down to the last possible alternative theory but it turned out to be the correct one. Shazzaam!! Everything works. They were nice enough to write a little thank you blurb on their website.
In other CMC news, the Capital Campaign that busted my butt and caused great stress for a tear and a half of my life is officially over. They reached their goal which kicks in the Kresge challenge grant award of $300,000. This grant is tough to get and co-writing and submitting it was the last thing I did before handing the Executive Director job over to Laurie. You have to reach your fundraising goal to get the award. I'm pleased she was able to make it pay off.
Tonight, Abby is away at her birthday party with her girlfriends at Craig's Cruisers and I am entertaining Marlee and her pal Karlee as Mary is out with her girlfriends.
I need to get started editing the Children's Museum video. The deadline will be here before I know it. I was going to put it on the portable hard drive but apparently it is dead. I have nothing recent on it, just old projects.
The deck still needs washing and painting as do some of the white rails. I also scraped primed and painted the downstairs windows that were flaking and looking like they were falling apart. A little cosmetic work goes a long way!
But the physical punishment is not insignificant. To paint the side of the rail by the rosebush first required pruning... or really removing about 80 percent of the bush. My forearms show the scratches pokes and thorn splinters of wrestling branches into two large yard waste bags.
And then there is the ladder incident... I fell off the ladder as I was descending. I stepped on the bottom rung in a funny way and twisted my ankle. I was surprised how quickly I was lying on the ground. It took me right down, I started feeling nauseous and dizzy and it was immediately clear that I had either sprained or broken my ankle. I wiggled my toes and found that that was no problem. I lay there for about 5 minutes and then cautiously stood up. A sprain. And a mild one. Can you tell which ankle is swollen?
See the smallish bruising below my ankle?
Awww... Poor me!!
Another project this week was was solving a technical problem for the CMC; my former employer. They had installed robotic cameras in the Wealthy Theatre auditorium but they were just plain not working. It took two days of troubleshooting and down to the last possible alternative theory but it turned out to be the correct one. Shazzaam!! Everything works. They were nice enough to write a little thank you blurb on their website.
In other CMC news, the Capital Campaign that busted my butt and caused great stress for a tear and a half of my life is officially over. They reached their goal which kicks in the Kresge challenge grant award of $300,000. This grant is tough to get and co-writing and submitting it was the last thing I did before handing the Executive Director job over to Laurie. You have to reach your fundraising goal to get the award. I'm pleased she was able to make it pay off.
Tonight, Abby is away at her birthday party with her girlfriends at Craig's Cruisers and I am entertaining Marlee and her pal Karlee as Mary is out with her girlfriends.
I need to get started editing the Children's Museum video. The deadline will be here before I know it. I was going to put it on the portable hard drive but apparently it is dead. I have nothing recent on it, just old projects.
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Sunday, September 9, 2007
Fireworks
Celebration on the Grand was this weekend and with it the Hispanic Festival and the local Native American Pow Wow. We pretty much stayed away from downtown this time around because there is so much damned road construction that it is near impossible to get there from here anymore when there is a traffic event. Instead, Mary and I dropped in at Bill's house which has a view of the downtown skyline from a high bluff at the end of his cul-de-sac. He had some friends over and was making pina coladas. They were delicious but I started thinking they were a little too delicious. Sure enough. He forgot to put in the rum. At 9:20pm, we suddenly heard the booming of fireworks. They were started early. We later intuited and much later confirmed that they were trying to beat this big rain cloud that was coming. They were not quick enough. It started pouring about halfway through. But it was not bad for us beneath a great big tree. here are some crappy photos from my camera phone.
Saturday we went for a bike ride to Riverside park. We stumbled on the Indian PowWow which seemed like an excellet destination for the trip. We locked up our bikes and checked out the craft and food vendors. We bought some stuff like blue lemonade and cheap jewelry and ran into all of our Native American Friends. One lady was selling fur items. Since I had neglected to bring vials of blood to throw at them, I decided to just see what they had. My favorite was a skunk that had been made into a handbag. It occurred to me that though fur is politically incorrect, in the Indian crowd it is a tradition. Hard to find fault with that. We stayed a bit longer to watch a hand drum/singing competition. Totally cool.
Last night we decided to watch Dream Girls on DVD. I guess you need to see it on the big screen because we were mostly bored.
Today we were going to go to Mary's sister Margaret's house in Grand Haven for a beach visit to make up for the lack of beach time at our last couple of beach trips. Turns out there is a cold water mass sitting there at Grand Haven. (click to enlarge)
Drat! foiled again.
Saturday we went for a bike ride to Riverside park. We stumbled on the Indian PowWow which seemed like an excellet destination for the trip. We locked up our bikes and checked out the craft and food vendors. We bought some stuff like blue lemonade and cheap jewelry and ran into all of our Native American Friends. One lady was selling fur items. Since I had neglected to bring vials of blood to throw at them, I decided to just see what they had. My favorite was a skunk that had been made into a handbag. It occurred to me that though fur is politically incorrect, in the Indian crowd it is a tradition. Hard to find fault with that. We stayed a bit longer to watch a hand drum/singing competition. Totally cool.
Last night we decided to watch Dream Girls on DVD. I guess you need to see it on the big screen because we were mostly bored.
Today we were going to go to Mary's sister Margaret's house in Grand Haven for a beach visit to make up for the lack of beach time at our last couple of beach trips. Turns out there is a cold water mass sitting there at Grand Haven. (click to enlarge)
Drat! foiled again.
Friday, September 7, 2007
Delinquent Correspondent
Wow, it just hit me that I've been slacking on my obligations to keep this blog current. It's the humidity... THAT's IT! If we could only have a DRY heat. Kidding aside, It has been freaking hot and humid these last couple of days.
Quick update that will be of interest for Alice in the category of "brush with fame". Her former babysitter and dance company cohort will be dancing with Britney Spears to open Sunday's MTV Awards show. And to think... we knew him when!
I think I am honing in on the final version of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation underwriting spot for Ken Burns' "The War". It is a lot to squeeze in 15 seconds but my client seems to be happy. The images, by the way, are Bill Hebert photographs. I really enjoyed learning the "Ken Burns effect" with slow zooms on photos. It's real easy in Final Cut.
As promised, a conclusion to the story on the garage door disaster from my first blog entry.
We finally gave up on the repair guy who came and measured about a month ago. How many phone messages can you leave for a guy? And now what? Who repairs garage doors?
The answer came in the form of a wrong number. I dialed a number of a client from a brochure but no sooner had I punched in the last number than I realized that I had mis-dialed. I quickly hung up and called my client with the correct series of seven digits. Thirty seconds after I hung up from that call, my phone rang. It was the wrong number I had first dialed. The guy identified himself as working for a roofing company. I explained the SNAFU but then asked him if he did garage doors. He replied, "NO, for that you should call Bouma Brothers". They're great guys."
I looked up the number and scheduled a site visit for the following morning. Bright and early, a big black pickup truck showed up just as I was leaving for a breakfast meeting. I showed him the door mand explained that repair would be great but I fully expected to replace the whole thing. When I returned from the meeting, the door was fixed. Not only was it back on track, but it has NEVER worked that good. I can raise and lower the door with my pinky finger! Inside, there on the counter, was the bill. Drumroll, please... a whopping $67 dollars. He also quoted that he could put in a power door for an extra $350. I think we are going to do that. Bouma Brothers ROCK.
Quick update that will be of interest for Alice in the category of "brush with fame". Her former babysitter and dance company cohort will be dancing with Britney Spears to open Sunday's MTV Awards show. And to think... we knew him when!
I think I am honing in on the final version of the Grand Rapids Community Foundation underwriting spot for Ken Burns' "The War". It is a lot to squeeze in 15 seconds but my client seems to be happy. The images, by the way, are Bill Hebert photographs. I really enjoyed learning the "Ken Burns effect" with slow zooms on photos. It's real easy in Final Cut.
As promised, a conclusion to the story on the garage door disaster from my first blog entry.
We finally gave up on the repair guy who came and measured about a month ago. How many phone messages can you leave for a guy? And now what? Who repairs garage doors?
The answer came in the form of a wrong number. I dialed a number of a client from a brochure but no sooner had I punched in the last number than I realized that I had mis-dialed. I quickly hung up and called my client with the correct series of seven digits. Thirty seconds after I hung up from that call, my phone rang. It was the wrong number I had first dialed. The guy identified himself as working for a roofing company. I explained the SNAFU but then asked him if he did garage doors. He replied, "NO, for that you should call Bouma Brothers". They're great guys."
I looked up the number and scheduled a site visit for the following morning. Bright and early, a big black pickup truck showed up just as I was leaving for a breakfast meeting. I showed him the door mand explained that repair would be great but I fully expected to replace the whole thing. When I returned from the meeting, the door was fixed. Not only was it back on track, but it has NEVER worked that good. I can raise and lower the door with my pinky finger! Inside, there on the counter, was the bill. Drumroll, please... a whopping $67 dollars. He also quoted that he could put in a power door for an extra $350. I think we are going to do that. Bouma Brothers ROCK.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
An Excellent Cinema Experience
Here's proof that a movie doesn't have to be high budget or high production values to tell a simple but good story. I'm speaking of Once which Mary and I went to see last night. It is not quite a musical as much as it is a movie with a plot advanced by music. It actually has the look of a documentary with scenes shot in public places and non-star actors pretty much playing characters not unlike themselves. The music is good and the characters generate genuine warmth within a very sweet story arc. When the movie got out there was a warm breeze at 11:00 pm which supplemented the high spirits that were generated within the theater. Can't get this film out of my head.
Today's project was creating a draft of a 15 second promo for the Grand Rapids Community Foundation who is underwriting a local presentation of Ken Burns new documentary, The War. I had some guidelines and needed to create something to start a conversation of where to go with the client. Here is my first draft of a 15-second solution.
Tomorrow I will take Marlee up to Pentwater and Abby up to Glen Arbor. Ill be back on Saturday.
Today's project was creating a draft of a 15 second promo for the Grand Rapids Community Foundation who is underwriting a local presentation of Ken Burns new documentary, The War. I had some guidelines and needed to create something to start a conversation of where to go with the client. Here is my first draft of a 15-second solution.
Tomorrow I will take Marlee up to Pentwater and Abby up to Glen Arbor. Ill be back on Saturday.
Saturday, August 25, 2007
The End of My Suffering
Last week I had pretty much worked myself into a tizzy worrying about this video that I had due for the UICA. They needed a "video/music" invitation for a fancy schmancy party they are throwing for big-money donors next month. They were supposed to write a script for me but I also jotted down a few ideas that popped into my mind. When we got to the script meeting, they had nothing and they liked all my ideas... or possibly they needed a fall guy in case any idea turned out to be a stupid idea. Who wants that responsibility? That is what consultants are for.
They chose my riskier idea of doing sort of a Dr. Seuss rap set to a rhythm track. If it worked, it would be funny. If it didn't work, it could embarrass a wealthy patron. That is a bit of pressure!
The shoot seemed to go OK. I got to shoot in the Blodgett mansion on Plymouth Ave. At the last minute, I had Bill Hebert come along to help with lighting and crowd control. Bill is exceptionally good at interesting and funny small talk. The last thing I needed was the pressure of keeping the talent entertained. But when I got home and I looked at the footage alone, it came off more corny than funny. The music would need to telegraph the whimsical in order to view it in the correct light.
Stephen Duren's trio agreed to try and pull something together for me. I met at their rehearsal on Tuesday and showed them the raw footage. No one laughed. We set up to record their session with a cassette recorder but it became clear to me that this would not work. I could hear a hum and also I had no cassette player to transfer it back to video. I decided to just use Stephen's camcorder and place it near the instruments and settle for whatever I could get.
They played around to they came up with a riff that I liked. I timed the 4 verses and decided to have rhythm under the spoken word and add the bass riff under the in-between segments. I stood in the middle of the musicians and, using my watch, cued the bass player when to come in and out. I was reasonably happy with the final take.
UICA liked it and I guess that is what counts. It went out yesterday. What do you think? UICA Video Invitation.
Lots of rain these last few days. The grass is greener.
They chose my riskier idea of doing sort of a Dr. Seuss rap set to a rhythm track. If it worked, it would be funny. If it didn't work, it could embarrass a wealthy patron. That is a bit of pressure!
The shoot seemed to go OK. I got to shoot in the Blodgett mansion on Plymouth Ave. At the last minute, I had Bill Hebert come along to help with lighting and crowd control. Bill is exceptionally good at interesting and funny small talk. The last thing I needed was the pressure of keeping the talent entertained. But when I got home and I looked at the footage alone, it came off more corny than funny. The music would need to telegraph the whimsical in order to view it in the correct light.
Stephen Duren's trio agreed to try and pull something together for me. I met at their rehearsal on Tuesday and showed them the raw footage. No one laughed. We set up to record their session with a cassette recorder but it became clear to me that this would not work. I could hear a hum and also I had no cassette player to transfer it back to video. I decided to just use Stephen's camcorder and place it near the instruments and settle for whatever I could get.
They played around to they came up with a riff that I liked. I timed the 4 verses and decided to have rhythm under the spoken word and add the bass riff under the in-between segments. I stood in the middle of the musicians and, using my watch, cued the bass player when to come in and out. I was reasonably happy with the final take.
UICA liked it and I guess that is what counts. It went out yesterday. What do you think? UICA Video Invitation.
Lots of rain these last few days. The grass is greener.
Monday, August 20, 2007
A Change in the Weather
Oh, for a nice warm day... and when will this infernal rain stop? Ok, that was just for effect but seriously, it is cold and wet out. I guess that this means I'll be mowing the lawn later this week.
This past weekend was spent up in Pentwater, Michigan. This picture was taken out the back door of the summer home of Marlee's grandmother, Margaret Dearth. What you can't see is the big, pristine beach on the other side of that dune grass-covered hill. Marlee, Mary, Abby, Casie and I hung out here Saturday to Sunday in hopes that the sun would come out and we could splay out in the sand and splash in the water. The girls mostly stayed indoors playing cards and games. Mary, Grandma Dearth and I got in one very nice walk before the rain started coming down in a serious fashion. We strolled along water's edge to the pier and then cut inland to a private boardwalk that straddled the wooded hill that was the setting for all the cottages and homes on the south side of the Pentwater inlet.
The end of that walk was the cue for the heavy rain that did not let up for the rest of the weekend and still has not let up. This meant reading our books and playing indoor games with a couple of car excursions into the village to explore their tourist fare. For those 13 years and under, this manifested in exploring the depths of a candy shop and sampling the various sweet and sour liquids, powders and gummy substances. We could tell from the faces of our charges that this rainy weather and indoor activities pretty much equaled a boring way to spend a weekend. We barbecued chicken, boiled fresh sweetcorn and played an extended round of that game (the name escapes me) where you mold clay, draw pictures and act out words on your way around a game board. That was our Saturday night.
Sunday morning was French toast and watching the birds at the feeder. For the girls it was "How soon can we go home?" We had lunch in the village at a House of Flavors. Crappy service, mediocre sandwiches and limp French fries but delicious ice cream treats. We were back in Grand Rapids by 5:30.
I should also mention that we had house guests. Skip and his girlfriend Marlene came by last Wednesday and just left today (Monday) at around 1:00. They are in the middle of a move from Maine to California making perhaps their last visit to Grand Rapids. They were excellent guests, very popular with Marlee, Abby and Buster. They watched our house and fed the pets while we were up in Pentwater. We're sad to see them go but know we have a place to stay in Santa Barbara, California. Marlene also will make the contact for Alice to have a host in Sydney when she decides it is time for a capital city visit.
This past weekend was spent up in Pentwater, Michigan. This picture was taken out the back door of the summer home of Marlee's grandmother, Margaret Dearth. What you can't see is the big, pristine beach on the other side of that dune grass-covered hill. Marlee, Mary, Abby, Casie and I hung out here Saturday to Sunday in hopes that the sun would come out and we could splay out in the sand and splash in the water. The girls mostly stayed indoors playing cards and games. Mary, Grandma Dearth and I got in one very nice walk before the rain started coming down in a serious fashion. We strolled along water's edge to the pier and then cut inland to a private boardwalk that straddled the wooded hill that was the setting for all the cottages and homes on the south side of the Pentwater inlet.
The end of that walk was the cue for the heavy rain that did not let up for the rest of the weekend and still has not let up. This meant reading our books and playing indoor games with a couple of car excursions into the village to explore their tourist fare. For those 13 years and under, this manifested in exploring the depths of a candy shop and sampling the various sweet and sour liquids, powders and gummy substances. We could tell from the faces of our charges that this rainy weather and indoor activities pretty much equaled a boring way to spend a weekend. We barbecued chicken, boiled fresh sweetcorn and played an extended round of that game (the name escapes me) where you mold clay, draw pictures and act out words on your way around a game board. That was our Saturday night.
Sunday morning was French toast and watching the birds at the feeder. For the girls it was "How soon can we go home?" We had lunch in the village at a House of Flavors. Crappy service, mediocre sandwiches and limp French fries but delicious ice cream treats. We were back in Grand Rapids by 5:30.
I should also mention that we had house guests. Skip and his girlfriend Marlene came by last Wednesday and just left today (Monday) at around 1:00. They are in the middle of a move from Maine to California making perhaps their last visit to Grand Rapids. They were excellent guests, very popular with Marlee, Abby and Buster. They watched our house and fed the pets while we were up in Pentwater. We're sad to see them go but know we have a place to stay in Santa Barbara, California. Marlene also will make the contact for Alice to have a host in Sydney when she decides it is time for a capital city visit.
Sunday, August 12, 2007
Thunderstorms at Last
But where is the relief? Right now it is so muggy. I feel the need to go rinse off in the shower after the exertion it takes to stoop down and pick up a pair of socks from the laundry basket.
I had the luxury of a day to myself today. I woke up early (6:00am-ish) to sit on the porch and feel the thunder booming in my chest. It never came too close but it was nice all the same. After an IM chat with Alice, I peeked out the back door to see if I had closed the window of my car last night. The answer was no. It was wide open. My car seat was soaked.
Last night (Saturday) after working on Come On Over all day, I rode home with Rocky Slaski who does audio for the show. He's a reserved but interesting guy. He was a guitar player in my favorite college band, the Infections. We decided to stop for a couple of IPAs at Founders. We talked about the Infections era of the early 80's which I found fascinating. We knew many of the same people but we did not know each other back then.
Two beers and a half a bowl of peanuts later it was time to go home. It was all the calories I needed apparently because I was not hungry and fairly buzzed. I was greeted by a big box on the porch containing the parts I ordered to fix the meat/cheese drawer of the refrigerator. I decided I could not wait another minute and I cleared out the left half of the fridge and installed all the parts. To quote Abby, it's SWEET!
That did it for me. I brushed my teeth and crashed. That took me to the second paragraph (above).
Tonight I picked up Abby at 6:00 and we had spaghetti and Mary and Marlee came home at 8:00. Time for a rinse off in the shower and then early to bed again. I have 3 more days of Come On Over. I'll pick up Rocky at 7:45am.
I had the luxury of a day to myself today. I woke up early (6:00am-ish) to sit on the porch and feel the thunder booming in my chest. It never came too close but it was nice all the same. After an IM chat with Alice, I peeked out the back door to see if I had closed the window of my car last night. The answer was no. It was wide open. My car seat was soaked.
Last night (Saturday) after working on Come On Over all day, I rode home with Rocky Slaski who does audio for the show. He's a reserved but interesting guy. He was a guitar player in my favorite college band, the Infections. We decided to stop for a couple of IPAs at Founders. We talked about the Infections era of the early 80's which I found fascinating. We knew many of the same people but we did not know each other back then.
Two beers and a half a bowl of peanuts later it was time to go home. It was all the calories I needed apparently because I was not hungry and fairly buzzed. I was greeted by a big box on the porch containing the parts I ordered to fix the meat/cheese drawer of the refrigerator. I decided I could not wait another minute and I cleared out the left half of the fridge and installed all the parts. To quote Abby, it's SWEET!
That did it for me. I brushed my teeth and crashed. That took me to the second paragraph (above).
Tonight I picked up Abby at 6:00 and we had spaghetti and Mary and Marlee came home at 8:00. Time for a rinse off in the shower and then early to bed again. I have 3 more days of Come On Over. I'll pick up Rocky at 7:45am.
Friday, August 10, 2007
Wednesday, August 8, 2007
Little Jobs are Trickling In
I just got called to do a little piece for UICA. I'm meeting on it on Monday. Degage Ministries is also ready to commit to a campaign video. I'm warming to the idea.
Check out my new Rapid Growth video on the Children's Museum.
It has been a couple of very long days working on Come On Over. Tomorrow we work on a couple of music videos for the show. Should be a nice break from the exposition stuff but the quality of the writing remains high, We have a hot property, I'm convinced.
Tonight, MAry and I met with cast and crew at the Cottage. The show bought the food (Cottage Burgers, yum) so we only had to pay for beer. We snuck out at 5 minutes to 9 to run to UICA to see the movie Paprika. Unfortunately, the projector broke and they cancelled the show. We took a walk downtown instead. Another hot, muggy night.
One of the guys on the crew is a breakdancer/Hope student named Michael Kafka (not sure about the spelling). He knows Mike Winslow.
Gotta go to bed!
Check out my new Rapid Growth video on the Children's Museum.
It has been a couple of very long days working on Come On Over. Tomorrow we work on a couple of music videos for the show. Should be a nice break from the exposition stuff but the quality of the writing remains high, We have a hot property, I'm convinced.
Tonight, MAry and I met with cast and crew at the Cottage. The show bought the food (Cottage Burgers, yum) so we only had to pay for beer. We snuck out at 5 minutes to 9 to run to UICA to see the movie Paprika. Unfortunately, the projector broke and they cancelled the show. We took a walk downtown instead. Another hot, muggy night.
One of the guys on the crew is a breakdancer/Hope student named Michael Kafka (not sure about the spelling). He knows Mike Winslow.
Gotta go to bed!
Saturday, August 4, 2007
Friday, August 3, 2007
Would Someone Turn Off the Faucet, Please?
Metaphorically speaking. I'm so busy right now with the feast part of "feast or famine" except the feast is lacking in serious calories (or dollars).
First let me get you up to speed with some cliffhangers from previous posts:
On another project, Girbe and I are taping interviews of retired cops. Yesterday we interviewed an 82-year old, African American detective. He was a very interesting guy with good stories. After the interview he was looking at a photo album full of B&W posed photos of cops. Sort of a mug shot book of the "good guys". He made little comments about nearly everyone as he remembered them. "This guy helped me with a promotion" or "This guy got really fat" or "I did not get along with this guy". My favorite comment was one of the last photos. "This guy was..." and he gestured, rocking his pinky and thumb up and down in the universal sign for "probably gay". I asked him if he was gay and he said. "Oh, he was married but he swung both ways." And then he added, "We rode together once and he said he would sleep with a man if he was clean. That was OK as long as he didn't want to sleep with me."
The down side of that shoot was that we had an hour for set up and I really need about an hour and 15 minutes for set up due to a technical problem I encountered. One of our 2 tape decks did not record the video signal.
I've also been working on a project for the Children's Museum... two projects actually. I've been working on a piece for an upcoming fund raising event involving interviews with the founders of the organization. They've been around for 10 years now. The second project is a story for Rapid Growth that I will edit this weekend for publishing next week Thursday. I've got some really nice footage.
maybe my cup is too full already. So why do i find myself writing this book in my sleep?
Finally, I had lunch with the CMC's grant writer on Thursday. She gave me an idea that I am strangely geeked about. She said that she had the guidelines from the people who publish those "_____ for the Complete Idiot" guidebook series. They pay $15,000 plus royalties on sales. I looked up their publishing list and although they seem to have a book for every dumb possibility, they have nothing like "Filmmaking for the Complete Idiot". I think I understand the complete idiot quite well and I would enjoy writing a guide book for him. First step: Come up with an outline.
First let me get you up to speed with some cliffhangers from previous posts:
- The garage fixer guy measured but now has not returned a call in 2 weeks.
- The window replacement epoch turned into much drama about very little. Since I had all-day gigs with Come On Over last week, I asked Jon Burr to go and get a hatch from a junkyard. Turns out it was the wrong hatch and thank goodness Jon recognized it as such and declined. Mary called our insurance agent and it turns out that particular kind of damage is indeed covered, in total, by our policy.
- The Cucumber plant is looking sickly but the pepper plants look great. There are 4 peppers growing on the sturdiest plant.
On another project, Girbe and I are taping interviews of retired cops. Yesterday we interviewed an 82-year old, African American detective. He was a very interesting guy with good stories. After the interview he was looking at a photo album full of B&W posed photos of cops. Sort of a mug shot book of the "good guys". He made little comments about nearly everyone as he remembered them. "This guy helped me with a promotion" or "This guy got really fat" or "I did not get along with this guy". My favorite comment was one of the last photos. "This guy was..." and he gestured, rocking his pinky and thumb up and down in the universal sign for "probably gay". I asked him if he was gay and he said. "Oh, he was married but he swung both ways." And then he added, "We rode together once and he said he would sleep with a man if he was clean. That was OK as long as he didn't want to sleep with me."
The down side of that shoot was that we had an hour for set up and I really need about an hour and 15 minutes for set up due to a technical problem I encountered. One of our 2 tape decks did not record the video signal.
I've also been working on a project for the Children's Museum... two projects actually. I've been working on a piece for an upcoming fund raising event involving interviews with the founders of the organization. They've been around for 10 years now. The second project is a story for Rapid Growth that I will edit this weekend for publishing next week Thursday. I've got some really nice footage.
maybe my cup is too full already. So why do i find myself writing this book in my sleep?
Finally, I had lunch with the CMC's grant writer on Thursday. She gave me an idea that I am strangely geeked about. She said that she had the guidelines from the people who publish those "_____ for the Complete Idiot" guidebook series. They pay $15,000 plus royalties on sales. I looked up their publishing list and although they seem to have a book for every dumb possibility, they have nothing like "Filmmaking for the Complete Idiot". I think I understand the complete idiot quite well and I would enjoy writing a guide book for him. First step: Come up with an outline.
Sunday, July 29, 2007
My Garden Grows
I can just about watch my plants drink water. These hot hot days stress out these green guys that produce juicy balls of edible produce. I walk out and see the leaves sagging, limp and curled. After a good watering, an hour later they are standing up and smiling under the same sun. Here are some pics taken after watering but before the roots drank up the water. Note the sagging leaves:
Cucumbers
Peppers
Squash and tomatoes
More on the story of the Broken
Window
As promised, here is a pictorial of the window disaster yesterday. To the upper right is the initial point of impact. At first it was merely a ding... not unlike when a pebble gets kicked up by a truck and hits the windshield. Below, you can get an idea of the total shatter.
Cucumbers
Peppers
Squash and tomatoes
More on the story of the Broken
Window
As promised, here is a pictorial of the window disaster yesterday. To the upper right is the initial point of impact. At first it was merely a ding... not unlike when a pebble gets kicked up by a truck and hits the windshield. Below, you can get an idea of the total shatter.
Saturday, July 28, 2007
All Those Achy Pains
I'm not sure why I hurt so much. Been feeling the need to take ibuprofen on a daily basis. When you hurt, everything else seems to follow that lead.
I started my day by causing $500 damage to Mary's car. Those moments you wish you could do over! The keg from the party needed to go back to Founders Brewery. I was in a hurry to meet my carpool to "Come On Over". I asked if Mary would take the keg back after they opened at 11:00. She agreed but asked me to put the keg in the car for her. No problem! I popped the hatchback, placed the keg in the back and shut the hatch. Ping!! There was a asterisk-shaped crack in the window right where the edge of the keg met the inside of the window. Damn! Well, at list it was in there. I quickly ran in to tell Mary the bad news. It was just a little crack... something she could probably live with.
She was not happy of course but I had to fly and I jumped in my car and flew off to work.
Mary pulled on her shoes and went out to look at the damage. She heard a cracking noise like ice breaking on a pond... crik...crik...crack...split and watched as the lines spread. If I had opened the hatch and re-positioned the keg, we'd probably be all right. With the window pulled tight across the metal edge, the window was shattered in slow-motion.
Window guys say it is $499 to replace the back hatch window of a Honda Civic.
More on this later! Got to sooth my pain.
I started my day by causing $500 damage to Mary's car. Those moments you wish you could do over! The keg from the party needed to go back to Founders Brewery. I was in a hurry to meet my carpool to "Come On Over". I asked if Mary would take the keg back after they opened at 11:00. She agreed but asked me to put the keg in the car for her. No problem! I popped the hatchback, placed the keg in the back and shut the hatch. Ping!! There was a asterisk-shaped crack in the window right where the edge of the keg met the inside of the window. Damn! Well, at list it was in there. I quickly ran in to tell Mary the bad news. It was just a little crack... something she could probably live with.
She was not happy of course but I had to fly and I jumped in my car and flew off to work.
Mary pulled on her shoes and went out to look at the damage. She heard a cracking noise like ice breaking on a pond... crik...crik...crack...split and watched as the lines spread. If I had opened the hatch and re-positioned the keg, we'd probably be all right. With the window pulled tight across the metal edge, the window was shattered in slow-motion.
Window guys say it is $499 to replace the back hatch window of a Honda Civic.
More on this later! Got to sooth my pain.
Wednesday, July 18, 2007
Where are the Thunderstorms?
They missed Grand Rapids AGAIN! It is hot and humid here once again with no rain.
Tuesday, July 17, 2007
Shooting With Lights
This morning I had the opportunity to try out my new light kit. There were 3 setups and I was pretty happy with the results of 2 of them. The third was fine too but I thought of some things later that I could have done to make it "pop" more. The interviews were all interesting... Children's Museum founders. They LOVE Teresa. All of them made a point to say that her performance was there biggest reason to brag. I'm back tomorrow for another. The lights definitely make a big difference.
Had lunch with Oscar today at Tacos El Ganadero (yum). He is newly unemployed and we talked a lot about work life and relationships. Mostly about where work might take us.
When I got home I found the missing basting brush from my new Backyard BBQ tool kit that mom gave me for my birthday. I had left the tools outside overnight and the brush (of all things) came up missing.
There it was in the grass about 20 feet from the grill. The critter that dragged it away from the grill table must have liked my basting sauce because the bristles were chewed down from a fan shape to a pointed stub.
I just got back from a beer and a movie with Stephen. Happy Hour prices: $2 for a Founders IPA. The movie was You Kill Me with Ben Kingsly as a hit man whose career is suffering because he is an alcoholic. We enjoyed it but it is a small screen picture.
Had lunch with Oscar today at Tacos El Ganadero (yum). He is newly unemployed and we talked a lot about work life and relationships. Mostly about where work might take us.
When I got home I found the missing basting brush from my new Backyard BBQ tool kit that mom gave me for my birthday. I had left the tools outside overnight and the brush (of all things) came up missing.
There it was in the grass about 20 feet from the grill. The critter that dragged it away from the grill table must have liked my basting sauce because the bristles were chewed down from a fan shape to a pointed stub.
I just got back from a beer and a movie with Stephen. Happy Hour prices: $2 for a Founders IPA. The movie was You Kill Me with Ben Kingsly as a hit man whose career is suffering because he is an alcoholic. We enjoyed it but it is a small screen picture.
Monday, July 16, 2007
Lamplight
My new light kit arrived. This particular one was recommended by a friend. It is more expensive than you would think necessary but I should be able to recoup costs from jobs I get. It clearly is a nice kit. I took some time to figure out how to put it all together. I'm already figuring out the expensive accessories I'll need. I should be able to use it tomorrow for my Children's Museum interviews.
Sunday, July 15, 2007
Cult of Costco
We had no coffee this morning. That's a prerequisite for Mary to be really awake. We decided to go out for breakfast. I thought maybe we could just go to Costco and eat the free samples for breakfast. Mary convinced me to go to Sundance instead.
We went to Costco AFTER breakfast because we are planning food for Saturday's party and we wanted to scope out the bulk food options before meeting with Betsy and Ginny who are handling food for the party. We picked up a few groceries and also a list of possible party foods. We now have a menu and some designated grillers.
Mary's working on her super-secret party favors. Those who can't attend will receive them via email after the party.
Our lovely neighborhood had some more action this evening. A pickup truck slipped out of gear and coasted across the street into the side of another car. It was an opportunity for Jim Scott to remind me which neighbors were selling drugs and which no-good kids were currently oppressing the finish on his vehicle with every manner of projectile.
Sweet corn and burgers on the grill tonight. It was the first sweet corn of the year and it was actually pretty good.
We went to Costco AFTER breakfast because we are planning food for Saturday's party and we wanted to scope out the bulk food options before meeting with Betsy and Ginny who are handling food for the party. We picked up a few groceries and also a list of possible party foods. We now have a menu and some designated grillers.
Mary's working on her super-secret party favors. Those who can't attend will receive them via email after the party.
Our lovely neighborhood had some more action this evening. A pickup truck slipped out of gear and coasted across the street into the side of another car. It was an opportunity for Jim Scott to remind me which neighbors were selling drugs and which no-good kids were currently oppressing the finish on his vehicle with every manner of projectile.
Sweet corn and burgers on the grill tonight. It was the first sweet corn of the year and it was actually pretty good.
Saturday, July 14, 2007
Why Do People Hate Michael Moore?
Mary and I just got back from seeing the movie Sicko. With all the publicity the film is getting, I was somewhat shocked that the film was only playing in one theatre in town and that was the one at the Rivertown Crossings mall in Grandville. I generally won't travel to that part of town. The Theatre was quite full despite it being the first Saturday night to see Harry Potter. At the end, something happened that you hardly ever see any more... the audience broke into spontaneous applause.
The film makes the point that the difference between US culture and the culture of those countries who have adopted socialized medicine is that the people in the other countries demand it. Here they are trained that Michael Moore is a big, rude man who hates America. If you aren't rich and you hate Michael Moore then you are just plain gullible or stupid. Of course Michael Moore uses irony to make his films more entertaining and thus pushes the anal retentives to pick apart the examples and throw out the whole argument rather than recognize a creative approach to storytelling about a particular truth.
It's a good film for anyone interested in improving quality of life.
In other news, this morning's newspaper says Grand Valley is raising tuition 9.9%.
The film makes the point that the difference between US culture and the culture of those countries who have adopted socialized medicine is that the people in the other countries demand it. Here they are trained that Michael Moore is a big, rude man who hates America. If you aren't rich and you hate Michael Moore then you are just plain gullible or stupid. Of course Michael Moore uses irony to make his films more entertaining and thus pushes the anal retentives to pick apart the examples and throw out the whole argument rather than recognize a creative approach to storytelling about a particular truth.
It's a good film for anyone interested in improving quality of life.
In other news, this morning's newspaper says Grand Valley is raising tuition 9.9%.
Friday, July 13, 2007
Death and Harry Potter
Last night The four of us set off to see the new Harry Potter movie. It was Thursday night and the parking lot was packed. The franchise has been good for Celebration Cinema. The "gotta see" factor was clearly in effect. We sat next to a mom who was clearly the Harry Potter nut in her family. She gasped, guffawed and made random comments to the screen throughout. Her reactions teetered between amusing and obnoxious in my mind and according to Abby who was sitting next to me. The movie had some moments but I kept thinking that it was more about the cultural phenomena than the actual movie content. It's gonna be seven episodes and we're all going to see all seven (probably multiple times plus the DVD purchases). That got me to thinking about death. Of course death is a theme of the movie and I was thinking about the funeral that I would be attending the next day but I was thinking about those who would never see the Harry Potter Series and those who would only see part of it. I started making a list in my head. Will I make it to the seventh? Will Daniel "Harry Potter" Radcliffe make it to the seventh before his receding hairline kicks in?
On to the real thing... the death of GRPD Officer Robert Kozminski last Sunday is the big story in town this week. Girbe and I decided to attend the funeral since we have been working on a GRPD history project and have become friends with the folks who have been studying the past deaths of GRPD officers killed on duty. We also thought it would be an interesting cultural milestone to experience first hand.
We arrived at 10:00am for the 11:00am funeral. It was at a big modern Catholic Church on the Northwest side of town, not far from Glen & Mary's old Cherry Run house. As we approached the church we were struck first by the number of Police Car's on hand and second by the number of satellite microwave uplink trucks on hand. We parked several blocks away and began walking. Topping a hill we took in the stunning site of the occupants of those vehicles. There in the church parking lot were cops in uniform. If I had to pick a number I'd say there had to be a thousand of them standing in formation. Not just GR cops... cops from all over Michigan, sporting every uniform in the catalog. On the other side of the curb were the media. They all were there with their best suits and fanciest equipment.
We immediately ran into our cop friends who were grateful that we had come out. Detective Dixon was in a suit and was running a video camera. We found a seat in the back row and opened our eyes to see what happens at a Police funeral when a young cop has been killed on duty. The program looked long but we had no idea...
At 11:05 after an introduction, a procession began. First a casket covered with a white linen. Then the family and finally a procession of cops. The casket stopped at the front of the church and the family sat down in the pews and the cops approached the casket, two by two, saluting and then proceding to their seats. Forty-five minutes later, the formation switched to three by three to speed things along. Thirty-five minutes after that, the last cop gave his salute. Then the regular funeral started.
It was a full Mass including Communion with bread and wine and finally a tender homily delivered by the local priest. But let me skip to the eulogies. There were three. First was from a fellow officer. He was tall (towering well above the microphone set at "stocky priest" height) and soft-spoken so it was a bit hard to hear. Still, it was a sweet story about the last time they had worked a detail together on the 4th of July. He was not a natural storyteller but his feelings came out and we were all getting moist. Second was Police Chief Harry Dolan. He's even taller (he's actually the tallest in the entire police force) but an excellent story teller. he started by reading an essay written by the deceased when he had applied for the GRPD and was required to write an autobiography for his entrance exam. Dolan then talked about some beautiful moments that he had had with Kozminski's family. He got real choked up which caused the whole audience, especially me to turn on the waterworks. Finally, Mayor Heartwell came up to talk about hope for a future without violence and war.
After some more ritual and song the casked was carried out of the building and we were free to leave. It was 2:00pm. But the story is not over.
Outside, we were handed Gatorade or water and the congregation pooled to watch an honor guard of (1000+) police officers in salute as the coffin was loaded into the hearse. After the honor guard marched back to their cars, motor cycles and buses, we followed back to our own car. I knew a back way out but at the end it was blocked by a Sand Lake Police Car protecting the parade route. We got out and sat in the shade as Police Car by Police Car drove by with lights on. After 30 minutes of this and no sign of an end we decided to circle back and drive away from town. After several more blocked routes, we finally hit Lake Drive and we wove our way back to Grove Street using back roads. It was 3:45 when I walked in the door.
I picked up the paper and read a story about how last night a fund raiser thrown together at the Intersection for a support fund for Officer Kozminsk's 3-year old daughter had raised $12,000. It was helped a lot by a $5,000 donation from country stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill who had just played the VanAndel.
The girls are starving. Casie's coming over to sleep tonight. They also seemed to have figured out iChat with the built in camera streaming video.
On to the real thing... the death of GRPD Officer Robert Kozminski last Sunday is the big story in town this week. Girbe and I decided to attend the funeral since we have been working on a GRPD history project and have become friends with the folks who have been studying the past deaths of GRPD officers killed on duty. We also thought it would be an interesting cultural milestone to experience first hand.
We arrived at 10:00am for the 11:00am funeral. It was at a big modern Catholic Church on the Northwest side of town, not far from Glen & Mary's old Cherry Run house. As we approached the church we were struck first by the number of Police Car's on hand and second by the number of satellite microwave uplink trucks on hand. We parked several blocks away and began walking. Topping a hill we took in the stunning site of the occupants of those vehicles. There in the church parking lot were cops in uniform. If I had to pick a number I'd say there had to be a thousand of them standing in formation. Not just GR cops... cops from all over Michigan, sporting every uniform in the catalog. On the other side of the curb were the media. They all were there with their best suits and fanciest equipment.
We immediately ran into our cop friends who were grateful that we had come out. Detective Dixon was in a suit and was running a video camera. We found a seat in the back row and opened our eyes to see what happens at a Police funeral when a young cop has been killed on duty. The program looked long but we had no idea...
At 11:05 after an introduction, a procession began. First a casket covered with a white linen. Then the family and finally a procession of cops. The casket stopped at the front of the church and the family sat down in the pews and the cops approached the casket, two by two, saluting and then proceding to their seats. Forty-five minutes later, the formation switched to three by three to speed things along. Thirty-five minutes after that, the last cop gave his salute. Then the regular funeral started.
It was a full Mass including Communion with bread and wine and finally a tender homily delivered by the local priest. But let me skip to the eulogies. There were three. First was from a fellow officer. He was tall (towering well above the microphone set at "stocky priest" height) and soft-spoken so it was a bit hard to hear. Still, it was a sweet story about the last time they had worked a detail together on the 4th of July. He was not a natural storyteller but his feelings came out and we were all getting moist. Second was Police Chief Harry Dolan. He's even taller (he's actually the tallest in the entire police force) but an excellent story teller. he started by reading an essay written by the deceased when he had applied for the GRPD and was required to write an autobiography for his entrance exam. Dolan then talked about some beautiful moments that he had had with Kozminski's family. He got real choked up which caused the whole audience, especially me to turn on the waterworks. Finally, Mayor Heartwell came up to talk about hope for a future without violence and war.
After some more ritual and song the casked was carried out of the building and we were free to leave. It was 2:00pm. But the story is not over.
Outside, we were handed Gatorade or water and the congregation pooled to watch an honor guard of (1000+) police officers in salute as the coffin was loaded into the hearse. After the honor guard marched back to their cars, motor cycles and buses, we followed back to our own car. I knew a back way out but at the end it was blocked by a Sand Lake Police Car protecting the parade route. We got out and sat in the shade as Police Car by Police Car drove by with lights on. After 30 minutes of this and no sign of an end we decided to circle back and drive away from town. After several more blocked routes, we finally hit Lake Drive and we wove our way back to Grove Street using back roads. It was 3:45 when I walked in the door.
I picked up the paper and read a story about how last night a fund raiser thrown together at the Intersection for a support fund for Officer Kozminsk's 3-year old daughter had raised $12,000. It was helped a lot by a $5,000 donation from country stars Tim McGraw and Faith Hill who had just played the VanAndel.
The girls are starving. Casie's coming over to sleep tonight. They also seemed to have figured out iChat with the built in camera streaming video.
Thursday, July 12, 2007
Special Sauce
This morning I have a meeting with "Come On Over" tech staff. I'm quite excited about that. I also just ordered a light kit to enhance my production package.
Last night, Mary and I went to see "G Love and Special Sauce" at the Intersection. A terrific show and great performers! Apparently he was a surfer buddy of Jack Johnson. Johnson, who was new in songwriting wrote a song for him that was a hit and pretty much launched Johnson's career. I don't particularly like the Intersection as a venue, though. Too smoky and I don't think the sound system is that great. Too loud anyway. We almost didn't get in. The show was sold out. The guy checking IDs at the door saw us leaving and gave us one free ticket. He said we should wait around because they were in the process of opening up some more tickets. So ultimately we got in for half price.
I caught this music video on VH1 from Brandi Carlile. Now this song, The Story, is stuck in my head.
Let me leave you with a couple of pictures of Buster watching his new favorite TV
Last night, Mary and I went to see "G Love and Special Sauce" at the Intersection. A terrific show and great performers! Apparently he was a surfer buddy of Jack Johnson. Johnson, who was new in songwriting wrote a song for him that was a hit and pretty much launched Johnson's career. I don't particularly like the Intersection as a venue, though. Too smoky and I don't think the sound system is that great. Too loud anyway. We almost didn't get in. The show was sold out. The guy checking IDs at the door saw us leaving and gave us one free ticket. He said we should wait around because they were in the process of opening up some more tickets. So ultimately we got in for half price.
I caught this music video on VH1 from Brandi Carlile. Now this song, The Story, is stuck in my head.
Let me leave you with a couple of pictures of Buster watching his new favorite TV
Wednesday, July 11, 2007
Garage of Death
OK, so maybe that is a bit of a dramatic spin. But it was a rather scary flirtation with the idea that if I was a less capable individual, this situation could have been deadly.
Here is how it happened:
I went out to the garage to look for a particular piece of fringe inventory. When I lifted the garage door, it got stuck about a foot and a half from the ground. I crawled underneath and realized that I would need a flashlight to asses the situation since there are no windows or doors in the space other than the garage door itself. I went in the house and found a pen light and I also grabbed a hammer and a 2x4 from the workshop. Since the ground there is very dirty, I first laid a car floormat underneath so the wriggle under the lip would be slightly less disgusting. Once inside, it appeared obvious to me that the spring mechanism on one side had a fowled up cable but to get at it I would have to close the garage door all the way. I pushed the door shut with my foot and assessed the damage.
I remember when the door was installed that the guy had some difficulty due to the fact that the door was less than square and it was tight quarters to work in. I also remember him telling me that these springs and cables were dangerous to work with because the wrong "sproing" could send metal flying. It looked to me that the cable had somehow come unspooled from one pulley. I used a metal rod as a lever to try to get it spooled back on but it was clear that that was not going to happen. There was not enough room to get leverage. Then I noticed that the door had slid a bid crooked. It was tighter to one side than the other. So I used the 2x4 to try and pry it back to center position. It was clearly not going to budge. I tried hammering on one of the wheel shafts, also to no avail. Clearly this was a job for a professional. I knelt down to lift the door. But you guessed it... The door would not budge more than an inch or two.
By this time I had worked up a sweat. In fact I was soaked due to the 90+ degree day and the closed quarters. I was feeling like I could really use a glass of water. I felt in my pocket for my cell phone but realized that I had left it inside the house. I was stuck!
For the next 45 minutes I tried prying, bending, pounding and shaking various garage door parts to see what might be the key to the jam up. Eventually I discovered that the door was pushed far enough to one side that it was on the outside of the curved part of the track. Lifting the door merely wedged it tighter.
This is when I started to think about my loved ones discovering my dehydrated body lying on the dirty floor of a 100 degree garage with a door that would not open. It was clear that I would have to break out. I had no screwdrivers or wrenches so it would have to be a lever vs. bendable or breakable materials.
I pried one of the bottom wheels out of the track and discovered that I could bend the aluminum panel at the bottom just enough so that I could prop a block under the corner and crawl under.
Here is what it looks like now. Note the bent in corner.
By the way, the wooden stool I was looking for yesterday is in there.
Here is how it happened:
I went out to the garage to look for a particular piece of fringe inventory. When I lifted the garage door, it got stuck about a foot and a half from the ground. I crawled underneath and realized that I would need a flashlight to asses the situation since there are no windows or doors in the space other than the garage door itself. I went in the house and found a pen light and I also grabbed a hammer and a 2x4 from the workshop. Since the ground there is very dirty, I first laid a car floormat underneath so the wriggle under the lip would be slightly less disgusting. Once inside, it appeared obvious to me that the spring mechanism on one side had a fowled up cable but to get at it I would have to close the garage door all the way. I pushed the door shut with my foot and assessed the damage.
I remember when the door was installed that the guy had some difficulty due to the fact that the door was less than square and it was tight quarters to work in. I also remember him telling me that these springs and cables were dangerous to work with because the wrong "sproing" could send metal flying. It looked to me that the cable had somehow come unspooled from one pulley. I used a metal rod as a lever to try to get it spooled back on but it was clear that that was not going to happen. There was not enough room to get leverage. Then I noticed that the door had slid a bid crooked. It was tighter to one side than the other. So I used the 2x4 to try and pry it back to center position. It was clearly not going to budge. I tried hammering on one of the wheel shafts, also to no avail. Clearly this was a job for a professional. I knelt down to lift the door. But you guessed it... The door would not budge more than an inch or two.
By this time I had worked up a sweat. In fact I was soaked due to the 90+ degree day and the closed quarters. I was feeling like I could really use a glass of water. I felt in my pocket for my cell phone but realized that I had left it inside the house. I was stuck!
For the next 45 minutes I tried prying, bending, pounding and shaking various garage door parts to see what might be the key to the jam up. Eventually I discovered that the door was pushed far enough to one side that it was on the outside of the curved part of the track. Lifting the door merely wedged it tighter.
This is when I started to think about my loved ones discovering my dehydrated body lying on the dirty floor of a 100 degree garage with a door that would not open. It was clear that I would have to break out. I had no screwdrivers or wrenches so it would have to be a lever vs. bendable or breakable materials.
I pried one of the bottom wheels out of the track and discovered that I could bend the aluminum panel at the bottom just enough so that I could prop a block under the corner and crawl under.
Here is what it looks like now. Note the bent in corner.
By the way, the wooden stool I was looking for yesterday is in there.
Tuesday, July 10, 2007
Day Two
Sleeping with AC was much nicer. Today is a financial day. Paying bills and making deposits and filing receipts. I'm trying to keep paperwork in order. The check from GVSU arrived yesterday and I called AustraLearn this morning and left a message to call me so I can arrange payment. I talked to Abby last night who was successful at reaching Alice at precisely the time I estimated she would be clearing customs.
A policeman was shot and killed in Grand Rapids on Sunday. A crazy dude about my age who was pissed off that his wife was divorcing him ambushed him with a shotgun. This took place about a mile away. Since Girbe and I are working on the Police History project, we're thinking it would be a good thing to attend the memorial service. We also know a bunch of cops and I am beginning to understand the weight of risking death in service to a community. Cops are totally aware of this fact and think about it everytime they strap on a gun.
I called Bruce Capel today. Bruce was one of my first friends in kindergarten and later was a neighborhood friend in high school despite the fact that he was a total jock...a natural athlete. Along with Herm Baker and Jim Postma, the four of us had built an amazing "clubhouse" on someone else's property that we had named, "The Clamphead". I don't recall how we came up with it... only the name. It had four, carpeted bunks and was nestled inside of a grove of scrub trees in a valley beneath a large pine tree that was leaning over at a 45 degree angle. We slept in it many nights until a rival club of kids tore it down and hauled away the lumber in one day. All that was left was an 10x10 patch of ground, a wobbly wooden stool and a wrecking bar, none of which belonged to us.
I took the two portable items as a trade and I still have them today. (although, where the heck did I put the stool?)I haven't talked to him in 25 years but I was calling about a house on Rosewood, a couple homes away from Betsy and Dan, that was for sale at a surprisingly low price. Bruce Capel was the name of the Realtor on the real estate sign. The house had sold instantly due to the fact that it was well below market price but we talked about beginning the process of looking for houses. That's OK since we are not yet ready to buy, but it would have been good to see what can be had and for how much.
Monday, July 9, 2007
One more hot one
First thing this morning, after a fitful night's sleep (or lack thereof) I confiscated the air conditioner out of Alice's room and mounted it in our bedroom window. I hate to be part of the global warming cycle but it is just too damned hot. Specifically it is muggy and I can't wait for a thunderstorm to cool things off. We are under a watch but I'll believe it when I see it. Here is what I look like sitting at my computer at 7:00AM Brisbane time... about the time Alice's plane should be taxi-ing into the gate. It is 5:00PM Monday evening here.
I'm hot... I suppose in more ways than one.
I just returned from a 4-hour branding session for the WMFVA. I'm going to cook some meat on the grill so there is time for it too cool off and put on a salad when Mary gets home.
Abby called to find out when she could try calling Alice. I suggested calling in 2 hours, after she is through customs and before she is on the plane to Cairns.
I'm hot... I suppose in more ways than one.I just returned from a 4-hour branding session for the WMFVA. I'm going to cook some meat on the grill so there is time for it too cool off and put on a salad when Mary gets home.
Abby called to find out when she could try calling Alice. I suggested calling in 2 hours, after she is through customs and before she is on the plane to Cairns.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
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