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.

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.

Where are the Thunderstorms?

They missed Grand Rapids AGAIN! It is hot and humid here once again with no rain.

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.

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.

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.

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%.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.