Photo of the Day

February is almost gone

2011-02-24T20:42:00.000-05:00

Hi all. It's been crazy busy here in West Michigan, at least as far as I'm concerned at work. We've had a good snowstorm or two, the boys are finally starting to think that Minnesota is sharing it's wealth in snow days.

I've missed some important events and need to shout out to the following:

Nephew Bryce celebrated his birthday on January 28th. He's my oldest nephew, a really cool cat and well loved by his Michigan cousins. He's got some other news, but that's gonna wait a minute.

Cousin Nancy, Jim's lovely wife had a birthday on February 18th. Very cool, she's settling into a slower pace and I'm hopeful it's a great pace to do what she wants.

To be clear, Nancy is the cute one on the right.

Big news, Bryce and Kelli had their baby, Evangeline Joy. 11 pounds. Born at about 8:PM, 2/20. Not without some challenges, but family and friends have been praying for all three of them. Here is a photo of the youngest Young, Eva. I think she's looking alert and she's saying; "Hey Mom and Dad, not sure what's up, but I am glad that you've got my back."

Holly and the boys are doing well. We've been doing our scouting and did a camp out this month. It was supposed to be a "Polar Bear" and we were going to dig snow caves and sleep in them. The blizzard in the early part of the month was neutralized with warm weather and rain. By the time we were camping, it was in tents on dirt. Funny thing was, we had to rush to get home ahead of the 2nd largest snow storm of the season.

Spencer still hasn't heard if he made the cut for the State Geography Bee, we're hopeful, but not sure.

Ian was at the State contest in Lansing and did pretty well, 6th place. He learned a lot about his new area of interest and I learned that he's really a pretty talented kid. I should have known, but I think I'm too close to appreciate his fine arts skills.

Have an awesome end of the month and I hope to write again soon.
Pat

January 22nd? Really? Wow, time really flies!

2011-01-22T23:27:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year! As the title says, wow, time really flies.

We had a great Christmas this year with Tom and Reen coming up with all three of their dogs. Without a fenced in yard it was a challenge, but a really nice time.

Here's Spencer and Ian and Altai. Keeping an eye on this puppy was more than a one person job. Before dinner the pup had discovered the Christmas Stockings had stuff to eat and had helped himself a few times.

I took this shot and was pretty pleased with the angle, the trees and of course the beautiful ladies.

This was taken during the Great Potato Gun War of 2010! We located some potato guns and Ian and Tom were the lucky recipients. Once armed with a pistol and a red skin potato for each, the battle ensued. Needless to say, the photo journalist was not given immunity and became a prime target. The dogs all thought the game was pretty tasty!

I missed a few Shout Outs since Christmas Eve and so, without further ado, I'd like to announce the following:

Tom's Birthday is New Year's Eve and so we got him a gift to celebrate his 30th anniversary of his 21st birthday. Ian really got into it when assigned the task of wrapping a Red Green book for Uncle Tom. Ian was able to blend hunting and duct tape into the wrapping job. Tom loved it and was really a good sport about the tape hermetically sealed gift.

Taylor had a birthday in January, on the 4th to be precise. Here he is with his fiance Yvonne. Aren't they a cute couple!

Cindy rang the bell on another year and marked it big time by moving to Northport! Happy new home and I hope this is your year! God's grace to you and yours. This shot is a bit older of her and Thom, you guys look pretty good for old folks!

Another Nephew rolled another year, and that would be Jake and he's a cool kid that's learning life and autobody and I think he will excel at both! Here he's seen showing Ian how to catch some air on a tube.

And there you have it, we're caught up! Now for the bonus shots;

My lovely bride is so cool and so hip that you just know that she's alright in a hat like this.

The boys at our favorite alleyway in downtown Grand Rapids.

Ian and I have fun at this spot playing with the camera and the light.

That's if for tonight. Have an awesome 2011!

Pat

Merry Christmas Eve!

2010-12-24T11:39:00.000-05:00

I am taking a short break from my Christmas Preparations, well, OK, from doing what Holly tells me to do to help get ready.

Tom and Reen are heading here sometime today. We're planning a small affair consisting of the fondue pots, some fresh meats and veggies and lots of dipping sauces. That's dinner for sure. As for breakfast, we're thinking fritatas and then lunch with my version of a Gondola, really, more of a grinder.

This just in from my Nephew Jake:
Hey everyone here are some pictures of grandpas car with the body panels on it. They have been sanded for the first time and a few spots need more filler and they all have to be reprimed. I love you all have a Merry Christmas.

Here's a few shots of the car that he's talking about. This is my father in laws car. It's in process of a complete redo. They took it down to the frame and are now building it up again.

The car is a 1975 Hurst Olds and is actually 3 cars being blended into a single, sweet ride.

It has the right wheels already and the engine is running well. With the body coming along this well it won't be long until they are scrambling for interior parts. Hopefully in time for Woodward Cruise. Don't worry Bob, if you can't get up for that, I'll drive it for you! ;-)

This is my favorite shot, if you look close you can see the sign says Merry Christmas. Jake's a pretty cool kid that's learning the business. Looking good and thanks for sharing Jake!

One other news Item to share is that Taylor is back in Minnesota for Christmas. He surprised his dad, David. He's how David described it:

Christmas came a little early last night when my doorbell was rung about 5:PM. Opened the door to a tall, dark stranger with hat pulled down low. After my tentative ‘hello’, the tall, dark stranger stepped into the light and say ‘hi, Dad’. The look on my face apparently made his plan a success. His Army class in California finished up early (like he expected) and he flew to Rochester and took a cab to my house. Really, really good to see him. The whole thing was repeated a few hours later at his mother’s house. Taylor did a good job planning this whole thing out. Yvonne is still scheduled to come in next Thursday.

Hope your Christmas and New Year’s are filled with awesome surprises.

I'll try to post again this weekend.

I love this season! May God shine on you and yours with joy and blessings.
Pat

News Flash #2!

2010-12-18T09:34:00.000-05:00

I must admit that the boys are very supportive of each other.

Ian just got third place in a graphics contest and is headed to the State competition.

Here's his certificate.

Pretty darn proud of the boys, now if they'd focus a bit on their not so favorite classes we'd be set!

Have a great day!
Pat

News Flash!

2010-12-16T22:18:00.000-05:00

Spencer just won the North Rockford Middle School Geography Bee!

I just had to share that.

As you can imagine, we're very proud of the boy!

How about you, any news that you'd like to share?

Have a great day!
Pat

Hello, Hello, it's me again!

2010-12-05T20:31:00.000-05:00

I am so bummed that I failed to get a blog out for my brother's birthday. John, while it's totally my own fault please forgive me. I'd like to say I have a good reason, but I don't.

I've probably bashed him enough, so this year we'll go easy.

Here's a few shots from Thanksgiving.

Here's John with his nephew Spencer. I took this just before he headed out for a smoke. As someone that has quit smoking just a few years ago I have to comment. It's really tough going out to smoke when it's 10 degrees. I stopped out and visited a few times. Pretty hilarious, hand shaking so bad he couldn't hardly get the job done. It was so cold that his eyes were tearing up.

The traditional Thanksgiving photo. Tom, Ian, Holly, Maureen, Spencer and Jack. We had a smoked turkey this year and it was the best!

Lot's of good food here, Scalloped corn, green bean casserole, taters, gravy, stuffing (why do we still call it that since it's never put in the bird?) sweet potato and apple casserole, thankful rolls and lots of pie! Thanks to Tom and Reen for putting us up and putting up with us!

Happy Belated Birthday dear brother John/Jack.
It was awesome to have you come out and celebrate Thanksgiving with us and share in some of our traditions.

Thanks also to you for your years of service in the military.

Briefly, Holly was in a hilarious skit at church today, if you'd like it can be viewed by following this link; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsvY8PbhZi0 or go to YouTube and searching for the "12 pains of Christmas"

That's it for today.

Have a great day!
Pat

Radio Man, as in I transmit!

2010-11-29T00:10:00.000-05:00

I know, I'm still behind on reporting about my trip to Germany. Sorry. Eventually life will slow down enough to allow me to catch up on the blogging...or not.

Anyway, this blog isn't about me and my mildly amusing foibles. Well, not completely anyway.

Leading off we have guest reporter, Kathy. While I don't recall ever meeting Kathy, I'm sure we must have been in the same place at the same time. How else do you explain the sign off that she uses is the same as mine? You know, "Have a great day!" Very unique! Here is what she reports:

Here are some pictures of Jim and Nancy's travels. They went to Cedar Rapids to watch two of their grandchildren play in the State Volleyball Tournament a couple weeks ago.

They are Dean's girls: Amanda & McKayla

Notice the picture of the girls holding up posters. Jim is in the background in the center of things AGAIN! Couldn't resist that.

Sent to you from Kathy, Nancy's sister.

Have a great day!!

Kathy

Pat here again.

How cool is that! Man, I remember when Dave made it to Regional's, we thought that was pretty sweet, I can't imagine States! Way to go Amanda and McKayla!

Switching subjects...

Did you have a good Thanksgiving? I am tempted to start a sermon, but won't because I tend to forget to be thankful myself.

We followed our usual tradition of going to the "Starmack Inn" to celebrate the holiday. Although we say usual, it is unique and special every year. Thanks guys!

My nephew Bryce and his lovely bride, Kelly are expecting a baby very soon. My prayer is that it would be an easy birth. Looking forward to adding that baby to my list of loved ones.

Nephew Mike and his lovely bride, Jamie are doing well in Delaware. Their daughter, Lexi, is a drop dead georgous girl that has just placed 2nd for Cutest Baby in Delaware! Check it out and you're sure to agree with me, she was robbed! She really was the cutest!

Nephew Matt and his lovely bride reside in sunny Florida. They're not telling me much, but I get a sense that they are unwittingly happy. That unto itself is pretty cool.

I'll stop for now, when I resume I'll try to start where I left off.

Have a great day!

Pat

Cologne Germany - How cool is that?

2010-11-21T22:35:00.001-05:00

First off a shout out to cousin Nancy from Iowa, she has let me know that she's moved more toward full retirement and next up is more travel. Make sure you keep me informed as to where you go, what you do and who you see and I'll forward/post what you send, well, within reason anyway. ;-)

As for my recent trip to Germany. I traveled to Cologne to see the International Office Furniture Exposition, called Orgatec. The "reason" for the trip is that much of our office design styles come from the European Designers, so I considered this a research trip. The furniture show was about what you'd expect, lots of product displays, some new technology and lots of people networking.

Well, one of the office spaces wasn't what you'd expect, it was a workstation that held 10 people and they all faced out, pretty cool set up. I sat directly next to the salesperson and as I faced out, I couldn't see them in my peripheral vision, because they were slightly behind me. Also, since you're sitting on the inside of the circle, your work surface gets larger as it goes away from you, so while it's pretty tight, it feels bigger. I would love to have this for our Customer Relations area, very easy to stay connected and yet, it felt big. It's hard to explain and the photo really doesn't do it justice. It looks like a spaceship, but more functional. Both my boss and I really want to figure out a way that we could implement this at our office.

So, since I recently vented about my air travel, here's how it went with the same airline, Delta, when traveling overseas. I boarded the plane Wednesday afternoon at Grand Rapids, flew to Detroit, we had short layover there and then on to Amsterdam and from there to Cologne. The long flight was to Amsterdam and I had opted for coach to keep the costs down. As we were settling in for the long flight the lady in the next seat popped a couple of Ambiens, announced that while she'd not slept on a flight before, she was going to this time. She tossed and turned a couple of times and then was out like a light. It was pretty disheartening to see this smallish person curl up in a coach seat, lay her pillow on the tray and then lay her head on the pillow. Out like a light I tell you! I looked at her and then at my own tray and tried to lay my head down on the tray. Nope, too tall, too heavy, too stiff, too whatever. I glared at the girl as she peacefully slept and I thought and I thought. Half way across the Atlantic Ocean I had a brainstorm! I got up, took out my briefcase from the overhead bin, sat back down, put down the tray, put the briefcase on the tray and then the blanket they give you and then then pillow. I laid my forehead down on the pillow and after adjusting my hands/arms (they ended up folded in my lap) I was out to the world and I successfully slept on a plane with no Ambien and while seated in coach to boot. When I awoke, it was time for the morning snack. After a quick freshening up in the bathroom I was good to go.

From the Cologne airport I went straight to Orgatec. It was pretty cool to figure out the train system and end up where I needed to when I needed to. Once at the show I connected with my counterpart from Mexico and we spent the afternoon walking among the five large buildings. That's when we came upon the round stations mentioned above.

Around 5 o'clock we headed to the hotels, since we'd signed up late we all ended up in different hotels. Jorge helped me get to my hotel, remember, I'd only had a nap in the long flight so my ability to figure out how to get around was limited. After I got cleaned up we all met up for dinner. We met at the Cologne Cathedral, the most famous and obvious landmark in the city. Below are a couple of shots, I never did get far enough back to get the entire structure in a single shot. But it was a very cool building with a very heavy Gothic influence, more about that in a later post.

After meeting near the Dom, as it's called in Cologne, we went out to eat. This would be my first major meal in Germany. I was really excited, did you know that I am part German? Well I am. So I was really excited. Then I heard we'd be going to a Japanese Steakhouse. What!? This couldn't be happening! But it was. We went and I had a great Japanese Beer called Kirin, but, but I wanted German Beer! Anyway, I'd heard that the menu was bilingual and so I thought I'd be all set. Sure enough, it was bilingual, the menu was in German (obviously) and in Japanese (I guess this should have been obvious too!) With the help of a very nice Japanese waitress I managed to order a nice duck dinner. This is teppanyaki style of cooking. I'm pretty experienced with this style of cooking, I've had it in Grand Rapids, out on the East Coast, in Dallas, in Chicago, in LA, in Mexico, in Taiwan and in Hong Kong and now in Germany. I must say though, that this was, by far, the best I'd ever expericed. The Chef did an awesome job with my duck and he did a reduction sauce, on that flat habachi grill, that was really, really good. How could I have doubted Dan? He was right, this was a great dining experience.

After dinner we wandered around town, had a few beers at a local dive that had a band that played, wait for it, wait for it, Dixieland Jazz! Yes, you heard it. Here I am in Germany and first we have Japanese food and now we're listening to Dixieland jazz. Pretty weird and had I not been there, I'd have been sure that someone was just pulling my leg. The beer though was a great light lager, golden colored, fresh tasting and a clean finish. Aah, my first true German Bier! The bar was Papa Joe's, follow the link if you'd like to see more. After a few beers I begged off due to exhaustion and slipped off to my hotel. It had been a great start to my European trip!

That's enough for now.

Have a great day!
Pat

Trials of a traveling man

2010-11-20T17:53:00.000-05:00

Do you remember when travel was easy? Do you remember when travel seemed glamorous? Do you remember when the worst thing you could say in the airport was an exuberant greeting to your brother John; as in "HI Jack!" Do you remember walking a loved one to the gate?

The times have changed. Now getting there isn't half the fun, it's most of the hassle. Seeing armed law enforcement officials is common. As an individual that has had knee replacement surgery I can tell you that I prefer the X-Ray machine over the dreaded words; "Male Assist!" The pat down has gotten invasive, I agree with that, but I try not to think about that. As my Mom used to say, "At least they're doing something to keep you safe! Let them do their jobs." I stand there and say as little as possible, knowing that they probably, (hopefully) aren't enjoying this either. I like how they tell you that if you're uncomfortable with this they'll take you to a private place, let me tell you, that made me feel even more uncomfortable. At least I'd have witnesses if we stayed in a public place.

So, with TSA being such a fun deal, why the complaining? Well, to be a bit more specific let me share some highlights about my recent trip to Denver. It's never a good thing when you have to quickly throw together a trip for business. Where to start with this rant? How about this, most of my flights were delayed, well, all but one, the last one to take me back to Grand Rapids. I am a pretty tolerant guy, my goal is to get along as best as I can without ruining someones day. On a normal day my personal goal is to make those that I am interacting with smile. Pretty tough when your day goes like mine did yesterday. Delta is my new carrier of choice. Why? Four reasons; I was with Northwest and they bought them, Detroit is a major hub for them, I have lots of miles, and generally they're pretty decent to us business folks.

The flight from Denver to Minneapolis/St. Paul was delayed, the reason given was that the inbound flight was late. Why? Not sure, it's not in the system. Will I make my connection or should I start rebooking now? Oh, you'll have plenty of time. Right!

With the flights nearly always completely full, why do they still allow roller bags? Let's stop the insanity and reduce the size of allowed carry on and the number of carryons and stick with it. Briefcase or back pack, that's all. Invariably near the end of boarding they will announce that if you can't get it under your seat, you must check it. So why not enforce that right away, not like we have many options, let's make the boarding process faster.

The reason for that rant? It caused us a huge delay when they had to open up the baggage area to stow all the overflow bags. Then we sat, for about 10 to 15 minutes, with no idea why, in an airplane with no air movement. Thanks Delta, I really needed that to know that my fellow man is not as diligent with his personal hygiene as he should be.

We get to MSP (Minneapolis/ST Paul for the uninitiated) and the flight crew knows that many of us are either really close or have already missed. They gave us this encouragement; "Only the ground crew can tell you where your next gate is and how likely you'll be to make it." Funny, I thought that they had a radio and could get updated gate information so that we'd know if it was possible or not. Wouldn't that be nice? They know where we all need to go, they know if we're close. What if they have those carts standing by to rush us to our next gate? Nah, why exceed the customer's expectation?

They did ask those not pressed for time to stay seated so that we could make the dash. I was really impressed with my fellow passengers, they stayed seated. Hats off to them, they're at least helpful.

The dash to the next gate was for nothing. They had just closed the door and wouldn't reopen it. Period. There's our ride home, just outside, sitting there. It sat there for about 10 minutes while we started the rebooking process. There I met one of the most beaten down, least happy, least helpful people that I have ever met. I could tell that Delta was "having one of those days" just by looking at her. Can't help you, nothing to get you home, no other airlines, all delivered in a flat monotone with no eye contact or compassion or empathy. We were given meal vouchers for $6, one for dinner and one for breakfast. Any ideas how much a decent meal costs at an airport? George Moss can attest that a banana alone is $1.50. Hotel vouchers were also issued. We had made it clear that there were two of us traveling together that would need a room. For what ever reason we were issued vouchers to different hotels. We didn't catch that until later. I asked about my checked luggage, someone not directly assisting me (and I am using that term loosely) said, you need to just request it and they'd be happy to locate it for me, it's sure to be located in 2 or 3 hours. That was delivered with what was supposed to be a warm smile but felt like a smirk. Then came the parting shot from my Customer Service Professional, "Make sure that you arrive at least 2 hours before your flight." I looked at her and asked incredulously; "Are you insane? You'll have us here at 4:30 AM!" She muttered something about making sure we don't miss our flight and I held my tongue. The responses that flashed through my mind were many, but I chose silence as my best course of action and merely grabbed my vouchers and walked away

We walked down to the hotel bus loading area and this was when we discovered that they were sending us to two different hotels. I didn't think that this was such a good idea, so we went to a ticket counter to have them rectify this. It took two people 20 minutes to figure out how to make that happen and still no empathy as to being stranded.

Back to the hotel pick up zone, in comes the bus. After proving that we had a right to ride to the hotel we're allowed on. Because I didn't choose the hotel, they shall remain nameless in this account, but they didn't help much either. The driver was about 70 and seemed to have Parkinson's, steering was jerking back and forth and the touch on the breaks/gas was full on then full off, repeat until nauseous. Upside, he had the Gopher's BBall game on and they were winning. As we're leaving the airport he calls in; "I've got 4 distressed passengers, do you want me to stop at Mall of America?" We were labeled for the trip now. Distressed. Getting to the hotel the woman checking us in was as tentative and apologetic as could be imagined, like to the point that she was annoying us even more. Very difficult to remain positive.

After I checked in, I went to my room and crashed after watching some TV. Next morning, up and out by 5AM. Upgraded to First Class for the last leg to Grand Rapids. Nice, but too little too late.

Here I am, home again, writing this to help me finish venting and now I'm dreading my trip to California in 2 weeks. I haven't had a bad trip like this in quite awhile, maybe it was a fluke. Yeah, let's hope so. Or maybe I can try hang gliding across the country, OH Yeah!

Thanks for listening.

For those that would like to know how the trip to Germany went, I've finally got the pictures downloaded and oriented so that they're ready to be used. I promise, I'll get to this soon!

Later,
Pat

Happy Birthday to You!

2010-11-13T23:29:00.000-05:00

I have been remiss not mentioning everyone's birthdays or other momentous events of late and for that I am truly sorry.

I am going to catch up quick. From my records, I've missed the following:

My Nephew Nick. Here's hoping it was a great day!

Cil, one of my lovely wife's best friends. Here's looking at you kiddo! Oh yeah, the actual kiddo is her daughter, Aanika.

Ian, my oldest. He cleans up nice doesn't he!

Tom and Maureen celebrated their 26th Anniversary, whew, that's a long time!

My dear Sister in Law, Allison, recently celebrated a birthday. I've always liked this photo, very arty!

My one and only Niece, Kelsey. Currently residing in the far east teaching. What a cool deal.

The one, the only, Xanman had a birthday and this is a cool cat that knows how to dress for success!

I hope everyone enjoyed their special day and if you'd not known about it, take advantage and drop them a line.

And last, but not least, my girl Holly is celebrating her birthday today. I took this just before the annual motorcycle rally, good angle I think.

And there you haveit, we're all caught up, well, by my shaky records, anyway. If you want a shout out, please feel free to send me a photo and a caption and I'll get to as soon as I can. Shoot, some days I have even been known to hit the correct date!

Have an awesome day!
Pat

Escanaba In Love

2010-11-12T22:59:00.000-05:00

Some friends invited us out to go to a play tonight. It's a Jeff Daniels play entitled: "Escanaba In Love". It was a really good play. In fact, I told everyone after the last curtain call, "I laughed, I cried, It moved me!"

The play is set in the U.P. in 1944 at deer camp. The audience was encouraged to dress in Deer Camp attire. So we did. I was pretty jazzed at how smooth I looked and encouraged Holly to take a photo of me. Lucky you, you get to see my look.

Our friends, Tom and Diane, asked if we'd take a photo of them and we agreed. Here they are, ready to join the cast at "Deer Camp".

As you can see, Camo, Blaze Orange and Flannel were the safe clothing choices at this event.

Since we took one of them, Tom offered to take one of us. It was Tom's first time using my Blackberry as a camera. Needless to say, it's not obvious in a dark place how to operate. We could tell that Tom had the camera phone backwards, but we were too mean to tell him. Instead, we sat and grinned as he took a picture of himself.

As you can tell, my little camera phone has flash. Tom was blinded by the light.

He was pretty upset, but we convinced him to take our picture anyway and here we are, looking good and barely sitting still as we laughed, hopefully, with Tom.

Have an awesome day.
Pat
P.S. - Someone in our house is having a birthday tomorrow and as a clue, it's not one of us boys.

Catching Up

2010-10-03T19:53:00.000-04:00

Hey there, long time no type! Feeling pretty stressed about how fast life is coming at us and know that I owe you guys something about stuff that's been happening.

Today's the teaser, hopefully, I will follow through and get you all caught up with the Michigan Young's.

At the beginning of the school year we hold troop elections and Ian was elected the Senior Patrol Leader. Really proud of him and a bit worried about if he can keep it all together. Typical Dad.

Speaking of Ian, this past weekend he went to the Sparta Homecoming Dance with his girlfriend, Chelsi. A super girl that is really cute and fun to be around.

A few weeks back Tim, Mike and I headed up north for our annual motorcycle riding weekend. The plan was fantastically simple, leave work early on Thursday, meet up at Tim's and ride to his in-law's place. Sunday, we'd come home. How's that for meticulous planning! Hopefully I can get a post on that before I forget all the good parts.

Can you tell where the photo was taken?

Boy Scout Popcorn Sale is on. Get a hold of me if you'd like to help send a scout to camp. Here's a link for you to connect to; TrailsEnd. If you decide to order on the Trails End website, please select a scout to support and choose Spencer Y in zip code 49341. Thanks for the support!

ArtPrize in Grand Rapids has been pretty good. I got down there earlier this year and really enjoyed a quiet Sunday strolling around with Holly and running into people that we knew. Lots of fun!

This entry is from a friend, it's a 4/6 scale model airplane suspended from a building near downtown Grand
Rapids. Pretty cool.

That's going to have to do for now.
Have an awesome week at work and I hope to be giving more detail soon.
Pat

Extra, Extra, Read all about it

2010-09-29T20:27:00.000-04:00

Mike Young turns another year older today!

Yeah, I know, your wondering, how does he manage to look so young? Cuz he's a Young, that's the simple answer, and tonight, that's good enough!

Here we have Matt and Jamie, a cute couple. Nice to have a beautiful friend to rely on.

Here's Mike and his crew, I only know half of the group, but that half, well, it's a great half, so the other guys must be cool too!

How could you not trust a Dad with a Spam hat and shirt?

Don't trust Spam? Well, at least you know he's true in the Viking gear!

Mike, the miles are many, the times been too long, but from my glimpses you seem to have it all!

Have an awesome Birthday!
Uncle Pat

Back from the brink

2010-09-12T22:26:00.000-04:00

What a smashing weekend!

I was able to see the Iowa State at Iowa Football game, live and in person, actually at Kinnick stadium. Not a big deal to most people, but I truly love college football, they have energy that pro sports can only dream about. Here's how it played out for me this weekend...

I work with a guy that has become a great friend and he got us great seats at the game, and in to a great tailgate. We met some good folks at the tailgate and we seemed to be pretty well received, it was weird, going on to their turf, it's been a long time since I was able to be objective about Iowa Football Fans. Anyway, they had a great location, the tailgate was about 2 blocks from the stadium and the food was really good and really plentiful. I'm going to skip over the game, it was painful and that's enough said.

The people that I met this weekend were truly wonderful, caring people that wanted their team to win, but were kind and respectful when we talked. When they found out that we were from Michigan, they first wondered why we chose to come to this game, but that was easy to explain, and they also wanted to know our allegiance after "The Game", well, that was easy, I really have no allegiance in the Big Ten, so pulling for Iowa this year seems easy.

Here's what the stadium looked like from the North end. I know what you're thinking, "The corner seats are the worst! " I am here to tell you that you are wrong, there are no bad seats at the game, because, You're at the game!

College football is so much fun because it's so open, just like as I remember thinking about my own future, "All things are possible and we're going to win!"

After the game we went back and gathered our respective kids and went out. While we walked around Sammy tried to educate us, well you can see the result. The gang was going to be fun, but that was on their terms. They were hungry, can't you tell?!

It was a great trip! Thanks Sammy and Ellen for everything! Best to your kiddos too!

Have a great day!
Pat

Go Cyclones!

2010-09-10T22:29:00.000-04:00

This Saturday is the Iowa State vs Iowa football game. Holly and I are heading that way to hopefully attend the game. The boys are tagging along to play video games in Iowa. The Cyclones are not favored going into this, but then again, we usually aren't. We're connecting with a friend that started out as a business acquaintance and has become a good friend. Anyway, we're off to the game, and hopefully we'll find some reasonable tickets outside the stadium. You see, I forgot to get with the Alumni Association and am stuck with looking for "On site alternatives". We'll see.

I am not a crazy fan, but I do like the Cyclones. That said, we'll you have to like their look to wear the gear. The top is the logo that they've had for several years. I think it combines the Cardnal and the Cyclone very well. The one on the bottom is the new one, pretty much leaving Cy out of the logo. I like the simplicity of the new one, but feel sorry for Cy, losing his job. (Can you say; "pursing other interests."?

Today we also have a Birthday Shout Out for my sister Molly. She's a pretty cool chick, that's the youngest but wise beyond her years. I don't have a lot of photos of Molly but let's see what I can come up with. With Molly, while I have limited photos, I really wanted to make sure that everyone could see what I see, a beautiful wife, mother, sister and friend.

Molly and Rick, the early years, outside good old 1400.

In this we have Rick, Reed and Molly, I'm pretty sure Christmas in Kasson.

This is my most recent shot of Molly and by far my favorite. She came to Illinois to honor her sisters milestone birthday.

Molly, you are awesome, I hope that you have a most amazing year!

Have a good day,
Pat

First day of School

2010-09-07T20:46:00.000-04:00

And all around the neighborhood you could hear the the Mom's expressing themselves on this most momentous of days, some tears were shed by the Mom's sending off the Kindergartners, mostly though was the cheer of glee at each bus stop.

Here's how the boys looked this morning:

Ian 1st day of 11th Grade

Ian was thinking about imposing his; "No Paparazzi" mandate. I looked at him and said, "Dude, it's like this, I have 11 of these photos from K through 10. All from this front porch. Are you sure that you really want to mess with your Mom on this?" He saw where that would go and ta da! Here he is.

Spencer 1st day of 8th Grade

Spencer was an easier sell, but wanted to impose his own poses. While I did take other shots, this is the stock, Michigan Young 1st Day of School Pose.

At the bus stop

A friend at the end of the street took this one as they waited for the bus. To me it looks like a study in perspective.

At dinner we were regaled with the antics of these two's first day. Sounds like they have some good teachers and we're once again blessed to be in this school system.

Have a great day!
Pat

Thoughts on a day in the life of Pat

2010-08-28T21:16:00.000-04:00

It was a day alright, very cool from start to finish, it went like this;

Awake at 5AM, I knew that we were trying something new at work and so I was worried. I told them to call me if there were any problems. No calls. I tried to sleep. Couldn't

Up at 5:30. It's the weekend? No matter. In my mind I figured out the timing on when to call and knew I was too early for any problems. I fed the dog instead.

6AM, still to early to call. I know, I'll work on that contract that needs to get out next week. Nothing major, just massive cutting and pasting, at first that is. Soon enough I had 2 sections that needed extensive rework. I knew what I was trying to say, would I be able to write it?

7:30, the re-writes were done and it looked pretty good, from our perspective, the supplier that sent the original will be wondering what happened to 4 pages of the original 16 page document.

Made the call and everything was working great with the changes. Whew, that's a load off my mind, it was a fairly big gamble, but I knew the odds were in my favor the way that I played it.

Time to get Holly and the boys up and moving.

Breakfast was every man for themselves. I offered to cook but no one was interested. I had a fried egg sandwich with provolone cheese on an everything bagel. It was wonderful!

Once everyone was up, washed, dressed and fed, not necessarily in that order, we headed to the Battle Creek for Brad's funeral.

Got there and started hanging out with some of the old gang from our old church.

How old do you need to be when you start saying, "Hey, let's not wait for another funeral, let's get together and have a ...(fill in you own option, for us today it ranged from hot dogs to hamburgers to dinner to pizza.)?

Nice to see the old gang, bad circumstances, but still nice to see everyone.

Funeral was not what I suspected, but are they ever really? It caused Holly and I to talk about what we'd want and wouldn't want.

After the service we had a true Methodist Church Lady luncheon. It was wonderful. Holly thinks this is a dying art, like blacksmith work. She may be right. Good stuff with good salads and sandwiches. yum, cookies!

Great time visiting afterward but we needed to get going, so a long set of good byes that eventually lead to the door. I'm not complaining, but 2 teens in the house were ready to go long before we were.

Next stop, Frontline church for "Rock'in from the Roof." They gave away over a ton of free clothes. Very cool. The crowd was estimated at 1000+ that waited about 1/2 hour to get to the clothes. This shot is from our local Fox station's visit. By the time we got there the crowds were thinning out and the clothes pile was significantly smaller.

For me the cool thing was running into my peep's as Holly calls them. They are the kids that I hang out with in the Children's ministry area. Lots of high fives and what not. I always feel better when I see these kids that I'm supposed to help. Ya gotta love it!

Dinner at the Score, a local place that's got a sport bar feel to it. Too bad the service was so bad.

Have a great day!
Pat

Home is where my heart is

2010-08-25T21:50:00.000-04:00

I have been on the road again for work. I buzzed out to visit a customer. I had 7 or so hours of meetings with various members of that customer. In all, a success.

Thanks to all for the kinds thoughts, it means a lot to know that I have a great network of people that care for me.

While driving home Holly called and she let me know that she and Spencer were headed to a baseball game with our favorite Class A team, the Whitecaps.

Since I was making good time I called home and invited Ian to get the lawn mowed and then I'd take him out to dinner. I heard a not so happy voice say; "Sure."

When I got home he was almost done and in a better mood.

We opted to leave Rockford and headed to the Score, a local sports bar about 10 minutes out of town.

When we got there we headed to the new, out back location that's really cool. It's kind of a beach party feel with plastic table and chair, tiki torches and it's all on sand, complete with 3 sand volleyball courts.

We were seated near the band and well away from the volleyball games, just as well, while I think I'm still in great shape, the shadow that I cast at sundown reveals a pudgier me.

The band was pretty good, drum set, 5 string acoustic bass and an acoustic guitar. They played some tunes that Ian knew and so that led us into a good night of conversation. We both enjoyed each others company.

For the photo tonight I have a soybean field. Why a soybean field you ask? Because my traveling companion this trip was a nice guy from southern China. He looked at all the corn and soybeans as we drove along on interstate 80 in Illinois and he remarked, "I guess I understand the corn, but why so much soy beans? You don't use that much soy sauce and I know that Tofu is not popular here."

That's my favorite quote for the week, by the way, I know that it's used as part of the crop rotation plan to put nutrients back into the soil and that it's really rich in protein, which is used in feeds.

Have a great day!
Pat

Working through things

2010-08-23T22:25:00.000-04:00

Many of you know that I use this as a communication tool mostly. Occasionally I'll use it as my low cost method of acknowledging milestones in peoples lives( I don't like to buy cards), and rarely, I use it work through some stuff that I need to mull through. Today's post is a thoughtful post, if it's too deep, sorry, just close it, I'll understand and I'll be back again with something lighter.

Last night we learned that a friends roller coaster ride with lung cancer has come to an end.

These are the random thoughts that I've pushed aside today:

Why Brad, why not me? I smoked for 30+years.
How can the doctors not know how sick he was until a week ago?
Am I feeling OK or is it just allergies?
Are we getting close to winning against this disease? Will we ever?
How many friends/loved ones have I lost to cancer?
Why would I want to count that!
I remember watching MaryAnn, my favorite mother-in-law, battle cancer, she did it with dignity and determination. In a way, by those behaviors, she was the one that led me to Jesus.
I watched what it did to my own Mom, it was brutal.
Thank goodness he'd "found the Lord", because now he's in heaven.
Can I make the funeral? When will it be?
I can't believe the tributes on facebook for his wife, Jen to read.
I hurt for Jen and his daughters, they will miss him.

In the end, while I am deeply sad that he has been taken from us, I am glad to have known him, had fun working and playing with him and generally feel that meeting such people is always a plus.


Jen and Brad

I struggled looking for a picture, but alas, I don't have one of Brad other than the one that I snagged off a post on facebook. Thanks Randy!

Here's to Brad! A good man cut down too early.
Pat

Saturday is a day that's meant for rest, but we worked and had fun instead

2010-08-21T22:14:00.000-04:00

First off, a good friend, Brad, is really in the fight of his life with cancer. If you pray, please consider lifting up Brad and his family, Jen, Paige and Hannah. They are a great family. I really hate cancer.

Transitions are always hard, but going from that to something lighter, well, it's going to be choppy.

Cleaned the house today from top to bottom today. Then the "loaner dog", aka Bean, came in. 1 step forward, 2 muddy steps backward.

Holly gets to work this weekend. While we miss her, it is what it is and it forces me to be a bit more intentional, at least for a few hours, with the boys.

What's intentional mean? Spending time with them, out of the house, out of our comfort zones making memories (that's what I think, they think I'm sappy).

OK, next you need a bit of background. Grand Rapids Michigan is a bit off the beaten path, but we like to have fun. There's a guy named Rob Bliss that really likes to involve the whole community. He's a bit of a "social media" phenomenon. He made is splash here with a huge pillow fight in downtown Grand Rapids and followed that with a Zombie Walk near Halloween years ago. Last year he had a hand in "Art Prize", we weren't sure what would happen, but we found out that we have some pretty cool artistic folk.

Anyway, today's event was turning 2 blocks of Lyon street, which has a nice gradual slope from east to west, into a 2 block water slide. Pretty cool, you can see the slide at this YouTube Video spot.

The boys and I went down to check it out, Spencer was the only one that was totally prepared to risk it all for the sake of the Young name. Then we realized that the line was ridiculously long, like 5 to 6 blocks.

This is the end of the slide

I asked someone in here and they said it'd been about 2 hours of waiting. They seemed calm, in fact everyone seemed to be enjoying that they were a part of a unique event.

Here's the starting point. You really couldn't get a good angle on the slide.

The water from the fire hydrant seemed pretty strong.

We didn't wait, rather we walked the course and then went and visited Holly. We got to see where she sits and some of the people that she works with. She had a great crew with her tonight.

On the way back to the car Ian got into an artistic mode and wanted some new facebook photos and so we played while walking back to the car. (Hmm, intentional parenting? I think so.)

Here's Ian on a ledge near GRCC and the GR site of Ferris University

Spencer is serious about this pose and don't you forget it!

Ian found this spot near the car and this is the best of the ones that we took. He really likes the urban flavor of the shot.

Spencer was definitely my guide down town.

This is the top of the GRCC parking structure and other roofs.

Have a great day, and please lift up the Brad, Jen, Paige and Hannah.
Pat

Holly and Pat, Sittin in a Tree...

2010-08-21T00:03:00.000-04:00

Would you believe me if I said that it's been 22 years since I married Holly? I can't. I feel so blessed to have met her (Thanks for the introduction Jean!). Before the shout out for us, a few other shout outs and random thoughts.

Dale and Jean Phillips share our anniversary date. They've been married a bit longer, but that number is irrelevant, what's relevant, they still genuinely care for each other, way to go guys! I tried to locate a picture, but unfortunately, my filing system is difficult to manage at times. I hope that you have had a great day.

Today is my nephew Matt's actual birthday, yes Pam, I knew that. One last time Matt, have a great day/weekend/year!

Work was pretty work like, really getting mired down with activity, not seeing the results so much. Need to pick up my head more often.

Went out on a double date with Jeff and Lissa tonight. Dinner at Grill 111 and then a Whitecaps game. How romantic. I snuck off at one point in the game and had our anniversary announced. Pretty cool, it was announced in the 7th inning, I'm sitting there and hear it coming and nudge Holly to get her to listen. She smiled and blushed, it was pretty cool.

Here are some shots through the years of our life together.

Wedding Day, she was 12 and I was 16(Not!)

Holly and Pat Young

I believe that Ian was our photographer for this one.

Pretty sure he's at it again

Yeah, the height on this one gives him away

He did have a good eye

This was with a timer, teeth that week were optional

Who doesn't love Spammy?

Last winter at a Red Wings Hockey game. Red Wings won!

Self portrait

I wonder why she puts up with me?

She was the belle of the ball!
Me? I was an outlaw.
Type Casting?

I am a really lucky guy. Thanks Holly, you're the best!

Have a great day everyone!
Pat

Wednesday, nearly the weekend!

2010-08-18T22:53:00.000-04:00

Work is still crazy busy and I don't see any relief for months. Business is coming back and some customers are thinking we can help them, we may need to rethink how to serve everyone!

Holly has just been accepted at Ferris State University into the Computer Information Technology program. The goal is to get out of college before both our boys are done. Go Bulldogs! I'd like to show their logo but ... am ... drawn ... to ... ISU!

And so it goes.

Hey, I know I am way early, but I have had and continue to have a pretty busy schedule. I want to give my nephew Matt a Birthday shout out and make sure it's before the actual day. Hey Matt, This one's for you!

Some of these shots were provided by an un-named source. With that information, you know that I have to make up my own captions now. Matt, it's all in fun, OK?

Some how or another, I always end up on the floor with a weird pink background, maybe I should check the crowd I hang with...

No, really, I am all that...

and a bag of chips!

Was my Dad really a Sailor? Yikes!

Nothing like fresh seafood to take a meal beyond the hum drum.

My super power is being able to see through these glasses!

High five for Big Blue, no, not IBM, the real Big Blue, my personal favorite M&M Blue!

Just so you know, they're not all from elsewhere. I took this one a few years back. Ian, Bryce, Mike and Matt. I do love my nephews!

I snagged this one from FB, it's of Karissa and Matt. I can almost hear them; "We're living the dream, don't you want to too?"

And there we have it, Matt's an awesome guy and I think that everyone should lift a glass and toast him. Here goes: "Hey Matt! Happy Birthday!" Yes Pam, I know, his birthday is Friday, but I like to be on time and if I can't be on time, I'll choose to be early.

Have a great day,
Pat

The weather has broken!

2010-08-15T17:06:00.000-04:00

Rough week at work this week. Nuff said.

Pretty busy weekend too! Saturday I was hoping to hang out, but ended up at training for selling Boy Scout Popcorn for the afternoon and then Holly had gotten tickets to our local minor league baseball team, the West Michigan Whitecaps.

An afternoon of training sessions about the best way to get the most out of the popcorn sales, not my first choice, but it's going to be benefit the Troop in the end.

The baseball game was pretty good, our team was really doing well and the final score was 12 to 3.

Holly took this shot with her cell phone. Pretty good!

Our seats were behind home plate and we were in the 21st row, in all, they were good seats, way better than the grass.

The tickets came from her employer and included meal vouchers. Really nice.

I wanted some peanuts during the later innings and so Ian went to get me some, they were out and would have more in 15 minutes. I'd never heard of that. After 15 minutes Ian went and got me my peanuts. They were screaming Mimi hot! They had run out and freshly roasted a batch and we got the first of them. They didn't have much salt, but they were really tasty.

Saw lots of people that we knew at the game, it was really kind of funny, her company, a large health care organization, must have given out 1000 tickets, we saw neighbors, the scoutmaster, people that Holly works with and people that I work with.

After the game there was a pretty nice fireworks display. Spencer was pretty nervous, but once they got started he realized that there wasn't any reason to be nervous and just relaxed and enjoyed the show.

Walking out I used the megaphone that my peanuts came in and was pretty embarrassing for my boys. I used my best Darth Vader voice and called out to Ian; "Ian, I am your Father!(add in mechanical breathing sound)" While he claims he wasn't amused, he was smirking.

Have a great day!
Pat

Rafting in West Virginia, part 3

2010-08-11T22:41:00.001-04:00

Looky here! I have raised the bar back to 3 times in a week. Whew, my fingers are tired just thinking about it.

Lots going on at work, spent some time with a cool customer, they have the fun and young image and so I really need to connect more with them. They get good "Buzz" and if you have stuff with them, you'll get good buzz. I never really understood that until I stuck with a single industry for so long. This office furniture stuff is kind of crazy. I try to avoid mentioning the customer names because they have web crawlers that locate this kind of stuff and besides, I don't want to be an instrument of the man.

Day 3 of the white water trip.

We got up at 6 again to get the boys moving. Had breakfast at Buffler's again, same menu, this time I focused a bit more on the fruit.

Today our tour leader was a guy named Johnny. Our group would be made up of 5 large rafts, each with a guide and up to 8 "guests". Why they refer to us as guests I'll never know, when you're a guest in my house you don't work, you are served. Here you have to help haul the boats up and down and all around. We only had enough in our group to fill 2 rafts and then 4 of us were put with 2 others, a man and his young son. There was also a full boat of couples and a full boat of housewives from Cincinnati (Johnny took the boatload of housewives).

Once again we suit up with a PFD, a helmet and this time a standard oar. The first thing that I notice is that these are either a lot less work or the current is a lot faster. Cool thing was we put in for this part of the adventure at the same place we got out yesterday. So we're seeing quite a long stretch of the river over 2 days, very cool.

The day passed even more lazily than with the duckies because there was less paddling. There wee lots of rapids and they were closer together. Just like the day before we had lunch on a beach. It was hot and humid, but whenever we got to flat water the guides offered that we could get out and swim. The water temp was still about 80.

This leg had a Jump Rock was about as cool as the one the day before. The cool thing that they had was a spot that they called Karma Cavern. It went like this, you jumped in about 5 feet off this big rock and you landed in a fairly strong current. The current sucked you down, under water into a really large and deep hole. It was like this for me: Our boat pulled up and I've got butterflies in my stomach, I'd heard that this will suck you under water for 10 seconds. I'm not sure I want to try , but the boys are already lining up to jump, Ian and Spencer are behind my boat, can I let them see me pass on this? No way! I get out and get in line with the rest of the lemmings. As I wait I can barely hear Johnny telling them where to jump because of the noise of the white water roaring around the rocks. Soon enough it's my turn, with Ian and Spencer now getting out of the boat to get in line I knew that I had no option, I had to jump. I asked Johnny to point out where to land. He smirked and pointed to a spot about 5 feet out and 2 feet up river, "there's the best spot to land, right there!" he said to me. I crossed my arms over my life jacket, used one hand to hold my glasses in place and leaped. I landed right where he said I should! Swoosh, I went straight down, just like jumping off into a a pool, but I seemed to go down for a really long time. I had no sensation of rising, only going iwth the current. Would my life jacket be enough to lift me up? 5 seconds. How long could I go? Should I kick my feet to go up? No, remember the warning, when you're in the river keep your feet from the rocks, foot entrapment is a real an scary deal. 8 seconds. Am I drifting up? I am, nearly to the surface. I turn my face down in an attempt to slow my rise to the top. Finally I break the surface and am on top. I look around and see Johnny, 50 feet away, he nods at me and says; "Good one." and then turns to tell the next to jump. It was totally awesome! I wanted to swim back up stream and do it again.

I was able to watch Ian and Spencer take the plunge from the unique position of floating in the river. I don't know if they hit it as well, but I was really proud to see them go as hard as they could trying.

The rest of the day was great, but by comparison, nothing to write home (aka to you) about.

The ride home was on yet another converted prison, I mean school bus. The guide that was with Ian and Spencer sat next to me and we talked about what a great couple of kids I had. He was curious about why the Dad wouldn't be in the same boat, and all I said was they need their space, I pointed out that I was never far and normally fairly tuned in, but willing to let them learn from him. That was impressive to him. I asked about what he was doing there. I got a smirk that really reminded me of Larry and this response; "It's a life style choice." He knows he doesn't have as much as others his age, but he was truly addicted to white water and being on the river. Nice to see, when he was in his twenties, wonder how he'll do as he ages?

Later that night we had dinner at the Smokies, a fancy restaurant that made room for us and our buffet of hamburgers, hot dogs, baked beans, potato salad, chips and cookies. A great meal? Not so sure, it was the same as the previous, tasty, but boring. Even the boys were talking about revolting if we had to eat the same food again on the next night.

Some of the adults went for a walk after dinner and we ended up on a platform overlooking the New River Gorge. I took this with a timer, in it is me, Tom, Gil, Tim and Steve. Missing from the adults were; Eric and Vicky (Tim's wife). Great group of guys to hang with on this kind of adventure.

That night there was a band playing in the common area across the road and they had wings on sale for the low, low price of 3 wings for a buck. We went and listed to the music. It was really fun to watch these guys, no amps, a single microphone and they playing blue grass/folk/country/great music. What a great way to end the day.

Have a great day!
Pat

Happy Birthday Larry

2010-08-10T22:58:00.000-04:00

We'll it's been two days and already my West Virginia vacation seems but a distant memory. I was going to skip tonight's installment, no big news there, I'm pretty hit or miss lately.

But how can I not give a Birthday Shout out to my Brother In Law Larry? I can't.

I don't have the old shots of Larry that I do from our family, which is probably OK with Larry, but here's a few that I do have.

Each summer we try to take a weekend and go hang out with Larry, Terri and Jake. This was from quite awhile ago with Uncle Larry showing the boys the ropes on the raft.

Larry and Spencer giving me the ride of my life.

Larry and Terri stopped over on their way to a formal and so since they got all dressed up, we had to have a picture.

Christmas one year, that's Larry hiding behind Jake and Spencer.

A good shot from one of the summer weekends.

This year at AutoRama. Great truck!

Serious Christmas pose

Not so serious

Here he took us to an area with a large herd of deer right near their home.

Finally, this is a shot I took a few years back adn have always liked. Not sure if Larry does or not, but then again, I'm doing the typing, so he's not got much to say does he!

That's about it. Larry, thanks for all that you do for us, I really appreciate your friendship and you're a great Brother! Have an awesome year!

Pat