Yesterday was amazing.
The day began with a brisk morning walk. The walk wasn’t brisk, the weather was. I am proud to say that I have passed the 21 day test of walking every day, usually in the early morning. It clears the mind, brings in more oxygen, and helps revitalize a person. You should try it. It’s not a long walk, usually only about 30 minutes. The coffee switch is hit just as I leave the house, so that it’s hot and waiting when I return. Aaaahhhhh the smell of coffee.
The walk was a bit earlier than usual, because it was Sunday and I try to attend the early service at Good Shepherd Lutheran here in Fond du Lac. That’s where the day became amazing. (oh, no! Juan’s going to talk about religion, run…..)
If you were to get some incredible news, incredibly good news, wouldn’t you want to share it? Of course you would. You might even go so far as to text everybody you know on your contact list! (yeah, I recently did that)
A two/tree line summary of the service is : The world doesn’t get it! Believers can’t get enough. Believers will seek to learn what HE has done. The ultimate peace and comfort comes through HIS word. Why not go listen to it? Why not read it? If something is bothering you, seek HIM for comfort, first. Not as a last resort. (OK, that wasn’t too much, was it?)
However, the day wasn’t over. Two good friends of mine showed up on my doorstep with a basket full of goodies. Six Fresh loaves of homemade banana/blueberry bread, AZ oranges and ruby grapefruit, homemade applesauce, stewed tomatoes, and salsa to die for. The first loaf of bread was consumed in a few minutes. Yum! A huge thanks to Lisa and Julia. Very thoughtful.
Oh, the day still wasn’t over. Since I love to b-b-que, I decided that my gas grill, even though it’s done a great job, wasn’t quite enough. On Saturday I had purchased about 60 pounds of charcoal. (of course it was on sale, duh) So I needed a charcoal grill. Now we all know that Weber makes the best grills, so I bought something else. (those that didn’t follow that logic, don’t know me. Those that did, are shaking their heads.) I get the grill home and began unpacking it. About 100 parts. If you’ve never seen a rocket scientist put together a grill, you have missed many laughs. Ok, about 2 hours later, I complete the masterpiece and only had 9 extra parts. Not bad, I thought. (some of you are still shaking your heads)
Tonight, Monday, is the initiation of the grill. Sort of a ceremony to the grill god. Lutherans, please disregard that last comment. Some steak, some pork tenderloin, some corn, some .....
The pics show the incredible complexity of the grill that I purchased. Hey, for $36, what did you expect!
Throw in some really cool phone calls from new and old friends, and what do you get? It was an amazing day, all around.

Extremely Useless Knowledge.
Topping this category is a website that I found called "Useful Latin Phrases" Yeah, you can wonder how I came across this website, but that won't change anything. So the Latin saying is "Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat" This translates to "My hovercraft is full of eels". It gets my vote for extremely useless knowledge. lol

Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Last night came the fantastic news from Jamie that she was accepted into Williams College grad skool on a full tuition ride. How cool is that! So of course I had to look up where Massachusetts was located and how to spell it. Then I had to find Williams College. Fast facts about Williams College: Established in 1793 with funds bequeathed by Colonel Ephraim Williams, the college is private, residential, and liberal arts, with graduate programs in the history of art and in development economics. How cool is that. The undergraduate enrollment is approximately 2,000 students.
Williams is committed to a need-blind admission policy by which it admits students without regard to their ability to pay, and commits to meeting 100 percent of each admitted student's demonstrated financial need for four years.
There are three academic divisions (humanities, sciences, social sciences), 24 departments, 33 majors, plus concentrations and special programs. The student:faculty ratio is 7:1. The academic year consists of two four-course semesters plus a one-course January term.
Fraternities were phased out beginning in 1962. Coeducation was adopted in 1970. The school color is purple. The mascot is the Purple Cow. How cool is that! Sports teams are called "Ephs."
Williamstown is located in the Berkshires in northwestern Massachusetts, 135 miles from Boston and 165 miles from New York City.
I do believe I can add Williamstown to my ‘must’ visit cities in the USA.
HE provides for us in many ways. HE has a plan. Thank-you!

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

The latest entry into my pub crawl book is a restaurant called FUSION on Main Street, here in Fond du Lac. Fantastic food and unusual decor! It is my 25th entry and sad to say my first entry in 2008. Their 'happy hour' is M-Fr, from 4:30 to 6:30. All beers are half price, $4 Margarita pints, $4 martini of the day, 25% off of bottles of wine. They are also proudly serve Patron Anejo Tequila, one of the smoothest tequilas North of the border. (without spending over $50 a bottle) Mark is the owner/chef and has some incredible dishes. For Easter and now for Mother's day, he has a fantastic buffet of many of his specialties. i.e. Crab Cake Benedicts with Hollandaise, and Jamaican Roast Pork Loin with Mojito Mango Relish.

Two of my favorites are in the middle photo, Jody on the left, and Lindsey. Angie, Ariyl, Jaime, Sarah, David, and Sean also are great and make you feel welcome. Fusion is a high recomendation with 5 stars. The other photo has Ariyl, Sarah, Jody, and David. April 22 was Jody's last night as she moves on to another career. I will miss her smiling face, but wish her the best.

As for beers, they are one of the few places that serve Dogfish 60 IPA, a real treat for beer lovers. Sierra Nevada is also available, along with Guinness. Only one beer on tap, Killian's Red, but the rest of the ambiance makes up for that.

Monday, April 21, 2008

It was quite the weekend. I organized my socks. Picture to prove it. On the fun side, I attended a confirmation of my friends' daughter, Brooke. It was a really nice service with some powerful words about God's purpose for each of us. It was titled, "Who cares? Who knows? Who delivers?" Afterwards there was a great luncheon in the church basement. Later in the day, I got an invite, to go to Cedar Lodge, the best country restaurant in these parts of Wisconsin. Quite possibly anywhere. Stuffed pork loin was my choice, but the beef tips looked equally good. Yum!! Thanks to Dale & Candy, the owners. That's it for today.

Tuesday, April 15, 2008

yeah! tax day. (no comment) Last night was amazing. I was privileged to attend the Oshkosh Youth Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonia Spring Concert at the UW-Oshkosh Music Hall. Fantastic! Waltz from the Ballet "Sleeping Beauty", overture to Rienzi, Final, Symphony No. 2 in C, "The Little Russian" and Star Wars were the pieces done by the Philharmonia, the younger group. The Overture to William Tell was incredible. Followed by Introduction to Act 1 of La Traviata, and Toccata & Fugue in D Minor performed by the youth orchestra.

The best part was that I was invited by my friends Ray & Pam and their kids Brooke and Aaron who were performing. Brooke on the violin and Aaron wailing on the cello. I highly recommend attending these events or similar events in your local area. It was a great event.

The photo has nothing to do with the symphony, but I wanted to add a photo of my office. I work. Really. As many of you know, I enjoy roses. Not just giving them. Some may recognize the pic from Ireland as my background. Enjoy. (no comments on the mess on the desk)

Saturday, April 12, 2008

Snowing, again. In April. What have I done? On a different subject, and you might not be able to read this menu, but it's from the Park Terrace restaurant which is part of the Culinary school here in Fond du Lac. The students, a team of 8, have to do all the planning for 8 different lunches as part of the degree. so on Wed and Thursday, they have some really nice lunches. The theme of this past one was Korean, and since I almost speak fluent Korean, I thought it would be appropriate to attend. So I did. Fantastic. Kimchi Pancakes, Jeon, Spicy Noodle soup, marinated lettuce wraps, wow! all good stuff. and inexpensive. In two weeks I will try their German theme lunch.

Back to shoveling......Mexico where are you????

Still Thursday, April 10, 2008

Here's a photo of the back side of the house/property that I am looking to purchase. yes the garage looks old, cause it is. But it's the backup garage. There is a brand new 2.5 car garage on the other side.

The house is a 3 bedroom 2 full bath house. The upstairs is a huge master bedroom suite that has recently and completely renovated, including the full bath. Tons of storage.

Downstairs are two more bedrooms and a full bath. Really cool hardwood floors in the dining and living room with beautiful woodwork and built-ins.

The basement is dry and has a couple rooms that could be finished into another suite. Washer and dryer reside in the basement. A newer furnace with central air. Nice.

The one drawback is the small kitchen and since I love to cook, I have to think about this one. Sure it could be redone and the house extended so as to make a larger kitchen, but ...... maybe future project for Pete & Sharon. The yard is huge and it even has a built in fire pit for those late night marshmallow roasts with friends. (both of them)

The location is nice and is off the main street, called Main Street. It backs up to an access alley next to a 'ditch' or small creek, but not a river. So there would be parking for a 25 ft. RV with access to electrical from the old garage. This is where the picture was taken.

Asking price, and any Californians reading this should sit down: $116,900 I will call the Power company today to find out the annual heating/electrical bill for the house. Stay tuned on this one.

Thursday, April 10, 2008
Some of you got a text last night saying that I had just met the real Rain Man, Kim Peek and that I got to hold a real Oscar award. (you know, the golden statue) Here are two pics of last night. (no jokes about the guy on the left, ok?) It really was a pleasure to meet such an amazing person. Hence my huge smile. And yes I challenged him to see if he knew what day of the week my birthday fell in 2021, when I turn 65. He was correct. If you google Kim Peek, you will get a bunch of info. Below is a portion of that:
In 1984, script writer Barry Morrow met Peek in Arlington, Texas; the result of the meeting was the 1988 movie Rain Man. The character of Raymond Babbit, although inspired by Peek, was portrayed as having autism. Dustin Hoffman, who played Babbit, met Peek and other savants to get an understanding of their nature and to play the role with accuracy (see Method acting). The movie caused a number of requests for appearances, which has increased Peek's self-confidence. Barry Morrow has given Kim his Oscar to carry with him and show at these appearances. They call it the "Most Loved Oscar Statue" since it's been held by more people than any other Oscar Statue. Kim also enjoys approaching strangers and showing them his talent for calendar calculations by telling them on which day of the week they were born and what news items were on the front page of major newspapers. Peek has also appeared on television. He travels with his father, who takes care of him and performs many motor tasks that Peek finds difficult.[

Friday, April 4, 2008
The long awaited debut of my Home Theatre Project (HTP) is finally here. Almost. I’m shopping for the crimson velvet drapes today to cover the two entrances and perhaps the two windows that are currently covered by Mexican blankets. Nice blankets, mind you. My futon was delivered yesterday, very cool. It is a full size bed, also, and has a nice coiled spring mattress. I still have marks from sleeping on friends’ sofa beds, so I decided to try the futon. (not complaining) I also found a deal on a pub table. It's made by Ashley and I like the quality. The pics also show my infamous Salisbury Pub chair. I had purchased the chair while I was working in England. My room for most of my stay was above the New Inn, a 700 year old pub with 4 sleeping rooms. I fell in love with this ‘chair’ whilst wandering through one of many antique shops in town. With permission of the owner, Colin, I brought the chair to the pub where it and I felt right at home. It was my ‘office’ chair from which I made many calls back to the team in California. (8 hour time difference) After almost 2 years, the chair has finally made it into my WI home. Welcome home, chair. I missed you. (certifiably crazy, I am, that I am) lol

Friday, April 4, 2008
Be “hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise.” Can anyone tell me who said this? I had stopped at the Main Exchange yesterday early evening just to say hi to Mary, have a pint, and go. That was the intent. Instead, I met two ladies (married) and struck up a conversation. Imagine that. They were hearty in their approbations and lavish in their praise. Ok, maybe they were drunk and couldn't’t really see well. But that’s not the point of the writing. How easy is it to make someone else feel pretty darn good just by giving a small compliment. I thought about what these two said long after I left and during this morning’s walk. Of course the opposite is true, but that’s another writing. So the goal today, and every day thereafter, is to practice the art of complimenting. Not false or forced praise, but honest appreciation. Join me?
Some of you heard this last week, but the sad news was that Johnathan’s Bistro suddenly and overnight closed last Friday. It was my second office. My second home. And it’s sad to see that broken. 15 friends became jobless, overnight. That can be frightening. On Monday, they met at the Holiday Inn and invited me. I had become the most underpaid employee at Johnathan’s. lol The pics are from that night. I wish the best to all of my Johnathan’s family, and hope that the friendships that were made, continue. I clink my coffee mug to Ashley, Nathan, Brett, Kelly, Amy, Gabe, Sabra, Ally (2), Coral, Philip, Chris, Aaron, Lindsey, and the entire crew. Thank-you! I will miss you.