A man dressed in Scarlet and Gray walks into an Ann Arbor sports bar with a small dog under his arm. He says to the bartender.
"Hey, can I leave my dog here while I go to the OSU - U of M game?"
"A dog in my bar? No way."
"But he's a special dog," the OSU fan says.
"In what way?" The bartender asks.
"Well," says the Buckeye, "he will watch the game on TV with you. When OSU scores, he will walk up and down the bar on his hind legs. When Michigan scores, he will walk up and down the bar on his front legs. When Ohio State wins, he will do back flips all the way down the bar and back."
"Wow," the bartender says. "What does he do when Michigan wins?"
"I don't know" says the Buckeye. "He's only seven years old."
Thursday, November 24, 2011
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Mason's Soccer Season
Saturday, March 5, 2011
2nd Year In-Residence, Kelley Direct
As I came back from Indiana University, after a grueling and exciting week, Mallory met me at the door. "Daddy!" she yelled, jumping into my arms. "Where have you been?"
"At school," I replied.
"Doing what?"
"I was studying strategic business analysis," I explained.
"What's 'business'?" she asked.
"Well, its when people buy and sell things from each other."
"Oh. I have a calendar on my locker at school, you know."
Our week kicked off last Saturday, as my classmates arrived from all over the country (and the world). We gathered in the Indiana Memorial Union for a welcome from the Chair of the Kelley Direct Program, Professor Eric Richards. We sat through a few other briefs before our welcome reception. It was a chance to catch up with friends and acquaintances that I had met last year at our first in-residence program and to (finally) meet some of the professors that had taught us so much over the first year.
Reuniting with the likes of Jeremy, Drew, Greg, Bryan, Amy and others was a great time. Swapping 'war stories' with active duty folks Clark, Laura, and Gabe allowed my to reflect a bit on my service and and I am glad that these brave warriors are still defending our nation. It was unfortunate that I could not spend more time with Will, Lee, Ken, Raghu, Brian, Cindy, Lauren and the many other folks that returned from from our year one in residency.
Between bowling, eating way to much food and watching the Hoosiers come up short against the Badgers at Assembly Hall, we actually manged to do a fair amount of learning. The Kelley Direct Program partnered with Cummins (the giant engine maker here in Indiana) so that the students could perform a 'live' case study. Unlike last year, when we were restricted to the material provided to us, now it was just the opposite. A world of information was at our disposal and we immediately began to swim in data as we tried to answer the four questions posed to us. We worked diligently for four days before presenting to a panel of judges.
My team, including Tamir, Mike and John, did our best to wade through the problem and come up with a recommendation that we felt answered the questions. Unfortunately, our team didn't win, but after seeing the final three teams compete, I knew we lost to the best. The three that won were articulate, detailed and comprehensive in their analysis. I HATE losing, but if I am going to, then I don't mind (as much) losing to the best. Hats off to the winners.
Our professor, Idie Kesner was top notch. Leading us throughout the week, she was assisted by Professors Matt Semadeni, Sreenivas Kamma and Arlen Langvardt. They were terrific in their delivery and insight. I am proud to say that I learned a great deal from each of them.
As always, the Kelley Direct staff was top notch. Led by Terrill Cosgray, Roberta, Jane, Lindsey, Donna, Mark, Kathy, the amazing IT staff and many others made the logistics look effortless (and I know I am forgetting lots of folks so please forgive me).
The only downside is that there isn't a 3rd year in-residency. All the best to my cohort as they begin their second year. I hope to see you all at graduation.
"At school," I replied.
"Doing what?"
"I was studying strategic business analysis," I explained.
"What's 'business'?" she asked.
"Well, its when people buy and sell things from each other."
"Oh. I have a calendar on my locker at school, you know."
Our week kicked off last Saturday, as my classmates arrived from all over the country (and the world). We gathered in the Indiana Memorial Union for a welcome from the Chair of the Kelley Direct Program, Professor Eric Richards. We sat through a few other briefs before our welcome reception. It was a chance to catch up with friends and acquaintances that I had met last year at our first in-residence program and to (finally) meet some of the professors that had taught us so much over the first year.
Reuniting with the likes of Jeremy, Drew, Greg, Bryan, Amy and others was a great time. Swapping 'war stories' with active duty folks Clark, Laura, and Gabe allowed my to reflect a bit on my service and and I am glad that these brave warriors are still defending our nation. It was unfortunate that I could not spend more time with Will, Lee, Ken, Raghu, Brian, Cindy, Lauren and the many other folks that returned from from our year one in residency.
Between bowling, eating way to much food and watching the Hoosiers come up short against the Badgers at Assembly Hall, we actually manged to do a fair amount of learning. The Kelley Direct Program partnered with Cummins (the giant engine maker here in Indiana) so that the students could perform a 'live' case study. Unlike last year, when we were restricted to the material provided to us, now it was just the opposite. A world of information was at our disposal and we immediately began to swim in data as we tried to answer the four questions posed to us. We worked diligently for four days before presenting to a panel of judges.
My team, including Tamir, Mike and John, did our best to wade through the problem and come up with a recommendation that we felt answered the questions. Unfortunately, our team didn't win, but after seeing the final three teams compete, I knew we lost to the best. The three that won were articulate, detailed and comprehensive in their analysis. I HATE losing, but if I am going to, then I don't mind (as much) losing to the best. Hats off to the winners.
Our professor, Idie Kesner was top notch. Leading us throughout the week, she was assisted by Professors Matt Semadeni, Sreenivas Kamma and Arlen Langvardt. They were terrific in their delivery and insight. I am proud to say that I learned a great deal from each of them.
As always, the Kelley Direct staff was top notch. Led by Terrill Cosgray, Roberta, Jane, Lindsey, Donna, Mark, Kathy, the amazing IT staff and many others made the logistics look effortless (and I know I am forgetting lots of folks so please forgive me).
The only downside is that there isn't a 3rd year in-residency. All the best to my cohort as they begin their second year. I hope to see you all at graduation.
Friday, February 18, 2011
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Pancake Breakfast 2011
In October 2009, I hosted my first Dad's Club Pancake Breakfast at Stonegate. This year we decided to have the event in the Winter. I am proud to say that it was a terrific event despite Mother Nature's best efforts to thwart the production with 4+ inches of snow.
We had a great group of volunteers that helped through the entire event.
The event started off a bit slow but quickly picked up steam. Stonegate's own Choralaires performed midway through the breakfast, filling the cafeteria with wonderful sounds.
Many, many sincerely thanks to the Dad volunteers, Kris Landis, Nancy Fitzpatrick, Cathy Rowan, and the SGE janitorial staff. Also a HUGE thank-you to our sponsors, Indiana Members Credit Union, Pediatric Associates of Avon, Huston Electric, and KellerNiemann for their support of our event.
Also, to the children who helped with smiles aplenty, it was much appreciated.
We had a great group of volunteers that helped through the entire event.
 |
| Volunteer Dads readying the batter and griddles |
 |
| Our Choralaires, led by Josh Pedde |
Also, to the children who helped with smiles aplenty, it was much appreciated.
 |
| Three young ladies with plenty of initiative |
 |
| Mason ... doing dishes for the first time ... ever |
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Icy Wonderland
Everyone has seen the news. This is the scene from my driveway.
/Ice, ice, baby; too cold/
/Ice, ice, baby; too cold/
Monday, January 24, 2011
DIY For the Adventure of it All - Part 5
This last DIY project started a little over a month ago. I have always (and by always, I mean as long as we have lived in our current house) wanted a TV mounted to the wall. I am not sure why, really. But, it has been a want of mine. This Christmas, I finally got sign-off and set about my journey. We chose the loft upstairs (probably because it is so cold downstairs in the winter). I did a bit of research and then I was off to Lowe's (yes, this is how every 'DIY' story starts, I know). I met a gentleman named Greg who was extremely helpful in what I needed. He was especially helpful with my wiring questions. It even prompted a Tweet.
Anyway, I decided to add a 110v outlet, move the cable, add some blocking and rough in some speaker wire. So, with my trusty utility knife, I cut a (big) hole in the wall. "Oh," was Noel's reaction. "That's a big hole in the wall."
The first thing I did was add some horizontal blocking with 2"x6" boards. The metal hangers worked perfectly and went up easily with wood screws.
From there, I set about shutting off the breaker in the garage, testing the outlets to see if they were hot and then testing them again. Once I was confident they were not 'hot', I pulled out my handy-dandy wiring diagram that Greg from Lowe's drew for me and went to work wiring the additional outlet. The cable was easy to move as it did not require any additional wiring; just a junction box. I nailed in a third junction box to run the center channel speaker along with a future HDMI cable (if you are going to do this, don't forget to add a pull string to pull down through the wall).
That night, I measured out 30' pieces of speaker wire and labeled them with 'center', 'woofer', 'front left', and 'front right' on each end (with masking tape). The next day, I went up into the attick and drilled a couple of holes in the top plate of the wall to feed the wires down. The position was easy to find as I just traced the existing coaxial cable and drilled right next to it. I fed the wires down through the holes.
Next came the drywall and painting (a full 21 days later ... yes, Noel had to stare at that eyesore for three weeks, but she was very patient. That's why I love her). The drywall guy was in our house for about 90 minutes. After the mud dried, I gave it a light sanding and then painted it.
Overall cost, not including TV or mount, was about $180 (with $100 being the drywall labor, $40 for speaker wire and the rest was electrical wire and components).
Now what? Re-tiling the master bath?
Anyway, I decided to add a 110v outlet, move the cable, add some blocking and rough in some speaker wire. So, with my trusty utility knife, I cut a (big) hole in the wall. "Oh," was Noel's reaction. "That's a big hole in the wall."
The first thing I did was add some horizontal blocking with 2"x6" boards. The metal hangers worked perfectly and went up easily with wood screws.
From there, I set about shutting off the breaker in the garage, testing the outlets to see if they were hot and then testing them again. Once I was confident they were not 'hot', I pulled out my handy-dandy wiring diagram that Greg from Lowe's drew for me and went to work wiring the additional outlet. The cable was easy to move as it did not require any additional wiring; just a junction box. I nailed in a third junction box to run the center channel speaker along with a future HDMI cable (if you are going to do this, don't forget to add a pull string to pull down through the wall).
That night, I measured out 30' pieces of speaker wire and labeled them with 'center', 'woofer', 'front left', and 'front right' on each end (with masking tape). The next day, I went up into the attick and drilled a couple of holes in the top plate of the wall to feed the wires down. The position was easy to find as I just traced the existing coaxial cable and drilled right next to it. I fed the wires down through the holes.
Next came the drywall and painting (a full 21 days later ... yes, Noel had to stare at that eyesore for three weeks, but she was very patient. That's why I love her). The drywall guy was in our house for about 90 minutes. After the mud dried, I gave it a light sanding and then painted it.
Overall cost, not including TV or mount, was about $180 (with $100 being the drywall labor, $40 for speaker wire and the rest was electrical wire and components).
Now what? Re-tiling the master bath?
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Agent Zigzag
I just finished "Agent Zigzag: A True Story of Nazi Espionage, Love, and Betrayal" by Ben Macintyre. It is a fantastic book; full of richly-developed characters and amazing stories of heroes that helped shape World War II. I highly recommend it.
Friday, January 14, 2011
Gun Control Follow up
Harvard professor Jeffery Miron has a great piece on the fallacy of gun control here.
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