Petzy

This morning, my grandmother, the woman who raised me for a very formative period in my life, passed away.  I am going to sit here and cry for a few minutes so please indulge me as I remember such a wonderful woman.

On the way home from work this afternoon, she sent me a message.  Not a text or a phone call.  A technology more fitting her generation.  On a radio station I seldom listen to, a Pearl Jam song came on the radio. The song is called "Just Breathe". I am not a particularly spiritual person, but I knew (the moment I heard it) that it was from Grandma.

The first verse starts:

Yes, I understand that every life must end, aw-huh,  

As we sit alone, I know someday we must go, aw-huh, 

Oh, I'm a lucky man, to count on both hands 

the ones I love...

The first lyrics are advice as if out of her own mouth.  "Just Breathe" is something that I could picture her saying.  I find myself telling my children, the things she told me 30 years ago.  "Take tiny sips from around the edges if your soup is too hot."

The entire song is below in the embedded video (complete with lyrics).  Feel free to press play, listen and read the rest of the post.


"Petzy", as she was known when she played cards (and she loved cards!  Bridge, Crazy 8s, Uno; it didn't matter), cared so deeply about her grandchildren and I am lucky to be counted among them.  She would pick the meatballs out of our alphabet soup and count them to ensure that both Greg and I got an equal number.  She would sit at the top of the stairs and knit when a 5-year-old Doug wouldn't settle down and go to sleep.  She and my grandfather dutifully drove me to school (along with my friends Tim and Jason).  She would dress me for church every Sunday and drag a comb through my hair (only if she could see my hairline now ...).

Did I say that I need you? 

Oh did I say that I want you? 

Oh, if I didn't I'm a fool you see, 

No one knows this more than me

She knitted thousands of Christmas stockings for relatives, friends and complete strangers.  She told me once that she made one for a raffle and that the stocking raised over $1,000.  Yellowed with age, my Christmas stocking is one of my most prized possessions.

The Huber Family Stockings

I will miss her small house in Clymer, PA.  She would bake me zuchinni bread, "grandma's" cookies (which were sugar cookies with a fork impression on them) and pour my cereal in the morning (asking first, if i wanted a glass of orange juice in order to 'wake up') on our annual visits.  I remember her and grandpa sitting on their matching recliners drinking Top Hat (I may be imagining the brand) beer and watching sports.  Her German heritage did her proud.  I remember the cuckoo clock that hung in the living room.  Mine is at the repair shop right now.  My wife decided to dust it off and get it fixed about six weeks ago.  I am so glad she did.  I can't wait for it to come back.  It will mean more now than ever.

I hope I make it back to Clymer.  Our uncle is planning a small memorial service in the Spring there.  I associate her small town with her, Grandpa and my two Uncles (Tom and Terry).

I can picture her standing in the small galley kitchen in the back of their house.  She would wash the aluminum foil to reuse it; she would always tell me to be frugal and count my blessings.

I am so happy that I can carry on my grandmother's maiden name with Mason's middle name, "Ogden".

Grandma, Me and Mason in 2006

Most of all, I can remember, and will always feel, her unconditional love.  "Ahhh, you're a good one, Doug," she would say, understating how she felt, as she leaned over to hug and kiss me.  I owe a lot of who I am to both her and Grandpa.  She gave up a lot to move to Ohio to help run the family after my mother died.  What a selfless woman.  What an amazing woman.  I love you, Grandma.

Nothing, you would take,

Everything, you gave,

Love you til I die

Meet you on the other side.

Best Michigan Joke Ever

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."

Mason's Soccer Season

Mason wrapped up his Under 7 soccer season today. This was his first season with goalies and refs but he took to it very well.

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.

Crazy Day Today at Stonegate

It's just what the title says...

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.

Volunteer Dads readying the batter and griddles

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.

Our Choralaires, led by Josh Pedde

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.

Three young ladies with plenty of initiative

Mason ... doing dishes for the first time ... ever

Icy Wonderland

Everyone has seen the news.  This is the scene from my driveway.


/Ice, ice, baby; too cold/

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?