Contact

Email     LinkedIn     Twitter     Facebook


Popular posts from this blog

A Plumber's Helper Of A Different Sort

Image
The view from below, minus my head. With Ben's high school graduation coming in a little less than three weeks, we have been catching up on many badly-needed house projects, both indoors and out. There's nothing quite like having 50 people come to your house to get you to take a look around and see what needs work. As a result, we both have mental lists in our heads and whittle away at projects as we can. Today we tackled our kitchen faucet, a project we've been putting off for about a year now. Our old faucet had built up so many mineral deposits that it didn't even pivot to the second sink. Like so many aspects of home ownership, we just kind of lived with it thinking...someday. Besides, who uses that second sink anyway, right? Well, just the rest of the world, that's all. I have said many, many times on this blog that I don't consider myself "handy". On the other hand, I've said equally as many times that I don't give myself enough
Read more

Influencers Before Influencers Were A Thing

Image
So, in reflecting a bit on the writing of Cretin Boy, I got to thinking about what makes a teacher memorable. What are the characteristics that send some to the top of the list while others fall away? I have a few good friends who are teachers, well liked and undoubtedly well respected. Much of it stems from the demeanor of the teacher, the excitement or enthusiasm level for sure. In the book I mention an Algebra teacher I had that I was never very fond of. Some of it was my distaste for all things math, but much of it was this teacher's demeanor. He carried himself with a level of grumpiness that carried over into everything he did.  If someone were to question if it wasn't more related to my dislike for math, I would argue that why did I enjoy Geometry so much a year later as a sophomore? It was the teacher. Mr. Horyza was fair, funny and firm. If you struggled in any area, but came in for help, he kept track of that and gave you credit for it. It required going in before sch
Read more

My Story Of His Life

Image
 As I mentioned last week, my son, Ben graduated from UW - Madison this past weekend. We were fortunate enough to be able to watch it via a YouTube stream, which was the best we can do in these strange times. I've said it too many times, how proud I am of him. He finished in 3 1/2 years having had many of his AP credits transfer. With both of my kids, I've kept a journal of major events and milestones in their lives, from birth until they graduate from college. These entries can go from back-to-back entries all the way to not writing anything for 6 months. I wrote as I felt inspired or led. I gave Sarah hers in 2018 when she finished school at the University of Minnesota. She was emotional when she opened it, knowing exactly what it was, but not expecting it. Read about that,  here . Well, this weekend was the chance to give Ben his. We had a small outside gathering of friends at a local brewery here to celebrate. When I gave him the gift he had no idea what it was. He opened a
Read more