Last year was a disappointing year for us Michigan fans. Lloyd Carr retired and Rich Rodriguez was named head coach. Coach Rod came from West Virginia and had been successful where ever he coached. He lead Michigan to the worst season ever 3 - 9. It was embarrassing.
The usual problem with being a bad team is that your good players desert you for other schools and recruiting is a bitch. Now we are the bottom of the heap (ranked #38) and in a classic rebuilding year.
Coach Rod utilizes the spread offense which is what most college teams have been using as of late and he is somewhat known for being quite an inovator of the system. Last week, Michigan handily beat Western Michigan, a good MAC school but a MAC school. This week, we get to see them play a decent team in Notre Dame. This is kind of a must win situation since Michigan was the doormat of the Big Ten last year and a continuation of losing to good schools could lead this young team to a downward spiral. Go Blue!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
It's Tuesday already?
Of course it is. Labor Day weekend was a good one. Saturday, Barb & I had our wedding vows renewed, Sunday was spent at Angela's watching Byron make chili. Monday morning we went to the Clarkston Labor Day Parade to finally see Lauren march with her high school band. She just spent a week at band camp so hopefully they look good. They did and so did she. I was surprised to see how serious she takes it. She was eyes forward and never cracked a smile when she marched past us. Her eyes told us that she saw us but she was all concentration. I guess so she didn't mess up her precise steps. It was cool seeing her march though. I hadn't attended a parade in years and didn't realize that everyone parading would be throwing candy to the kids. Wow, the kids cleaned up. We had to laugh when Barb noticed that one of the groups marching was advertising a Dental Service and they threw a ton of candy out.
After the parade, Barb, Dina and I went to our favorite restaurant, The Honeytree for a late breakfast. Sarah who is our favorite waitress waited on us. Since it was already 11:00, we were all pretty hungry but I resisted my normal strawberry jam with my toast. Not losing much weight but I'm not gaining either which is hard when you live with the Jozwik's.
Later in the afternoon, Dina's Aunt Dolly came by so we all hoped in Michael's truck and drove to Motor City Casino in Detroit. This seems to be a favorite past time for the Jozwik's. We drove down through Detroit and I'm always amazed at the number of burnt up or boarded up houses along the freeway. Kind of reminds me of the pictures of Beirut that used to run on the national news. Barb & I kind of broke out even.... well, Barb won $15 and I lost $15. When we met up at 5:30, Dina was hungry so we decided to hit their buffet. $24 a person! We knew that Greektown Casino which is close by offers theirs for $9.99 so we were surprised. Michael said, let's see if our comps will pay for it all. They swiped their card and sure enough, all 5 of us had a free meal. Michael said that a few weeks back, they won $2,800 and that added to their comp points. The food was far superior to Greektown's so we knew why t was more expensive and there were a whole lot of people eating so the question of Michigan's economy came back up for discussion. I am truly amazed that in a state that has 29% unemployment, there are so many people gambling. How is this possible? Mystery of life, I guess.
This morning is overcast and 65 degrees. The weather report calls for mid 70's but rainy for the next 3 days. Time to start thinking about our trip home to Florida. Of course, the weather down there is still mid to upper 80's and thunderstorms so maybe we need to wait until that weather quiets down as well. I can handle mid to upper 70's not so much 80's. Tropical Storm Fred is out in the Atlantic but they project it to stay in the Atlantic so there's no threat of Hurricane right now.
After the parade, Barb, Dina and I went to our favorite restaurant, The Honeytree for a late breakfast. Sarah who is our favorite waitress waited on us. Since it was already 11:00, we were all pretty hungry but I resisted my normal strawberry jam with my toast. Not losing much weight but I'm not gaining either which is hard when you live with the Jozwik's.
Later in the afternoon, Dina's Aunt Dolly came by so we all hoped in Michael's truck and drove to Motor City Casino in Detroit. This seems to be a favorite past time for the Jozwik's. We drove down through Detroit and I'm always amazed at the number of burnt up or boarded up houses along the freeway. Kind of reminds me of the pictures of Beirut that used to run on the national news. Barb & I kind of broke out even.... well, Barb won $15 and I lost $15. When we met up at 5:30, Dina was hungry so we decided to hit their buffet. $24 a person! We knew that Greektown Casino which is close by offers theirs for $9.99 so we were surprised. Michael said, let's see if our comps will pay for it all. They swiped their card and sure enough, all 5 of us had a free meal. Michael said that a few weeks back, they won $2,800 and that added to their comp points. The food was far superior to Greektown's so we knew why t was more expensive and there were a whole lot of people eating so the question of Michigan's economy came back up for discussion. I am truly amazed that in a state that has 29% unemployment, there are so many people gambling. How is this possible? Mystery of life, I guess.
This morning is overcast and 65 degrees. The weather report calls for mid 70's but rainy for the next 3 days. Time to start thinking about our trip home to Florida. Of course, the weather down there is still mid to upper 80's and thunderstorms so maybe we need to wait until that weather quiets down as well. I can handle mid to upper 70's not so much 80's. Tropical Storm Fred is out in the Atlantic but they project it to stay in the Atlantic so there's no threat of Hurricane right now.
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Sunday September 6 thoughts
Lots happening in my life. First of all, yesterday Barb & I were actually re-married in the Catholic church. Father Tom presided and Dina & Michael were our able Maid of Honor and Best Man. It was kind of chilling to see that my wife apparently still loves me so much that she wanted to do this. She is my best friend. Observing were Grace, Dolly & John Imbrunone (and Sylvia), Michael's Mom, Toni Koop and his sister Mary Blackstock. Oh, Father Collins, visiting from Africa, also stood by Father Tom's side during the service. Observation, that morning when Barb came down I said to her "Happy Wedding Day" and she stopped and gave me the sweetest smile I've seen in awhile. Score one for Larry! After the ceremony, we went to Carrabas for dinner. Toni & Mary had other plans so they didn't come. We had a nice dinner and good company.
Michael is building a tool shed for Mary at the farm. I have been trying to help out but with my back, I've been limited to about 4 - 5 hours a day. This morning, my back absolutely refused to cooperate so I'm giving it a day off. Michael's still out there and I feel bad not being there to help somehow. Maybe tomorrow will be better. The tool shed is being built to last. We dug a 4 foot hole for the foundation and built it up with concrete block before back filling. Michael has a carpenter who rough framed the structure and a mason who did the concrete work. Now the base is being built up with stone work. In other words, we went out to the old rock walls and picked rocks of all shapes and sizes for build up the base to a height of about 4 feet. The mason did the first layer before he went on a 4 day Labor Day weekend and we've been continuing. He'll be surprised to see that he only has about another foot or so when he returns. Probably not happy either. The carpenter is a joke. Michael planned this with pressure treated lumber and come to find out, you need a special nail when you construct something using this lumber. Apparently the carpenter never knew that so we will have to re-nail everything as soon as the stone work is done and before the top layers of T 111 is nailed on. It'll be a cute structure.
Now that our "wedding" is done, we are waiting for Barb's niece Amber wedding day on the 9/19/09. Then we are free to go back to Florida. We'll lallygag our way back by stopping at the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio and possibly a quick visit to Pastor Mike & Judy in Hiawassee, Georgia. Barb hates to impose on anyone so I guess it'll be a quick visit. I just hope the hot dog days of summer are done in Florida when we return. With a little bit of luck.........
Today we're going to Angela's so that I can write down Byron's chili recipe. He claims that he just "throws it together" without measuring so I'll try to be a bit more accurate. I really love his chili! He usually serves it with his cornbread too which also is very good. Is Byron's better than David Fowler's? Well, just different.
Michael is building a tool shed for Mary at the farm. I have been trying to help out but with my back, I've been limited to about 4 - 5 hours a day. This morning, my back absolutely refused to cooperate so I'm giving it a day off. Michael's still out there and I feel bad not being there to help somehow. Maybe tomorrow will be better. The tool shed is being built to last. We dug a 4 foot hole for the foundation and built it up with concrete block before back filling. Michael has a carpenter who rough framed the structure and a mason who did the concrete work. Now the base is being built up with stone work. In other words, we went out to the old rock walls and picked rocks of all shapes and sizes for build up the base to a height of about 4 feet. The mason did the first layer before he went on a 4 day Labor Day weekend and we've been continuing. He'll be surprised to see that he only has about another foot or so when he returns. Probably not happy either. The carpenter is a joke. Michael planned this with pressure treated lumber and come to find out, you need a special nail when you construct something using this lumber. Apparently the carpenter never knew that so we will have to re-nail everything as soon as the stone work is done and before the top layers of T 111 is nailed on. It'll be a cute structure.
Now that our "wedding" is done, we are waiting for Barb's niece Amber wedding day on the 9/19/09. Then we are free to go back to Florida. We'll lallygag our way back by stopping at the NFL Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio and possibly a quick visit to Pastor Mike & Judy in Hiawassee, Georgia. Barb hates to impose on anyone so I guess it'll be a quick visit. I just hope the hot dog days of summer are done in Florida when we return. With a little bit of luck.........
Today we're going to Angela's so that I can write down Byron's chili recipe. He claims that he just "throws it together" without measuring so I'll try to be a bit more accurate. I really love his chili! He usually serves it with his cornbread too which also is very good. Is Byron's better than David Fowler's? Well, just different.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Have to learn how to do this properly and other thoughts
This morning, I wanted to finish the post I began yesterday. I went looking for my saved draft and actually found it but I couldn't figure out how to continue writing it. I decided that perhaps I needed to post it and then edit it but that didn't work so now I have an unfinished post cluttering my page. Oh well, there's an unfinished picture of George Washington that is quite famous and after all, how many people are actually going to read my blog?
Today should be a kick back, lazy day for me. Dina & Michael took three of their grandchildren across the state to an amusement park. Barb is still trying to get over her sickness which had her in bed most of the day yesterday. I'm up in the air about giving my step-son Pete my laptop and replacing it with a new one. I don't mind doing it but my fear is that he'll never use it and also I'm a month away from Windows 7 coming out. I hear it's far superior to Vista. Heck, Windows 95 was superior to Vista. Well, maybe not.
Yesterday, I finally spoke with Jim Summerville, CPA who does Metro Club's annual Form 990. Since he complemented me on the shape of Metro's records, he's my new best friend. We had a nice chat about Metro Club and I was able to help him with the compliance section of his 990. Maybe he thinks I'm his best friend since I offered up some good ideas (in his words)that he never thought about. Nice to know I can still hold my own with active accountants.
I saw a tab where you can monetize your blogs by allowing an advertisement on your page. My guess is that you get paid for every different person reading your post. I wonder if I can set that up and then email everyone I know to read my blog just to see how many hits I can generate. If everyone I know sends it to the folks in their address book............. I'm not sure I want a lot of unknowns reading my thoughts anyway. After all, they might grab David Fowler's chili recipe!
Speaking of chili. My son-in-law, Byron makes the best chili that I've ever tasted. He claims he just throws stuff in but it's consistently good stuff. I have to sit and watch him do it like I did with Bud Kenyon's sausage gravy.
Today should be a kick back, lazy day for me. Dina & Michael took three of their grandchildren across the state to an amusement park. Barb is still trying to get over her sickness which had her in bed most of the day yesterday. I'm up in the air about giving my step-son Pete my laptop and replacing it with a new one. I don't mind doing it but my fear is that he'll never use it and also I'm a month away from Windows 7 coming out. I hear it's far superior to Vista. Heck, Windows 95 was superior to Vista. Well, maybe not.
Yesterday, I finally spoke with Jim Summerville, CPA who does Metro Club's annual Form 990. Since he complemented me on the shape of Metro's records, he's my new best friend. We had a nice chat about Metro Club and I was able to help him with the compliance section of his 990. Maybe he thinks I'm his best friend since I offered up some good ideas (in his words)that he never thought about. Nice to know I can still hold my own with active accountants.
I saw a tab where you can monetize your blogs by allowing an advertisement on your page. My guess is that you get paid for every different person reading your post. I wonder if I can set that up and then email everyone I know to read my blog just to see how many hits I can generate. If everyone I know sends it to the folks in their address book............. I'm not sure I want a lot of unknowns reading my thoughts anyway. After all, they might grab David Fowler's chili recipe!
Speaking of chili. My son-in-law, Byron makes the best chili that I've ever tasted. He claims he just throws stuff in but it's consistently good stuff. I have to sit and watch him do it like I did with Bud Kenyon's sausage gravy.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
A great day
Monday, Dina & Michael took Barb & I to watch the Tigers/Rays game at Comerica Park. The ride down was interesting because #1 Michael drove (Dina drives 99% of the time) and #2 he drove straight down Woodward Avenue to the ballpark. Woodward Avenue runs from Pontiac to Detroit. It encompasses some of the richest real estate in the area but also some of the worst as well. It's disheartening to see beautiful old churches boarded up in the ghetto areas.
Our first surprise was the great seats that they got for us. They were in the Tigers Den which are behind homeplate and are wide, wooden chairs with a cushion and a little table between two seats. Must be how rich people watch baseball! A waiter kept coming by to see if we needed anything. The odd thing was his prices were the same as the concession stands and much quicker service. (no lines to stand in between innings)
Our second surprise was that son-in-law Byron came to the game with a woman he works with and he was sitting, in the Tigers Den just two rows in front of us. Temporarily at least - apparently the real owners
Our first surprise was the great seats that they got for us. They were in the Tigers Den which are behind homeplate and are wide, wooden chairs with a cushion and a little table between two seats. Must be how rich people watch baseball! A waiter kept coming by to see if we needed anything. The odd thing was his prices were the same as the concession stands and much quicker service. (no lines to stand in between innings)
Our second surprise was that son-in-law Byron came to the game with a woman he works with and he was sitting, in the Tigers Den just two rows in front of us. Temporarily at least - apparently the real owners
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