Seen on my Business Trip in Springfield, MO

Would you want to buy a computer from these guys??????

Basement Update (Again)

Not many people have asked how our basement is coming along these days. I'm not sure if that's because people are annoyed by it after hearing about it for so long, or whether it's attributed to a lack of trust I'll actually get it done. :-)

Well, thank God for my friend, Ryan. He was over all day Saturday and for 5 hours or so again on Memorial Day putting in some time down there with me. There are finally some noticeable updates to seeing the electrical work getting done. Hopefully one more solid weekend takes care of everything so we can start insulating and sheet rocking.

At this point, it looks like a July completion date is most likely...but don't tell Nikki that since I've missed a few projected timelines already on this.

Getting Ready for Baseball

Karsten starts park and rec baseball next week. Since he doesn't have a ball glove, we stopped and picked one up for him Sunday afternoon.

We got home and went out to the yard to throw for a little while. We'd never done this before, but K picked up the catching part right away. The glove still needs to be broken in, but he's still doing pretty well.

Evening in Providence

We had dinner along the canals in Providence tonight. Here are a couple pictures from the restaurant. Although Providence isn't a large city (downtown area, at least), it certainly has it's charms.

The bottom picture of the Biltmore Hotel where I stayed.

Biltmore Hotel - Providence

So I'm in Rhode Island for my company's national sales meetings. Since we have about 700 people in town for this event, there isn't a single hotel that can accommodate us - so they had to put us in four different hotels of the vicinity of the Providence Convention Center.

I think I got the best of the lot. This is definitely one of the nicest hotels I've ever stayed in: the Biltmore Hotel.

An especially nice touch is the 42 inch plasma TV on the wall in the bedroom

Bike Time

Saturday afforded us an opportunity to spend a few hours with our bikes. I only wish we had a more time to do so.

Karsten's Kindergarten Program

Not the best pic, I realize, but here's a pic of Karsten singing at his school program on Friday.

Car rental surprise once again...

When I got to the Avis counter in Green Bay, they didn't have my car ready (I took an earlier flight - so this is not Avis' fault). When I got there, they asked what car I wanted in the following order: a Lincoln Town Car, Pontiac Grand Prix, or Chevy Malibu.

If only every other choice was this easy...

Are there any regrets? Well, this thing doesn't sip gasoline, that's for sure. And despite the leather seats and typical refinements one would expect in Lincoln's Flagship vehicle, I'm disappointed there was no satellite radio. :-) That, and I did feel like I was 20 years older when I drove this thing.

Trampoline Fun

We got the kids a trampoline for Christmas, and have just about got it all set up. (I'm still working to put the netting around the top...)

Anyway, here are the pics from the first night they were on it...

Oh the Irony....

Just read this on one of the blogs I frequent. The Headline speaks for itself:

Senator who voted for anti-cellphone while driving law, crashes car - while on the phone.

Nice Little View...

I love the view looking out into our front yard in the morning: the cherry, maple, and oak trees are all looking awesome and amazing.

Tribute to my Grandfather

My Grandpa Don passed away yesterday. He was 88 years old, and had suffered several broken bones because of a fall a week and half before his death. A few days after his fall, he came down with pneumonia – and it soon became a matter of treating his pain rather than his symptoms. He finally saw his Savior and rejoined my grandmother who had preceded him in death early Tuesday morning.

Over these last few days, I’ve reflected on my relationship with grandpa and how it’s evolved. Ever since Grandma Ada died several years ago, my grandpa had changed in radical ways. Grandma was the perfect complement for Grandpa – the ideal “yin” to his “yang” if you will. Once she was out of his life, grandpa soon became a different person – his behavior seemed to mimic more of a 15 year old. I really struggled with this – and frankly still do as I think about him.

My response to these changes was to slowly withdraw from Grandpa. I still wonder if this was the right reaction, but it was the way I chose to cope. It seemed to be the safest action to take since grandpa had a hard time remembering who I was when we did spend time together – so I felt that if he didn’t remember me, then why should I put myself through the pain of seeing him trail off and not recollect much.

It wasn’t all lost over these years though. Last fall, on our annual trip to the farm so our kids can see the harvest, we took grandpa out for dinner. This evening proved to be a positive, memorable experience. Grandpa seemed more alert, more attentive, and recalled more about me than he had in the past. He even tried to understand computers and what I do for my work. This is no small feat – and it proved unsuccessful (like many other family members though) – but I really appreciated the effort nonetheless. The time was so enjoyable, and he even engaged my young children – something that I don’t recall happening from him in their lives to that point.

That evening brought back some of my last memories being with my Grandma before she died. My wife and I spent the afternoon with grandpa and grandma at their little apartment playing Skip-bo, enjoying some of grandma’s treats, and listening to them talk about their lives during WW 2 and living on the farm.

In the big picture, my grandpa never lived a flashy or notorious life. He was a cook in the army during WW2, and was a farmer well into his late 60’s. Grandpa worked whatever odd jobs he could to make ends meet until his last days. He and grandma never had much monetarily – this was the case before the government foreclosed on their small farm in the early 80’s, and was certainly the case as they emerged from foreclosure with hardly a penny to their names when most people are well into retirement years.

So I’ve thought about these questions: What difference in this world did my grandpa make? He was certainly a husband, father, grandfather, and great grand-father – but what if any significance can we take out of his life? In what ways could we deem his life a tangible success?

Perhaps providentially, I found the answer to these questions while reading a book on the topic of leadership by author John Maxwell just last weekend during his final days alive. In it Maxwell writes:

“Success is impossible if you achieve outwardly, but fail to take family with you on the journey. The applause of others should never replace the appreciation of one’s family. Respect from others means little if you do not have the respect of loved ones. Make caring for and communicating with family one of life’s priorities.” (From Today Matters)

As I reflected on this quote, I instantly realized my grandfather had success in spades when you look at this family. He fulfilled this definition by Maxwell beautifully...

• He and grandma were happily married for almost 60 years. He had 4 children, 8 grandchildren, and 16 great-granchildren (and still counting).
• Of his 4 children and 8 grandchildren - there have been a total of 11 marriages (with the last grandchild scheduled to be married this coming summer). All 11 marriages still exist today; none have gone through the pain and turmoil of divorce. This is far better than today’s statistics which show that half of all marriages today end in divorce.
• My grandfather can claim children and grandchildren who have contributed to our society as farmers, teachers, college professor, legal clerk, secretary, pastor, college dean of men, lawyer, Air National Guard military service, athletic director, carpenter/builder, homemaker, and one computer geek that’s writing the tribute you’re reading. The only roles in society that are missing on this list are a doctor and politician – but we have high hopes on my youngest cousin Zach for that… :-)
• One of the greatest memories is when my grandpa and grandma showed up at my kindergarten play where I was playing the lead role of the Gingerbread man. One of my classmates had a grandmother who wouldn’t come to the play because it was on her ladies card night. Yet my grandparents dropped everything and set aside their livelihood at the farm to drive the 3+ hours to my play and then back that night so they could get home to milk the cows in the morning. That’s sacrifice. That’s love. That’s a legacy.

Grandpa left a lasting legacy. In the years after grandma died, when he was often asked to pray for the Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner as the patriarch of the family, he would typically comment before the prayer that he “couldn’t believe he was the cause of all this. [such a large and loving family]” In his death I only now begin to understand what he meant.

I love you and will miss you grandpa...


The picture above was taken when I was about 11 months old on his 56th birthday.

Why I Was Outside so much yesterday...

With a view like this from my room, and perfect weather outside, why stay in my hotel room????

Where Work Takes Me: Lake of the Ozarks, MO

So I'm stuck away from Nikki and the kids this weekend since one of my accounts from work is having a sales rally in Lake of the Ozarks, MO

Earlier this week, the weather forecast looked pretty bad - thunderstorms all weekend. Thankfully the weather has been amazing: temps in the mid-80s and not a hint of clouds or rain.

Usually when I travel, I rarely have or take any opportunity to visit the local sites. Since today (Saturday) technically IS a day I should have off, I decided to spend some time at Lake of the Ozarks State Park. I hiked a few trails for most of the afternoon. It was tiring, but worth it - here are a couple of my favorite pictures from the hikes above.

While I was hiking, I had a lot of time to think and clear my head, meditate, and pray. I can't recall the last time I had several hours to just enjoy being outside like this. I can only hope another similar opportunity arrives soon...

All Right Kids! We're going to Disneyla...er Wha???

Many of my readers may not know that China would not be the world power it is today were it not for relying on other people to innovate for China to reverse engineer and clone at a much lower cost. Perhaps I'll post some examples at a later date, but be assured the list of known infringements is dubious and notorious.

Well China seems to have taken it up a notch. Above you are viewing two photos of the new Shijingshan Amusement Park in Beijing. This is NOT a Disney property - nor does it have any licenses to use any Disney images.

So consider the following:
- that's not Minnie Mouse...it's a cat with big ears (according to the property managers)
- the park's slogan is “Disneyland is too far.”
- I like this quote from the source: But 31-year-old housewife Zhang Li betrays a typical Chinese attitude on the issue while chasing her young son around the park.

“I don’t understand why that is such a big problem. Shouldn’t others be able to use those characters besides [Disney]?” she asks.


Oh, did I mention that this is owned by Chinese government? No wonder the issue of intellectual and engineering piracy is so rampant there...

Be sure to view more crazy pictures of the site here.