Things I've Seen

I love

I just made a reservation using OpenTable.com at Tavern on Rush in Chicago for next Saturday night. Love it. No looking up phone numbers, no calling, no fuss. Dinner at 9 for two, confirmed immediately by email just like that.

More than 8,500 restaurants use the service internationally - including several in Grand Rapids. I've used OpenTable to make reservations at both Six.One.Six and Reds on the River in the past.

They even sent my other party an invitation at my request. Fun!

Hey, 19

Meagan (left) and Susan turn 19.

Was 1989 really that long ago? I guess so, but it sure doesn't seem like it to me. Their dad and I are still back there sometimes, remembering

Two girl babies who, once they made up their minds, came awfully fast between 9 and 9:30 p.m. on the night the Pistons won the Eastern division title. (The TV was on in my room. What can I say?)

The first girl born (Meagan) "looks just like Drew did!" with a round face and dark, dark hair. The second one is born fingers first with an arm that remained above her head for a day or two.

Two babies sleeping in the same crib to keep their accustomed togetherness going for those first few weeks

A four-year old brother who was enthralled (still is) but who would rarely touch

Nights and nights of sleeplessness trying to keep two babies fed, dry and comfortable. Taking every action first for one, then the other: changing, feeding, rocking, cuddling. It didn't take long for Meg to always be in Dad's arms while Susan was in mine. A case where 'likes' attract, rather than opposites.

Two sleepy babies stuffed into snowsuits at 5 a.m. so dad could drop them off at Grandma's - 40 miles away - while he went to work.

Two active babies challenging each other as to who would sit, crawl, stand and walk first. Susan always won ( probably because she weighed slightly less), but Meg was never far behind.

Two little girls usually dressed in similar - but not matching - outfits. It would have been FAR easier to dress them exactly alike (and we did give in to the urge more than I like to admit. It's really hard to find things that are equal but not the same)

Two little girls always together: off to daycare, first day of school, gymnastics classes, softball, dance lessons, swim team, band (one clarinet, one flute), music camp, summer camp, choir, youth group

One little girl always asking permission (except when she cut her bangs, jagged and even with her scalp). The other little girl, well, you just had to move things out of the way so she wouldn't hurt herself.

Two little girls hugging their puppy (who is now heavy, lumpy, stiff and 11 years old)

Two adolescents, always each others' best friend

Two adolescents, fighting, screeching, hating each other above all else

Two cinderallas getting ready for their "balls": Homecoming, Spring Fling, Prom

Two young women trying out their wings: One off to college, one off to Australia. One now in a downtown house with three young men while she finishes school, one saving her money to move out and live by herself as she begins school

Two young women, very different, yet similarly blonde, petite, stylish. One in torn jeans, one as at home in dresses as jeans. One in love with makeup, one sporting two tattoos. One gaga over her first love, one holding back a bit after the death of her first love a year ago.

Two young women at the open window of womanhood where so much is beckoning, so much is worth exploring, so much is possible.

Hey, 19 - Happy Birthday!

Movin' Meg

Well, here goes #2. Out of the dorm and into a house. A big old house in Grand Rapids' Heritage Hill area. With three guys.



It doesn't seem all that long ago that we moved her into East Hall at Davenport University, where she stayed through freshman year.

Even though she lived and attended class in Caldedonia and worked out here on the north end of town, she somehow made quite a few friends who attend college downtown, specifically Kendall College of Art and Design of Ferris State University. All three of her new housemates are students at Kendall, and so is her boyfriend, who also lives in a house on the Hill (it's complicated and as a mother, I say it's probably better that way).

One of the guys had been living downtown and was looking for new people to share a house - something nicer than what I understand his old digs were. Meg "signed on" right away, then they rounded up two more and went house hunting. What they found is a beauty. Kitchen, foyer, living room, dining room, "library" downstairs, three bedrooms, laundry and a bath upstairs and a two-room bedroom in the attic. Hardwood floors. Bay windows. Window seats. Heat and water included. Very well maintained and well, beautiful.

She says she can afford it. She is working a lot of hours this summer as a server at O'Charley's and she already  has her schedule planned for school. She'll be taking the shuttle bus from DU's downtown campus out to Caledonia three days a week to save on gas. She and one of the boys are going to pool their money on groceries.

We're entirely supportive of her (although she was very nervous about telling her dad she was moving in with three young men). She got a taste of living away from home last year and she liked it. I'm impressed by her maturity and everything she did to make this move happen. She won't be home nearly so much this year as last, but what are you gonna do? I'm proud of my downtown kid. Best to you Meg!














Clay and Drew, packin' stuff

This old tree

  So this tree is probably a hundred years old or more - who really knows with trees? It is the messiest thing ever, and boy does it have its seasons.

Two weeks ago it had little pink petals pushing out with the leaves as they started their spring growth. We swept those off the patio just as grass-cutting season was beginning.

Right now it's in full bloom and, as happens every year, the week or so that the white flowers are in full is the windiest week of spring, so we get a constant "snowing" of tiny white petals all over the yard. It also has an overpowering sweet smell that engulfs the neighborhood.

Once the blooms are finished, the hard green cherries will appear, which hopefully will be very few in number again this year. The tree is old as I said and it has "on" years and "off" years, with the "off" years being more prevalent recently. Which is good - because once we get to late August the tiny black cherries are falling everywhere, staining the patio, the outdoor furniture, and more than one spot on the carpet indoors as kids track them in with their shoes.

It sheds sticks and branches all year 'round, especially during any kind of wind, rain or snow storm. Thankfully the leaves are comparatively small and make for pretty easy raking.

Like I said, it has it's seasons, with this being perhaps the one it shows off best.

 Beautiful, isn't it?

---

For reasons I haven't yet discovered, Typepad has done something funky with how photos are displayed here. I'm not happy with it, but it you want to see a larger version of this photo, click on it.

Writing tips, via Friendfeed

Steve Rubel pointed today to Kaylow Media's Six tips for generating terrific blog posts. (Actually, Rubel shared this in Google Reader and it showed up in Friendfeed. Oh, how do you properly attribute sources in these social media times?!) From the post:

Notice everything ... I realized that the very experience I was having would make a great post

Be prepared ... I have a stack of index cards and a pen with me at all times, so I can immediately jot down any idea.

Talk with a variety of people ... the internet represents as diverse a community as you’ll ever find. Look beyond your bookmarked blogs ... Poke around the global neighborhood and see what you’ll find.

Create a "blogging only" workspace ... a person’s environment can influence their behaviors ... I’ve conditioned myself to associate [the blogging-only space] with writing, so my brain goes into “writing mode” as soon as I sit down.

Step away from the blogosphere ... Time spent away from the computer is just as beneficial as reading inspirational posts.

Create a crappy first draft ... but of course. You'll never write anything if you don't get something down in writing first - no matter how bad it is. That is writing 101 (my comment)

Nothing earth shattering - these are good tips for anybody who's writing anything - but a good kick in the ass for me since this blog continues to languish a bit.

---

On that last point: I've been editing quite a bit at work lately - more than usual as we go through the growing pains of hiring new people and shifting others' roles around. And I must say I'm pretty damn good at it.

One thing I've noticed time and again is how so-called seasoned professionals will let that crappy first draft stand as final. I mean, it's one thing to just get your thoughts down on paper. Turning them into thoughtful, powerful, persuasive prose (or copy) is something else altogether.

Weasel words and phrases (so much the province of old-school PR), over-long sentences, weak verbs (forms of to be and to have, in particular), over-use of adjectives vs. good strong verbs ... these are just a few hallmarks of weak writing that I encounter every day. It's disheartening to say the least. Especially when you consider the fact that words are the tools of our trade. Worse still? I'm sometimes convinced that the folks I'm editing truly don't know the difference between an OK sentence and a compelling, even powerfully written one.

And that's just kinda sad.

Photos my kids send me

From Susan, as seen in the parking lot of O'Charley's the restaurant where she and Meagan work. The accompanying message said, "Look it's Harvey."

Obama in Grand Rapids

I didn't go.

At about 2:00 Josh picked me up in his NEW Lancer and we took a quick ride down to the Van Andel Arena - just a few blocks from Davenport University where we work - to check out the crowd. T-Shirt hawkers were stationed on one corner. Several hundred people were lined up in the mist and chill, waiting.

At about 4:30, I got a "check in" message on BrightKite from Brian saying he was at the Arena. I'd heard his wife had already been standing on line for awhile. Amanda headed down there just before 5 p.m.

I went home and checked WoodTV8 online for some live video before tuning in on TV.

John Edwards spoke first, throwing his support behind Obama, finally. Funny thing, I thought, that he praised Hillary Clinton for about the first three or so minutes before he got down to the business of endorsing his candidate.

Then Obama came on. Now I haven't followed him all that closely,  so I don't know if he veered from his usual stump speech or not. I do know that the crowd -  about 13,000 inside and lots of overflow listening  outside  - was wild about what was a really rousing, old-time democratic values speech.  My own  gut stirred to hear him  - and  I was moved to see the  diversity of the crowd.   I even thought to myself, wow, 40-some odd years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke like this to crowds in hope of uniting a nation to acknowledge simple, obvious rights for people of color. Now, here is a black man running for President.  And - wonder of all - he has a great chance of winning.

All week I've insisted that you couldn't pay me enough to stand in line to see a rock-star anybody - no matter how short or long the wait or what the weather. Josh said to me, "But this is historic - he could be the next President." But I didn't waver.

You know what? I should have gone.

Dispatch from Nicaragua

My friend M has been in the arduous process of adopting (now) 2-year old Gabriella from Nicaragua since the child was an infant. Last week, friends got this email recounting a part of her husband Jon's most recent journey there in attempts to move the process along.  He is traveling with M's brother Danny and Danny's wife Maria, who is a native Nicaraguan. (Names have been changed.)

Everybody slept really well the first night there. It cooled down enough that they were very comfortable, and even needed a sheet -- except Gabriella who refuses to have anything covering her when she sleeps.   :)

Jon and Gabriella slept until 8 a.m. and Danny and Maria slept until 10:00. They had breakfast and hit the road running. Thank goodness that Hema cooked them a nice breakfast, because they hadn't had another meal yet when I talked to Jon at dinner time. They never did get dinner their first night there -- they stopped to see Maria's friend at 8 .p.m. (10:00 our time) and ended up talking so long the restaurants were closed when they left.

They spent the day, for the most part, in doctors offices in Masaya.

Gabriella had a cold, which (her mother's) doctor thought had moved into pneumonia in the last couple of weeks. Maria and Jon took her to see a pediatrician that a friend recommended, and it turns out that she has a bronchial infection. So they got meds for her for that and then were referred to an opthamalogist because the ped had a concern about her eyes.

So then they went to the eye doc, who performed an eye exam and said everything seems ok. She's not cross-eyed -- which is what the ped was concerned about -- but has a bit more skin on one side of her nose than the other. So it creates a bit of an optical illusion that makes one eye look a bit crossed. They said as she grows and her nose gets bigger that should balance out. OMG -- WHO CARES!!!!!!  But I'm happy that they raised a flag when they were concerned about something.

The bigger issue that the pediatrician had is that he thinks that the injury on Gabriella's foot that's causing her to walk funny is the result of abuse. Sigh. She showed us her foot a few weeks ago, and it was supposedly a bug bite, or something. Apparently it's not actually getting better (which is what we were told), but is now causing her sufficient discomfort that she is favoring it and walking funny.

The doc thinks that it might be a burn or a cut. Perhaps a repeating injury. From what Jon told me, the doctor strongly recommended that Gabriella not be returned to (her mother's) care. I'm not thinking about it, because it's just too unfathomable right now. Total denial, I know, but right now I'm ok with denial.

Gabriella a bit taller, but is not gaining weight. She's 23 pounds, and the doc thinks she may be undernourished.

Their appointment at the Ministry of Families for (the mother)  to sign the paperwork IS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW!!!!!!!!!!!! It was scheduled for 9:30 this morning (11:30 our time).

Jon's doing ok. Gabriella seems happy, and is thrilled to see Danny.

More tomorrow!

Commencement

I would not have gone to commencement at all if not for the fact that I hired a photographer who was not familiar with Davenport University. So I thought I'd better attend so I could make sure he got the right people in the right shots.

It was billed the "first one-Du commencement ceremony," in other words it's the first time that grads from all of our 21 locations converged in one place for a single commencement ceremony.

Thirteen hundred grads walked, receiving master's, bachelor's and associates  degrees, plus diplomas. We also conferred two honorary doctorate degrees during the ceremony.

We took a chance by not setting a limit on tickets, and nearly filled the 8,000+-seat Van Andel Arena. But all came off without a hitch, and what I feared could be a long hard day-into-night turned out to be a wonderful afternoon to mark this very special occasion for the grads and their families.

Special kudos to the commencement team who put this grand, gargantuan event together, especially Director of Records Robin Kauffman, who (I believe) took on most of the logistics and planning, and to VP for Academic Services Dave Fleming, who accomplished the task of reading out all those names (impressively correctly!) with humor and flair.

Looking forward to next year when we'll graduate the first class to start as freshmen at the new main campus in Grand Rapids. And good luck and good life to all of you new grads of DU!

Photos:

Top: Waiting for Mom to emerge from the arena after the ceremonies. Center: School of Technology baccalaureate candidates wait to line up for the processional. Bottom: The web team's intern this semester, Jamie Intveld, who earned a BAS in Computer Information Systems - Web Design Specialty. We'll miss you, Jamie!

-Cross-posted at Davenblogger

Happy Earth Day

- Via Twitter

I don't follow this person - just got notice tonight that she's following me, so I checked out her Twitter page.  I'm sure she's earnest, and I shouldn't laugh. But this strikes me as funny. You too?