Friday, July 01, 2005

What happened to June?

So it appears that nothing was going on last month. At least nothing that I felt was worth reporting. Oh well, this month will be different, lots going on...

First the music festival, or as we are calling it now, "Jake's Music Festival". The three featured bands are; Irish music band, Craic Wisely, African drum group, Red Frog Drum & Dance Ensemble, and electronic pop songwriter group, Small Space. The concert takes place Thursday, August 18 at Studio 28 in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Founder's Brewery is the main sponsor and tickets are $10. For more information or tickets email us at JMF@scheidelgroup.com.

The NBA playoffs are over and our team didn't win. Although the final game was incredibly close the Pistons couldn't pull it out at the end. All in all, a great season for Detroit and they'll be back in the hunt next year.

Right now we are in training to do a 100 mile bike ride in Death Valley in October. The ride is a fundraiser for the Juvenile Diabetes Reasearch Foundation. For more information about the ride check out their web site, http://ride.jdrf.org/

"The genius in any idea lies in acting upon it."

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

New music link

We just posted a link to the web site of one of the bands performing at the concert in August. Craic Wisely is an excellent Irish music band. Follow their link on the right to find out more about them.

There are also links to great pictures of outer space at Astronomy Photo of the Day, and Google's new mapping site featuring satellite views. See if you can see your house!

Tuesday, May 24, 2005


Red Frog Drum & Dance Ensemble in concert. Posted by Hello

Music Festival this summer

This is an early notice of a very cool event happening this summer in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Irish music band Craic Wisely and the African drum group Red Frog Drum and Dance Ensemble will headline a concert on August 18, 2005. The show takes place at Studio 28 on the southwest side of Grand Rapids. Founders Brewery is the sponsor, so there promises to be good food and good drinks. Watch for more details as they become available.

Thursday, May 19, 2005

More sports...NBA playoffs

I love this time of year. NBA playoff action. Games actually mean something. Teams other than the Detroit Pistons play defense. The flash and dash succumb to the pick and roll. Sure there are still un-called traveling violations (Just how many steps can Allen Iverson take without dribbling?), mysterious fouls, and poor shot selection. But all in all it's a great game. And a weird one, too. How does Steve Nash score 48 points, the playoff best this year, and the Suns lose? How do the Indiana Pacers use up all their timeouts (doesn't each team get about 12 a quarter?) in the 3rd quarter and get a technical foul when they call their "mandatory" time out in the fourth? And what is a "mandatory" time out? A team is forced to stop the action? I always thought those were TV time outs. I guess we learn something every day.

Thought for Today
A speech doesn't need to be eternal to be immortal.
-James Osborne, Commander, Salvation Army

Monday, May 09, 2005

Where have I been?

A good question. It's been over a month since my last post. I didn't mean to be so lax with my journalistic responsibilities. I could make some lame excuse about work getting in the way, but that wouldn't be true. I just chose to do other things rather than"blog".
We could call this entry the weird weather update. Last Tuesday, May 3, we had snow here in Michigan. Yesterday it was 80 degrees. Spring is a great time to live here, especially if you enjoy unexpected events, like the daily weather.
I promise to be more attentive to my blog this month. Of course, some actual readers, who would leave actual comments, would probably help motivate me.

The difference between success and failure is doing a little more than the average person.

Thursday, April 07, 2005


A tulip from my backyard to prepare us for spring. Posted by Hello

Not everyone goes away for Spring Break

Thankfully the weather in Michigan has been quite pleasant this week. Sunny, with highs in the 60's and 70's. Since we are almost the only people in our neighborhood who didn't go away this week for Spring Break, the good weather is appreciated. While our neighbors are vacationing in Florida, the Bahamas, and on cruises, we've been doing yard work, riding bikes, and sleeping in (except for those of us who still have to get some work done this week). Another nice thing about staying home this week is that nothing is crowded. No wait at restaurants. No lines at museums. No humans to talk to when you call a business. It's been great.

In other news I did beat my 9 year old in the NCAA pool. But only because North Carolina pulled it out at the end. We both had Illinois and NC in the final, but he picked the Illini to win it. Thanks for the big game Scott May. I am still the sports ruler in my house, for a little bit longer.

Today's Thought: The difference between success and failure is doing a little more than the average person.

Wednesday, March 30, 2005

What do I know?

When it comes to NCAA basketball, the answer to the above question is "Not much". Michigan State has made it to the Final Four and I had them picked to be upset in the first round. I'm doing so bad in the pool that my 9 year old is beating me.
Although I didn't predict it, it is good to see two Big Ten teams in the Final Four. However, I still believe it will be North Carolina over Illinois in the final.
With college basketball almost done it will soon be time for the NBA playoffs to start. That's going to be a lot of fun. More upset potential than even the NCAA's.
Finally, I added a link to one of my favorite sites, Astronomy Photo of the Day. A very cool site that has photos taken by the Hubble telescope, the Mars Rovers, as well as land based photos of the stars. They also have an archive of old photos.

Bumper Sticker of the day: Vegetarian –- Old Indian word for bad hunter

Tuesday, March 15, 2005

NCAA Basketball Tournament

Time to talk sports. College basketball to be specific. This is a great time of year for the hoop fan. The NCAA tournament starts Thursday. No disrespect to the "play-in" game tonight or the women's tournament intended. But the big daddy is the men's tournament. 64 schools hoping to get hot and win 6 games in a row. There will be drama, there will be upsets, there will be more announcer histrionics then anyone should be made to bear. But in the end it's always fun.
Here are a few of my predictions. North Carolina over Illinois in the final. Upset special, #12 Old Dominion over #5 Michigan State. And my 9 year old says watch out for Gonzaga.
More later...

Thought for today: Life is too short to drink light beer or eat cheap ice cream.

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Music review

Let me tell you about a band I first heard on National Public Radio just before Christmas 2004.
Laliya is unique musical group playing an array of instruments I'm not sure have ever been played together before this. James Maquire and Melissa McCarthy live in Australia. He plays an Appalachian dulcimer and Australian didgeridoo at the same time. She plays an African djembe drum. The two musicians and three instrument blend perfectly to create a one of a kind sound.
After hearing them on NPR I started trying to find a CD. I tried the big box stores, the local record shops and several on-line outlets. No one had even heard of these guys. Eventually I found their web site, www.laliya.com. They have music clips on the site and an email address. So I emailed to find out where I could buy their CD's. Melissa responded and said there was one on-line place in Australia that had it, and they only used PayPal. So I ordered "just Like River", their latest CD. When it arrived 3 weeks later the return shipping address label was personally signed by Melissa. Laliya performs live in Europe and Australia. I would love to see them come to the states. Check out their web site for a taste of something really wonderful.

Today's thought:
If Columbus had turned back no one would have blamed him, no one would have remembered him either. -Lance Smith

The first photo from "The Barn Project". More to come. Posted by Hello

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Starting things off

Tonight I join the vast network of mostly unpaid, mostly unread, psuedo-journalists.
Whether this new blog will last a fortnight or if anyone I'm not related to actually reads it, only time will tell.
The idea of publishing my ideas in an electronic form is interesting. I have been writing for almost 40 years. The large majority lately has been for business purposes. The creative stuff ends up as never to be seen again bits on my lap-top's hard drive. Perhaps now I have an outlet.

Closing comment: Only those who attempt the ridiculous will acheive the spectacular. - Willie Jolley