Friday is a welcome respite

I love Fridays. While we're really jammed up with projects, I rarely have to work the weekend. I'd rather put in 12 or 15 hour days and have Saturday and Sunday for just me and my family. Ah, Friday!

Holly sang at a wedding today. I love hearing her sing at weddings. One reason is that the Bride will pick music that Holly generally wouldn't pick and so it stretches her. Secondly, they usually mike the singer more than the music and so her voice rings so much purer and just generally louder. There are 7 ladies in this photo. Usually it's the boys that you have to try to locate. This time it's Holly, but it's pretty easy.

I drove to Iowa and back on Thursday. Whew. I left the house at about 5:15 AM and returned at 10:30 PM. Lots of driving, lots of meetings, lots of connections. A good trip, just long. As I am cruising back I'm on the phone, shoes are off, I have some light jazz or christian music playing and the cruise is set at about 8 over. Lots of police in the medians, one even appeared to have zeroed in on me. I tapped the brakes, hung up, slipped my shoes on and worked on a story of why I was OK at the speed I was going. either I was too fast for him or he had a different quarry. Whew!

Have a great day!

Pat

Holly Update

Holly update: We saw the doctor and we got some good news and some bad news. The good news is that the leg is healing pretty well, not as fast as we'd hoped, but it's got visible bone growth. The collar bone on the other hand, well, it's going to need some attention, and yes, he means surgically. We set the date for next Monday and it's probably out patient, they like to reserve options don't you know. Back to the basics of no weight on the left arm, but this time he's going to use some bone growth material that will promote the healing process. We trust the doctor and we're confident that we're heading down the right path.

Holly said Spencer was totally cool with the two days at camp. In fact he was cooler than Ian was when he went to 6th grade camp. Of course, Ian had led a pretty sheltered life up to that point and Spencer on the other hand is a seasoned camper having been to church camp and boy scout camp and many camp outs. It should be fun to hear his stories when he gets back.

Here's the boy's at that putt putt golf place we went to with Tom and Reen. Is it just me or are they leaning?


Have a great day!
Pat

Big doings coming our way

It's been awhile since my last Holly update and one is past due.

Holly Update: While at my sister and brother-in-law's place, (remember the western garb? see below) we were messing around on the Nintendo Wii game system. Holly and I played several games/sets of tennis ( I won big time ), with a bloated head I agreed to switch to Wii Boxing. She stomped me, knocked out in the second round. Tom is cracking up and so he takes her on and before he knows it, he's on the ropes too. But she maybe swung too much and maybe too hard, and felt something give in her shoulder and ended up losing. The shoulder was really bothering her and she started to worry, though I tried to convince her not to worry, after all, it was just a Wii (wee) injury. (I know, a groaner, but it was right there and I had to take it.)

Back to Holly, the pain persisted and so she went to the surgeon. X-rays revealed that she had actually bent the plate holding the collarbone together and there wasn't any bone growth happening. To be really thorough they ordered up a CAT scan on her leg as well. Now we go see the surgeon tomorrow to see what the course of action needs to be. We'll keep you all posted.

Another thing, as long as we're updating, I'm heading off to China next Thursday for about 10 days. Our factory is getting close to being able to run and I am going to go teach them about quality systems and to meet their new quality engineer. Great timing isn't it.

In other news...

Spencer is headed off to 6th grade camp for a few days and he's totally jazzed about that.

Ian proved once again that he is very talented artistically, check out the tech deck skate boards that he decorated with some paint pens we had sitting around. Very nice.

Have a great day!

Pat

What is business casual anyway?

A few weeks ago I went to an annual supplier event hosted by one of our customers. I am torn because I typically don't mention company names in this blog, just share a bit of my life. In this case I won't mention the company name of the customer, and as usual, just give the first name of those in the photo. Whew, what a disclaimer, for this silly post.

Anyway, we were invited to the event and told that the dress was to be business casual. To me business casual means slacks and a button down shirt. I know it's not a polo or golf shirt and dockers. For me, I prefer a solid colored shirt and Holly is currently pushing the plaids. I recall that she did pick the outfit pictured and I was snappy looking in a pale yellow button down. My associate, Mike, was similarly attired. The others in the photo, well, they just don't understand business casual.

Those in the picture are; Dick, Mike, yours truly, Franco and Matt. The others pictured are the Chairman of the Board Emeritus, President and CEO and the Chairman of the Board.

Yes, I know, they just don't get business casual. But like I told Holly, I'll be taking it up a notch next year. By the way, we won for being a top level supplier with outstanding quality and delivery.

Have a great day!

Pat

Happy Mother's Day!!!

To my readers that are Mom's I offer this Prayer; May your child give you the joy that the Lord experiences when we turn to him in worship and prayer.

To those that aren't Mom's, call your Mom or in my case, stop and wish the best to the Mom's that are left with us and remember fondly the Mom that was our whole world for so long and yet, not long enough. I miss you Mom!

Here's a shot of Spencer and his Mom. He's at the computer and correcting her work on a PowerPoint presentation that will be used when she sings on Friday at a Wedding.

Have an awesome day!

Pat