Yesterday I devoted time to the Green Bay Packers. As you know I am one of 112,000 stockholders. Yesterday was the annual stockholders meeting at Lambeau. Estimates were that 15,000 to 20,000 of us stockholders were in the stands. I told them I thought a dividend to owners was appropriate.
Laugh if you want but my investment made $12 million last year. Of course winning the Super Bowl helped with selling T-shirts and other memorabilia. Also my Packers paid off their loan that financed the new stadium 6-7 years ago. That is 4 years early. Paying off a loan early? That is unheard of.
Then last night I got to attend a "reading" of the play "Lombardi" at the PAC. It covered the championship years, in particular 1965. The lead character was an actor named Dan Lauria (he played Lombardi). He was excellent. The person who stole the show was Lombardi's wife, Marie. She was funny, insightful and the one person who could always tell Vince he was full of sh--. Because I lived through the championship years, the stories were reminisent of those told at a family reunion.
Last, I have been talking to Ted Thompson about all the personnel changes we need to make. We let Cullen Jenkins go. We let lots of linebackers go including Poppinga. Our back-up running back Jackson is gone. We are going to re-arrange our offensive line. Tausher probably won't be back and we lost Colledge (?) to free-agency. How am I ever going to get my fantasy football team right?
The Packers are part of the "fiber" of Wisconsin. Devoting a day to the green and gold occasionally is kind of fun!
Love,
Dad
I recently mentioned that a Grandson from Sheboygan "zapped" me with his response to my question "where do I put this soda to keep it cold"? His reply was "they call it a refrigerator". Smart A--. Well, shortly thereafter, he was told he could have a dessert of ice cream cups or frozen chocolate bars. He asked "where are they"? Oh ho, this is too good. My answer was "they call it a refrigerator"! Ha!
I keep hearing words of explanation and they don't make sense. The NFL (National Football League) has announced that the longest work stoppage in their history is over. What work stoppage? The packers won the Super Bowl and the practice for the new season doesn't start until next week. Who stopped working? What is all the commotion about? Nobody cares about football during the summer. Confusing words!
Our fearless leader in Washington (President Obama) announced yesterday afternoon that the Democratic Members of the Senate had reached an agreement to balance the national budget by cutting expenses. No new taxes or new sources of revenue. Four hours later, Obama went on national TV announcing that we need to find new sources of revenue. Did I miss-understand the words? Shifting words!
Finally, I had my semi-annual visit to my doctor yesterday. I do get nervous, anticipating a dramatic turn in my health. Actually, I finally have a doctor I can talk to and he "listens". Yep, he listens. During our visit he suggested a heart scan to determine calcium levels in the blood. It was just a suggestion; after all, I was his customer and it was my decision. Did I hear right? A doctor referring to me as a customer. I am a medical customer, not a patient. There is hope.
I seem to live in a shifting world of word meanings. It gets harder and harder to trust the words that people say to me.
Love,
Dad
I recently brought along a cold 12 pack of soda while visiting one of you Grasshoppers. I asked my Grandson what I should do to keep the soda cold. His answer was "I believe they call it a refrigerator". Imagine that. A Grandson with a smart answer.
Our house was struck by lightning almost two weeks ago. We are down to getting a new door bell and a new motion sensing light for outside the garage. It is in the hands of an electrician who refuses to commit to a specific date.
I know most people wouldn't think twice about oversleeping but I never, never over sleep. This morning I missed my normal wake up time by almost an hour. Now my whole day is out of sync. It changes my breakfast, my exercise program and anything else I have planned. Damn.
Strangest of all was I had a dream. I dreamt I was attending a wedding and I was sitting in a pew near the back of the church. An usher said "they were ready for me in the vestibule. I was escourted through the back of the church and it dawned on my that I was the Groom at my own wedding. In the vestibule I was fitted with a tux with a white top. I was told that after the service, a special little band would lead our wedding caravan down the street. I had to go across the street to a church office to sign some papers first. On the way across the street, I passed a welding shop. I need to use the rest room so I hustled into the shop and handed my white tux jacket to a guy with dirty hands. Upon leaving I noticed that my jacket was cluttered with spots of oil and dirt. My next recollection is I was headed back to the church and I was sure I would get sh-- about my dirty tux. The organized wedding musical band was marching to the church and it ran into a formally organized City parade that happened to be coming down the street. The bands collided and there was total chaos. I found myself apologizing for the screw-up to the band leaders. Then I woke up. I have no idea whether I made it back to the church. I have no idea if I ever got married. I have no idea if the "bride-to-be" would marry a guy with a dirty jacket? A psycho analyst would have a ball with the dream.
Getting zapped with a smart-ass comment from a grandson was strange. A stray electrical strike damaging our house was strange. The dream was strange. Sleeping late was strange. I can hardly wait for the next strange thing. Maybe I'll win the lottery.
Love,
Dad
Somehow your Mom and I commited ourselves to a very expensive movie habit.
It started with our cable company offering premium channels at reduced prices and then increasing the prices slowly over time. We had HBO. Then we could subscribed to Showtime and Cinemax "free" for 90 days. Then the freebies turned into $4.00 per month each and evolved into $10.00 per month each. We are currently paying $32 per month for premium stations (versus $10.00 per month originally). I guess you call that "getting screwed slowly". We are dropping the premium channels today!
Along came Netflix. Your Mom decided she wanted to subscribe for "free". This was the mailing of DVD's through the mail to get the latest releases of movies. If we liked the service, "free" evolved into $7.99 per month. Grasshopper No.1 along with my favorite Son-in-law gave us a DVD blue ray player that downloands movies directly from Netflix. Presently we get Netflix by mail and the internet for the new total of $15.95 per month. Again we seem to be getting screwed slowly. Our decision is to drop the instant download via internet and keep the mailing of the disks going. I guess we can swing $7.99 per month.
Throw in an occasional movie at the local cinema and the costs go up in $20 increments ($35-$40 if you have the popcorn and treats).
Our movie library keeps increasing as Grasshopper No.1 keeps downloading popular movies onto DVD's and giving us copies. That is free.
This whole movie "thing" just kind of happens with creative pricing by Time Warner Cable and Netflix. Also the technology of the internet keeps evolving. The prediction is that Netflix will eventually dominate the movie experience and popular TV programming.
The lesson Grasshoppers is "don't be dazzled by all the movie offers". Someone has got their hand in your pocket.
Love,
Dad
The electrical spike we got through our home electrical system from last Monday's lightning strike (near our garage area) was significant. We are still finding new damage. Most of the electrical damage seemed to be in anything with electronic circuit boards.
On the plus side we have upgraded some of our equipment. We now have two new electric garage door openers. The telephone system has been revamped with brand new telephones. The internet works. A new TV replaces the upstairs unit.
On the negative side, we don't have any door bell system. Our stereo system still needs to be fixed and we found out the controller for the pot gas fired stove in the basement doesn't work.
Monday we have an electrician coming to check out our system. Friday the serviceman comes for the basement stove.
I have bought lots of surge protectors for electrical outlets.
Our cell phone puked during our electrical crisis so our much needed backup phone system was not available. Of course a 5 year old battery might have had something to do with it. At US Cellular we were told that batteries for our old phone was not available and we would have to talk to a sales person about a "new" system. It would be 20-30 minutes to wait. No it would not. We left the US Cellular showroom. Batteries Plus had the battery we needed and we are back in business with our "old cell" phone. We still don't have a multiple phone system, we don't have texting capabilities, we don't have internet access and we don't have 3,962 "apps" for personal entertainment. But we do have cell phone capability for under $30 per month. Elderly types can be difficult!
Slowly but surely everything is returning to normal but we won't be surprised by more electrical damage. Stay tuned.
Love,
Dad
Early Monday morning, a summer storm rolled in with thunder and lightning. One big lightning blast lit up the sky near our house. At 4:00 AM it woke me up.
Suddenly my bed side clock was making funny sounds. The clock had the wrong time on the display. I figured I'd reset it in the morning.
Imagine my surprise when I was leaving the house finding one garage door open. The storm must have "spiked" the garage door opener and caused the door to rise. I tried to operate the door, but it was dead. I tried to operate the other garage door. It was dead too. Bottom line, the electrical boards in the garage door openers were fried from the electrical spike. The doors can still be raised and lowered manually. There will be brand new openers today.
After I returned from my exercise routine, the day was filled with a never ending stream of surprises.
Our phone system was "fried". We will see a repair man tomorrow.
Our internet access was "fried". We got it restored after talking through the system with a guy in India.
The central hi-fidelity sound system does not work.
The lights in an upstairs bathroom do not activate.
The TV in the upstairs bedroom is "fried". Dead, Nada, Nothing.
We are not sure what else has been affected but there probably will be more surprses. Fear not! I have homeowners insurance. Yep. $500 deductible. That means most repair costs will be borne by the home owner: Me.
Our back-up cell phone at least provided some contact with the real world. The electrical spike couldn't screw up our cell. The phone is probably 5-6 years old with the original battery. You guessed it, the cell phone "puked" (Grasshopper No.5's discription of unpleasant events). It cuts out, feins "low battery", and doesn't charge. Imagine not being able to talk to the outside world. What do we do? We can't even schedule repair people.
Here is the wisdom. This too shall pass. The sun will come up tomorrow. The electrical spike of Monday morning will be a good story.
Love,
Dad (Zapped in Appleton)
I see the job report came out today and we added 18,000 new jobs last month. We need to generate 175,000 new jobs per month just to handle new young people entering the work force. Then, and I emphasize "then", we can begin to re-employ all the 20 million people who were laid off or lost their jobs during the recent recession.
I look around and I don't know where all the new jobs will come from. I'm sure our representatives in Washington, D.C., will continue to work in our best interest.
With all the parades last weekend, I am reminded of Grandpa George and his love of trains and steam engines. In his later years, George and Nana made several pilgrimages to Minnesota to the annual "Steam Engine Exhibition". Steam engines were big black belching pieces of black iron that ran on coal or chopped hunks of wood. You would see the engines on farms during harvest time with a wide flat belt driving other machiney like thrashing machines and conveyors. They were powerful slow moving tractors that smelled like train steam engines. When you blew the whistle on the engine, it could deafen you.
There was a Sheboygan parade when Grasshopper No. 4 was 4-5 years old. Grandpa and Nana joined us at the parade. George couldn't wait for the old steam engine to pass by. As it approached, it blew it's shrill whistle. Grasshopper No. 4 covered his ears and ran away from the parade in absolute panic. I guess when you are surprised as a little kid that can happen.
I secretly thought about trying to find an old, used steam engine when Grandpa George retired and have him restore it to good condition. George knew boilers and steam systems. He loved heavy duty equipment. The thought passed as the dollars to purchase parts became apparent and then, where do you put a big steam engine so that you can work on it. It would have been an interesting project.
The steam engine was just a passing thought, but every now and then I think how much fun it would have been to see Grandpa George and his restored steam engine in a parade.
Love,
Dad
Strawberries picked directly from the fields are infinitely better than those purchased in the grocery store. A special thank you to Grasshopper No.1 and favorite son-in-law for sharing. The only caveat is that you need to eat them while they are fresh because they will spoil quickly.
The 4th of July weekend is usually filled with impromptu family gatherings, good food and stupid fireworks (although our neighborhood exploding rockets were pretty cool).
Grasshopper No.2 was bold enough to host a 4th family outing. The weather was cooperative and her new deck got a workout. Patented hamburger patties along with skewered marinated chicken pieces were fantastic supported by all the other "dishes". Most (adults) was slowly sipping a funny looking drink with ice cubes and fruit. What the hell is Sangria? Is it supposed to make you talk stupid?
Grasshopper No.2 finished celebrating her "half birthday" on June 30. It has something to do with her real birthday being a non-event because it is so close to Christmas. I guess getting new lawn chairs in December would never happen.
Grasshopper No.4 got his family to celebrate his birthday at St. Anna with steak. Your Mom and I tagged along. As much as I prefer fish these days, St. Anna forces me to do the "rib-eye" thing.
We finished off the holiday weekend with steak sandwiches at Chesters in Plymouth. Now the summer is complete.
Reflecting on the weekend, the common thread is food. Maybe it is a German thing?
So now it is "Hi-ho, hi-ho, off to work we go". Only 4 more days and we have another weekend. Enjoy!
Love,
Dad
Today is July 1. It marks the implementation of the new "balanced" State budget. It is also the official date that the University of Nebraska becomes part of the BIG 10 conference (which now has 12 schools). Don't they teach math in college. The NBA (National Basketball Association) is officially on strike. The NFL is on strike. There sure seems to be a lot of tension.
I've been reading articles about "old time" baseball players. Several talk about growing up in the 1930's and 1940's. There were no TV's in those days. As kids. these legends of the game would take their small radios and crawl under the covers to listen to broadcast of major league games. The baseball contest would play out in their minds. Ted Williams hitting a homerun. Joe DiMaggio hitting in 56 straight baseball games. Herb Score throwing "bullets" to post another no-hitter. The baseball fantasies were played.
Believe it or not, until I was 13-14 years old, our family did not have a TV. It was in 1954 my Dad bought a new Hoffman black and white TV which required a 20 foot high antenna mounted on top of the City Club for better reception. I grew up having to rely on radio's for my electronic entertainment. I remember having a radio in my bedroom. I never pulled it under the covers to capture but I found other ways to fully capture a broadcast. The "Shadow" was a favorite. It always began with "who knows what evil lurks in the hearts of man. The Shadow knows". Then there would be a deep, troubling nasty laugh by the Shadow. The Shadow was always accompanied by his trusty female sidekick, Margo. I always suspected they were an "item" but that was my imagination working. Imagine that!
Radio's brought me programs like the Lone Ranger, Fibber Magee and Molly, and the Green Hornet. All vivid presentations. All memorable. Under the covers or in a quiet room, the days of radio were special.
Enjoy the 4th of July.
Love,
Dad