Signs of Spring

April 1 may be a day of fools, but I disagree. Today was the opening day for the  Major League Baseball season.  "Play Ball!"  Perhaps the only fool is a Cubs fan, but they too will enjoy the first pitch. Why not?  Right now they're tied for the division lead. 

The other sign of Spring is the return of our raccoons. This guy has decided that, after eating any scraps in our bird feeder, it makes for a very comfortable bed. 

His brother, sister, mother, father, cousin, (or neighbor) swings (acrobatically) between a tree and our other feeder. It's an impressive display that even PT Barnum would be impressed with.

Spring must be here. Hooray!

Tape Measure Please

So an intense discussion ensued, and before you know it, everyone was standing with a tape measure. 6'3", 5'10", and 5'6" respectively. So now we know. In my prime, after a good night of sleep, I would have clocked in at 6'. Saddly thousands of miles, compressed disc's, and an ancient shrinking spine puts me solidly at 5'11"... less at the end of the day. That's how we stack up. And so it goes...

Breaking out of Quarantine

I noticed that it's been more than 3 years since the last post.  My efforts to revise the blog have been lame at best.  Perhaps we can consider this break as transitional. 

So here are thumbnail updates:

• Beaner is a successful young realtor in IC, and a bride in waiting (Nov. '21)
• Peanut is wrapping up Grad School in Social Work at U. Chi. after an aborted Peace Corps. stint (China). She'll likely be placed in the Chicago School District to begin her work next fall.
• Chalupa is working remotely from various Air B&B locations (moving roughly every six weeks with her boyfriend). She works out of San Fran, and he out of Seattle.  Their currently holed up in L.A. after stints in Taos, Sedona, Leadville (CO), Victor (ID) among others.
• Big Dawg is staring down the barrel of graduation, and exploring his college prospects to include: UCSD, Berkley, Colorado, Carolina, and maybe Luther.  Considerations are to continue XC running and his music pursuits, or go right into academics... heading out towards environmental law.  So he may qualify to become a security guard for a waste treatment plant? 
• Sidetrack continues to lead our efforts to become global gourmet dog biscuit barons.  Woofables' pawprint now reaches coast-to-coast and this summer we're tripling our production/distribution capabilities. 
• As for me... since the last post, I've transitioned (professionally) twice, and am now the Managing Director for the Iowa Startup Accelerator.  Basically I oversee programming and development for a portfolio of Venture funded startup companies. 

That's the update for now, with more to follow as my dormant writing ambitions re-establish some traction in the blog-o-sphere.  

[as for the photo, never leave a can of sparkling water in your car when temps drop below zero for an extended period of time... explosive results]

On Vacation

Pictures of family and friends.

I officially declare my little sister, Julia, an embarrassing force of nature. Some (forces of Nature) are for good, some are for evil, Julia is a force of LOUD, mostly rude, but cleary delivered mayhem Nature with a lot of F BOMBS.

Illinois

Ike drove the first leg under the watchful eye of Hefner. He still managed to miss two major interchanges, but we're back on track and only 40 minutes behind schedule.

Detour?

Meanwhile Beaner, Jeffe, and Ruby are taking an alternative route for their Celoventure...via Myrtle Beach. Lucky!

New Business/New Logo

As some of you may know, we have the Woofables Bakery in Coralville, and a small retail location on the Peninsula in Iowa City. The foot traffic is a bit slow at our retail location so we're pivoting to become a local neighborhood grocery store.

So here is the World Primire of our new Logo for the neighborhood market. Check it out and let me know your thoughts. Special thanks to Sydney (Powell) Markel for taking concept to digital, and Robyn Hepker for polishing the digital for market. 

And so it goes...

Maggie's Bog from India

Here is a link to Maggie's summer blog from India.  Fascinating stuff. An amazing individual.
https://casistudentprograms.com/2017/06/14/a-working-description-on-the-interworking-of-aravind/?blogsub=confirming#subscribe-blog

And so it goes...

Professional Highlight This Week

On Tuesday I was given the opportunity to facilitate a leadership retreat for the Coaching Staff of IOWA'S Famed Wrestling Program. I've never met a leadership team more intense, more focused, and passionate about EXCELLENCE than those seven men.

The coaches are dedicated to the athletes well-being and growth... clearly the shared number one goal. Second... was Integrity. They run a clean program, want their men to be excellent people when they graduate.

I'm was honored to help, and humble by their leadership.  Go Hawks!  And so it goes. . .

Slime...A College Education

Ok, Chalupa has ventured off to India. Periodic news...we'll keep you posted.

On the homefront, we have representatives from Boston College, Luther College, and the University of Iowa. Abigail, Addy, and Leah. They're making slime.

Help me understand... they could be downtown; they could be at an intellectual film showing; they could be playing cards, a board game, or something cerebral.

Instead... they made four batches of slime. $15.  Is this what thousands of dollars of college tuition pays for? 

Econ., Social Work, and Marketing majors... and this is what we get.  Sigh... I've been slimed. And so it goes....

Move Along People... Nothing To See

Why do I feel like a hillbilly?  This is legal de-crappifying. Two days a year, the city will pick up big garbage, above and beyond, normal trash. 

It accordance to forces out of our control we always seen to forget to participate.

HA! Not this time. The Taylor have unloaded and we're feeling purged.  And so it goes...