Happy Holidays, with more crazy Christmas lights

Hoping everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

YSO / Measure 4 Measure concert rescheduled

Given the cancellation of the Dec. 16 concert due to the massive snowstorm, the concert has been rescheduled for Sunday, January 6, 2008 at 7:00 P.M. at EMU's Pease Auditorium. Tickets are available at the EMU Convocation Center website or at the door. I'll be there. I look forward to seeing you there.

Looks like restoring credibility isn't on the short list of things to do . . .

The "First 100 Days" deadline was blown. Then there was the campaign to scare people into voting for an income tax while maintaining that Water Street is not dragging us down. Then there was the landslide against an income tax, despite strong support by almost every corner of City gov't. And more recently, a magical, mystical, unanticipated surplus has appeared. Yes, a surplus of about $1.3 Million. Now, apparently, our City Manager won't be making cuts, our closely divided politicians will, and things on the table include asking residents to mow our parks. Mowing . . . cutting . . . that kind of pun may well win someone a Pulitzer. I can't wait to see all the 4-3 votes on cutting and mowing we have ahead of us. No doubt that that'll blaze a trail to Camp Credibility, staffed entirely by our current regime. Get it? Blaze a trail . . . cutting . . . mowing? It could be that the quotes were taken out of context. Hard to say. Regardless, I still think moving on Water Street and restoring credibility to City Government ought to be at the forefront of our elected officials' collective consciousnesses. Hey, but what do I know? I'm just an unfrozen caveman lawyer. Your modern ways of governing yourselves frighten and confuse me . . . .

Winter blast postpones YSO/M2M concert, I get stuck in the snow, and more . . .

The latest visit from Mother Nature has wreaked havoc on the best laid weekend plans. Meredith's dad, Jim, came up for Taran's play last night. Though he left early, the weather held him up, and he barely made it on time. After the play, the weather was so bad, he stayed the night. In the morning we were greeted by close to a foot of fresh new snow. After shoveling for while, Hannah reminded me that we have a snowblower. Frankly, given the small amount of frontage I have at my home, I haven't used the thing since I moved to Ypsi. Down into the basement I went. Lo' and behold, it was sitting in a corner. And, to make matters even better, the generator I got last time the power went out for an extended period of time uses EXACTLY the same mix as the snowblower, which means I had fuel on hand. I took it outside, hooked up the electric starter to an outlet, and . . . . it started! After plowing the neighbors' sidewalks and my own, as well as around the cars, it was time to take Taran to get ready for his first of two performances of his play. After getting out of my alley, I got stuck at the bottom of the hill on Oak Street at River. Thankfully, some neighbors helped push me out. After driving very slowly for about 10 minutes on very slippery roads, the call came in that the play was canceled. As I approached my house, I got stuck again right out in front. This time, thankfully some more neighbors came to my rescue. However, the snow was so deep, that all I could do was get to the side of the road and park my car (facing the wrong direction). So, I got the snow blower out again, cleared the alley and the road in front of my car, and then drove it into place just in time to learn that the YSO, Measure To Measure concert for tonight was canceled, too, to be reset probably right after the new year. Apparently, all of EMU is shut down for the day, and the university even canceled the commencement ceremony scheduled for today. So, we are now hanging out contemplating sledding and snowmen. Could have been worse, no?

Something to make you go "Hmmmm . . . . "

An audit of the City of Ypsilanti shows an unexpected surplus has increased the City's undesignated fund balance to $3.1 Million.

YSO concert at EMU's Pease Auditorium this Sunday at 7:00 P.M.

The Ypsilanti Symphony Orchestra is pleased to announce its upcoming Holiday Concert with men's choral group Measure for Measure this Sunday, December 16, 2007 at 7:00 P.M. Please join us for this celebration of the holiday spirit at EMU's Pease Auditorium. Tickets are available at the EMU Convocation Center website or at the door. I'll be there. I look forward to seeing you there.

Giving thanks for family, friends, and particularly ridiculous football injuries

Sorry to be so dilatory in posting. It's been a busy, and ridiculously painful couple of weeks. The girls traveled to Chicago to stay with their mother for Thanksgiving. I traveled to Cleveland with Meredith to enjoy a wonderful holiday with her family. We arrived Wednesday evening and headed straight for the Great Lakes Brewing Company (of which I have blogged before) for dinner. After that, we traveled to an Irish bar somewhere near Shaker Heights and had drinks with some of the members of Meredith's birth family (there's a long story there worthy of its own post someday -- for now I'll keep you in suspense by simply stating that Meredith was adopted as an infant and now has multiple extended families). What was quite interesting about the bar was all the people standing outside in the cold smoking. Apparently, in Ohio all the restaurants and bars are entirely smoke free. 'Twas strange to be in a bar without an iota of smoke to be found, seen nor smelled anywhere. The next morning, I was honored to receive an exclusive invitation to play in Meredith's birth-family's annual Coburn clan Turkey Bowl. By exclusive honor, I mean that pretty much anyone who is interested in playing and who actually shows up gets to play. It was snowy, muddy and slippery, but a lot of fun. I fell down a few times during the game (more on this later), and became covered from head to toe in mud by the end. For those of you wondering -- my team lost and Meredith's won. After warming up and showering, it was off to Meredith's parents' house for Thanksgiving. My parents decided to drive up as well, so the entire kit-n-caboodle was there (sans kids). So was Meredith's grandmother, Nellie. We had a wonderful meal and tried hard to watch football, but the TV was on the fritz and kept going in and out, sometimes even shutting itself off and turning itself back on spontaneously. 'Twas a tad frustrating to watch a game that way, if you ask me. As the day progressed, one of my falls from the football game began to catch up with me. After experiencing trouble getting in and out of chairs for the Thanksgiving Day meal, for example, I was prevailed upon to visit the ER, where I was poked, prodded, x-rayed, and told not to worry, the rib injury would go away in a mere four to six weeks. I was given Vicodin, a shot of Toradol (anti-inflammatory), and instructions basically to not move for several weeks. Now, I'd been told that once I turned 40, it would be all be downhill from there. I had no idea that it started right at 40, I must confess . . . When we got back, Meredith's Aunt Elaine (a/k/a Sister Elaine Schindler, H.M.) and Uncle Paul (who is a Catholic Priest) had arrived, and we hung out with them. Everybody had a good laugh (at my expense), which was probably to be expected. Next morning, after a restless night trying to sleep on only one side (which a great deal harder than you might think), we slept in, ate breakfast, and I went with Meredith's mom to buy a TV. We ended up getting a great Black Friday deal from Circuit City on a Polaroid 40" LCD HDTV. We brought it home, hooked it up, and it was spectacular! Before coming home, we traveled to Sullivan's Irish Pub on the west side of Cleveland, hung out more with Meredith's birth family, and ate some of the best darn Irish food I've ever had. The boxty with corned beef and cabbage was particularly tasty, as was the Murphy's Irish Stout on tap. Saturday, Amy and Bob invited us over for a second Thanksgiving Dinner, with turkey, stuffing and all the fixings. Quite frankly, it could not have been a better Thanksgiving weekend!