Hanging out in Grand Rapids, Michigan

I was warned before I left that Chicago O'Hare is terrible. How they mangaged to miss my one bag during a 2 hour stop in Chicago on my way to Grand Rapids, is hard to understand. Nevertheless, my stuff isnt' here. So I can have them "deliver" it to me 90 minutes away or I can just wait it out.

So I decide to hang out for a couple of hours and go check out Zondervan's headquarters.

The place is HUGE! It was so cool. I went in there and was so dumb. The lady asked if she could help me...so I say, "Yeah, my wife is one of your author's and I was in town and I just wanted to see the place where her books are going to be made." (They don't make them there. But they do store them and distribute them.)

The receptionist was so nice. She called down a lady named Joyce from the Author Care division and she gave me a tour of the whole place!

I got to see the warehouse where they have just tons and tons of books and got to see them wrapping up some books and putting tons of cases of them into a UPS truck. They had these huge conveyer sytem and everything. It was really cool.

Because Jen's books and my books are being done with YouthSpecialties, no one in Grand Rapids actually messes with our books. Everyone with YS is in San Diego or Colorado.

Got to see the offices including the history of Zondervan. Also got to see the big head honcho room, the board

room where every new release is showcased for a couple weeks for all the big wigs to see them.

Joyce said that if she knows an author is coming she makes sure to put thier stuff out there too.

Probably the coolest part was when Joyce took me to meet the contact with YS. And while he isn't working on the team yet with our books, he had seen the prospective covers and he said that everyone is really pumped about how cool they look.

It was so cool. It really is a dream come true for me to be published with YS and it is all to Jen's credit so it was fun to have her be the high light.

At the end, Joyce took me by her office and hooked me up with some free pens and paper as a thank you for Jen being in the Zondervan family.

Good times.

Now, I'm off to pick up my stupid dufflebag...

More Karaoke

Ah, I couldn't resist. Here was tonights "Set"


I think we're alone now, by Belinda Carlisle
We're not gonna take it, by Twisted Sister
The Greatest Love, by Whitney Houston
Mickey...I don't remember who it's by.

The kids have so much fun. My voice is so bad! Lots of fun.

Jen's surprise gift today

So Jen called me earlier in the day and told me that she picked me up a surprise! And after totalling my truck, I could use a pick me up. (pun not intended)

Enter: "Tunes From the 80's" 32 songs from House Party Karaoke.

I finish brushing the teeth and run down to my daughter's room and toss disk one in her karaoke machine.

I start out with "Take on Me" by A-HA.

Ciera and Noah come down and they are just cracking up!

Jen comes down and we perform Dionne Warwick's "That's what Friends are for."

We can't stop so we do the Go-go's "We got the beat."

And our kids are getting pretty wild, I'm sweating like Jack Black in School of Rock, so we decide to slow it down a bit with a religious song...How about "Faith" by George Michael.

I remember the fun organ start and then it goes into a cool pop sound. Jen and I barely got the first line out, "Oh, I thought it would be nice..." before we both made a mad dash for the stop button. I didn't recall the next line, nor did I want to start the conversation at bed time that begain with, "So dad, what does it mean when they sing, 'I thought it would be nice, if I could touch your body?'"

We ended with "Alone" by Heart which isn't much better, or quieter...especially when I'm rocking out.

The kids had fun and i forgot about the truck. so that was nice.

Tomorrow night: Twisted Sister's, "We're not gonna take it" NO!!!

I can't believe this is the city I live in...

Here's a link to the front page of the web page for the city we just moved to: Ark Valley News.

In case it gets moved...here's how the article opens...

If all you saw was the color of his skin, you may have never discovered that Jay Grayson was a cheerleading coach. That he played football in high school and college. That he was a guest instructor at the Kansas Law Enforcement Training Center. That his father was a decorated Marine.

If that’s all you saw, you may have never known Jay Grayson.Though his skin color represents a milestone in the history of the Valley Center Police Department, Grayson is more than the department’s first-ever black officer.

Dude, where the heck do I live?! When I moved out to the midwest from California, I was amazed at how white everywhere was and how much it was like stepping back in time. How, in this day and age. are people still being judged by the color of thier skin?!

Of course, my brother spent a night in jail last week where he was "encouraged" to sit where the "rest of his kind" was sitting in the holding cell. So it goes both ways...I suppose...

I didn't read anymore of the newspaper for fear of finding an announcement of a lynching or a Klansman Anonymous meeting...

R.I.P. Jesse Duke

Long story short, my brother-in-law Jay owned his own auto shop where he often acquires vehicles. He asked me one time if there was a car I was looking for. I told him a sweet truck, but not too big, not like Jesse Duke's truck, a big white ford or something.


So he calls me up and tells me he has acquired a truck for me. He drives it out in the dead of winter from California to Kansas and gives it to me. A 1977 Ford F-150 with a 460 HUGE engine in it. The truck is great! Only it gets like 5 miles to the gallon...ah, the days when gas was only $2....and my sister made sure that it had a custom toy licensce plate in the back window that read "Jesse Duke."


After consuming a ton of gas and repairing the radiator and some other stuff, I sold the giant truck. My buddy Pat was upgrading from a 1991 Nissan that he actually drove off the factory. It was truly his baby. And he gave me a GREAT price of what I paid for the other truck.


Anyway it was a great truck!!!


And today, it lies in my driveway, with a twisted metal hood.


I got into my first real accident. I've had a few fender benders before but nothing like this.


It was surreal.


Here's what happenned:


In this pic you'll see on the right side a big white building...Walgreens. There is a driveway in and out of the Walgreens parking lot.


Directly south of that driveway is another driveway for a strip mall.

I'm trying to exit from the Walgreens parking lot. I'm going to turn left and proceed south on the street.

I look left...it's clear for a while.

I look right...two vehicles...the first one is White truck. Both vehicles are heading southbound, the same direction I'm trying to go.

I look left again...still clear.

I accelerate...and hit the white truck.

I didn't see a blinker, but the white truck moved from the left lane (Five lanes with a turning lane) to the turning lane and was turning left into the driveway just south of me.

I didn't even see it. And it was all so surreal. It all happenned and I didn't even hit the brakes. I just hit him. As you can see...very little damage.

Cop gets there and reads both of our reports. He says that in his opinion it's a clear case of in attentive driving.

He asked me lots of questions about whether I was trying to dart out between cars. He didn't understand how I could cause so much damage with my little nissan just by pulling out.

I didn't have an answer at the time, but I did tell him later that I didn't even hit the brakes. It was all happening so slowly...so quickly...the only thought was that I was going to really hit this truck, this is my first real accident, I can't believe it's happening, I should hit the brakes, CRASH!

The police officer was SO great. Again, he said that I was at fault but that he wasn't going to charge me with inattentive driving because it's a $160 fine that really doesn't do anything but make the county richer. So he wrote me up for not having my proof of insurance with me!

DANG! That is so sweet.

Now I need to find another vehicle...I'm going to try to get an estimate on getting it fixed. With the vehicle dripping oil...i'm pretty hesitant.

Do I pay a couple grand to fix it up or pay a couple grand for another used truck...

Irregardless...R.I.P. Jesse Duke...