Microe Philosophy

Politicians at it again.

2007-10-10T10:57:00.000-04:00

Once again, the presidential election is turning into one big goat rodeo. Yesterday, 4 of the 7 Democratic candidates removed themselves from the Michigan Democratic Primary. They sighted the on going battle between the Michigan Democratic Committee, which moved the primary to January 15th, and the Democratic National Committee who say that New Hampshire, Iowa and South Dakota get to be first. In addition, to punish Michigan (and Florida for a similar move), they are refusing to seat Michigan Delegates at the Convention next year. What a mess!

Bottom line, Michigan has a huge unemployment rate and it's economy is in the toilet. But the money in charge doesn't seem to care what Michigan voters think. Putting states like New Hampshire and South Dakota first makes absolutely no sense when you look at from the perspective of a Michigan Unemployment line. Why should they get to eliminate candidates before others get to vote. All Democrat candidates have pledged to not campaign in Michigan. The last Democrat that was President signed NAFTA into law, which has made it easier to move automotive jobs out of Michigan. I want to hear what all candidates have to say about how they would replace these jobs! Instead, all Democratic candidates have pledged to not campaign in Michigan for the primary.

This is about money and power. Republicans have always been accused of running the government so that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Now it seems as the Democrats are operating on the same rules.

The old rules of primaries spread out over the spring was created because it was deemed to costly for candidates to run in all states at once. This is now bunk. With the money each candidate is raising it should be possible to run national primary campaigns. The solution is a to run a national primary election, all states on the same day. Of course this would make the big suck-up party, known as the national convention, to become mute. That is also about power and money...

Our political system is getting out of control. Money, more than ever, rules. And the sad part is that once again the right answer to who should be the next president, Democrat or Republican, might be "None of the Above".

Out: Sen. Barack Obama of Illinois, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, and Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio.

Still In but not Campagning: Hillary Clinton, Chris Dodd, and some guy so important he isn't even listed on the AP Wire.

Time Machine

2007-08-07T11:47:00.000-04:00

I read somewhere recently that when you feel stressed and angry you should play a game called "Time Machine". How you play is you imagine yourself a year from now and then ask yourself, will the issue that I am fretting over right now matter a year from now, or will I barely remember it if at all. If not, then it isn't worth getting worked up about.

Relax and enjoy yourself!

Blogging is tedious

2007-06-03T22:35:00.001-04:00

I have blogged off and on for quite some time now. Over a year and a half. But it can be a tedious task. You have an idea what you want to say, but actually putting the words together takes time and effort.

That is why it is important to comment on a blog when you read it. Any comment really, so that we bloggers know someone is reading our blogs. After all, why post our thoughts if nobody is listenening!

microe

Any volunteers please step forward.

2007-05-29T22:35:00.000-04:00

Question - Is it really a sacrifice if you aren't giving up something?

Somebody get a fire extingusher. Major burnout. I feel like I'm going a little crazy. If it isn't a Boy Scout event, it's a Church Youth event, or a band concert, or a middle school choir concert, or a recital or a graduation or a.............................aaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

I would really like a vacation from it all for a while. But I can't see where. Some say I'm involved in too much, maybe? It would be easy from a selfish stand point to just say the heck with some of it. I quit! You kids, get someone else to take you camping. Get someone else to teach you how to be responsible, have some compassion. I don't need to go to that concert, I've heard that song a 1000 times already! Instead I'm gonna go fishing and boating and partying with my friends......

But I don't. See there is another side to this story. Somebody has got to stand up and do it. Be responsible. Set an example. Make a difference. I can't tell you how many people with issues I've worked with over the years. Kids from patched up families, Mom and Dad divorced, bitter, arguing. Single Moms trying to get their kids (especially boys) exposed frequently with some decent adult male role models. ADHD Kids. Adults with disabilities. Or poor families just looking for a hand with dinner or a ride somewhere.

And there is this responsibility thing as a parent. Being there when they finally play in front of the big audience. When they are confirmed at church. At graduations, or the big game. Showing your interest and being proud of their accomplishments.

You just gotta step up, make that sacrifice, be responsible. And don't take this blog wrong. I enjoy doing most of it, the overwhelming majority of these things. It just that there is so much...

I see a disturbing trend. Apathy seems to be on the rise. Less and less people are finding it convenient to volunteer. It doesn't fit into their schedule. They have other plans. It makes it harder and harder for those of us who do volunteer. Fewer, trying to do more. Get a lot of drop and run if you are a volunteer working with youth. "Here are my kids, I'm off, call me when I have to pick them up!". You want to holler "HEY, they are your kids, why don't you spend time with them!" But that is the problem, they aren't and the kids are caught in the middle.

So I keep volunteering, showing up, going to that concert or recital. And it's tough when my adult friends are headed to a party or an adult get away weekend. "Wish you were going with us." they say. Yeah so do I alot of times.

I just wish that some of the organizations that I volunteer in, Boy Scouts, Church Youth Groups, etc. took time to really give there volunteer staff support. Help take care of their needs, keep them from burning out. Somebody has got to step up.... Any volunteers?

Reuben No More.

2006-11-27T00:48:00.000-05:00

Hang on tight!

2006-11-26T23:32:00.000-05:00

Hang on tight, this rollercoaster is making another loop! Holy cow, what a ride.

Yes, I have been silent for a long time. Much has happened. I've been busy and my life has been on a crazy new route. I thought about blogging about it earlier, but I wanted to be level headed. Not emotional, not bitter, not spur of the moment.

November 1st, about 9:45 am. My boss asks me if I have a minute. Sure I say. We walk down to the HR Conference Room and where we are met by the HR Director. He closes the door. He then reads off of a list of issues, some I agree with, some I don't. Says we have grown apart philosophically on how the IT group should be run (an understatement). Then he drops the bomb, says that it is time to part company. I turn, look him in the eye and say, "So you are firing me?". He looks down, doesn't say a word. The HR Director, a good friend of mine says "Yes". She is almost in tears. The meeting becomes very formal. My boss says very little from this point, he is obviously distressed. I'm stunned, but,,, but it is weird. I'm not angry. Not upset. I think I am less affected than they are. The HR Director finishes explaining the severance agreement. Basically 3 months salary. All vacation that I have coming. They will let me take some stuff from my office and come back after hours to clean it out. I can keep the laptop I have. They will even let me send out a couple of final e-mails. The meeting ends.

I return to my office where the Head of Security is waiting, another good friend. He waits while I send out the e-mails. One to Sweetpea, asking if she would like to go to lunch with her un-employed husband. One to all my personal friends to let them know to not use that e-mail any longer. I get some personal data for Boy Scouts off the computer, gather up some personal belongings and head for the door. The Head of Security helps me to my car. When I get everything loaded we shake hands. He says, "You were a good guy coming in here and you are a good guy going out." I thank him and climb in the Jeep.

On the road to Kazoo, I shut off the radio. I need to think. I feel weird. I'm not upset...... I'm not pissed. It is as if I knew this would happen. Or at least it was a kick in thpants to get me out of a situation that I was not happy with.

3 1/2 weeks have past. I have not been bitter, not been mad. It really is new territory for me. I have not been without a job since I was about 14. about 34 years. And I have been in no hurry to go get one. Don't get me wrong, I have been following a couple of leads, but I'm not panicking. No, I've been enjoying the ranks of the un-employed. Of course the severance helps! Shit why not! I've been taking some time to re-group. To get my head screwed back around straight. And have I been busy!

First there was the finishing of the bar and ceiling in the basement. And then Deer hunting season came along. Sweetpea told me that I was going to go and seriously hunt this year. So I have been. Built a couple of tree blinds with Tolerance. Hunted hard. Had some opportunity. Shot at some deer and missed. Might this be like ever other year? One of my favorite stories is "Escanaba In the Moonlight". Being a Michigan Tech Graduate, I can relate to the yooper humor. But I can also relate to the main character. Reuben, 40 something and never shot a deer. That's me 48 and never brought the venison home. Oh I've made a couple bleed over the years, one with a gun and one with a bow, but never put meat on the table.

So after watching the does dance out of range at the Lesman farm for a few days, I decided to take my Dad up on the offer of going up to Kent County and try and thin the herd that eats his shrubs all winter. Monday, the 20th I went up in the afternoon. Hunted right behind his house. Watched about 7 does run around. Then the buck came in. I got impatient and took a bad shot. The curse of Reuben again. I kicked myself for being such a fool.

The next morning I was up early and walking the log back across the creek to where I hunted the evening before. I took a little extra time to make the spot more comfortable and easier to shoot. Then I waited. First 5 does came in and left, I watched deer playing along the ridge on the edge of the field. 7 does headed down into the corner where the buck had gone the evening before. A doe and a yearling showed up. But then they spooked. Not me? I noticed deer coming out of the corner. 1,2, ..(it was close to 9am and my Dad had said he would head down to the corner and see what he could run out) .. 5, 6, 7, does,,,,, and an 8th deer. Yup it had antlers shining in the sun. I got the gun ready and told myself that I was getting the second chance on that same buck. Now be patient damn it! The were going along higher on the ridge than the night before. But they weren't looking at me. I picked out where I wanted the shot. The buck stepped into the spot. I told myself, make a good shot, Reuben. He paused, and I squeezed the trigger. The 12 gauge Magnum barked an kicked like a mule. The does scattered, the buck stood motion less. I racked in a second shell and and fired again. The buck fell over... Reuben no more!

My Dad came out of the corner. "Well?" he said. "He's on the ridge, didn't even run" I replied. He helped me dress him and carry him across the creek. A 5 point. I called Sweetpea to make sure she knew that she wasn't married to Reuben.

I loaded him in the Jeep and headed to Paw Paw. Got him hung in the garage and headed off to help Tolerence roof R.J. Baker's house. That's my latest job. Roofer's helper. I kind of like it for now. Work outside, physical labor. Swing a hammer. I've got a tool pouch, hooking up some lights, doing electrical work.

The rollercoaster is on another hill.

I don't know what to think sometime. I tell people I'm retired, but I might come out of retirement. The deer hunting thing and finally getting a buck, I don't know. Maybe some kind of omen. Getting terminated, not having a job. I sure am busy! I've done some brief computer work. Life is changing. My Dad said to me that life has ups and downs, yeah I knew that. But what he said was that sometimes you have financial stability and sometimes it seems to disappear. And then it just jumps back in, maybe even better than before. So don't worry about the down time.

I'm not worrying. For the first time in my life I have some down time. My only complaint is that I lost my job and put my boat away on the same day. Well the timing could be better. But then again I wouldn't be shopping for freezers to put venison in. And at Thanksgiving, I have tons to be thankful for. First and foremost, Sweetpea. What a great wife. My kids. My health, with all the weight loss has gotten much better. I've had a pretty good November!

I'm going to hang out my consulting/computer services shingle. Work as a roofer's helper and take some odd jobs. But tomorrow the roofer has an appointment in the morning and I have a doe tag to fill, so back to the deer blind! I could get used to this life. At least until Sweetpea starts calling me Ace......

A philosophical Moment - A break from politics

2006-10-27T14:26:00.000-04:00

Discipline - Having the fortitude to do something you don't like because it is the right thing to do.

Sacrifice - Giving up something you like to do so that you have time to do something right.

Parenthood - Making the sacrifice to have the discipline to do the right thing, finding out you enjoy doing it anyway and are proud you did in the end when the end result turns out OK.

It's harder than it sounds!

I hate being disciplined about life. I hate having to sacrifice. But I enjoy parenthood? Something keeps driving me. My schedule is often chaotic. I feel at times I have lost control. But I pull on my boots and keep on trudging. The odd thing is that I find that some of the things I thought I was sacrificing, I really didn't want to do in the first place. Learning to let go and enjoy the ride. Being content with what is instead of what might of been. Life is strange.

Ok that is out of my system, back to the fast lane.

2 more picks, US and Michigan House races

2006-10-24T09:47:00.000-04:00

I’ve decided on two more candidates. These were a little less work than the Governor’s race and I wanted to get them out of the way.

US House of Representatives – Michigan 6th District

Last Monday, October 16, Sweetpea, 10-8-ious and myself went down to Berrien Springs to see the major candidates for this office debate. I had never been at a live debate and it was informative, along with entertaining. There were three candidates at the debate, incumbent Republican – Fred Upton, challenger Democrat Kim Clark and challenger Libertarian Ken Howe. First up Ken Howe.

Being a Libertarian, Howe put for the standard party line about getting big government off peoples back, less or no taxes, etc. But it was about the second or third question he really went off the deep end. The question was with regard to global warming, what the candidates position is and how the would influence congress on the subject. Mr. Howe’s answer stated that he did not believe there was such a thing as global warming. He then launched into an analysis regarding lake-effect snow and how man had nothing to do with that. Further on his answers to many questions pertaining to situations like prescription drug assistance, and jobs were pretty pat. We should have no government interference and let free market rule. Everyone is responsible for themselves and well if they can’t make it, tough. Sorry, too far out there to get my vote.

Next challenger Kim Clark. A respectable showing I must say. He had some good ideas and is obviously not a Washington insider. I liked the guy. However he did fumble on a couple of questions with not having up to date facts. In one instance he went after Fred for not passing a bill that clears a radio frequency range for Emergency First Responder use. However this bill has been passed and signed. It has a slow implementation because it is going to obsolete a lot of old TV tuners out there that most people don’t realize. Also, he is for eliminating all ear marks on bills. This is a noble cause, but highly unlikely no matter what Party controls the House. Also, spent a lot of time telling us what Fred did or didn’t do. I would have liked to know more of what he was going to do. I still liked his spirit.

Incumbent Fred Upton has been around for 20 years. A polished congressman, and a decent debater. Very professional and courteous, managed to keep from even smirking at Howe in his most far reaching moments. I think Fred has done a good job in Washington. He is on the Energy and Commerce Committee in the House and is on the several of the sub-committees including Health and Commerce, Trade and Consumer Protection. On ear marks, Fred supports elimination of anonymous earmarks and earmarks after debate is closed. Fred has used earmarks to bring money back to the State of Michigan, including a couple of Fed funded Freeway Projects, dredging of St. Joe’s harbors and expansion of the K’zoo airport. He authored the law on the First Responder radio frequency changes and on changes to increase competition on cable, phone and internet providers. He is for a line item veto for the president, and balancing the budget. He has been a major voice in DC about internet reform to cut down on spam and catch sex predators. He is involved in a lot of Bi-Partisan proposals, which tells me he can work to do the right thing verse just vote the party line. I like Fred and yes I will be voting for him. I think he does a good job representing his constituents and his seniority in the House is nothing to sneeze at. Fred it is.

On last note on this race, I was pleased to see a decent choice at this level. While I think Upton will be better for Southwest Michigan than Kim Clark, Kim Clark is a decent challenger, and we need choices. Also I think going to the debate (which was not televised) helped a lot and would encourage everyone to go.

Michigan State House of Representatives – 80th District

This is an odd race, but an easy call for me. Two candidates, incumbent Republican Tonya Schuitmaker and challenger Democrat Jessie Olsen.

A review of Jessie Olsen’s web site is the first indictation of her priorities. Number one issue on her issues list is a “Drug Court” for Van Buren county. I think this is a non-issue because VBC has done a good job in dealing with drug problems especially Meth. VBC at one time was the capital for Meth production in Michigan. It is no longer and that is do to an overall assault from our enforcement teams, through the courts to our jails. No Jessie, the number one issue in Van Buren County is JOBS.

Number 1 at the state level is Gun Control??? Jessie is a Democrat against Gun Control and talks about wearing side arms in public, unconcealed, but she hates the NRA. Sorry Jessie, again the number 1 Michigan issue is JOBS. Number 2 for the state is Repeal of Michigan's Driver Responsibility Law. OK this is a good issue and one I support. However I disagree with the rank. Number 2 in Michigan should be Education, K-16 and beyond. Other issues are on her website, http://www.votejessie.org/.

A look at her blog site, http://www.votejessie.blogspot.com/, provides a further glimpse. Quite radical thoughts. Oh some of the issues are good ones such as the use torture in the war on terror. But it really comes from off the wall. It is not what is said, but how it is said that gets disturbing. She also seems to be concentrating on the Federal Government and Bush Administration. Very little on the State of Michigan and the woes at home. My blog has more State specific issues than hers. She is running for a State seat and not the US Congress. Hey Jessie, what about Michigan?

On final thing about Jessie, she is an attorney. Sweetpea had a chance to see her in action as a defense attorney on a drug/murder trial. Sweetpea was on the jury. Another friend of mine, a detective with the VBC Sheriff’s department, has also witnessed her many times in court. Both say the same thing. Jessie is way off the deep end. Court antics are quite un-believable and often border line un-professional. Not the kind of person I want representing me in Lansing.

I’ll be voting for Tonya Schuitmaker. Oh, Tonya has a few issues. Most glaring is voting for the repeal of the SBT… Tends to vote too much with the party line. But I figure it is my job and every other constituent’s job to let her know where she has messed up, and I will. I figure I’ll get more of an ear from Tonya than from Jessie.

Too bad this race doesn’t have a better choice. I might have voted for a challenger that had his or her act together, as I think the incumbent has not done a great job.

My picks so far.

Governor – Jennifer Granholm
US House, Michigan 6th District – Fred Upton
Michigan House, 80th District – Tonya Schuitmaker

3 down, 2 more to go. State Senate and US Senate. Having trouble with these. Need to do more research.

Picking a Governor is hard work!

2006-10-14T00:30:00.000-04:00

Friday the 13th.. October 13th that is and one might suspect that I would be blogging about bad luck and Halloween and maybe Jason and such. Nah, what fun would that be. I’ve found other goblins. Let’s talk politics.

The election is only 25 days away and the campaign hype is reaching a fever pitch. TV and radio ads bombard us and it has gone quite negative in some cases. Expect it to get worse. But if you try to pick a candidate by their advertisements, you are going to have a tough time. Voting along party lines, for or against based on party alone is such a cop out. Oh I’ve done it in the past, but this mid-term means a lot in Michigan with the economy the way it is. In my last blog I researched quite heavily and found what I believe to be a good explanation of why the state is in the shape it is in and what needs to be done to turn it around, long term. Since then I have taken a hard look at the gubernatorial candidates and their economic plans. And here is what I found.

First let me preface this with a fact about myself. I am a registered Republican voter. I have voted Republican pretty much for most of my life, with an occasional deviation. I voted against Granholm the last time. And yes I admit, I voted for “W” instead of Kerry in 2004. Massachusetts Democrats just make me cringe when they step to the podium and a Democrat is a Democrat. So keep that in mind as you read on.

First let’s look at each candidates plan, there are 5 candidates for governor by the way. I evaluated them against the information I found discussed in the last blog. In summary:

Problem: Michigan’s economy is drowning because of our over dependence in basic manufacturing, particularly automotive manufacturing. We can no longer compete in these low knowledge areas because of the Flat World and low labor rates in other countries.

Solution: Shift Michigan’s job base towards high knowledge, high pay jobs such as information, financial/insurance, professional/technical services, education, health care, bio-medical technologies and management of companies. The key to this is having a highly educated work force. Taxes are somewhat of a non-issue, we are competitive in total tax burden. It is availability of talent that drives growth.

Keys to get there:

A top notch well funded education system. K-16 and beyond.
Attract and retain top talent, this requires a welcoming environment and good infrastructure. Attractive, safe vibrant communities.
Shift focus, priority and money away from trying save those jobs we can’t be competitive into attracting replacements in high pay/high knowledge jobs.
Find effective ways at retraining our current work force to thrive in the future.

Let’s look at the three alternative choices before we look at the major party candidates.

Green Party Candidate, Doug Campbell. Mr Campbell doesn’t have a major economic plan, though he does outline his stance in his platform statement on his web site. Interestingly, his top platform priority is world peace through recalling Michigan’s National Guard from the Middle East, and state divestiture in Palestine and Tibet. Number 2 in priority is Jobs. Main points here are Michigan creating it’s own currency to replace the dollar and setting up state import/export taxes for things entering and leaving Michigan. At this point I stopped, cause this is way out there and well won’t work.

Libertarian Candidate, Gregory Creswell. Has no economic plan or platform statement. Is running cause both DeVos and Granholm oppose the Equal rights ballot proposal and he is for it. I’m not kidding, see his website. And oh yeah, DeVos is soft on tax reform.

US Tax Payers Party Candidate - Mr. Bhagwan Dashairya. No Plan, No Platform, No Experience, not much information on his website other than Biographical.

No winners in the alternatives.

Next the Republican challenger, Dick DeVos. DeVos’s is entitled the Michigan Turn Around Plan. The pre-amble contains a lot of campaign rhetoric. It talks about leadership and pushes the DeVos reason for the state’s problems, lack of leadership and taxes. There is some stats and a discussion about the states strengths. A couple of pages make the case for how his experience leading Amway qualifies him to lead the state. I find this somewhat of a distortion. He levels all the blame on the current governor. Not surprising since he is running against her, but what about the Republican controlled State House and Senate? What about the previous Governor? What about our US Congressional Representation?

The body has four main missions, each of these is further broken down into a total of 18 “Jobs”. Here is my summary of these jobs:

Mission 1 - Create a Job Climate Second to None

Job 1 – Create a Pro-Jobs Tax Structure. Here is the crux of this plan. Tax Cuts. The message is business taxes in Michigan are too high and un-fair. The main culprit the Single Business Tax. I should note the plan was written before the action to put a stake in the heart of the SBT. But it hadn’t been updated when I printed it. But the message he is putting forth is clear the reason that we cannot compete with the world in Manufacturing is our taxes are too high. A couple of note worthy items here. First when talking about taxes he only talks about Business Taxes, not total tax burden which also includes personal income tax, sales taxes and property taxes. Second there is no mention of foreign labor rates and the global market. Third, and this is the biggy… Nowhere does it detail what he would replace that $1.8 Billion with. He finishes this job with the statement that he will not raise taxes. This goes against what my research told me. Taxes is not the issue.
Job2 – Give Small Business a Chance to Succeed and Provide Jobs. I found this job to be a lot of repeat and rhetoric or what I call “fluff”. And the SBT is mentioned again.
Job 3 –Improve Education: Give Our Kids the Skills They Need. Talks about more money for schools. Enhancing programs for those who are not going to college. College Tuition will go down. Ok so here is where I start to quickly question the viability of this plan. Job 1 slashes taxes and Job 3 spends more on schools? And tuition is going down? And we are going to spend more money on to enhance programs for non-college bound students, low knowledge workers?
Job 4 – Making Health Care More Affordable Means Jobs. The message here is that Michigan’s Health Care Costs are driving people away. No comparison here with who we are higher than. I suspect the truth is that we are not that far out of line with the rest of the US. However, unless we want third world country health care it will be hard to lower them to the point we are competitive with China….
Job 5- Protect and Promote Michigan’s Environment – Fluff.
Job 6 – A comprehensive Energy Policy to Move Michigan Forward. Here he says that Michigan’s Electric Costs are too high, not sure why? Suggests we move towards more alternative fuels (aren’t we already doing that). Talks about more Federal aid money. Isn’t that kind of the job of our representation on the US House and Senate?
Job 7 – Build a Transportation System that Encourages Job Growth – Yawn.

Mission 2 - Overhaul State Government

Job 8 – The Governor’s Job is Jobs. He is going to overhaul the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. Mentions Tax Credits for companies.
Job 9 Force Government to Help Job Makers. Fluff with a sob story about Freddy Meijer not getting his name on a bike trail.
Job 10 – Give Michigan Workers the Tools they Need – Jobs training here. Spending more money.
Job 11 – Reduce the Size and Cost of Government. No mention of what services get axed, though he will reduce..

Mission 3 - Diversify our Economy

Job 12 – Provide our Kids the Opportunity to Stay in Michigan – Fluff
Job 13 – Cultivate Michigan’s Entrepreneurial Spirit – SBT again, Tax Exemptions, and fixing the Michigan Venture Fund?
Job 14 – Support Michigan Agriculture – Tax Cuts for Farms. Are farmers in trouble? Ok so here is some campaign rhetoric that needs to be flushed out of the bushes and shot. Most productive farms are now owned by large corporations, with massive feed operations and millions in equipment, NOT Mom and Pop Green Acres, one tractor and a good dog operations. I’m not sure that we need tax breaks for the corporations, but maybe some environmental controls that stop manure injection that stinks up the country side and pollutes our lakes, streams and ground water.
Job 15 – Revive Michigan’s Tourism Industry. The current Governor killed state tourism! Or was it high gas prices?

Mission 4 - Conquer the International Marketplace

Job 16 – Fight for Michigan Jobs All Over the World – Fluff
Job 17 – Demand Fair Trade – Fluff
Job 18 – Get Better Results from the Federal Government – Fluff

Yes it was long and repetitive. It made me sleepy, but most of all I was disappointed. Here is how I summarize it: You kill the SBT, and lower taxes. Then you can increase funding in education, jobs training, roads and tourism. Dick with all his business experience will have the manufacturing plants rolling back into town and we don’t need concrete plans to at least hold revenues at their current level.

The SBT is on its way out, Dick and the boys killed it, and I don’t yet see the stampede.

Last the incumbent, Jennifer Granholm’s plan, titled “Jobs Today, Jobs Tomorrow”. This plan is not new, but is the plan the Governor put in place this year. The pre-amble talks about the problems Michigan faces with it’s dependence on Automotive Manufacturing. It also says this has been building for a long time. This is right along the lines with my research. In addition it points out that NAFTA and CAFTA has accelerated this, opening the door wider to low wage paying countries like Mexico and China. She also points to an inherited 4 billion dollar state budget deficit when she took office.

The next section outlines the plan which has seven major thrusts.

Create Jobs Today. This program is in place today as such. It provides $4 Billion Dollars into infrastructure improvements in the state, homes and pollution cleanup. A direct result of this can be seen locally in the freeway construction on I-94, the US 131/I-94 Interchange project, all the orange barrels and the Oshtemo Township Supersite Pollution Cleanup to name a few. These projects state wide have put a lot of people to work, and are creating a better communities to attract more talent.

Diversify the Economy. Jobs Tomorrow puts forth $2 billion to target growth in four industries: alternative energy, life sciences, advanced manufacturing and homeland security. It also talks about attracting knowledge based industries. Again you can see examples of this in the Google announcement to go to Ann Arbor and the acceleration of alternative fuel plants such as the Bio-Diesel plant in Bangor.

Michigan Opportunity Partnership – This is also a current program to place people in new jobs when the lose their job due to plant closings. Includes retraining.

Prepare all Students for Success. During her first term formed the Cherry Commission which created and got passed bill to raise K-12 education standards and curriculum. Proposes a $4000 Scholarship for every Michigan College Student. She agrees that talent attracts the High Knowledge, High Wage Jobs.

Making Health Care Affordable – Some Fluff

Continuously Improve Business Climate. She proposed an Alternative to the SBT which was rejected. Said she would veto any bill that eliminated the SBT unless it contained a replacement to generate the same revenue. The State House and Senate (with DeVos’s backing) did an end around and killed it anyway. Talks about streamlining government and how Michigan was selected as most e-friendly state government in 2005.

Protect the Quality of Life – Fluff

The next sections contain some repeat and more detail on the same subjects, most information a repeat.

An easier read than the DeVos Plan. Not nearly as negative. I summarize it as: The problem is stated fairly clearly, and my research agrees with the assessment she has put forth, that we need to break our dependence on Low Knowledge based Manufacturing, particularly automotive manufacturing. You do this by creating a talent base and climate that is attractive to those types of business. You can see evidence of this plan taking hold all over. Taxes are not the problem our diversity and talent base are.

Ok so now that we know the plans, eliminated the alternative parties from the running, I will look at the debates, which give us in sight into each candidate’s character. I know we still have one to go, but I expect it to be much of a repeat. Besides it will be in that stupid town hall format which allows people to waste time on irrelevant questions.

Debate # 1 on WKAR Public TV from MSU in Lansing. This was one of the most entertaining debates I have ever seen. And a lot had to do with the format. There were no opening statements, just two guys firing questions and they wasted no time getting to the meat. My take:

Granholm – Good debater, knew her stuff. Knew her plan and stuck to it’s primary points. Gave concrete examples. Talked about a “Michigan Promise” like the Kalamazoo Promise to fund higher education. Up beat. Concrete proposals in programs.

DeVos – Poor Debater. Very Negative. Harped on the SBT and Taxes. Said he had a plan to replace the SBT but failed to detail it. Spent most of the night trashing Granholm but never elaborated on any details about what he would do differently.

Negative Spin, both had it. Granholm stuck to her guns on the facts about Amway building in China at the same time they were cutting jobs in Michigan. DeVos fumbled this. Granholm dropped a big bomb about a DeVos nursing home investment that had some sexual misconduct issues. May have been a low blow, but executed to perfection. Score one knockout for the incumbent.

Second debate – Wood TV in Grand Rapids. DeVos’s home turf, Susan Geha moderating. Traditional debate style. Toned down, less meat, more fluff. It seemed such a repeat that I only watched about half of it and compared to the Lansing "free for all", this was boring. (And the Tigers were on) What I took away was DeVos going more and more negative. Granholm backed away a little from the negative spins, rather pushing her successes. I think this was planned after the knock-out last time. DeVos was refuting the nursing home stuff and grasping for a counter. Again, he said he had a plan to replace the SBT, but no details. He also pushed his position against Embryonic Stem Cell Research also, Granholm is for it. ( I bring this point out because if we want to attract research in life sciences, we need to be more open in areas like Stem Cell research. The religious right meddling in research won't attract many businesses). Tigers won!

This week they both gave speeches at the Detroit Economic Club, though no debate. A couple of bombs. Granholm spoke first and there were no headline revelations, she held to her previous platform. DeVos opened his speech by accusing Granholm of mismanaging Child Protective Services in the state (which he has done before) and then read the names of children murdered in their homes in the last four years. It was an obvious retaliation to the nursing home low blow, but this was off the chart in bad taste. Second, he proposed eliminating the personal property tax for small businesses…..More tax cuts.

So I have made up my mind and if you are still reading this you probably can guess. For the first time in my life I will vote for a (gulp, swallow hard), Democrat for Governor. I think Granholm understands the problem we face better and has a good plan already in place to start the turn around. If she has one bad habit, it is trying to put a time line on the turn around, it took us over a decade to get where we are it will be hard to turn it around let alone over night. I’ll bet she is regretting the “in 5 years you’ll be blown away statement”. I appreciate the enthusiasm and upbeat demeaner though.

DeVos is disappointing. Taxes aren’t the problem, though I suspect that with his personal wealth they cut him to the core. The state isn’t Amway and can’t be fixed the same, simply because you can’t cut work force from the state population. They just come back to haunt you in the un-employment line. Also, he seems more and more mean. We don’t need the negativity.

So Granholm it is, let’s give Jenny four more years.

Now I’ve got to figure out who to vote for in State House, State Senate, US Senate, US House…… And only 25 days to go. Stay tuned.

Ding Dong the Witch is Dead

2006-09-22T00:16:00.000-04:00

Ding dong the witch is dead, the wicked witch, the mean ole witch, ding dong the Single Business Tax is dead! Stand back people, don’t get trampled by the rush of companies trying to setup shop in good ole Michigan now that the SBT is dead. And if you believe that, can I interest you in a bridge?

Many, many people would have you believe that the SBT and other “taxes” are the biggest reason we have lost jobs in this state and our economy is in the dumper. Fact of the matter is, without shutting down the SBT, we ranked 26th in the country total tax burden. But we ranked 48th in economic growth. States like Minnesota, Massachusetts, rank much higher in taxes, 6th and 7th respectively but their economies are booming, ranked 1st and 7th respectively. While we in Michigan have pursued a political agenda of cutting taxes since 2000, our economy has gone into the toilet?! What gives?

The world changed over the last two decades, that is what happened, and Michigan and it’s attitudes failed to keep up. Michigan prides itself on being the Automotive Capital of the world, specifically the Automotive Manufacturing Capital. But we can no longer compete. Not because of anything we in Michigan have done. It is the rest of the world. Anyone can build cars.

The automobiles that America drives are made all over the world. Japan, Mexico, Korea and soon China. The quality is as good as American, after all, in most cases we taught them how to build quality in. And they are doing it with labor rates that are 10% or less of what we pay in the US, little or no benefits, retirement packages and lower overall costs with respect to regulations and taxes. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman has labeled this new era the “flat world.” A flat world because anything can be made virtually anywhere and manufacturing goes to the lowest bidder. We don’t want to be the low bidder. The only way we can compete with this long term is to slash or standard of living, compromise our environment and abandon our proud consumer economy. That is something we won’t do, nor should we.

Just take a look at the recent announcements at Ford. They are indicative of Michigan’s economic problems. Many Michiganders will lose their job and we will see another decline in our economy as a result. Michigan has lost 240,000 manufacturing jobs in the last 6 years, that is staggering. And we stand to lose even more.

So how do we change? How do we stop the lose of manufacturing jobs? Hold it right there…. As I said above, we cannot compete on the world market in automotive manufacturing or most standard manufacturing for that matter. So the first thing we have to do is quit wasting resources on trying to save manufacturing. Now I’m not talking about shutting down what we have or not trying to preserve what we have to a reasonable point, that would be stupid. But we spend a tremendous amount of money and effort trying to replace manufacturing jobs with more manufacturing job. And that is crazy.

We need to take a new attitude, one that comes to grips with the fact that the hay-day of manufacturing in Michigan is past. We are going to continue to see reductions in manufacturing jobs to the point it becomes a minor part of our economy, just like it has in the most prosperous states in the country. Then we need to start looking at how do we replace manufacturing as the driving force in our state economy. But with what?

America and Michigan with its high standard of living can’t compete in simple manufacturing in a Flat World. As is stated in their recent report, A New Agenda for a New Michigan, Michigan Future Inc. states, “The flat world is restructuring economic possibilities across the globe. In advanced economies, like the United States, work—particularly higher wage jobs—increasingly involves knowledge, creativity, and innovation. Many routine/repetitive functions can be done by machines or lower-wage workers in developing countries.” So to turn Michigan’s economy around we need to shift from manufacturing jobs to “Knowledge Worker” jobs. These jobs include information, financial/insurance, professional/technical services, education, health care, bio-medical technologies and management of companies. This is what the most prosperous states are doing. And these jobs take a highly educated work force.

If we look at growth of per capita income, how much is each person earns, and the growth of that income from 1993 – 2005 we find that Michigan is 45th in the country with growth 5.29% less than the US Average. Who is on top? Massachusetts with 13.89% above the US average. Colorado is at 10% above and a neighbor Great Lakes State, Minnesota is at 10.7% above. These states are high in knowledge based jobs and a highly educated work force. Minnesota finds 23.5% of its jobs come from high education industries, Colorado, 25.5%, Massachusetts.. 28.58%! Michigan on the other hand finds only 18.9% of its jobs from a highly educated work force. Less than 25% of Michiganders have college degree. Minnesota 29.7% with degrees, Colorado, 33.7%, and Mass…… 37.4%. The national average is 27%.

In Michigan, we have 2 of the top major universities in the country and a third top 10 engineering school. Yet we are number 3 in the country for the number of degreed professionals leaving our state. Only Ohio and Pennsylvania see more. And it is no wonder, we pay on average $7000 more to a non-degreed manufacturing worker than we pay a degreed knowledge worker. The national average pays the knowledge worker $14000 more. We are driving our greatest assets out of the state.

And it’s not taxes that are the problem. Massachusetts pays $585 per person more than the national average in state and local taxes. Minnesota pays $532 more than the average. Michigan pays $61 less than the national average. The SBT? Well a close look at the SBT will show you that the businesses most affected by the SBT are small manufacturing businesses with large amounts of capital. Not knowledge based businesses. So in all reality, if these taxes could be 0 and we still couldn’t save manufacturing in the long term. Anyone that believes the elimination of the SBT tax will spur all this new investment in manufacturing in Michigan is fooling themselves. Manufacturing is headed to Mexico, China, Korea and India, tax change or not.

But eliminating the SBT has done one thing significant. It has set us up for a $ 1.8 billion dollar short fall in our state budget in 2007. Coupled with huge job loses looming at Ford, 2007 is prepped to be the worst yet. And where will that $1,800,000,000 come from? Our education systems which are already woefully underfunded. From state research grants, new business initiatives to draw other companies like Google to the state. And from our infrastructure that maintains roads and parks and a communities that make Michigan a desirable place from a highly educated work force to live in. We haven’t shot ourselves in the foot, we have put the gun in our mouth and the hammer is headed for the firing pin.

So what do we do? First we need talent. In a recent speech to the National Conference of State Legislatures, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said, “The industries that I think about the most, information technology and biological industries, they are far more sensitive to the quality of talent in a location than they are to the tax policies. If you say, okay, where in the United States did jobs around information technology grow up disproportionately, well, California would be number one, and not because they have the most friendly tax policies compared to other states. This state [Washington] would be strong, Microsoft distorted that a little bit, but again it wasn’t based on any particular tax policy. And so those things, you can go overboard on those things.”

State and local taxes do not drive growth, availability of talent does, as Gates goes on to say, “... take the two big leading industries, industries around biology and medicine, that's one, and industries around computer technology, that's two. The job creation and the success for those industries have been overwhelmingly in the locations where there is a great university. There's an almost perfect correlation between the number of jobs in a region and the strength of the universities. And, that will continue, whether it's new fields like nanotechnology, or those two fields I mentioned, on the ongoing strength that they'll have. And so for this country, we have to have the best universities. We're in very good shape on those. The top 30 or so in the world, we'd be over 25 of those. And, it's very impressive that although a number of those are private universities, almost half of those would be state universities as well. So, it's a phenomenal system. In fact, if you think of numbers, the state system turns out more world-class graduates than the private system. So, it's incredible how that's worked. And legislators have decisions to make about the level of investment that is made there, and really thinking through what the follow-on benefits for them are in terms of not only the country, but also their state as well.”

We need talent, home-grown talent. We need to fund our universities and K-12 education. K-12 education should emphasize knowledge based careers. We need to revamp university financial aid so that everyone can get a degree, everyone regardless of economic stature. And we need to draw the brightest and the best from everywhere in the world to Michigan’s schools and keep them here after they graduate. Think if the Kalamazoo Promise was the Michigan Promise and covered the whole state and the stipulation was that you got the money only if you stayed in Michigan for 5 years after you graduate. That is kind of what Michigan Future Inc. proposes. Now that would generate talent. We need to make sure our infrastructure and communities are attractive places to live. This will need money. And thus a replacement for the SBT’s $1.8 billion needs to be a number one priority.

We need to retrain our manufacturing work force. This is means that state government and labor must put in place strategic opportunities and funding for this to happen before we have more plant closings. And it means our manufacturing work force needs to see the writing on the wall and take advantage of these opportunities before they are standing in the un-employment line.

We need to fund in state research. We need to foster initiative and actively court those high education/high paying jobs. Leave the Toyota engine plant to Indiana. What Michigan wants is the Toyota North American Headquarters. The Knowledge Worker jobs. The Googles, the nano-techs, the bio-meds. We need to understand and embrace the “Flat World” so that we can excel in it.

And we need new leadership. So that is my next task. To look at the candidates for office this fall and really evaluate them against what we really need to do. Who’s plan is the most compatible. Who is spewing the same old rhetoric. And I put my thoughts in this blog. Stay tuned. Microe

Footnote: I did a lot of research into this blog, and could have wrote 5 times as much. A lot of the information and statistics came from sources online but the most came from three places, Michigan Future Inc.’s website http://www.michiganfuture.org/, Tim Walsh’s columns in the Detroit Free Press and articles I found on http://www.mitaxtruth.com/, like Rick Haglund’s article from Mlive.com. If you would like to learn more please see these sources as they deserve the credit for this information, I’m just a messenger. I think everyone should read “A New Agenda for a New Michigan” by Michigan Future Inc. They have done a great job in putting this all together and backing it up with great stats and looking at what matters. My hat’s off to Lou Glazer and their staff.

Boat Blogs and Garage Doors - Act II

2006-09-11T13:20:00.000-04:00

Boat time has been pretty scarce lately. About one afternoon in the last 3 or 4 weeks. No overnighters. No boat blog time. And it isn't looking good the next couple of weeks either. I'm getting bummed. Planned on going yesterday, but rain and wind kept us away.

So I stayed home yesterday and fixed the garage door. After much planning and scheming I took things apart yesterday and came up with a strategy. Re-enforce the top panel, put bolts through the door where there were hings, straighten and re-align the track. Off to Menards - then Lowes for parts. 10 pm the garage door went up once again, powered by the door opener. So far I have gotten by with about $25 in parts. Going to spend about $15 on another brace for the top panel. So considering the shape it was in that fateful night in June, I feel lucky. Oh, it needs to be replaced, but it will do until we can put the funds in place for a replacement.

Now if I can just find some time for the boat.

And the verdict is...........

2006-09-06T16:22:00.000-04:00

A federal judge in Michigan has thrown out conspiracy and money laundering charges against the Othman brothers and Muhareb who originally were accused of planning terrorism. Federal Magistrate Charles Binder in Bay City ruled yesterday that there was too little evidence to try the men.

Is McCarthyism Back?

2006-08-18T16:59:00.000-04:00

I’m glad that by the graces of random events , I have white skin, I’m of Irish/German decent not Pakistani or Afghan or Indian. And I’m glad my parents didn’t name me Louai, Adham, or Maruan. I’m glad because, I have pictures of the Mackinaw Bridge and I don’t want to be arrested as a terrorist! That is exactly what happened to Louai A. Othman, 23, Adham A. Othman, 21, and Maruan A. Muhareb, 18 in Caro, Michigan recently.

An overzealous prosecutor, a rented van full of new cell phones, a couple of recent pictures of the mighty Mac and three guys with middle eastern decendents and dark skin. Put’em all together and we got ourselves a real bonified terror lot here boys, sure to make the national news, why the town of Caro will be famous for their contribution to King George’s war on terror…….. Give me a break. What were the local Prosecutor and Police smoking?

Let’s take a look, real close at what we have here before we go call Heraldo. First a clerk at WalMart calls the police because these suspicious looking characters just bought 80 TracPhones and paid cash. If these were three little old Irish ladies from Flint does she still make the call? After all there is nothing illegal with purchasing TracPhones, even 80 of them, hell they might be sending them to a mission on Kentucky? But the media and King George’s warriors have her all a twitter so she call’s the boys in blue.

The police show-up and whoa! These guys don’t just have 80 phones, they got about a 1000! Ok now that is suspicious. Say boys what are you doing with 1000 pre-paid cell phones? Their story is they are buying them up at WalMarts across the northern Midwest, Wisconsin, Michigan for $20 a pop. We can sell them in Texas or California for about $38 a phone. That’s $18000 profit!!!! Sign the MicroeMan up for some of that coin….. They can’t buy them in one place cause WalMart limits quantities purchased. They even tell the Caro police that they have been checked out by law enforcement before and, And, AND the FBI and they are doing nothing illegal.

The cops say it sounds suspicious and they gotta check out the story before they let them go. Hmm a laptop and a digital camera. Pictures of the mighty Mac Bridge! Hey didn’t that guy in Ohio say cell phones can be used as bomb triggers? Like anyone from Michigan trusts anyone from Ohio since Woody Hayes….. These guys gotta be terrorists! Call a press conference. So let’s look at the evidence that got them to this conclusion.

We already have talked about the 1000 cell phones for profit. By the way, WalMart, that started this mess, limited quantities purchased to 80 phones, but I’ll bet that they didn’t bother to tell anyone that if you BOUGHT 80 they were calling Barney Fife and the gang. Wonder what the cut off for making the call is? 38? 22? 4?

Pictures of the Mackinaw Bridge. It later comes out that these are tourist type pictures displaying the bridge in all its grandeur, just like most Michiganders have taken if you have been to the Straits. Not terrorist photos, close ups of the towers, cable anchor points, possible charge locations. Besides, why would a terrorist bother with taking his own pictures. Just drop by a book store in St. Ignace or Mackinaw City and you can buy a book detailing everything you ever wanted to know about the bridge, including all the technical details.

But Cell Phones can be used as detonators? Say What? Ever see Myth-Busters on the Discovery Channel? They did a show a while back in which they tested the myth that cell phones used while pumping gas could blow up the gas station and make it look like a scene from the Terminator. Myth Busted. They couldn’t do it, no matter how concentrated they made the gasoline vapors. So to use a cell phone as a detonator, you would have to modify it substantially. And nobody has said why they needed 1000? If you were going to do this wouldn’t you keep the numbers down just to what you needed so as not to draw attention to yourself from suspicious WalMart clerks?

The prosecutor says during questioning they were uncooperative with the police. They said they wanted their attorney present. Folks it’s called Miranda Rights! The FBI says they know about these guys, they aren’t terrorists. Heraldo the vault is empty.

So there we have it. The 2006 version of the paranoia named after Conservative Senator Joesph McCarthy. In the 60’s it was the Commie Pinko Spies (just vote for the wrong candidate and you are on the list). Now it is terrorists from the MiddleEast. And they are at a WalMart near you, just check out the electronics aisle.

Postscript: The Caro prosecutor has finally dropped charges, though to save face the Feds are putting forth money laundering charges…stay tuned. We have done this time and time again. Every ethnic immigrant to show up on Elise Island was subject to ethnic profiling, suspicion and discriminiation Italians, Germans, Irish. We interned Japanese/Americans in WWII. We distrust Latin immigrants that work the fields and pick our food. When will we ever learn….

Muddy Water

2006-07-19T00:18:00.000-04:00

The river looks like chocolate milk. The storms that went through last night caused quite a stir. Trees down on my way to work this morning in Allegan. A tree on a house in Hudsonville. Lots of people still without power. Scott and his wife in the slip next to me live in Gobles and they are without power so they are staying on the boat tonight. Quite a few people here at the marina for a Tuesday night.

It's a quiet beautiful night. Temps in the 70's and the mosquitos are taking the night off. I decided to come over to the boat tonight to work on a couple of electrical issues before the weekend. I accomplished what I wanted to and decided to sit on deck with a cigar, a rum and diet cola and my lap top. Someone over here has an unsecure wireless internet router up, so I get free internet on the boat.... bonus! I think it is one of the houses across the river.

I've been quite busy lately. Boy Scout Camp, work, lot's of things to do. The solitude of the boat is a welcome change. Went fishing on Sunday, just Sweetpea and I. We limited out on Perch. It was a wonderful afternoon.

Read Ginger's blog today, http://misshilltoyou.blogspot.com// She has been having a tough time finding a new job. I've been thinking about that a lot. The economy here in Michigan really sucks right now. Gas prices are through the roof, unemployment is up, company's are leaving the state left and right. I read and article today that said in a recent survey 4 out of 10 people are thinking about pulling the plug and going to a state with a better economy, http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060717/NEWS06/607170359/1008/NEWS . A lot of people think the state is dying. Ginger is ready to return to Cheese Head country.

How did we get into this sad state? Why can't we attract new business, new industry? It is a perplexing question, muddy water. It is hard to see what is really below the surface. Politicians all across the political spectrum offer up the fix of the day. But it isn't a simple problem and politcal promises won't put Beer and Kibble on the table.

I've been pretty blessed in my career in that I've always had good opportunities. Steady employment for decades. And I've been thinking that maybe it is time to reach out. I've been contemplating ways in which I can jump into this fray and make a difference. But the waters are muddy, the problem complex. But there is a way to contribute, I'm sure of it, and I'll find it. We all should.

From the boat, l8r. microe

Boat Blogs and Garage Doors.....

2006-06-29T13:04:00.000-04:00

Boat Blogs are hard. Who would of thought? Let me explain, blogging to me is more than just a rambling diary of mundane occurrences in my life. I see it as commentary on things that I have become passionate about, subjects that fire me up and I need to get out in the open. I need to find it interesting once it is on the computer, if not why should you read it? The Boat Blogging environment in itself contradicts this philosophy.

When I am on the boat, my perspective changes. It is where I love to go to ultimately relax. A Bacardi and Coke, a sunset and warm weather and the stress of everyday life disappears. A morning coffee on deck watching ducks and muskrats cruise the river and the day starts tension free. A beer and friendly, casual conversation far from the troubles of the world and I get lost in the moment. Emotion for that pressing blog subject matter wanes until it is but a mere sliver of light in the back of my brain.

And then sit down to write a blog and there is no passion, no urgency, no feeling that I’ve got to get this off my chest. I started twice in the last month. Both times I wrote for about an hour and what I ended up with was rambling dribble about simple events that were neither interesting or socially relevant. Being at the boat puts me into such a mellow state of mind that blogging becomes near impossible.

I’m going to try it again soon, maybe change tactics some and try to write shorter less poignant material. In the mean time I’ll keep the really deep stuff for writing elsewhere. Like today, writing on lunch at work.

“OK”, you say, “so what is making the old Microe passionate this fine day?” Well it is things that mess up my boat time! As you can probably ascertain from the comments above, I hold my boat time near and dear to my heart. It is one of the few places where I feel I can totally decompress. So when something un-expected interferes with my boat time, I get extremely frustrated (or in laymen’s terms, “pissed!”).

No I don’t try and spend every minute on the boat, there are many planned things we do that eat what might be boat time, like parties, piano recitals, weddings, trips out of town, etc. And I can deal with those because I have made a conscious decision to make the sacrifice. It is those un-planned things that really turn my crank.

Last night had the potential of turning into one of those un-expected interruptions. You see the 4 day Fourth of July weekend is a day away. I planned on heading from work to the boat both today (Thursday) and tomorrow (Friday) and stay as much as possible, going back to the house for only an occasional planned event like T-Man’s piano lesson, a bonfire Saturday, and maybe a party Tuesday.

So last night we thought we would head to Mug Club for awhile and see what is all going on with all of our friends. After lots of good conversation and a couple of beers, we headed home. Upon arriving in the driveway the garage door won’t open. At first I’m thinking the battery in the remote, but then I notice it trying to open but not going up but about 3 inches. I go inside think something is stuck in the track but nothing is. I hit the wall button and the door acts jammed and the top panel has buckled where the opener attaches.

Now at this point I would have just walked away except Sweetpea’s car is in the garage and I am planning major boat time and she needs her car. So I need to get the door open to get it out and my plan of heading straight to the boat won’t be interrupted.

I disengage the garage door opener and try lifting it by hand. But the door goes up crooked and a two rollers fall out. The track on the left side is bent?! I try to push it back down and it is jammed. I get the T-Man to help but the door won’t cooperate. I remove the hinges from the top panel and leave it hanging from the opener, (the car will clear it). We manage to the door high enough to get the car out. Mission one accomplished. Now we need to get it back down to secure the garage. It goes down cocked, jams and more rollers fallout. It is about this time I see the culprit. The tension cable on the right side is broke, The only way I can get the door down is cut the left side tension cable, so I do. fwing!!!!!!!

By this time the door is free, completely…. No rollers are on the track, the bottom 3 door panels are laying on a garbage can and a stool attached to nothing, the top panel is hanging from the opener. T-Man and I lean the bottom three panels back into place and are able to put in a couple of rollers to hold it up. I put the top panel back in place and hammer the bend back out with my fist. I’m able to get the hinges back on and the top rollers back in so it isn’t going anywhere. The door is now in place and the garage is secure and it is after 1:00 am.

It is still broke though, won’t go up, I may need to replace the whole thing this time. But the cars are outside and repairs are going to wait for quite awhile. You see it is boating season and I need my boat time!

L8r microe

PS. There were no tantrums, no tools flung, no swear words, and most of all no injurys to any persons (the door is another story) during this incident. See boat time works!

Here fishy fishy...

2006-05-22T00:44:00.000-04:00

“Sure is a lot of testosterone around here!” Sweetpea was making an observation as we sat on the boat in the slip last Friday afternoon. It was the Friday before the big Big Jon Pro/Am Salmon Fishing Tournament held every May in South Haven, Michigan. There were four boats in our marina entered in the tournament and all four boats were in a row in the slips. Crews drinking beer, preparing to fish the next morning, sharing fish stories, looking at weather reports. Burping, farting, joking around, the anticipation building.

Sweetpea was the only women crew member on these four boats. I had made the decision last year to change the crew around, down size a little. She said she would fish, and I would prefer nobody else at the helm while I’m leaning across the stern setting a line in high seas. Little did I know how true that was going to be. This is mostly Alpha Male territory, though you will find a growing number of women. Many wives and daughters fish also. The Pro division featured an all women crew this year. My crew consisted of Sweetpea, our son Thomas, and Jim, a friend of mine who crews charter boats during the summer who is also in my blues band "Microe and the Waves" (another blog subject).

The Big Jon Pro/Am has gotten quite large. Organized and held by the South Haven Chapter of the Michigan Steelhead & Salmon Fisherman Association 20 years ago, Big Jon Sports became the major sponsor a few years ago and this year there were 136 boats entered, 42 Pro, 94 Amateur. I have an old college buddy, Steve, that comes down from Rockford, Michigan and fishes it with his son and a crew in their boat “Lake Effect”. This year a 56’ boat came over from Wisconsin to fish the Pro Division.

We were entered in the amateur division for the third year in a row. I’ve always thought I was a decent fisherman, but this tournament quickly humbles me every year. It is affectionately known as the “Two Day” locally, because it is the only South Haven Tournament to fish both Saturday and Sunday. This is the real deal. Entry fee for the Amateur Division is $175 per boat. First paid $3000 dollars. Thousands of pounds of fish are caught.

We had intended on pre-fishing Thursday and Friday, but the weather didn’t cooperate. We could have on Friday but it was only Sweetpea and myself and it was rough. So we spent time getting all of our gear together. Late in the afternoon we went and checked in with Tournament Control and got our boat number, 62, and all of our paperwork. Back over to the Captain’s meeting in the evening, featuring lots of raffles and fish stories. Got to bed on the boat at a reasonable hour, didn’t have too much trouble getting to sleep.

The alarm went off at 5 am. I had been awake for about 10 minutes. I shut off the alarm, flipped on the radio and a light. Sweetpea and Thomas awoke pretty quickly. Got dressed and into the marina clubhouse for some coffee. The other boat crews were already buzzing around. Weather report for the Saturday morning was good. Jim showed up at 6:00 sharp. I fired up the big 260 hp V8 on the Lizzy Mae and about 6:15 am, backed out of the slip and headed down river toward the lake.

Now the start of the tournament is a sight to see. 130 or so boats, all ringed about 500 yards off the South Haven Pier head. At 6:45 am Tournament control comes over the marine radio and says you can now start fishing and everyone hits the throttle. It can be quite the ride as these big boats come up on plane and head toward deeper water. The boat wake criss-crosses combined with whatever waves there are. You have to pay attention to where all the boats are around you and that you don’t get caught at a funny angle in a trough that throws the boat on it’s side. The first time I fished the Two Day that happened and I dumped the microwave in the cabin on the floor. This morning we are blessed with only 1 – 2 foot waves. I head the Lizzy Mae at about 130 degrees, Southwest. She jumps right up on plane and is running great, at about 24 miles an hour. This is one of the few times a year I will run wide-open, uses lots of gas!

We are cruising for about 10 minutes, keeping right up with the big-boys and the engine starts acting up. Now what? It coughs and hesitates and acts like a couple of cylinders are missing. I back off the throttle and it comes around a little. I push the throttle back on and it does it again. We fight with it for about 5 minutes and mysteriously enough it goes away. As we continue to head for our fishing spot, I wonder what is going on?

I put a lot of work into the engine this year. She has always started hard when cold and I wanted to make sure my gas mileage was as good as it could be. So this year I did a complete tune up, spending quite a few dollars and hours upside down in the engine compartment getting intimate with the big MercCruiser. Spark plugs, distributor cap, rotor, spark plug wires, gas filter. Last time out she ran really good. So I am perplexed.

We hit water 90 feet deep about 5 miles off shore. I pull back on the throttle and give the wheel to Sweetpea and we start setting lines. Time to fish! I quickly set the starboard downrigger and about 60 feet down. Jim starts setting a lead core on the port side. I get the starboard lead core ready, hand it to Thomas and he starts paying out line. We are all excited and there is a chaos in the back of the boat as I rig poles and lines start to get set. I help Jim get the planer board on the port lead core and then I set the port downrigger. About this time Thomas starts grumbling, I can tell something is not right. He has got a nice birds nest tangle going in the big fishing reel. Paying out line too fast. I try to get it out, but it is a mess. About this time the port planer board starts going backwards.

Fish On! I hand the tangled pole to Jim and tell Thomas to get the net. It’s not a big fish, about 3-4 pounds. Thomas nets it and we get it in the box. I reset the downrigger. Jim has been trying to get the tangle out of the reel but is making slow progress. He gets it so we can reel the bait back in and we set it aside. A downrigger goes off! A knock off, fish hit it and missed. Reset the downrigger. Start putting out Dipsy Diver baits on each side. Starboard downrigger goes off. Fish On!

This is a bigger fish, 5 pounder. Jim nets it and we have two in the box by 8 am. We have a couple of more knock offs. I finally get the tangle out of the reel and after almost an hour and half of fishing all 8 poles are fishing. It is quite and array. 8:30 we get another 3 pounder on a lead core. By 9 am the fishing has slowed. We work our way south holding in 90 – 110 feet of water. Change baits on half of the poles.

I talk to Lake Effect on the cell phone. They are about 8 miles out in 160 feet of water and have 8 fish. Jim talks to a boat, the Merry-More that is fishing inside but not in the tournament, they have 6 salmon and are throwing fish back because there are only 2 people on board. At 10:00 we have a decision to make, go deep or head into 70 feet where the Merry-More is. The Merry-More is closer so we head in. A bad choice. We don’t get any more hits for the next 2 ½ hours. Change bait a bunch of times. Nothing is working. The fish have simply moved out. I forgot to take in account that fishing in the shallow water only works early in the day. On a bright sunny day like this is, the fish head deep around 9 – 9:30.

We pick up one more fish about 12:30 and head for the pier head at about 1:00. On the way back in, the engine acts up again. Sputtering, coughing at times, at times running fine. I’m a frustrated, a poor first day of fishing and a boat that isn’t running 100%.

The second most impressive sight in the Two Day is the boats returning to the harbor. All boats have to be inside the pier head by 1:30 pm. As a hundred or so boats race for a narrow channel and then wait in line to get to the weigh-in station it is a quite chaotic. To make matters worse this year, a Van Buren County Sheriff’s deputy decided that he was in charge and all these fishing boats were clogging the harbor. And damn it, he was going to do something about it. And he did, by making matters worse, causing a couple of near collisions and clogging the weigh-in dock while he bitched at tournament control. How dare these fishermen bring all their boats into the harbor and clog it up for an hour or so, while giving the local economy a huge shot in the arm with all the money spend in mid-May. Oh well, every town has to have a Barney Fife or two.

I let Sweetpea and Thomas off at the weigh dock with our fish and Jim and I headed for the slip. Not a good day fishing. I get back to the weigh-in with the Jeep. The way this tournament is scored is that you get 10 points per each fish you catch, and 1 point per pound total weight. You can only weigh 12 fish, of which only 9 can be salmon (Chinook, aka. King and Coho) and the rest have to be trout (Steelhead, Lake Trout or Brown Trout). 55.50 points is all we had. The last two years the winning scores have been over 400 total, 200 points per day. We won’t be winning squat this year. Lake Effect in the mean time is in the hunt with 12 fish and 189 points.

On the way back to the slip, we stop at 1st Choice Marine. They always have a big boat show on Tournament weekend, featuring beer, brats, and boats. We check out this really nice 27 foot SeaRay Amberjack, twin V6 engines and 10 foot beam (two feet wider than the Lizzy Mae). Would really be nice, but can’t afford it right now. Talk to my buddy Forrest who is a mechanic there. He says to change the water separator filter on the fuel line on the Lizzy Mae, sound like I'm getting wate in the fuel. Hell I didn’t even know it had one. Back at the slip, I’m upside down in the engine compartment again. Find the filter, get my arm stuck for a couple of minutes between the engine and the deck. Finally work it loose. That would have been cute had I needed help!

Go and get a new filter and a wrench. Then off to the fish cleaning house. The local Steelheaders chapter keeps all the fish from the first day, cleans them and freezes them for their fish boil each summer. I usually volunteer to help clean fish. 2 hours later I wash the blood and scales off my hands and arms. Back to the slip and change the filter, straighten the boat up and change my clothes. Sweetpea, Thomas and I get a steak dinner at the Moose Lodge for dinner.

Back at the slip, the boys in the boat next to us, Spoon Fed are playing Rodney Carrington CD’s and drinking beer. I’m tired and really start to feel it. I pour a Bacardi Select on the rocks and light up a $6 cigar. Shoot the breeze with the Spoon Fed crew. They have 180 points and are in the hunt too. Only one problem, the wind is out of the west and has been building all afternoon. Weather report is predicting a small craft advisory for Sunday and 3 - 6 foot waves in the morning. Everyone is wondering if we will be able to fish.

The Entertainer starts playing on my Blackberry at 5 am. I grab it out of the holster and it stops. I drift back to sleep, 3 minutes later it starts playing again. Where is that thing now? Oh yeah it is sitting on my chest. I turn off the alarm, turn on a light and struggle out of bed into the club house to the bathroom. Sweetpea is up when I get back to the boat, Thomas is a little slow this morning.

As we get things around I’m struggling to see the flag on the crane over at JB Marine. The river looks calm and I can’t feel any wind. Our slip is behind a dune and if the wind is out of the Northwest we can’t always feel it. This morning though I think I can hear the lake. At 5:45 Tournament Control announces on the marine radio that we are fishing. NOAA weather report says small craft advisories Waves building to 3 - 6 feet. At 5:55 I can finally make out the flag on the crane. It is blowing hard out of the Northwest.

Lake Effect gives me a call on the phone. Captain Steve asks me if I would call him on the cell if they end early. Seems his marine radio reception isn’t very good and he is having a hard time hearing announcements.

Jim arrives on time and once again at 6:15 we back out of the slip. It is cold this morning. I’ve got on a short sleeve T shirt, a long sleeve T shirt, a sweatshirt and my light hunting coat. As we get out into down by the bridge you can really start to feel the wind. There is 3 feet of chop in the channel and spray is blowing over the north pier some. This is going to be a tough day.

The lake is rockin’ and rollin’ already. As we head out the channel, Tournament Control reminds us about the procedure for ending the tournament early. We decide to head into the wind, Northwest to troll back with the wind. They let us go and everyone starts to throttle up. But the lake is blowing hard, 3 – 5 footers. I’m getting about 9 – 10 mph max. But so is everyone else. It’ is a rough ride and the cross wake doesn’t help. I take a couple of waves over the nose, spray over the top of the canvas.

I listen closely to the engine. No misses, no problems. I’m really thankful as I listen to a boat that has lost power ½ a mile north of the harbor. Tournament Control tells them to get an anchor out on the bow to keep it pointed into the wind. I surely don’t want to go up on the bow to get an anchor out today! If I had heard one cough or sputter I would have swung it around and headed in. Another boat decides it’s too rough and heads over to tow the boat that’s broken down. Other boats call it quits before the set any lines.

The wind is howling as we fit 65 feet of water about 3 miles north of the pier. I swing the Lizzy Mae around towards the south, throttle back and give Sweetpea the helm. Jim starts putting out the Port Lead Core, I start on the Starboard downriggers. We are going to run only 6 rods today. Two downriggers to starboard and one to port, two lead cores and one dipsy diver. I set the stern starboard downrigger, and as I lean out over the swim platform, watching a 5 foot wall of water come at me, I’m glad Sweatpea is driving. I quickly get both down riggers in the water as Jim with Thomas’ help gets the port lead core out.

Immediately the outside downrigger goes off. Fish On! It’s a shaker, about a pound or so of fish, but worth ten points! Fish in the box before 7:15! No skunk today.. I reset the downrigger and Jim starts on the port lead core. Things are going much smoother this morning. First of all we are taking our time, second I had all the Poles rigged before we left the dock. We get all six rods set and the middle downrigger goes off. Better fish, about a 3 pounder. Get it netted and in the box. Two in the box before 7:30!

Sweetpea is struggling to get us deeper. Wind is pushing us hard. By 8:00 we are almost sttaight out from the pier head. 6 foot waves are becoming common. We have the engine running as slow as it will go but the wind is pushing us at about 3 miles an hour! As the sun rises I would like to be about a mile and half further out. About that 90 foot range. Fishing slows up. We watch boats headed in. Many on the radio are going in with no fish.

We talk about pulling lines and running back to the northwest and going deeper. Jim is kind of un-easy about this proposition. I’m of the mind that I don’t want to continue South too much longer as it will be a long ride into the wind home. At 8:30 we pick up another shaker on a lead core. As 9:00 looms the wind has gotten worse. Waves are now 4-7’s and we are about a two miles out, four miles south of the pier head. I decide enough is enough. We aren’t going to win anything and we have proved we can catch fish in this weather, time to head in. We pull lines, and get everything put away and secure. She is going to be bumpy going in.

As I swing the Lizzy Mae around towards the pier head, I notice we are starting to see lots of 7 foot three sisters. That is 3 - 7 foot waves in a row. A sure sign of a true long term blow on the big lake. As I throttle up Tournament Control comes over the radio. Fishing is being called for the day. Everyone has to be in within one hour. As I’m running I remember and call Lake Effect, I get voicemail and leave them a message.

I dive the nose once or twice slightly. Nothing to worry about. Wind is off our port bow. Big waves are spraying over the windshield and canvas. About 1.5 miles out I can sea the waves breaking over the North Pier pretty hard now.

I takes us about a 35 minutes to get back in. I actually run about 10 miles an hour, The boat handled pretty good in spite of the weather. No engine problems either.

We are early. I let Sweetpea and Thomas off with the fish at the weigh in. I thought about not weighing, but damn it, we braved the weather, we caught fish and I wanted our second day score posted. We ended with only 90 total points for two days. But we did post both days!

I run back from the slip to the weigh in with the jeep. All the boats are in at this time and about half are weighing fish. Nobody has limited out. We walk up to town and get some breakfast. I haven’t eaten all morning. I’m tired, really tired, Fighting those waves trying to stand and fish was exhausting. Eventually we head back down to the awards ceremony. I find my buddy Steve captain of Lake Effect. He says thanks for the call, they didn’t hear tournament control. I ask how did he do. He said good they got 9 fish.

I walk over to the score board, A lot of 0’s on day two. I follow through the amateurs. And the winner is, with 314 points, Lake Effect! Well I’ll be damned….. So I go and find Steve and his crew and give him a bunch of crap about a radio that don’t work and they should be fishing Pro, and that I should be getting a cut of the winnings for calling them. They take it well. $3000 prize money and about $500 of other prizes. Nice for a couple of days of fishing. Hour Time, the 56 footer from Wisconsin wins the Pro Division.

Back to the slip and clean everything up. It was fun and I learned a lot as usual. Maybe next year. Can’t wait to get out fishing again, though that is the last time I’ll be fishing in 4 -7’s this year. Crew was a good crew this year. Jim was fun to fish with, I think Thomas enjoyed it, and as I said there is no one I trust more at the helm when I’m setting downriggers, leaning off the back of the boat staring 6 foot wall of water in the face. Little did I know!

L8r microe.

Get along Kid Charlemagne

2006-05-13T00:39:00.000-04:00

Odd that I should be sitting here writing. I had other plans. I was to take the Scout Troop to Fort Custer State Park for a weekend of camping and mountain biking. But it has rained, oh my has it rained. There is a low pressure center that has been sitting center about 60 miles north for two days with no signs of moving. And mountain biking in the mud and sleeping in the rain just didn’t seem like a fun outing. So we postponed. Not that we don’t do things in nasty weather, after all we camped in an ice storm in January and had a blast. But we planned activities that required something less than monsoons.

So here I sit, home at the computer. Decided to clean my office tonight, or at least start. Based on the pile of bills I filed, it has been 6 months. I got online and bought a CD on the iTunes store, Steely Dan, Royal Scam. I’ve always like that album and never owned it. It just seemed like a Steely Dan night. Maybe I’ll download Countdown to Ecstasy before I head to bed.

As I said at the start it feels odd sitting here. It wasn’t supposed to be, but I find myself with a free, unplanned weekend. Life has gotten so busy, so complex lately that I don’t get much un-spoken for free time.

So what to do? First there is the dinner thing. Sweetpea didn’t expect us to be home, so what to have? Chinese Take-Out! Sesame Chicken, Szechwan Pork, Fried Noodles. We just went and ordered at Chan’s Palace in Paw Paw and waited for it. While we were sitting there we ran into an old acquaintance from Scouts and we got to visit. PureasSnow stuck her head in with a date, waved and decided it was too busy. The food was fattening but good.

Now what to do? Sweetpea and the T-Man headed for the Big Screen and the Sci-fi channel, SG1 and Dr. Who. How about something I didn’t think I was going to get to for a long time, clean the office.. Oh yeah, two kegs of home brew in the bar fridge that I haven’t hardly touched in a couple of weeks. An Irish Stout and a Scottish Skull Splitter Ale. I pour a stout. It is pretty wild, but that is good, I was having trouble getting it to carbonate right. It will settle out after a few drafts.

Fired up the iTunes Player on the computer, Royal Scam played and then into the Stevie Ray Vaughan collection, (no shuffle, alphabetical). Check the Tigers score on MLB.com. and start sorting paper.

Man there is a lot of crap in this office that should have got pitched 2 seconds after it hit the mailbox. The cat comes in and sits in the new (used) guest chair Sweetpea picked up at work. The part Siamese has claimed it, she likes the upholstery. Bills, Credit Card offers, general nonsense. Throw out the unimportant crap. Separate insurance stuff, life insurance, car insurance, boat insurance, medical insurance. Make sure that there is nothing pressing over looked. No, good, file it all.

Tigers win, 5 – 4 over Cleveland.

I haven’t been drinking a lot lately and two stouts later I’m feeling it.

Separate all the current bills and stuff out. Anything after April 1 gets put in the standard take care of on time folder. Throw the rest in a big envelop and mark it “Statements from Nov 2005 – March 2006” in case of questions or disputes and I gotta find things. No use sorting it now, history has proved that after about 18 – 24 months you can pitch the whole wad.

Just finished downloading Countdown to Ecstasy.

Pour a Scottish Ale. A Skull Splitter, copy 9 ½ percent alcohol.

Funny thing. I start thinking about how different I manage my household finances and my budget at work. It really is two different philosophies. At work I am responsible for over $750,000 budget, 7 salaries and all of the corporate software licenses. I keep pretty close tabs on where I am and planning when I am going to spend what when. In my personal life I take this kind of screw it attitude. I’ll take care of it when the need arises. I just love auto payments and pay online, cause I just don’t want to deal with it all on a personal level. Good thing I make a decent living, or else I would have to change my ways and tighten the ole belt more.

Diggin through the shelves on the desk now. There it is! That order for blood work for my next check up that I have been looking for the past two weeks. And look a whole envelope full of 8x10 photos from the last couple of years. Amazing what you find when you clean up. Put my guitars in the closet where they belong, straighten out the furniture.

Time to fire up the blogger. Oh there is more to do, a lot more. I want to re-arrange the desk, vacuum, and straighten up the rest of the desk shelves. But I got a good start and I can see the top of the desk. What deep subject to blog upon? Screw it, how about just a little “what’s up doc?” blog. I’ll save the philosophy for the Boat Blogs.

Speaking of Boat Blogs, Tournament week is upon us. Next Saturday and Sunday are the days for the South Haven, Big Jon Pro/Am Salmon Tournament. The Lizzy Mae is entered for the third year in a row. I am taking Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday off to prepare. So I’ll be spending nights on the boat, and thus Boat Blogging. Stay tuned.

microe

Sproing!

2006-05-04T01:02:00.000-04:00

Spring has sprung and summer is just around the corner. The tell tale signs are all there. The weather has been shaping up and the boat is in the slip. Leaves are on the trees, we are mowing lawns and the cats want out constantly.

And I just realized we are entering that super busy time of year. My weekends are filling up fast. Scout campouts, fishing tournaments, graduation parties to attend, weddings. The trick here is not to get too stressed out about it.

I've been thinking about this and how there are two busy times of the year. Summer and the Thanksgiving to New Years holiday season. They are seperated by two relatively laid back periods, fall and late winter/early spring.

The busy times can be anxious times for me. I tend to get stressed when my calendar gets full and I feel like I'm lossing control of my time. But as I get older, I am learning to go more with the flow. This last holiday season was one of my best in years, (see my blog archive on my old site at this URL http://mysite.verizon.net/mikenlizroe1/microe/2005.12.01_arch.html Scroll to the December 11 blog). So now it's time to feel good about the upcoming summer.

Summer is usually easier on my stress level, as many activities are relaxing for me, such as fishing, sitting on the boat, outdoor parties, etc. The stress creeps in when I feel like something is getting in the way of these activities, like a Scout Campout, or a graduation party or wedding out of town. So I have re-evaluated these.

First Scout Campouts, these have been quite trying over the last couple of summers, a lot of stress. But I think that is changing. The last couple of campouts we have had I've had a lot of fun. I'm sure that a lot has to do with the fact I am now the Scoutmaster. Some of it has to do with I have more control. But it also has to do with the fact that my predecessor had this way of creating tension with poor planning, last minute changes and a gruff personality. We have made it a goal to make the campouts more fun and I think that we are achieving this. So scout campouts are becoming a outlet to reduce stress instead of increase it.

As far as those graduation parties or weddings or etc., I trying an new attitude. First we make a decision to go. Then I look for ways to make it as fun as possible. Go with the flow.

Lastly, I need to find a way to get back to stress relief through blogging. During these busy times, it is hard to find time to blog. But I have a plan here to. Boat Blogs. I like to stay on the boat a couple of nights a week in the summer and quite often I am all alone with just the stereo and my laptop. What a great time to contemplate life's little nuiances and put my thoughts in print.

So stay tuned for boat blogs, coming very soon. microe,,,, casting off until next time.

Nothing ever stays the same

2006-04-10T22:10:00.000-04:00

Spring has arrived. The boat is in the driveway, awaiting the annual pre-splash rituals. With any luck, it will be in the water in a couple of weeks. The boating season will bring plenty of changes and new adventures. I think my son is getting charged up about fishing. He has changed a lot in the last year. Taller, less chunky, deeper voice.

The Lizzy Mae

Other changes are occurring. We are remodeling the basement, phase III. Building a bar area. gone is the old closet and carpet and paneling in this area. Textured adobe colored walls, painted floor, more open space. More change.

My wife, Sweetpea, just changed jobs. She likes her new responsiblities and new department.

Our daughter is changing. Engaged, approaching graduation from college in December. She just got an internship at a computer gaming company, doing artwork.

I am changing too. I'm older, every day. Can't stop that. Trying to re-prioritize my life, a never ending process. Trying to get into better shape, more healthy. I've had some health problems over the last couple of years and I don't intend to pack it in yet. Trying to eat better, get lots of exercise, loose weight (see the diet blog - The Daily Diet - News You Can Loose ).

Other changes. I'm trying to exercise my mind more, reading more, Suduko puzzles, blogging. Spending more time doing those things I enjoy. Playing guitar with Microe and the Waves. Spending more time with friends, people I care about.

And finally spending time getting back in touch with myself. Contemplating. Meditating. Trying to figure out who I am. Where am I at in life, where do I want to go? Not that I am un-happy. But then, nothing ever stays the same.

The Society of the Old Hat Part 3 - A New Dawn

2006-03-21T22:34:00.000-05:00

Hope springs eternal in the human breast: Man never is, but always to be blest. The soul, uneasy and confined from home, Rests and expatiates in a life to come. – Alexander Pope, English Poet.

Today is the first day of Spring. And though you wouldn’t know it by the weather outdoors, the grass will soon be greening up, tulips will bloom, and leaves will start to unfold out of their auspice beginnings as buds on the trees. I’ve already seen a lot of robins hopping around the yard looking for a meal.

And so it is with the Old Hat. It is spring time, and the hope once again is eternal. The new management consortium of Osborne and Shugars has thrust their will on the old brewery in a quest to transform it into profitable venture.

The Osbornes, long time patrons of the Hat, owners of the local KTS Enterprises, have sat many a night over the years on the paying side of the bar. They have seen the Old Hat at its best, full, vibrant and the beer flowing. And they have seen it sadly decline over the last couple of years. They have been some of its most faithful of customers. Now they take their hard work ethic, small business experience and local knowledge of the Lawton area and it’s people, and step on the North side of the copper counter.

The Shugars have much experience in the food business. They own a catering business that specializes in Pig Roasts, smoked meats and poultry, have a line of barbecue sauce and also have restaurant experience. They are more than familiar with the Hat, having provided Pig Roasts for various events there in the past. This makes for a nice fit with their new business partners.

The first thing this new partnership did was to close the Hat for 4 days. During this time they administered a rigorous cleaning to the bar and brewery. Tables and chairs were re-arranged in attempt to create a better flow. They reopened on Friday, March 10th to a decent crowd. The difference is noticeable. The bar looks and smells better. Service is better. The new bartenders and wait staff are wearing Old Hat collared shirts and act as a cohesive unit. They will be open Wednesday through Sunday, closing on Mondays and Tuesdays at this time.

I’ve spent quite a bit of time there the last week or so since the reopening talking with the new management, delving into what are their plans, philosophy and hopes? So let’s look at some of the things that I sighted in Part 2 of this series and see if things really are changing and how the new management sees them.

The People: The people are back, at least through the first 9 days since they have re-opened. Crowds seem to be on the average pretty good. The weekend crowd on Friday, St. Patrick’s Day was very good. This was followed by an exceptional crowd on Saturday, March 18th due largely to a 50th Birthday party. This party though seemed to hang around a long time, and went through a lot of beer. In addition, I saw some regulars that had been missing quite a lot in the recent past, this says a lot as previous regulars are starting to return to see what is happening The new management say they are committed to putting people in the bar. Not only new people, but trying to get those regulars that have left for one reason or another.

Mug Club: All the Mugs have been washed and re-hung in numerical order. And Muggers are coming back starting with the first Mug Club under the new management. Last Wednesday night was similar to the Mug Clubs of a couple years ago. Muggers putting away the beer and talking with everyone and anyone about everything and anything, a very good sign indeed. This subtle start I think is significant. As word gets out about the changes more Muggers are likely to return. The new management seems very conscious of the importance of a strong Mug Club. The Osbornes especially can appreciate what this group can do to help put people in the bar. When Muggers are happy, patronage goes up. So far so good. Mug Club membership is also up with a large group of new members signing up since the reopening.

Music: Yes music is at the Old Hat to stay. The new management is honoring those bands already booked. The Cats in the Hat are going to continue to do Sunday Blues jams, though the frequency has yet to be decided. The new management has a distinct philosophy on music. Bands will be booked on Fridays. There will generally be a cover charge on Friday. Saturday will be a quieter night, reserved for Acoustic solo acts or duets, (they seem to understand the fact that back to back to back music historically doesn’t draw well). Sunday is reserved for Blues Jams hosted by various local bands. Included will be the Cats in the Hat and occasionally yours truly’s band, Micro and the Waves, amongst others. Sunday is also slated to possibly go back to a no cover charge night. No music on Wednesday Mug Club night, or Thursday. I think this is a sound philosophy. If C. Buggs Coombs takes over booking bands, this could be a real plus.

Beer: “Mmmmmmm Beer!” (Homer Simpson) The beer quality is up. Taking the day to day headaches of managing a bar off of Tom Fuller’s mind has made a significant difference. Tom can now concentrate as an employee on brewing beer and he is proving once again that he can brew good beer. The beer menu is full for the first time in a long time. The O’Fullers Red and Maeve (sp?) Stout that went on tap St. Patrick’s Day are very good. Easily the best Red and Stout we have seen in over a year. Some of the specialty brews are going over big time. The new management is stressing cleanliness in the brewery which will also keep quality high. They talk of not cutting corners on ingredients either. They know that the Beer is their trump card.

Service: The new management has brought back C. Buggs behind the bar, Wednesday and Thursday. This will help tremendously with customer relations. They have hired a new weekend bartender and beefed up the wait staff. Service is way up, it is as easy as ever to get a beer. If Oz or Scott are sitting on the South side of the bar off duty, and someone needs something they are more than willing to jump up and get it. They are paying attention to the customer. The wait staff and bartenders are all wearing shirts with the Old Hat logo on them, a nice touch.

Other Changes: The food has changed. They new management has reworked the menu. Many of the eclectic entrees are gone, replaced with more conventional bar food. Burgers, Sandwiches, Fish and Chips and Ribs and Pulled Pork are the main stay along with appetizers like deep fried mushrooms and onion petals. The quality is way up on the food. Dishes are served promptly and hot. Sweetpea and I ate dinner in the bar for the first time in almost 2 years, it was a very good meal at a very reasonable price. A big advantage that the new management has is the Shugars’ catering business. According to Scott, it is a win-win, his kitchen staff at the catering service can process more volume of ribs and pulled pork and smoked meats and the bar gets it a bottom line cost. And the ribs and pulled pork are excellent. I’m told they are doing 3 to 4 times the amount of dinners already.

Tabs have changed. They now fill out a check for everyone and rigorously keep track of who had what. All bartenders and wait staff are participating. This I’m sure will help profitability as consistency in this area previously was a problem, with you having to often remind the bartender what you had.

Attitude is different. The entire staff is extremely customer oriented at this time. This is making a good impression. Scott and Oz talk about getting people into the bar and keep them coming back. I’ve seen them give away some of the new menu items for people to try. People respond to this type of treatment. If this customer service attitude continues, then they have a good shot on getting repeat business on a regular basis.

Tables have been rearranged. This is probably one of the few things being talked about negatively. But it is early and the new management will make adjustments as they go. Some parts of the new arrangement are good, some parts create more congestion. There could be possibly bigger changes after the Liquor License has transferred. The jury is still out in this area.

Hope springs eternal… Many of the Muggers I talk to are hopeful. They like what they see and taste. The people are coming back already. The beer is better and so is the food. Muggers seem to be embracing the new management.

But the question remains, can the Old Hat be profitable? Can the new management do what previous managements were unable to accomplish? Putting top notch brewing ingredients into the beer costs money. The increased wait staff and bartenders need to be paid. The amount of effort required to get this back on its feet for good is tremendous. The work has just started, and it is a long way to the finish.

I think that the Osborne/Shugars partnership have a good shot. I think increased food sales will help offset the increased operating costs. The recent in flux of new customers and return of some regulars coupled with the better beer, food and service will help put people back on bar stools on a more regular basis. I think the people will be back and Muggers will continue in providing the unique atmosphere that makes the Hat special.

The new management seems to have firm grasp on the key points above. Sure they will make mistakes along the way, but I think they will learn and adapt quickly. They are also in it for the long haul, and understand that this will take a significant amount of care and feeding over a long period of time. But in the end I think they will succeed, and I hope so.

The social institution that is the Old Hat will rise again also. After all, Muggers are a resilient bunch. It may be different as institutions like this are ever changing but non-the-less, it will be as great as ever.

Long Live the Muggers and long live the Old Hat.

Loch Ness Tavern Photos from 1998

2006-03-13T22:20:00.000-05:00

Microe in front of the Loch Ness Tavern, Stockholm 1998

Owner Stella behing the bar

The Taps, Beamish, Strongbow, Koff, Newcastle

Microe, Stella and the late Tim Wuthrich

The Society of the Old Hat Part 2 - The Evolution

2006-03-13T00:08:00.000-05:00

I’ve always liked taverns and bars. I spent a lot of time in them during my college years. But after I got married in 1980, I only occasionally found time to venture into them, usually Friday with the people I worked with. Business trips often gave me a chance to frequent them more often but this was usually at venues in remote cities that I never got chance to truly know. Most of my bar experience in the first 40 years or my life was the same. Bars and Taverns were places you occasionally went to, maybe with some friends to have a few drinks, maybe shoot some pool. In college we went to disco bars (yes the Microe discoed), to drink, dance and date, but otherwise things were pretty impersonal.

That all changed in 1998 when I went to Stockholm for 6 months. There I discovered this wonderful little tavern, 2 blocks from my apartment called the Loch Ness. The Loch Ness Tavern is a very small place about a quarter the size of the Old Hat and while we visited frequented lots of bars in Stockholm, it was different some how.

Most of the Loch Ness clientele lived in about 8 square block area around the tavern. Most were Swedes, there was an occasional Fin, and a couple of Americans who liked their beer. I drank a lot of Bemish in those 6 months! It would take forever to pour because of the thick, creamy head. If the bartenders (there were only 2) saw me turn up the side street from the subway station they would start pouring one before I hit the door.

I got know everyone. I would sit at the bar and try out my broken Swedish and they would all laugh at me and correct my pronunciations. Stella the owner introduced me to some very tasty Swedish home cooking, even though she wasn’t a natural born Swede, (Moroccan I think). Lars, the 20 something bartender was a hoot, telling jokes. When he wasn’t behind the bar, he would be sitting at it, drinking and carrying on. Occasionally we would see him playing with his street band in a subway station during the day for tips. They had a guitar on the beer cooler and quite often would bring it down and pass it around. I played some blues and the locals got a big charge out of it.

The music seemed to draw people together. It was more than the bars I was used to, these people became my extended family in Stockholm. If I didn’t show up on a particular night they asked where was I? If I was feeling down or home sick, they picked me up. On my 40th birthday they had stuffed a band into this little bar and invited me to play. That was the first time I played in front of a packed house and sang.

When I came back to Paw Paw, I tried to settle into my old routines. But I had changed. I found myself restless quite often, TV had lost all of its appeal and while I was glad to be back with my family, I missed my extended family in Stockholm. As luck would have it I found the early pre-Cats in the Hat at the Dyckman saloon. I couldn’t wait for Sundays to go down and play. But the Dyckman was missing something. It wasn’t the personal little tavern that the Loch Ness was. Though I enjoyed it, it was lacking something. Lady Luck smiled on me again, the band had a falling out with the owner and moved to the Old Hat.

I became an instant regular at the Old Hat on Sundays because of the Blues Jam. I started to meet a lot of people, friendly people. Everyone was a local and they all went by their Mug Club names. The undisputed ambassadors of the Old Hat, Buck and Comrade. There is Ginger, Kinsey Report, Eggroll and Belle Belle, Cable Rat, Wild Bill, Princess, Cookie, 10-8-ious, ShortStory (yes of the same blog names!), Too Much Fun, Bill the Dog, Tolerance and so many more that it would take pages to mention them all. I quickly joined the Mug Club with the Mug name, “Microe”, of course.

There were the Cats in the Hat which included Hunt, Chilton, Buggs and Howard. And all sorts of local musicians that would show up and play. I’ve seen so many local bands there, Seventh Son, Crossroads Blues Band, Bus Stop Bullies, Hackneyed Quips, Blue Moon, to name a few. Plus touring acts, Deke Dickerson, Cigar Store Indians, Billy Bacon and the Forbidden Pigs and many more. And I’ve met almost all of the musicians in these bands.

The bartenders were also a big part. Scott McMullen, Kelly, and Sara all did extensive stints as bartender during the Sunday Blues. After Buggs left the railroad, he started tending bar during the week. I had started to do some music recording work with Buggs and one of his bands the Tone Chaperones and I would go down quite often on week nights to talk to Buggs about recording and marketing issues. It was kind of an excuse though as we would sit and talk about just about anything often till closing time. I met more regulars, the weekly crowd.

At first I went to the Hat by myself, my wife and family stayed home. This went on for a couple of years. After my daughter graduated from High School in spring 2002, I started to get my wife to go down to the Hat. As she got to know people she became more comfortable and she also joined the Mug Club, Mug name, “Sweetpea”. My son goes down on Saturday quite often and has a very good friend he met there. They both have Mugs and fill them with Root Beer and play board games and have a great time.

In the Old Hat I found that same friendly atmosphere that I had found at the Loch Ness. They had differences, but it is the people and their relationships that make them both a cut above. So what is the formula that makes the Old Hat, “The Hat”? Here are some ideas that I think made it flourish during the 4 year periods between 2000 and 2003. I’m sure others have their opinions and I welcome them to share those in the comments.

First and foremost are the people. The Old Hat regulars are a melting pot of personalities, professions and backgrounds. There are professionals that work for large corporations, laborers that do odd jobs, construction workers, landscapers, small business owners, police officers, secretaries, bank officials the un-employed and everything in between. But at the Hat we are all on the same playing field, at the same level. People are more concerned with who you are personally not where you work or how much you make. Everyone is themselves and in an interesting twist I think this is because we all go by our Mug Names!

Which brings me to point number two, The Mug Club. By using Mug Names it kind of lets everyone leave at the door that day to day persona that each of us keeps up all week long in our jobs and careers. At the Hat we are Mug Clubbers or Muggers for short. Everyone is equal. Wednesday is Mug Club night and from 2000 – 2003 this was a major weekly event. It is a chance in the middle of the work week to unwind over a couple of beers and talk with your friends. The core group of Muggers has become very close. These friendships have carried beyond the Hat. There are several regular private parties and events every year hosted by Muggers and attended heavily by the same. The Mug Club has extended far beyond the walls of the Hat. And the core is always more than happy to welcome others in.

But many Breweries have Mug Clubs and friendly patrons, what else makes the Hat different? The music is a key factor. Most of the core Muggers love the Blues. And you will typically hear a lot of Blues at the Hat. This is what made the Cats in the Hat Blues Jam so crucial in the ramp up of popularity the Hat has enjoyed in the past. It was great Blues played by local musicians and it was dependably every Sunday 6-9 pm. People come and sit in with the band for a few songs and then go have a beer with their friends. The Cats in the Hat have always been very accessible, part of the bar regulars and blend with everyone.

Blues is not the only music you will hear at the Hat. Country and Rock-a-Billy also send there own unique sounds across the copper covered bar. And the Muggers love these too! Muggers love most music, when done well. So when the Tone Chaperone brought their version of Country Swing to the Hat, popularity of the bar exploded. Muggers showed up in mass on Friday nights to dance to there honky-tonk and swing originals.

A couple of interesting observations about Muggers and music. Muggers love weekend music. But on Mug Club night, they want to talk and socialize, unimpeded by a loud band. A band on Wednesday (especially with a cover charge) will often keep them home. Also Muggers loved the no cover charge Sundays. They would often tip heavily on Sundays. When Sundays went to a cover charge, attendance went down and so did the tips! Covers are ok on Friday or Saturday, but Sunday? Lastly, the Hat is a local bar in a small town and it doesn’t support bands well on back to back nights. A large attendance of Muggers on Friday will almost guarantee that the turnout will be light for Muggers on Saturday. Hangovers maybe? A big, well attended act on Saturday will almost always mean a low turnout on Sunday.

Beer…. Good Beer. It is a must for Muggers. They like their beer and skunky beer will send them home. Beer quality and consistency was pretty good and Muggers drank a lot during that four year stretch. And they took growlers after growlers home with them. It was very common to go to a private party and everyone would bring a couple of growlers of Old Hat beer. Even when they weren’t at the Hat, they drink it’s beer. Stubbin’s Stout, Hefewiezen, Alt, Seasonal Bocks, Pumpkin Ale in the Fall, and Red. Not as good maybe as Duster’s Wing Over Red, but a good solid everyday Red Lager.

And finally the service. Most of the time during those four years, the Old Hat was attended by a single bartender and a cook in the kitchen when food was served. No table service, no wait staff. You had to order at the bar. I mentioned some of the best of those bartenders above. They were masters at keep a whole bar full of people happy with full Mugs. And they enjoyed what they were doing. They contributed significantly to the culture.

So it was a combination of things that caused the Old Hat to evolve into this local institution, the Muggers, the Mug Club, the Music, the beer and the bartenders who served it. It was chance that brought all this together, circumstances that allowed this little local brewery to become more than a bar.

And it still exists. Muggers are still Muggers and they still get together. But things changed in 2003. Everything does and the Hat changed. Luck brought it together, and luck threatened to tear it apart. The interesting twist is the luck that threatened the Old Hat was Kalamazoo Brewings good luck. When because of the increased popularity of Bell’s Beer, Larry Bell had to sell the Old Hat, change was at the door.

As I stated in my last blog, while this is not to analyze why the business, it is worthwhile to review some of the changes that occurred between January 2003 and February 2006 and put the Hat where it is today. Again it isn’t to judge the owners at that time, they did what they felt they had to.

One factor remains. When Kalamazoo Brewing owned the Old Hat, it was making a lot of money at Bell’s Brewery. So making a profit at the Hat wasn’t a huge concern, as compared with Bell’s, the Old Hat was a very small side venture. When the bar changed hands in 2003, it had to turn a profit. For some of the new partnership, the Old Hat was their only source of income. The mortgage needed to be paid. This would prove to be a huge challenge.

The first thing that happened was after the New Years Eve party Dec 31, 2002, the Old Hat closed until Memorial Day weekend 2003. Muggers missed it, immensely. Just as I missed the Loch Ness when I came back from Sweden, we all missed our weekly Old Hat socialization. We needed our friends, our extended family. So during the hiatus, Muggers started frequent other taverns. A roving Mug Club started to meet on Wednesdays meeting at a different tavern every week.

When the Hat reopened, Muggers trickled back. It took a while for it to get back to it’s normal self. This I’m sure was a concern of the new ownership as attendance was slow in building. And Muggers came back to changes, some they liked, some that they weren’t sure of.

Wait staff was added, along with increasing the kitchen staff. The Menu was expanded. This seemed to be accepted well with the patrons.

The new ownership seemed to struggle with the music. The first struggle was over volume, especially on Sundays, as the Cats had a tendency to play loud and some people complained. Bands were monitored with a Sound Level Meter. This caused conflicts with some musicians which seemed to spill over into the regular crowd. Bookings went through several struggles as the new ownership tried to turn a profit while maintaining the quality of the music. The Cats in the Hat went on hiatus for a period of time and Sundays went quiet, and Sunday beer sales followed. When they finally returned it was to a cover charge on Sundays, and they didn’t play every Sunday. Some regulars were turned off. Beyond the control of the ownership, the Tone Chaperones changed and eventually disbanded. They had become a main stay at the Hat and this was a blow to the consistency that everyone had come to enjoy.

As finances got tight, the owners took more and more to tending bar. The bartenders that everyone had grown so comfortable with started disappearing. A different bartender was behind the bar every night. Not that these bartenders were all bad, but the consistency disappeared. The comfort level was gone. During this same time, the kitchen staff started turn over quite often, and the quality of the food suffered. Wait staff turned over. Service suffered.

Mug Club went through some changes. Mugs were changed for a while from the stoneware black mugs, to clear glass mugs. They weren’t received well. After unbridled expansion of the Mug Club, membership was closed to new members. Dues collection became sporadic, as did birthday recognition and other familiar Mug Club traditions. Eventually the Mug Club was reopened to new members.

As profits became harder and harder to come by, other changes were made to keep the Hat afloat. Beer prices went up eventually, but curiously most regulars didn’t seem to mind. But brew master Tom Fuller struggled personally with the Old Hat being his only source of income. He took a second job and started to share brewing responsibilities. A bad batch of Malt contributed to major problems in beer quality. In addition dwindling profits made it harder and harder to buy the quality ingredients needed for high quality beer. The beer became inconsistent and this hurt sales.

Through much of this the core Muggers persevered. Mug Club Wednesdays were still a great place to meet and socialize. But attendance on was quite often down. A good band would still bring them out in mass. Sundays with the Cats in the Hat still drew well, though they didn't play every week. Muggers just didn’t turn out like they once had. Some regulars quit coming at all.

Rumors started to run rampant. Rumors of the bars finances, ownership disagreements and attempted buy outs abounded. Most of these were just rumors, untruths manufactured out of frustration. But they hurt the Old Hat institution. Conversations often turned to the bars problems and everyone was an expert on how to fix them.

And thus the Old Hat entered 2006. Deeply wounded financially and struggling to stay afloat. The bar and the social institution that it had become was in grave danger of disappearing for good. As I have said before, the ownership had poured their funds, sweat and souls in trying to make it work. Muggers wondered what would become of the Old Hat with its copper covered bar, wood floors, stainless steel brew kettles and the stage lights which so many musicians had played under. And we worried about the owners, our friends who were struggling personally from this unfortunate turn.

March 2006 came and another change with new ownership. Hope springs eternal. My next installment will look at the future of the Old Hat, and why I think it might have turned the corner. As always I welcome comments and different points of view as to why the Old Hat became so great and how it got to where it is today.

microe

The Society of the Old Hat Part 1 - a Historical Perspective

2006-03-09T01:49:00.000-05:00

This is the first in a three blog series about the Old Hat, it’s history, the people who frequent it, and speculation of what might lie ahead for this cultural institution.

It’s Wednesday, Mug Club night at the Old Hat. Only one problem the Old Hat is closed. Only temporarily though, as the latest in a string of entrepreneurs rearranges their newly acquired asset and prepare to embark on a journey of uncertainty, instability and seemingly countless hours of hard work to try and turn this favorite watering hole into a profitable venture. It is this setting that has caused me to stop and contemplate this latest turn in the on going saga we all know as the Old Hat. I wish them luck and truly hope they will succeed.

The Old Hat is a simple little brewery, located in the heart of downtown Lawton, Michigan. Lawton, population approx 1860, is located about 3 miles south of Paw Paw, MI and Interstate 94 on highway M-40. The Old Hat opened originally in 1993 as Duster’s Brewery by former owner, the late Phil Balog. Phil was known for two things, his good ales and his bad temper.

In 1998 Balog sold the brewery to Larry Bell – Kalamazoo Brewing. Tom Fuller replaced Phil Balog as the brew master and Larry renamed the place the Old Hat Brewery. Larry kept the bar as more of a craft brewery with it’s own beer selection separate from Bell’s Brewery. He adorned the walls with Hats and started a Mug Club. The bar gradually started offering live music on weekends, expanded operating hours and days to 7 days a week and offered an eclectic food menu.

In 2003, the Old Hat went through another change, as Bell’s Brewery grew in size it transitioned into a newly created classification of brewery created by the Michigan LCC. This new classification put it somewhere between micro-brewery and Budweiser. It had one other effect, it required Kalamazoo Brewing and Larry Bell to divest themselves of the Old Hat. While a deal was worked out, the Old Hat sat closed for the first 5 months of 2003.

In the end brew master, Tom Fuller was able to put together a partnership to purchase the brewery. The brewery reopened Memorial Day Weekend 2003 as the Old Hat Brewery and Grill. The new ownership worked hard to maintain the ambience that had made the Old Hat a local institution. As funds dwindled another partner was added to the mix to help keep the ship afloat. Consistency problems plagued the beer, some do to problems beyond the small breweries control (bad Malt) and the lose of some regulars for various reasons occurred, but the owners trudged on. But in late 2005 it was becoming apparent that the Old Hat was in serious trouble. In early 2006, rumors run rampant.

Finally during the first weekend of March 2006 came another change. The Old Hat had been sold again. The new partnership of Oz and Freda Osborne and Scott Shugars had taken over. The deal is still fresh and has to have all the loose ends taken care of, but for all practical purposes, it is done. I was told by Oz that Tom will still be brew master, as an employee and not an owner. They are closed this week while these new owners primp and clean and re-arrange and try to make it there own. They are showing great enthusiasm, but seem also to be aware of the mountain of work ahead of them.

So once again the Old Hat morphs. It would be of no use to detail all the rumors and innuendo that I have heard about why the last owners didn’t make a profit. After all, it was rumored that Bell’s didn’t make any money on it either and it was more of a hobby. But that really is of no consequence for this blog. It really doesn’t matter and because I consider them friends, my heart goes out to them, knowing what stress this has caused in their lives and wish them well in the future.

What does matter is the Social Institution that is the Old Hat and what drives it. Why is it what it is? How has it changed? What will it become? The music, the people, the beer. To me this is far more interesting than the nuisances of business dealings that don’t live up to their potential. And that is what is driving this blog. As stated above, this is installment one in a three part series. This is the history part, what got it to where it is today. Part two will explore the evolution of the social institution. Part three will speculate on where it might be headed from here.

I have lain out above what a brief history of the Old Hat itself. My experience with the Old Hat has evolved over time also. My own experience helps define my viewpoint of the Old Hat Society so to speak.

I moved to Paw Paw with my wife and two children in 1994. As we started to learn more and more about the area we ventured South on occasion to Lawton. We found Lawton to be a curious little town having 3 major restaurants in such a small burg. It was during the Duster’s days that we first experienced the brewery. I found the beer to be quite good, but quite often these excursions were part of a dining out and the menu at Duster’s was small and the food erratic.

You also could never tell when it was going to be open. As I had read in restaurant review, it was easier to get Duster’s beer at Big T across the street, because they were open far more. Besides I could also get Duster’s at the local party store, so if I felt like having a Wing Over Red, that was easy, I simply bought a six pack. This coupled with my new found hobby of home brewing amounted to only an occasional visit. As it was I never experienced the Blalog temper that I would hear tales of later on.

In 1998 I was working for Pharmacia & Upjohn. Part of my job had me go to Stockholm, Sweden for 6 months. I lived in an apartment there on Söldermalm Island, in an area called Mariatoreget. Two blocks from my apartment, on my way to the subway every day, was a little tavern that I quickly grew fond of called the Loch Ness Tavern. The Loch Ness was a very small neighborhood tavern with a very friendly Swedish clientele that adopted a couple of miss-placed Americans as there own. In the Loch Ness over those 6 months I got a real sense of a community tavern. They had a “tavern guitar” that they would pull down off of the beer cooler and pass around for those that played. This was the first bar I ever played a guitar in and sang, in public.

Upon returning to Paw Paw in 1998, my long time friend and guitar player, Jimmy Sadler and I reconnected. He told me about a blues jam that was going on in Paw Paw at the old Dyckman Saloon. I grabbed my guitar and went down one Sunday to find a short, bald headed harmonica player and a guitar player who looked left over from the sixties. Their blues was great, the sounds were bold and robust and full of life. I returned often on Sunday, and they were gracious enough to let this very amateur act to sit in and play. I could go on about the early days at the Dyckman, but that is another blog. Needless to say, the harp player was the renowned Dave Hunt of the band Seventh Son and the guitar player was Brent Chilton, both who over the years I have become friends with.

During this time a bearded bass player would join them quite often, sitting in the cramped space on an old Ampeg Amp. He worked for the railroad and could play anything. This is how I met C. Buggs Coombs and how I discovered the Old Hat.

This was time, 1998 – 1999 that that Duster’s was becoming the Old Hat. The Mug Club started and C. Buggs being from Lawton and a regular at Duster’s and then the Old Hat, won a draw with John “Cookie Man” Cook to be Mug number 1 in the club. It was also about this time that the management at the Dyckman started jerking around this little no-name band that played a blues jam on Sunday nights. So after several disputes with the Dyckman, Tom Fuller, brew master and manager of the Old Hat, as well as good friend of C. Buggs, offered the band the opportunity to move their Sunday Blues Jam to the Old Hat. They did and I followed.

The band went on to become a staple of the Old Hat culture they assumed the name The Cats in the Hat, going through several iterations, and playing to this day. C. Buggs went through a long stint as bartender at the Old Hat. I became Mug Club member # 157 and still am a “regular” at the brewery. I have formed my own blues bands over the last 8 years and played many times on their hardwood floors.

It was 1999 whenI got indoctrinated to the Old Hat culture. Since, I spent many nights at the Old Hat, late nights discussing music with C. buggs as he tended bar and our work on recording his bands. Many Wednesday Mug Club nights, Sunday Blues Jams, Thursdays cause there was nothing else to do and I didn’t want to sit home and watch TV. I met most of my present day friends at the Hat, people I feel deeply about. Friends I love dearly… Friends that have changed my life.

Now you know how we got to where we are. The Old Hat in general and how I fit in. In the next blog in this series I’ll talk about the social culture, why I think it is unique and some of those quirks that I think make it special.

I would invite anyone reading this to comment on their perspective. Many will see even the history I outlined above from a different view point, and may have a totally different recollection. I would like to hear from you, so please comment! Until next time.

Microe

After Therapy`

2006-03-02T21:42:00.000-05:00

So the team building is over. It was good. We took all the personality profiles for the team and discovered how different personalities react to different things. It was quite enlightening and fun. My staff came up with an action plan and I think I got the results I was trying to achieve.

And the fun part is that we are trying to guess other's DiSC classification. Ok so we aren't experts, but it can make a lot of sense in dealing with the business relationships.

I am still working on the ultimate challenge. Compensating for my deficiencies. Today I was kind of moody in the morning, so I stayed away from the bubbly people until I tamed the Bear. That is what animal we came up with in the Team Building to represent me, a bear. Big and Soft and Cuddly until you get him pissed off or he just wants his own way... My staff agreed.

Can't spend too much time blogging tonight, it's Sweetpea's birthday so I. I'm out of here.

Ready for the loony bin!

2006-02-27T00:48:00.000-05:00

Ok so I have been catching a lot of flak lately about not blogging. So here I am. I sit down to write this and I think to myself, I need a little taste to loosen me up. So I put a couple of ice cubes in a glass and grab a bottle of 10 year old Talisker Single Malt Scotch. (it was bottled after ten years aging, I’ve had it for about 5 so it is 15 years young). Anyway, like all fine single malts this has a cork. I twist the cork and pull and the cork breaks into two pieces, one in my hand and one still in the bottle. Shit! I lookk through my inventory and I have an Isle of Jura, Single Malt that has about a shot left in it. I sip that, now I have an extra cork. I get a cork removing tool and only manage to push the half a cork into the Talisker. Oh well, I guess it won’t hurt anything except the occasional piece of cork in my whiskey. Some things are never easy!

Anyway, I was chatting with my good friend 10-8-ious recently and we discovered that we had both been taking personality profiles recently. We made a pact that we would each blog on our profile. She has already posted hers on http://10-8-ious.blogspot.com/, so now it is my turn.

First I should make note that we didn’t do the same profiles. She took actually two different profiles, a Kolbe A Index and a Myers Briggs Type Indicator. I on the other hand took a DiSC Classic 2.0 profile. Despite the disparities, we thought it would be fun to throw these out for the world to see.

My DiSC profile was very revealing, though it was not surprising. I thought it was very accurate. DiSC is a series of 30 ratings. It gives you four terms and you are to rate them base on what you feel is most important and what is least important. Like most profiling systems, there are no right or wrong answers. DiSC stands for Dominance, Influence, Steadiness and Conscientiousness which you are ranked into each for a score. The DiSC rating then classifies your profile into one of 15 unique patterns. One of the interesting things is that it gives personality traits for the person in that corresponds to particular pattern, and things that that a person in that pattern needs to work on or be conscience of. Lastly, it should be noted that the answers to the questions are applicable to you at work, and not necessarily socially. I found this last point important, because I might act differently at work than I would in a social situation.

So cut the crap Mike! What did it say? I ranked high on the Dominance Scale (6). I had a secondary high of influence of (5). My lowest was on the Steadiness Scale (2) and next lowest was the Conscientiousness Scale (3). The classic pattern I line up with is Results Oriented. So I can buy that, but what the hell does it mean. Here is the profile as described in the report:

Result-Oriented people display self-confidence, which some may interpret as arrogance. They actively seek opportunities that test and develop their abilities to accomplish results. Result-Oriented persons like difficult tasks, competitive situations, unique assignments, and important positions. They undertake responsibilities with an air of self-importance and display self-satisfaction once they have finished.

Result-Oriented people tend to avoid constraining factors, such as direct controls, time-consuming details and routine work. Because they are forceful and direct, they may have difficulties with others. Result-Oriented people prize their independence and may become restless when involved with group activities or committee work. Although Result-Oriented people generally prefer to work alone, they may persuade others to support their efforts, especially when completing routine activities.

Result-Oriented people are quick thinkers, and they are impatient and fault-finding with those who are not. They evaluate others on their ability to get results. Result-Oriented people are determined and persistent even in the face of antagonism. They take command of a the situation when necessary, whether or not they are in charge. In their uncompromising drive for results, they may appear blunt and uncaring.

Scary isn’t it? Well not really. It is pretty close to the mark. Especially the parts about actively seeking opportunities to test their ability to get results, prizing independence, and avoiding routine work. Yes I can be extremely determined and persistent. I do have to really watch not coming off as aloof, blunt or uncaring.

So what about those undesirable traits? Yes I have to admit, they are me also. I can be self-confident to the point of arrogance. I can be blunt. I find fault. I despise slow workers and committees that get no where fast. Teams? I have little use for them if they are nothing more than a feel good exercise that goes now where fast. However, I enjoy teams that have a defined goal and competent enthusiastic members. Yes the good and the bad both accurately describe me.

I look at this kind of evaluation as a measuring stick. I take it seriously as I know I have some character flaws. We all do. But to me, the Results-Oriented person, the ultimate challenge is one’s self. How can I take my character flaws and correct them? Can I not be blunt, condescending or arrogant? Can I keep the good parts about being a Results-Oriented personality, the tenacity, the drive, the ability to solve difficult tasks, and correct the flaws that this personality type includes?

I have taken this as the ultimate challenge. Can I truly recognize my flaws, admit them, see them for what they are, and adjust my behavior to eliminate them? After all what better task to turn that persistence, that drive, and that tenacity on to?

I like to look at these kind of things as a test, a learning experience from which I can grow. I’m not perfect, none of us are. And thus I think there is great value in understanding who we are. What we are like? Kind of like standing on the outside looking in. We can all benefit from this type of evaluation, especially if we are honest with ourselves. When we understand who we are, the good the bad and the ugly, then we can really make improvements on ourselves.

Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you why I took this DiSC profile. I have my staff going through a team building exercise the next 3 days. And everyone took them, and me being the boss get to look at the summaries for all of my people. It is interesting as it starts to explain some of the conflict I have been seeing. The rest of the Team building should be a lot of fun. I keep you posted on my Blog.

"Luke, come over to the dark side of the force"

2006-02-11T00:15:00.000-05:00

It is your destiny...... (Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back).

Well I have been fighting it, but I admit defeat. Managing my blog on Verizon.NET has taken it's toll. It is the combersome post and comment functionality that has done me in. After much poking and proding I have moved my Blog to Blogger.com. I re-posted three blogs that I think are relavant. And the old site is not going away, just I won't post there anymore.

So here I am.......

A most destructive force

2006-02-11T00:02:00.000-05:00

Insecurity…. Webster’s expounds as such:
Not sure or certain; doubtful: unemployed and facing an insecure future.
Inadequately guarded or protected; unsafe:
A shortage of military police made the air base insecure.
Not firm or fixed; unsteady: an insecure foothold.

Lacking stability; troubled: an insecure relationship.
Lacking self-confidence; plagued by anxiety: had always felt insecure at parties.

It is a vile little thing, creeping about, infiltrating our mental state. Everyone has it in some shape or form. It makes us say things we later regret. It causes us to miss life’s opportunities, to recoil from growth and excitement. It fuels our anger and insites unreasonable fear and rage. It is one of our worst enemies.

Some people try and hide it, others try and deny it. Only a few frequently acknowledge it and then fight through it, only the brave. And those brave souls are the ones that truly enjoy life.

I have insecurities. I confront them constantly. Some I easily brush aside like the petty worries they really are. Others consume my thoughts for long periods of time until my thoughts become rational, digging out there route causes and I emerge triumphant. And a few remain, gnawing at my soul till eternity.

I was insecure about blogging on this subject. I started thinking about it late last year. And I started observing, my family, my friends, my colleagues at work, strangers I met everyday. And as I did, I started to see it more and more. I saw patterns. And I have come to better recognize it, not only in those day to day acquaintances, but also in myself. And my insecurity rose. If I blogged about it, would I insult those I value as friends, those that I love and cherish? Would they see themselves and be angry? Would I embarrass myself by using my own insecurity as examples? So I have thought, long and hard on this one.

My answer came to me last week, while discussing it with a good friend. Why was I being insecure about blogging on insecurity? I would hope that those people I care about would see themselves better, and hopefully see me better. Because the more we know about ourselves, the more honest we are with ourselves, the better our lives are, and I would wish that on all friends and family. So once again, after a long struggle I came to rational thought, casting aside the demon once more.

The blog is on, and I knew it would be a long one. Here are some thoughts on my observations on insecurity and its antonyms, secure/confidence.

Insecurity can cause us to try and dominate a conversation. It is interesting how this happens. You have to tell your story first. You have to “one up” someone else’s story. If your opinion is different than someone else’s, you try and drown out the person you disagree with. Your voice rises, you talk faster. This is very evident if your insecurity causes you to feel you are going to loose an argument. Sometimes it is masked by claiming that you are passionate on a subject.

If however you are secure and confident you will listen. Not just politely stay quiet, but actively listen and acknowledge by commenting and questioning. All without the one-upmanship. In debates over difference of opinions, you stay cool, calm and confident. You listen to the other side of the argument and calmly counter, without interrupting, without raising your voice. After all you are confident in your position, secure because you have been honest with yourself on the subject, and can accept that not everyone will agree with your opinion.

I have taken it upon myself to listen more, to be truly involved in conversations and fight fair during disagreements. This goes across the board and can be very hard when others are not of doing the same. But I am secure in the fact I am making progress.

Insecurity causes us to run down others, to talk badly about our friends & family. You constantly point out their shortcomings. You belittle them and make yourself superior. Gossip forks your tongue constantly. If you are in a disagreement, you try and make bystanders choose sides. Interestingly enough this usually drives people away versus gaining you allies!

If you are secure, you don’t need to talk badly about people. A little friendly ribbing or teasing is one thing, but you are careful not to hurt. You don’t need gossip because your confidence buoys you up instead. Disagreements are handled in a civil private manner. You need not divide your friends to prove a point.

My wife and I have always kept our dirty laundry at home, in private. I think that is a great contributor to the longevity of our relationship. We have never run the other down in public. On the other hand, it can be hard to stay out of the gossip mill with friends. It seems innocent but can be quite harmful. Again I am taking it upon myself to try and take a higher road on this, as I think my friends will respect me more for it.

The insecure are always proving themselves to others. Bragging about their accomplishments, justifying their decisions. They embellish and exaggerate. Simple successes become monumental accomplishments. Everything becomes me, me, me.

The secure are humble. If you are confident and honest with yourself you don’t need to exaggerate. Your accomplishments speak for themselves. You don’t have to talk about yourself constantly to justify your greatness. In fact you spend more time building up others rather than yourself.

I think that I don’t brag about myself a lot. But I can definitely spend more time building up others. So that is on the list.

Insecurity breads contempt. It causes anger. You feel you have been cheated, someone else got your share, your lime light. You fear the unforeseen. And your fear is irrational. You lash out, say things you regret. The anger consumes you and you don’t know why.

Security and confidence makes you rational. You understand your fears and brush them aside. You recognize the root cause of your anger and find more constructive ways of dealing with the issue. You stay in control, and speak from a position of confidence.

I have been quick tempered through out much of my life. It has usually affected my professional life more than my social life. And I’m sure my kids at times would like to have run for the hills. I have really tuned into this one. If I am angry I ask myself why? What has made me angry, and do I have a right to be angry? Or am I just being insecure. 99% of the time, if I am honest with myself, it is insecurity.

So this blog has gone on long enough. I have spewed forth and gotten these thoughts out into the open, naked for all to see. But there is one thing else I should convey. It has dawned on me as I have become more aware of my own insecurities and those around me, that this disease spares no one. Therefore, if you are truly confident and secure with yourself, you must be willing to look past others insecurities to the true person they are. For it is the relationships in our lives that define us. How we treat others is the best measure of our compassion and achievement. Be secure, confident and honest with yourself, and your life will be filled with friendship and happiness.

Archived Post - from Feb 9, 2006, Reolutions Update

2006-02-11T00:00:00.000-05:00

So it has been over 5 weeks since New Years. Time to check on the New Years Resolutions.

Resolution # 1 – Blog More: This has been up and down. Been hung up on a couple of Blog subjects that I want to do, but can’t seem to get them down. Guess I’ll just have to blow through them. Of course this blog counts.

Resolution # 2 – Promote Electronic Socialization: I have been doing terrible on this. I haven’t e-mailed as much lately, and I intended on setting up a forum site, but haven’t yet. Ok time to get off the stick.

Resolution # 3 – Watch more Movies: I got off to a good start on this one, then Liz and/or Thomas went to a couple of movies (Narnia and Memoirs of a Geisha) that I wanted to see but had something else going on. Then they sat me down to watch Napoleon Dynamite and well I haven’t wanted to see another movie since….. And I’m thinking about changing this Resolution to read more books.

Resolution # 4 – Spend more Time Helping the Less Fortunate: I think I am doing quite well here in a round about way. I am now the Scoutmaster for Boy Scout Troop 169, Paw Paw. I get to help mold a bunch of boys into responsible young men. Part of this is performing service projects, like food drives, etc. So I can have a pretty big impact here. This is also taking a tremendous amount of my time right now, part of the reason #1 and #2 are lagging.

Resolution # 5 – Loose Weight. Not sure how much I am loosing, but I have cut back on beer and booze especially on school nights and have been working out at the gym again. Even got Tolerance working out with me. So this one is on track.

Resolution # 6 – Play More Guitar. Band is not practicing once a week, but we have practiced and we are playing this Sunday night, 2/12 at the Old Hat in Lawton! 6 – 9 pm. Come on down!

Archived Post - from Jan 2, 2006, Reolutions

2006-02-10T23:56:00.000-05:00

Monday, January 2, 2006 Here we go again.
Ok, ok, alright already! As aptly pointed out in the comments log, I have yet to post in the New Year. So here they are, resolutions and revelations, in no particular order of priority:

Resolution # 1 – Blog more. I find this blogging therapeutic. Much more than watching TV or some of the other mundane habits we in Western Society have become accustomed to. And I like to read the comments.

Revelation # 1 – Insecurity breeds contempt. This is a whole Blog and I plan on it. The bottom line is that one’s insecurity tends to stir emotions of distrust and dislike. If we can get past our own insecurity then we in general will be happier with ourselves and others.

Resolution # 2 – Promote electronic socialization. I have a small circle of friends that are very well connected electronically. I would like to expand this circle. Not just e-mail, but blogging, instant messaging and forums. Some would say this is as bad as watching TV. I would argue that while sitting in front of the computer is the same physical actvitiy as TV, there is communication, interaction and thought with electronic socialization. And that is good.

Revelation # 2 – Life is good! Life has been good to me. I have a loving wife, great kids, a pretty darned good job and lots of good friends. I think I’ll enjoy myself more.

Resolution # 3 – Watch more movies. I’m not much of a movie fan in general. If I see one a month that is a lot for me. My wife and kids will watch 3 or 4 a week sometimes. But there are a lot of good thought provoking movies out there and a lot of good Fantasy/Sci-fi that are fun to get lost in for 2-3 hours. So I’m going to watch more, I’m shooting for about 3 per month, and then of course right a review on them.

Revelation # 3 – Community matters. I’ve been always kind of community minded, I just didn’t realize it. You can have a profound effect on the lives of those within a 25-50 mile radius of where you live. And when you have a positive effect, it feels great. The national media tends to divert our attention from this, wanting us to focus on the tragedy of the moment. But if we are all concentrating, constantly on our nearest neighbors that need our help, we would be in a much better position to help when a Katrina hits.

Resolution # 4 – Spend more time helping the less fortunate. To do this I need to quite believing that I don’t have enough time. All I really need to do is quite wasting time.

Resolution # 5 – Loose Weight. This is a health issue that I need to take care of. Problem here is my great love of good food and adult beverages.

Resolution #6 – Play more guitar. I’d really like to get the band playing once a month and practicing weekly.

I guess that should wrap this up. On ward!10:33 am est

My other Site

2005-12-19T18:03:00.000-05:00

I recently found out about Blogspot.com and wanted to setup an account to comment on a couple of my friends blogs. I already have a Blog site setup called Microe Philospohy and damn I'm too lazy to move it so here is the URL.

http://mysite.verizon.net/mikenlizroe1/microe/