Ace Wisdom

Finally there is a piece of baseball memorabilia available at a very, very low price. I understand you can get a Ryan Braun baseball jersey for almost nothing. You might even get it free.

Mom and I got to watch Grandson Tommy play the first game of the year-end baseball tournament last night. He continues to catch flies to the outfield, hit the ball with authority and score runs. His team won again. Tommy’s team is on a four game winning streak. Ryan Braun look out!

I’m going to give you the “secret” to business success. It is pretty simple. Take care of the customer. The customer is the reason you have a job. Yesterday in Milwaukee, a famous restaurant was accused via e-mail by a customer of being drugged while consuming a Margarita. The restaurant turned the issue over to their “social media manager”. The manager’s basic job is to create effective advertising and public relations over Facebook, Google and other social networks. The response of the social media manager was that the customer was lying and the accusation was false. Whoa! The social media networks lit up with all kinds of support for the customer. Did the restaurant check with person mixing the drinks? Were other people around the customer that could have tainted the drink? Were the ingedients checked? You get the idea. “The customer was wrong without investigating the facts”. The negative repercussions of calling the customer wrong is huge. What is so complicated about assuming the customer was right? The solution is simple. The restaurant needs to admit they acted hastily and they are researching the facts. In the spirit of building goodwill, drinks would be “on the house” for the next week. The perception (and reality) should be that the customer will be treated fairly. The perception also should be that the restaurant really cares about “you” the customer. And lastly, fire the d— “social media manager”. Maybe he/she could do public relations for Ryan Braun. Dah!

And so it goes. There is no lack of exciting “fodder” for conversation. Sometimes it gets really stupid.

Love,
Dad

The Green Bay Packers open training camp in one week. Whoa!

Packer training begins during the two hottest weeks of the year (the last week in July and the first week in August). The combination of hot work environment (kiln fired products) and hot weather always caused Kohler to shut down those two weeks.

Grandson Dominic is wrapping up a summer long football sponsored training program. He weighs about 185 pounds. He indicated he would be trying to finish the program by lifting 400 pounds. I told him “don’t do that”! I was assured that he was well conditioned and supervised. Nothing to worry about. 400 pounds in a lot of weight. I know, I am old fashioned.

Here we go. I get to reminisce. While in high school, summers were spent playing baseball, working for the local Stokely Van Camp cannery (yes I had to earn money), and finally in mid-August, reporting for football practice. There was no “year around conditioning”. In my junior and senior years of high school, our football team was undefeated. My conclusion is that talent outweighs conditioning.

Grandson Mitchell is working out at the local health club. It includes some basketball, weight lifting and running. He like Dominic is “fit”. Because he is growing, he thinks he will someday be able to dunk a basketball. No family member that I know (may Alice’s brother Jerry) could dunk. Jerry was 6-5 but “husky”. If Mitchell can dunk with one hand (he needs to do it in front of me and the rim must measure 10 feet off the ground), I’ve agreed to pay him $5. To show you how stupid some of these conversations get, he wants $20 if he can dunk with two hands. Yeah, right! Hey who knows. He has some “tall genes” from his dad John.

The hot weather breaks tonight.

Love,
Dad

There are a lot of terms that get tossed around descibing someone who does not spend money. Cheap. Miserly. Stingy. I “work out regularly” at my local fitness center with Tom. Now I don’t want to say Tom is cheap, but when I look up the definition of “cheap” in the dictionary, Tom’s picture is there. Tom is not broke, he is cheap. He has central air conditioning in his house but he doesn’t run it on because “it costs money”. I told him if he goes the whole summer without running his “central air”, I would feature him in a blog. Guess what? Mr. Cheapskate couldn’t hold out and he turned on his air conditioner yesterday. Not to full cooling effectiveness, but the conditioner was on. Even he couldn’t stand the sweltering heat. Because he relented and turned on the air conditioner, my offer is off. I will not mention him in a blog.

Grandson Tommy played baseball game in Sheboygan last evening. His team won 8-1 and is on a two game winning streak. Tom walked, got a couple of base hits, stole a couple of bases and scored twice. Way to go Thomas. As we left the baseball park, Tommy’s coach was demonstrating how he should make a bigger turn on the ball, get his a– into the swing and drive the ball further and harder. Listen to your Coach Tommy! Use your a–.

Growing up as a kid, you know I played a lot of “youth” baseball. A lot of “youth parks” had short fence distances so that a well struck pitch ball could be driven over the wall. It was a rare occurance but every young kid dreamed of “hitting the big home run” over the fence, trotting around the bases and being mobbed by his team-mates. No, I don’t remember a drive over the wall. Last night, a player on Tommy’s team (Nate) drove the ball over the wall. Everybody was stunned! I do know this, Nate will always remember his home run from last night. He for one short moment, lived the dream. It indeed was memorable.

Don’t be stubborn like my cheap exercise partner Tom, turn on your air conditioner. Staying cool is pricelss. The dog days of summer are just beginning.

Love,
Dad

I had lunch this week with brother Jerry. Growing up it was always little Jerry (we had to differentiate from my Mother’s brother “Big Jerry). Jerry showed up at the “Backyard Bar and Grill” in Fond du lac with the “top down” on his baby blue Toyota Camry (technically a Solara). He is sporting a “white” beard and looks older than me. I remember when I retired that I tried growing a beard and found it looked like “sh–“. Kind of like Jerry’s.

I have been dreading a visit to the dermatologist. They advocate 6 month check-ups. I’ve had a couple of skin blemishes that previously morphed into “pre-cancers”. That usually results in minor surgery or stitches. I always feel like an animal being examined for cooties. The doctor found a few minor things. Now I don’t have to dread the next visit for at least 6 months.

It seems like the economy is slowly limping along. Grasshopper No.3 bought the new Volkswagon Sportwagon, Grandson Grant bought a used Camry, and Grasshopper No.2’s best friend Tony bought a used Miata (for fun). Grasshopper No.4 just finished installing a new floor in his kitchen and Grasshopper No.2 is having her house painted (her son Grant is doing the honors and being paid gas money). Your Mom and I got a peek at No.2’s new darker “blue-gray” color with white trim. It is like an extreme make-over. The new color makes an impressive “statement”. So you see, money is being plowed into economy on discretionary things.

I couldn’t help but think about Grasshopper No.5 moving to a new apartment on Wednesday. Having been through a few moves in my life, it is a life altering event. She had to accomplish the move with “friends” and “2-men and a truck”. Now she has to get used to different sounds. The refrigerator with have it’s sounds, the furnace will be different and even the dog barking next door will take some getting used to. It will become home. Enjoy.

The Green Bay Packers report for practice in less than 2 weeks. Really?

Love,
Dad

Grasshopper No.5 moves to her new apartment near downtown Minneapolis tomorrow. She has “Two Men and a Truck” (or some equivalent) scheduled to move the big stuff. No.5’s new “digs” have a full size refrigerator and a full size stove (vs. apartment efficient appliances now). No.5 refers to her new kitchen as having “adult appliances”. Happiness is..!

Grasshopper No.3 got to visit Keely and Granddaughter No.1 in Cleveland over the weekend. I understand the baby Myla is the cutest baby ever, I mean ever. Of course!

Mom and I got to see Grasshopper No.2’s terraced flower garden in the back of her house on Sunday. It clearly is a labor of love. She has a section of her garden dedicated to raspberries. The raspberry bushes have just exploded and there will be a bumper crop. The “catch” is that if Mom and I want raspberries we need to make a special trek to Madison. Festival Foods may be cheaper. Actually I’ve had a false promise for 5 years from Grasshopper No.1 and my favorite son-in-law for “free berries” from their garden. Maybe after 5 years waiting, I should take the hint. There ain’t going to be berries the No.1 family.

Grandson Grant bought a used 1995 Camry and he is now free to go anywhere, anytime he wants. This “freedom thing works”. There is a matter of gas. Grant is finding out how expensive that “yellow juice” really is. The engine in the Camry seems like it is in great shape after 160,000 miles. A perfect car for a perfect kid.

Grasshopper No.2 is living the youthful fantasy with her best friend Tony. Tony bought a used 1996 Mazda Miata convertible. It has been partially restored. It has a new paint job, updated upholstery and a dependable engine. No.2 and Tony argue who can shift the manual transmission the smoothist. Another perfect car for perfect kids.

So you see, the world keeps moving and changing. That is as it should be. Enjoy the Summer.

Love,
Dad

The 4th of July was on a Thursday. For some people that is a good thing because they could combine a holiday with a Friday vacation day and get a long weekend. For some people, Friday is still a work day and that “sucks”.

I like it when the world has a normal “hummmm”. It is like worker bees going about their business. I like the buzz of financial markets reporting that the Fed is still buying mortgage backed securities. I like reports that countries such as Egypt are rioting for new government (there is always a country that is rioting or threatening nuclear attack). It is okay that the Brewers lost again in Washington D.C. You get the idea. There is a “hummmm” to the world.

The 4th of July had an erie silence to it. Yeah there were parades, rodeos, picnics and fireworks but the daily hummmm to life had been interrupted. Our neighborhood did not have a single child playing outside (it was sunshine and beautiful). There was an absence of traffic all day long. The only explanation was that some families went on vacation, some went to a family cottage, picnic or outing. It could be that all the kids were inside playing Nitendo or X-Box games. Occasionally during the day, you would see a parent outside mowing his/her lawn.

In the midst of all this silence, your Mom and I went to see the movie “Tonto”. Whoops. It was titled the “Lone Ranger”. You know, “return with me the days of yester-year, the masked man rides again. Hi-Ho Silver, away”. The movie is not quite that way. It is told from the perspective of Tonto (Johnny Depp with s painted face and a dead crow on his head). Depp confirms that indians are smarter and more intuitive that the white man. Dah! It is interesting perspective of the old West. The movie theaters weren’t packed either.
So today is a return of the normal Hummmm. It is a partial Hummmm but at least doesn’t have the “celebritory feel”. I like that.

Love,
Dad

Late yesterday afternoon, your Mom and I got to see Grandson Tommy play Sheboygan Youth League Baseball (we used to call it “pee-wee” league) Tommy got a hit. He drove in a run. He scored a run. His team lost 10-2. But hey, the baseball experience is priceless.
Pee-Wee League for my brother Jack and myself was different. Our Dad was the coach (remember he had a Major League “try-out”). Practices were organized drills. Fungo bats hit balls to outfielders for practice. Batting practice permitted only “so many swings”. Infield practice was orchestrated precisely. “Around the horn” meant something. If a player didn’t show up for practice, he didn’t play in the next game. Well, it ain’t like that any more. There is a problem with getting enough players to show up for practice and the game. Everybody plays through a rotation procedure and drinking plenty of fluids is an “artform”. If any player from our Pee-Wee league team drank water while my Dad (the coach) was talking to the team, that player would now be orbiting the earth. But I guess the bottom line is happiness. Happy even if you lose 10-2.
The big story yesterday was that the game was in Sheboygan. It was bright sunshine. Temperatures around the State were in the mid-70’s. Winds were brisk out of the northeast. Remember I said we were in Sheboygan. Game time temperature was 67 degrees with a cold chill coming off Lake Michigan. Damn it was cold. People were huddled in jackets and sweatshirts.
For 18 years our family lived in Sheboygan 6 blocks from Lake Michigan. We experienced the cooling effect of the Lake many times. Then we bought a cottage 15 miles “inland”. We would leave home where in the morning when it was 65 degrees and arrive at the cottage where it was mid-80’s. Really? Really!
There are places you can go in the Summertime in Wisconsin that are not 67 degrees. I have experienced it! Really!
Love,
Dad