A Classroom with a View

So we have spent the last couple days in the class. We are learning a lot. We did a video project this week with partners along with learning a new web language called Ruby on Rails. We are also have visits from possible partners from Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO) in Geneva. In the program: Technology in Education: Global Program we will be partnering up with world organizations to create interactive media experiences. This week we have been talking to possible partners and learning what they do and how we could possibly help them. It has been very interesting, but at the same time a little overwhelming. Because we have to decide what our project is in the next couple days.

Last night we had a very nice reception here with some of our partners, the interim chancellor of UofM Flint, our professors, the Director of the John Knox Center and the list goes on. We had wonderful food and drink. Then we did a tele-press-conference with the with Dean of our school and some of the other University officials back in Flint. You can read more about it on the Flint Journal site. During the press conference one of our professors asked me to get up and speak about the program. And in turn I was quoted in the paper. Oh yes, I am internationally famous, as if you didn't know that already, clearly you are hear reading this blog. The picture to the right is one of Bruce and my new friends: Meghan & Karyn.

So while I have been in Switzerland I have learned a few things: I love dark chocolate, everywhere you walk in Switzerland is up hill and I love SKYPE. Yes, if you don't have skype get it. It is better than AIM instant messenger and MSN. Why, you may ask. Well because it has the best smiley's. Here is a small example of the greatness.

So one and all join skype today, because we can talk over the internet for free along with chatting. You can find me at well Jennie Holladay. Well I better get to bed because I am tired and I had a rough morning this morning. Too much free wine.

Swiss Slugs

It's been pretty raining since we arrived in Switzerland. And I have learned that when it rains in Switzerland the slugs come out, yes slugs. When I say slug please think large dog turd sized slugs. When it rains the slugs slither out and fill the sidewalks. I mean the first night I was like oh my word there is dog poop everywhere. I was quickly informed that it was not dog logs, but hundreds of slimy slugs slithering their way across the sidewalk. It's kind of like the earthworms in the Michigan, but I must admit this is way more disgusting. Because the slugs leave a path of slim on the sidewalk and look like dog poop.

Other than the slugs we are having a lot of fun! We are currently learning to program with ruby on rails, it's a different way to create web pages. It's complicated, I hope that I will start to understand it by later this week. The Interim Chancellor arrived in Geneva tonight. We are having a big reception tomorrow night. These past two days have been really class intensive so I haven't done much touristy stuff. The running club continued this morning, we even grew by one. However we have changed the time to 7:11 so now we must change the name to the 711 club.

We are also planning a group trip to the mountains. Bruce and I have made some fast fun friends: there's Calumet Tony, my Little Pony Megan and Karyn. (The pony story I will save for later.) We planned our trip over ice cream tonight.

Right now I am blogging while I am waiting for the dryer to dry our laundry. It's really hard to write these blogs because there are so many people in the room and it turns out I am easily distracted.

Breaking News from Geneva!

Tyra Banks has signed with the New CW until 2010 to produce America's Next Top Model! How exciting, I know you are all looking here for news from Geneva, but I figured that this news was just as important. This information is courtesy of Perez Hilton! Oh what great news....

Exploring Geneva

We started class today, but this weekend we have spent a lot of time exploring Geneva. Yesterday almost everything is closed in Geneva. The only things that are open on Sundays are museums and restuarants. Bruce and I headed to the Art Museum with our new friend Maxine, who's in our class. Maxine resides in Grand Cayman. The art museum was nice, but not spectacular. I actually enjoyed the modern art the most. The picture above is Bruce waiting for the bus in the rain. It was our first day exploring Geneva and we went out without an umbrella and of course it started raining. As we were waiting for the bus, it was the only stop without shelter, Bruce found a creative way to stay dry. This morning we started a running club, we are calling it the 720 running club because we meet at 7:20 am. We decided this as we were coming back from an outdoor concert at midnight. We have about 6 people actually wake-up and go. I hope we keep it going, I imagine the longer we are hear the less energy we will have.

Today we are in class. It's a lot to absorb when it comes to coding. Today we start digital video, that's something I hope I can handle.

We Made It!

This morning we arrived in Geneva after a very long international flight, but hey aren't they all long, well unless you are flying to Canada then for us at least it's not so long. The Geneva airport was really easy to fly into then we took a cab and headed off to the John Knox Center (JKC.) Bruce and I have a nice room. We took a nap, longer than expected but not too long. Then we took off to get some food, get a SIM card for Bruce's Ebay cell phone and eat.

We didn't really know where we were going. Everyone was either gone or asleep when we left for the city. So we started walking and hoped that we find the bus stop. Once we found it we took it. Then we got closer to downtown and started walking. We walked through some interesting parts of town you know that parts with the sex shops. Once we found the shopping district we had a great time. We our way to the nice shopping district. We found our first chocolate shop where I had to sample some of course. It was delicious. Then we found a nice place to eat, but it was slow as slow could be, but we were thankful to rest our feet. Then we had some pizza and headed for home. Now we are back that JKC and forcing ourselves to stay up a little longer with hopes that we will wake up tomorrow with no signs of jet lag.

No pictures because I forgot the cable at home, Bruce and I are hoping someone may have a kodak camera with them because their connectors are like no other.

Bon Voyage!

Bruce and I leave for our European Adventure today. Stay tuned to the TiVo Changed My Life Blog for updates! Switzerland here we come.

Four weeks of clothes!

Oh Calumet...

Ok, I have been back from up north for a while but I finally was able to get this video edited down and uploaded to YouTube. It's my cousin's expression of why they love Old Calumet. Enjoy!

Travelin' Blues

Last night, Olive, Angie & I went to Steve's Place, a bar next to St. Andrew's Hall, to see our new friend Travelin' Blues play. Who is Travelin' Blues? Well his first name is Steve but he goes by Travelin' Blue. We first saw him play in March when G. Love brought him up on stage at St. Andrew's Hall. Then we saw him again when we went to Cleveland to see G. Love and Special Sauce. In May, Olive and I tracked him down to be part of my biggest fan video. So you should recognize him, I am sure he's the reason, that I won! We ran into Steve again this week in Toledo and Grand Rapids at the G. Love and Special Sauce concerts.

At that moment, Olive and I decided that we needed to see Steve play in Detroit. So we went to see Steve play at Steve's Place a little bar next to St. Andrew's Hall that seems to be frozen in time. We sat and talked with Travelin' Blue while Steve the owner who had to be in his late 70's to early 80's waited on us. Before we left Travelin' Blue played the blues, there were just a handful of people in the bar, but the crowd loved every minute.

So here's my plug for Travelin Blue, go see him play. He plays on Monroe Street at the edge of Greektown closest to I-375 and every weekend you can see him play at Steve's Place. If you love the blues, which I do, go see Travelin' Blue. He will play for you and you will become a fan too, I promise.

G. Love Gives Love to DMT

Backstage with G. Love

For those of you who think I get too long winded here is the cliff note version: the concert was great, he recognized me, we went backstage we talked for a little while and we went home.

Now for the more detailed events of the day in no particular order:

The concert was at this very small unusual venue. When we pulled up I thought it may be a roller rink. (We later came to find out that they are working out new music that is why they are playing these smaller venues.) But anyway it was hot, but Olive and I planted ourselves in the FRONT ROW as usual. We meet some other G. Love devotees from Detroit. And I was even recognized by another fan, yes I was mildly famous at the G. Love concert.

The other great thing was Steve the Travelin' Blues Man was there and we got a chance to say hi to him when he arrived. He recognized us too. He played a set before the show, which was awesome.

Then after Steve: G.Love and Special Sauce came out on stage. The coolest part of the night was when he looked right at me and then had that look like, hey I know you. So all night during the concert he made me feel special pointing, singing to me and grabbing my hand. He even played Holla! and came straight to me to sing along. Oh did I forget to mention that I got a hug and a kiss on the cheek during the song. All the other girls were so jealous. It was a great show, but it was a hot one!

After the show, we tracked down members of the crew to let them know that I was the winner. Most of them were like what? But then we finally found someone who knew kind of what we were talking about and pulled us to this backstage area, that was actually a small room the size of a large walk-in closet. Steve was sitting in there waiting to talk to G. Love. Then after a couple of minutes: G. Love came in. He was really cool. We talked about my video and how he liked the student participation. He made sure to ask me if I had seen his comment on my video. I even got him to do a little video giving my kids a shout out. Then he talked to Steve for a bit about playing in Grand Rapids tonight. We had a chance to chat with their new tour manager Brian the surfer from California. He had seen the video. He entertained us while G. Love was talking to Steve and got us something to drink. After G & Steve were done negotiating. We took some pictures and he was on his way. It wasn't too long, but it was nice.

We also chatted with Frank, the guy who sells all the G. Love merchandise at the shows. He actually recognized me from the video. So we chatted about the video and he gave me a bunch of stickers for my students.

After that met Houseman. We had a really intriguing conversation about the difference between Reggae and Rock Steady. Which I must admit I still don't have the exact dates of when Rock Steady music actually happened in Jamaica. (Olive just added that she now knows it started in mid-1963 and went until the late 60's) I just know, it was after ska and before reggae. He took some pictures with us too and then we were on our way back to Michigan.

It's a surprise that we arrived at this concert venue at all. Why? It all started with an accident on I-75 and detours for miles. We were sitting in the car saying at this rate we will never get to Toledo. Once we finally managed to get by all the traffic nonsense we headed towards Tiffin? Yes that's right Tiffin, Ohio. Why? Well because google told me to. I was in a hurry when I was leaving Attica and we were out of black toner so I couldn't print. So I quickly emailed Olive the directions from my google search of "Headliners Toledo" and the directions said to go to Tiffin. So we are thinking that Tiffin is clearly a suburb of Toledo. But then talking to Todd (our Ohio expert) he mentioned that there was a University in Tiffin, so we were like oh that makes sense. So when we drove through Toledo and started heading into miles of fields of soybeans and cornfields we were like ok, well there is a University there. Only to drive an hour southeast of Toledo to find out the address we had was for a beauty salon. The people at the local dairy queen looked at us as if we were insane! To be honest I kept asking myself why we didn't think we were going the wrong way sooner. The answer I have too much trust in google. I can't believe google let me down. But it turns out if we hadn't had our detour we would have gotten there really hours early and the place was not in the middle of downtown so there would have been nothing to do, except visit the adult bookstore down the street.

Tonight we head to Grand Rapids. I am excited, but I am a little sad, because I feel like my day in the sun is over. The contest after glow is gone and now I am back to being the regular anonymous super fan that I have been for the last 10 years.

This is not Toledo this is more like Tiffin, Ohio!

More Jennie, Olive & G. Love

Tonight Olive and I travel to Toledo for the beginning of our latest installment of G. Love and Special Sauce concerts! Yes, we will be seeing the band in Toledo and Grand Rapids. The best part of this trip is that as part of winning the ultimate fan contest means I get to go backstage and take a friend (of course Olive.) So tonight we will get to meet G. Love and Special Sauce backstage. I have never been "backstage" at a concert, so that is very cool in itself.

This is very exciting but it is also a major problem, because well if you haven't figured it out by now I am somewhat of a dork and unless G. Love has a warm spot in his heart for big geeks, this could be disastrous. Yes the last time we got to meet G. Love it was just a meet and greet, (he was super nice) but there was no expectation than a conversation lasting more than oh maybe a minute or two, but there is potential here for a longer conversation which could mean much more embarrassing incident. Also the plan is to go back stage at tonight's concert, however if that doesn't go well, clearly I will not want to be in the front row of tomorrow night's concert for fear of being spotted, but let's just hope and pray that isn't the case. Stay tuned as the drama unfolds right here on the TiVo Changed my Life Blog.

Bald Eagle = 50 Bucks

Ok, while growing up my mom often played games with us, mainly to keep us quiet. One of our favorite games involved car rides and money, hey what can I say we were kids. My mom told us for every red wing blackbird we saw (of course with her confirmation) she would give us a penny, not much, but when you are little, it's the 1980's a penny and you are riding in the car for hours, it can shut you up. However the stakes did get bigger a white tailed deer sighting would get you $1. Yes, a whole dollar, but you had to see the deer first and mom had to confirm it. It used to be a $1 a deer until my sister saw a heard of 20 and the rule quickly changed to a $1 a sighting. The next big bounty really jumped if we saw a moose it was $20, well there are not moose in the lower part of Michigan so that one was saved for our trips to Calumet. To this day no one has seen a wild moose. (yes I forgot to mention these animals must be in the wild, it did not count at the zoo.) But the big money is in the bald eagle, it was $50 for a bald eagle, however the sighting had to be confirmed by animal expert Pat Sahakian herself.

Well it took until 2007 but the Eagle has been spotted by me and confirmed by mom. And you maybe thinking why Jennie you are much too old for this game, but the answer is NO. Hey I have been working all my life to spot a Bald Eagle, I can't tell you how many hundreds of hours of car rides I had my eyes peeled to the sky with just the hopes of seeing the majestic bird so that I could go shopping and get some new clothes. This trip to Calumet finally paid off and my mom was a good sport too, because she paid up. (I have not yet spent the $50, I am thinking about framing it.)

I first saw the eagle soaring above Great Sand Bay on the shoreline of Lake Superior. Between two towns Eagle Harbor and Eagle River. Now my mom has been going to these areas nearly all her life (if you ask her grandson that is 22 years, but the rest of us know that she is a little older than that) and she has never seen an eagle in Eagle Harbor or Eagle River. So don't think I am taking this sweet lady through the ringer! The one ironic thing is the girl who is usually with camera in tow on vacation, did not take her camera down the big sand dune to the beach, which meant all we had was my mom's camera phone, which did not work because we couldn't zoom in far enough to make it look less than a dot.

However, my mom has made a new rule only one Eagle spotting in a lifetime (yes rules are subject to change at anytime in these games.) So I have seen my first and last $50 eagle, but it was worth every hour of sky gazing. It was really cool and of course I am now $50 richer! But Krista and Kevin you can still be a winner, so keep your eyes on the sky!

Weekend at the Camp

It was the last weekend up north in Copper Country. The Keewenaw Pennisula is just north of everywhere, you would never go there unless you meant to, because it doesn't lead to anywhere else. That is "God's Country" as my grandpa would call it, he and my grandmother where born and raised there. So every year we head north to visit our relatives, who NEVER and I mean NEVER come south of the bridge: the bridge being the Mackinac Bridge. But if you ask my cousins they don't like to go south of the Bridge that connects the Keewenaw to the rest of the upper pennisula.

Well this weekend we got to spend some quality time with my cousins Babe, Sherri & her husband Clark and of course my Auntie Shirley. You can't help but have a good time in their company. They invited us out to Boot Jack to their camp, downstate you would probably call it a cabin or a lake house maybe even a beach house, but up north it is clearly a camp. It is the kind of camping that even I can embrace, because well I doesn't involve a tent.

Well they showed us a wonderful time with too many good things to eat and drink. I never made it out into the lake because well I don't canoe.

Another highlight of our weekend was going to the Chassell Strawberry Festival to watch the queen competition. My cousin (twice removed - you get my drift - it seems that we are related to everyone in someway) was in the pagent. We really had a good time listening to the girls answer their on the spot questions like what would you take if you could only have one thing on a deserted island. Some girls said a book, pictures of their family, a survival guide, but I myself would have said: Chassell Strawberries, come on it's the strawberry festival, it would have totally been the winning answers, but no one said that or a bible, which frankly surprised me. But funny how no one asked me to judge. Beth Ann (she is in light blue) did not win, but she made the family proud!

I am now safely back home after a very long ride in the minivan with my parents (Bruce came home earlier.

Great sand bay

I saw a bald eagle today which means my mom paid me fifty dollars, I will explain later!

Up North! Way Up North!

Well it's my families yearly trek to the north, when I say north, I am talking as far north as it gets in Michigan, up to the Copper Country in the U.P. (Upper Pennisula.) My mom's family is from here and we all stay at the family home also known as "the shaft" (because of it's location on Red Jacket Shaft Rd.) Time up north is spent treking to all the favorite locations the beach, copper harbor and of course all of our favorite places to eat.

But this year was a bit disappointing, why well Bruce and I quickly made our way to Lindell's Lunches in Lake Linden. It's on e of those great places with the stand glass lights and beautiful wood. There is lunch, candies, chocolates and of course ice cream. We arrived and parked down the street aways but as we approached we new something was wrong there was no cute display in the window. To our shock and disappointment it was closed. We later found out from the relatives that they had a hard time finding help so they shut down at the end of tourist season last year with the promise to reopen in May, but they never opened. This is truly a disappointment! We can only hope and pray that this is a one year thing and it will be back open next year!

Tomorrow we will be heading to Copper Harbor to watch the fireworks, tonight after some interneting we will be heading to Shutes for Karoke with the fam! The good times never end!

My Champions!

So we are back home, but we had a great time in Kansas City! Megan & Erik had such an awesome showing! They didn't make the podium but they were so close: they finished in 4th place in the nation! They were just one percentage point away from 3rd place. It was such an awesome performance! I feel like such a proud teacher! Kansas City was so much fun, I have to admit I am exhausted. I just don't have the energy that these kids have! We were pretty much out the door everyday by 7 am and didn't get to bed until after 11 pm. And I couldn't be the last one up because as it turns out I am the teacher who needs to be responsible.

We had such a great group of students from St. Clair TEC. It was great. We had one student win the gold. He now gets an all expensed paid trip to Switzerland! He is pictured to the left with his advisor, please make your best guess at which won is the student! Here's a hint he is wearing the medal and has all his hair. I am sure if you looked at your face, you couldn't tell who is happier! It was so cool to see him up there on the stage! I hope my use of exclamation points conveys my excitement!

When the students had a break from all their competing we were able to hit my favorite spots. We also got to go on a tour of my old station KCTV5. My great friend Andrew so graciously gave us a tour. I think it was cool for the students to see what a different market television station is like. It was cool because the McEntee Fam came down to cheer Megan on, so we they got to come too. We toured the station and sat -in on the noon newscast. It was fun for me to catch up with my old friends. It's strange to see how things have changed, but somehow it felt so familiar despite the fact that I haven't worked there in 5 1/2 years. There is a picture of my friend Andrew and I. When I worked in television, I found that the people you work with really because like your family. You go through so much together, so it was really nice to come home (I feel the same way when I visit channel 4 in Detroit.) So thanks again Andrew, all my students, their family and I really appreciated you taking time (staying late) to give us a tour!

So now I am home, coming down from the week high! It was such a cool expereience, i am sure my writing is not so fresh, but with the lack of sleep my creativity is little or nothing! So maybe I will revisit this post later the next week.

Breaking News! I WON!

Yes, my video won the G. Love and Special Sauce Biggest Fan Contest. I actually found out earlier this week, but I didn't want to post anything just in case they reconsider. Here's what they had to say about the winners.

Tonight I find out how my students did at SkillsUSA. I got to see there video and regardless of their place I am really proud of them. But I am not going to lie, I am crossing my fingers for them!

SkillsUSA - Kansas City

Tonight was opening ceremonies. It was really a rockin' time. There was load music and the kids even though they complained about their red coats endlessly didn't seem to mind wearing them when you are in an auditorium with thousands of people in red coats. Michigan brought these crazy light up swords. We had fun dancing to the music, I certainly embarrassed the students, but hey that's what they pay me for.

Earlier today we spent trading pins with people from all over the country. My students got into the fun, they don't have the dorky pin collection like me but they really got into the spirit. We had a lot of fun. It got to the point where we were seeking out the "cool" pins and trading other states for them because we were out of the Michigan pin. Megan got a really cool Oklahoma pin, Erik scored this sweet Washington pin and I got a highly coveted Alaska pin. It's a lot of fun because you talk to all these people that you really wouldn't have a reason to talk to.

Tomorrow is D-Day for my students, the competition starts. I am nervous for them, but I know they will do well. I keep telling them that I am so proud of them, because I am. I said regardless of how you place here, just produce a video that you are proud of. They are such great kids.

So as for being here in KC, it's so nice to back here. When I moved away I didn't realize how much I would miss this town. I am really enjoying dragging these 8 high schoolers and two advisors to all my favorite food places. We went to a KC tradition tonight Gates BBQ, let's say I loved it, everyone else didn't see the charm. Well, oh well. Tomorrow night the girls are ditching the boys for some q-t on the Plaza. Two Words: Cheesecake Factory!

Big Brother's Coming Back...

but will I want to watch it without Dr. Will and Booger. Yes, I got caught up in the all-stars nonsense last summer and let's face it, it was really the dynamic of Booger and Dr. Will that keep me interested. So will I stick with this season? Will there be another Dr. Will? Who knows, but you have guessed it I am programming it in the TiVo. I will keep you up to date with my thoughts and oh so candid insights.

Hey, I need something to amuse me until the return of America's Next Top Model.

Call Me: Bird Killer

I am not sure what it is about today and birds. I drove over to St. Clair this morning to meet up with Helen and I hit a bird. For a while I was convinced it maybe stuck to the front of my car. Then I am driving home and bam I hit another one. I am not sure if they are all trying to commit suicide and they are like that one will feel bad. But now I am left with the guilt that I am a killer. So I am on my way to Flint to see the fam in an hour, I am hoping that there won't be another episode in this deadly day.

Kansas City Here We Come

So it's a big weekend, why, well I get ready for a big week in KC. Yes, the SkillsUSA National Leadership Conference and Competition is next week. As you may remember my students won the state competition so we will be headed down to KC for the National Competition. I am very excited for a couple of reasons: first I hear it is a great time (from those who went last year) and secondly because I used to live in KC. I am hoping that I will get a chance to catch up with a couple of my friends (Andrew, Carolyn, Gary, Streeter & Andre) at KCTV and my old anchor Jeff Vaughn who is now at the NBC affiliate.

As I look at the weather I realize that it will be just like I remember in Missouri at this time of year, that's right miserable. I love the city, but I don't miss the heat. It will be in the upper 80's and humid all week. Bruce will be be holding down the homestead in Attica.

On side note today was the last day of work for my friend Dave Hickman, he has decided to leave education and rejoin the real world of work. He taught Information Technology, Dave can be a royal pain in my butt, we have a brother/sister type relationship, and gosh darnit, I am going to miss him. Yes, at work you can always count on Dave to help organize the golf event (hence my new found love for golf,) he will always come down to your room to steal the good candy with caramel preferably, he has a quick wit that will leave you rolling and his sharp tongue is the best, unless you are on the receiving end, which I must add is always (ok most of the time) in good fun. So Dave you big LOSER, (pictured to the right with me.) I can't believe you are leaving us, but I guess I understand, so have fun, but you better come back to golf, because I bought NEW clubs.

But now that I think about it maybe Brad Baker from Grand Valley via the Junction Bouy, can take your spot, hmmmm I wonder if he knows anything about computers, I am sure he has a myspace? Gale what you do you think? Oh I make myself giggle.

A Second Generation Childhood Tradition

This weekend my sister, niece and nephew were in town. I headed down to Manchester on Thursday night because I had Friday off from school. We had a very busy agenda Friday.

9 AM - Trip to the Donut Store for chocolate covered donuts
10AM - Trip to the Park
11AM - Visit the Cousins
12PM - Lunch Back at the Sahakian Homestead
1 PM - Swimming at the Sahakian Pool (baby pool)
3PM - Golfing in the Front Yard
4PM - 6PM - Cartoons/Rest for the Weary (the adults)
6PM - Leave for Jackson
7PM - Arrive at the Parlour (The Jackson All-Star Dairy to us) for a delicious dinner of ice cream 8:30PM - Arrive at the Jackson Cascades.
9PM - Get in the car and head home

If you have never been to the Jackson Cascades it's a great adventure. It's a huge cement water fall that is full of lights. As evening goes on and it gets darker the lights get brighter. You can walk up and down the falls. Which for my niece and nephew it means running up and down the falls. My nephew Max likes to skip the steps and just run up the hills. I don't know how my sister keeps up with the two of them as soon as one of them slow down the next one starts going. Once it gets dark enough that is when the show starts and we sit back with the popcorn and watch the colors of the falls dance to the music. The Jackson All Star Dairy and the Jackson Cascades was a childhood tradition for my sister, brother and I, so it was tons of fun to see my niece and nephew enjoy it too. They loved the music, the lights and running around like crazy people.

I know they always say that kids say the darn-dest things, I think it was a tv show. Well the kids were full of them this weekend, but my favorite was when my dad was driving to Jackson. We come to a stop sign and my dad stops kind of fast and my nephew says: "Wow, that was a close one!" We all busted out with laughter. You know if we would have said that John Sahakian would not have been pleased.

It was a great weekend like always. I love hanging out with them. I just wish that Chicago was a little closer so I could hang out with all them more.

I Got New Clubs
No Not for Hitting Bruce or My Students -
They're For Golfing

Well I guess they aren't exactly what you would call new, they are just new to me. I picked up a set of clubs this weekend for $5 at a garage sale in Manchester! (actually my dad picked them up, because as I write this I realize that I never paid him the $5 back.) My eagle-eyed sister was able to see them as we zipped passed the garage sale en route to Uncle Jimmy's house.

Of course these clubs are used and my woods are actually really made from wood. I consider them a collectors item. I am sure a real golfer would scoff at my clubs (Dave (pictured below) already has.) However, since I golf approximately two times a year these are the best clubs for me. Yes, I have recently taken up golf, well if you call attending the bi-annual (and sometimes tri-annual) golf outings. I never thought I would enjoy golf, but it's great, especially when you get to drive the cart. As for my game, well it's getting better and I am sure my new clubs will do the trick to get me to Tiger woods status. HA HA!

In the meantime, I will keep up my game, well at least as long as there are golf outings at work and we don't golf more than 9 holes, because frankly around 6 or 7, I could be done, so anything over 9 is WAY TOO MUCH for me to handle. Yes, those are my feet up relaxing in the cart, I must admit the other downside of golf, ok there are many, 1. I am not good, 2. I do not foresee ever becoming good, 3. I can only hand 9 holes, but another downside is recommended footwear, as you can clearly see here I am sporting my sneakers, apparently I should be wearing cleats however flip flops are not recommended in fact they are frowned upon while golfing. Clearly if this is a sport I am ever going to get into that has to change! :)

The Summer of the Dress

So last year was the official summer of the skirt, I went from lovin' the sh'pant (capri's to the rest of the world) to embracing the skirt. This year has officially turned into the summer of the dress. It has all started with, well I would have to say clothing companies have contributed much because there are more dresses out than ever before, but really it started with the purchase of a dirt cheap dress at the Gap, it's more expensive online than it is in the store. Well I bought it on a whim and I love love love it. It's so comfortable and looks great with my summer staple shoe: the flip flop.

Today Bruce and I went to Somerset looking for summer wear and I found another super cute dress again at the Gap, who knew I thought I had broken up with that store. So I officially declared it to be the summer of the dress. Now this does not mean that I won't break out the shorts, skirts and sh'pants on occasion, but I will do my best to enjoy this new staple that I have added to my wardrobe. I must confess that I borrowed these pictures from the Gap website, which btw does not have as good as prices as the store currently does. So what I am saying as this is not me pictured in the dresses and my strip dress is actually green which is becoming my new favorite color, another random tidbit of knowledge you probably didn't care to know. But you know now.

UPDATE: Bruce would like you to know that he is pushing for next summer to be the summer of the skort. I am not sure that is going to happen, but hey never say never.

Breaking News!

G. Love is coming to the midwest this summer. It had appeared that he would not be stopping in our neck of the woods, but he is and the best part is I am out of school and it's before we leave for Europe!

So I will be heading to Toledo, Ohio on July 10 and Grand Rapids on July 11. Who's with me?

Also still no word on the G. Love and Special Sauce Ultimate Fan Contest. So I am pretty sure this means I am probably not a winner, but hey I had fun making it.

Congratulations PH Graduates!

Tonight I went to Port Huron's High School graduation. It was the longest one I have ever been to. There were 350 graduates and they ran this thing like a military ceremony. It was really cool when they walked in, in step, in the dark with these glow stick thingys. (Yes that is the technical term.) The kids always complain about having to go to several days of marching practice, but after tonight I now see why. The only thing that is disappointing with such a big class is that they graduate like a herd of cattle, just one after the other, so the ceremony does not take a year and a half. But none the less it was really cool. What can I say, well I had one student at this graduation that has been with me for two years. What can I say other than, I AM SO PROUD OF YOU, CARL "WET CAT" MARTIN! I am glad I got a chance to go. I will never forget Carl, he's grown into such a great young man. I won't lie, I did get a little teary. Yes, I am such a dork, but you just have to know Carl, you would have cried too. And I didn't cry until after the ceremony, thank God, the best girlfriend in the world (Carl's Girlfriend who did receive the official award) Coley was there to comfort me. Yes, I know I am a dork, don't worry my other students who happened to walk by at that time and laugh out loud reminded me.

Carl wasn't my only Port Huron Grad. I had two others, who I am also very proud of, however they only had my class for one year, I know they wish they could of had more. Ha ha. There is Sean and Kristen. Unfortunately all my pictures of Kristen were blurry, that's what happens, when you start crying and forget that you took your camera off auto focus and you get wrapped up in the moment. But here is a picture of Sean "Too Cool For School" Tinney and I, can't you tell I am his favorite teacher. Ok, I am sure he will tell you otherwise, but this is the story I am sticking with. I am not going to lie, I will miss all my seniors.

Oh by the way if you hadn't noticed, I got my hair cut. I am going in and out of hair-cutters remorse, but today I like it. Jay took about 8.5 inches off. It will be a good summer/switzerland style, at least that is what I am telling myself, but enough about the hair, congratulations again grads.

The Wait is Over..
My G. Love Biggest Fan Video Submission is Finished

So if you didn't read my last post where I explained that part of my absence from the blog has been due to my commitment to creating a video for the latest G. Love contest. I finally finished last night. I have to thank Olive who helped me come up with the idea and helped me find Steve the Travelin' Blues man on Memorial Day. I am not sure if I have a chance of winning, but I must admit it was fun making it.

I hear that the youtube video may not be working, I can't tell at school so here is a link to the video.

Congratulations Graduates

Today I went to see to of my now former students graduate high school (sniff sniff,) it turns out after spending 2.5 hours a day with these students for two years you end up liking them. I will really miss my seniors next year for two reasons: number one they were my first class and kind of learned with me and number two they are really great! It may sound like I am gushing but really how many students throw their teachers surprise birthday parties and how many students give their teachers a huge signed poster at the end of the year.

However as I sat in the world's hottest gym sweating listening to the student speeches. I couldn't help remember the day I graduated high school in a hot gym on a raining day, frankly it doesn't seem that long ago.

On another note, the reason why you haven't seen a lot of new posts on the TiVo Changed My Life Blog is well qix.net could be the worst internet provider ever, so this week we canned them and went with satellite internet, wildblue. I am crossing my fingers we have more success, when I called the people at the phone company the woman pretty much laughed out loud when I asked her how soon we would see DSL in our area. Well there are good and bad things about country living, internet is one of the hard things. Another reason for my lack of attention to the blog is the fact that I have been very busy making my submission for the G.Love and Special Sauce biggest fan contest. I will post the video here when it is finished, I am sure it will be a good laugh and hopefully a winner, I won't lie Olive helped me think of the idea! Yes, I had my own personal producer. I have also been busy with my grad school class, this week we learned the beauty and difficulty of CSS (cascading style sheets) for web design. Here is my submission. It's not great but CSS is harder than you may think.

We stopped at Somerset Collection on the way back from a day of shooting video of the Rouge River Clean-Up. Yes, we looked awful and smelled of bug spray, but what a better time to shop at the ritziest mall in southeastern Michigan. No we had to pick-up a part at the Apple Store and Bruce needed to get his hair cut from his guy. So it made sense. When we got there, this is what we saw in the middle of the mall, a strange bridal show. It was gated off apparently you needed an invite, and there were models in wedding gowns standing on risers and then there were all these tables set up with the most outrageous floral arrangements. It was cool to look at the picture doesn't really do it justice. On another note the apple store at somerset just reopened after remodeling and I got a free t-shirt. Now who doesn't love apple swag!