Dude, where’s my alley?

This past weekend, a neighbor that owns a restaurant on the corner of my street in Southwest Detroit decided to take a portion of our alley and claim it as his own. According to our neighbors, a city inspector gave the approval to do this. In order to close off an alley in Detroit, the neighbors that are affected by the closure would have to ‘sign off’ on the action. None of us have. We are currently talking to State Representative Steve Tobocman and Wayne County Commissioner Ilona Varga hoping that they can give us a hand.

Ironically, in today’s Detroit Free Press, there is an article about the restaurant that the neighbor owns with a quote from Joe Neville, a building inspector from Detroit, and his lunch partner, Weldon Robinson, a Detroit construction inspector. Coincidence? What do you think?

I’ll try to put a map out here to explain this a little better later…

Welcome Brother Knight Bruce Hopkins!

Today I (along with my nephew and new Grand Knight of Aquinas College Council #13501 Jim Vote and Chancellor of Holy Cross Council #2739 Walter Glinka) attended a Knights of Columbus Ceremonial in Livonia, Michigan, that brought over 40 new Brother Knights through the 1st, 2nd and 3rd Degrees of our Order. Among those exemplified was Bruce Hopkins, the State Chief Squire of the Michigan Columbian Squires. He’s been like a brother to me before, but now he’s a real brother (Knight). Congratulations Bruce!!! WHAT? WHAT? OKAY!

Decision made!

I had made my decision about my work situation. Don’t read more into it than it is…I’m not quitting or anything. I just had a nice opportunity to do “something different” for my company for a while. After weighing the pros and cons, I decided to pass on it for right now. As some of you may already know, I do a lot of work with the Knights of Columbus and its youth organization, the Columbian Squires. I would have to give that all up. I would also miss my wife and daughter too much. (Never thought that I’d be like that…hmmm.) One of the biggest reasons I have to pass this up for right now is that I’m trying to get my house together in order to sell it and move out. In a sense, I’m looking for a bigger and better PRIDE ROCK!

Thanks to Duffbert for thinking of me! It’s very appreciated!!!

I have to make a BIG decision today…

I have a work opportunity that was offered to me internally, but it means a HUGE change in my life. I sat down with the rest of the pride, talked over the pros and cons, and came up with a decision. Today is the day that I have to turn in my decision. It’s kept me awake and moody since the offer was given to me a few days ago. I’m hoping that this doesn’t affect my current work situation, and was told that it wouldn’t, but you never know. Please pray for me.

Finally…A COLLEGE COUNCIL HAS COME BACK TO MICHIGAN!!!

My nephew, Past State Chief Squire Jim Vote, has gotten enough men together to start a college council at Aquinas College in Grand Rapids! It has been a long time dream for Jim to do this, and I’m the proudest person on the planet! He is a true Knight of Columbus, and will make a fine Grand Knight. Great Job, Rock! UPDATE: It is called Aquinas College Council #13501.

Detroit Notes Professionals (DNP) DominoFest Presentation

Today, I gave a presentation for the Detroit Notes Professionals (DNP) on running Domino 6.x on Linux. As promised, here is the presentation file (in PDF format). Once again, special THANKS goes to Matt Engstrom from IBM for allowing me to “borrow” most of a presentation that he did a few months back. Thanks, Matt! You can get my presentation here => DNP-Domino6onLinux.

So…what did you think of the presentation?

No lawsuit for you, silly Pooh Bear!

According to USA Today, a 13-year-old lawsuit between Disney and a company that holds the rights to Winnie the Pooh merchandising was dismissed “with prejudice”. The lawsuit claimed that Disney was giving Stephen Slesinger Inc. (SSI) enough money for royalties from all of the Pooh stuff Disney sells (which brings in $1 BILLION for Disney and $6 BILLION in retail…more than even Mickey Mouse).

I just imagined Piglet with Johnny Cochrin in a courtroom…”If the Piglet doesn’t fit, then you must acquit!”

More travel for me

As you can tell by my location, I’m out of town again. I miss my family, but they left me a couple of ‘gifts’ in my luggage. The good news is that I can keep up with what’s going on by a nice FREE internet connection from my hotel. This hotel also has Spike TV, which means I can watch some WWE wrestling action. (Yes, I’m one of those guys…)

I’m in a Bad Mood

I got some bad news today…really bad news! I hate getting this kind of news, but I hate the fact that I can’t control my environment more. I really can’t talk about it here, but all I can say is that I have a very good friend that I’m going to miss seeing…YOU WILL BE MISSED!