Ben’s Blog

I woman got on the bus shortly after me this morning and sat down in front of me - she was having a hard time closing the window so I reached up and helped her (always the gentleman).  She said “Thanks” in a very high pitch scratchy voice, like you would expect when someone loses their voice.  Another woman enters the conversation and says “wow, sounds like you came down with laringitis,” to which the first woman responds “I don’t know…been like this for about a year but it will come back some day.”  I’m curious…at what point after losing your voice does it seem like a prudent idea to seek a more informed opinion?  Strange…

Holly had a school event last night so I was home alone with the dog.  I began the evening watching all the news coverage of Obama’s visit to Grand Rapids - I had thought about going but the idea of waiting in line and then waiting in the arena for 3-4 hours before the actual speech really turned me off.  When I heard that Edwards was also attending to give his endorsement I was a little disappointed that I didn’t go.  Not because I am a big fan or Edwards or Obama, but rather that this was one of those opportunities that come around so rarely in life; in all honestly, my view on the democratic primaries has been thank God it wasn’t Hillary.  I thought Edwards’s speech was much more engaging than Obama’s but was fairly moved by what they had to say.  The cynic in me wants to see how many of these big ideas, especially the “big wall in Washington” topic, really come to fruition.  (Photo by Beth / Christian Bell as seen on Flickr)

It was now about 7:30 and Bailey was ready to go for a walk so we headed out for a while so he could smell everythingonce again in our neighborhood - always in search of signs of a rabbit or squirrel.  After a walk Bailey is ready to sleep for a good 12 hours so I picked up my new book - “The Last Lecture” by Randy Pausch.  The author is a computer science professor who found out he had 3-6 months before he would die from pancreatic cancer; in his remaining months he decided to prepare a “last lecture” for his colleagues and for his 3 children.  It was a good book - I read the whole thing in about 3 1/2 hours - with many interesting stories and life lessons.  I had a unique perspective as my dad just passed away about a month ago from cancer so I found myself thinking of similar things my dad had done in his own way to accomplish what the author was trying to do.  It was clear that book and the lecture weren’t only for those in the room but rather to leave a legacy for his family and friends to remember him by.  If you have the chance its a good read.

So I originally wanted to start this blog to post funny things I noticed while “riding the rapid” in grand rapids…you know, like the really smelly people who always want to sit near me. I’m on my second full week of riding the bus and a lot of people look at me like I am crazy when I tell them what I’ve been doing and they all ask WHY?

Well, as you’ve probably heard gas prices are out of control…but no one ever comes on the 5pm news and says Holy Crap…diesel fuel just hit an all time high of 4.59! I bought a diesel volkswagen jetta because it is a very nice car that also gets mid 40s mpg. I don’t care how great the mileage is…I just don’t want to spend this much on fuel. You know it is bad when a gallon of diesel is higher than a pack of cigarettes.

I think diesel should get much more news - not to get all political, but diesel fuel is connected to almost everything that can be purchased or consumed. Truck drivers are passing on fuel surcharges to the store who in turn pass the higher cost to the consumer so what is going to happen when grocery bills double or truckers finally give up and stop transporting goods across country? I don’t think the answer is a federal gas tax holiday as that is just a band-aid fix that masks the real problem…

For now I am just thankful that I can save some money with the bus, and even more thankful that I can ride for free as a GVSU employee.

Holly and I spent the weekend in Tawas - we left a little later than expected on Friday and took our time getting there so we didn’t pull in until close to 9pm. This was really our first trip up this season so Holly immediately began cleaning and I started preparing the garage plumbing and fixing the boat motor before turning in for bed.

We had great weather on Saturday so I woke up early, waited for the hardware store to open and then headed to town to pick up supplies for the weekend’s project: bird houses. First I went to Ace Harware in Tawas thinking they would have 1″x6″x8′ pine because they recently bought out schaff lumber…wrong, they only carry general 2″ thick lumber. So, it was 20 miles the other direction to Hale.

Many hours later I had these nifty bird houses to show:

Holly painted the left one, the right one is made from cedar and has a back porch with hinged/latched doors. That one was a mother’s day gift and pretty sweet.

This one was made from a 12″ wide board that was left after tearing down the outhouse. It took a lot of time to pull all the nails and many many passes on the table saw to salvage pieces solid enough to nail togethor. The outhouse lives on!

So to recap, if you have 6 hours, a table saw, compound miter saw, drill with hole saw, brad nailer, finishing nailer, air compressor, and perhaps outhouse remnants you to can build a bird house.