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| My KISS ticket from the August 5, 2016 show. |
Greetings All:
It has been almost two months since I have posted on my blog. I used to post a couple of times a week. For the past couple of years I've been averaging a post a week. So what happened?
The simple answer is this: I chose not to write. Oh, I suppose I could point out that things have been a bit full in my calendar and life. Still, that is an excuse. It all comes down to time and how one spends it. I simply chose to not write.
Now it is true that this has been a busier than usual summer. We had some serious remodeling done to the house. To give you an idea of just how serious, please see below:
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| Here's the kitchen in full "demo" mode... |
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| The new laundry room and (cough, cough) a LOT of dust... |
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| Here's the dining room, postmortem, soon to be re-born as the mud room. |
This project began in earnest in late June and just now it is about over. We were without a functioning kitchen and ended up washing coffee mugs in the bathroom sink. Despite the nagging inconvenience, it was clearly a "First World" problem. We were still living better than about 99.79% of the world.
Nonetheless, our daily routines were altered...a bunch. This was not a typical summer and more nights than not I simply did not have the energy or desire to write.
So what has happened in the last couple of months. The other big news is I was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel in the Army Reserve. I do not talk much about being in the military. One reason is that I want this blog to be about subjects that I find interesting and hopefully thought-provoking to others. It is not that I am not proud of being in the military. If anything, I consider my being an Army Reservist to be a major aspect of who I am. I'll make an exception here and share a promotion picture.
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| Dawn pinning on my new rank at my promotion ceremony on July 7, 2016 |
The other big news is that I started hosting a weekly, pre-recorded radio show, "QC Veterans' Roll Call." The show is sponsored by our local classic rock station, 97X and its parent company, Townsquare Media. I owe my friend Greg a debt of gratitude for passing on my name to the powers that be who gave me a shot at hosting the show.
The show's purpose is to provide honest, relevant (and when possible, entertaining) information to our local Veteran and military audience, as well as their families. The show has been running for a few months now (almost parallel with house re-model) and
http://97x.com/category/qc-veterans-roll-call/
This was a summer that was pretty typical with events that occur this time of year. I "ran" the Bix 7 (well, most of it anyway) and paid the price for failing miserably to even make the effort to train for it. We had the John Deere Classic golf tournament and I marshaled the 16th hole during the Pro Am with my Rotary Club. My personal highlight of the summer from a "fun" standpoint was seeing the rock band KISS perform.
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| KISS performing at The Mark, er I mean the iWireless Center, August 5, 2016. |
It was a terrific show and all the more amazing that two of band members, Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley, are old enough to be drawing Social Security and are still rocking it and rocking it HARD. As Dawn and our daughters were out of town, I went with my friend Dave and we had a terrific time!
As I think back on the summer and all that has happened, I am grateful for it. We got thru the construction and the petty inconveniences. The radio show is up and running and we've been incredibly fortunate to have a wide variety of guests participate. Now, although the temperature is still safely in the 80s, fall is around the corner. The kids are back at school and football is about to start. Fall is always a fresh start, at least for me.
Perhaps it will be a fresh start to my blog writing as well.
Be well my friends,
Jeno
