Feeling super

The OLD Fantastic Four cast... really.

I’d be a liar if I told you I didn’t love comic books. I still collect a few, actually, though not nearly at the break-neck, wallet-deflating pace I used to in my teenage years. Of course, that reduction in the collection was simply due to the local comic shop closing when I was younger, and the cost of comics skyrocketing until I needed a full-time job just to support the habit.

Nowadays, I’m not quite so quick to drop my money on the counter. I’m not picking up comics to collect them with hopes they will fund my retirement in the future. Nor does a scantily-clad lady on the cover even get my attention anymore. Now I am mostly about storyline, and characters I really like. Doctor Who gets purchased for the lovely Kimberly, while I have a standing order for any and all Moon Knight comics.

But, what does get my attention these days isn’t on the paper inside those comic covers, but rather on the big screen. Super hero movies are coming out in droves, and I’m there buying tickets to each and every one of them. Some aren’t as good as others, but some are really great. So why do I go to all of them? Because I want them to keep making them. More and more, please.

Hallowed institutions

Trinity College Library in Dublin, Ireland

When I was a kid, going to the library was an awe-inspiring event.

I grew up in a logging family, which means that we didn’t have much in the way of funds over the years, though the lack of a savings account was more than compensated for through the love of my parents and a work ethic that is just short of fanatical. So, when we were lucky enough to have time to make a swing to the library and get some books to use as entertainment, it was something to be excited about. I was always wide-eyed with wonder at the sheer number of spines and book titles that would greet me when I’d walk through the door. I’d pick out two or three and then check them out. The most amazing part was that we didn’t have to pay to use them–we just had to bring them back.

Unfortunately, in my lifetime, libraries of that sort may become a footnote in the pages of history. More and more small cities and towns are being forced to close their libraries due to funding issues. Here in the Upper Peninsula, some have already closed due to a lack of space to house them, while others have cut their hours and staffs so dramatically that you are hard pressed to be able to visit if you have an ever-changing schedule like I do.

Shoot the ball and buck

I’m not the kind of person who peruses the Internet in hopes of coming across a website that I can hurry up and show to all of my friends before someone else does. In fact, it’s rare that I do much more than work, the occasional tweet and some Facebook while I’m online.

So, what is about to follow is rare. Maybe it will happen again, but it likely won’t.

One of my clients (the folks who have me writing about hunting, usually) asked me to write up a post for their site about a company in Boston called Buck and Ball. As always, I readily accepted the assignment, even when they told me it was an apparel store. I had figured (i.e.: assumed) that the apparel would be directly related to hunting. After all, that’s pretty much all I have ever written for this client.

I was wrong.

Now those of you who know me are well aware I am pretty darn bullheaded. Just because something wasn’t going to be as smooth as I originally thought definitely doesn’t mean I won’t still do it. This was one of those cases. Instead of just going back to the client and explain that writing about a men’s fashion storefront was well outside of my normal boundaries, I decided to make it work. And, you know what? I’m glad I did.

Oh, the (in)humanity!

I don’t usually read the news too much anymore. First and foremost, the bias that is on every single major media outlet’s website is blatantly clear. Second, I find some of the topics their writers choose to be weak, at best, and other times simply a cry for attention from sympathetic readers.

Omar Gallaga fell into both categories today when I took a moment to scan CNN.com. His article, Why I can’t Get behind ‘Dead Island’, was basically a whine-fest about the video game trailer that has been getting rave reviews from bloggers and gamers alike. The reason Gallaga can’t throw his support behind the game? Well, there’s violence happening to a child. If you haven’t seen the trailer, then check it out.

Long time, no blog

The other day Kim and I were finishing up some freelance work when she turned to me and mentioned this blog. The question, it seemed, was why we weren’t writing in it anymore.

“Ummmmmm… because we already work 70 hours weeks?” I responded, though without the confidence I would have needed to shut the door on the subject completely. Instead, it turned into a discussion, and the decision that there really isn’t enough going on that we shouldn’t be able to post on here once a week or so.

So, we’re back. Well, technically speaking, I’m back. Kim is showering right now and will be headed off to a 90-minute massage soon. Me? Well, I have to work, which is why it’s nice to take a few moments and do some writing that isn’t deadline driven or forced at a maddening pace.

Since the last time we posted, a lot has happened. We’ve picked up a lot of freelance work (hence our absence) and we manage a couple of sites for Issue Media Group, namely UP Second Wave and Northwest Michigan Second Wave (we manage Mid Michigan Second Wave, too, but we’re in the process of finding a new editor to keep tabs on that one). Needless to say, that takes up a bulk of our time. In addition, Kim freelances for the Marquette Monthly and I am freelancing sports for weekly papers in Northville and Novi.

We also moved into a new house, which is pretty cool. It costs far less than our old apartment and we will outright own it in less than four years. Pretty good choice, hey?

Outside of that, for the most part, it’s been the same ol’ life here in the Upper Peninsula. Of course, we’re not complaining about that.

Let me wrap up this quick post by saying that we apologize for not being around more, but want to make a concerted effort to change our ways. Look for new posts at least once a week and let us know if you have any comments or questions.

Hard to believe…

It’s hard to believe that it’s been three weeks since I last posted. That’s how crazy life has been around here lately.

Everything went well with my mom’s shoulder surgery. Thanks for all of the words of support from the readership out there. I have to say I was impressed with the number of messages I received. I didn’t know you guys cared so much.

But, I digress. Things have just been a little out of sorts when it comes to getting scheduling down pat. School is coming to an end around here, so that’s been a little crazy with the kiddo and all. I started a new managing editor job for an online e-magazine, and that’s a ton more work than I had originally pictured it to be in my head. To top it all off, we’re signing on our house tomorrow and there have been hoops after hoops for us to jump through.

We’ve jumped though and, in the end, it’s worth it.

But, honestly, I just wanted to take a moment and apologize to everyone. I promise that starting this week things will start to get back on track. I’m starting to feel like life is a little more under control and that I have a grip on all the work I have on the table right now. Once it all starts flowing smooth and I’m out of that “new” mode where I’m struggling with everything, I’m sure I’ll have just as much time as I used to have.

In the meantime, I hope everyone has been having a great spring. It’s been hot here (a little too hot at times, reaching into the 90s in the Upper Peninsula in May!), but it’ll seem like a distant memory come November when there’s a few feet of snow on the ground.

Thanks for sticking around and for checking back in. Like I said, things are getting back on track and I’ll be posting regularly again beginning this week.

Waiting

I am sitting in a waiting room in Green Bay while my mom is knocked out and having her flesh peeled back and her shoulder operated on somewhere nearby.

This is nothing new. Well, the shoulder surgery is, but not the mom having an operation. As a kid, it seemed like my mom was in the hospital as much as I was in school. She had organs removed and messed with. She had joints operated on. She always had something going on and the doctors back home could never figure out what was wrong so they would start cutting into her.

Dad would wake us up in the middle of the night to tell us that he had to take mom into the hospital once again and that I had to make sure to get my sister off to school. You kind of became numb to it.

This is the first time, however, that I have been alone in waiting for her. We are in Green Bay, and my dad’s back just can’t take this kind of drive. Mom wanted to come here because Doc Tressler was recommended by quite a few people around the Marquette area.

So I am here, pretty much without a lot to do (I need to work, but the only table is occupied by a fellow who is adamantly reading a magazine, so I will wait). I have to admit it’s a little nerve-jarring. It’s not that I am worried about mom’s operation, it’s just that I am concerned if I will be able to do all the things she will need done once she gets out of here.

I am sure I will survive, but it still has me a little on edge.

The surgery should just be about another 20 minutes, and then I have about four more hours before I can drag her back to the hotel.

I just hope it all goes well.

Funny how much easier life was when I was just a kid. And here it was I just couldn’t wait to grow up.

Ernie Harwell: A legend and friend who will be missed

The statue of Ernie Harwell that stands at Comerica Park in Detroit.

For, lo, the winter is past,

The rain is over and gone;

The flowers appear on the earth;

The time of the singing of birds is come,

And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land.

— Song of Solomon 2:11-12, a quote from the bible Ernie Harwell would also begin the first spring training broadcast of each season with.

The only thing stopping my eyes from overflowing with tears right now is the fact that I’ve been expecting the news for quite some time now.

A friend of mine, and a human being adored by more people than I could possibly count, died tonight. You’ve likely heard of him. His name was Ernie Harwell.

I was fortunate enough to have Ernie as a friend, something that came about because a mutual friend of ours, Jack Lessenberry, introduced us. From that point on, we consistently exchanged communications and made a point of seeing one another. For me, having grown up listening to Ernie call the games for my beloved Detroit Tigers, it was a dream come true. For Ernie, well, I never asked but I hope it was something he enjoyed as well.

When I heard the news that he had been diagnosed with terminal cancer last year, I called Ernie.

The conversation was short. I wished him well, offered to him the typical “if there’s anything I can do for you or Lulu, just let me know” and he told me to take care of myself.

“In my almost 92 years on this Earth, the good Lord has blessed me with a great journey,” Harwell said at a microphone behind home plate during a game in which the Tigers honored their long-time radio announcer. “The blessed part of that journey is that it’s going to end here in the great state of Michigan.”

Do not attempt to adjust your television set…

And, just in case you're wondering, that's not an actual witness photo....

Let me just start by saying that I’m sorry I’ve been away so long. It’s been so busy with a couple of my ongoing projects that I just haven’t had time for the “fun” writing of a personal nature.

But, I’m back for now, even though this post will likely be short.

Today in the news (and my Google alerts) I was greeted by the headline that a possible UFO was sighted about a mile from my house on the shores of Lake Superior. It, apparently, was silver and shaped like a small B2 Stealth Bomber. It hovered near a place called Picnic Rocks (don’t go swimming there) and then zoomed away.

Honest. There were witnesses, according to TV6’s website (and, likely, others, though I have no intention of looking). A father and a son, to be exact.

Like father, like daughter

Shaylyn sure loves her chicken wings... sometimes she can't wait to get a taste.

You may not be aware of this, but Kim and I aren’t the only writers here at Pen > Sword. Wandering around the house is my daughter, Shaylyn, who has already started her own book about adventurers and Egypt as well as a movie script she is working on based on the same subject.

In addition, my kiddo, who I affectionately call “Green Bean,” writes her own blog. Admittedly, she comes up with the meat of the posts and I edit them and clean them up, but I never mess with the intent or the focus.

Her blog, Chick ‘N Wings, is written on the subject of all things chicken wings. She reviews joints she stops at, reviews sauces and tries to keep everyone updated on news in the industry. She’s also going to add some recipes in the coming weeks.

Since her blog is relatively new, there isn’t a ton of content, but it’s still worth a quick gander. If you do go over and check it out, please try to take the time to leave a comment, or subscribe via email (the field to do so is on the right-hand side).

I applaud her for her drive in this. She’s always the first to order chicken wings and then look at me and tell me to whip out the ol’ iPhone to get some photos for the blog.

Like they say: The egg doesn’t fall far from the chicken’s butt, hey?