Soup Talk with Mr. Soup

Warning… this entry really has no point. If you want to continue reading, go ahead.. but you’ve been warned. I haven’t been traveling very much for work lately and as a result I haven’t had much free time in the evenings to add entries to this blog. It seems when I have nothing to do at night while on the road I tend to use my free time writing while sitting in my hotel room. (beats wasting a lot of time and money hanging out in some bar.) Since I’m currently at a point in my career where I’m not totally sure who my boss is or exactly what my responsibilities are, I thought it best not to blow the budget and take trips over to Detroit or England to do on-site support. I’m hoping soon those things will be worked out and I have some direction. Until then, I’ll continue resolving issues and trying to learn as much as I can about the next release of the system that I am responsible for implementing and maintaining. Right now I’m at home. The TV is on in the background. My wife is watching ...

Five years ago I started holding my annual Soup Run. This is an event held the Saturday after Memorial Day where I invite people I have only met on the Internet to my house for an afternoon of soup and socializing. These people come to my house in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on their motorcycles from near and far. The first Soup Run had 12 people in attendance. I thought it was an overwhelming success. People actually got on their motorcycles and traveled to a stranger’s house for soup. My wife and kids thought I was nuts…inviting total strangers and feeding them for free. I thought it was a good idea. The second year it seemed like a lot more people were going to show up, but because of one reason or another many backed out at the last moment and only 13 people attended. I was pretty disappointed after that one. I worked so hard, tried to get people to commit to coming, prepared a ton of food and then so many people didn’t show. I thought hard about calling it quits, but my family, and an ...

I had a good time last night. Me and my two kids went to see the midnight showing of Star Wars III. IT WAS GREAT!!! We bought our tickets on May 1st. That was the day they went on sale in our small town. My guess is that people must have been camped out waiting to buy tickets because by the time we got ours, the entire main theater had been sold out and we got tickets for the second theater. That was OK with us because the movie was being shown in both theaters at the same time… Our intention was to get to the theater about 9:00 pm to get in line. That way we would be assured a good seat and not get stuck sitting too near or far from the screen. Well… my daughter was on line with one of her friends at about 6:00 pm. This friend was on the phone with someone who was already waiting in line. The report was that about 20 people were already waiting to get into the theater.. oh , oh… our plans were about to change. I talked to my kids about going earlier than 9:00 pm and I was sure that I ...

My words hurt people. I've used them without thinking on so many occasions. The other day my girl came home from school. It was a big day. She had auditions for next year’s placement in the top concert band. I asked her how it went and I could tell instantly by the look on her face that it didn’t go as she planned. She said that she got real nervous and had troubles with all of her scales. I said “What? You’ve been practicing those every night for the last three weeks… How could you screw up? Oh well, welcome to the second band!” Instantly I knew that was a terrible thing to say. My little girl has been worked up about this audition for the longest time and was trying her absolute best – all in a effort for me to be proud of her, and I go ahead and say something stupid like that. She started crying. I tried to tell her I was sorry and how terrible that was for me to say. I tried to make her feel better by saying something like… “I’m sure things will work out, and you’ll...

It’s strange how people can be blinded by the fog of distant memories. Some see a time long ago when greatness was present. They refuse to give that time up and are unable to focus on the present to see how greatness has been faded with age. There is so much more to this story, but it will not be published here…

I don’t think I should have gone to the doctor. A few weeks ago I had a little scare and decided at that point that it was best that I went in for a Physical. Patti made an appoint for me at the first mention by me that I should go see a doctor. She wasn’t going to let that opportunity pass since she has been trying to get me to go for the last 15 years. I went in for my appointment last Monday. They did the weight thing, the blood pressure thing and then I sat with the doctor and he asked if anything was bothering me. I said no, but was concerned because of my excessive weight and the fact that diabetes runs in my family. He listened to my heart, my lungs, felt my ankle and that was it… He wrote up an order for some blood and urine tests and told me to go to the lab some morning after I fasted over night. Well, I couldn’t do it the next day because I was leaving for Detroit, so the lab stuff had to wait until Saturday. Saturday morning I went to the hospital to have some blood drawn. ...

I just realized something… I didn’t make any friends in college. I went to UW-Milwaukee for 4 ½ years and I don’t have a single friend from those years. As a matter of fact, I can’t remember a single name of anyone I met in college. That’s pretty sad. In High School I made lots of friends. I knew lots of people’s names, but for one reason or another have not kept in contact with any of them… but in college, I can honestly say I can’t remember anybody. The people I remember from my college days are those friends I already had in High School. I came to this sudden realization after I spent last Friday touring UW-La Crosse with my wife and son. We were there checking out the college Ryan will be attending in the Fall. We spent most of the day listening to facility and students talk to us about how great life is at UW-L. After the listening session, we took a guided tour of the campus and then had an extended tour of the science building and it’s labs. I believe the main reason I never mad...

OK… So I got really scared this past weekend. Last Wednesday I noticed a discoloration on my abdomen that looked like it could be a bruise, but didn’t hurt like a bruise or seem to have the same coloring as a bruise. I tried hard to think back and remember me bumping into something or getting hit by something, I couldn’t recall anything that would have caused this. I watched the color get darker and redder over the next couple of days, and noticed that this discoloration was surrounding a small mole. This was really bothering me. A work friend of mine died a year or so ago from Malignant Melanoma (i.e Skin Cancer). I remember clearly one of the last conversations I had with her. She told me to make sure I immediately have myself checked out if ever I see something out of the ordinary. She waited a little too long, and as a result, she lost her battle in only a few months. I think she was in her early 50’s with a couple of kids still in High School… way too young. Saturday I checked the...

About 15 years ago I saw a commercial, or read an advertisement in a magazine related to learning how to write. It was for a mail-order school where they give you assignments, you mail it in, and a week later you get your corrected assignment back in the mail. Something in the back of my mind has always been telling me that I would be good at writing. During college I would look forward to the essay questions because I knew I could easily fill up that little blue test book. My only problems are that I am terrible at spelling and my grammar usually sucks. And I don’t always know where the next paragraph should start… see… Well, I decided to call that 800 number and have them send me some ‘no obligation’ information about their school. A couple weeks later I received my packet. I read it over and just like so many other things in my life, I decided to pass on it. That didn’t stop the company from sending me even more information about their school. Over the course of th...

This past weekend we drove up to Wisconsin Rapids to listen to a concert by the Wisconsin Chapter of the National Band Association. Ryan was selected to play in the All-State band. I think there were 90 students from 45 cities in that group. That band was incredible. Probably other than the President’s Own Marine Band, this was the best band I’ve ever heard. The director they flew in to direct this thing was outstanding. Over the short two days of rehearsals, somehow he brought all of these strangers together to make an ensemble that jelled like nothing I’ve experienced in my life. The dynamics, the accuracy and the overall feeling of the music was so uplifting. After something like this, I sure hope Ryan continues on with music in his adult life. If he doesn’t, at least I hope he takes all of these lessons he is learning about working together and uses them to help with all of those life problems he is sure to run into. It’s strange… people use to say to me, “these are the best years ...