Michigan Pro Hockey Tour - December 1997

WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!
WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!WE'RE PREGNANT!!!!


Whew! Now that I've got that out of my system, I have to go climb a mountain and shout it from the top! Dean and I are SOOOO excited!! We're almost exactly one month along and due next August. It seems so far away. Mom has bought me baby clothes and books to read already and I only found out three days ago. Happy Thanksgiving to us! One of the books that I bought has a very scientific approach, with actual photographs of every stage of pregnancy. I actually bought it for Dean because he likes that as opposed to "What to expect when you're expecting" (Mom bought that one for me.) This book, though, is absolutely amazing. It has actual photographs of a sperm breaking through the surface of an egg, and it also has a photo of a cross section of a sperm. You can see all the layers and the area in the center that carries the genes. I was buried in this book for four hours until I finished it, it was so interesting. It absolutely amazes me that they can take pictures that small. I didn't know they even made knives sharp enough to split a sperm. Wow. We looked up what our baby looks like at four weeks and it's not even a fetus yet, just an embryo. We decided it looked like a tadpole.

Other than that big news, we've had another great month, but somehow, everything else seems anti-climatic. I'll tell you about it anyway, though.

Halloween was uneventful, thank goodness. My niece, Madison, dressed up like a Hershey's kiss and Tracy said she got really excited every time the doorbell rang. They didn't go out trick or treating, but she helped pass out candy to all the other kids who came to their house and everyone said she was adorable.

Thanksgiving, of course, was wonderful. Since it's one of the biggest entertainment weekends of the year, Dean was playing games every day. He was on the road Thanksgiving day and the whole weekend, so I went to Phoenix to be with my family there. Dad and Mom are retired now and spend the winters there at Grandpa and Grandma's place and travel around the southwest in their motorhome. My sister, Tracy, was there for a vacation and brought Madison along so that was really nice to see them. My cousin, Shane and his wife Marci and their two kids were there and so were some aunts and uncles so it was a packed, chaotic, wonderful time. I loved every minute. My only regret was that I found out I was pregnant while I was there and I had to tell Dean he was going to be a daddy over the phone. I had always planned just exactly how I was going to tell him when it finally happened but I couldn't wait two more days to tell him in person. I was bursting at the seams.

Last year, I spent Thanksgiving in Phoenix, also, and took nothing but shorts to wear, thinking it was going to be warm. It was 45 - 50 degrees every day. So this year, I took nothing but pants and sweaters and it was 70 degrees! I had a good time, though. There's an outlet mall about five miles from my Grandparent's front door, so we hit that and raided the Ann Taylor loft and the Off 5th Saks Fifth Avenue. Merry Christmas, Tiffany. We went miniature golfing, decorated the house for Christmas, let the kids open some Christmas presents, played some games of poker, 99, and spoons that all got pretty rowdy in the evenings, and we made a trip to Rawhide, Arizona, all in three days.

Rawhide is a really neat little old western town, they have skits going on in the street, showdowns and gunfights where cowboys and Mexicans duke it out and shoot each other off the roof and fall into the horse watering trough. They're pretty great stuntmen. One of the Mexicans fell to the ground and his sombrero flew off. A little kid ran up and grabbed the hat off the street and took off with it. I was cracking up! After it was all over, the Mexican was trying to get his hat back from the little boy and he wouldn't give it up. He ended up throwing the boy over his shoulder and carted him off to jail. His parents had to pay a small fee to get him out. It was absolutely hilarious.

There's a saloon there where you can get a certificate if you eat their rattlesnake meat dish. I wanted to do that, but the wait was over two hours, so we put our name on the list, but didn't make it. I bought Dean some "Viper Venom Salsa" and some "ass kickin beef jerky." He loves it - the spicier the better and this stuff is so hot it made his eyes water. They had a live band in the street playing country music and people were dancing everywhere. Madison was so excited by all the commotion she just didn't know which way she wanted to go first. There was a children's petting zoo that we took her to and that was fun to watch her there, too. There were little goats and chickens running around, a llama, and two of the fattest, snortiest pigs you've ever seen. There was also a Texas longhorn bull in a cage nearby and that guy was enormous. I read the information sign and it said that Christopher Columbus brought this breed over from Spain, but they're not great cattle to raise because for their size, they don't have much meat on them. Interesting. Those Texans are all bluff in every respect. Ha.

As far as hockey goes, Dean is playing really well right now and the team is doing great. They're average is well over 500 and they're number one in the league. They just traded Pokey Reddick, the goalie, to San Antonio for a new guy named Patrick, and this guy is phenomenal. Just to give you an idea of how great he is, they played a game against the Detroit Vipers last Saturday and the shots on goal were 35-15 (not in our favor.) We still won 4-1. I guess he was rookie of the year last year because he had the winningest streak in NHL history as a goalie. Needless to say, we're lucky to have him. I met him at a party last night and he seems really nice, too. He's the tall, dark, handsome type.

I don't go to many of the games during the week because we usually don't get home until late, and I have to get up at 6 am to get ready for work. You know how I get if I don't get my 8 hours. So during the weekday games, I'll usually give my two tickets to some of my co-workers and let me tell you, I'm a hero with this crowd. Wayne, my boss, went one night with his wife and Dean got into a fight for a 2 minute penalty and a 5 minute major. Later he also stopped a 2 on 1 attack when they were down a man so my boss was really impressed. The only con, he said, was that his seats were in the middle of the wives' section and he had to listen to them all cluck and cackle during the whole game. Ha.

Wayne wants me to do a press release about me joining the agency staff and he wants the photo to be a clown shot with me and Dean (in uniform.) Doesn't that sound like fun? I can't wait to do it. Dean, of course, is grumbly but going along with it. Spoil sport. You'd think a jock like him would enjoy all the press he could get because goodness knows, I sure fight him for mirror time at home. Wayne also had a 50th birthday this month and we put together a party for him at the Monday morning meeting. Everybody wore black and we got him a basket full of goodies, including Centrum Silver and fiber. We also got him a bouquet of dead flowers. I don't know if my "morale building" ideas that day impressed him, but everybody else sure had a good time.

The rest of my job is going well, also. The three "agency managers" have a breakfast meeting every Monday to discuss strategy before the all-staff meeting, and Wayne has asked me to start joining them for the earlier meeting. I'm honored that he respects my opinion so much as these three guys have been doing this alone for three years now. I suppose that's a good sign as to my future here.

Last week, we pitched what could be a huge client in Nebraska. On the plane on the way back, I met a guy who wants us to pitch his company in San Diego. I asked him if January or February would be okay. Ha. I'm going to Las Vegas in January for 12 days and Orlando in February for a week so if I can keep this schedule up, I may be able to bypass winter altogether this year. That would be great!! I'm really looking forward to the Orlando trip, the guys have a game there and the team is taking all the wives along. They did this last year, too, only then it was Quebec City. I guess the wives requested a warmer location this year. Colleen and Kristin and I were going to meet in Orlando that weekend anyway so now it's should be even more fun. I guess I'll be nominated to be the designated driver.

The guy in Nebraska (Richard) and I hit it off right away. As it turns out, he leads their Toastmasters chapter there and I was talking to him about the fact that I just joined the Grand Rapids chapter. He coached me a bit and gave me a lot of suggestions. I'm scheduled to give my first speech this week so wish me luck. He's also a huge Chris Farley and Saturday Night Live fan so we laughed about that the whole time. After the presentation, he complemented us, especially on my section. I had to do the research on "happenings" in their industry and issues that they were facing that we would have to address if we were to become their agency of record. He said I really hit the nail on the head with all of them, they were very concerned about the things I had talked about. They invited us to lunch afterward and then he gave us a tour of their whole facility. These guys reminded me a lot of AT&T Wireless in that they really go the extra mile for thier customers. It's an insurance company and they actually have an entire department that just cleans up "messes." If they're insuring a farm and the cows get loose, these guys saddle up and go round them up. They actually have a sick bay on the premises where they nurse sick farm animals back to health for the people they insure. Amazing. Also, they're very environmentally concious. The building is brand new and runs on solar power and they have a pond out front that looks like landscaping but it serves a dual purpose as part of the cooling system in the summer. I was sarcastic on the way out there about how we'd really be able to party in Podunk, Nebraska, but I had to eat my words because I think I would really like to work with these people. I was very impressed. They're also about ten miles south of Gateway headquarters in South Dakota, so there was cow-decorated stuff everywhere in town. There's obviously a lot of influence.

Bob, our Vice-President, had a party at his house the following weekend for all the employees and he did it with a Mexican theme. We had Coronas, DosEquis, played La Bamba and the invitations were all in Spanish. It was great and he has an incredibly beautiful home. It's mostly brick and has cherry hardwood floors throughout, it's gorgeous. He served two kinds of chili, one regular red bean chili with red meat and the other, which I ate, was white beans with a white broth and chicken. It was absolutely delicious, I've never had white chili before but now that I have, I've noticed it on two of the menus of restaurants in town. I definitely have to try my own recipe at home. My poor husband has to eat all my experiments and mistakes. Ha. Actually, he doesn't mind, we're going to attempt this one together so there will be no teasing if it doesn't turn out right.

One of the luncheons that I went to for the local ad club was definitely one of the highlights of my month. There was a doctor of sexology there as the featured speaker. Her name is Dr. Judy and she has a nationally syndicated radio talk show out of Detroit. The topic was sex in advertising and where we should draw the line. Needless to say, the room was packed and, yes, she was extremely graphic. There was full frontal nudity everywhere and lots of nervous giggles from full grown adults. I almost choked on my salad more than once. I really didn't know going into it who she was or what it was about, Wayne just said I needed to attend, so I went. When I came back to the office, he and Bob were grinning wickedly at me and they asked "How was lunch?" I could've smacked the smiles right off both of their faces. Actually, it was pretty funny, and the whole office teased me about it all week. I learned a thing or two, anyway.

Dean and I are shopping for a new computer and in our research, we've found that there are computers as fast as 500 mHz on the market now. Wow, is technology advancing fast! We were astonished. The computer guru at my office (Brad) and I got into a conversation about it last week and he told me that once the processor reaches 700 mHz, they'll probably stop making them any faster because it would be imperceptible to the human eye, anyway. We're talking miliseconds of a difference. He said he read an article in one of his cyber magazines recently that said the next step in computer science is to connect a computer via electrodes to your head and let your brain actually power the computer. Can you imagine? Brad said it's getting to a point where people are starting to become concerned about ethics in computer development. They're concerned about what it can do to your brain and a person's perception of reality, etc. Wow again. Just a sidenote, Brad's wife is pregnant, too, and they have identical twins on the way - how exciting.

Anyway, Dean and I figure we'd better update our computer soon because I'm going to continue with my master's degree and also after the baby comes, we'll have so many other things to foolishly spend our money on . According to everyone I know who has kids, they make a major dent in your finances. Of course, no parent minds forking it over as long as they can watch their little star take swimming lessons and jump off the high dive or kick the daylights out of someone in karate class. Oh my, what have I got myself into? I still have to get Dean to act like an adult somehow before I deliver! Now I have a deadline, and I STILL don't know how I'm going to do it. Actually, I love his silliness, he's going to be a great dad and he's beside himself with excitement. It's so much fun, we both feel absolutely giddy!

Well, I hope this letter was a little more enjoyable. I don't have as much to tell, the news is just bigger. It makes for a shorter letter this month, anyway. I hope all is well with you and I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving. It was one of the best years ever for the Trboyevich's! Have a WONDERFUL Christmas and may it be filled with many blessings. I'll talk to you again on January 1st!

Much love,
Tiff