T2's Life Experiences

Cancer Inspiration - "When Answers Aren't Enough"

2008-04-10T12:30:00.003-07:00

When Answers Aren't Enough
You have faced the mountains of desperation
You have climbed, you have fought, you have won
But this valley that lies coldly before you
Casts a shadow you cannot overcome

And just when you thought you had it all together
You knew every verse to get you through
But this time the sorrow broke more than just your heart
And reciting all those verses just won't do

When answers aren't enough, there is Jesus
He is more than just an answer to your prayer
And your heart will find a safe and peaceful refuge
When answers aren't enough, He is there.

Instead of asking why did it happen
Think of where it can lead you from here
And as your pain is slowly easing, you can find a greater reason
To live your life triumphant through the tears

When answers aren't enough, there's still Jesus
He is more than just an answer to your prayer
And your heart will find a safe and peaceful refuge
When answers aren't enough, He is there.

Cancer Update - September 2003

2008-04-10T12:30:00.001-07:00

GOOD NEWS!!!
My last CT scan came back completely clear this week, that makes TWO clear CT scans, which means I'm officially IN REMISSION!! For the layman, that means that the cancer is gone. Provided it STAYS gone for five years, then they'll tell me I'm cured. Can you imagine? Cured of cancer. It boggles the mind. I never really had any doubts, since they gave me such a good prognosis in the beginning, but what a trial to have to go through. Blech.
I'm scheduled for a PET scan on October 17th, which is additional insurance that it's all gone, but my oncologist is confident that it will be, since my response to the treatment was so excellent from the get-go. The PET technology is very new to Anchorage - it's only been here for a few months. Providence will have the second one in town available soon, but they're not up and running quite yet. For those of you not familiar with it, it's amazing. A CT scan shows anatomy…a PET scan show activity. In other words, a CT scan will show tumors, a PET scan will show individual cancer cells running around (if there are any, which there won't be, because, did I mention that it's all gone? Well, it is).
Anyway, provided the PET scan is all clear, too, then I can have the surgery to get this blasted port out of my chest, then it's just periodic CT scans for the next five years to make sure it doesn't come back. At the end of five years, I'm done. Dr. Stewart will say, "Go - get out of here and live happily ever after. I don't ever want to see you again unless you find another lump somewhere." Which won't happen. Because I'm not going through this again. Because it's gone. And I'm not letting it come back. Ever.
Needless to say, I'm ecstatic. So is my family. My last treatment was on September 17th. The last few were getting rougher. It was taking longer and longer to recover. But I've managed to make it through with my hair intact and no funky things happening to my fingernails or anything else. Very minimal side effects. I'm convinced the enzymes were a big help and all the prayers and thoughtfulness of all of you an even bigger help. It's pretty easy to keep a good attitude when somebody is telling you every day how much they love you and care about you. Thank you all so much for all the support. Each one of you gave in your own special ways and my family and I appreciated every single gesture. What wonderful friends and loved ones we have. I hope you all know how much we appreciate you and love you in return.
Over the last few months, many of you have asked me two basic questions that I've had to put some thought into and I promised I would answer them in this forum. The first question I heard most often is, "Have you made any drastic changes in your life as a result of this?" The answer is no. A trial like this would cause anyone to pause and take stock in their life, and I'm no different. When I did my assessment, I concluded that I'm very happy with my station in life. My relationships with loved ones are good, I'm happy with my level of education, my family life, my spiritual life, my career, my hobbies, everything. The only minor change we've made as a whole family is in our diet. We're trying to eat more organic foods - the freshest, rawest, highest quality food we can find. Other than that, I have nothing to report, and I'm proud of that.
The second question I've been asked a lot is, "Have you learned anything from this?" Well, quite literally, I've learned a lot more about cancer than I ever wanted to know. Beyond that, I've also learned that there are a whole lot more people that care about us than I ever knew about. I think this is probably the case with most people. It's unfortunate that that we have to go through challenges like this to learn that lesson, though. This is going to sound very cliché, but I have found a lot of meaning in this, too: Just because somebody doesn't love you exactly the way you want them to, doesn't mean they don't love you with all that they have. I've learned to accept whatever people want to give, in whatever manner they want to give it, and to appreciate the gift for exactly what it is. Sometimes it's hard to accept and love somebody just the way that they are, and not judge anything about them, but if you can do this, your relationships with people will be much, much closer. I've also learned that everything happens for a reason. God is in complete control. We live in a fallen world and sometimes the horrible events in our lives are a result of that, but nothing happens except by permission from God. This lesson really tested my faith and I had to explore it a great deal to come to that conclusion, but I'm confident it's right. There's a great deal of peace that comes with a greater understanding of the sovereignty of God. Thank you to Rich, for sparking that interest in my spirit - I'm not done with the journey, but I've learned a lot so far!
The most difficult thing has been to put life on hold for six months, especially for a Type A like me. I'm so looking forward to celebrating the holidays this year. Jacquelyn is a year old now and at such a fun age. I'm going to pull Jaden out of pre-school after October and just play with my girls all winter. Jaden will be in Kindergarten next fall and I will get started on building us a bigger house, but until then, I'm going to savor every moment I can with them and make a whole bunch of precious, blessed memories.
Just wanted to share the good news and get those questions answered for you. I probably won't send out any more updates since it's essentially over. Unless there's some bad news after the PET scan or surgery, but I'm confident there won't be. My next correspondence will likely be our annual Christmas letter.
Again, thanks to every one of you for the prayers and thoughts. They worked!! Praise God!!
Much love,
Tiffany
P.S. A shallow, vain little sidenote for the ladies: Revlon Colorstay nail polish. I saw a short clip on the Today show how the chemists at Revlon studied vehicle paint to come up with this formula. I've had one application on for 10 days and counting, two trips to the pool, numerous dishwashings, house scrubbings, kid's baths and my own showers, and not one nick, peel or fading of color. Not even a dull on the shine. Trust me. Buy it.

Cancer Update - July 2003

2008-04-10T12:29:00.001-07:00

Hi all!!
I've been trying to attach a scan of an article that I promised some of you I would send out, but Outlook just doesn't want to send it. If any of you have any suggestions, it would be much appreciated. The alternative therapy doctor I'm working with, Dr. Miller, gave me permission to send it out. It's general healthy diet guidelines. Like I said before, it's not rocket science, but it can be difficult to do on our society. We just fight our battles where we can. I think some of what this article says may surprise you. For example, no vegetable juices. The juice alone has nutrients that are toxic without the fiber of the vegetable. It's important that you get the pulp to protect you from the toxicity. Also, she wants me to eat a lot of organic, which is not surprising, but organic whole milk, real butter, no sugar substitutes, real sugar (but in moderation, of course), free range meat, etc. I think you'd find much of this very interesting. I'll keep working on it, I promise. Dumb software. Aargh.
Anyway, I'm more than halfway through treatment now and feeling pretty okay. Treatments #4, 5, 6 and 7 haven't been that bad. I have my chemo on Wednesdays, I'm tired and feeling puny for a few days afterward, but am back in the saddle by Monday. Mom continues to take the kids for those days and she calls me every single day to check on me. The girls love the schedule, Grandma's house is one big vacation. My house is very quiet for those days and it seems to be easier to get back on my feet. The nausea has subsided to almost nothing and there's been no appetite suppression. In fact, I'm putting on weight. For a few days after a treatment, my throat and nose and mouth feel like I swallowed some bleach. There's a definite burned feeling and "chemical" taste in my mouth that doesn't go away. I gnaw on everything in my cupboards to cover the taste. Then I lay around all day because I'm tired. It only lasts for 3-4 days, but it's a deadly combination. The scale hasn't been my friend lately. Here's some good news though....I STILL HAVE MY HAIR!!! In fact, it just keeps growing. I'm convinced it's the enzymes I'm taking. Dean was sitting with me during my last treatment and one of the nurses told me that it was extraordinary that I still had it. I told her that it was thinning still, but only coming out in strands, not clumps. Then Dean asked her if there was a way that we could make only the GRAY hairs fall out. Yes, everyone in the room laughed at the comedian. Sigh. He can't be serious anywhere, not even in a chemo room full of cancer patients. Ha. Ya gotta love him. Since I haven't been feeling as badly as in the beginning, my attitude is back on track again, too. I have treatment #8 this Wednesday, then only 4 more to go, and I'm done. I'm on the downhill side of this, and am starting to see the finish line. I've never wished for winter to come so badly. Ha.
More good news - I've discovered a massage therapist who is working toward a specialized certification in oncology massage. She's taken me on as a case study and gives me a free massage after every treatment!! What a find, eh? I think a professional massage is the ultimate luxury, and I am thoroughly enjoying being her guinea pig.
Finally, here's the best news - I had a CT scan after treatment #4, and it showed that the cancer is ALMOST gone. When they staged the cancer in the beginning with the baseline CT scan, it showed tumors all throughout my lymphatic system - groin, abdomen, chest, between my lungs, armpits and neck. After 4 treatments, it only showed tumors in my abdomen and left armpit, and they were very close to 1 cm, which is considered a normal sized lymph node. Dr. Stewart was thrilled and said my "response has been excellent"!! Needless to say, I'm thrilled, too. I have one more treatment (#8, next Wednesday the 23rd), then we'll do another CT scan and we're expecting it to be completely clear. I still have to do the remaining 4 treatments, "just to make sure". It really stinks, but I really don't want this to come back, so I'm willing.

That's all I have time to write for now. More later...
Love you all VERY much!! Tiff

Cancer Update - May 2003

2008-04-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

Hello all,
First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone who has called, emailed and sent cards. I'm so sorry that I can't reply to every one of you individually, I'm doing the best I can to stay on top of it, but the chemo has me very tired most of the time, and when I do have energy, there are other things that have been a higher priority, such as spending some lost time with my kids and family.
Anyway, I want you to know that I get every message, and read every card and email. They really do help, so please, keep them coming. Most of you just simply want to know how it's going. I thought I'd wait until I had a few treatments before I answered that question:
The first treatment was a breeze. My hopes soared after that and I thought this was definitely going to be do-able. All I had was a mild headache that never did go away until just recently, but that was it. They told me my hair would fall out about two weeks after my first treatment, so I had my friend, Barb, cut my hair VERY short in sort of a tousled, spikey-ish style all over my head (think, Halle Berry or Racquel Welch). My mom thought it would make the transition to "cue ball" much easier. Not just for me but for those around me that have to look at me all day. Especially my little ones who don't completely understand what's going on. It looks really great, she did a terrific job. The first day I went out, I had two different women with long gorgeous hair walk up to me and say, "Oh… I WISH I had the courage!! What a great style!" Barb and another friend, Diane, also bought me a bunch of great scarves and a book on how to wrap a bunch of different head-styles. What beautiful, thoughtful friends I have. My mom cautioned me against wearing it too turban-like. She doesn't think that would be the smartest thing to do right now. Ha. Just kidding.
The good news is, here it is, seven weeks after my first treatment, and I still have my hair. The chemo nurses are a little pessimistic and they keep telling me that it will fall out eventually, but I'm thinking positive, and we'll just see. It is thinning a little bit. There are a few more strands on the sink in the morning than there usually is, but I've always had a head full of thick hair, so it's going to take more than a few strands to make me look like a chemo patient. It certainly isn't falling out in clumps like they said it would. It has kind of ruined my idea for a halloween costume this year, though. Jacqui and I were going to go as Dr. Evil and mini-me. Hee hee.
The second treatment was definitely no fun. The headache got really bad and the nausea really hit me good, too. Dr. Stewart said the headache was a nerve reaction to the "V" drug in my "ABVD" regimen. She said it happens in about 10% of patients and should resolve itself by the third treatment. I spent all day in bed one day. It took me about four days to start feeling somewhat normal again. Mom went home then I had to have her come back again because I was exhausted just trying to take care of Jacqui during the day and get Jaden to school and back every day.
The third treatment was even a bit worse. I don't think it would've been so bad, except that the family was passing around a cold, and I caught it, too. It took me over a week to feel okay again.
Then one night last week, I woke up in the middle of the night with a fever and we had to go to the ER at 4:00 a.m. Chemo makes your white cell count drop and if you have a fever, the doctor gets very concerned because that's one of the bodies responses to an infection. With no white cells to fight it, it can get very serious very quickly. Well, they gave me a shot of a drug called Nupegen in the ER, which stimulates the bone marrow to make more white cells. It worked really well, but it caused a lot of achiness and throbbing in my bones. Very weird and painful sensation. This happened the day before I was supposed to get my fourth treatment, but Dr. Stewart put it off until Tuesday, so I was able to relax and enjoy Memorial weekend, and get healthy again. I honestly felt better this past weekend than I have in a couple years. I had lots of energy and it felt so good. Just a side note, the doctor in the ER was someone Dean and I knew in college, Megan Hendricks. We didn't know she'd become a doctor and were very proud of her and had a few laughs while we were there (for FOUR hours, but that's another story I don't feel like whining about here).
Hopefully, the next treatment won't be so bad, since I don't have the cold to contend with anymore. I'll be a third of the way through (12 treatments, minimum). I'm supposed to have another CT scan soon, I think, to see how well it's working. I can tell you that I can't feel the lumps on my neck anymore, and they were the size of grapes at the beginning, so I know it's working. That's the only thing that keeps me going back. I can't believe that I actually get in the car and drive myself there willingly to let them do this to me every other week. It's all starting to mess with me mentally, a little bit. I realized last week that I haven't really felt 100% since I got pregnant with Jacquelyn, which was a year and a half ago. I'm really sick and tired of feeling sick and tired. I'm already ready to be done with this nonsense, and I still have nine treatments to go. Sigh. Dad keeps telling me to "get my Smith up". :-) I'm trying.
They do have good drugs to counteract the side effects. One of the nausea prescriptions I have is $75 PER PILL!!! Can you believe that?! You have to wonder if the drug companies or the pharmacies aren't taking advantage of sick people who really need these drugs. But it works, and I'm grateful. I HATE throwing up, that has to be one of the worst feelings in the world. The Nupegen shots are $250.00 apiece. Crazy. Thank God for insurance. I'm also taking the enzymes, and Dr. Miller thinks that they're the reason why I still have my hair and am not experiencing drastic side effects. The chemo nurses tell me I'm just "sailing" through this. Whee. I have a dozen prescriptions in my cupboard to manage side effects. I can't imagine what they think a difficult patient is. I feel like I'm popping pills all day long.
Also, my neighbor, Colleen, and another friend, Bobbie, are coordinating meals to be brought to our house three nights a week by our friends in the hockey community. I can't believe that there are enough people out there in the hockey community who want to do this that nobody has to bring a meal twice in a six month period. That amazes me. Many of them don't even know me, they just know Dean and want to help HIM out. I'm just the lucky one who married the guy. The meals have been an absolute God-send. Most nights, I don't feel like cooking, and when I'm tired like this, we would probably end up doing a lot of take out or mac-n-cheeze. That's not how I should be eating, especially when I'm sick. Also, the chemo can suppress the appetite, but the meals have been fabulous and very appetizing. I'm getting a lot of good recipes, too. I'm defintely going to pass this kindness on one day, it's a terrific idea.
In total, it certainly hasn't been fun, but I am finding little bits of happy news here and there. Most of all, I’m so thankful for my mother. She's been amazing. She stays with me for a whole week after a treatment and takes care of my kids and house. She knows exactly what time Jaden has to be at school and never forgets show and tell or snack day, she knows how I like my towels folded and how Dean likes his meals cooked. She knows when to spoon feed me and when to tell me to get off the couch and get it myself. If she wasn't married, I'd marry her myself and move her in for good. I honestly don't know how people do this and continue working and living their lives. Maybe it's just because I don't HAVE to go to work, but I really can't fathom it. I guess I'm a wimp.
I'm going to email out a photo of the new hairdo and my kids as soon as I fix an error in my scanner. Again, thanks so much for all the emails, cards and phone calls. Thanks, more than anything, for the prayers. I believe in their power and that God is the great physician. If I'm meant to survive this, he'll see to it. Keep em coming. Our family doctor is a Christian man and he told me that this was a great opportunity to be a wonderful testimony for those around me and also that it gives me credibility in the future to support others who have to suffer through this or worse fates. I found that so inspirational. I hope I can use this somehow, someday. We'll see what He has in store.
I'll email again when I have more news. Until, then….
Much love, Tiff

Cancer Update - April 2003

2008-04-10T12:27:00.002-07:00

Dear Loved Ones,
First and foremost, I want to thank every one of you so much for all the support these last couple weeks. When we got the big phone call, it was quite a shock, and it has taken some time for it all to sink in. I want you to know, though, that the more I learn about this and educate myself about it, the better I feel about it, and the more confident I am that it's beat-able. My attitude right now is pretty positive.
Here's the latest: I had a CT scan last Monday and it showed the cancer is spread throughout my lymphatic system, but there is no organ involvement at this point. The bone marrow sample they took came back negative for malignancy as well, I was VERY happy about that. When you get this type of cancer, they "stage" it on a scale of 1-4, with 1 being the best case scenario (tumors localized in one area) and 4 being the worst case scenario (it has spread outside the lymphatic system with organ or bone marrow involvement). I am at a stage 3B (the "B" means that I've had systemic, or system-wide, type symptoms, such as fatigue, fever/chills, and night sweats). Even at this advanced stage, they still give me an 85% prognosis. That means that, statistically, 85% of past cases in stage 3 Hodgkin's lymphoma have been cured.
I had an internal catheter put in my aorta last Thursday, which is where they'll administer the chemicals every two weeks. I get my first treatment this coming Thursday morning at 10:00. They'll give me treatments every two weeks for the next six months. At some point along the way, they'll do another CT scan to make sure it's working. At the point when the CT scan shows no more tumors, they'll give me two more treatments, then call it done. It will then be "in remission" for five years, and if there's no recurrance in that time, they'll start using the word "cured" with me. If I can get to that point, then it's life happily ever after for me. It doesn't reduce my life expectancy at all, although it does put me at a slightly higher risk to develop other types of cancers later in life. The goal of Hodgkin's disease treatment is total cure, not simply tumor mass reduction or life extension.
Due to various circumstances, I haven't actually met my oncologist yet (Dr. Mary Stewart), but I've talked with all the nurses, lab technicians, and other doctors that I've been dealing with, and they all sing her praises like she's an angel. A wonderful reputation preceeds her, so I'm not too worried. I'll meet her for the first time this Thursday when I go in for my first treatment.
I am also working with an alternative therapy doctor who will be my guiding light on nutrition and digestive enzyme therapy to support the chemotherapy. She's amazing and has given me tons of information already. It amazes me how much we study diet and nutrition in our society and yet so many of us really haven't a clue. I want to encourage all of you to go to this website and educate yourself a little bit, just about digestive enzymes, and what they do: www.loomisenzymes.com I think you'll be surprised. We try so hard to eat healthy, and although it's not rocket science, it is difficult to do 100% correctly in a Western civilized society. Much of our food is over processed, especially when we eat out in restaurants and such. But the key is, if your body toxic and is not digesting well, it doesn't matter how good you eat, it doesn't do much good. My goal with the alternative therapy is just to be the healthiest cancer patient I can be, if there is such a thing. Chemotherapy is poison. Basically, they try to kill the cancer before they kill you. I want my organs to be as healthy as can be so they can process the toxins quickly and get them out of my body, and that's where Dr. Miller comes in. Fatigue is one of the most severe side effects of chemo, so the nutritional support should also help me with energy levels so I can continue to function day to day. As if it's not fatigue-ing enough, chasing two little ones around all day, eh?
They've come a very long way with chemo in the last several years and they tell me that the side effects aren't nearly as severe as they used to be. They have good ways to combat the nausea and other toxicities, without reducing the effectiveness of it. The fatigue and hair loss are still pretty inevitable, but I can deal with those. I'm kind of looking forward to not having to shave my legs for six months - ha. Needless to say, Dean's looking forward to it, too. Some nights he swears he's sleeping with a sasquatch. Ha. Actually, many people are able to continue working and living their lives fairly normally anymore when they go through this, so I really believe it will be okay. The chemo nurse tells me that if I get the chemicals on Thursdays, my worst feeling days will probably be Saturday and Sunday when my white cell count drops. As that count climbs back up again, I should start to feel better and better. So it's going to be a bit of a roller coaster the next six months, with good days and bad days.
That's about all there is to know at this point. Again, I'm pretty confident with the 85% prognosis. I feel that's a good, strong number and it makes me feel pretty confident. I really just think this is a bump in the road for me. We'll just deal with it, get through it and then get on with life. At this point, I don't believe in my heart that the Lord intends to take me home with this one, although I haven't figured out yet why I'm supposed to go through this trial. I'm sure it will be revealed to me when the time is right. The Lord commanded us to be strong and of good faith, for He is with us wherever we go. I'm trying.
Thanks again, from the bottom of my heart, for caring so much. I'll keep you posted as often as I can. I love you all.
Tiff

Michigan Pro Hockey Tour - September 1998

2008-04-10T12:27:00.001-07:00

Hi all!!

Hope this letter finds you well. Dean and I have had an exciting summer. I have so much to tell you I don’t know where to begin. I suppose chronologically would make sense.

Dean finished off the hockey season last spring with the Milwaukee Admirals, and did very well. They made it to the second round of playoffs and ended up getting eliminated by the team that ultimately won the championship. He got a lot of ice time and scored more goals there in 10 weeks than he did all season in Grand Rapids. It pays to have a good coach who believes in you, I guess. I drove back and forth between Milwaukee and Grand Rapids that last month I was there and got to see some of his games at the Bradley Center and at the Rosemont in Chicago. The Bradley Center is huge, they played in front of about 15,000 people regularly - that was exciting.

I spent April going back and forth between Michigan and Alaska. I had applied with ad agencies in Seattle, Minneapolis, Denver, and I sent only 2 resumes to Anchorage. The Nerland Agency in Anchorage was the only one that bit and they made me a very nice offer. I interviewed for two days and they ended up offering me a higher position with more responsibility by the time we were finished, so I must’ve impressed them. There are 25 employees and I report to the President (Rick Nerland) - he’s a really good guy, I like him a lot. I love working there, it’s everything that I’ve always thought an ad agency should be. It’s a creative powerhouse and the atmosphere is so fun all the time. Even the decor is fun. There are teal walls and yellow walls, teal leather couches in the reception area and games and things to stimulate creativity everywhere - Rubik’s cubes and other tavern toys, putting greens, hula hoops, basketball hoops, there’s even a heavy bag hanging back in the creative area for those really rough days when you need to get out frustrations (people really do use it - it’s great!) There’s a whole area set up and designed especially for brainstorming sessions and the formal conference room is designed for client presentations. There’s always music playing and laughter and yet, people work their hind-ends off. It’s not uncommon to see the AE’s or the Creative Director there still working at 7:00 - 8:00 at night. They love what they do and it shows. And it’s contagious - it’s a great team to be on. I plan on staying for quite a while.

Rick is paying for my college tuition, too, so I’m back in school hacking away at that MBA. I’m on schedule to graduate in the spring with a 4.0 and have already begun work on my thesis. It should be interesting, I’m going to try to quantify the value of having a corporate intranet. The Nerland Agency has an interactive department where we do CD-ROM development, interactive kiosks and a large amount of corporate intranet content, so hopefully my research can be used as a tool for us to acquire more clients like that. We’re working on a pitch right now that could be worth a million dollars to the agency if we get it. I’d meet my entire years quota in one fell swoop, so I’m working like crazy to pull it together. We give the presentation in two weeks and they’ll probably take a month or more to decide. If we get it, it will definitely be party-time in Anchorage that night!!! I’ll keep you posted.

If all goes according to plan, I’ll graduate the first of May, then deliver a baby a couple weeks later. Yes, we’re pregnant again, and taking it very easy this time. I’ve stopped working out for the time being and do a lot of studying laying flat on my back on the couch!! My first doctor appointment is in two weeks, so I’ll at least wait to get the okay from him then. We’ll see. Dean is a gem, he cooks breakfast every day and calls 2-3 times a day to check on me. My big, rough, macho, professional wrestler wanna-be has turned into a pussycat. Ha - bless his heart. We’re just about 6 weeks along now (the heart just started beating, according to my books - way cool) so we have about 2 weeks to go, to beat our last record. I sure hope this little guy hangs on, we’re excited all over again. I said last time that we would probably wait to tell anybody the next time it happened, just to make sure, but we can’t stand it. I took four tests that morning, just to be sure it was positive. What an obsessive, eh?

We closed on our very first home the same day we found out we were pregnant. Talk about a big day for the Trboyevich’s. I didn’t think closing was ever going to come for this condo! We lived out of a suitcase for 4 months while we waited for it to be built, then, because of complications with the builders financing, we had to wait another month to close. It was ridiculous. Apparently, Dean & I were the only ones in the association that wanted to go with conventional financing (we wanted to put 20% down), so the builder never qualified for that type of financing. When we made our offer, and told them that’s what we were going to do, they had to jump through a bunch of hoops and pay a $2500 fee for us to be able to do that. So that drug it out longer that it should have. But, we’re in and settled and life is good. I love the place - it’s 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 2 car garage, about 1800 square feet. I got to pick out all the colors and had some custom things done, like a jacuzzi tub and a gas fireplace. I had a french door put into the office and it’s so pretty!! Dean doesn’t see the practicality in having see through doors inside the house, but he tolerates it because I love it. Ha. What a guy.

We did discover, however, upon unpacking our stuff, that we’d had a bunch of things stolen (by the movers in Grand Rapids) Every time I find something else missing, I just get livid. I get furious all over again and it takes me hours to calm down. I’ve never been so angry in all my life. We’ve valued everything that’s missing so far at over $10,000. Our stereo and all of our CD’s are gone (about 300), my pearls and other random stuff - blankets, trivets, some books, all my software CD’s, my calculators, my Bible, and even our college degrees, which I thought was really odd. I think they were probably just in the box with something else that they wanted. I’m fighting with the moving company right now, but they tell me that they’re only liable for .60 / lb. I screamed at the guy on the phone “How much do you think a rope of pearls weigh???!!! You’re telling me you’re only going to reimburse me .60 for a $1500 string of pearls!!!???” I was totally irrational at that point. I’ve since talked with a lawyer and the police in Grand Rapids are investigating it. Just so everyone knows, DO NOT use University Movers in Grand Rapids. If they don’t make this right, and soon, I’m going to hassle them to death. I’m going to write the ombudsman and the editors of all the local rags. I’ve never been a vengeful person, but I’ve never wanted to hurt somebody so bad in all my life. There’s nothing worse than a thief. I know that it’s all material, and can be replaced, but the Bible was a gift from my brother’s wife, when I was 14, the year after he died, and the pearls were a family heirloom - a gift from my grandmother. I wore them on my wedding day as my “something old.” They had such sentimental value and it makes me sick to think that they’re probably in some sleazy pawn shop somewhere in Michigan. I haven’t been able to bring myself to tell grandma yet. I keep hoping they’ll turn up. We had insurance, so everything is covered, but I want the movers to pay for it, if at all possible, and I think it’s worth the fight.

Anyway, if I stay on this subject, I’m going to work myself up again. I know it’s not worth it, but it’s really hard not to get mad. I’ve got enough on my plate as it is, like I really need to fight with these people in addition to everything else. Sigh.

I don’t mean to stay so negative, but this summer has been awful in terms of weather, too. It’s been one of the coldest, cloudiest summers I can remember. We’re due to have a stormy winter, too. The air force base here is predicting 159 inches of snow!!! And they’ve never been more than 3 inches off in their predictions! Can you imagine?? We’re looking at over 13 feet of snow!! Dean is chomping at the bit to rev up his snowmobiles, he can’t wait, he’s so excited. We have a garage for the first time ever and I’m so thankful. Dean doesn’t think it’s that big of a deal (he’s grumbling because he had to paint it and seal the floor) but he’ll appreciate it this winter, I’m sure.

He signed with the Anchorage Aces again this year, and it was all over the news that he was back in town. He had a really nice write up in the paper, too. He told them that he could probably play one or two more seasons at the IHL level, but his wife has talents and goals, too, and we decided to come back here so I could pursue those. What a sweetie - they actually printed that. He’s got a job in sales at an industrial supply place, and he’s going to work that this winter, too. They’re a big sponsor of the Aces and they’re completely supportive of him. They’re going to buy him a laptop so he can work on the road and give him the time off he needs to travel. They want their company name on the back of his jersey, too, so it all worked out really well there. He’s working with some really nice people and likes it so far. He’s still going to pursue firefighting when that opportunity comes around next fall, but wants to develop some other skills in the meantime, which I agree is smart. I hope we’re both able to see each other this winter, I think we’re going to stay pretty busy!!

He went fishing for halibut this weekend and brought home about 25 meals worth. I love fresh halibut - we’re cooking some tonight out at my parents house. And that brings us up to date as far as what we’ve been doing. I’m really getting into school, and have a lot of work to do to graduate in May, so I probably won’t write much again until Christmas break. I hope you all have a wonderful fall - I’ll be thinking about you!!

Much love,

Tiff and Dino

Michigan Pro Hockey Tour - April / May 1998

2008-04-10T12:25:00.002-07:00

Hi everyone!

Well, guess what? This will be my last letter because Dean and I are moving home and I’ll get to see most of you on a regular basis and can tell you in person what happening in our lives. For everyone who doesn’t live in Alaska, I’ll still keep in touch, though, just probably not monthly.

A lot has happened in the last two months so I won’t keep you in suspense: Dean was traded to the Milwaukee Admirals on Wednesday, March 25th. The Griffins owed them a player and out of everyone on the team, they wanted Dean so that was quite a compliment. Dean’s happy about the trade because he thinks the Admirals are a better team, they’re battling fewer injuries than the Griffins, and he thinks they’ll go further in playoffs, thus earning him a bigger bonus. His first weekend, he played in front of 15,000 people at the Bradley Center in downtown Milwaukee and he got a goal and an assist. He gets a lot of ice time and more scoring opportunities so, again, he’s very happy to be there.

I spent the first weekend in Milwaukee with him, but then he left to go on a 10 day road trip and I came back to Grand Rapids. A couple days later, on April 1st, I flew to Alaska for a job interview with the Nerland Agency and they liked me so well, they ended up offering me a management position in the agency, rather than the account executive job that I applied for. I was very excited and yes, I accepted the job. My first day is April 27th. Also, payment for schooling was part of the job offer, so if all goes according to plan, by the end of next summer, I’ll be the proud owner of an MBA. I’ll keep you posted. Dean will just fly to Alaska instead of Grand Rapids when playoffs are over.

I stayed with my sister while I was there, and Pete and I were flipping through the channels one day and Fox had one of Dean’s games on TV! It was so neat to watch him on television! He was part of the play of the game, so the camera zoomed in on him for about 30-40 seconds while the color commentators talked about how he was a great addition to the Milwaukee team, a very strong defenseman and very solid on the defensive line. They told a little bit about his history and everything. It was so great! No honorable mentions about the wife at home, though. Oh well. Ha.

I came back from Alaska last week and headed to Chicago where Dean had one more game. It was his last regular season game on Easter Sunday. Chip Aiken and family joined me and it was great to see them, they’re doing well. Nathan graduates this year and they had all just returned from a trip to Nashville and Orlando, where Tiffany and the marching band she plays in got to perform down main street at Disney World. Chip and Annette were chaperones for all the kids. VERY generous parents, aren’t they? I’m glad Dean didn’t play for Chicago this year because it was a boring performance. The hockey was good, but it’s such an entertainment industry anymore and I missed all the fun promotions and games that they usually have between periods. Shannon Miller, the gymnast, was in the crowd that day, and they showed her on the readerboard but that was about it. At the beginning, when they introduced the players, they had laser lights and fire and smoke, so that was neat, but pretty standard anymore. I spent most of the time visiting with the Aikens.

After the game, I went back to Milwaukee again with Dean until he had to leave for playoffs in Houston, TX. Just to kill some time, we took a tour of the Miller Brewing Company. That was a fun couple of hours. We went with one of the other guys on the team and his wife. They didn’t really explain the brewing process so much, but rather, gave a history of the company and showed us the bottling, canning and shipping areas. Did you know that their canning machines can a case of beer every second? Amazing. Their shipping warehouse is 200,000 square feet and stocked full of beer from floor to ceiling. Every last bottle and can in there is shipped out and restocked every 48 hours. That’s a lot of beer, America. We saw the huge vats where they make the mash and process everything. It was about 90 degrees in that room from all the boiling wort. We also walked around in the cave where they stored the beer in the 1800’s to keep it cool during the summer. Then at the end of the tour, we sat in this great little tavern and they let us try 8oz samples of different Miller products. That company makes a LOT of beer. I was surprised. Although I don’t know why, I am married to a hockey player, after all. Dean told me that the refrigerator in the locker room is always stocked from donations from the company and the guys certainly take advantage of it.

Anyway, I’m back in Grand Rapids now to pack up the house and say farewell to everyone. My computer will be packed up next Wednesday and I won’t unpack it again until we get settled in a house in Alaska. It may take a couple months to find a place and close on it, but as soon as we do, I’ll send out an email and let you all know our new address for your Christmas card list. In the meantime, I’ll be living with Dad and Mom in Eagle River and you can reach me there:

c/o Ron & Gayle Smith
PO Box 770884
Eagle River AK 99577
(907) 696-2293
smith1000@prodigy.net email

Aside from all the above excitement, it’s been a great couple months. I had a good birthday in March. Mom sent me a present from her trip to Mexico and wanted me to open it right away but I made her wait until my birthday. I called her and had her on the phone while I opened it. It was a gorgeous chess set. It’s hand carved from green and ivory stone and has an Aztec design on it, so it matches my southwest decor. The green pieces look like English royalty with the king, queen, bishop, knights, and the pawns are men dressed for battle in armor. The white pieces are Aztec Indians with a chief, his squaw, and Indian warriors for pawns. It’s so beautiful, I absolutely love it and Dean & I have played several games on it already. Dean had a hockey game the day of my birthday, so the night before, we tried to go out to dinner, but it was blizzard weather. We tried several restaurants in town but every place closed early. We ended up going to the grocery store and we came home and I cooked. We went to Charley’s Crab a couple days later, though, and it was wonderful. Also, as a little gift to myself and the women in my family, I had a picture done of my great grandmother, grandmother, mother, sister and niece. FIVE generations of women in one photo - it is SO neat. I framed it and I’ll cherish it forever.

Dean’s birthday is coming up in June, but if they do well in playoffs, he’ll be in the championship round at that time. If they make it that far, and I manage to get us in a house by then, I’m going to buy him a big screen TV for his birthday, then have a party at our new house and we can all watch the games on his TV! ha. Could be a lot of fun, yes? I hope it happens.

Last week, we had a fantastic thunderstorm. I love watching electric storms because we don’t really get them in Alaska. Not like they do here in the midwest. Lightning flashes every 10 seconds and it’s amazing to watch. I AM going to miss the weather here. There was still quite a bit of snow in Alaska last week when I was there and it’s been warm enough to wear shorts all week here. The grass is green and the flowers are blooming. The trees all have leaves and the apartment complex turned on all the fountains in the little ponds around here, so when I open my porch door, I can hear the water splashing. That is one thing I will definitely miss about this place is the warm summer. Oh well.

March was actually a pretty boring month. I was unemployed with nothing to do but job search and that’s a lot of “hurry up and wait” type stuff. I discovered that I have to stay active or I go nuts. I bought some MBA textbooks to read to get a jump on classes, did our taxes (we had to file federal, state AND city taxes here - blech!), I cleaned out every nook and cranny in the house, went through all our stuff (the goodwill people know me by name now), cleaned out all our files, took up yoga, and I even started brushing up on my Spanish. Yikes. I told Dean that when I start taking inventory of toothpicks to have me committed immediately - I’ve lost it completely. I spent a lot of time on the computer in March, too. Ask me anything about Windows 95. If I don’t know the answer, I can figure it out, I guarantee it. We discovered how to record, mix and edit sounds and send them as attachments to email files. I can also answer the telephone using the microphone and speakers, and use the computer as voice mail when I’m out. I’m still trying to figure out how to call long distance using the internet connection so there’s no LD charges. I need a new program, but I’m told it’s really easy.

I also auditioned at a local modeling agency and they booked me for a couple shows so that was fun. I volunteered to be the meeting leader / emcee at a local speaking contest sponsored by Toastmasters, International. They asked me to come back and do it again at the area wide contest, so I did that, too. It was fun and I learned a lot listening to the more advanced speakers. Some of them are so good.

Dean grew a goatee this month, and I thought it looked great on him, but it drove him nuts so he shaved it off while I was in Alaska. It took almost three whole weeks for it to look full. Ha. He’s such a babyface. Shortly after he started growing it, he caught the butt end of a stick in the chin during a game and got four stitches. With the blood and scraggly hair, he looked really tough for a while, let me tell you.

I saw one of the greatest moves I’ve ever seen in hockey the week before Dean got traded. Danton Cole, a Griffins player, had a puck coming at him through the air about eye level. Now, I didn’t know this, but you’re not supposed to be able to catch a puck like that with your hands then put it down and continue playing. If you do, the ref is supposed to blow the whistle and you face-off again. So to keep the puck in play, Danton bent his head down a little bit and head-butted the puck back down to the ice, he took it down and then scored!!! The crowd was on their feet - it was so great! Those guys are so tough, who else but a hockey player would have the nerve to head-butt a flying puck? Of course, it could just be stupidity from being hit in the head one too many times from flying pucks. Ha. Just kidding, actually it was a well thought out move and I was in awe. It hit his helmet so there was no blood or pain (so he says.)

On April 1st, Dean & I realized that we’d met exactly 10 years ago for the first time at a party in college. His buddies had left him at a party and both he and I lived in the dorms. I offered him a ride back. I figured it was safe enough because I had three of my girlfriends with me (hi Nat, Fran and Regina – remember that night?) He came back to our dorm and sat at our kitchen table with us until about 5am, being Mr. Entertainment and making us all laugh for hours until we were all crying. I fell in love immediately, and now here we are, living happily ever after. Sigh. I can’t believe it’s been that long.

Well, that’s all the news. It sure has been a fun year and I’m sad to see it end, but looking forward to my new job and being with my family again. I’m anxious to finish my MBA and get started on our own family again, too, so we’ll keep you posted as life trucks right along!

Much love,
Tiffany

Michigan Pro Hockey Tour - March 1998

2008-04-10T12:25:00.001-07:00

Happy March everybody!

The highlight of my February was a fun-packed, three day weekend trip to Orlando, Florida with Colleen and Kristin. We had SUCH a blast together that we decided we had to make it an annual event. Friendships like that are just too few and far between to let fall by the wayside simply because there are miles separating us. Only next time, I think we'll probably go to a town that has absolutely nothing to do but stay at a resort. That way we never have to leave the resort, beach, pool, whatever, and we can just relax. It will probably be somewhere further south and later in the year so we can have 90 degree weather because we discovered that Orlando in early February was NOT warm. Yes, it was very disappointing. I really wanted to hit a water park or lay by the pool. Oh well. Now I know, right?

We did get up Saturday morning and saw some deceiving sunshine out the window. We thought it was going to be a warm day so we left our jackets in the hotel room. By the time we got to the monorail to take us to Epcot we were feeling quite foolish because we were quite frozen. Our teeth were chattering but we tried to be tough Alaskan women. I don’t think we succeeded because the first thing we had to do when we got to Epcot was head straight for the gift shops to look for sweatshirts! We all ended up buying the same one (doin the “girlfriend” thing) and many of our pictures turned out great because they’re of a brunette, a redhead and a blonde, and we all have on the same navy blue “Walt Disney World” sweatshirt. We got a really great one of the three of us with the Epcot “golf ball” (Spaceship Earth) in the background. It’s my favorite – what a great shot.

Kristin drove down from Georgia in her convertible Mustang and picked me up at the airport late Thursday night. We stayed at a military hotel called Shades of Green (very nice, very cheap) and we stayed up all night talking and catching up. Then on Friday, we got up and went to the Disney World Marketplace. We had lunch at Planet Hollywood then wandered around the marketplace, just window shopping. We happened upon a crowd of people hanging around outside of what looked like a boarded up shop. Turns out, it was a magic store that was getting ready to open and it was owned by David Copperfield. We asked somebody what everyone was waiting for and he said he’d heard that David Copperfield was going to be making an appearance. No sooner did he say that, when the door opened and out he came! Kris and I got both our pictures with him. Sigh. He is so good looking. I wanted to ask him how he did the trick of making me feel tingly all over. Ha ha. Kris thinks he was looking at me. He does like blondes, you know. Just kidding. There were a bunch of young cheerleaders, apparently in town for a competition, going ga-ga over him, and he made them all do a cheer for him before he would sign autographs. Too funny. We were telling Colleen about it later at the airport and she mused that it really would be fun to be able to make people do silly stuff like that for no reason, just to have a picture with you. Ha. He’s coming to Grand Rapids to do his “Dreams and Nightmares” show on March 25th. I was thinking about getting some of the girls together to go, because the guys are on the road that day, but tickets are over $50 each. Ouch. We’ll see.

Then Kris and I went to the airport and picked up Colleen. She was just bursting to tell us that she had just had the most interesting conversation with man on the plane all the way from D.C. He told her he has put in over 7000 hours of study of demons, alien encounters and how it all relates to the Bible. Apparently, she was convinced that he had proven many of the facts he presented her with. She was so excited to tell us all about it when she got off the plane and we ended up talking about it late into the night. We stayed up until 3am both nights talking a hundred miles an hour like teenagers. I told her my theories based on what I knew and we batted everything around in our minds for hours. She ended up getting so freaked out that she was scared to get up and go to the bathroom in the dark. Ha. Colleen is also on a personal mission to convert the whole east coast to friendly-ism. She's converted the whole building she works in and has now aspired to higher mountains. She started with the guy at the ticket counter when she checked in for her flight. He was so charmed by her graces that he upgraded her to first class just for being nice! That was how she got the opportunity to sit next to this interesting man. Neat, eh? It just goes to prove that a smile or two can go a long way if it’s genuine. Didn’t mom tell us all that?

Anyway, the three of us went to Pleasure Island on Friday night. It’s a little pedestrian mall right by the marketplace that’s all shops and clubs, each with a different theme. There was a bar that we sat at for a while called “Surf’s Up” and it had a beach theme. There was a mediocre band there, but not much to report, we didn’t stay there long. Then there was a 70's bar called 8 Traxx that we went to where we danced for hours – they were playing all the music that we liked and the place was packed. We also went to a comedy club that was ALL improvisation. It was SO impressive! There was a cast of 6 characters and all the comedy they did was based on material that they got from the audience. They had songs and rhymes and entire monologues that were customized for the people in OUR audience. It was one of the neatest things I’ve ever seen. What I would give to have the talent to think on my feet that well! It was really incredible. There was also a big stage out in the street, and the Spinners were performing there. We watched them while we were standing in line for the comedy club but not much longer than that because it was drizzling rain and pretty cold. We also went to a place later called The Adventurers Club, which had an off-the-wall British theme to it and there was a short comedy skit going on in there, too. They made everyone do a salute where you have to say, “Kongaloosh!”, we drank a fruity drink called a Kongaloosh, and learned a beer drinking song to the tune of Do, Re, Mi from the Sound of Music. The three of us called Bill’s voice mail and sang it for him, laughing our heads off the whole time, I can’t imagine that he heard a single word of it. I’ll share it with you, but it was really one of those times where you had to be there to truly appreciate the humor. You understand, of course. Here you go:

(to the tune of Do, Re, Mi from the Sound of Music)
Do - the stuff I buy beer with
Re - the guy I buy beer from
Mi - the guy I buy beer for
Fa - the distance to the store
So - I think I'll have a beer
La – (pause) La la la la la la
Ti - No thanks, I'll have a beer
and that will bring us back to do, do, do, do...

I’m giggling just typing this again. It was soooo funny at the time!! (Kongaloosh, girls!! Wahoo!)

The next day (Saturday) we got up, went to breakfast (Mother Colleen insisted that we start our day off with a nutritious meal), then headed to Epcot. After we bought our sweatshirts and the hottest mocha we could find, we went to a 3D presentation called, “Honey, I shrunk the audience.” It was based on the movies and actually went a step beyond regular 3D shows. For example, Rick Moranis’ young son was playing with one of the inventions and dropped his pet mouse into a machine called a “multiplier.” It cloned the mouse and you saw thousands of little mice running and squeaking all over the screen. Well… all of a sudden, I could feel about a hundred mice ACTUALLY RUNNING UP MY LEGS!!! All three of us screamed at the top of our lungs and stuck our legs right up in the air as high as we could! Good thing it was dark in the theatre because that would’ve been hilarious to see! It was the creepiest feeling!! My skin was crawling and I could feel the hair on the back of my neck bristling! It’s giving me shivers again just thinking about it. We couldn’t figure out how they did that, we were looking for wires sticking out of our seats or something when the show was over, but we found nothing. I’m telling you, I could actually feel hundreds of little, tiny claws grabbing at my legs trying to climb up. (yeeeeek!) It was awful.

Then at the end of the show, when we were “enlarged” back to normal size again, the already normal sized dog somehow got in the way of the ray and became huge. He stuck his head out from behind the curtain to take one last look at the audience, then sneezed. We had water sprayed all over us and man, talk about a gross feeling!! Blech! The whole show was great. At one point, when the audience was still “small,” the older son’s snake (which was huge compared to us) was slithering around and stuck his head right in our faces, then opened his mouth wide and hissed. Trying keeping your eyes open looking at THAT in 3D! Yikes.

Of course we had to go on the “Spaceship Earth” ride because it was sponsored by AT&T. That’s the golf ball looking thing that’s in all the Epcot brochures. It’s not as big as I thought it would be, but I guess I’m not sure what I expected. I’d never given it much thought. Anyway, it’s all about the history of communication and was pretty interesting. The characters in there looked very lifelike and we couldn’t exactly figure out if they were real or not. We decided that they were mannequins that looked almost real and the ones at the “American Experience” show that we saw later were real that looked and moved very wax-like, thus looked like mannequins.

We walked around the lake and saw all the countries represented. Each one had some sort of music or dancing or something going on in front of it. At the Canada stop, there was a man carving an enormous totem pole out of a huge cedar log. It smelled wonderfully potent and we talked with him for a bit and discovered that he was actually an Indian from Ketchikan, Alaska! Go figure. So, yes, we had to get a picture with him, too.

We stopped to get a bite to eat and while we were snacking on some Mickey shaped chips and salsa in front of Mexico, the most incredible creatures came along and captured the attention of all three of us and held us completely captive until they had walked on by. They were so beautiful and intriguing that we all felt hypnotized just looking at them. I’ll try to describe them for you, but it’s going to be really hard. They were actually just people in costume and make-up that were walking on stilts. But it appeared that they were riding on the back of an animal that looked like a cross between some type of dinosaur or ostrich and a peacock, because they were really bright colored. They looked like something you’d see in an exotic jungle somewhere. They were about the size of an adult ostrich and very elaborately decorated. They were made entirely out of one inch bands of metal, so they had a cage-like appearance to them, and you could see through the spaces of the bands that they were made of. The stilts were the animals’ legs and then there were fake (but real looking) legs hanging over the sides that looked like they belonged to the “rider.” The riders used a series of “reins” to move the animals’ heads and bodies around to make it look like they were looking at something in the sky or eating something off a tree and the way they moved was so lifelike that it was absolutely mezmerizing!! Definitely something so creative that you’d only see it at Disney. It was absolutely amazing. I couldn’t get enough pictures of them, they were so gorgeous and captivating.

That evening we went to a buffet on the other side of town that was all seafood and we stuffed ourselves on lobster, crab & shrimp. We were going to go to Dean’s hockey game (they were in town for the weekend playing the Orlando Solar Bears) but we were so full and tired that we couldn’t move. We decided we would just catch the ending of the game and say hi to Dean, but we didn’t get there in time for that either. He’d already caught the bus back to the hotel. Tim Paris, the trainer was still there packing up equipment, though, and he told us that most of the guys were headed over to Church Street Station, which is a street that’s closed off to traffic after hours and is just solid clubs for about 4 blocks. So we headed over there. We went into one club called Sloppy Joe’s for a while then decided to leave because it was too smoky. We never did see him and when I got home the next day, he told me that he WAS in the bar at the same time we were. We talked about a dance contest they had going on and both of us had watched it from the opposite sides of the dance floor and never did see each other! Oh well. Just wasn’t meant to be, I guess.

Our last day there, Sunday, we were going to tour the Tiffany museum, but it was finally warm out, and after breakfast (Colleen!) we just laid on some loungers by the pool and soaked up the sun for a few hours. Colleen and Kris chatted and I dozed. It felt so good, I love being toasty warm! On the way back to the airport, we finally got to ride in the convertible with the top down! It was a great weekend and I burned up about four rolls of film so the memories are forever documented! Thanks, girls, for a fantastic weekend! I’m really looking forward to next year already!

Back in Grand Rapids, things still hadn’t improved with my job situation and I decided I didn’t care to watch Wayne chew people up and spit them out anymore, so I turned in my resignation. He didn’t take it very well at first but later asked me to keep in touch, so I’m not sure what to make of it. I figured out that I wasn’t going to learn anything more by being there so it was time to make a change so I could keep progressing. I’m working on another position so I’ll keep you posted.

Dean and I found a club here in Rapids (called Tinseltown) that is similar to the one I told you about last month in Las Vegas where they have “dueling pianos.” They played a lot of the same songs, took requests, did a lot of the same fun stuff, but for some reason, it just wasn’t nearly as rockin and wild. There’s no dance floor and the guys are funny but not quite as energetic as the ones at New York, New York in Vegas. Still, it’s something fun to do on an occasional Saturday night.

Just a couple tidbits from the hockey world here: Gordie Howe was at one of our games recently and I got to talk to him for a while and get his autograph. He’s a pretty friendly man. Dave Allison, the Griffins head coach was fired and the General Manager, Bob McNamara is taking over double duty for the rest of the season. I guess Davy’s temper finally cost him. Dean has mixed feelings about the situation, but hopefully it will work out for the best. And the Griffins also have clinched a playoff berth so we’ll at least be in the first round of playoffs starting April 16th. As long as we’re winning, we’ll stay in the running, but as soon as we lose a round, everyone goes home for the summer and the winning team advances to the next round. Each round is seven games and whoever wins four of the seven, advances. The fourth and final round of play could go as late as June, but would mean big bonus checks for all the guys. Cha-ching!!! $$$$$ Wish us luck! Also, Dean came home with a new haircut the other day, a George Clooney / Ceasar style. I wasn’t sure, at first, but it’s a 90’s look, I guess, and it’s growing on me.

Also, I have to print a retraction that I forgot about last month. In December, I wrote about a Christmas party at Danton Cole’s house where there was a picture on the refrigerator of him and his wife and children sitting around the Stanley Cup. I saw him wearing a red jersey and wrote to you that he had played for the Blackhawks. Gerry Kroll immediately emailed me to inform me that the Blackhawks had the longest championship dry spell of any team in the NHL and Danton must be REALLY old if that were true. Ha. Being a hockey wife, of course, I feel foolish. It was a New Jersey Devils jersey, which is also red, and he played for them in the Stanley Cup championship in 1995. For you hockey historians, that was also the year Mike Peluso played for them. Mike is a childhood friend of Deans and a former UAA hockey player, too. Thanks, Ger, for the insight.

Okay, that’s the news for February. See you again next month!!
Much love,
Tiffany

Michigan Pro Hockey Tour - February 1998

2008-04-10T12:24:00.001-07:00

Hi all!!

Well, January was a MUCH better month, thank goodness. I have LOTS of fun news to report.

First of all, I’m typing this on my new Gateway. This thing is so sweet. 300 MHz Pentium II processor, 32MB RAM, 17” monitor, 4Gig Hard drive, 24X CD-ROM, 56K modem, awesome speakers, SOMEBODY STOP MEEEEEE!!! I love it. It feels good to join everyone in the 90’s with Windows. . I’m now trying to sell my MacIntosh. What a joke. Wish me luck. I’m also listening to Celine Dion’s new CD in the CD ROM drive while I type this. Too cool. She sings the love theme from the Titanic on this CD and I really like it. I saw that movie a couple weeks ago and was so moved by it. It was 3 hours, 15 minutes, and felt like it was over in 30 minutes. I remember being taught about the Titanic in elementary school, but I’ve never stopped to think about what it must’ve REALLY been like. Absolutely terrifying. I can’t even imagine. The movie had a wonderful love story as part of it, of course, but the whole package was very powerful. Incredible movie – I highly recommend it.

My work atmosphere still stinks to high heaven, but I created a bunch of opportunities for myself this month to keep learning and that really turns me on, so I’m hanging in there for the time being. (I don’t know how much more I’m willing to take though, so I’ll keep you posted.) The first thing I did was make an appointment to take a tour of our film house. They’re color specialists and basically they’re a middle man between the agency and the printer. They create the films that create the sheet metal plates that go on the press that prints out the brochures and ads. I won’t bore you with all I learned but it sure got ME excited. I also went to our printer in Kalamazoo and thought it was so interesting to actually see the computerized presses and how the inks are applied to the papers, how they’re folded, cut and bound. The quality control is unbelievable. I also looked at sreeen pictures on brochures that seemed like a perfectly crisp and clear photo, but when you look up close, through a jeweler’s loop, you can actually see all the dots that make them up. The dots are bigger or smaller depending on how dense the color is and each individual dot has more than one color that makes it up. I learned all about 8 color process, mezzo, line screens, ghosting, half tones, the list goes on and on. This is probably boring for the average Joe, I know, but I was fascinated.

I’m on the local speakers circuit now, too. I gave a 30 minute speech at the Business Marketers Association monthly luncheon last week. It was on “The Creative Process.” I was so excited to give it, I really couldn’t pay attention to how well it was received. I think it was good, I got a few compliments from members and requests for more information so that’s a positive.

The highlight of my month was my vacation. Of course it was too short, only a week. I left on 1/5 to go to Las Vegas for business, then took the following week off to visit with family and friends in Vegas and Phoenix. The business portion of it was the CES show. What an incredible trade show! It was so overwhelming, there’s no way to see it all in just four days. I actually had to map out my days and plan which booths I wanted to see and which seminars I wanted to attend.

The first seminar was Steve Forbes. He talked about the economic outlook, of course. His forecasts are always interesting and pretty accurate. Then I saw Scott McNeally, CEO of Sun Microsystems, Inc. He was talking about the chips that they manufacture and how they’re in everything these days. They’re in your coffee maker and there’s about 150 in the average automobile. He talked about taking the smart card to the next level and basically having everything in your wallet on one plastic card with a chip embedded in it. The chip would have all the information on your drivers license, all your credit card numbers, frequent flyer numbers, medical history, everything. He even said that he believed in our generation that we would be embedding these chips in the gumline of a newborn or on the back of their hand. That scared the daylights out of me. I’m not ready for that to happen yet.

The best speaker, of course, was Bill Gates. I wasn’t overly impressed with the hand held and palm top computers until I saw his presentation. I can definitely see uses for them now. I went to the Microsoft booth and their big release this year is Windows CE for the car. It runs in your car and operates the whole system from speaker cell phone to regulating the temperature in the radiator to global navigation. They were having a drawing, giving away a version of it and wrapped around it was a brand new silver Porche. No, I haven’t heard from them yet, so I’m not sure when it will be delivered to me, but I’ll keep you posted.

After the show, my parents drove up from Phoenix in their brand new motor home. It has a slide out living room so it’s very spacious when it’s all set up. Very plush. Sheesh, I wish I could retire. Ha. During CES, I stayed at the Mirage, which, to be honest with you, is not as impressive as I’d expected, but it was cold out, so I didn’t get to do the pool. Maybe that’s what was disappointing.

One of my good friends, Shannon, lives there now. Her husband is an electrician and there’s so much construction in Vegas right now. He was working on a brand new hotel right by the Mirage, called the Bellagio. Talk about first class. This place is all suites, has a dress code in the casino in the evening, and even has an elevator that you drive your car right onto, and it takes you (in your car) up to your floor to park on that level, get out and walk straight to your suite. Unbelievable.

Shannon and I went out one night to a club at the top of the Stratosphere. That’s the tower at the end of the strip that looks like the Space Needle in Seattle. There was a complete panoramic view of the strip and the city and it was breathtaking at night. It’s 110 stories high and I’m not afraid of heights but when I got up there and looked out over the railing, there was nothing underneath me because of the way it was shaped, and my knees went a little weak. On top of the tower, outside, there’s a roller coaster and an ejection seat. That would’ve been fun to do, but it was actually really cold out, so we decided to save it for the next visit. It was so good to catch up with Shannon. She was one of my three bridesmaids in my wedding and I haven’t really been able to see her in a few years. She’s absolutely hilarious and absolutely gorgeous, too. She’s about 6’1” and about as big around as me. She really turns heads when we go out. We tore up the town and when I got back to the motor home (at 5am), Mom was making my bed up. She told me to go to the back of the bus, because she was up for the day and didn’t want to work around me. Ha.

The Griffins came through town for a game while I was there and my whole family and I went. There were sixteen of us there and we had a blast! Dean’s mother came down for a couple days, too, and she and I were sitting together at the game. The camera focused on us and we got our mugs on the readerboard in the middle of the game. We yelled, “Go Griffins” and waved – too fun. All the guys gave Dean grief about wanting so many tickets for a road game and he just said, “I’ve got fans in every town, boys, get used to it.” Ha. The next night, they were in Salt Lake City and he had to get some tickets for a friend there, too. The team travels in such style, I’m telling you. They were staying at the Luxor, which is my FAVORITE hotel on the strip. We all went over there afterwards to play in the casino for a while and my parents and mother in law and cousins got to see Dean for a little while. That was nice, we had a good time.

My mom started out on one of the slot machines with twenty dollars (80 quarters), and had the machine up to over 600 quarters! She was really on a roll, then my cousin, Shane (ornery brat) came over, with a wicked grin on his face and said, “How ya doin, Gayle?” She said, “Fantastic, don’t touch anything!!” So what do you think he did? He hit the “cash out” button on the machine and laughed like crazy. All her quarters came crashing out and she filled up an entire cup with them. I was laughing so hard. Then we all kept dipping into her cup when we were out of money so the rest of us could keep playing. By the end of the night, it was all gone, but we had a blast. Poor mom. She never gets any breaks. Ha. It’s a good thing she has such a great sense of humor, or we all would’ve been dead years ago. Shane is actually one of my favorite cousins. He’s a policeman in Mesquite, NV, and that night he gave me his coat which has a logo on it for a program they started: D.A.R.E. to keep kids off drugs. He told me he would be HONORED to have me wear his coat. Aaawwww. He’s such a sweetie, eh? He and his wife, Marci, had us all over to their house earlier that week for dinner, too. All I can say is, they have a really nice home so policing in Mesquite must be profitable. Ha.

When I was Miss Alaska, one of my prizes was a cruise from Los Angeles to Ensenada, Mexico. On that cruise, there was an entertainer by the name of Loretta Holloway. I got to meet her at the midnight buffet and we really hit it off, she’s really a neat lady. I never kept in touch, though, and now I regret it because she was performing at the Luxor. I went into the lounge and watched her all night one night. She’s as incredible as ever and still the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen hit the stage. Very impressive.

Mom and Dad and I went to the Star Trek experience at the Hilton hotel – that was pretty neat. It’s a motion simulator ride where there’s a wide angle screen that’s concave and it appears (by optical illusion) that you’re flying through space. The seats we were sitting in rocked and jerked around according to what was happening on the screen and a couple of times, my stomach flipped, even though we really weren’t going anywhere. It was so fun, my parents are such little kids at heart. They’re so much fun to play with.

We also watched the pirate battle and ships sinking at Treasure Island. I didn’t get to see that last time I was in Vegas – what a neat little show! It’s actually very elaborate for being something they do every hour for free. You can feel the heat from the cannonballs and all the good looking pirates (without shirts) fall off the ships into the water and fight it out with each other. Whew. I REALLY enjoyed that. Tee hee.

I also did the Fremont Street Experience downtown with my mom and mother-in-law – more lights and sound effects and very “Vegas” feeling. I liked that, too. Then the next day, we had to say good-bye to mom-in-law and my parents and I hit the road to Phoenix to spend some quiet time with my Grandparents. We saw Hoover Dam on the way, too. It’s a good thing they have all that hydroelectric power from Lake Mead because I can’t imagine what the electricity bill would be for one of those Vegas casinos. While I was in Phoenix, I did make time to see one of my high school girlfriends who just got married last summer. I saw all the wedding pictures and caught up on her life. I’m so proud of her, she’s about to finish her PhD at ASU and really found a terrific guy, too. (Hi, Fran Fu)

Bill was going to be in Vegas the last day before I had to head home so I flew from Phoenix to Vegas a day early so I could hook up with him. It was so good to get caught up and we had such a blast! I realized that I’m really just homesick for my friends, more than anything, not so much the state (and definitely not the weather.) We went out to dinner at the Harley Davidson Café then went to a piano bar at New York, NewYork. That place was such a hoot!! I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard. The piano players were so talented, they played songs like Sweet Home Alabama, Old Time Rock and Roll, Shook me all night long, and New York New York. They took any and all requests and did just about anything you wanted them to. During NY, NY, they made the crowd stand in a circle around the pianos and do a kickline. During “Joy to the World” they had hand motions that went along with it that were too risque to mention here. Ha. One guy had a birthday and they made him sit on top of the piano while the whole crowd sang (to the tune of itsy, bitsy, teeny, weeny, yellow polka dot bikini) “He’s got an itsy, bitsy… I’ll let you fill in the rest. They sang all kinds of songs where they changed the words like that and made them hilariously filthy. I laughed so hard all night, my stomach muscles hurt the next day. Those guys really had the crowd rockin and they never slowed down all night. They jumped up on the piano to dance and the room was just packed. We didn’t shut it down until about 4 am. We met a newlywed couple in the kickline – her name was Patti and his was Furman. I couldn’t remember Furman because it’s kind of unusual and I kept calling him Femer (as in the thigh bone) He was good natured about it, though, and they bought us a couple drinks. I’ll never forget that place as long as I live, what a fun time!!!!

I REALLY didn’t want to come home the next day, I wasn’t done being on vacation. I had waayyyyy too much fun there. I told my friend, Cindy Greig, that it’s a good thing the laws are looser in Nevada, because I was pushing it!!! Ha. I don’t know if, even yet, I’m out of vacation mode. Next month, I’m going to Orlando, Florida for a long weekend with Colleen and Kristin. The guys have a couple games there and we’ll go to one of them, at least, but for the most part, I plan on picking up where I left off on the last vacation. Wahoooo!! I’m loving all the cheap airfare from Michigan. Flying anywhere from Alaska is so cotton pickin expensive that it makes a lot of travel unaffordable. I warned Dean when we moved down here that I wanted to do some travelling and he said okay. I think he regrets that now. Ha. Colleen emailed me last week and said she saw a rate in the paper for a round trip ticket, DC to Madrid, for about $300. She wanted to know if Kristin or I were interested in another long weekend trip. My hand shot up!! I felt like a kid in elementary school, saying, “Ooh, ooh, pick me!!!” I hope it works out, we’re going to talk about it some more in Orlando.

When I got home from Vegas, I had 87 emails waiting for me. Yikes! If I haven’t answered you yet, please be patient, I’m working my way through them one at a time, and trying to get this letter finished so I can get it out before February is gone.

Angie Richards had her baby, she’s the one who miscarried twins a year ago and was so supportive for me during our miscarraige last month. In fact, her husband, Travis had to fly home from Vegas early because she went into labor. They had a healthy baby boy, and named him Riley Richards. I’m so happy for them, they’ve been panicky and anxious the whole pregnancy, hoping nothing would go wrong this time. That was such a blessing because they were so worried.

On Super bowl Sunday Dean finally got to go snowmobiling. Bruce Ramsey took my sled and went with him – I guess they had a pretty good time. They came back soaking wet. I thought it would help get it out of his system, but it just made him want more. They’re already making plans again for next weekend. My girlfriend (Bruce’s girlfriend, too), Jen, won the football pool that night and got about $400. She was so excited she jumped up in front of a room of about 40 people and did a little victory dance. I was howling. The assistant coach had the party at his house and earlier that day all the guys were playing football in the snow. I guess it got pretty rough but they had fun. I had some projects around the house to get done, so didn’t show up until later, but didn’t mind because I’m not really the cheerleader type anyway. Ha.

I went to a luncheon put on for the wives at Centennial Country Club two weeks ago. We all were given a gift certificate at a local salon and I’m thinking about using it to get another massage. Sigh. What heaven. Also at the lunch, they had a guest speaker that was a handwriting analyst. She had everybody draw a tree then diagnosed the picture based on whether we drew bark lines in the trunk, individual branches or leaves, knotholes, flowers, apples, birds, squirrels, etc. According to her analysis of my tree, my family is very important to me (because I drew roots), I worry a lot, have a strong desire to deal with the public, I act a little bit more like my father than my mother and I’m very competitive. I began to break away from my parents and establish my independence at the age of eight, and never had any traumas that affected me in a major way. When I showed her my signature to analyze, she took one look at it and said, “Oh my. Oh my goodness, yes. This signature screams confidence in every aspect. You’re very comfortable in your own skin and all the other traits that you have are very strong, also. In other words, you’re not somewhat confident, you’re extremely confident. All the other traits you have are just as powerful. You’re fastidiously organized, fiercely competitive, don’t like change unless you’re the one who initiates the change, you’re very decisive, independent, very emotional and VERY affectionate. You’re highly intelligent and probably never had a problem academically and you’re very good with numbers. You’d do well in banking or finance or accounting.” I kind of made a “blech” face when she said this and she said, “It doesn’t matter whether you’re interested in it or not, I’m just telling you that you’re good at it. Also, because you’re very confident, you may not feel a need to always be social because it doesn’t bother you to stand alone at a party or social function and it may make you appear somewhat standoff-ish so be aware of that.” It was very interesting, I felt like she was pretty on target, but then, just about everything she said was positive and, of course, I want to believe her. Ha. She said to do a full, in-depth analysis, she needs about a full page of handwriting. I wonder what she would charge to do that, I think it might be a great way to get to know yourself or your spouse better. Dean said he doesn’t know if he buys it or not, but this woman had some pretty high credentials. She’s been doing this for 30 years and has done FBI work, analyzing ransom notes, suicide notes, even Secret Service notes threatening the president.

Okay, well that’s the news for now. It’s been a pretty good month and I’m keeping it on the right track so far. I’m going to end this letter a bit abruptly because I really need to get it out to y’all. Have a great February and keep those emails comin – I LOVE them!!

Take care,
Tiffany

PS - I took a short walk on the wild side the last week of the month. I
don't know what possessed me but I decided to go MUCH blonder than before
with my hair and I also got a gold bellybutton ring!! My girlfriend Jen,
has one and every time I've seen it (at the gym or when she wears cropped
tops) I have just thought it looks so sexy. It's very subtle, you don't
notice it unless you're looking for it and I absolutely love it, but I
think I've really shocked some of my friends and definitely my family.
It's pretty far out in left field for me, and Dad, Mom and Tracy were just
laughing. Jen went with me when I had it done and took me to a place that
smelled of incense and had a big iguana in a corner cage. There was also
somebody groaning behind a wall and I asked what that was, Jen said they
were getting a tatoo. Talk about the total experience, I was laughing and
giggly the whole time. Jen took pictures for me so it's forever documented
thanks to Kodak. Yes, it hurt like the dickens for about five seconds,
then was over and now it looks great! I've never liked my belly because
that's where I gain weight when I put it on, but now I'm looking for short
summer tops already! Ha. I can't wait for the weather to warm up!

Michigan Pro Hockey Tour - January 1998

2008-04-10T12:23:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!!

December was an emotional roller coaster for Dean and I. I'll tell you the bad news first, and I'll try to keep it short and leave out all the gory details, then I can get on with the good news and concentrate on that.

I spoke a bit too soon in my last letter about our pregnancy. If you haven't already heard, we miscarried around December 10th, about two weeks after our big announcement. We were six weeks along. For the first week, I felt like my heart would break, but Dean, bless his heart, always helps me stay focused on the positive and we decided there was one good thing that came out of it: at least now we know that we can conceive. We've never tried before so there's always that initial worry that there might be unknown problems. Of course I felt a little foolish because then we had to go back and tell everyone that it was a false alarm, and I had even made the comment that I probably wouldn't be so quick to tell people the next time it happened. But Angie, a friend I've made here, miscarried twins a year ago, FIVE months into her pregnancy. One was stillborn and the other died in her arms. It doesn't matter how good or bad you think you've got it, somebody can always top your story. I can't imagine her grief. Anyway, she told me that: 1) You can't help yourself but to get excited when you discover you're pregnant, so don't even try to supress it and 2) If I don't allow myself to get as excited the second time as I did the first time, I'm not being fair to the second baby or myself. I had to agree with her so as soon as we have news again, I'll tell right away.

I was also going to go to New York this month with my girlfriend, Marlo, for some Christmas shopping and see Greenwich village and Rockerfeller Center, etc. but at the time I had to arrange for my ticket with only a seven day advance, I wasn't sure if I was actually miscarrying. We were waiting for the results from blood tests and the doctor told me to lay low so I had to cancel the trip. Marlo is married to a doctor and she's pregnant herself so she completely understood but we were both disappointed. I'll get there someday.

Later in the month, Dean sustained an injury in a game in Cleveland that stopped my heart when I heard about it. It's the type of injury every athlete's wife has nightmares about. He was racing into the corner after the puck and he had a Cleveland forward right on his heels so he was going at top speed. The guy tripped him and sent him headfirst into the boards. Knocked him out cold. They revived him and he skated off the ice himself but he doesn't remember anything about the game before that time. He ended up with a mild concussion, but he's lucky he didn't break his neck. He couldn't play in any games for a week. He was allowed to practice but no contact. Then one day (yes, there's more) the coach decided he wasn't getting enough of a workout just going through the motions at practice so he told Dean to stay after and ride the bike. Normally, this isn't a big deal, guys have to do it all the time and oftentimes, they do it anyway, of their own accord. Dean especially, because he's such a rink rat. This day, however, coach wanted Dean to ride for a full hour at the highest level. He came home exhausted and was still sweating two hours later. All he could do was flop on the couch and he was drinking water as fast as he could. WARM water so it would absorb faster (blech.) About three hours after he got home, he rolled off the couch holding his legs and screaming in agony. He couldn't even talk to me and I didn't know what was wrong. I wanted to call an ambulance because he was scaring me but after a few minutes the pain lessened and he said he was just cramping really hard in his thighs. He said it was just because he was so dehydrated and he couldn't push the water fast enough. Goodness, I'll tell you what, being a professional athlete isn't always the cake walk some people think it is.

Okay, enough wallowing, on with the positive stuff.

The Griffins had their annual Christmas party at a resort in Traverse City, right on the northeast shore of Lake Michigan. It's about three hours north of Grand Rapids and the resort that they put us up in for the three days was gorgeous. We were going to go snowmobiling and skiing but we weren't sure at the time if I was miscarrying or not so under doctor's orders we just took it easy. I spent the weekend at the spa. :-) I told Dean that I was supposed to relax so a massage was definitely in order. He just chuckled and said, "whatever." One of the other wives, Josette, and I had to come back a day early for work so while everyone else rode together in the bus, we drove separately in the car. It was nice to spend the time getting to know her and Todd a little better. Some of my friendships here are starting to get a little closer, finally.

Christmas was actually really nice this year. We weren't sure what to expect, being just the two of us this time. Usually we're surrounded by lots of people and we have a big Christmas dinner with about 30 of my aunts, uncles, cousins and friends, it's all turkey and games and kids and wonderful chaos. But we made it very special and started some of our own traditions (none of your business :-) ) We made our own little turkey breast, some gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing and corn. We even thought about making a jello mold for dessert, just because, but we were both so stuffed neither one of us wanted to get up to make it. Ha. Santa was good to me, too. He brought me a remote car starter for my car, a new 300 mHz Gateway computer, a couple of big goose down pillows for our new bedroom set, a cappucino maker so I can have hot chocolate with steamed milk in the morning, a new space heater for my office (old faithful finally gave up the ghost), a few CD's I had been wanting, including the soundtrack from Mystere, the Cirque de Soleil, which was a show we saw in Vegas, and a couple boxes of my favorite chocolates - Bavarian mints.

Dean got a couple of his favorite movies, some guitar music books so he can play something besides "Rocky Top" (and save my sanity), ping pong paddles and balls, socks & underwear (kind of an annual joke), a heating massage pad and lots of spicy jerky and salsa from my sister, DOTS and licorice (his favorite), a nose hair trimmer (he's obsessed about getting as much oxygen to his muscles as possible) a few CD's of his own, and a moose picture mouse pad from my aunt Linda, so he wouldn't be homesick for Alaska, and a Donald Duck tie and a Jeff Foxworthy calendar from Kristina, a cousin. He also got a wall calendar with twelve beautiful pictures of outhouses as a joke from my sister. Thanks, Tracy, I was hoping for Anne Geddes. The Griffins gave all the guys a beautiful wool and suede jacket with the Griffins logo on the front left. He was happy this year.

I also wanted the CD soundtrack to On Golden Pond, but we couldn't find it anywhere. The orchestral compositions in that movie are sooooo great, and the movie itself is simply a classic. Oh well, we'll keep looking. If anybody happens to come across it, please tell me where I can get it. Thanks. I also bought some board games after Christmas because we don't have any at all and Dean and I taught ourselves how to play chess - finally! Little Jimmy Butler was an inspiration for me. What a great game this is!! Right now, all we really know is which ways each piece can move but as soon as we get the new computer running (more on that later), I'm going online to look up some strategies for attack. Dean's job is all about strategy so he works in it every day and thinks that way by habit. What I'm trying not to say is that he's very good at anticipating my next moves and he's kicking my patoot in chess and I'm starting to get mad! I'll keep you posted because we're starting to keep score as to who wins how many games. Right now, he's only a little bit ahead, it just seems like I have to work at it a lot harder than he does. He goes after my queen all the time and if he manages to capture her, I lose every time. Aaaargh!! This game is as great / frustrating as golf. I love it.

The team captain, Danton Cole, had a Christmas party at his house this year. This is one of the guys who has a Stanley cup ring - he played for the Blackhawks when they won a few years ago. He's got pictures on the frig of he and his wife and daughters posing around the cup and another one of him drinking out of it. Neat. He and his wife, Debbie, are two of the sweetest people I've ever met and their two little girls are adorable - both with bright blonde hair and the cutest personalities. Maddie, about three years old, kept asking all night what we were going to do next and when Debbie or Danton told her, she would say, "THEN can we open presents?!" Ha. Later, on a whim, we decided to play the game "Outburst." I don't know if you know how this game is played, but it gets really loud and with twenty drunken hockey players in the same room together, I couldn't even hear myself think. I was laughing so hard my stomach muscles were sore the next day.

The next night was Christmas Eve and another one of the guys and his wife had a party, too. Everyone was kind of whipped from the Coles' party, though, so we just sat around and chatted by the fire, then went home early. The new goalie that I told you about in the last letter, Patrick LaLime, is French Canadian and his fiance was in town visiting for Christmas. When they left the party that night, they went around the room and gave everybody a kiss on each cheek and a hug. Some of the guys were a little uncomfortable getting a kiss from another man and I was just laughing. I thought it was sweet and I made them do it again for me at the New Years Eve party. They loved it.

Being the party animals that we are, we usually ring in the new year sound asleep in bed, but this year, Charley's Crab (GREAT restaurant) offered dinner to the team and wives so we went there after the game that night. I've never actually been in the east coast time zone to watch the ball drop in Times square so that was kind of neat to see it AS it happened, live, instead of four hours tape delayed. The team equipment manager, Tim Paris, passed out hats, noisemakers and streamers and everyone got a glass of champagne and there was a piano player that played the music - it turned out to be pretty fun. Dean's New Years kiss was pretty light, though, because in the game that night, he'd been hit in the mouth with a stick and about an inch below his bottom lip, the flesh was split all the way through and he had about four stitches. Oh well. Later, when we went home, we called my sister and brother-in-law in Alaska and were marvelling at how it was 1998 for us and still 1997 for them, and yet, we were talking real time on the phone. Ha. It doesn't take much to entertain us, I guess.

Regarding his split lip, when it happened in the game that night, there was no penalty called and the coach went ballistic. He was cursing so much that the ref threw him out of the game. I got there a little late and I knew the girls would be downstairs in the green room watching the game on closed circuit, so I headed that direction. On my way there, I passed a hallway that the coach was going through on the way to the locker room and I heard all the yelling. It was amazing, I heard cuss words I didn't even know were words. He definitely took about five years off his life with that tirade. Later in the game, Dean raised his hand to block a cross-check and caught his pinky between the two sticks. Almost lost the tip of his finger. He says that fingertip injuries hurt incredibly bad because there are so many nerve endings in your fingertips - they're very sensitive. My dad had one of his fingertips cut off in an accident a few years back and he agrees. I think the big strong men just want a little attention and TLC. Mom and I are on to the charade, but play along willingly.

As far as that new computer goes, it's wonderful, but it doesn't work yet. Apparently, the video card slipped a bit in shipping and when Dean turned it on for the first time, impulses went across more than one node at a time and it shorted out the card. I called tech support and was on the phone for 30 minutes before we figured this out and "Matt" said he would arrange for a new card to be shipped to us right away. We were supposed to have it on Friday. Well, the UPS fellow typically comes around 4 p.m. but by 6 p.m., when there had been no knocks on the door, I assumed there would be no delivery for the Trboyevich's that day. I called Gateway to get the UPS tracking number so I could call them to find out exactly when it was scheduled to be delivered. Gateway informed me that it actually hadn't left their dock yet and that UPS would pick it up on Monday to be delivered to us on Tuesday. I informed them that that was unacceptable as that was four days later than promised and what kind of compensation was I going to get for the extra long wait and hassle? This girl said, "Well, I suppose I could send you a pen or a mug or something..." I said, "How about some software or something instead?" She said they have a contract with Microsoft and can't give away their software. I said, "Well, what about a printer or a video cam or a scanner or something like that?" I knew I was shooting high here but you just never know until you ask. She said she couldn't give away such expensive items. I said, "Fine, send me a large T-shirt, maybe my husband will wear it and won't mind looking like a Gateway cow." Needless to say, I think she was happy to get me off the phone. Anyway, hopefully my next letter will be from Windows instead of this old Mac. It amazes me that four years ago, this computer was the hottest thing to hit the shelves and now, ugh.

Work is still going sort of okay, but I'm liking it less and less all the time. This man that I work for, Wayne Leistra, has such a short temper and he blows a gasket at the slightest thing. Last week, at the Monday morning staff meeting, he wouldn't even sit down, he just kept pacing the conference room for an hour, screaming at people. He doesn't give constructive criticism or even talk about their work, either, he attacks their character, calling them lazy slobs without an ounce of creative blood in them, blah, blah, blah and lots of cursing in between. He hasn't attacked me like this yet but everyone tells me my day will come, whether I deserve it or not, nobody is sacred. I don't know if I want to wait around that long, I'm having a horrible internal moral conflict watching him treat other people this way. I think he has a lot of insecurities, and I'm beginning to understand why he keeps a corporate psychiatrist on retainer. I suppose that actually says a lot about the man, eh? He's gone back on three promises that he made to me, too - one was even in writing on my initial job offer. I was supposed to get a great new computer set up with a laptop to take when I travel and a docking station for when I'm in the office. Instead, I got an old hand-me-down that nobody used and it's on it's last leg. I have troubles with it every day, he doesn't even realize how much money it's really costing him. Then he went back on his promise to pay for my tuition to continue with my masters degree this semester. Instead, now I have to wait until I'm employed for a year, and the latest, he's not paying for my ticket to Vegas to the CES show. That part of my trip is for business and I called him on all these things last week and fully expected it to be "my day" in the incinerator, but he just calmly said he wasn't going to do any of it and that was that. Live with it or don't, he didn't care. I gave him an earful and walked out, my heart was racing. We'll see if I still have a job on Monday. It didn't really seem to bother him, I get the impression that he gets yelled at a lot. I had to go home and tell Dean that now we had to buy the ticket, right after Christmas. A $400.00 charge because of my dishonest employer. I'm very frustrated with him. I guess I'll have to get everything in writing from now on. It's going to cost him even more money in the time it will take me to type up all our conversations, but oh well. He can live with it or not, I'm beginning not to care, too.

I was complaining about all this to Bill on the phone later that day and he reminded me that I do have a long term goal in mind and to just remember that I'm there to learn as much as I can. I wasn't sure if I could remember to stay focused on that so I actually put it on a piece of paper and taped it to my computer so I would have a constant reminder. As soon as we hung up the phone, I started writing down all my questions, such as terms that I had heard used in coversations that I needed to know definitions for, and then I made an appointment with one of our printers next week to go take a tour and see firsthand what happens to all our stuff when it leaves our office. I've resolved to learn as much as I can as quickly as I can, that way, if I decide not to put up with the heat anymore, I can leave with no regrets and a lot of knowledge under my belt. I've already spent a lot of time over the last couple months getting involved with creative output, learning what film separations are, varnishes, typography, good design, copywriting and the whole creative process, but I still have a lot to learn. I had actually never really thought of being creative as a "process", I always thought some people were just blessed with the ability to come up with great ideas, but there really is a method to the madness and steps to go through to get to those "slam bam" ideas. An organized way to be creative - what a concept. It's perfect for me. Ha. One thing is for sure, though, my skin is definitely getting thicker working for him, so that's a blessing in a convoluted sort of way, I guess.

I really am looking forward to this trip to Vegas in January, I've wanted to attend the Consumer Electronics Show for few years now. I'm scheduled for a seminar to hear Bill Gates speak, too, so that should be interesting, I hope. We'll see what's on the horizon for Microsoft. I'll have much more to tell you about next month, I have lots of other plans while I'm there, too. I have the whole following week off for vacation and Dad and Mom are going to drive up from Phoenix to visit with me. I get to stay with them in their brand new motor home. They bought one of those huge things that have the whole living room area that slides out on the side about another 8 feet so it's very spacious inside. Sigh, I wish I could retire. Ha.

I hope it's warm enough to take my golf clubs, because I've been gearing up for this trip going to an indoor driving range here. It's about 4 miles from my front door, and get this: it has two levels to hit off of. I was intrigued because I've seen them, but I've never actually been to a double decker driving range. Last week, we were on the top level and I couldn't miss, I was smacking them against the back wall every time. That's actually only about 100 yards, but, hey, they were straight as an arrow, and that's what counts. Of course, Dean was the only one with me to witness and he refuses to admit when I'm doing something better than him that's physical in any way, shape or form, so he'll never tell you what a great day I was having. Besides, at one point, he had dumped a bunch of balls on the ground to hit one right after the other, and when he hit one of them, he knocked about five others off the roof down below (we were on the second level) It made quite a clatter and I was laughing my head off. That didn't help, of course, but I couldn't help it. Also, when we went to the pro shop to get the tokens for a bucket of balls, the guy behind the counter noticed Dean's Griffins jacket that he got for Christmas and asked where he got it. Dean said it was a gift to the players from management and the guy freaked out. He told Dean to come on back anytime and he'd never have to pay for tokens again, he'd "totally" set us up. Good grief, I can't take him anywhere. Any more attention from this town, and Dean's head won't fit through our front door! It's a good thing he doesn't need a bodyguard.

We finally received our bedroom set a few weeks ago- it's absolutely beautiful. It's a dark mohagany wood (Queen Anne flavor) with a modernisitc twist. The design has arches, spheres, squares and it has little pyramids for handles on drawers and doors, etc. I wanted it to look like something out of Victorias Secret. We got a nightstand, an armoire, and a king size bed frame although we still only have our queen sized mattresses. It looks a little funny right now, but we'll get the mattresses soon. I couldn't justify another $1000 at the time. I'd like to get the matching dresser and mirror eventually, but considering that I was only supposed to get an armoire that day when I was out shopping, I figured that much extra would be too hard to explain to Dean when I got home. I guess I chickened out because I didn't want to make him toooooo mad. A little mad and I can deal with my guilt, tooooo mad is no good. I end up returning stuff and that's really a downer for the salesperson.

We've got some party animals that moved in next door. They've been up vacuuming at midnight, and partying til 4 a.m. regularly. Of course, their living room is right on the other side of our bedroom wall. The particular wall that happens to be six inches from the top of my head when I'm sleeping. Argh. Am I getting old? The music was so loud one night it was vibrating the bed and it actually made me mad. Five years ago, I could've found a positive in that somewhere. Sigh. I was so frustrated late one night / morning I stood up on the bed, let out an indian battle cry and threw my pillow at the wall. I thought Dean was awake, too, he's a very light sleeper, but apparently not. I scared the daylights out of him. He was a lot smarter than I was that night because he went to the junk drawer earlier and found some earplugs that he used while working construction last summer and put them in. He was sleeping like a baby and then awoke to find his wife standing on the bed screaming at a wall. Ha ha. Poor guy, he just doesn't know what to do with me sometimes. I called the management office the next day and they sent them a letter telling them to cool it so we'll see if it works. I just need my own house on my own piece of land, nice and secluded - this apartment living is for the birds.

My apologies, this letter has been a lot more negative than I intended. Either I'm getting cynical or it's just been a bad month. I'll shape up next month, I promise. Just two more bad things, then I'm done. Dean went into a depression last week because he found out one of his heros died, Chris Farley. Then he found out that Sienfeld was calling it quits on the same day. Poor guy, I didn't know how to console him. Mom never told me there would be days like this.

I guess in light of all that's happened this month, Dean and I should be thankful that we haven't thrown ourselves off the side of a building. It's amazing that we don't do drugs, either. Ha. Just kidding. We know that we have a lot to be thankful for and we've been blessed in many, many ways. Don't worry, we haven't lost sight of that. I just hope that next month will be a much more cheerful letter with lots of good things to report. Talk to you then!

Much love,
Tiffany

Michigan Pro Hockey Tour - December 1997

2008-04-10T12:22:00.000-07:00

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

Michigan Pro Hockey Tour - November 1997

2008-04-10T12:21:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone!

I decided to write a letter just about once a month so you aren't inundated with a ton of mail from the Trboyevich's, just one long letter every once in a while. I'm also doing it directly in the email so you don't have to open finicky attachments. That should make it easier.

My new employer (Wayne Leistra) sent me to a two day seminar in Philadelphia two weeks ago. The seminar was on Wednesday and Thursday and he gave me Friday off so I could visit Colleen in D.C. for the weekend. I did the tourist thing in Philly on Friday morning before I drove to D.C. I saw the Rocky statue, Vet Stadium (where the Eagles play), the Liberty Bell, Independence hall, City hall, Penn's landing site and a million sculptures on every corner of the city. I've never really given Philly a second thought as being a city that I wanted to visit, but it really was impressive. I was surprised at how clean it was and there really is a lot of culture. The hotel I was staying in was in a nice part of town, but I took cabs all over the place to see the sights and never went through a bad neighborhood except for Chinatown. That area was a toilet bowl.

On Wednesday night, the seminar attendees were invited to tour an ad agency called McLaughlin & Morgan. Now, there's a main street in Philly called Broad street and the address we had for this place was 146 Broad. When the cab dropped us off, there was a 125 Broad and the next building was 154 Broad. No #146. Well, one of the ladies had her cellular with her (not me, I was an embarrassment to the AT&T Wireless name for not having my phone with me at all times) and she called the agency to get further directions. Turns out, the address is 146 BREAD st. (typo on the memo), and not one cab driver in Philadelphia had ever heard of Bread street! When we finally found our way there, we figured out why - it's nothing more than an alley and there wasn't one road sign to be found. It's right in a downtown, hip-hop area - there are lots of clubs and restaurants and art galleries, and I guess it's really packed on the weekends with all the club-hoppers. Well, the owners of this agency were very proud of the renovation work they had done, which is why we were offered the tour. They said this building was originally built in the 1850's and began as a stable. He told us all the things it had been over the years and before he bought it, some architect had owned it and made it into a dance studio for his wife. Now it's an ad agency and it is totally hip. We walked off this alley-street into a crumbly looking building into a whole new world. It reminded me of Alice in Wonderland. The hallways started out small and expanded in all four directions so by the time you got to the end of it, it was very wide, and they were all painted bright yellows and purples. The creative department was up in the loft and they had a pool table and a kitchen stocked with beers and wines. The whole atmosphere was wide open, studio style, except for 2 small conference rooms for client meetings. Even they were only enclosed with glass blocks, though. It was really neat. It looked like a very fun, creative place to work, but I kept wondering where everyone parked, there was absolutely no room on the alley-street.

I did discover one thing about being in a big east coast city - cab fare is horrendus! Thirty bucks one way from the airport! Good thing I got to expense all that because I'm too cheap to pay for it myself. I was too chicken to take the subway by myself, too. I've never been on one before and I was scared to attempt it alone the first time. I took a picture of it though - ha ha - what kind of a dork takes a PICTURE of the subway? Just an Alaskan girl out on her own in the real world. I'll get up the courage soon enough, then look out.

The Rocky statue is smaller than I thought it would be, I guess the camera angles in the movies make it look bigger. I did run the steps, though, and feel like I am now qualified to be on a Wheaties box. "Getting strong nooooowwww...." I turned around to look at the cityscape and the cab driver was following me up the steps. He said he'd lived in Philly all his life and had never seen the statue, so he joined me to look at it and he even took my picture with it. I hopped up on the base and kind of hung off the side of the leg. It's probably the closest to Sly Stallone's thigh I'll ever get. (swoon) Vet stadium was right across the street, so I took a picture of that, too, even though it really wasn't on the list of things I wanted to see.

Then I went to see the Liberty bell and Independence Hall. That was interesting, too. What history in that town! The bell is enshrined in a glass building in front of Independence Hall and you don't get to just look at it, you have to take a guided tour and listen to the speech. Also, nobody is allowed to touch the bell, we had to stay five feet back. Those tour guides took their jobs seriously, too, let me tell you. Five feet means exactly five feet. Also, right around that area, they have a lot of horse drawn carriges, just for the novelty of it, I guess. I saw a statue of George Washinton and a couple other sculptures. The city hall building was one of the most beautiful, ornate buildings I've ever seen. It was ancient, but restored to perfection and it is definitely the city's crown jewel, if you ask me.

I did all this sightseeing on Friday morning then I picked up a rental car and headed to D.C. It's only about a two hour drive and autumn on the east coast is breathtakingly beautiful. There's more than just birch, they have aspens, maples, oaks, and a million other varieties so all the leaves are bright purple, red, orange, and yellow, not just sort of yellow-orange, like in Alaska.

Colleen and Mark are doing well, it was so good to see them. They have a beautiful new home although they're still not completely unpacked because they're making some changes inside and they're both working ridiculously long hours. I slept in Jimmy's room, which was a trip because he has glow in the dark constellations all over his ceiling (Colleen's brilliant idea) and since I can't see a thing with my contacts out, there was just sort of an eerie green glow in the room all night. Spooky, but cool. I want to do that for my kids someday, I think.

They have a really sweet live in nanny/housekeeper, her name is Mercedez. She's really great with the kids, she's teaching everyone Spanish and she's quickly becoming part of their family. She even ironed Colleen's pajamas! Forgive me, Colleen, for getting a little intimate here but I was laughing. I think it's a big relief for both of them to finally have someone there to help. Mark's mom had moved in temporarily to help until they found someone, but she is extremely sensitive to smells, so they couldn't turn the gas heat on. Well, you know that went over well with me, Miss Frigid America. The moment Colleen walked in the door from work that day, we went to Home Depot and got some electric space heaters - that helped a lot. Mark's mom is really great, though. When I got there, she and Jimmy were gone. She had taken him to the Museum of Natural History (part of the Smithsonian) for an outing. They took public transportation into the city and Jimmy got to ride the subway.
I was jealous. She's teaching him chess, too, and that's something I've always wanted to learn, too, but never made the time for it. Oh well. Someday. That's embarrassing to admit that a six year old boy could probably whip me at chess.

I talked with Mark at length about his PhD studies - it was fascinating. Right now, one of the classes he's taking is abnormal psychology - I now know why some grown adults think it's stimulating to wear diapers or expose themselves on a busy street. I don't remember if that was something that I WANTED to know, but it was interesting anyway. I learned that it's very important that children have innocent, non-traumatic childhoods, even in infancy, because it could develop into deviations later on and since people don't remember their infant life, it's hard to know why they're deviant or abnormal. Mark told me that the deviations develop when, as a child, some traumatic event is paired with some sort of sexual stimulant. Hmmm.

We also got into a very brief but deep conversation the next morning over breakfast about medicine being limited by what you can measure. For example, until the microscope was developed, we couldn't measure molecular activity and other "small stuff." Once they develop ways to measure psychiatric patterns, the field will grow by leaps and bounds and there will be medical breakthroughs. Mind over matter, the Pygmalian effect (if you BELIEVE you're going to get better, your actual chances of recovery are much greater), etc. We haven't even scratched the surface of what the human brain is capable of. We even talked about what could happen if we could somehow measure someones spiritual activities. Whoa. Psychology intrigues me, which is good because it's a big part of marketing and advertising - consumer behavior, buying patterns and such. The rest of the day was much more lighthearted, but I enjoy deep, thoughtful conversations like that. Dean doesn't engage very often, he prefers to keep things light and joking. I have to satisfy my cravings for discussing the mysteries of the universe elsewhere.

After breakfast, Colleen and I hit the town. Macy's was having a sale so that was first priority. It was packed so we had to share a dressing room and we were giggling like little girls. We snuck (is that a word?) more than five items in the room and wondered what happened in our infancies that made us such evil delinquents. Ha. Then we saw the Pentagon, but we could only drive around the outside. They don't give tours of the building that houses our national security. We couldn't really decide which of the five sides was the front and we wondered if they do a "mall walk" for employees during lunch or after hours. What do you think? Just kidding. We saw the Department of the Treasury, Bureau of Engraving and Printing. We wanted to raid that building in a bad way so we could go back to Macy's and the heck with the sale. We wanted the good stuff! No luck there, either. That place is a fortress. I also got to see where Colleen works - it's right in the middle of everything. Appropriate for her, don't you think?

Then we parked the car and set out on foot to "the mall." That's what they call the strip of land that has most of the main sights you go to Washington to see. It's about 25 blocks long. We saw the White House but didn't get there in time to take an official tour of the inside. It's smaller than I always thought it was. It must look bigger on the inside because of all the underground tunnels and secret doors that you hear about. Do you think the Secret Service takes each new President on a tour the first day or do they just reveal those things if and when it's necessary? Another one of those things that makes you go hmmmm. Right next door there's an old Executive Building, which is where Hillary's office is and a few other dignitaries. Pennyslvania Avenue was closed off to traffic and there were a bunch of rollerbladers on the street playing a game of hockey. Teenagers just have no respect these days. Ha. I took a picture for Dean because I knew he wouldn't believe me. On the way to the Lincoln Monument we walked past the American Red Cross Building and the Daughters of the American Revolution. We also took pictures of statues of Andrew Jackson and a few other people we didn't know. Then we saw the Lincoln Monument, and read the Gettysburg Address and the Emancipation Proclamation. They're both engraved on the walls inside the monument.

We saw the reflecting pool - that's the rectangle body of water that crowds of people gather around when they're demonstrating. Remember in Forrest Gump when Jenny ran out into the water while Forrest was giving his speech about Vietnam? It took $600,000 to build the pool in 1918. That was before we had cars, let alone bulldozers and back hoes. It must've been just men with shovels and picks. Colleen told me, also, that they keep the water circulating so it doesn't ever freeze over in the winter.

Then we walked by the Vietnam Vets Memorial Wall. Wow, was that a powerful experience. Neither one of us was prepared for the feelings we felt looking at that wall. I'm too young to remember the war, but old enough to know people who served there. The wall is dug in a V shape down into the ground and at it's deepest point, it was very quiet and reverent. There were a lot of people there, but everyone spoke in whispers. I always thought all the names were engraved there in random order and if you wanted to find someone in particular, you just had to search, but that's not the case. They're engraved on there in the order in which they died. There's a book that's posted nearby that is an alphabetical cross reference so you can find the numbered marble slab that the name is on and start from there. There were a lot of flowers left there and one person had even written a letter and left it there. I didn't read it because I knew it would probably make me cry. There were a couple people there making rubbings of a name on a piece of paper, too. It was definitely very moving.

Then we saw the Washington Monument. That's the tall skinny tower with the pointy top. It's solid marble and cost over a million dollars to build in the mid 1800's as a monument to George Washington. It's also the only structure in D.C. that is higher than the statue on the top of the capital building. It's a city ordinance that no building can be taller than that statue. We saw capital hill but only got close enough to take a picture. Our feet were killing us by this time and we were ready to go home. We walked past the Smithsonian Institute on the way back to the car - that place is MASSIVE. I wanted to search for the Declaration of Independence and read the original document but I'm going to have to do that another time. We were beat. We were going to go out to dinner that night, but we were so exhausted that we ordered in pizza instead.

On the way home, Colleen showed me where the "red light district" was. I was looking really hard, but I didn't see any senators coming out of the houses. Hee hee. We also drove around one of those "circles." This is where the road goes around in a circle, then branches off in about 6 or 7 directions like the spokes of a wheel. Each spoke is a different street and it's very confusing to drive on. People cut each other off like crazy to get over so they can get on the street they want or stay off the street they don't want. Remember in the movie "The American President" where Sydney Allen Wade kept getting stuck on DuPont circle? I can now sympathize, it was awful. Colleen told me that when the city was originally designed, it was done in such a way that was supposed to be intimidating to foreign dignitaries who went there. That's why they made those circles. It was definitely confusing and I was glad Colleen was driving so I could just observe to figure it out.

The next day, I got up and said good-bye. I took a few pictures of Colleen and Mark and the kids (and the dog, Tigger) and then went to go see Arlington National Cemetary by myself before I headed back to Philly to catch my flight. Arlington Cemetary is huge! I had no idea how big it is. It's a 20 minute walk to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, which is about in the middle of the cemetary. I didn't realize how big it is, so I didn't leave enough time to walk that far, but I did see the graves of JFK and Jackie O. There was a flame burning above their headstones and signs everywhere that said, "Silence and Respect." This was another quiet place where you could feel the reverence in the air. I also would've liked to have seen the changing of the guard at Kennedy Center but, again, I didn't leave enough time. All the headstones are marble and it was really ornate and beautiful. It was raining that day, which felt appropriate, I guess. Who wants to visit a cemetary on a sunny, cheerful day? When I left, I got stuck on one of those circles again and I must've caused about four accidents trying to get over in time to catch my road that veered off. Absolutely nuts, but I made it.

When I got home, Dean had missed me so much, he was beside himself. The house was immaculate so I know he was bored. I was glad I got to make a road trip because now he knows how I feel when he's gone. You know how energetic he is, when he's not here, the house is so quiet and nothing moves, I swear. One of the guys on the team was having a pig roast that day and when Dean picked me up at the airport, we went back to this guy's house because the party was still going strong. He and his wife actually dug a hole in their back yard and dropped in a whole pig to cook on the coals in the bottom. It was very cold (about 20 degrees) that day but all the guys still stood outside to monitor the cooking. Must be a man thing. Some of them were in and out of the hot tub on the back deck, too - crazy. It had been going all day and by the time I got there that evening, everyone had been drinking for about eight hours and it was getting wild. I felt like I was in college again. Wierd feeling, but we had a blast. The only difference was that some of the couples left a little early because they had babysitters. Didn't have that happen in college.

The following weekend Dean and I got an invitation in the mail from Dave & Carol Van Andel to go to their church and then brunch at their country club with them. The church was a Christian Reformed church so it was a little more liturgical and ritualistic then what I'm used to but it was more like the church Dean went to growing up so he was very comfortable there. If that's what it takes to get him to go with me, then that's where we'll go, I guess. I really liked a lot of things about it, the building was absolutely gorgeous, there was the most beautiful stained glass the whole side lengths of the main chapel and more behind the pastor in the front of the chapel. The people were really nice and the whole atmosphere was very friendly andwelcoming, albeit very reverent and hushed during the service. Afterwards, all the adults gathered in a gym area for lattes and bagels while thier kids went to another 45 minutes of Sunday school. It was kind of different, but nice, because nobody went straight home. It was very social and chatty and they seemed to be a fairly close group of friends, even though it was a large church (about 1000 people.)

The country club, needless to say, was to die for. Dean couldn't come with us for that part because he had practice but Dave and Carol insisted that I come with them anyway and Dean could come next time. Like I said before, they're very down to earth and warm. They have four cute blonde boys and they can all eat like no tomorrow. They were telling me while we were eating that with their travel schedule, they can't have pets, even though the boys have asked for dogs. I asked Carol if she had a housekeeper that could take care of the pets while they were gone and she said she doesn't have a housekeeper. She has a personal secretary and a bodyguard, mind you, but no housekeeper. I didn't ask why because I didn't want to pry, but I did wonder. The brunch was a buffet and some of the best gourmet I've ever had, Dean really missed out. There was a pianist playing in the background and a big fire in a huge stone fireplace. There wasn't a main, big ballroom, but a lot of little rooms all connected so the atmosphere was intimate even though the place was fairly large.

We drove separtely because I had to drop Dean off for practice and I ended up getting there before they did. I was waiting on a couch by the fireplace and an older gentleman in another chair nearby struck up a conversation with me. While we were chatting, he told me that he owns a development corporation in Grand Rapids and when I told him what I did, he said he was looking for an ad agency to market a new development of apartments and condos he was building. What an opportunity, eh? I have an appointment with him this week. Wish me luck.

I asked my boss the other day what it would cost to join a club like that one and he said probably about a $20,000 initiation fee and about $700 a month. I told him I thought it would be a great place to network and could I just expense that? I thought he was going to pee his pants from laughing so hard. Oh well. In all honesty, though, I thought that was cheap for Van Andel caliber. Dean said he's one of the top 20 wealthiest men in America and I've heard of country clubs charging as much as $200,000+ just for the initiation fee. Obviously, those clubs are very exclusive and the fee keeps out riff raff like me. Maybe there just aren't enough wealthy people around here to justify a club like that, it would just be VanAndels' and DeVos' families. I don't know.

We had one small snowfall about two weeks ago (the day of the pig roast), but it warmed up to about 45 degrees again and it all went away pretty quickly. Just enough to get my car dirty. Argh. Here it is, November, and even though the air is cold, we still have green grass. It feels strange. All the trees are fall colors, though, and it is just gorgeous. It's about 30 degrees when I drive to work in the morning, but warms up a little bit more by noon, then cools off again at night.

I'm settling into my job nicely, the drive is only 11 miles and takes about 20 minutes in traffic. Quite a change from 25 miles and 45 minutes, living in Eagle River. Since this was a new position that they created for me, I'm helping write my own job description. They actually want me to do more than account exec work, so they gave me a different title. My business cards say "Senior Marketing Manager" and I'm wearing three hats right now. It's about 50% bringing in new business, then I have to service those accounts like an account exec, then the rest is PR work. I guess the multiple duties is to be expected in a small business situation. As we grow, I'll let go of some of the responsibilities as they hire more people. Meanwhile, I'm doing regular press releases about changes in the agency, I've joined toastmasters and will get on the local speaking circuit, and I've joined the American Marketing Association and the Business Marketing Association so I'm "lunching" all the time. I'm also expected to donate time to some charities, but I haven't picked any out yet. The Senior PGA tour plays a tournament here every summer that I'm going to volunteer for, too, so that should be really fun next summer and the town is also putting together a Grand Prix race that will go right through the downtown streets. Wayne is going to be a sponsor so we'll be involved in that, too, I'm sure.

I'm also acting like a one person activity committee, and they need it in a desperate way. Morale was really low three weeks ago when I started, but I've already sold Wayne on some ideas. We've implemented a bonus program, recognition programs (they didn't even have a cheezy employee of the month award), started work on the Christmas party, bought logo'd denim shirts for everyone and I set out my candy bowl and have kept it well stocked. That's been a challenge, believe me. The office is mostly men (16 compared to only 4 women) so anything with food is a big hit. I brought bagels and fruit to the last Monday morning staff meeting and they attacked like a pack of wolves. It's paying off, though, I finally got the compliment I'd been waiting for last Friday from Randy, our copywriter. We were in a meeting discussing ideas for an agency newsletter I'm putting together and he said we need to put the things I'm doing in the "peoples" section. He said that attitudes had definitely improved since I came on board and to please keep up the good work, they really need it. That made me feel good - I just hope I can keep up the energy. It takes a lot, but things are starting to warm up around there and it feels good to be making a difference.

They guys were on the road in Chicago in the middle of the week last week so all the wives got together Wednesday night and went to dinner and an Elton John concert. I've never been a huge Elton John fan but I really enjoyed that show. I figured he would sit at the piano all night and it would be kind of blah, but it was really lively. At one point, he was under the piano, playing with his hands curved up around to the keyboard. He played laying on top of the piano, turned around backwards and underneath. He's an AMAZING pianist. He was pounding on that thing so hard and so fast for three solid hours, I can't imagine how strong his fingers and hands would have to be. It was truly impressive and we had a great time. Elton John is one of those people that has recorded so many songs over the years that when you hear one, you recognize the song, but don't realize that he was the artist until you hear him in concert. Then you say to yourself, "HE sings that song? Cool!" Although I kept waiting to hear "Circle of Life" and "Candle in the Wind", he didn't do either one. I guess he said he'll never do Princess Diana's version of "Candle" because that was a tribute to her on that day only, but I don't think I agree with that. The whole world mourned her death and that song was such a big part of the event, I think he has an obligation to play it for everyone. I guess if I become a famous songwriter, then I can call the shots.

Speaking of music, Dean got his guitar fixed and also bought an amp, an electrical tuner and some learning videos. He hung up the chord poster I got him and he's practicing a few hours every day and has even asked for lessons for Christmas. I told him maybe Santa would get him lessons if he would learn to play Christmas carols instead of Kiss and AC/DC. He also got his first point of the season since I've written last - a game winning assist in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Yeah, baby!

The booster club threw a welcome party at another country club last Wednesday night, that was fun, too. All the guys ended up having to sign autographs all night long but it was a good time anyway. There's about 300 members of the booster club and some of them are really dedicated, even going on the road trips at their own expense so the guys will have a cheering section in other cities. They introduced all the guys one by one and told funny locker room stories about each one. They introduced Dean as "Mr. Turbo" and he got some whistles and woofs, he was laughing. It was pretty entertaining. For Saturday's game against San Antonio, all the wives were invited up to the Van Andels' suite to watch the game. Free food and drinks and a rowdy time, they sure like to have fun. I was trying to finish off my roll of film from Arlington Cemetary so I took my camera and Dave had a friend of his take a picture of him and Carol with all the wives around them. I guess he was laughing because all the guys were giving him a hard time about schmoozing their wives while they were busy playing a game. Dean told him, "Dave, I've seen your moves. I'm not worried." Ha. We went out afterwards for something to eat and dancing at this three story bar across the street called "The Bob." It's all balconies and a live band on every floor. Another good time out on the town.

Anyway, that's the news for this month, it's been one big action packed party but we're loving it so far. I want to hear what's going on with you, too, so please write back. It's one of the only ties I have with home and I love hearing from you. I find myself racing home every night and I turn on the computer as soon as I walk in the door to see if we've heard from anyone on email. It makes it a little easier to be away from home and all my friends and loved ones. I miss you very much.

Take care,
Tiff

Michigan Pro Hockey Tour - October 1997

2008-04-10T12:20:00.000-07:00

Hi all!!

The season opening game was so fantastic! Check this out - we were behind 3-1 at the end of the first period and we came back to win it 5-3! At the beginning there was smoke and fireworks, a laser light show and fire as they introduced all the players. They brought a huge flag out onto the ice and played the national anthem on the sax. The crowd cheered so loud it drowned out the last verse of the anthem, I couldn't even hear it. Between periods they had acrobats throwing each other around in the air with nothing but cold, hard ice underneath them, some guy proposed to his girlfriend on the readerboard (she said yes and the crowd went nuts) and a 14 year old kid got to do the puck shoot. He sunk the puck through a 6" hole at the goal while standing at center ice and he won a '98 Chevy blazer!!! He's not even old enough to drive!! His parents were ecstatic to say the least and the crowd was just crazy!! They also did a bunch of little promotions throughout the whole game. One real crowd pleaser went like this: they pulled one person from one section and another from another section then put them in the spotlight. They both have to slam a 16 oz. Mountain Dew and whichever one finishes first, their whole section gets 2 liter bottles of Mountain Dew! The whole crowd was on their feet for most of the game - it was pretty rowdy. What a great time!!! I don't know what I was thinking, but I didn't take my camera and I really regret it. I will next time, but I don't think anything could top that game. It was televised locally and one of the other wives recorded it, so I'm getting a copy from her for our collection.

Aside from that, things are pretty slow. The weather here intrigues me. On October 8th, it was 83 degrees and not a cloud in the sky. Dean and I went for a walk that night and I didn't want to come inside, it was still so warm at 9:00 at night. Tomorrow it's going to go down to 63 degrees and we're going to have thunder and lightning again. Hopefully, no tornados this time. It's been in the low 60's the last couple days and everyone says winter's here. Ha. They don't know what winter IS!

Dean and I went to the beach at Lake Michigan a few weeks ago and it was gorgeous. It's only about 30 minutes away and you really get the best of both worlds there. It's just like being on the ocean, but the water isn't salty so no dry, scaly skin. There's seagulls and sailboats everywhere, waves come in, you can't see the other shore and the beach is absolutely beautiful. It was really hot that day and school was already in session so there weren't that many people there. We had a great time.

I accepted the account executive offer from the first advertising agency that I told you about last time. It's called Leistra Advertising and the owner is Wayne Leistra. For the first time in my life, I actually negotiated a higher salary and ended up much further ahead than I thought I would (more than 50% higher and three weeks vacation.) I was so tickled, I'm telling you guys - that stuff works!! It just takes a lot of guts to work up the courage to do it. I was sweating bullets the whole time. I just hope I'll fit in okay, I haven't got this group of people figured out yet. I think the relationships there are going to be strictly professional, no one there seems to be good friends. I guess once you've had the best, it's hard to settle for anything less. The second agency I told you about was called Sefton Advertising and the people there seemed really nice but they just didn't offer me anything to write home about. That's okay, though, everything happens for a reason. Wayne is sending me to a seminar in Philadelphia at the end of the month and I'm going to stay out east over the weekend and drive down to D.C. to visit Colleen. I finally get to do the tourist thing at the capital and I'm really looking forward to it. She wants to see the pictures and hear all the stories about the going away party, though, so don't be surprised if you get some emails from her at the end of the month. Tee hee.

Regarding hockey -the Griffins have a magazine that they publish five times a season and in the very first issue, Dean got a great feature article - about 3 pages long. The title was "Turbo Power." Ha. Can you imagine? Donald duck is well respected here. :-) Everyone calls him turbo because no one wants to bother with "Trboyevich" - it's too much of a mouthful. The article talked about his history from college to where he's at now, how he rehabilitated his knee and about how he's already established himself here as a marquee player. He mentioned me a couple times in there, too - what a sweetheart. He was quoted saying that he loved me very much for leaving Alaska to move to Michigan for him. Yes, I was teary.

This town is so supportive of this team it just amazes me. Dean and I went to dinner at a nice seafood restaurant downtown last week and while we were there, we ran into one of the other guys on the team (Pokey Reddick, the goalie) and the manager gave us all a big discount on our meal! Dean was telling me that they've got some great players on the team, five of them have played in the NHL and two of them have Stanley Cup rings (Pokey's one of them), so I guess I can understand why the town is so excited to have them here. Bob McNamara, the General Manager, got GM of the Year for the IHL last season, and it was only their inagural season. Everyone that I've asked seems to feel that they are running a first class show here and I'm really happy with the way Dean and I have been treated so far. They seem grateful to have him here and I'm really glad.

They had a "Welcome the Griffins" party at a country club last Monday night and afterwards, a group of us went out to a sports bar. It was absolutely packed (Monday night football). There was a radio station there doing promotions and the announcer recognized all the guys when they walked in. He announced everyone by name and the crowd went nuts. Dave and Carol Van Andel came with us and I got to spend some time getting to know them. They were both very genuine and down to earth. I don't know what I expected but I just didn't think that anyone worth 4.6 billion would enjoy Dean's "Macho Man Randy Savage" and "Hulk Hogan" imitations, you know what I mean? They absolutely love him and they're huge hockey fans to boot! I guess to want to own a team you'd have to be a pretty dedicated fan. Carol is hilariously funny and fun to be with, I've just never partied with anyone who has a personal bodyguard with them all the time. (??!!) Dave is the son of Jay Van Andel, who is one of the two co-founders of Amway. Dan and Pam DeVos are the other co-owners of the hockey team, and Dan is the son of Rich DeVos, the other Amway co-founder. I guess they all pretty much stick together.

Anyway, that's all the news for now, I'll be in touch again soon. :-) Take care.

Tiff

Michigan Pro Hockey Tour - September 1997

2008-04-10T12:16:00.000-07:00

WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!
WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!
WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!
WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!WE HAVE ARRIVED!!!

FINALLY!

Well, our trip across the U.S. has been interesting to say the least. We spent three days in Minnesota with Dean's family. He has a cousin who is getting married and while we were there, the couple had a "co-ed shower." It really wasn't as fun as it sounds. It was just a party for the two of them and men and women both were invited. Ha. They opened presents from everyone, and we went on a hayride out in the country then came back to a barbeque and a party around the campfire for the rest of the night. Actually, it was great. Minnesota summer nights are beautiful. It actually gets dark so you can see the stars and it's sooooo warm. There's loons on all the lakes and they call to each other all night long. I loved it. I could've stayed there forever. We were also there in time for the annual Bovey Farmer's Day parade. That's always a big party.

We flew to Grand Rapids on Sept 3rd and stayed at a hotel downtown for a week. The first weekend we were there, there was a big celebration happening downtown that we decided to go check out one evening. The Grand River runs right through downtown Grand Rapids (thus the name of the city, although I haven't found any rapids yet - it's pretty slow) and once a year they have their "Celebration on the Grand." We decided it would be a cultural experience and we'd get to know the city a little bit. They closed off all the downtown streets, there were thousands of people walking around, all the museums and parks were open for free, there were live bands on every corner and down by the river there's a hillside park with a stage right on the water. The bridges over the river are all arched and lined with lights - it was pretty. Victoria Shaw and Collin Raye were here giving concerts so Dean and I bought a gyro and sat down with everyone on the hill to watch for a while.

About 20 minutes later there was a clap of lightning and everyone dove under their blankets or jumped up and ran for cover under the bridges. We didn't understand what all the excitement was about until about 10 seconds later it felt like somebody had dumped an ocean of water on us. It started to rain like I've never seen it rain before and we were soaked!. We looked at each other and started laughing. We made our way back to the hotel laughing the whole way. I looked like a drowned rat and my sandals were soggy and squished on every step. That was enough of the Grand Rapids cultural experience for me. We watched the storm and fireworks from the hotel room after that.

Sigh. Welcome to the midwest.

We bought a truck for Dean and a new snowmachine trailer then had to make a road trip to Maryland to pick up our snowmachines. Don't ask, it's a long story. We made a thousand miles in one day all the way to the coast and visited some friends of ours that live there and stayed the night with them. The next day we drove up to Delaware, picked up the machines, then hit the road again. We drove through D.C. and I wanted to stop and see Colleen but Dean was determined to cover as much ground as he could that night, so I called her when we were in the area and promised to fly out to visit soon. Hopefully I can do that before I get settled in a new job. We made it all the way through Pennyslvania Amish country and into Ohio before we finally stopped for the night. It was 2:00 a.m. and I was very tired and grouchy because he insisted on driving for so long. I wanted to see the Amish country during the day and I also wanted to have dinner with Colleen and Mark. Let me just say Dean is very lucky to have made it through that evening alive. The next day we drove the Ohio turnpike into Indiana then back up to Michigan.

Actually, in all fairness, we had to race to get back because the movers were supposed to be here that day (Friday) and we were only allowed 24 hours to offload everything from the container. Well, we about killed each other to get here, we signed all the paperwork for our apartment, got the keys, got in the door, called the moving company and guess what? Our container had been sitting in Chicago since the day before (Thursday) and they couldn't get a driver to bring it over to Grand Rapids until Monday. Chicago is only a 3 hour drive away, I just couldn't believe there wasn't one driver in the entire city of Chicago that couldn't make the 3 hour trip, and, yes, I was furious. We could've stayed in Maryland for the weekend, our friends have a beautiful place right on the ocean and a sailboat, we could've toured D.C. and visited Colleen, we could've taken our time on the way back and enjoyed the trip more. Aaargh! Oh well.

So, as a result, we were stuck in an empty apartment for the weekend with nothing but our suitcases. We made a trip to the store, bought some food, an air mattress, sheets and a blanket, one pillow, one towel and washcloth and some plastic bowls, plates, cups, forks and spoons. We also had to buy one pan and one Corningware pot to cook with. Talk about frustrating. It took an entire day, but we finally saw the humor in it and I got out the camera. I'll send pictures of our whole "adventure" soon.

The movers did get here on Monday, which was the first day of training camp for Dean and he had a hard time rounding up guys to help offload our furniture. They were all dead from working out so hard. I guess training camp is a lot like Army boot camp. The coach runs you into the ground just to see how much you can take and see who's in the best shape. Dean was in the top 5 I'm proud to say. It took us two nights to offload everything. I had no idea we had so much stuff, I don't ever remember owning half the stuff that came off that container. I think next time it would definitely be worth it to pay the movers to offload everything for us - that was HARD work. In the humidity, everyone was drenched, too. By the way, my new car made it just fine and the car cover did its job beautifully - thanks so much to everone who contributed for that gift. It was very thoughtful and I was very thankful to have it for the move.

I've spent some of my empty time out shopping around town and I've discovered that Grand Rapids is the furniture capital of the world. There are more furniture stores around this place than you can count. We bought a very nice, new formal dinette set, and I've got my eye on a Scandinavian armoire and bedroom set. Dean's guilt for moving me here is stretching pretty far and our home is showing it. Ha. Just kidding. Actually, he's helping me shop - that's new.

The apartment that we found is in a great area. We're a few miles out of town, so it's nice and quiet, it's pretty big with high ceilings and lots of windows, we have a view of a pond and there's a small mall less than a mile from our front door that has a grocery store, hair salon, dry cleaners, video store, Hallmark, and a bank. We have everything that we need. Right across the street there is even a good sized Baptist church that I went to last week and I really liked it. I may become a regular again. Also, all the Griffins and their wives get a free membership to a really nice gym downtown. It's kind of an odd place, though. The outside of the building looks a little older like it's built in 19th century style with bricks and very high ceilings. The inside is incredible, though. There's a big marble atrium and it's a lot like the Alaska Club. Membership is on the low side, though, and Scott at the front desk told me that they let the Griffins work out there for free hoping that some of the public will join for that reason. It seems to work, Dean has been asked to sign autographs during his workouts already and the season hasn't even officially started until today.

I have only found one real department store in the area, but I got lucky - it's Hudson's, one of my favorites. Also, our friends in Maryland are originally from Long Island, New York and Marlo promised that she and I would go to New York shopping at Christmas when the city and stores are decorated for the season so that should be an adventure, too. I'm also going to Vegas in January to visit family and Dean has a game against the Las Vegas Thunder on the 14th. There's shopping there, too, so I'll get my share in this year, I'm sure.

Dean's first pre-season exhibition game was in Cincinnati so he had to leave for an overnight road trip. The very hour that he left home, a storm rolled in. There was a clap of lightning and thunder rolling every 10 seconds. It was raining so hard, I couldn't see out the window past 50 feet. It was one of the most fantastic electric storms I've ever seen. But then I turned on the TV and every 10 minutes the news team interupted to give an update on a tornado warning. Yes, I said TORNADO. They were telling people to go to the basement and get under something heavy and stay away from all the windows. Scared me spitless. There never was a tornado that dropped out of the clouds or touched down anywhere but there was circular rotation in the clouds and I was saying my prayers, believe me. I really didn't know what to do, we're on the third floor of the building and I couldn't very well knock on our basement neighbors door and ask to come in for a while. We have yet to comprise a plan of attack when this happens again. Tornado season, I'm told, is fall and spring. I guess I'll get used to it.

Dean's first home pre-season exhibition game was this past week, also. They've sold out all the October games already and draw about 11,000 people per game - it fills the arena to capacity. The cheering and noise is so loud it absolutely rocks the house! It's really a lot of fun. I'm getting to know a few of the wives, all our seats are together in the same few rows and there's a room downstairs that they've provided for us, also. It has closed circuit TV so we can watch the game, there's couches and snacks - it's really nice. They provided it so the ladies with children could have a place to take them and it's also where we go to wait for "the guys" after the game to go home. It doesn't matter where we are in the nation, though, Dean is still always the last one out of the shower.

The job interviews are going well. I do believe I will be among the employed again soon. One ad agency sent me to what I thought was an employment agency for my initial interview. It was called Human Resource Associates, but as it turns out, it's an office of psychiatrists. I spent three hours in an interview with a Dr. Van Ostenburg then came back the next day for four hours of testing, examining, and evaluating. I asked for copies of my test results for my files because something came out of it that I'm kind of proud of. The very first test was a timed problem solving exam and it measures your quickness and intelligence. It goes a step beyond verbal IQ to written application problems. He told me that as an industry average, architects score 28, engineers score 29 and no single profession as a whole scores 30 or better. I scored a 32, which puts me in the 91st percentile! He said I was "very bright and astute with exceptional creativity." I said,"my mom would've told you that four hours ago." He didn't laugh. I won't bore you with the rest of the personality profile, but it was one of the most interesting things I've ever done.

I went the next day to interview with the president and vice-president of the agency and they offered me the job as an account exec. My office would be right downtown and it overlooks the Van Andel Arena, where the Griffins play. This agency also won a CLIO in 1990, so that was impressive. For those of you who haven't heard that term - what the Oscars are to acting, CLIO's are to advertising. It's a national television broadcast awards ceremony that happens every year from New York, I believe. Regarding the job, though, I'm still negotiating the compensation and I have another interview for the same position with another agency next week, so I put them off for a week. I think I would fit in with the people a little better at this other location, but we'll see how the interview goes. Wish me luck. Any words of advice would be very welcomed.

Well, folks, I know this was long, but a lot has happened since I saw you last. When we get further into the hockey season and I start a new job and get back into school, I'll write again and tell you everything. I'll wrap it up for now. I miss you.

Tiffany

P.S. For your Christmas card list:

Dean & Tiffany Trboyevich
1384 Saffron Lane SE #3B
Grand Rapids, MI 49508
616.554.4668
turbo@kvi.net

New York City Day 6 - April 5, 2008

2008-04-06T11:20:00.000-07:00

The kids lost their 3rd game, 10-1, so they’re out of the semi-finals. The team that ultimately made it to the championship are two teams that beat us in the first round – the LA Selects and “Honey Baked” from Michigan. I guess that makes the boys feel a little bit better. Also, I found out after a little sleuthing, some of the parents from the LA Selects team said, “We’re not really supposed to talk about it, but we get a lot of corporate sponsors.” Apparently, these kids have 2-3 sets of gear each, their own patterned sticks, and they travel everywhere. Definitely an unfair advantage and something our organizations in Alaska need to pursue as well. Don’t know what the USA Hockey rules are around it, but there must be some, because the LA parents were fairly hush-hush about it. So…we had Saturday off and Dean and I spent it alone together.

We slept in a bit, and it felt great. We had breakfast in the hotel lobby, then set off to Manhattan one last time. We took our time this time and kept it at a leisurely pace. We took the trains to Grand Central Station, which was gorgeous. The entire inside of the building was solid marble and granite, with engraved signage – about as permanent as it gets. I guess there won’t be any restructuring any time soon, eh? Ha. The main foyer has to be no less than five stories high. The lower levels have some great shopping and a food court to die for – VERY good food. A funny sidenote…the hand dryers in the ladies room don’t mess around. They blasted my hands so hard my skin folded over! I was dry quick, though. Ha. Obviously, they want you in and out quickly. I’m washing my hands constantly here. I can’t help it. There were three cleaning ladies in that bathroom that were working full time. One of them told me that’s all they do is clean that bathroom all day long, over and over again. Grand Central certainly lives up to its reputation of being a very busy place.

I can’t find any grocery stores here, no matter where I go. There are some very small little shops and some fruit and veggie stands on the sidewalks, but you couldn’t pay me to eat that food. At the end of the day, when I blow my nose, it’s just black. The air is so polluted, you just know that fruit is coated with nothing that I want to eat. Ewwww. How do people eat here? Is it all eating out? Man, just one more expense for an already too expensive place.

I saw an ad for a 3,000 square foot apartment in SoHo for $5Million. No, thank you.

We left Grand Central and headed Northwest. We stopped into a little coffee shop, got coffee and cocoa, then walked up Park Avenue to the Waldorf Astoria and took some pictures. I can’t believe the excess in this part of town. Very, very wealthy area. Then we walked over a block to Madison, where I took a picture of a street sign for my niece Madison. She was named after Madison Avenue in New York, from the movie “Splash” with Tom Hanks and Darryl Hannah. Then one more block over to go window shopping up 5th avenue, alongside Central Park again. We walked up to 5th and 55th and stopped in the World of Disney, where we got some souvenirs for the girls. They had Disney characters with New York Flair (Minnie dressed up like the Statue of Liberty). Cute. We saw FAO Swartz, too. Dean snapped a picture of me in front of Tiffany and Co. on 5th Avenue. I’m convinced I’m an heir to that fortune somehow, I just have to figure out the connection beyond my too expensive taste for my budget.

We walked through the entrance of the Central Park Zoo in the southeast corner and took pictures of the famous clock and penguin exhibit that were in the kids movie, “Madagascar”. The clock chimed and all the little steel animals did their dance around it while we stood and watched for a while. Jaden wanted a mug from the zoo, but I couldn’t find one that I liked. There was only one design with a Polar Bear on it. More Alaskan, than New York, if you ask me.

We meandered through Central Park to the other side. This is by far the most beautiful park I’ve ever seen and Dean agreed. Every inch of it is manicured and today (Saturday), there are a lot more people than earlier in the week. Lots of joggers, too. You’d have to be a dedicated runner to do that in this city. There are musicians and performers of all types on the corners. There’s a whole “Literary Alley” with some larger than life statues of William Shakespeare, Webster, and many others. I got a picture of Dean in front of the Balto statue. Had to. It was a little bit of Alaska in the middle of New York. Apparently, the horse drawn carriages are not allowed in the park, so if you want a carriage ride, you have to be pulled by someone on a bike. Weird. We did see the park police riding their horses, though. That was neat. We saw the Jacqueline Onassis reserve and almost stopped to have lunch at Tavern on the Green, but decided to pass for a cheaper option. We passed Sheep Meadow, where you’re allowed on the grass. It was huge and pretty full of people. Is this where Garth Brooks had his huge concert? I can’t remember. The Park entrance to the Met was very grand, indeed. If I ever make it back to NYC, I’ll do the Met and budget a lot more money for shopping. There are so many stores here that I’ve never even heard of.

We saw one homeless guy the whole trip, just today. He was the classic picture: as dirty as could be, huddled under a blanket in a doorway just a couple blocks down from upscale, prestigious Columbia Circle. I can’t believe it might have been a cop, because he was barefoot with really gross toenails, and I could smell him from half a block away. My heart broke. I was in a funk all through our lunch. It’s hard to leave leftovers on your plate when you’ve just seen a desolate, hungry person smack in the middle of such affluence and excess. I always wonder what their story is. What was his childhood like? How did his mother treat him? Did he have siblings or friends when he was a kid? How did he get to this place? I don’t feel horribly sorry for our homeless in Anchorage, because I know that a lot of them consciously choose that life, but I can’t believe that anyone would choose to live the way this fellow was. He wasn’t even begging for money or anything, just sitting there, totally apathetic, like he’d given up, watching life go by. I wonder where his next meal is coming from and what he thinks about all day?

Saturday night in New York is the hoppin-ist place I’ve ever seen. There are more people out on the streets than I’ve seen this whole trip. It’s shoulder to shoulder and it seems like most of them are drunk, hootin and hollerin. There was another Yankee game today, but they lost, so I don’t know what they’re celebrating, but they’re certainly partying like it’s New Years Eve in Times Square. That reminds me, on our tour, the guide pointed out an old church in SoHo that had been converted into a nightclub called “Avalon”. He said it was one of the hottest spots in Manhattan right now. Not to be judgmental, but that’s a little puzzling. I know it’s just a building, but something just doesn’t seem quite right about that.

As we were waiting for our bus to cross back over the George Washington Bridge to our hotel, I did some quick calculations in my head, counting cars and figuring the toll ($8 per vehicle). That bridge grosses over $1Million per day!! Crocodile Dundee (aka, Dino) was chatting away with yet another local, so I leaned over and asked the man (he had a big huge smile, and was very talkative) if I was close in my number, and he said yes, absolutely. On the weekends, its more. It boggles the mind how much money that is at the end of the year. Very profitable. I think I’d like to own a bridge.

My next trip to New York may have to be for shopping at Christmas. The locals tell me that’s the best time to be here-the city is really dressed up, they say. The first trip to New York is appropriately about sightseeing, I guess. The next trip needs to be a bit more about “doing”: the shopping, the museums like the Met, the Jewish Museum, the Guggenheim Museum, and the Museum of Natural History, drinks at the Waldorf, actually watching a Broadway show, a Knicks game, a Conan O’Brian taping, a Saturday Night Live taping, the Today Show, a Harlem Dance Company performance, the New York Historical Society, Carnegie Hall, Grants Tomb, something at the Apollo, Madame Toussad’s wax museum, the United Nations building, the list goes on and on. One week just isn’t enough to really take it all in, but I feel like we’ve done really well for the time we had. We made the most of it, for sure.

Usually, when I take a vacation, it involves a hot beach or some lavish amusement park, or at least a pool and an outlet mall, and when I get home from places like that, I really wish I could go back and live in those exotic, beautiful, tropical, warm places. I have to honestly say, I’m glad for the opportunity to see such an important place in the world like New York City, but this is one homecoming that I’m looking forward to. And I’m thankful to have a place like Alaska to raise my kids. After seeing this city, Alaska feels so clean and pure and untouched to me. I’m looking forward to drinking our water, breathing our air, and having a spacious home to live in, real, untouched woods to walk through, and a car to drive myself. I’m feeling very affluent and fortunate right now, counting my blessings.

New York City Day 4 - April 3, 2008

2008-04-06T11:18:00.000-07:00

Today, we went back to Rockefeller Center and went up to the Top of the Rock (top floor of Rockefeller Center – 70 floors up). The locals told us that it was a better view than the top of the Empire State Building so that’s the one we opted for. It didn’t disappoint. 360 degree view of the city – we saw the bay and the Statue of Liberty, Staten Island, the Brooklyn Bridge, the George Washington Bridge, Yankee Stadium, Madison Square Garden, all of Central Park, the Met Life building, the Chrysler building, the Empire State building, absolutely everything. New York City is really all about the buildings and the business. There’s no agriculture, mining, etc. I actually thought the buildings would be taller. They were tall, for sure, but I wasn’t wanting to walk around looking up all the time in amazement. That’s good, I’m told. My friend, Marlo, told me that I’ve been spotted as a tourist if I get charged more than a dollar for a hot dog or pretzel, so no looking up, keep the camera hidden unless taking pictures, and walk with purpose, like I have somewhere to be…got it.

We watched a short film narrated by John Rockefeller Jr.’s son – he’s still alive and has kept an office in the building for over 60 years. The film showed how the building went up during the depression, and John Rockefeller had intended for others to help with the financing of it. Well, because of the stock market crash and the resulting depression, the partners backed out and he financed the entire thing himself. The famous picture of the dirty steel workers having lunch on the beam hanging hundreds of feet above the ground was taken during the construction of this building.

David Rockefeller was just a young boy, on their way home from a trip to Egypt, when his father decided to do this. I realized that a large part of the reason why this boy grew up to be so successful wasn’t necessarily because he came from affluence, although that was certainly part of it, but it seems to be more the attitude and environment in which he was raised. He didn’t know anything different except large scale business on a global scale, so that’s what he did. Without fear or apprehension, because he was already used to it. It was just daily life for this guy. It just reinforces the notion that setting high expectations for our kids teaches them to think at a high level. If we want them to have a bigger or better life than we have, then we need to raise them in an environment where they acclimate and can believe in themselves at that level.

We went back to Ground Zero to try and get some better pictures. I wanted to visit the cemetery of St. Paul’s church again. I wonder who’s buried there? Many of the headstones were completely worn smooth (maybe from the WTC blast?). I’m just drawn to that little place, it’s obviously cherished by the Creator. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel very emotional over the whole “Ground Zero” thing, and I’m not really sure why. Not to be morbid, but I tried to imagine where the bodies hit of the people that jumped. I tried to imagine how terrified they were and the grief of so many families. It didn’t really hit me or sink in very well for some reason, which makes me feel like a robot. Not exactly sure what’s going on (or not going on) in my heart there, I need to figure that out, I think.

By the way, the subway stations down by WTC are really quite tidy. Beautiful tile work.

We came back to the hotel, jumped in the Johnson’s rental car, and headed to the kids’ game. It was 3-0 when we walked in, halfway through the first period. Our boys immediately scored two goals and we gave ourselves a lot of credit for being lucky charms. Ha. We left the immediate rink side and went looking for some seating and all of a sudden, our boys got slaughtered. Final score was 11-2. Dang. What a morale-buster. We went for a team dinner afterwards and proposed to Cory (coach) that we get the guys all in their matching All-Star warm up suits, and take them to the skating rink at Rockefeller tomorrow morning. They’d get on the Today show for sure and I thought it would be a great “gelling” experience for the team!! Cory seriously considered it for a minute, but then a couple of the other parents ix-nayed it, and Cory decided not. Maybe he’ll change his mind by morning. One grumpy parent grumbled, “We’re here for a hockey tournament.” I say they’re here for a life experience. Dean has said to me before that he’s traveled the world with hockey, but rarely got to SEE the places he went to. I think that’s tragic and unfortunate.

New York City Day 3 - April 2, 2008

2008-04-06T11:13:00.000-07:00

The tour was worth EVERY penny and then some. I don’t even know if I can remember everything we saw to get it down in this journal. The guide was an older fellow that reminded me of Fire Marshall Bill by Jim Carrey on In Living Color. He knew more interesting facts about this city than any one person really should. He talked constantly and VERY fast for 5 ½ hours. I really wished I had brought a video recorder or at least a note pad. Let me see how much of it I can get on paper here while it’s still fresh in my mind. We saw:

· The exact spot where John Lennon was shot (he died later at the hospital) and heard some info about the guy who assassinated him. Apparently, there’s a movie about what was going on in this guy’s head. He traveled a long way from across the nation to do this, decided not to, went home, then came back, got John’s autograph on an album earlier in the day, then decided to do it, and shot him later that day. Huh….????
· Yoko Ono’s “apartment” – the entire top floor of the building entrance where John was shot on Central Park West – about 20,000 square feet. Sting lives in the building, too, on a lower level.
· Madonna’s apartment and Angelina Jolie’s apartment and Robert DeNiro’s apartment. This area along Central Park West is actually very clean and simple and elegant. I like it.
· Central Park police on horses.
· Central Park (again) and Central Park West. Apartments sell for an average of $46 Million dollars. Some apartments you can buy outright if you can finance it, but many others such as along Park Avenue (which isn’t even park-side, by the way – it’s three blocks away) are extremely exclusive and you’re buying into a co-op, like a business. You have to present full financials, go before a review board and be accepted. This is where it pays to “know somebody” and have connections. I wonder how long the waiting lists are? The owners of these places are world leaders and captains of industry.
· We learned that most of the construction companies and almost all of the construction in New York are run by the mafia. Trump has his own companies (and probably his own knee-busters), but that’s about it.
· 15 years ago, this city was NOT a safe place to be. You couldn’t walk down hardly any street without being approached by a prostitute, crack addict or gang member. But the city started to make some money, and they really cleaned it up. The guide told us not to mind the bums lying on the side of the street, because it’s probably a cop in disguise pretending to sleep. Sneaky….
· Columbus Circle (again) – by Trump International Tower, CNN, Time Warner, etc. and he told us a bunch of facts about the statues and artwork in the area (how much the Columbus Statue in the center weighed, yadda-yadda). One solid gold piece was a tribute to the men of the downed USS Maine.
· We saw the Seinfeld Restaurant and the bakery where the girls from Sex and the City always met for breakfast.
· We drove by the Museum of Sex. No, we didn’t go in, but I did pause and think…a museum? Really? Whatever.
· We say the townhome-style apartment where Will Smith “lived” in the movie, “I am Legend”, which I haven’t seen yet, but want to now. White door…9B, I think?
· We saw Hell’s kitchen, the Five Points (remember the movie, “Gangs of New York”?), Greenwich Village, SoHo, NoHo, Tribeca, and the meat packing district, the bowery, Battery Park. It’s interesting that each of these neighborhoods are really only a few blocks apart. Manhattan Island is only 13.5 miles long and 6 miles wide, and all of the sights are really on the lower half, so about a 6 mile by 6 mile area, roughly. There’s SO much here, but it’s all vertical. The guide told us that the population of Manhattan is 1.3 million people, but when folks from the outer districts come in to work every day, it swells to 3 million. Many people live in other areas, but keep an apartment in Manhattan for work during the week. What kind of family life is that?
· The guide told us that the yellow-colored cabs were sanctioned by the city and are the ONLY cabs that are supposed to be in Manhattan. Other cabs on the outskirts are other colors. The license for ONE car in the city is almost $400,000.00. Unbelievable.
· We learned that the theater district is made up of over 500 theaters and Broadway, off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway theaters are all mixed together in terms of location. Many, but not all, are on the street named Broadway. “Broadway” is defined as any theater that is over 500 seats. Off-Broadway means theaters that are less than 500 seats and off-off Broadway is any theater less than 250 seats. The draw for actors and actresses is that it’s LIVE and it’s a very intimate setting. These are not huge theaters, and there’s interaction with the audiences. It stretches their acting muscles.
· George Washington lived on Cherry Street in Manhattan. No kidding.
· We saw an apartment building in Chinatown that had almost 800 apartments in it. There were so many families in this building, that it contained its own school for all the kids. Our guide spewed a bunch of facts about Chinatown that I can’t remember now.
· The eastern seaport, where we took some fabulous pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge and the Brooklyn skyline. Our guide told us that the bay where the Hudson and the East Rivers meet the ocean used to be home to over 350 species of fish and the largest oyster bed in the world. I wonder how many species are able to live there now in the polluted waters? My new friend, Valarie, said, “Oooh, I love oysters.” I said, “Mmmm…I love pearls.” Ha.
· We rode the Staten Island Ferry and it was so incredibly windy, it took my breath away. We couldn’t stay on the outer deck for very long for fear of getting blown overboard (several security guys were keeping an eye on the people on the decks), but we braved it long enough to get some great pictures of the Manhattan skyline. The ferry holds 6500 people and moves very quickly. Staten Island is one of the five boroughs of New York (Staten Island, Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn, and Queens make up “New York City”) and is home to 500,000 people. That’s almost the entire state of Alaska living on one very little island!! We got some great pictures of Ellis Island (old immigration check in location) and the Statue of Liberty. Our guide recited the poem for us so reverently; it brought tears to my eyes. Seriously, he was good.

o “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

With conquering limbs astride from land to land;

Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand

A mighty woman with a torch, whose flameIs the imprisoned lightning,

and her name Mother of Exiles.

From her beacon-hand

Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command

The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.

“"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!"” cries she

With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”

· The financial district: Wall Street wasn’t quite what I’d envisioned. I thought it was an actual street that cars could drive on, but it’s more like a narrow alley for foot traffic. Definitely wall to wall buildings and hundreds of people, all in black suits. I mean ALL of them in black, all carrying the exact same briefcase and about half of them talking on their phones while they walked. A very serious crowd, for sure. We saw the front of the New York Stock Exchange, but since 9/11, security is tight, and we’re not allowed to go inside and see the trading floor anymore. Our guide quipped, “If there are any single ladies in the group, THIS would be the place to go shopping for a man.” I was mildly offended, but had to giggle.
· We saw a Federal Reserve building that had a sub-structure that went 100 stories below the ground. 75 floors down housed billions of dollars in 100 dollar bills, 100 floors down housed billions more in gold bouillons. Wow. Forget knocking over a Vegas casino - that would be the building to target, eh? The money is all moved around using robots, humans don’t go down there. Especially chlosterphobic ones. Ha.
· Trinity church at the end of Wall Street is gorgeous. It houses the grave of Alexander Hamilton – father of the treasury. There’s actually only one active cemetery in north, excuse me, upper Manhattan. All the others are full and they’re ancient. The churches here really stand out against the sleek skyscrapers. They look like Old English structures with astoundingly intricate architecture. They’re so beautiful.
· We saw the outside of Grand Central Station. I’d like to go back and see the inside if we can manage it.

- The flatiron building. Cool architecture, eh?
· The Triangle S

hirtwaist Factory which caught on fire In March 1911. It was the largest disaster in the history of the city of New York, causing the death of 148 people (mostly young peasant girls) who either died from the fire or jumped to their deaths. It was the worst workplace disaster in New York City until 9/11. The fire led to legislation requiring improved factory safety standards and helped spur the growth of the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, which fought for better working conditions for sweatshop workers in that industry (have they made any progress?). The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Building, also known as the Asch Building and as the Brown Building, is still standing today and was named a National Historic Landmark. I actually didn't remember all those facts, I looked some of them up when we got back.
· The World Trade Center – 16 square city blocks. It’s just a big huge hole in the ground right now, with lots of re-construction going on. They’re building a new complex of 4 buildings, one is complete, the others are in progress. One will be “Freedom Tower” – 1776 floors high, for the year 1776 when the Declaration of Independence was signed. There will be a memorial constructed as well, that is a concentric 3-square fountain, that looked like a neat design concept. Hard to describe in writing, though.
· St. Paul’s church – directly across the street from The World Trade Center. This is the most inspiring, faith-building story I’ve heard in a long time: when the twin towers came down on 9/11/01, the force from the tumbling buildings blew over a huge Sycamore tree in the yard/cemetery in front of this tiny little church. The roots of this tree were so big that it protected the church from the blasts. Huge steel structures were destroyed all around the area, windows blown out everywhere, and in the middle of the financial district, this VERY old (200 years), VERY little brownstone church, DIRECTLY across the street, was literally unscathed. Every window was in place, not a scratch anywhere. God certainly was making a point there about what is important to Him, wasn’t He? It became a working ground / clearinghouse for volunteers after the disaster. Every worker had to sign in and they had copies of the sign in books on display. Over 20,000 volunteers passed through this church, which is no more than 4,000 square feet total, if that. There were pictures from kids hanging on the walls, badges and sweaty hats from workers (fire, police, EMT, all kinds). It was VERY cool. I certainly felt compelled to pray in this place.
· We saw all the University clubs – a street with buildings displaying flags for Harvard, Yale, Columbia, NYU, a few others. These were clubs for the alumni, apparently, to meet, workout, conduct business, network, whatever. Sounds snobby to me.
· We saw the store where Mrs. Lincoln bought her china.
· We saw Macy’s – the largest department store in the world, and Saks Fifth Avenue. I don’t dare go in, of course. I’d never make it home.
· We stopped at a souvenir shop and got some t-shirts for Mom and Dean, and I bought a New York Fire Department sweatshirt for myself. Then we stopped at the little bakery across the street and got a piece of cheesecake. Yes, it was scrumptious.

What a tour. I’m exhausted and need a nap, but I really feel like I painted the town today. The guide recommended a book called “Gotham”. He said it was a must-have for any tour guide and covers all the history of New York from its very beginnings. I looked it up on Amazon and its 1500 pages and ONLY takes us up to the turn of the century – nothing past the year 1900. It starts from when Indians were settled here, to the Dutch (“The New Amsterdam”), to African-Americans, to Irish, to Italians, the Asians (90% Chinese), and so on. I might pick it up, it sounds fascinating, but I do wish there was some modern day information in there.

New York City Day 2 - April 1, 2008

2008-04-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

We got up early this morning to get over to the ABC studios to watch a taping of Regis and Kelly. They were really great. Both were very witty and engaging with the crowd. Their guest for the day was the flawless Julie Andrews. What an amazing person she is with an amazing talent and an amazing career. Wait until I tell the girls I got to see Mary Poppins live. I’m beginning to wish I’d brought them. But they would’ve been bored most of the time. Actually, I’m glad for the one on one time with Dean. We don’t seem to get enough of it lately.

A band called Life House was the musical guest for the day and I really liked them. The lead singer has an unusual, but very rich voice. I’m going to check out some of their music on iTunes when I get home. Tomorrow, Avril Lavigne is the musical guest. Again, the girls would’ve loved that – they like the song, “Skater Boi”. I guess maybe we’ll have to make this trip with them when they’re older and I can feel safe having them here. They need to experience all this rich history first-hand.

After the taping we walked around lower Manhattan some more, ate a hot dog and a gyro from a street vendor, and saw Trump Tower, Time Warner, CNN, and Central Park. Central Park is an exquisite, tranquil jewel in the middle of a maniacal city. It was like being transported back to the 1800’s. The arched brick bridges, old cobblestone lined paths, old fashioned style lampposts, and horse drawn carriages were absolutely charming. I want to go back there and walk through and explore some more. It’s a tranquil, peaceful place.

As I write today’s entry, Dean is at a hockey practice with his kids. We don’t have any plans for tonight, and I’m getting hungry. I’ll catch up on some emails and get some rest tonight. We have to get up early for our tour tomorrow. I don’t want to miss that bus again. Sure wish I knew how to set up a blog. I’d do all this online. I’ve got to get that figured out when we get home. I know there’s not much to it.

New York City Day 1 - March 31, 2008

2008-04-06T11:07:00.000-07:00

It’s colder than I thought it would be. The weather is drizzling rain, but Dean and I decided to go do some sightseeing anyway. When trying to figure out all the sights we wanted to see, and the logistics about how to get from here to there, it occurred to us that perhaps we ought to just take a paid tour and let somebody else handle all the driving. Brilliant, eh? A very nice girl at the front desk of our hotel suggested a tour that lasts 5 ½ hours and hits everything we wanted to see. We set out cheerfully to meet the tour bus, instructions in hand about which cabs, busses and trains to take to get to our pick up location in Times Square.

Well, we missed the bus by about 2 minutes and they didn’t wait. We had to walk about 8 blocks and we were freezing cold at this point so we stepped into a wonderful smelling sandwich shop / bakery (the cheesecakes looked incredible) and called the tour company. They were very gracious and said we could reschedule whenever we wanted to. So, we’re going on Wednesday morning. We decided to walk around Manhattan on our own and we took pictures of Times Square, Rockefeller Center, NBC, the Rainbow Room marquee, Radio City Music Hall, the Lincoln Center, and American Girl Place. We also saw a great Build-a-Bear workshop right on 5th avenue. The girls would’ve loved it!

The subway system isn’t as scary and intimidating as I’d anticipated. It’s shady, for sure, but as long as it’s daytime and I have Dean with me, I feel pretty safe. You can’t believe the amount of gum wads on the concrete floors.

It strikes me that the people we’ve interacted with here aren’t rude and mean, they’ve been very colorful and interesting and really quite nice. I can definitely see why one would have to be aggressive in this city, though. If you don’t have a spine, you’ll never make it. The pace is fast and you can feel urgency in the air, wherever you go. For the most part, I see a lot of lost souls, trying to make their way in this life and stand out or make a difference in a city of millions. That’s a tall order and it obviously wears on them. They seem so exhausted and worn out more than anything. It seems like a very tough, stressful life living at this pace and I feel sorry for them. And they don’t look healthy. Everyone just seems to have a grey pallor about them. They’re just struggling to keep up, there’s not much vibrancy or joy in their countenance. They seem to be aggressive because they have to be to survive, not because the have an ambitious or cheerful attitude of wanting to tackle the day.

It also seems odd that I don’t see many children. There are a few here and there, but not many. I’m obviously not the only one who thinks that this is no place for kids.

We’re spending a lot more money getting around than I thought we would. The public transportation seems affordable on the surface, but at the end of the day, they’ve nickel-dimed you to death. Five dollars here, two dollars there. It’s eight dollars to get from here to downtown Manhattan. So, round trip for two is $32.00. Every day. Yipes. And dirty? Wow, is this place dirty. The subways especially are about as gross as it gets. The poles that you hang onto for balance feel very greasy and you just have to wonder what manner of germs are crawling up and down that thing. Blech!! There’s not enough hand sanitizer in all of America to survive a lifetime here. And they tell me that it’s a LOT cleaner than it was 15 years ago. That astounds me.

We met a very interesting guy on the subway – his name is Gary – he plays the drums in the Broadway shows. He’s currently playing for “Legally Blonde” and one night a week for “Spam-a-lot”, which Clay Aiken in starring in right now. Gary went to Alaska with “Cats” back in 1991 and he absolutely loved the beauty of our state. He was so helpful explaining the subway system to us and getting us pointed in the right direction to meet our tour bus. He pointed out a few of the theaters on Broadway and I took a picture of “The Lion King” marquees and signage (again, thinking of the kids). Mary Poppins and The Little Mermaid are two other kids Broadway shows that are playing now. He also showed us “Schubert Alley” (I think that was the name) named after some famous New York family that I’ve never heard of. But I saw the bronzed plaque in the sidewalk with their name on it, and it sounds very Jewish, so I believed him. Ha.

We met another interesting fellow in the cab on the way to the Rangers game later that night. A big Harley-Davidson fan, shaved head, and a million tattoos. Very funny guy who gave us his business card at the end of the ride and said, “If the spirit moves you, send me a Harley (pronounced “HAH-lee”)Shirt from Alaska, and I’ll pay you back for it.” We’ll have to see if the spirit moves us when we get home, I guess. Lots of f-bombs from him in the conversation, then when we got out, his farewell was, “God bless!!” Whatever, dude.

We went from the cab to a bus, and met two guys down from Toronto. They came to see the last home season opener in the historical Yankee Stadium (which got rained out and delayed a day). This is the very same stadium that Babe Ruth played in, and Mickey Mantle, and Joe DiMaggio. Cool. I wonder where Marilyn Monroe sat? Apparently, they’re building a new stadium right next to the old one, which they’ll tear down and use for parking. New Yorkers are sad about the end of an era. Security is tight this season, because people keep trying to take home “pieces” of the stadium. I hear they’re going to auction off all the seats and stuff. Guess they have to pay for the new one somehow, eh? The two guys we met, Tony and Bob, knew some of the same guys that Dean played hockey with in Troy, NY. Ian Frazier “Fraz”, to name one. It was all sports, so I sort of tuned out the conversation after that and took in the view of the Hudson River as we crossed the George Washington Bridge. (looking for dead bodies? Just kidding…)

The Rangers game was big fun. Dean said it was the best professional game he’d ever seen. I thought it was cool to see the historic Madison Square Garden – arguably the most famous arena in the world. I would debate for the Roman Coliseum, but that’s another journal for another day. The game was fast paced, low-scoring, and ended with the Rangers scoring a game-ending, game-winning, heart-stopping, crowd-igniting goal in overtime. 20,000 people cheering and Scott Gomez got an assist on it, so that made it extra-fun.

Dean had a moment of glory before the game when we picked up our tickets at the will-call window. The fellow behind the window dropped a bomb on us when he said that he used to watch Dean play all the time in Albany when he played for the Capital District Islanders. He gave us his name and number and said if we ever wanted copies of Dean’s fight tapes to give him a call, because he had all of them. Wow. How cool is that? Seriously, what are the chances? Dean was giddy. What a great feeling for him. He’s making so many friends everywhere we go, I’ve affectionately nicknamed him “Mick Dundee”.