Buckeye Mike

Ever since my little health scare a couple weeks back, I have been making a real effort to eat better. My morning routine of McDonald's sausage mcmuffins and hash browns has been replace with granola bars and bananas. Thurman Burgers and Raising Cane's have given way to Subway for lunch nearly every day. Eating healthy on the go is not an easy task, as most places are either healthy or cheap and easy. But I am sticking to the plan as much as possible, fearing the consequences of not making major changes. Friday was a busy day. Busier than normal, in fact. With it being my last day before taking my final week of vacation for the year, I had to not only make sure everything ran smoothly that day, but also for the next 9 days as well. We are a 24/7, 365 company, and I need to make sure all contingencies are covered for work at 3 am on a Sunday as well as 3 pm on a Tuesday. That's the job, and I love it. Unfortunately, for yesterday, that meant breaking my new found dedicatio...

This morning I wrote a post called  "The Airing of Grievances" . It was just a few observations I have made over the last week or so. With a focus on large topics like the NFL and gun control, I thought it would be a good time to make note of a couple of great things from this past week. And to find them I barely had to leave my house, and didn't need to go outside my hometown. As you know if you are a regular reader (thanks by the way), I am a doting father of 3 pretty awesome sons. This past week, my oldest, John-Michael, celebrated his  16th birthday . We took him and his girlfriend Rebekah to the Golden Corral. I know, not exactly Hyde park, but it was his choice. It was a great time, but my favorite part was not the food or even the company we were keeping. No, what struck me most was that every time someone asked him how his birthday was , he replied in a most unusual way. "My birthday was great! How was your my birthday?" I know, it doesn't even...

I am not sure if it is because I am getting older and more crotchety, or if the world really is going crazy. However, I have seen and heard a lot of things recently that have struck me a s bizarre. So, in the spirit of the Seinfeld holiday Festivus, here is the first post of my "Airing of Grievances" 1.) I am a pretty staunch gun rights supporter. Although I do not actually own a firearm, my Grandfather has been a great example of responsible gun ownership. I believe the right to bear arms is incredibly important, and no one should be able to take that right away. That being said, under what circumstances was it ok to have an Uzi in the hands of a 9 year old girl? Even in the most controlled environment, that automatic weapon creates such a kick  with each shot that even the most skilled marksmen with strong muscle tone have problems controlling it when it is fired. As gun rights activists, we make the plea of common sense to those who want to curb or eliminate gun ow...

"Always tell the truth, say your prayers, hold doors, pull out chairs, easy on the swears. You're living proof that dreams come true. I love you and I'm here for you" - Will Smith, Just the Two of Us I will never forget the first time I ever heard that song. It was 1998, and I was at Grant Hospital waiting for my first son to be born. It was a nerve racking day, but I remember it like it was 5 minutes ago. Someone played the song for me and I told them that was the kind of relationship I wanted to have with my boy.  I remember holding him for the first time, looking at him, and thinking that suddenly the responsibility of showing this newborn how to be a good man was squarely on my shoulders. It was the first time in my life I ever felt really grown up. Through the years, I have always tried to maintain that kind of relationship with the guys. I really had 3 examples of what a Dad should be. My birth father was never there. The monster showed what it was like to p...

"Clear as a crystal, sharp as a knife, I feel like I'm in the prime of my life" - Billy Joel, I go to Extremes This pretty much describes life for me this year. From the start of the 2014, I have felt different, like I am on top of the world and climbing. Between weekend trips to the Lowe hotel and a memorable trek to Arizona and back, it has been a year full of adventures. Passing a year of not smoking on June 5th and giving up soda, it has been a year full of victories. Between watching the boys grow into men in front of my eyes and feeling butterflies everyday with my Little Red, my family has grown stronger. And with time spent in prayer and thanking God for the blessings in this life, my faith is more firm than it has ever been. And even in moments when I felt irrelevant or frustrated, the bounce back is quicker, the highs are lower, and the lows are higher. That's all thanks to finally figuring out, after 41 years, who I really am, and being better than I used...

So it's really no secret that we run a zoo around here. Ever since I met Little Red and we drove to Zanesville so she could re-adopt her Pug Brutus, our home has been the landing spot for a ton of animals. We had Oliver, then Brutus. Along came Joey, then Jessie and June, and...............well, you understand. Some, like Chance, came to us because they needed a happy home in their final days. Others, like Johnny, only stayed a little while before heading off to their forever home (Dave and Sara Burnham love having him now). And we just don't have dogs. Cats and rabbits have come and gone, and currently a snake and couple of frogs call our home their home. Tiffany's soft heart and my desire to give her anything she wants have led to this misfit pet reserve. And we love them all. Including a pig named Maxwell. She had asked me for a couple of years if we could have a mini pot bellied porker, and I rebuffed her at every turn. Pigs are sloppy, messy, and dumb, or so I though...

I admit it, I have a morning routine.  I find it is easier to have things planned out than to fly by the seat of my pants. Some of that has to do with getting older, while a bigger part is Little Red's influence in my life. When we met, I was a hit-the-snooze-button-23-times-then-fall- out-of-bed-and-stumble-into-work-and-wake-up-about-10-kind-of-guy. Now, I am up when Siri starts singing her song at exactly 5:30 am. I am in the shower by 5:40, have the bed made by 6:04 and am out the door by 6:10. As I am driving the short distance to the office, I drink my coffee. I eat a banana and 2 granola bars. And I talk to God. I generally thank him for the blessings in my life. I ask him for guidance and grace and understanding and compassion as I go through my day. I ask him to help me keep a closer walk with him, and I pray for a million other things I don't wish to put on this blog. In the background, though, I always have on The River, our local radio station that plays the like...