My Dogs / Sports / Web Browsing / Photography
Unconditional Love… that’s what my dogs give to me… When I attended Michigan State, I worked for a woman who bred Westies. I groomed them for shows, and ran the kennel seven days a week. Needless to say, the pay wasn't that great, but the experience was unforgettable. She had thirty Westies, they all looked identical, but within two weeks, I knew every one by name. The dogs pictured here are my dogs. Jessie on the left is a Samoyed Husky, and Buddy (lying down) and Charlie are Springer Spaniel mutts. My experience at the Westie kennel certainly helps me survive my day to day routines with these three. Charlie was diagnosed two years ago with juvenile Diabetes. Every day I have to give him a shot of insulin, as if he were a human. Well, if you ask me, they are human.
I try to play as many sports as I can. Working five days a week, nine hours a day, a person can find themselves out of time and energy. I grew up playing sports, but now I'm playing the sports I was never able to play in High School.
I started golfing in my second year of college, 1993. One of my roommates worked at Brookshire Inn & Golf Course in Williamston, Michigan. We used to go out golfing at dusk because we knew the owners would let us play as many holes as we could before the sun went down. The most wonderful thing happened that summer. It was July 12, 1993, that night we were moving really slow, by the time we got to the third hole, we knew it had to be our last. I wasn't shooting very well up to that point, but knowing this was our last hole, I took my 5 wood, and had the easiest swing of my life. My friends and I watched as the ball drifted silently toward the green, but because it was getting very dark, we never saw it land. Just then three guys came from behind the green shouting, jumping and pointing, "IT WENT IN, IT WENT IN!" At the age of 20, I shot a HOLE IN ONE, on a par four, 211 yards. I was in the Michigan Golfer magazine, the Lansing State Journal and the Grand Rapids Press. Needless to say, we never finished that round that night, but it will always be my best round ever.
Another sport I started to play more of after High School was softball. After I moved back to Grand Rapids, my friends asked me to be on their softball team. We play Monday nights on the Walker co-ed league. Our sponsor is the Shawmut Inn Restaurant on Lake Michigan Drive. At that time, we were all working for the "Mutt," so it only seemed right that they were our sponsors. This year's will be our fifth season, we have never won, we almost always come in last, but we have a great time playing!
I also enjoy the typical bar sports, billiards, 9-ball, darts; Cricket, 301, 501, 701, 901, and shuffle board. I grew up with a nine-foot slate pool table in our basement. My father was teaching me how to put English on the ball almost before I could speak English. After that, my brother and I practiced all the time, and he would take me over to friend's houses and out to local pubs to hustle people. No one ever thought by looking at me that I would be able to play. You know, I never did get any of that money either… lol Now I am not quite as good as I used to be due to the lack of practice, and competition. If you would like to play a game email me and maybe we'll get to play some day.
Oh, and I love to go dancing, as long as my dearest friend doesn't come with me. I'd hate to have to show 'em up. (hee hee hee, you know who you are!)
This is a brand new interest of mine. I have been "into" computers since 1991. Not very long, I know, but I did know quite a bit about them at that time. Now, I am proficient in AS/400, Access, DMAS, JD Edwards, Microsoft Word, Works, Office, Excel, PowerPoint, AmiPro, Word Perfect, Lotus 1-2-3, Approach, Wordpro, Freelance Graphics, and of course, the Internet. I have had experience programming Sequel reports through our DMAS system at work. It is a wonderful world in the World Wide Web. With all of the horror stories I hope I don't catch a virus! If you want to see my most visited Web Sites, click
here.
I have always had a great desire to become a photographer. I love the camera, and can take some pretty good pictures. My dream is to one day own one of those fancy cameras with all the separate lenses and filters, and to take professional style pictures. But for now, I'll just use what I have available to me, my little Pentax IQ Zoom. Here is a sample of some of my pictures that I have taken. Amateur I know, but everyone has to start somewhere.
Grand Haven, Michigan
Grand Haven State Park
Grand Haven South Shore Pier
Walker, Michigan
"Storm at Sea" Can Cun, Mexico
