BS

I often write abbreviated notes on my hand at work as a reminder. I got home tonight and noticed I had "BS" on my hand. I could not remember what it was for. I sounded out all of the vowel possibilities with no luck. I was losing my mind. IT DID NOT STAND FOR BUTTERFLY SKIPPER!

For some reason, though it has nothing to do with him, the sight of Conan O'Brien instantly triggered my memory. I will post the meaning of the mysterious letters later on, but in the meantime, anyone have any thoughts on what the "BS" stands for?

First runs of the season

Laura packing the car up after a long day of snow sport. 6 runs halfway down the majestic North Peak at Caberfae was all we got in due to a broken lift. I enjoyed using a ski pass featuring my mustache.

Just a reminder.....

Don't Miss Steven Seagal Lawman tonight at 10:00 pm.

Photo puzzle

What in this photograph is also visible on this blog at all times?

The first person to answer correctly gets a Unfrozen John Fogerty t-shirt. Once I get around to making it.

Good Stuff

Dazed and Confused...

Unfrozen John Fogerty

what's the deal with Cy Young award winner Tim Lincecum?

Ann Arbor photography

Check out this link for some amazing photographs of Ann Arbor, and while you are there, scroll down to the bottom of the page and check out this dudes photography of the wonderland that is Michigan.

Fall in Ann Arbor - 2009

Ahhh the memories

35 years – THANK YOU!

November 5th, 2009 at 12:01 am by Bill Steffen under Bill's Blog, Weather

<–Bill Steffen and Craig James in 1975. Thirty-five years ago today, I did my first television show in Grand Rapids. I worked 6 days a week and made $175 a week or $9,100 a year. My father sold me a car for a buck, which was about 50% of actual value. We had the tan blazers that the “Eyewitness News Team” wore every night. Notice us wearing the little balloon stickers from the “Eyewitness Balloon” (wonder if pilot Doug Mills is still out there?). I was 23 with hair over my ears (ah…the 70s). I had come from the Univ. of Wisconsin at Madison, where I was living in a sorority house with 53 girls (It was legal. I was the houseboy at Delta Gamma). This was my first TV job. I had done a little sports on the radio on WNTH-FM in Winnetka, Illinois when I was in high school (I had this nice deep bass voice that sounded good on FM. I had to read a long list of football scores and I remember looking in the dictionary to discover new verbs for what one team could do to another). I had received a B.S. in Meteorology and Physical Geography while in Madison. We had two large maps for TV…the state map and the national map. We wrote on them with markers, and had a spray bottle and paper towels to clean them. The forecast was just tomorrow and the next day. Craig and I hand plotted surface maps several times a day and analyzed them with different color pencils (some were real works of art!). The main news anchors were Cal Wierenga and Jim Rummel. Henry Capogna (now sales manager for Clear Channel in G.R.) did sports. I was on at Noon with News DirectorJack Hogan (now a city councilman in Claremont, Florida) and Dick Richards, and I did radio on WZZM-FM…which had some decent numbers back then…not in Bruce Grant territory, but we did all right. A high school kid named Rick Beckett had some air time back then…anyone remember…Bill Gamble or Lee DeYoung (or did he use the Dutch spelling, I don’t remember) or Dave Kent? Good Morning America started (as A.M. America – originally one hour) in Jan. 1975 with Bill Beutel and Stephanie Edwards. I had the whole 5 minutes at 8:25 am to fill, minus a 30-second commercial and a 10-second open and close. Bozo ran weekdays from 7:30 to 8 AM. We ran the Lone Ranger (in beautiful black and white) from 7 am to 7:30. I did a quick weather from “the booth” in between those shows with a slide that I would choose of me and Bozo ready for the days weather (I still have those slides).

Eventually, we brought in a 3rd weathercaster, Ted Gribas, who went on to teach at Forest Hills. George Lessens came in (I believe) 1980. You might remember Dave Whitford (still in G.R.) and Mark Massaro (in Cincinnati and out of broadcasting). Back in 1974 we had reporters Alex Taylor, Sue (Bertke) Francis, Jim Riekse…Anne Doyle has done well for herself since leaving Grand Rapids. The late George U. Lyons was the G.M. at the time. We had full-time booth announcers (Dick Reid had “the voice”).

Thinking about it, I might be (or I might be close to) the longest on-air television talent in G.R. history (close to Dick Richards anyway?). I’ve been on the air in G.R. longer than Craig James was (commercials don’t count). I still hear Buck Matthews on Blue Lake Radio on rare occasion. I think Juke Van Oss will keep the radio record for longevity forever. He was on the air before I was born at WHTC in Holland. Hey, leave a comment if you remember early broadcasting in G.R. Let’s dust off a few memories……Bill S.

Zombie walk

Chris and Lindsay stopped by friday night on their way to the zombie walk.

there was some sort of event going on for all the zombies, I think the kids call it a rave. Lots of loud techno and zombies.

Laura and Lindsay hit the tire swing but had to avoid a huge puddle first

It's hard to see in this photo, but Laura had a little trouble getting off the tire swing.

Happy Birthday Bro!

ArtPrize

Artprize is heading into it's final week here in Graps. That means that a top 10 has been chosen by the over 35,000 registered voters of which I am not one. Though I am not a voter, I have enjoyed partaking in the excitement that is the worlds largest art prize. Thousands of people have filled the streets of downtown grand rapids and it's surrounding areas to view the 1263 artists in 159 venues. One of the artists is my neighbor, who threw 100,000 paper airplanes from the roof of a building downtown while roughly 25,000 people waited below. I even saw people walking dogs downtown which I have never seen before. While nobody knew just what to expect from ArtPrize, they should expect another ArtPrize to come. Laura and I headed downtown today with Liz and Ted to check out the finalists and see some of the other artists we missed last week.

Top 10 finalist - all thumbtacks

Top 10 finalist - made completely with nails

Top 10 finalist - I disagree with this one, but I guess it's fun. I jogged through here and there are weird sounds echoing from Nessie.

Top 10 finalist - Points for it's relevance to Graps

Both pieces are Top 10 finalists - They are both amazing and work well together

Top 10 finalist - This is by a Chicago artist who graduated from Kendall College of Art and Design in Graps. He is currently transforming blighted underpasses on Chicago's Lake Shore Drive. One of my favs.

Not a finalist, but Laura's favorite. These are photographs of locals found in chance meetings downtown printed on loose slabs of salt. They are meant to be temporary and slowly disappear over the duration of ArtPrize.

Top 10 finalist - I really like this one. I hope it's permanent. I have heard that many of these works will be. There are two lights on either side of the river that catch the reflective sides of the sculpture as it shimmies in the wind.

Top 10 finalist - Winddancer 2 by a Grand Haven artist.

This is an image of the Bob's venue. A Rockford artist transformed an entire side of the building. There was also a guy who built a five story easel on which he lived for a week before jumping off. Not sure how that all went down. I did not care for this venue due to large crowds and piped in music. Not top 10.

Someone projected an animation of a child swimming on the side of the GRAM. Pretty cool, not Top 10.

Just a picture from one of the many venues that was in a previously vacant building in downtown. I think this will end up being a good way to show off empty building spaces and maybe fill them in the future. Overall, I found the whole thing pretty cool. I recommend folks head down if they are within the area. It has clearly been a great thing for the local economy and I hope this means we will see more next year.

Dance Party USA! - Part II

Dance Party USA!

Crazy dust storm in Australia

I got a power tool, yes I do

Power... Can you dig it
Power.... come and get it
Power.... keep it comin
Power.... feel it hummin

I know it's creepy when written like that, but those New Duncan Imperials lyrics run through my head all day.

Mandi and Andy's Wedding, Beaver Creek Colorado

Sunrise at O'hare 

Laura and I followed Nat, Dudes, Molly and Reedo to Idaho Springs where we met Ryan and Jessica for a super lunch.

Andy making sure his tux felt right

For some reason the musical entertainment tried on tuxes with us

Laura and I checked into our suite and were quite pleased.  This was the view from our balcony.  The bridge is for skiers to use to access their accommodations. 

Friday morning we took a walk around the village and the base area

Nat, Veronica, and Laura cruising the village

In a few months this will be ice

Beaver Creek

Bocce ball outside of the Chop House where we had an amazing outdoor lunch

Andy and Andrew give it the old hug test before the wedding day.  

Mandi and Andy walking in the tall grass outside of Beano's Cabin following the ceremony

Looking up at the Birds of Paradise lift from Beano's Cabin

Cocktails around the fire.  The cabin was beautiful inside featuring vintage ski posters, old telemark equipment, majestic elk paintings and old photographs

A funny visitor.  I never new porcupines were so friendly and cute

with razor sharp claws and other body parts which will be discussed in different post

The happy couple kicked off a night of wild dancing.  video to come

They're back

After watching Michigan beat Eastern Michigan at Bob's Place in Avon, we headed up the mountain for a hike

We shared a chair with Marta and David from davidandmarta.com

Heading off on our hike towards Beaver Lake above Beano's Cabin

Beano's to the left, then the village and Avon in the distance

Reedo

Congratulations Mandi and Andy!  Thanks for an amazing weekend!