Photo: “What Is Normal?”’s Knoah, In the Hospital This Morning
Posted on 4 February 2008 under BlogsMonroe, Photos | 8 Comments
Over on “What Is Normal?” right here on BlogsMonroe.com (where she discusses Knoah’s Achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism), Knoah’s mom Tonya has been blogging the past couple days on how Knoah’s been in the hospital with both the influenza virus (not just some everyday flu bug) along with a bit of pneumonia. I took the above photo of him in his industrial crib in the hospital at about 8:30 this morning. Tonya had been sleeping in the other bed in the room, while dad Will was home trying to get some sleep prior to having to work this afternoon.
If you look closely at Knoah’s forearm you can tell it’s quite enlarged. His IV had infiltrated yesterday evening and this morning that’s where most of his antibiotics were still located, not having yet made it through his system.
I visited with Tonya and Knoah until the Doctor came in at about 9:30, mostly just listening. That little family, particularly Knoah, handles a lot of problems.
Please keep them all in your prayers.
Getting Myself Trumped by The Gals
Posted on 30 January 2008 under BlogsMonroe | 5 Comments
Ok, here’s a fact … I’ve enjoyed a healthy batch of monthly page views here at Luna Pier Cook since I began writing it on November 30, 2006. Monroe News Managing Editor Dan Shaw of the News Notes blog emails us a monthly report … I’ve been #1 among the blogs at BlogsMonroe.com since the beginning.
I can see it coming though … I’m getting trumped. By a couple of women. Worst of all, I even have to partially blame myself for this.
They’re nuts. They’re funny. Their readers range from Chicago to Florida to Connecticut and all points otherwise.
All they want to know is, “Does this blog make us look fat?”
They’ve been posting for about 3 weeks now … but head on over and take a look at how many comments are on each of their posts. Those are some highly respectable numbers, numbers a lot of bloggers only wish they had. Some bloggers actively try to figure out how to get numbers like those.
For Kiki and Greta, this has happened naturally.
Yeah, it’s annoying. But only partly. I’ll admit it, I comment over there as well. A fun gang has developed there, and it’s great to keep up with all of them.
If their blog suits you, head on over and join the fun! It’s a pretty-darn-good time!
I do believe that, for the month of January 2008, for their first few weeks alone, the gals’ page views are going to blow right past my recent number of just under 30,000 page views. I’ll be flatly surprised if this does not occur.
If I do say so myself. 
Comparing Owies with Befrazzled
Posted on 19 January 2008 under BlogsMonroe, Photos | 2 Comments
Over on Befrazzled, Robin talks about an owie she received yesterday when dealing with Jell-O. She claims it was from a steak knife, but … since the Jell-O is in the picture of the injury … and apparently she was dealing with the Jell-O at the time … ahem … anyway, I just wanted to show the injury I received a couple days ago from the super-sharp 8″ knife Chef Tad gave me for Christmas. I was cubing potatoes for Mary’s breakfast, and the blade’s tip went straight into that finger. On a forward stroke. Hard. Yeah, seriously, my knifing skills ain’t what they should be …
Getting To Beirut Restaurant’s Kibbee Aras and Beef Shwarama via 13abc
Posted on 18 January 2008 under BlogsMonroe, Restaurant Chit-Chat | 7 Comments
This is a Kibbee Aras. I’d never seen one before. 13abc’s Zack Ottenstein planted the thing in front of me this afternoon and told me to eat it.
Definitely, this was the best Kibbee Aras I’ve ever had, bar none. It was fer Schnizzle.
Getting to the Kibbee Aras was another matter. And, for all of you BlogsMonroe regulars, you’ll be happy to know I ran into some Blonde Highlights along the way.
Ok, so I got attacked by the Blonde Highlights. Yeah, that’s decidedly more accurate.
Aaron’s Eagle Scout Acceptance Speech is now on DVD for a few folks, so we headed over to 13abc to give Zack his copy. Zack has taken Aaron on as a younger brother and they’ve got a tight friendship going, so it was natural for Aaron to want Zack to have a copy.
Once we got there Zack offered to give us a tour of the facility. The Disney-owned station is rather impressive, with its two major studios, five networked editing suites, packed control rooms, rather large newsroom and other more technical areas. (Master Control looks like NASA on a tighter budget.)
Once in the newsroom, Zack pointed around across to a desk, hollered, “I think you know this guy!”, and pointed at me. BlogsMonroe’s Blonde Highlights author and 13abc morning anchor Rebecca Regnier’s eyebrows shot up. “Dave??? I just now got off the phone with Robin!” (Robin is Rebecca’s sister, who authors the Befrazzled blog.) Rebecca came around, popping her head into an office to loudly whisper, “That Luna Pier Cook guy is out here!” After a handshake meeting and a few good laughs, Zack and I headed to talk tech while Rebecca and Aaron chatted. Once we got back to Rebecca and Aaron we chatted a bit more, and I received a solid hug (ok, it was kind of an attack!) from our newly-met friend-from-the-’net before we headed to the studio area.
Once we passed through the control room we stepped into the news studio. Aaron and I had a chance to chat with meteorologist Jay Berschback (quieter than I’d imagined) prior to Jeff Smith (just like he comes across) and Susan Ross Wells (no idea!) arriving at the anchor desk. A couple moments later and suddenly we were diving for the chairs on the Newsmakers set as the noon news started … live, right there in the room! It seemed to creep up on everyone earlier than even the anchors were prepared for. Good thing I moved, too … those monster cameras move on their own, and are downright dangerous!
One gent who deserves more attention than he probably gets is the young man who was standing between cameras one and two (there are three). When I used to visit the ABC station in Flint when I was Aaron’s age, each camera had an operator. There was also the Floor Director, and the prompter operator was off in the control room. There wasn’t a Floor Director in the 13abc studio today. And that young man was not only controlling the prompter … he was also controlling the three beastly cameras! Someone needs to get him a decent on-screen credit …
At the first commercial break we said goodbye to the on-air talent and followed Zack to the Beirut restaurant on Monroe St. for lunch. As we’d not been there before, Zack ordered us the Kibbee Aras, some Lentil Soup and, for me, a beautiful Beef Shawarma:
When Mary and I take Zack to a restaurant we invariably know the people who run the place, or are in the process of getting to know them. So it was rather fun at the Beirut to see that Zack not only has permission to visit the kitchens, but also the employees would come by the tables with cell phones to show off their grandkids! I already knew the kind of person Beirut owner Labib is, having had Chef Tad of the Frog Leg Inn introduce me to Labib at Taste of the Nation: Toledo last April. At that event I was able to put the two Chefs on high-def video, discussing the kind of charity work Labib is always involved in. At the restaurant today it was great to see this wonderful family working together, sharing lives and loves with their customers, their extended family.
The food was rather astonishing for a lunch. The Kibbee Aras, a deep-fried lamb, was crispy and somewhat golden on the outside while beaing beautifully moist and flavorful on the inside. I could have eaten another bowl of the authentically-Mediterranean Lentil Soup, rich and thick with its few ingredients and distinctive taste. And the Beef Shawarma was magnificent, with a wide range of flavors balanced perfectly to illustrate what a wrap sandwich should be.
Yes, I should have gotten a pic of Rebecca and I … but I honestly felt it a bit awkward to ask on a first meeting of someone I see on the news each morning. And unlike what she’s written once or so over on Blonde Highlights I still believe she doesn’t have any weight to lose. I can honestly say that now without any camera lens or broadcast transmission path in the way.
Yeah, I know. She’s a woman. There’s no way she’s gonna listen to that from the likes of me …
LunaPierCook’s Teen Tech Achieves Eagle Scout
Posted on 14 January 2008 under BlogsMonroe, Special Events | 8 Comments
My son Aaron, aka BlogsMonroe’s Teen Tech, speaks at the podium
at his Eagle Scout Court of Honor at Tecumseh Evangelical Friends
Church in Tecumseh, Michigan yesterday afternoon.
Just a few years ago at my parents’ house I was cooking at the stove. I’d inadvertantly left the handle of one of the pots pointed off the stovetop, and of course my mom walked by. The former Girl Scout leader turned it and, in a moment of total brain-dump, blurted out, “Gee Dave, weren’t you ever a Boy Scout?” My jaw dropped and, rather firmly, I pointed out, “No mom, you wouldn’t let me!”
That’s the God’s-honest truth there. I was made to join the YMCA’s Indian Guide program back in the late 1960s-early 70s.
There’s zero comparison between the two programs.
Yesterday afternoon at Tecumseh Evangelical Friends Church over in Tecumseh, my mom was in tears with the rest of us as the young men of Boy Scout Troop 632 honored my 18-year-old son Aaron, BlogsMonroe’s own Teen Tech, with the rank of Eagle Scout.
After the Scouts carried out Aaron’s elaborate and deeply-meaningful Rank Advancement ceremony, in front of the assembly of over 100 people, as I fumbled, trying to slide the intricate Eagle Scout Slide over the neatly-rolled ends of Aaron’s new Eagle Scout neckerchief without dropping anything, without screwing up ends the neckerchief, as Scoutmaster Mark Kirkendall looked on, trying to prevent himself from grabbing the thing away from me and yelling, “Oh for God’s sake, it’s easier than that!” …
This dad carries a considerable amount of pride for this young man. Aaron has moved far beyond anything I did at his age. Fresh out of high school I cooked at a YMCA camp near Irons, Michigan. Aaron will also be working at a camp this summer. Right after graduation he’ll have the position of Head Commissioner at the Boy Scouts’ Camp Tapico near Kalkaska, with the task of being the lead liaison between the campers and the Camp Director.
18 years old and he already has an office of his own waiting for him.
He also runs his own web design/computer repair/networking business with multiple professional clients. Two of his clients, a husband-and-wife team of chiropractor and professional photographer, were proudly in-attendance at Aaron’s ceremony yesterday, smiling broadly, and in tears with the rest of us.
All of this was flashing through my mind as I fumbled with that neckerchief, trying not to make a fool of myself, trying not to embarrass the son I’m so damned proud of.
Finally, it worked. Finally, I was able to step back and have a look. Aaron smiled at me.
This is my son, with whom I am well-pleased.
Dangitall, where’s that box of Kleenex …
Update: I’ve left a post over on Aaron’s own blog where you can post comments he’ll see in his email inbox. Of course, you’re more than welcome to comment in either location. Thanks!
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