The Next Generation of Grand Valley

Over the last year there has been a lot of talk about Grand Valley State University. There should be, this year my alma mater is celebrating it's 50th anniversary. For more than a decade they have been the fastest growing university in the state, and are now in the top three schools in the state for enrollment standards. However the university has struggled for years with a severe and obscene lack of funds to operate with when compared with other public universities of similar size. They have also had the door slammed in their face over and over again when asking for a "raise" that helps them better serve their growing community. Furthermore GVSU is still struggling with a lack of popular support from the West Michigan community. I say popular support because the West Michigan business community has been fully behind them for years. The university is seen as a nuisance by many, while they support private institutions such as Calvin and Hope (political undertones are the likely reason). Many people in West Michigan still complain about the university despite the fact that GVSU's financial impact on the region is nearing $1 billion annually and virtually exceeds the economic impact of Meijer.

Slowly, opinions and popular support is growing as more people become aware of the impact and necessity of the fine institution in their backyard. Slowly, there have been facility and funding upgrades as well. Over the past four years GVSU has set out on a private fundraising mission to raise $50 million for university needs. At a donor enrichment dinner celebration last night it was revealed that four years and 17,000 donors later GVSU had infact raised $95.3 million, nearly doubling the original goal. This immense feat was not possible without intense support from the West Michigan business community and generous alumni. You can learn more about the project from today's Grand Rapids Press article:



Projects include the new Mary Idema Pew Library on the Allendale campus:


New Seidman College of Business on the downtown Grand Rapids campus:


As well as a new $9 million track and field and lacrosse complex on the Allendale campus, $4 million for improvements and expansions for Lubbers Stadium, the home of the GVSU football team.

The funding is sorely needed for the university, and was done with a majority of private financial sources after being denied public aid from the state level for the projects for a decade. The new library will be one of the most advanced and environmentally sustainable in the country and will push GVSU even farther to the front of the pack.

The additions to Lubbers stadium will take place over the course of two years, with the goal of being completed for the 2012 fall sports season. Step one in 2011 is taking out the old student section, and beginning to build a new one which wraps around the endzone better. The student section will be set back slightly from where the old student section was, but this is only for this year to prep for the final product in 2012. Also being completed in year one is a large hard-stand restroom and concessions facility on the South end of the stadium replacing the current porta-john and concession trailer maze. Phase two will be the total removal of the track inside the stadium (hence why the new outdoor track facility is going in when ard where it is). The field will then be lowered by about 7 feet. This will allow them to add a ring of four rows of seats all around the field bringing fans closer to the action. This will eliminate the need for a lot of grass seating, as well as raise the capacity from the current 8,500 to about 10,700. No design renderings of the stadium or track/field/lacrosse complex have been released yet.

Stay tuned, I hope to get out to Allendale with my camera to get some construction shots sometime in the coming weeks.

Beer Review: ESB Amber - Saugatuck Brewing Co.

Hello There Kiddos!

Time for more beer reviews. I picked up a random sixer at Siciliano's a few days ago and haven't touched it yet! That tradgedy was soon reversed as I cracked into it tonight after a late night of work/volunteering.

This one comes from a single 12 oz. bottle. Now, I hadn't tried SBC even after staying 2 miles down the road from it over a whole week on spring break! THAT my friends was a true tradgedy.

Anyway, here it goes.

A- This beer pours a relatively translucent rusty amber hue. A slightly off-white creamy head quickly rises to an full inch. Not much lacing, not a whole lot of haze. The beer seems very filtered.

S- The funny thing with this listed as an ESB/Amber is the amount of citrus I'm getting on the nose. There are hops present in this one! However, yes, there is a truck load of malty goodness coming through too. Lots of bready character, is that clove?

T- Here's the kicker. Now remember how this beer was relatively translucent? Some people like to associate that with a beer's watery flavor, even I have been known to say such things. This one is a surprise. It has a full flavor profile. The malts and cracker-like breadiness hit you up front, then those hops you smelled come in mid-pallet and continue lightly on the finish. I really like the added hop presence on this beer!

M- Mouthfeel is very....juicy! It's bold and rolls out across your pallet. It's not weak at any one point, and it has interesting characteristics at all points.

D- Very drinkable. I could do this one at a bonfire in the summer or at dinner in the winter! Very pairable with meat dishes!

Summer is Here!

Today's temperature is reaching into the 90's, with very elevated and highly irritating humidity as well. It's Tuesday, June 7th. Until the last two weeks the spring/early summer had been a relatively cool and wet one. Many days not getting out of the low 60's with dreariness and rain. That pattern stopped on Memorial day when the temperature soared into the upper 80's with abundant sunshine. It's looked somewhat like this ever since:

Today and tommorow are going to be very uncomfortable to say the least! It get's more tolerable later on in the week and for the weekend.

So since it's June 7th, you know what that means; the end of the school year. Tommorow may very well be my last day of work. What are my summer plans?? Job searching and looking into going back to school. To my surprise, my old retail job wasn't offered back to me after having to reapply. So I am currently unemployed for the summer come next week and going to be living off savings. I really want and need to find a good job, so if anyone has any tips throw them my way please!

Off for now, enjoy the heat!!

-J

Spring Break!

Well hello there!

I am coming to you from just South of Douglas, MI, around the town of Ganges and only about 1,500 feet from the shores of Lake Michigan. I have been here with my wonderful girlfriend since Saturday. Why am I/are we here you may ask? Well we are house and dog sitting for a good friend and colleague of my girlfriend. It's nice to get "out of town" for a few days, even if I am still in West Michigan technically. Today's weather has been the best it's been since we arrived here Saturday morning, totally clear skies, low-40's and a light breeze. Sunday we endured cold rain, Sunday night featured heavy storms and wind. Yesterday was rather dreary for most of the day.

Today the GF went back to her summer job to make money while she isn't in the classroom teaching. That leaves me to mind the house and cute little, white dog that kind of looks like a small sheep haha. I started to get stir-crazy around mid-day today and went to find the old Felt Mansion and Saugatuck State Park. While I found both, and even took a wonderful hike to the beach, I sadly forgot to grab my camera! FAIL, that means no pictures for you unfortunatly. That hike was directly followed by an hour long nap curled up with the dog.

Yesterday the GF and I decided to make the short drive to Holland, MI to go shopping for a bit. After which we proceeded to downtown Holland as I had a special urge to visit the New Holland Brewing company. New Holland has started to really get into distilling spirits, and they have a full line of premium vodka, gin and whisky that they've distilled in-house. The bartender was feeling rather kind and gave me what had to amount to a $2 sample of their straight-malt whisky for free! Quite exquisite and I think I know what's going on my Christmas wish list for this year already ;).

That's all for now! Hope to post more later.

-James

March and a New Beginning

Good Evening!

Well, if you're reading this you know this blog has really fallen off the face of the earth the past few months. Life has seen some changes since Christmas break.

This past spring I met a girl through some mutual friends in a "group" setting that I usually hang out in. We became basic friends who simply occassionally texted or talked online over the summer. As summer turned to fall, we began to find more in-common and we began talking and hanging out more. We then began hanging out just the two of us. Our friendship really began to blossom and I found myself exchanging flirtaciousness with her more and more. As fall pressed on, feelings grew for her (and un-be-nounced to me at the time, in her for me as well). Things were progressing, and friends were beginning to wonder.

As winter began, I had acknowledged in myself the feelings I had for this girl. Having however been through the most devastating break-up of my life less than a year earlier, I was still on the defensive. I wasn't sure I could handle it. I wasn't sure that it was time. I wasn't sure I wanted to risk having everything ripped out of me again. Not yet anyway. Then, came the day after Christmas and we somewhat inebriatedly revealed our feelings for each other in a rather up-front manner. I guess it was our way of summoning up the courage to inform the other of our deeply-held feeings. I however, still had a lot of un-certainty to wrestle with.

Over the next few weeks in January this amazing young woman and I (herself a teacher and sub) were essentially unofficially dating. Every day was an adventure and we learned more and more about each other (and consequently just how right we were for each other). Finally I had had enough and decided to take the full plunge. God would not have placed such a wonderful person in my life if he had not intended for me to take some risks. On Saturday, February 5th we made our relationship "official" to our "fans and adoring public" and we have not looked back since.

I am the happiest I have been in a long time and I am ever-thankful to God and life itself for what I have. I am truly a lucky and blessed guy. This young lady is just about the most amazing person I have come across. She is smart, drop-dead beautiful, and has the grace, patience and love of an angel. This beautiful 5'5" sandy-brunette bomshel has made me aware of just what teaching really means to me and has allowed me to pursue what I love. Her passions and hobbies mirror and compliment mine and we both desire very similar achievements for ourselves and our future.

Only time will tell, but this one has a certain "rightness" about it that is indescribable. I am in love!!

One Year Ago Today...

So it was one year ago today, January 31st, that I drove off into the winter sunset of the Michigan country-side totally unaware of how my life would change in the coming two weeks, and six months.

Only now, 365 days later, am I starting to be able to accept that-that part of my life is over and begin to move on. Only now can I begin to piece things together without being rendered numb with pain. I am only now being able to put my life into another gear and dimension. I still have numerous questions un-answered, and some severely raw emotional wounds. Time will heal and answer those questions. I have since met some of the most amazing people who have helped me through these last 12 months.

I have no regrets, as the last 5.5 years have been one of the most amazing and unforgettable periods in my life. I had an unmatched best-friend for 4.5 of them, and she will be sorely missed. Things change, and apparently so do people. This I learned on Valentines Day 2010. This is where I think I mentally checked-out for at least a few months just so I could function at work "normally". It've been one half-decade learning experience for me that I will never forget.

I still care about her immensely and wish her nothing but success and happiness in her future. She's worked so hard, she deserves all she gets. Life however is a funny thing. People change and blind-side you, even when you supposedly "saw it coming". It can change your perception of them completely and harshly thrusts you into a new dimension of failure. Failure is not something I deal well with at all. Hence, the year-long grievance process. Healing, and moving on, come with time. Time is starting to shine a warmer, happier beam of light on me lately. This is a sign of positive changes possibly brewing in the future.

She owns a piece of my heart forever. Even though she would never admit it, I think I may be somewhere deep, deep inside of her's...hidden somewhere.

God Bless, and God Speed-Good night and good luck.

2011: A Month and Half Later

So here we are on the evening of January 17, 2011. I haven't made a blog-post here since December 1st, 2010. My did I ever take a leave of absence from this parcel of internet property.

Christmas break featured a two-week absence of work for me that while being amazingly relaxing, seemed at the same time to by-pass me all too fast. I had planned a wonderful and highly extensive New Years Eve post with all the trimmings of what 2010 (one of the most momentus and tumultous years of my life) had been. Days of editing never came to fruition and a horrific stalemate met the midnight hour separating December 31, 2010 and Janurary 1, 2011. There I was, one month void of any meaningful remarks on here, more-so ANY remarks on here.
I feel as though I've done 2010 a massive injustice by not posting that piece. While it was one of the most important and poignant years of my life, it passed by deceptively fast and stealthily. There is so much from that year that absolutely bears comment, commendation and re-telling, while at the same time, it seems so empty. It would be a tradgedy if I did not re-tell of it. So instead of nothing, I will eventually give you all (how few you may be) an account of the year that was...and wasn't.

I hope this long weekend celebrating the life and work and efforts of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. has treated you well. Remember to keeo with you his spirit and hope.

God Bless-

PJ