Son in law Ben Bring takes his medical boards (following his 2nd year of medical school at Virginia Tech) on Tuesday 7/20/10. He and my oldest daughter Miranda (Ben’s wife) then immediately move to Salisbury, N.C. near Charlotte. Ben will do his 3rd year of medical school there. Miranda was able to land a first grade teaching position at a local school district. She’ll be a fantastic addition to her new school. My prayer for her is that she keeps the administrators and the 2 other current 1st grade teachers happy by working as a team. If she does that, then there will nothing impeding her ability to effectively teach her kids.
Natasha (19) has returned to U of Louisville to take two summer classes and to train with the trainers there. She wants to go into elementary special education. She starts at left back for the Cardinal field hockey team. U of L has virtually everyone back from their 12-8 team last year and plans on making some noise in the Big East and maybe beyond. Tash has our mini-van with her and has a bike as well to get around that large campus. My prayer for her is that she use her voice and trust in her voice since she’s got great instincts for doing the right thing at the right time.
Clarissa (17) left this morning on a mission trip to Leslie County, Kentucky with the Appalachian Service Project. She’ll be there until next Saturday (7/24). I told her that my pray for her and the gang is that they not think of it as work or earning anything, but rather as a chance to reflect the love that Jesus has shown her. That’s it – simple as that: blessed in order to be a blessing.
Wife Debbie did some traveling this summer, driving to Amherst , MA (UMass) for a College Connection field hockey event for Clarissa and then driving to Williamsburg, VA for a field hockey competition in late June. Brother Dan and I drove Clarissa to St. Louis over the 4th of July weekend for a field hockey tournament there. We met old friend Bob Gelchion (in the photos) who was on his way from Denver to Bethlehem, PA to help his brother’s family while his brother was having surgery. Also saw Pastor Hal (in photos) and his wife, Pam, who came over for the tournament. Hal and I played high school football together. He was right tackle and I was right guard on the Rhodes High School football team in Cleveland. Hal could never remember the snap count and would always ask me at the line of scrimmage. Once, against St. Ignatius, we were at the line and he asked, “James, what’s the count?” Trying to talk through my mouth piece and also not be obvious, I mumbled “It’s on two”. Hal said “What?” I mumbled out again, “It’s on two”. Again, Hal asks . “What?” and the Ignatius linebacker across the line says, “He said it’s on one.”
A photo I took of Clarissa on July 3rd at the St. Louis tournament is on the web page in the Athlete’s section. She hopes to play in college.
I’ve also updated the “Decisions” section of the web page to reflect a Franklin County Court of Appeals section that I won earlier this year. I represented a property manager sued by the rental property owner that he worked for. The plaintiff sued because there were more tenants in the house than were on the lease and the tenants ended up trashing the place. We prevailed on summary judgment on an exculpation clause in the management agreement that stated that there was no liability by the manager to the owner unless there was intentional misconduct or gross negligence. The appellate court affirmed the trial court’s decision. This one was interesting because: 1. The opposition was an old friend from Church (Stonybrook); and 2. My client was my former property manager for my rental properties. I had replaced him several years ago in that role. I’d joke to him, “Hmmm…., if I lose this case, then maybe I can sue you?” I argued through the case and to opposing counsel, “Isn’t the proper remedy when the manager isn’t doing his job to just fire the manager?” I’ve never heard of the late George Steinbrenner, Yankee owner, suing any of the many managers he fired.
I had a client/businessman say to me a few weeks ago, “Yeah Jim, you may think outside the box, but for us there is not box.” A great comment on creativity. I’ve written that on my refrigerator white board in a place of honor right next to “Pay mortgage 8/5”, “Don’t just play Church, be the Church” and “Muscles love water.” That last one came about because I’ve been battling a pulled rhomboid muscle in my upper back since Memorial Day weekend.
Finally, went to Comfest a couple weeks ago with my friend Lou Jannazo. Lou and I worked security at the annual 3 day festival several years ago. It’s kind of a hippy, tie-dye, “give peace a chance” kind of a theme. I hadn’t been there for many years. Lou wanted to buy a Comfest cap and I noticed the logo is now a series of circles with no doubt some deep meaning, but it wasn’t the yin and yang symbol that I remembered being on the caps and T shirts below the word “Comfest”. I had fun with the vendor and told him that I’d heard that they had to get rid of the old logo because the “Taoists had sent a cease and desist letter that threatened litigation”. What’s this world coming to?
