tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-61645020761404386152024-03-13T20:20:37.999-07:00John's Life AdventureJohn Dornoff: Writer, Speaker, Coach
<p>Principal: The Dornoff Group</p>John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-10547918245239525552017-09-28T11:55:00.000-07:002017-09-28T11:55:41.362-07:00Review-Lodging-Illinois-Chicago-Holiday Inn Express West O'Hare<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<b>Background: </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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For our final full day of our vacation we wanted to go sightseeing in
Chicago. Being the fact this would only be my second time of my adult life to
be in Chicago (the other time was 2013 for a convention), it was a little more
difficult to plan where to stay. The closer you get to the Loop the more
expensive the hotels become and being the fact that we were a group of five
made it even more difficult. However, as it turned out we had enough reward
points to get a Holiday Inn Express for just a small fee. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I also wanted to find a hotel that was close to a METRA commuter train
station so we would have an easy journey to the Loop and not have to worry
about driving (which would be a very good decision since there was a major
parade and traffic was a nightmare). Once we went over our options we chose the
Holiday Inn Express O’Hare West. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Background: </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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For our final full day of our vacation we wanted to go sightseeing in
Chicago. Being the fact this would only be my second time of my adult life to
be in Chicago (the other time was 2013 for a convention), it was a little more
difficult to plan where to stay. The closer you get to the Loop the more
expensive the hotels become and being the fact that we were a group of five
made it even more difficult. However, as it turned out we had enough reward
points to get a Holiday Inn Express for just a small fee. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I also wanted to find a hotel that was close to a METRA commuter train
station so we would have an easy journey to the Loop and not have to worry
about driving (which would be a very good decision since there was a major
parade and traffic was a nightmare). Once we went over our options we chose the
Holiday Inn Express O’Hare West. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh88x_ioGbaAVPU0ORwkBPEzQtfc1lKZo47hnqhsiDIxYq73zSYFUWqFXlJq9lK1FL9VaJej011YffWhdK7HfrnTPsgX_LIMsqY8mmQU60CikAQn-Jk92CIz7c4Grk6j-IaxKT9tIBllKg/s1600/Holiday+Inn+Express+Chicago+West+O%2527Hare+%25283+of+5%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="936" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh88x_ioGbaAVPU0ORwkBPEzQtfc1lKZo47hnqhsiDIxYq73zSYFUWqFXlJq9lK1FL9VaJej011YffWhdK7HfrnTPsgX_LIMsqY8mmQU60CikAQn-Jk92CIz7c4Grk6j-IaxKT9tIBllKg/s320/Holiday+Inn+Express+Chicago+West+O%2527Hare+%25283+of+5%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Reservations:</b><o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Calibri","sans-serif"; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-ascii-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-language: AR-SA; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-bidi; mso-fareast-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-language: EN-US; mso-fareast-theme-font: minor-latin; mso-hansi-theme-font: minor-latin;">Making these reservations was not easy, not because
booking it was difficult but finding the best combination of right location and
one that I could book with the International Hotel Group points. Once we picked
out the hotel booking on the IHG website was quick and easy</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVg3cTeg0F6SysO_GJs4dCgmJ09zJ8i34d_oR_C02Ct-77wFZcWOF3tMKV3IRlLbn_WQ-z-V_WQxRukbN5PuPnGi4FS1ePcHT6q2j76jvGY-86TYQ3AYcMBnXZAt9i6q0N-g3sRrob5e8/s1600/Holiday+Inn+Express+Chicago+West+O%2527Hare+%25281+of+11%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="936" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVg3cTeg0F6SysO_GJs4dCgmJ09zJ8i34d_oR_C02Ct-77wFZcWOF3tMKV3IRlLbn_WQ-z-V_WQxRukbN5PuPnGi4FS1ePcHT6q2j76jvGY-86TYQ3AYcMBnXZAt9i6q0N-g3sRrob5e8/s320/Holiday+Inn+Express+Chicago+West+O%2527Hare+%25281+of+11%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Hotel: </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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The hotel is located on US Highways 12/20/45/Manheim Road just south of
the Chicago-Kansas City Expressway Interstate 290 in the Hillside Town Center.
The hotel is 5 stories in a basic rectangular design. There are railroad tracks to the south of the
building but only one train went by in the two nights we were there and it was
during the day. The hotel has a business center, pool, fitness center, and a
full breakfast. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY-N77DgcqPQDrPtf8NDO5GcfHhmm044R77IKPSOwqiWUlqJv1dIVCoykPy9yGJDp7A-joB7t_ZnvbiLV8LKQm1dXe1741scrhR6f5UmP8lhmf1VAb3OXDEm_umzxb_OUyjBe7_Ysolko/s1600/Holiday+Inn+Express+Chicago+West+O%2527Hare+%25282+of+11%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="416" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY-N77DgcqPQDrPtf8NDO5GcfHhmm044R77IKPSOwqiWUlqJv1dIVCoykPy9yGJDp7A-joB7t_ZnvbiLV8LKQm1dXe1741scrhR6f5UmP8lhmf1VAb3OXDEm_umzxb_OUyjBe7_Ysolko/s320/Holiday+Inn+Express+Chicago+West+O%2527Hare+%25282+of+11%2529.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
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<b>Checking In: </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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After having been on the road for almost 12 hours we were ready to
crash. As I walked in the door an employee walked in with me and immediately
went behind the desk and started checking me in. He asked if I wanted some
water then checked my name off a list and handed me my key cards. He also asked
if I needed directions anywhere and noted were everything was in the motel. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvIGAVIS_3ER0VTEhvgy01hD3opsyjqyKf6ZYSGr0AMYzEg1dLXsGjtGlPXukr-R7IVKbwmQmZRe8873835IuJeV5W-U77gdne60NOBCpe2_mmHVD277r21YgI1QBF8Onoj6EFCYtI6JY/s1600/Holiday+Inn+Express+Chicago+West+O%2527Hare+%25283+of+11%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="936" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvIGAVIS_3ER0VTEhvgy01hD3opsyjqyKf6ZYSGr0AMYzEg1dLXsGjtGlPXukr-R7IVKbwmQmZRe8873835IuJeV5W-U77gdne60NOBCpe2_mmHVD277r21YgI1QBF8Onoj6EFCYtI6JY/s320/Holiday+Inn+Express+Chicago+West+O%2527Hare+%25283+of+11%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>The Room: </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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One of the reasons we picked this hotel was that it had large rooms
with two queen beds and a sofa bed for the 5 of us. As we walked in the
bathroom was left with the open closet on the right. Then there was a small
living area that had the sofa bed, coffee table, high table and two chairs.
There was also a microwave and mini-fridge in this area. This opened up to the
bedroom area of the room that had the two queen beds, a writing desk, and
armoire with the flat screen television. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Breakfast:</b><br />
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The breakfast at this Holiday Inn was very good. There were two different
counters on each side of the Breakfast room with a wide variety of food
offerings and drinks.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Nearby: </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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As mentioned above the hotel is located in a shopping center that has a
Target and other stores but there are chain restaurants in the parking lot
including IHOP, and Panda Express. Across the street is a pizza restaurant and a
Wingstop. Across Manheim is a Dunkin Donuts and a Burger King. While there are
sidewalks in the area the parking lot itself is not walkable to say nothing of
Manheim which is 3 lanes wide. <o:p></o:p></div>
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One I things I liked about the hotel is that it was 10 minutes away
from two METRA rail stations on two different METRA rail lines which made the
trip to the Loop very convenient. There is not much to the north but 10 minutes
to the south was the METRA La Grange station on the BNSF line, which is located
in a commercial district with many independent restaurants and stores. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSC8-YPTwsWoOf5OKGfhTVE1LVOjn9i-2LT6fWjf-1O0BMnliAArZt87Yrh0R80qOXuafAiTv192i3kcZR-_OjjgsoCAtMh9HaH4BQ0vQWFOiPaccP3kgbi3SwHYxIVgm1Uesdib5OYcU/s1600/Holiday+Inn+Express+Chicago+West+O%2527Hare+%25286+of+11%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="936" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSC8-YPTwsWoOf5OKGfhTVE1LVOjn9i-2LT6fWjf-1O0BMnliAArZt87Yrh0R80qOXuafAiTv192i3kcZR-_OjjgsoCAtMh9HaH4BQ0vQWFOiPaccP3kgbi3SwHYxIVgm1Uesdib5OYcU/s320/Holiday+Inn+Express+Chicago+West+O%2527Hare+%25286+of+11%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<b>Problems: </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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There were a few problems with the hotel. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The first problem I encountered was with the business center. Our plan
for the full day was to go to the Willis Tower then to the Museum of Science
and Industry or Shedd Aquarium. There are two computers in the business center
but one of them was out of order. I got on the other computer and purchased
tickets for the Willis Tower and the printer would not print. Checked the toner
and it was out and could not find another one. I talked to the person at the
front desk who was the one who originally checked me in but he did not know
what to do. I shook the toner and tried to print again but then it was out of
paper however I did find some paper in the one of the cabinets and was barely
able to print out the tickets before the computer itself started having some
problems. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The second problem was with the air conditioner in the room. It was
very hot the days we were at the hotel and the air conditioner was just not
cutting it. The air conditioner would operate for five or ten minutes before
shutting off for 20 or more minutes. The temperature in the room never did go
below 78 degrees and many times was in the 80’s. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The other problem was the noise at the hotel. The Latin American Motorcycle Association was
staying at our hotel and while the members themselves were very friendly the
noise of their motorcycles day and night at times was annoying especially when
we were trying to sleep. The biggest problem was that it was not one or two
motorcycles at a time but sometimes ten or more all revving their engines while
coming and going. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Checking Out: </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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When I went and checked out I tried to tell the person that was
checking me out about the problems with the air conditioner but they just took the
keys and walked away and didn’t seem that interested in actually talking to the
person being checked out. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<b>Final Thoughts: </b><o:p></o:p></div>
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On the positive side the room was comfortable was located close to two
different commuter train lines, friendly staff at check in, full breakfast,
well equipped fitness center, indoor swimming pool and located in a shopping
center. <o:p></o:p></div>
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On the downside the area is not walkable, the air conditioner did not
operate well, the business center had issues, and the person checking me out
did not seem interested in hearing about the air conditioner problem.<o:p></o:p></div>
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While I only paid a small amount for the room for the two nights I rate
hotels on what the going rate of the hotel is, which in this case is around $100.00
a night. <o:p></o:p></div>
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When all is said and done I have to give the hotel a grade of C-. <o:p></o:p></div>
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It does have the features you expect from a hotel at this price point,
but it did have some failures and when it comes down to it while the hotels
location made reaching the commuter train line easy it is essentially a typical
suburban hotel with very little character and little to no walkability. <o:p></o:p></div>
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<br />John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-90270396769907637482017-09-07T16:36:00.000-07:002017-09-07T16:38:44.730-07:00Review-Lodging-Michigan, Frankenmuth-Bavarian Lodge<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Background: <o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If you’ve read my last couple of reviews, you could
see that price paid an important part of why we chose the places we did and did
not have the best of luck with them. Well this time we go to the other end of
the spectrum as at this hotel I spent more money than I have ever personally
paid for one night of lodging. While I have stayed at places that cost more per
night, they were paid by companies I was working for or the school I was
attending. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Bavarian Inn Lodge is located in Frankenmuth,
Michigan, which is a German themed village. This would be my first time in
Frankenmuth since I was 12 years old. It also happened to be my youngest
daughter’s birthday and she just happened to be turning 12. Our original plan
was to drive to Sandusky, Ohio and go to Cedar Point Amusement Park but things
didn’t work out so this was an alternative for reasons I will mention later. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKGgjnotVxL6I2BuMPzuKgsMqmdvsqhkZXjdkVTm_QNJZ5HclbWXw6Tgl4kOLO_BWGzSP7pMClaH_KhNLeKF3ZTa0mtGvEIWNund5gauQGPeElxPiXsKX7T3zz9OFY8uZM2Dw2O_G8jN4/s1600/Bavarian+Lodge+%25281+of+15%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="936" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKGgjnotVxL6I2BuMPzuKgsMqmdvsqhkZXjdkVTm_QNJZ5HclbWXw6Tgl4kOLO_BWGzSP7pMClaH_KhNLeKF3ZTa0mtGvEIWNund5gauQGPeElxPiXsKX7T3zz9OFY8uZM2Dw2O_G8jN4/s320/Bavarian+Lodge+%25281+of+15%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bridge over the Cass Rive</td></tr>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Reservations: </span></u></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I booked our reservations directly from the Bavarian
Inn Lodge website. The website is easy to use and there is a good explanation
of the rooms that are available. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Car sits outside the lobby entrance to the hotel</td></tr>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Hotel:</span></u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The hotel has 360 rooms and is spread over multiple
interconnected buildings. The complex is fronted by two- to three-story false
fronted buildings that are designed to look like a Bavarian village. There are
large parking lots to the side and at the front of the building. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi33vSK204oLlKTfkM_XCXKfOFy6rkNeO1rb5rS6ixKFdQLeawCE8OWJyU6sPYDh_kRZQKhxjpk3h9zKMz39RNf-sUDnuwkK3Nf27x0LGZHTqa_-pLg0nkufe44u-SyGc0lInIs8YvYDwI/s1600/Bavarian+Lodge+%252815+of+15%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="936" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi33vSK204oLlKTfkM_XCXKfOFy6rkNeO1rb5rS6ixKFdQLeawCE8OWJyU6sPYDh_kRZQKhxjpk3h9zKMz39RNf-sUDnuwkK3Nf27x0LGZHTqa_-pLg0nkufe44u-SyGc0lInIs8YvYDwI/s320/Bavarian+Lodge+%252815+of+15%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Front of the Hotel</td></tr>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Check In: </span></u></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We arrived at the hotel at 2:00pm. Although the
hotel has a check in time of 3:00pm there were several other people in line
ahead of me. The front desk had three windows open but it still seemed to take
forever for each person to get checked in and I am a pretty patient person. Two
people finished up and left but neither of the front desk people indicated they
were going to help me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">After a couple of minutes another person came out
and started to check me in. As it turned out our room was not ready which I was
fine with since we were an hour early. The person that helped me was efficient
but not overly friendly but said I just needed to come up to the window and say
I had already checked in. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We actually went to dinner then came back and picked
up our keys. We had to wait a couple of minutes for someone to hand us keys but
the person that helped us was friendly and gave me directions to where our room
was. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="936" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZlYZse19b3X3tpbhyphenhyphen02U0r7vWsL6wU8MzajS_DLBX6SRTCuesMeC1v0qFswmmySpDlmlXtYPiLeRIeXkQax79-hLUp4WlXGuuZCEAR0oEnfDet_XGM2rZ6ml4sYPM1F7S3qv0VjKh3r8/s320/Bavarian+Lodge+%252814+of+15%2529.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"> Looking at the main tower area. </td></tr>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Our Room:</span></u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As you enter the room the bathroom was to the right
and a small closet to left. As you enter the main room it is separated into two
areas but with no divider. In one section, which was set up as a sitting area, you
have a sofa bed that faces a large flat panel television. Next to the window
that looked over one of the swimming pools was a table and chairs. There was
also a writing desk and chairs next to the dresser that held the television.
Behind the area with the couch was a separate section of the room with two
queen beds. Between the two areas there was a mini-fridge but no microwave. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVflJGQ-P5N0NtEW3QFA5V-HzFaHq7aLy3mqr1LAMeG45btn_DMI5dnpdpS0GsPwNhnkKpaDfxfWN2ecD9yvNRLJVrRdRwtkRvzw0kUyNj-FHvPu8RE3qxx4hzjw16MT1ZaEmDq-KRROs/s1600/Bavarian+Lodge+%25288+of+15%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="416" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVflJGQ-P5N0NtEW3QFA5V-HzFaHq7aLy3mqr1LAMeG45btn_DMI5dnpdpS0GsPwNhnkKpaDfxfWN2ecD9yvNRLJVrRdRwtkRvzw0kUyNj-FHvPu8RE3qxx4hzjw16MT1ZaEmDq-KRROs/s320/Bavarian+Lodge+%25288+of+15%2529.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from the door</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4RvsBo3HMPPtFTE9todjJYdUGgVbqPvD5nzWr9FTjC2ykmc24dG_qYEtUKLbIl4DF7QUzWamNBI1XMdaycPTghN_5J18CC5SctdJmw9acM7q-CaK1y7C0sfq4o25B-fpdl59ItiryvQs/s1600/Bavarian+Lodge+%25287+of+15%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="416" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4RvsBo3HMPPtFTE9todjJYdUGgVbqPvD5nzWr9FTjC2ykmc24dG_qYEtUKLbIl4DF7QUzWamNBI1XMdaycPTghN_5J18CC5SctdJmw9acM7q-CaK1y7C0sfq4o25B-fpdl59ItiryvQs/s320/Bavarian+Lodge+%25287+of+15%2529.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Closet</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjReXGxVXiMGETUBbV2yEeNY-A4GKzgK8X5kYYuJZJfyk8kD2B2vXG88eEVxzF2zWz5PTcAFHknC2NucF7VwixDnwbu1qQK2GQNo-edPIwYhfJXtl75Jsuunx1PJuJrHBcBhKONzKqdEuE/s1600/Bavarian+Lodge+%252810+of+15%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="416" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjReXGxVXiMGETUBbV2yEeNY-A4GKzgK8X5kYYuJZJfyk8kD2B2vXG88eEVxzF2zWz5PTcAFHknC2NucF7VwixDnwbu1qQK2GQNo-edPIwYhfJXtl75Jsuunx1PJuJrHBcBhKONzKqdEuE/s320/Bavarian+Lodge+%252810+of+15%2529.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Two Queen Beds</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxaHMjoHcistlFC2ZO0eyADE7yaA2hynugAmyeemZsPJ_1Zui7or1w9BPnxNDgM_vYdD-1q5aAXwOB_CMIKNS6Rl08_ofynm3LgyIyeIms3v2jQQLpG1aOOL3a4xBTY6TjmQeClScV9Dc/s1600/Bavarian+Lodge+%252811+of+15%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="936" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxaHMjoHcistlFC2ZO0eyADE7yaA2hynugAmyeemZsPJ_1Zui7or1w9BPnxNDgM_vYdD-1q5aAXwOB_CMIKNS6Rl08_ofynm3LgyIyeIms3v2jQQLpG1aOOL3a4xBTY6TjmQeClScV9Dc/s320/Bavarian+Lodge+%252811+of+15%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Couch, Beds, Fridge, and Chair</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3KeMfxqa_0cs1Qo8vTxdUOlyXebLbwWgDr8LqwLUaiiEL5FCMASycetwLSMa42xGGLMHQJzrsDEoV-g7NAOC9B-J412nRCbTr27kIjKmRj_ngS3ouSizZuk2A1nwF0A49Hj8TaA-hiKE/s1600/Bavarian+Lodge+%252812+of+15%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="936" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3KeMfxqa_0cs1Qo8vTxdUOlyXebLbwWgDr8LqwLUaiiEL5FCMASycetwLSMa42xGGLMHQJzrsDEoV-g7NAOC9B-J412nRCbTr27kIjKmRj_ngS3ouSizZuk2A1nwF0A49Hj8TaA-hiKE/s320/Bavarian+Lodge+%252812+of+15%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Living Room Area</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTm-XVVhoPjE2qBc7hCvN1nWlcpseH2tcy55WhO6onMn93n55K7IwXQr8Xljhda0hbmQNY9dYJdhHGTDmSSH5wQ8GJbFXEHpf2NXjKhZYGPYwv5fg3aK61JYrdtaeN-4dr169edN-uLMU/s1600/Bavarian+Lodge+%252813+of+15%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="936" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTm-XVVhoPjE2qBc7hCvN1nWlcpseH2tcy55WhO6onMn93n55K7IwXQr8Xljhda0hbmQNY9dYJdhHGTDmSSH5wQ8GJbFXEHpf2NXjKhZYGPYwv5fg3aK61JYrdtaeN-4dr169edN-uLMU/s320/Bavarian+Lodge+%252813+of+15%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Living Room Area</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEmIizjGcPTjWw4oXnmE2gPE9THXBC9rrbQXsyEvoWb-UcEk9i1yXcS7Mg_rOHe-zCVyKnPEFbA8ncnhO2GjJSEtJogJi8Z89DEbT9EmdkpEEGkP7KoJhgdoWouMpF8219DI9uZYH7QCA/s1600/Bavarian+Lodge+%25289+of+15%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="416" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEmIizjGcPTjWw4oXnmE2gPE9THXBC9rrbQXsyEvoWb-UcEk9i1yXcS7Mg_rOHe-zCVyKnPEFbA8ncnhO2GjJSEtJogJi8Z89DEbT9EmdkpEEGkP7KoJhgdoWouMpF8219DI9uZYH7QCA/s320/Bavarian+Lodge+%25289+of+15%2529.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bathroom</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz_XVDM-2Xc1Ya-VA6dmmfNysJoh_PpJ4e_AUY1brFuhTR37fnsznJ6sltj__d11U5kHCAct9Mn5ZE0lgae73CXtWPwNbC63qEWs5Z8vnB-8SZcXXPabHnSJcdJ47Z7MUBIxU4j8zaFJU/s1600/Bavarian+Lodge+%25286+of+15%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="416" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjz_XVDM-2Xc1Ya-VA6dmmfNysJoh_PpJ4e_AUY1brFuhTR37fnsznJ6sltj__d11U5kHCAct9Mn5ZE0lgae73CXtWPwNbC63qEWs5Z8vnB-8SZcXXPabHnSJcdJ47Z7MUBIxU4j8zaFJU/s320/Bavarian+Lodge+%25286+of+15%2529.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bathtub</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Dining:</span></u></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The hotel has a few dining options including Oma’s
Restaurant, Lorelei Lounge and Bier Garten, Ratskeller, which is a cafeteria
style restaurant located in the Fun Center, plus a Sunday Brunch that includes
performances by local pianists. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The premier dining option is the Bavarian Inn which
is actually located across the Cass River from the main lodge, however, the lodge
does offer shuttles from the lodge to the restaurant and the shopping center,
which came in handy since one person in our party had an injured foot and was
having trouble walking. Reservations are highly recommended since even on a
Monday at 3:00pm we had a 45-minute wait for a table. The front desk clerks at
the hotel were not friendly but the rest of the staff was good to great. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Bavarian Inn has multiple options for food
including family style meals but is best known for its chicken. Our group of 5
ended up with a bill of $125.00 and that was with one of our meals being free.
One of the interesting features, since this is a German themed restaurant, is
that there are people walking around playing accordions, including a German
Happy Birthday for our daughter that was turning 12. The food was excellent
with an atmosphere to match. The only negatives were the wait to be seated,
which can be solved by having reservations, which you can make when you make
your hotel reservations and the general unfriendliness of the hostesses. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy0avpmrM-3GITOHidcPddSTVo7ocK6U4tLKfvSMx1WwSt38cBOg6IdDta9bOyravXc6y2NGarocCJ9zhcEfeqsl6mVwvBiUZS2c1HqcL5rfd_Rm0pQCC1qFbDa-llpJQ-y3btw4I_EU8/s1600/Bavarian+Lodge+%25285+of+15%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="936" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjy0avpmrM-3GITOHidcPddSTVo7ocK6U4tLKfvSMx1WwSt38cBOg6IdDta9bOyravXc6y2NGarocCJ9zhcEfeqsl6mVwvBiUZS2c1HqcL5rfd_Rm0pQCC1qFbDa-llpJQ-y3btw4I_EU8/s320/Bavarian+Lodge+%25285+of+15%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Shuttle to Restaurant</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Activities:</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">There are many activities in and around the hotel
that can keep even children occupied depending on how much money you are
willing to spend. First of all the hotel complex does not have just one
swimming pool but four of them, including one with waterslides and one with a
waterfall, three whirlpools including one pool and one whirlpool that is for
adults only. Between the swimming pools with the slides and the one with the waterfall
is the fun center that includes an arcade and miniature golf. Also on Friday
and Saturdays you can do karaoke. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">If shopping is your thing then the Bavarian Lodge
offers the Frankenmuth River Place Shops which has a large number of
interesting stores. If you are like me and want something besides the typical
chain stores you can find anywhere, these places will please you as most of the
stores are independently owned and operated. The Bavarian Belle Riverboat also
operates out of the shopping center at a dock on the Cass River on the north
side of the property so long as it is operating. However, on our visit the
water level was too high so the boat could not operate. In fact the dock was
largely under water so it was understandable why they were not operating. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The hotel also has large lawn area that has a cage
with several Peacocks along with a picnic shelter to the southwest of the main
complex and tennis courts directly to the east of the front of the building. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipByQXoko0nrW139NUOmo_Gt3WEZgfxZvoTZ0BjBkOG25kkJdbvMV1tNa5-5dh8rXGXLwJtsbLDXlDAaXNs1pHvqN0EI5YVOkChCs_Un2vyyNVt39n5DlYxgHYe8fmWGOX4R2vjE9hWfo/s1600/Bavarian+Lodge+%25284+of+15%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="936" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipByQXoko0nrW139NUOmo_Gt3WEZgfxZvoTZ0BjBkOG25kkJdbvMV1tNa5-5dh8rXGXLwJtsbLDXlDAaXNs1pHvqN0EI5YVOkChCs_Un2vyyNVt39n5DlYxgHYe8fmWGOX4R2vjE9hWfo/s320/Bavarian+Lodge+%25284+of+15%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">There is carriage rides available in Frankenmuth</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6wND5Ff4F7cfTZHkoIKrQCeYjPYfg_Tt-KRYzqGGc_Osf46s5D1DqwjmWcYVVbbtnYZ0MagZz-u_nqeD5-N3D_5cq6Qb2SoFpGFik3u5gK2QvVheHlg88kZ_C_Dc1aiCPzkX78ggF6iU/s1600/Bavarian+Lodge+%25282+of+15%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="936" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6wND5Ff4F7cfTZHkoIKrQCeYjPYfg_Tt-KRYzqGGc_Osf46s5D1DqwjmWcYVVbbtnYZ0MagZz-u_nqeD5-N3D_5cq6Qb2SoFpGFik3u5gK2QvVheHlg88kZ_C_Dc1aiCPzkX78ggF6iU/s320/Bavarian+Lodge+%25282+of+15%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Frankenmuth River Place Shops </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /><u><b>Nearby: </b></u> </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Main Street from Jefferson to Genesee largely has
the Bavarian theme but the farther you get to the extremes of the corridor you
start running into more and more chain establishments. However, if you want
another chance at a Chicken Dinner Zehnder's of Frankenmuth is located just
across Main Street from the Bavarian Inn Restaurant and is supposed to be
excellent but we did not have an opportunity to try it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Just north of the main Bavarian Inn is Heritage Park
which includes a pavilion, ball fields and a walking trail along the Cass
River. South along Weiss from the hotel is the Michigan Military and Space
Hero’s Museum, Frankenmuth Aerial Park, Sullivan’s Black Forest Restaurant,
Bronner’s Christmas Wonderland, and Grandpa’s Tiny Farm. There are sidewalks
from the Bavarian Inn to everything except for the Tiny Farm and less than a
mile walk from the Lodge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Memorial Park, which is across the Cass River from
Heritage Park, but is probably best driven to from the Bavarian Lodge since
there is not a direct bridge between the two, holds concerts on Sunday evenings
and worth a visit if you are in the area on a Sunday. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Beyond Main Street and Weiss there is little to see.
After you pass Genesee on the north and Jefferson to the south you are in
typical suburbs with no character. Most of the areas with character are within
walking distance although Weiss is more auto-oriented than pedestrian as there are
many large parking lots between buildings. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Check Out: </span></u></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The Bavarian Lodge has express check out so all we
had to do was call the front desk and leave the key cards on the desk. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Final
Thoughts: </span></u></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As I mentioned at the beginning of this review this
was the most I have spent for lodging ever, at $209.00 a night. I also believe
that any place I review be held up to a standard by the amount that I pay for
that place, of course the Bavarian Lodge will be held to a higher standard than
say the Rodeway Inn that we stayed in the night before even though it failed to
hold up to the standard for its price point. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">First of all our room was large and nicely equipped
except that it did not have a microwave in the room. I checked the hotel
information in the room and it said nothing about microwaves anywhere in the
hotel. Later I found out that they have microwaves near the elevators but it is
not well marked and so hard to know about it. On the positive side the beds
were comfortable, a good selection of television stations, and a comfortable
sofa bed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Like most full service hotels there is no breakfast
offered at the hotel. However, unlike higher end hotels there was no fee for
wi-fi service which is a plus especially when you need to check weather and
routing for the next day. Another problem with higher end hotels is that they
try to nickel and dime you for everything despite how much you pay for your
room. While the swimming pools and water slides are free the prices for things
such as miniature golf can add up really quick and after spending more than
$200 for a hotel, then paying $50 for miniature golf, not to mention the arcade
can add up quickly. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Staff was efficient but not overly friendly and this
was especially true down in the fun center. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">While you can walk to many places that have the
Bavarian theme, overall the lodge and the area is largely auto-centric and to
get to most places in the area you will need to drive. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">My final grade for this hotel is going to be a B. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , "serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Overall the hotel is nice and the room was great
beyond the lack of a microwave. The next time I am in Frankenmuth I would stay
here again but there are other places that need to be tried! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-6657451480034209422017-08-21T17:32:00.000-07:002017-08-21T17:32:57.652-07:00Just waiting for the train<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm5T2rPNBtWzwvdTb3YWqYVuEGtMB57KME0iL430xAvo51WGsIUkM6IHn6lg0I_8PJkjITLLRr6u8Er4gt6_EC0-6McKM7r5REWn1fKMb051gXpjsZ6aCPXgfTUtliyDsvDDVU8sPP0y8/s1600/DSC_0722.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="624" data-original-width="936" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhm5T2rPNBtWzwvdTb3YWqYVuEGtMB57KME0iL430xAvo51WGsIUkM6IHn6lg0I_8PJkjITLLRr6u8Er4gt6_EC0-6McKM7r5REWn1fKMb051gXpjsZ6aCPXgfTUtliyDsvDDVU8sPP0y8/s320/DSC_0722.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
The very bright train station in Parkersburg, Iowa with several railroad items nearby. The station has moved a few hundred feet from the train station.John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-39533694390900272472017-08-10T18:23:00.001-07:002017-08-10T18:23:52.278-07:00Review-Lodging-Michigan, Flint-Rodeway Inn<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Background:
</b><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">After
a long day of traveling we were hoping for a decent place to stay. We would
have stayed in Ann Arbor instead to make our drive a little shorter but the
prices in Ann Arbor were two to three times higher than those in Flint. We
either needed a room with two beds and a sofa or two separate rooms but could
not find any rooms with a sofa so we decided on two rooms instead. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Reservations:
</b></span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">After
looking at the various hotel sights I found the best prices to be at Orbitz so
I booked the rooms from them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">I
was a little nervous about reserving at Rodeway Inn after a bad experience at
one in Baker City, Oregon back in 2015. The Red Roof Inn, Super 8, and Knights
Inn were a few dollars more per night and seemed to be good options. We decided
on the Rodeway Inn.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>The
Facility: </b></span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
motel is three stories tall and connected to a Quality Inn next door with both
motels sharing the indoor swimming pool. The exterior of the Rodeway Inn portion looks like it has seen a recent remodel but once you walk inside you are thrown back in time. </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px;">The facility appears to have been built in the late 1970’s or early 1980’s. Sleep Inns didn’t start until 1989 so I am not sure if it was once some other type of motel before this date or it just looked dated from the start.</span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 16px;"> </span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Check
In: </b></span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Walking
into the motel the front desk is on the right with a staircase to the left and
the main lobby straight ahead. The lady running the front desk was friendly but
check in was a little slow. In addition there was no mention that we would need
to have wristbands to swim in the swimming pool. She also failed to direct us
where our rooms were or how we could get to them. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>The
Room:</b></span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Looking
at our room numbers I figured we were probably toward the back of the Rodeway
Inn section of the motel. The back entrance did have a key card access but at
the time of our arrival the door was open. Sometime after 10pm they locked the
door but as it turned out the key cards would not work in the door. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">When
we walked into the building itself there was a strange smell that I could not
put my finger on. The stairway area looked like it had seen a lot of use over
the years and needed some refurbishing and we would soon learn that it was not
the only part of the building in desperate need of change. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
you enter the room, to the right were a sink and a room separated with a
sliding door that held the toilet and shower. As you continued into the main
part of the room there was a desk/dresser to the left with a 25” television on
top of it. Next to the window was the open closet that had a luggage rack. On
the right were two queen beds with a nightstand in the middle. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Like
the stairway area the room was in bad need of refurbishing. The carpets were
torn and ripped in several spots, the door to the bathroom was damaged and
dirty, in our second room the handle for the sliding door was completely
missing, and the television was an older tube television. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Surrounding
Area:</b></span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Within
what should be walking distance there is a Fuddruckers, Qdoba, Sonic, Arby’s,
Popeye’s and McDonald’s however, there are no sidewalks to reach any of those places.
Within a bit longer walking distance there are a large number of chains
including Golden Corral, IHOP, Applebee’s, and many others. For those like me
who would rather go to a locally owned independent restaurant there is the West
Side Dinner located a block to the northwest. For shopping there is a mall just
over two miles away and many other shopping opportunities within a short drive.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Pool:
</b></span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">As
mentioned earlier there is an enclosed pool which sits between the Rodeway Inn
and the Quality Inn sections of the facility. The pool was large and appeared
to be clean but you must have a wristband if you want to swim. The original
sign next to the door said that you had to be 14 years or older to be in the
pool without an adult but there was a hand written sign on the window next to
the other sign saying you have to have a wristband and that all children under
17 have to have an adult with them. There is also a hot tub but it was drained
and had a wood cap on top of it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Breakfast:
</b></span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">With
the condition of the rest of facility was I was not expecting much when it came
to the breakfast and I was not disappointed. The breakfast room was large,
probably originally a meeting room but the choices were slim. There were a
couple of cereal choices, coffee, and milk but little else. After seeing the
lack of selection we headed over the IHOP for breakfast at it was a better option
that what was offered here. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Check
Out: </b><o:p></o:p></span></u></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">Once
again the person working the counter was friendly although the service was
slow. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
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<u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><b>Final
Thoughts: </b></span></u><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">We
noticed that there was a sign on the Quality Inn that said that there was
refurbishing on that side of the motel so maybe the Rodeway Inn side would see
some work soon. Walking into the hotel you feel that you have been transported
back to the 1970’s and that is a problem with the motel. According to some
signage the motel was once a Sleep Inn that apparently had been downgraded by
Choice Hotels to a Rodeway Inn. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
workers were friendly but not very efficient or experienced and checking in and
out took longer than it should have. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
pool was in good shape but that is about the only part of the building that
was. Once again you get what you pay for as it would only have been a couple
more dollars per room to stay at a place that would have probably been in a lot
better shape. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">The
staff being friendly is the only thing that kept this place from getting an F
grade, but it still is a D- at the most. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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</div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt;">This
was an opportunity for Rodeway Inn to redeem them from our last experience but
failed to do so and I would have a hard time choosing them again. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-16964401531939648392017-08-05T19:48:00.000-07:002017-08-08T16:08:09.067-07:00Review-Motel-Indiana-Merrillville-America's Best Value InnSometimes you get what you paid for…<br />
<br />
<b>Background: </b><br />
<br />
I have stayed at several America’s Best Value Inn’s in the past and they seem to be hit and miss on the quality front. Like all chains the motel’s locations are mostly franchised but unlike the majors they are not formalistic cookie cutters that all look and feel the same. Many times this can be a good thing but as you will soon read at the America’s Best Value Inn Merrillville, IN it was not.<br />
<br />
<b> Reservations: </b><br />
<br />
We were traveling from Iowa to Michigan and the Gary, Indiana area seemed to be a good stopping off point for our trip. However, there appeared to be very few options in the area and most of them looked like they were not in the best areas. As it turned out we were planning on traveling east on US Highway 30 and the town of Merrillville, Indiana seemed to have several hotels to choose from. Because there were 5 of us traveling we either had to find a motel room with two beds and a sofa bed or get two separate rooms depending on the price. Some motels also offer family suites with 3 beds but they can be few and far between.<br />
<br />
<b> Exterior: </b><br />
<br />
The motel feels very out of place as it is a single level, spread out motel in an area that is mostly made up of more modern multi-level buildings that you typically find in an area near a mall. The motel is made up of multiple single family buildings that are spread out.<br />
<br />
<b> Check In: </b><br />
<br />
Upon pulling in there was not a place that was obviously an office, or it was hard to see because there were no lights in the front of the complex, but I finally found a glass door with the word office on it. I walked in and found myself in a room with tourist brochures and a drink machine. To the right was a late night window in a small room before opening up into the so-called lobby. There was one lady standing and a guy sitting on the couch. The room had almost no lights on but the lady that was standing walked behind the window to check me in.<br />
<br />
<b> The Room:</b><br />
<br />
I was not expecting much from the room and I was not disappointed but there were two pleasant surprises in the room: first there was a flat panel television, although I would guess it was around 27”, and second the room had a mini-fridge and microwave which I would not expect from this room. Otherwise the room was your basic economy room with a table and two chairs next to the window, two queen beds on one wall with a short dresser, television and the previously mentioned fridge with a microwave on top of it. In the back of the room from right to left there was a small closet area, a counter with the bathroom sink, and in a separate room the bathtub and toilet.<br />
<br />
There were several problems with the room from the get go. When we walked into the room there was a strange smell in the room. It smelled like someone had smoked pot in the room and the motel tried to cover up the smell by spraying some type of air freshener in the room that when combined with the other smell gave it a very funky smell.
A more important issue with the room was that the room was showing wear especially in the bathroom and to top it off it appeared that the room had not had a good cleaning in some time. The main room was a little cleaner but felt dingy because the lighting fixtures were very outdated and did not give off much light. The combination of having a dark red wall on one side and the dim lighting gave the feeling of being in an old dingy hotel you would see in the movies. While I love places with character and older furniture usually doesn’t bother me, it was the lack of cleaning and basic maintenance as a real turn off here.<br />
<br />
<b>Area around motel: </b><br />
<br />
For restaurants there is a Bob Evans, Red Lobster, Jimmy John’s, and Popeye’s within walking distance of the motel. The Southlake mall is just a couple of blocks away, however the area is not walkable at all. There is also every chain restaurant imaginable either a few blocks to the east or across Interstate 65 to the west. If you’re like us and like to go to independent restaurants they are few and far between in this area. I only had a short time as we left early the next morning but what little driving around I did there was no independent restaurants to be found.<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b> Checking Out:</b><br />
<br />
The owner/manager checked us out and was not really friendly but it only took a moment to hand him the keys. I did check out their so-called continental breakfast which consisted of a few Danishes and coffee.<br />
<br />
<b>Final Thoughts: </b><br />
<br />
This is one of those difficult places to rate because it does well in some areas but does poorly in some other fields. First it is well located a block from a mall and having a couple of restaurants nearby. It is also directly off Interstate 65 and US Highway 30. In addition the rates for the motel were very reasonable. While the motel cannot control if someone smokes in the room when they are not supposed to, they do have control over the condition of the room and the cleanliness at which they did a poor job.<br />
<br />
For those arriving after dark the place needs to ensure their lighting makes the place look inviting and tiny pastries do not make a breakfast. The cost for our two rooms was just under a $100.00 so the price was right but that didn’t make up for the problems.<br />
<br />
My grade for the America’s Best Value Inn Merrillville: D
<br />
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<br />John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-61841463864785774682015-10-20T11:18:00.000-07:002015-10-20T11:18:23.706-07:00Book Review: Dancing With the Devil in the City of GodDancing With the Devil in the City of God
<br />
By Juliana Barbassa<br />
ISBN 978-1-4767-5625-7<br />
308 Pages<br />
<br />
This is the forty-eighth book that I have read this year, towards my goal to average reading a book a week for the entire year, which I totally blew away last year.<br />
<br />
Juliana Barbassa is a journalist that was born in Brazil but spent many years growing up in Iraq where her father worked for the Brazilian State Oil Company. They returned to Brazil but her father’s career would take her to Houston. After 20 years she moved back to Brazil and Rio de Janeiro in 2010 to witness the city and the country as it prepared for the 2014 World Cup and ultimately the 2016 Olympic Games. Barbassa gives a great history of the city and country including the military dictatorship that ruled for 20 years and what has happened since so called democracy took over. She covers everything from politics, to the police, the gang wars, urban renewal, how it is to be a business owner in the country and the environment.<br />
<br />
After reading this book those living in countries such as the United States should have a better appreciation for our quality of life compared to Brazil. That is not to say that Brazil does not have some wonderful people, some of whom I had to the opportunity to work with last year. However, it is clear after reading this book that the country, and especially Rio de Janeiro, has some serious problems it still needs to work on. Also, for all those that whine about how hard it is to be in business in the United States, read that book and appreciate how good it is here compared to there. While it may not be impossible to run a business in Rio it definitely is not for the faint of heart.<br />
<br />
However, while you can take heart in how we are better off we still have skeletons in our closet, especially when it comes to Urban Renewal and how it was run from the 1950’s to the 1970’s, and in various cases the way some projects still happen.<br />
<br />
Overall the book is an excellent read and I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to see what Rio de Janeiro is doing to get ready for the Olympics, its history, and the current conditions that residents face in the city. It is also a great book to inspire some soul searching on the mistakes we have made in the past and how we can do better in the future.<br />
<br />
This book gets an A.John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-43527226863142643322015-09-01T18:35:00.003-07:002015-09-01T18:37:22.307-07:00Goal Block<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Football_goal.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="English: football goal" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" height="233" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d0/Football_goal.jpg/350px-Football_goal.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 350px;">English: football goal (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Football_goal.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Most people know what writer's block is but what is goal block? Well it is actually the same thing except in this case you have a difficult time getting your goals down on paper. I went through this in the last week as I put together my goals for the month of September. There are several things I am looking to accomplish this month but putting down in goals proved to be difficult so therefore I went back to basics.<br />
<br />
I previously said that goals need to be specific, written down, have a time line, and be realistic. I also have written that you need to have long range goals, medium range goals and short range goals and that the short and medium range goals should lead up to your long range goals. The difficulty was trying to write the goals so that they would be specific enough to create a good goal.<br />
<br />
After several failed attempts at creating goals I finally decided to throw everything I had written and go back to the basics and look at my long range and medium range goals to see where I currently stand on them, what I can do in the next month to move toward those goals and what I other activities I must get done. I also had to take into the account the amount of time I would have over the next month to accomplish these goals.<br />
<br />
By going back to the basics and knowing what I needed to accomplish I was able to set good goals for the month of September. This allowed me to set my goals for this week and for each day of the week so I am prepared for the month.<br />
<br />
If you are having trouble setting goals for a particular month, week, or day go back to the basics, look a your long range and medium range goals, think about what you need to accomplish this month that sets you on track and if necessary do something that lets you clear your mind and come back at it again later so that your mind is clear and you can set goals that you will achieve.<br />
<br />
<br />John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-38287447996250545742015-01-29T18:35:00.001-08:002015-01-29T18:35:49.804-08:00Book Review: If the Allies Had Fallen<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Second_world_war_europe_animation_large_de.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Animated map showing German and Axis allies' c..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" height="365" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/74/Second_world_war_europe_animation_large_de.gif/350px-Second_world_war_europe_animation_large_de.gif" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 350px;">Animated map showing German and Axis allies' conquests in Europe throughout World War II (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Second_world_war_europe_animation_large_de.gif" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
I have always enjoyed alternate reality stories and a few years ago I started reading a variety of fiction about alternative realities. After reading a few books from one of the more popular authors of alternative history <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.sfsite.com/~silverag/turtledove.html" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Harry Turtledove">Harry Turtledove</a> I wanted to read more from other authors and while searching Amazon the book "If the Allies Had Fallen: Sixty Alternative Scenarios of World War II" and decided to take look at it so I rented it from the library.<br />
<br />
The first thing I discovered about the book is that it was not an alternative history book but a book about alternate scenarios that could have happened in World War II. Fortunately I also am a fan of history so the book proved to be an interesting read. The book is 284 pages plus a couple of pages of information about the different authors of the book. Most of the writers are professors so the book can truly be considered an academia book.<br />
<br />
Second, the book title is extremely misleading since it really does have little to do if the Allies had fallen. There is only two sections of the book that talk about what would have happened if Germany had won the war. The first was the most confusing which takes place about half way through the book when one of authors discusses one possible scenario and then in the last paragraph gives an alternate history like it had really happened. The second section is the final 12 pages of the book that discuss certain scenarios that could have seen a German win in the war but most of prefaced saying that they were extremely unlikely.<br />
<br />
One of the most interesting scenarios in the book discusses D-day and when the invasion should have happened but did not. It really gives an interesting light to the politics going on in Great Britain at the time and shows some of their motives.<br />
<br />
Another aspect of the book that is interesting is the authors take on the situation in Japan. There will always be the controversy about whether the Japanese were ready to surrender or not and whether the dropping of the bomb was really necessary. The authors do a good job of showing both sides of the argument and the motivations behind each side but without passing judgement so you can make up your own mind which side is true.<br />
<br />
Because it is an academia book it is a more tedious read although not terrible. Despite the flaws and the misleading title I give the book 4 stars because it does give an excellent run down of World War II and what could have happened during the war.John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-4625889329608117912015-01-04T22:11:00.000-08:002015-01-04T22:11:43.630-08:00Last Years Reading List<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Open_book_01.svg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="English: Open book icon" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" height="350" src="//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f3/Open_book_01.svg/350px-Open_book_01.svg.png" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 350px;">English: Open book icon (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Open_book_01.svg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
As I mentioned in my post about the goals for next year, last year I read a total of 87 books after after seeing a posting from speaker and friend <a href="http://speakanddeliver.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Rich Hopkins</a> that he was going to try to read a book a week and decided to do the same.<br />
<br />
My reading list included fiction, urban planning and design, motivational/self-help, business, history, biographies and politics. The fiction category comprised mainly of Star Trek books and the Tomorrow, When the War Began series which is a Australian version of Red Dawn but because they comprise a seven book series are much more details and character development than the Red Dawn movies.<br />
<br />
Except for the Star Trek books most of which I purchased since they are not available in our local library, all the books I read came from the Multnomah County Library.<br />
<br />
Here is a listing of the books by category:<br />
<br />
Category/Title Author: Recommended?<br />
<br />
<b>Motivational/Self Help</b><br />
<br />
The 5 Love Languages Gary Chapman Yes<br />
Barefoot Executive Carrie Wilkerson Yes<br />
Raising Positive Kids Zig Ziglar Yes<br />
Think and Grow Rich Napoleon Hill Yes<br />
The Millionaire Next Door Tom Stanley/William Danko Yes<br />
Be the Miracle Regina Brett Yes<br />
Hijacked By Your Brain Julian Ford, Jon Wortmann Yes<br />
How Full is Your Bucket? Tom Rath, Donald Clifton Yes<br />
Life Without Limits Nick Vujivic Yes<br />
Break Out Joel Osteen Yes<br />
Wishes Fulfilled Wayne Dyer No<br />
Life Reimagined Richard Leider, Alan Webber Yes<br />
How to Win Friends and Influence... Dale Carnegie and others Yes<br />
100 Ways to Motivate Yourself Steve Chandler Yes<br />
How Successful People Think John Maxwell Yes<br />
Secrets of the Millionaire Mind T. Harv Ecker No<br />
E-Squared Pam Grout Yes<br />
The Butterfly Effect Andy Andrews Yes<br />
Better Than Good Zig Ziglar Yes<br />
Outliers Malcolm Gladwell No<br />
Relentless Tim Grover Yes<br />
Power of Your Subconscious Mind Joseph Murphy Yes<br />
The Purpose Driver Life Rick Warren Yes<br />
Instant Influence Michael Plantalon Yes<br />
Drive Daniel Pink Yes<br />
Finding A Way to Win Bill Parcells Yes<br />
Top Performance Zig Ziglar Yes<br />
Take The Lead Betsy Meyers Yes<br />
Motivation Manifesto Brendan Burchard Yes<br />
Get Motivated Tamara Lowe Maybe...<br />
<br />
<b>Fiction: </b><br />
<br />
Daybreak Zero John Barnes No<br />
<br />
<i>Star Trek: </i><br />
<br />
From History's Shadow Dayton Ward Only for Star Trek Fans<br />
The Fall: Peaceable Kingdoms Dayton Ward Yes<br />
Voyager: Protectors Kristen Beyer Only for Star Trek Fans<br />
No Time Like the Past Greg Cox No<br />
<br />
<i>Tomorrow When the War Began:</i><br />
<br />
Tomorrow When the War Began John Marsden Yes<br />
The Dead of Night John Marsden Yes<br />
A Killing Frost John Marsden Yes<br />
Darkness Be My Friend John Marsden Yes<br />
Burning For Revenge John Marsden Yes<br />
The Night is for Hunting John Marsden Yes<br />
The Other Side of Dawn John Marsden Yes <br />
<br />
<b>Urban Planning/Design:</b><br />
<br />
Zoned Out Jonathon Levine Only to Planning Nerds<br />
Planning a New West Abbott, Abbott, and Adler Yes <br />
Ethical Land Use Timothy Beatley No<br />
Planning and Diversity in the City Ruth Fincher, Kurt Iveson No<br />
Planning With Complexity Judith Innes No<br />
Portland Edge Various No<br />
The Seaside Debates Robert Davis, Tod Bressi, Yes<br />
American Urban Form Warner, Whittemore Yes<br />
Living Over the Store Howard Davis Yes<br />
Principles of Ecological Landscape<br />
Design Travis Beck Yes<br />
How to Study Public Life Jan Gehl, Birgitte Svarre Yes<br />
Design for an Emphatic World Ryn, Hawken Yes<br />
Cities for People Jan Gehl Yes<br />
Death and Life of Great American<br />
Cities Jane Jacobs Yes<br />
Walkable City Jeff Speck Yes<br />
Urban Design Cuesta, Moughtin, Moughtin Yes<br />
Living Streets Bain, Gray, Rodgers Yes<br />
Happy City Charles Montgomery Yes<br />
Urban Design Handbook Urban Design Associates Yes<br />
New Urban China Laurence Liauw No<br />
Toward Sustainable Communities Various Yes<br />
<br />
<b>Politics/Social:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Democracy and Populism John Lukacs Yes<br />
That Used to be Us Friedman, Mandelbaum Yes<br />
Planet of Slums Mike Davis Yes<br />
New American Militarism Andrew Bacevich Yes<br />
To Serve God and Wal-Mart Bethany Moreton Yes<br />
The Metropolitan Revolution Bruce Katz, Jennifer Bradley Yes<br />
Bowling Alone Robert Putnam Yes<br />
Rise of the Creative Class Richard Florida Yes<br />
Collapse Jared Diamond Yes<br />
The Elusive State of Jefferson Peter Laufer Yes<br />
Convention Center Follies Heywood T. Sanders Yes<br />
<br />
<b>Business: </b><br />
<br />
Retail 101 Nicole Reyhle, Jason Prescott Yes<br />
Supply Chain Strategy Edward Frazelle Yes<br />
Retail Doctors Guide to Growing<br />
Your Business Bob Phibbs Yes<br />
<br />
<b>History:</b><br />
<br />
They Got it Wrong: History Emma Marriott Yes<br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Biography: </b><br />
<br />
Steve Jobs: The Exclusive Walter Isaccson Yes<br />
Jim Henson Brian Jay Jones Yes<br />
Thomas Jefferson John Meacham Yes<br />
Albert Einstein Yes<br />
Elizabeth Smart Elizabeth Smart Yes<br />
Neil Armstrong Jay Barbree Yes<br />
The Everything Store: Jeff Bezos<br />
and the Age of Amazon Brad Stone Yes<br />
Steve Jobs: The Man who Thought<br />
Different Karen Blumenthal Yes<br />
<br />
<b>Misc: </b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Frontiers Past and Future Carl Abbott Yes<br />
<br />
Sorry about the formatting but it is a Blogger thing.<br />
<br />
It should also be noted that while I recommend all the books in the Politics/Social category I may not necessarily agree with everything that the book has to say.<br />
<br />
I still have many books on loan to read plus I also received some for Christmas that I plan on reading soon also.<br />
<br />
Happy Reading Everyone... <br />
John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-5954957011880877222014-12-30T20:25:00.000-08:002014-12-30T20:25:17.800-08:00Are your goals set for 2015? <br />
It is that time of the year that we start thinking about what has happened in the past year and start thinking about the new year to come. This is also the time that people think up New Years resolution's that get forgotten by January 2nd, I have already discussed the importance of setting goals and how to set them.I also talked about a good planner to keep track of what you need to be doing. Today I am going to discuss putting them together to set your yearly goals and to make plans for the year to come.<br />
<br />
Last year I had a small planner that was about 5X7 but it just did not work out the way I wanted it to. I found that I liked to have more room to put hourly schedules in and have room for important dates. This year I purchased a planner that measures 9X12 but is still convenient to carry around. This planner is an weekly appointment book that is broken down by 15-minute intervals 7 days a week and runs from 7am to 8pm.<br />
<br />
In addition at the there is a monthly calendar at the beginning of every month. One feature that attracted my attention to this particular planner was that both the monthly calender and the weekly appointment sections have an area for notes that I can write my goals for that month and week into and see them every day as a reminder of what I am going to accomplish. I will have to say it sometimes scary to see how fast the calendar is already filling up and we haven't hit the new year yet.<br />
<br />
Now that I have a planner that I like that allows me to put in my monthly and weekly goals there is the job of getting the yearly goals done. As I mentioned on the posts about setting goals there are long range (life) goals, medium range goals and your yearly goals with the yearly goals set up as stepping stones to those big life or long range goals.<br />
<br />
Last year I accomplished several of my goals a lot sooner than I had planned for which means I set the bar too low so this year I am raising that bar. For example I hit my weight loss goal by the first of September and even though I do not have that far to go I want to hit my final weight by the time I attend an importance conference from April 17th to April 21st. While this is a tight deadline it creates a challenge to overcome especially since I want to buy a nice new suite for the conferance and don't want it to be too big after a few months!<br />
<br />
Another goal I set up was to have an update set of life goals by April 1st. While I already have a set of life goals, they should be reevaluated every few years to ensure that you are on the right track or when you have major life changes that cause you to reevaluate your priorities in life. An example using a medium range goal is that I have a picture of a Ford Raptor on my desk as it was something I wanted a few years ago. Well life has changed and that Raptor no longer appeals to me so that goal has changed.<br />
<br />
On the other hand there is also times that you may reevaluate how aggressive you are with a goal. I have mentioned previously that I added a goal during the year to read a book a week after seeing the that my friend <a href="http://speakanddeliver.blogspot.com/2014/12/52-books-in-52-weeks-2014-challenge.html" target="_blank">Rich Hopkins</a> was doing it. Well not only did I meet the goal I blew it away by reading 87 books this past year. While I could say I want to be even more aggressive this year instead I am actually sticking with the 52 from last year. While I love to read there was times last year that reading became a choir so I am going to work on enjoying it again instead of worrying about how much I am reading.<br />
<br />
Now is the time to get those goals in order and ready for the challenges the of the new year.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-20886008708900740492014-12-24T10:33:00.001-08:002014-12-24T10:33:45.904-08:00Happy Holidays and Christmas memories<br />
First of all I want to wish all of you the happiest of holidays, writing this as another Christmas Eve dawns.<br />
<br />
The other day I was asked what kinds of Christmas traditions have we started with our family since we adopted our children and it took me a while to think about it. We have tried our best to give them a good Christmas experience but what defines our family when it comes to the Christmas tradition.<br />
<br />
I then flashed back to my earliest Christmas memory which is not one that many people would want to remember. It was the Christmas after I had turned six years old and I spent most of the Christmas season at La Vina hospital which included having surgery. I was suffering from double phenomena, had fluid in my lungs, bronchitis and other things wrong we me and wasn't expected to live (fooled them...). But that set up what would become a Christmas tradition when the hospital allowed me to go home and decorate the Christmas tree. <br />
<br />
Every year after that the decorating of our Christmas tree became a family tradition, Then after having worked retail for several years, my Christmas spirit was largely gone as I would often see the worst that our society had to offer. People pulling guns on each other to get the some poorly made piece of junk VCR that wouldn't last six months because it was made extra cheaply to be sold cheaply for Black Friday, people at the doors after we closed on Christmas Eve blaming us that their childrens's Christmas would be ruined because we closed and so on.<br />
<br />
However, despite that there was still treasured memories including that cause you to truly remember which ironically usually involved when you give to others including the year that we worked at a homeless shelter making Christmas dinners and giving to organizations that help others during this time of year. <br />
<br />
But now, as a father I can once again see the better part of Christmas. Of course we do our best that our children truly understand the true meaning of Christmas but in today's over commercialized world it is not always easy. What is something that we can do that will given them that precious memory that lasts a life time? Most of the time those memories are something that happen by chance, not something that is planned.<br />
<br />
One minor thing that we started doing is to go look at Christmas lights on either Christmas day or Christmas Eve. Because I have to get up early on Friday this year we are going out tonight. They even get a bigger thrill because we allow them to go out in pajamas and bathrobes when we take the drive.<br />
<br />
What are your special memories of the holidays?<br />
<br />
I hope that everyone has a wonderful Christmas and create some special memories.John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-28194641662872531972014-09-11T20:46:00.000-07:002014-09-11T20:46:20.216-07:00Death and Life...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sunset_over_Los_Angeles.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="DSC_0022.JPG" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" height="234" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/39/Sunset_over_Los_Angeles.jpg/350px-Sunset_over_Los_Angeles.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 350px;">DSC_0022.JPG (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sunset_over_Los_Angeles.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
There is times that we seem to go through certain activities in our day that become so routine that we often don't think about them. Then comes a day that not only changes that so common routine but also has a major impact on your life. It is a day that you think about what is most important in life, makes you think about those who are most important to you, and may have an impact on your very future. Yesterday was one of those days for me and it started first thing in the morning.<br />
<br />
At least three, and usually four or five a days a week I head to the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=45.43857,-122.73093&spn=1.0,1.0&q=45.43857,-122.73093%20(Portland%20Community%20College)&t=h" rel="geolocation" target="_blank" title="Portland Community College">Portland Community College</a> track and exercise as it is just a short walk down a trail from where I live. I arrived at the track at about 5:30 and was about to start my first walk around the track when I noticed something laying along the track about a quarter around from where I start. At first I thought it might be some garbage that was dragged there by the neighborhood foxes or coyotes that live in the area but as I got closer I realized it was a person lying on the ground.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
I approached with trepidation, not sure why someone would be lying on the ground on the track at this time of the morning. I first looked for signs that he was breathing and didn't see any. Next I checked for a pulse but there was none and the he was very cold realizing that whoever this person was he was dead. I immediately called 911 and within a short time police and fire showed up at the seen. The paramedics did a quick check of the body and confirmed that he was indeed gone. By this time two other guys that are usually at the track at this time of day showed up and became part of the scene. Both the <a class="zem_slink" href="http://www.portlandonline.com/police/" rel="homepage" target="_blank" title="Portland Police Bureau">Portland Police</a> and the PCC Public Safety took my information down on what happened. The police then asked us to leave the area which we did and I headed home in a sort of a daze and had a hard time concentrating on work the rest of the day.<br />
<br />
Its not like I have not seen death before. I have seen dead bodies before most recently when my mother passed away and I arrived at the nursing home about 15 minutes before the funeral home. I have also seen some gruesome scenes such as a guy who tried to run across a freeway in Mississippi and a couple of incidents of people getting hit by trains but finding a body was different.<br />
<br />
I often thought that I had become desensitized to death having dealt with it so much in life. When I was in the 7th grade I was going to a small private school in South Pasadena, California. My class was made up of only 9 students, 2 of them being girls. One weekend one of the girls along with a friend went to a nearby mall and never returned. A couple of weeks later the girls bodies were found and it turned out they had become the youngest victims of notorious Hillside Stranglers that scared Los Angeles for a period. They always say the worst thing is for a parent to bury a child which I hope I never have to do, but a 12 year old having a classmate murdered by a serial killer also ranks up there pretty high. While Dolly's death was tragic, at least some good did come of it. Until this point all the of the victims had been prostitutes so the LAPD, media, and the public in general seemed to not care about the victims but when two pre-teens became victims it seemed to wake up the public and the authorities to the real dangers of the murders who were caught shortly there after.<br />
<br />
Just a few years later when I was a senior in high school one of the members of my class would die of cancer. Two years after graduating I had to deal with another murder of someone I knew who was killed in an armed robbery as four assessments came into his place of business shooting. To make that tragedy even worse he was a couple of years older than I was and his wife was 8 months pregnant with their second child. There was times I began to think it was bad luck to be friends with me.<br />
<br />
That brings me back to yesterday. Over the past few months I have been pushing myself harder and harder as I work on becoming more physically fit and loose weight. There was a couple of times that I wondered what would happen if I pushed myself too hard on the track, would there be anyone there to help me? When the police arrived they thought it might have been something other than natural since the person appeared to be around 30 years old but since the death has not made the news despite a <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=45.5223611111,-122.74725&spn=0.01,0.01&q=45.5223611111,-122.74725%20(KGW)&t=h" rel="geolocation" target="_blank" title="KGW">KGW</a> film crew showing up I am guessing they found out that he was not murdered.<br />
<br />
The worst part is the person had no identification on him of any kind so the police were worried about finding out who he was. This brought up even more questions in my mind. Who was this person whose life came to an end all alone with one one to help him? Had he been running the night before and had been laying there for several hours? Was there people worried about him but the police could not locate them easily because he had no identification on him?<br />
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He was just one of many anonymous people that I see out on the track on any given day. But know his death has touched me and probably the other people that were day yesterday. Even in death our lives can have an affect on other people in big ways. Whether it is the beautiful young girl whose death was so tragic to the unidentified person who went to exercise and never made it home. In fact we have even more to think about on this subject being the anniversary of 9/11.<br />
<br />
The biggest lesson to be learned is that you need to live life to the fullest and not let fears get in your way because you never know when time will come.<br />
<br />
John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-29407590925111491692014-08-04T21:51:00.002-07:002014-08-04T21:51:54.428-07:00Things to Look at when Considering being a Foster Parent...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Foster_care_length_of_stay.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Length of stay in U.S. foster care" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" height="263" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/e/e9/Foster_care_length_of_stay.gif/350px-Foster_care_length_of_stay.gif" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 350px;">Length of stay in U.S. foster care (Photo credit: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Foster_care_length_of_stay.gif" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Riischildren.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Children sleeping in Mulberry Street (1890) Art." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" height="275" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Riischildren.jpg/350px-Riischildren.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 350px;">Children sleeping in Mulberry Street (1890) Art. (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Riischildren.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Think about the gambit of emotions and you have what it means to be a foster parent. It can be joyful, a handful, frustrating, depressing, exciting, and everything in between, however in the end you will be helping children that are in need and there is not better feeling in the world although it is not for the faint of heart to say the least.<br />
<br />
Here are some things to consider before becoming a foster parent:<br />
<br />
1. Are you ready for all the responsibility of being a foster parent? Not only is it taxing on the emotions but it it also requires a great deal of time. Not only do you attend classes in order to prepare you for being a foster parent (and no matter how much they try it is difficult to teach you all that you need to know), but when you have the children you are their taxi service which means running them to school (often their school will be far away), time to take them to meetings with their family, court dates and so on.<br />
<br />
2. Are you emotionally ready to handle the responsibility of taking care of someone else's children that are not able to take care of them at the time and the problems that they may have? In our time as foster parents we had a 14 year old girl with a 5 month old boy and her sister who was 15 and a alcoholic, we had a boy who was possibly sexually molested, we had children whose father was told by his girlfriend that it was either her or his kids and he chose her, and a 6 year old girl whose father would beat her so bad that his hand would bleed. The other emotional aspect you will have to deal with is when the children leave, if they have been with you for many months it can sometimes be hard to deal with when its time for them to leave, how well will you be able to handle that?<br />
<br />
3. Once you get past the first to questions you need to decide how much room you have available for foster children. Every state is different but under the regulations we fostered under you needed to have at least 60 square feet of space per child. Sometimes under special circumstances such as you are willing to take in a large group (we took in a group of 4 at one time even though we technically had enough space for three). You also have to consider that you must purchase all the furniture for the children which can add up. In our case we bought a set of bunk beds, three dressers, a standard bed, a crib/bed combo, lamps, night stands, and clocks. Other things that you will be required to have is a locking cabinet for any medicines and potentially harmful chemicals that you may have in your house.<br />
<br />
4. The next thing you need to consider is what ages of children are you willing to foster. As you can probably tell by some of the stories I mentioned we fostered all age ranges. Some people only want to take infants hoping that they will be available for adoption at some point. The thing to take into consideration is that the wider range of ages that you are willing to take in, the more likely you will be getting foster children. Once again it depends on what you are ready for and looking for out of foster care. No one way is right, it just must be right for you.<br />
<br />
5. Do you have a support network? You need to have people who you can call on to laugh, cry, vent, and just be able to talk to. Our foster care system had a network in our neighborhood that we could call on and they would also have times to get together and have some fun. You also need to have a someone that you can talk to one on one to deal with personal issues that may arise. In my case the crises time occurred some time after we adopted our kids, but fortunately I had a very special friend who was willing to listen and give advice, and just be there when I needed them. Have that support network in place ahead of time.<br />
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Being a foster parent may be one of the most rewarding things you can do. The task will not be easy but knowing that you will be providing a ray of light to a child that needs is worth it. A foster child may only be with you a short time, but you can have a dramatic impact on that child's life even if you don't see the results, know that you will be making a difference.<br />
<br />
This past June we celebrated 3 years since adopting our children and later this month we will celebrate the time they came to us. It has not been an easy journey, but I wouldn't change it for anything.<br />
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John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-85771926019574369642014-07-15T19:17:00.000-07:002014-07-15T19:17:34.560-07:00Scheduling<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/33472412@N00/1696964330" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Custom Moleskine Planner & iPod touch" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" height="266" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2057/1696964330_e832798090_n.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 320px;">Custom Moleskine Planner & iPod touch (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/33472412@N00/1696964330" target="_blank">Mike Rohde</a>)</td></tr>
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In the last couple of entries I talked about the importance of goals, what they should include, and how to set them. Today, I am going to talk about something that goes hand in hand with goals and that is scheduling. When I talked about setting goals I mentioned that you needed to find the system that works for you when setting goals and that goes for creating a scheduling system also, and frankly I have to admit that finding a scheduling system that works for me has been difficult.<br />
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It is not scheduling itself that has been difficult but finding a system that would fit my needs. Despite all the modern electronics that are designed to make scheduling easier, I just have not found one that I like. I started by using a software program that created schedules but then realized that Microsoft Outlook basically did the same thing. While Outlook worked for a while, I hated having to getting on the computer to check my scheduling. I know that modern cell phones can also but I quickly realized that I liked having something I could look at more thoroughly than a phone.<br />
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After deciding that a software program wasn't working for me I started using an planner that my wife had laying around that was given to her by an old boss. I decided I like the idea of the planner and having it written down so I can see it all the time but this particular planner was very large ringed binder that took up a lot of room and weigh a lot and I already have enough to carry everyday so I decided to start using one of the spiral bound planners that come out every year.<br />
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While I have been using the planner on regular basis I couldn't get a system down that I really liked until I saw what one of my friends did in their planner. This person has their planner neatly organized plus has different colored sticky notes for important things and highlights important things in the planner. This gave me an idea that I have started to use in my planner.<br />
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The first thing I do is to put in all the important dates that I have coming up into the planner. For items such as important projects that are do I go through the book and put reminders in at weekly intervals that the project is coming up and then I highlight them with green if they are more than 3 weeks out, yellow of they are one or two weeks out and red for the day that they are due. This way I have regular reminders that I have something coming up so that I can be working on it and have it done before it is due.<br />
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This coming year I am making one change and that is going from a weekly planner to a daily planner due to the increased commitments and the importance of having things scheduled in a more detailed fashion. As I said before this is my system and you need to find a system that is going to work best for you so good luck.<br />
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John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-73047756487337764252014-07-10T11:19:00.000-07:002014-07-10T11:19:52.965-07:00Setting Goals<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59306007@N08/5427078006" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Crow Peak summit. Chugach Mountains, Alaska" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" height="191" src="http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5292/5427078006_d679efbc9f_n.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center;">Crow Peak summit. Chugach Mountains, Alaska (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/59306007@N08/5427078006" target="_blank">Paxson Woelber</a>)</td></tr>
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In the last posting I went over the essential elements of a good goal. Today I will go over how you go about setting goals and the different time periods affecting goals. This is the system I developed that works for me but you must find your own system but this gives you the essential elements. What is important is to establish a system that will work for you and one that will motivate you to continue with goals and make them a part of your everyday life.<br />
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Every little goal is a stepping stone to your big goals so I start off with the big goals, sometimes called you life goals or I have also heard them called your a life value statements. Sometimes these big goals will be a long range goals but most of the time long range goals are the final stepping stone to your life goals. These goals are often times the hardest to follow the rules of goals because they are so far out but are important because they create the big goal that the little goals lead up to.<br />
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I would not suggest trying to write down these goals in one setting, instead take some time, maybe an extended period of time to really figure out where you want to be in 20 years, 30 years or even longer. We have become such an instant gratification society it is often hard to think that far into the future so don't worry if you have a hard time coming up with them right away.<br />
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It should also be noted that these life goals will also be the most flexible and changeable of your goals. While you would like to think that once you set your goals they are going to be in stone and that is what is going to happen, but in reality there is many things that can change your long range goals. That is not to say that there is something wrong with your life goals, on the contrary they are an important element of helping you achieve but we change as people so our goals may change as well. There are many things that change our perspectives on life including finding true love, death of someone we care care about, or realizing that the goal is truly not what we are looking for. Just don't let these life changes stop you from setting goals.<br />
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Each goal under your life goals are stepping stones toward that life goal and that is why you want to start off with the life goals because the rest of them are going to work up to that life goal. The next set of goals is your long range goals. As mentioned above sometimes it can blur between your long range goals and life goals but long range goals should be goals that are longer than five years out that work toward your life goals. For example say your goal is to have substantial savings for retirement, a long range goal would be to have your mortgage paid off in say seven years which is a step toward that life goal.<br />
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Next up is your medium range goals which are from one to five years out. As you can probably figure out by now these medium range goals should be stepping stones to your long range goals. To continue the idea from the long range goals, a medium range goal could be to have all debts but your mortgage paid off in 24 months.<br />
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As you probably already figured out the next step is your goals of one year. I set these during the month of December for the next year although sometimes things can get added during the year. I then set monthly, weekly and daily goals. Your weekly and daily goals will most likely have items on there that do not directly relate to your life goals but are things you need to get done but in the long run will benefit you achieving your life goals. I will often end up with about 30 to 35 items on the weekly goal sheet although only a handful actually fit neatly into my life goals although any goal can indirectly be tied in.<br />
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On your daily goals you may want to try scheduling things by time in order to get everything done however that has not always worked well for me. I do better by just having my list of goals for the day and checking them off as I get them complete. What I will do is prioritize my goals for the day by listing them by A's for the biggest priority, B's for medium priority, and C's for the lowest priority. Being a C doesn't mean something isn't important but is not a priority. I then break down each letter by priority and assign them a number from one on. While these may seem like it would take a lot of time to do, time that you could be using to achieve those goals, I have found it takes only a few minutes and it allows me to prioritize my day better.<br />
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Now you have the basics of setting goals. As I mentioned before this is designed to be guide to get you started but you need to tailor the system to work best for your personality so that you will stay committed to make things happen.<br />
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Good luck and set some goals.<br />
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John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-14004464768706898592014-07-01T16:48:00.000-07:002014-07-01T16:48:16.818-07:00The Elements of a Goal...Part 1<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="zemanta-img">
<a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RockfordSpeedwayCheckeredFlag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="The Mid American Stock Car Series flagman wavi..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/df/RockfordSpeedwayCheckeredFlag.jpg/350px-RockfordSpeedwayCheckeredFlag.jpg" height="263" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="350" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 350px;">The Mid American Stock Car Series flagman waving the checkered flag at the end of a series stockcar heat race. (Photo credit: <a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:RockfordSpeedwayCheckeredFlag.jpg" target="_blank">Wikipedia</a>)</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 320px;">goal (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/18090920@N07/4805089632" target="_blank">Sean MacEntee</a>)</td></tr>
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My last couple of blog postings talked about goals and the ones that I am trying to achieve this year so I decided that it would be good to go over what a goal is for those of you that are having trouble getting started or working toward those important things in your life. Today I will go over what a goal needs to contain and next time I will discuss the different types of goals and how to set them.<br />
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As I mentioned a goal must have some critical ingredients and I will discuss each one of these one at a time: specific, have a time limit, be written down, achievable and challenging.<br />
<a name='more'></a>First a goal must be specific. This will be the hardest when trying to work with your long range goals but lets just look at the basics. When I set my weekly and monthly goals I try to make them specific so that I know exactly what I need to achieve to reach that goal. A salesperson that sets a goal of selling some things will not get far but a salesman that says the intends to sell 15 items per week at $150.00 per item has a specific goal they are looking to achieve. Look at your goals are they generic and say I would like to lose weight or are they specific that you will lose so much weight?<br />
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Next a goal must have a time limit. You must decide when you are going to achieve a goal. If one of your goals is to be a certain weight, you must decide on what date that you are going to achieve that weight. If you instead say that I want to be at 165lbs but don't put a specific date on it, there is no sense of urgency and it doesn't happen. But if instead you figure out how much weight you need to lose to hit that goal and then set a specific date, it motivates you to work hard toward that goal. Then if a couple of weeks go by and you have not made progress you realize that you need to change something to get things to happen. To give another example does a goal of someday paying off all of your debts sound reasonable or does it make more since to say that by this date I will have all debts paid off and this is the time frame I will do it in and here is the steps I will take along the way (something I will talk about more next time).<br />
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The third important element of a goal is that it must be written down. By writing down your goal you are making a commitment to make it happen. It has been said that a goal that is not written down is just a New Years resolution or dream because you are not putting into place a system that works toward that goal. One important reason you want to write down your goals is that it is something you can refer to on a daily basis and it gets you excited when you can check off those goals and say "Your done!...Next" which gives you motivation to move on to the next one.<br />
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The fourth element of a goal is that it must be achievable. There are some out there that will tell you that all you have to do is put your mind to it and you can achieve it with the right attitude which is just not true. You must have goals that are realistic. For example I could set a goal of winning next years Daytona 500 but that would not be realistic for a variety of reasons no matter how hard I tried and set a goal of it. However, as I mentioned before I set a weight loss goal which might have been too conservative since it looks like I will achieve that goal before September. Something else to take into consideration is if your goal fits into your value system otherwise you are not going to have success reaching that goal.<br />
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The final part of a good goal is that it is challenging. As mentioned above it is important for a goal to be realistic but it also much challenge you. With that being said you should have some goals that you can achieve quickly in order to motivate you to the next goal and the step in the process. Never set the same goals for the next period that you set for this period, they should be moving you to another level unless it is long term project such as weight loss.<br />
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That sums up what a goal is, next time I will discuss how you set goals and the different time lengths of goals.<br />
John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-29599881682260102602014-06-28T18:30:00.000-07:002014-06-28T18:30:11.276-07:00Hitting the Books...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/33363480@N05/5835274912" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Anyone who says they have only one life to liv..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" height="320" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2720/5835274912_fde54727d1_n.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 320px;">Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book. ~AuthorUnknown (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/33363480@N05/5835274912" target="_blank">Nick Kenrick .</a>)</td></tr>
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Last time I talked about goals and mentioned that about a goal that I originally didn't start off with but was influenced by an acquaintance. That person is <a href="http://speakanddeliver.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Rich Hopkins</a> who is an outstanding public speaker and motivator who set a goal of reading one book per week for the whole year and gave a list of some of the books he was thinking of reading.<br />
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At first I didn't think that I could even come close to reading a book a week but I decided to put my one hour back and forth to school on TriMet Route 44 to good use. While we still have a couple of days till the half way point of the year, I have actually read 28 books so far this year and am currently working on one although I don't know if I will have it done by Monday.<br />
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Here is a list of the books that I have read by category:<br />
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Motivational:<br />
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How to Win Friends and Influence People in the Digital Age <i>By Dale Carnegie Institute</i><br />
Life Reimaged <i>By Leider and Webber</i><br />
Wishes Fulfilled <i>By Wayne Dyer</i><br />
Break Out! <i>By Joel Osteen</i><br />
Life Without Limits <i>By Nick Vujicic</i><br />
How Full is Your Bucket? <i>By Raft and Clifton</i><br />
Hijacked by Your Brain <i>By Ford and Wortmann</i><br />
Be the Miracle <i> By Regina Brett</i><br />
The Millionaire Next Door <i>By Stanley and Danko</i><br />
Think and Grow Rich <i>By Napoleon Hill </i><br />
Barefoot Executive <i>By Carrie Wilkerson </i><br />
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Political :<br />
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That Used to be Us* <i>By Friedman and Mandelbaum</i><br />
Democracy and Populism <i>By John Lukacs</i><br />
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Urban Planning:<br />
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Portland Edge <i> Edited by Connie Ozawa</i><br />
Planning With Complexity* <i> By Judith Innes</i><br />
Planning And Diversity in the City* <i>By Fincher and Iveson</i><br />
Ethical Land Use* <i>By Timothy Beatley </i><br />
Planning a New West <i>By Abbott, Adler and Abbott</i><br />
Zoned Out* <i> By Jonathon Levine </i><br />
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Fiction:<br />
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Daybreak Zero* <i> By John Barnes</i><br />
Star Trek: The Original Series: No Time Like the Past <i>By Greg Cox</i><br />
Star Trek: Voyager: Protectors <i>By Kristen Beyer</i><br />
Star Trek: The Fall: Peaceable Kingdoms <i>By Dayton Ward</i><br />
Star Trek: From History's Shadows <i> By Dayton Ward</i><br />
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Misc.<br />
<br />
Frontiers Past and Future: Science Fiction and the American West<br />
<i>By Carl Abbott</i><br />
Raising Positive Kids in a Negative World <i>By Zig Ziglar</i><br />
The Message of You <i>By Judy Carter</i><br />
The 5 Love Languages <i>By Gary Chapman</i><br />
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*Titles that I was required to read <br />
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I am currently reading the book Planet of Slums and may have it done by Monday which would make 29 books so far this year. I currently have a stack of books that I hope to be reading over the next few weeks most of which are either motivational books or Urban Planning/Design in nature along with one fiction book called "Tomorrow, When the War Began" which is the Australian version of Red Dawn.<br />
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John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-78954775286726162032014-06-27T12:37:00.000-07:002014-06-27T12:38:07.667-07:00The Year is Half Over...How are You Doing? <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
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<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31102254@N02/4108422380" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="nanowrimo, day 16 goal" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2682/4108422380_956603d635_n.jpg" height="260" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="320" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center; width: 320px;">nanowrimo, day 16 goal (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31102254@N02/4108422380" target="_blank">paloetic</a>)</td></tr>
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Hard as it is to think about, Monday will mark the half way point in 2014. While many people let it pass by without even thinking about it, I consider it a good time to look at what has been accomplished so far and what goals are you lagging behind in.<br />
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At the beginning of the year like every year I wrote down a set of goals. These are not New Years resolutions they are goals because the have the necessary qualities of a goal: specific, have a time limit, written down, achievable, and challenging.<br />
<br />
I started the year with 18 major goals which all work toward my life goals. Then every month I set goals that work toward the yearly goals, weekly goals that work toward the monthly goals, and finally daily goals that work toward accomplishing those weekly goals. I will often end up with about 30 to 35 goals every week and will accomplish anywhere from at least 20 to often more than 30 of them.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a>Now is the time to reflect on what has worked so far this year and what isn't working and what can I do to those items to turn them around. There is some good news when it comes to my goals and that is out of the 18 goals for the year 3 of them are already done. One of those goals was to do a public presentation that was as close to perfect as I thought possible and thanks to a friend of mine who help me perfect the speech, I crossed that one of my list. Not only did the speech go well but even improvised on the spot because the group who spoke before me presented some information I was going to so I changed the opening in order to not duplicate information.<br />
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The other two goals that have been checked off was to go through everything I own and prepare for a yard sale which happened last week. As I talked about in my last posting we often have too much stuff and while I have purged a lot of stuff over the last few years there is still more to get rid of. The other goal goes hand in hand with that one and that is actually having a yard sale.<br />
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Another goal that my family says I should be able to check off already but I am not ready because I feel there is more to do is having my office organized. While it looks great now I still want to get more things done before I officially check off that item.<br />
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The goal I am proudest of is that I have almost hit my goal for weight loss. I have to admit I did do a pretty modest goal of trying to lose 60 pounds for the year, but I should achieve this by September at the rate I am going which will also put me at 80 total pounds loss since I started this self created program (currently at 67 total pounds).<br />
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While that still leaves several goals to work on, by working on them day by day I am slowly working toward achieving those goals. A goal I didn't start off with but decided to work on after reading a posting from an acquaintance I will talk about in my next posting.<br />
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That is how I am doing at the half way point, the question is how are you doing so far and wishing you luck for the rest of the year!<br />
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<br />John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-45522924612032229612014-06-20T19:05:00.003-07:002014-06-20T19:05:51.372-07:00Dump the stuff<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/68190559@N07/6221799231" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Clutter" border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" height="240" src="http://farm7.static.flickr.com/6118/6221799231_8048e2394d_n.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption zemanta-img-attribution" style="text-align: center;">Clutter (Photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/68190559@N07/6221799231" target="_blank">spykster</a>)</td></tr>
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<br />
In this months NW Examiner newspaper which covers the northwest section of Portland, my friend Kate Washington has a great article on how she and her husband had to downsize their stuff when they moved from a house in Washington State to a apartment in <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=45.52,-122.681944444&spn=0.1,0.1&q=45.52,-122.681944444%20(Portland%2C%20Oregon)&t=h" rel="geolocation" target="_blank" title="Portland, Oregon">Portland's</a> <a class="zem_slink" href="http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=45.53012,-122.68136&spn=0.1,0.1&q=45.53012,-122.68136%20(Pearl%20District%2C%20Portland%2C%20Oregon)&t=h" rel="geolocation" target="_blank" title="Pearl District, Portland, Oregon">Pearl District</a>. The newspaper is in PDF format and the article itself can be found on page 16. <br />
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<a href="http://nwexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/2014-06-June-new.pdf" target="_blank">June NW Examiner </a><br />
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I have to be honest and tell you that for many years I was a major extreme pack rat. I would keep every scarp of paper because I knew that I would need it some day or it might be valuable some day. Of course all those papers, magazines, books, souvenirs, post cards all started to pile up. Now this wouldn't be so bad if you lived in the same place for your whole life but I moved 5 times as a child and have moved 15 times as an adult so all that stuff can really add up.<br />
<br />
My first big change came in 2004 when my father passed away when stuff just didn't seem to be that important anymore. Then the week before Thanksgiving in 2005 my mother suffered a stroke and ended up in a nursing home where she passed away in May, 2007. My brother and I had to make a trip up to Spokane where my mother lived and clean out her apartment. While we put much of it in storage we still ended up taking a couple of truckloads of assorted stuff to Spokane's Waste to Energy plant to dispose of it.<br />
<br />
After she passed away it fell to me to give take care of what was left. When it came down to it none of the family wanted what they were giving in the will because it meant nothing to them. All that stuff that my parents had saved over the years had was of no value or meaning to anyone in the family. It was eye opening to see how stuff we treasured as being so special ends up being nothing but something that someone else will get stuck hauling away some day. While there might be a treasure or two to be found in someone's life collection, most of it is pretty worthless.<br />
<br />
It was also about this time that TLC's show Clean Sweep came on the air along with a similar show on HGTV which really brought to life for me how much crap I had. While shows like Clean Sweep were dramatized, it did show what can happen with the stuff has control of you instead of you having control over your stuff.<br />
<br />
Over the next few years I cleaned out a large amount of my stuff but some of it still lingered because I was going to sell it online and make some money off of it. Then a couple of years ago we rented a house that was the biggest house I have ever lived in and of course you have to fill it up so it doesn't look so empty right? While that may be fine if your planning to stay in a place for 20 years and even then it can be a dangerous trend, we very well could be moving by next June which will probably be into a much smaller space. Therefore we have started purging in order to get the amount of stuff down by the time June rolls around next year.<br />
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If your one of those people that is drowning in stuff, get help now. It has been proven that clutter can have detrimental affects on your health and productivity. Don't leave it for someone else to clean up after your gone, take care of it now and make life more enjoyable.<br />
<br />
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John Dornoffhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12041369067854087815noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6164502076140438615.post-57049773459117004362014-05-31T15:18:00.001-07:002014-05-31T15:18:31.804-07:00Your Never Too Old...<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container zemanta-img" style="float: right; margin-right: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Amigurumi_graduate.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: clear:right;"><img alt="Images of custom amirugami, an amirugami gradu..." border="0" class="zemanta-img-inserted zemanta-img-configured" height="197" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/fe/Amigurumi_graduate.jpg/350px-Amigurumi_graduate.jpg" style="border: none; font-size: 0.8em;" width="350" /></a></td></tr>
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<br />
Three years ago I made the decision to return to school which is never easy for someone that is not the typical college age. In fact during a three month period my wife and I adopted a sibling group of 4 children out of foster care, moved to Portland, Oregon and then I started back to school.<br />
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Being older than the average college student I was nervous that I would stand up but as it turned out for the first two years I was only the oldest person in a class one time, other times there was always at least one and usually more than one person older than me. This year as I pursue my Master's degree I am now the oldest in my co-hort and there is a person in the same program that started last year who is one year younger than I am so it is not too bad.<br />
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However, despite the difficulties of going back to school might be, I have my father to look for inspiration and the knowledge that you are never too old to head back to school.<br />
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My father grew up during the Great Depression. After the 8th grade he was forced to leave school in order to help the family earn money. He then served in the Army during WWII in New Guinea and most of his friends did not come back. After the war he started a family and became a carpenter. He went to work at F.W. Woolworth stores where his hard work paid off and he eventually became a superintendent overseeing opening, remodeling and closing of their stores in the western United States. It always bothered him that he did not graduate but it never stopped him from working hard and doing what he felt was best for his family.<br />
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He also dealt well with the unexpected. Just as he thought he was done raising kids as my siblings were adults or close to it, my mother ended up pregnant with me and he ended up going through it all over again, but we both survived. <br />
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In 1999 he was diagnosed with Prostate Cancer but after radiation treatments it went into remission. During the period of remission he (with some convincing from my mother) decided at age 81 to fill that void that had been there for so many years and get his GED. It took a lot of studying over a few month period but in 2001 my father officially became a high school graduate. Once he was done with the high school diploma he was ready to take on college! However, in 2003 the cancer returned and this time it was Bone cancer which can be one of the most painful forms of cancer but he wouldn't suffer long as he passed away on January 4th, 2004.<br />
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Its been more than 10 years since he passed away but he will always be an inspiration for never being too old to accomplish something you dream of.<br />
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