01.20.09
Just Hours to Go!
At last.
11.03.08
Arresting Site of the Month, November: The Michigan Advantage
There is a good chance the winner of Tuesday’s presidential contest will have earned his ticket to the White House in large part to having secured the electoral votes of the Great Lake State. Our two peninsulas benefit not only politicians, they afford individuals and businesses a great opportunity to start and expand their companies. The Michigan Advantage does a splendid job of demonstrating how they can get the “upper hand” by doing so. Thus, I’ve selected it as the Arresting Site of the Month for November.
Detailing Michigan’s strengths in such areas as alternative energy, life sciences, and advanced manufacturing, the site makes the case for our state, touting our skilled workforce, tax benefits, world-class universities, environmental beauty, and more. It’s also filled with helpful links that encourage further exploration. It’s easy to learn how your company can take advantage.
Note: Nominations for December’s site or blog of the month are due on Monday, November 24. I’ll announce the winner in this space on Monday, December 1. Thanks.
09.05.08
Zoë’s First Day of Kindergarten
A rite of passage not only for kids, but also for parents, is the first day of kindergarten. Our daughter Zoë attended her first full day today, and she amazed us with the smooth transition she made from pre-school to this next level. No tears, except for perhaps a quiet sniffle from my wife and I, and up onto the bus our little one went,
in and of itself a change, as we drove her to and from her last school every day. Zoë amazes us more and more with each passing week for many reasons, including the fact she’s so interested in learning and exploring. We’re lucky she’s our child, and look forward to the rest of this milestone year in her life. We can’t wait to hear all about Day One.
09.01.08
Arresting Site of the Month, September: Great Lakes Information Network
It bills itself as “…a partnership that provides one place online for people to find information relating to the binational Great Lakes-St. Lawrence region of North America” and the Great Lakes Information Network consistently achieves that goal, and has been doing so since the early ’90s. I wrote about the Ann Arbor-based GLIN in this space back in March and, given its breadth and depth, I’ve selected it as the ”Arresting Site of the Month” for September. GLIN’s pages focus on the Great Lakes themselves, plus the region’s economy, education, environment, and tourism, and it’s easy to search by state or province, as well as by individual lake.
There also is a section on maps and geographic information systems, where you’ll encounter portals, galleries, and links that offer a swath of further detail. Speaking of the latter, GLIN nominates its own “Site of the Month,” and its extensive archive in this regard dates back to 1996. You can jump in anywhere and be sure to discover facts and figures about the Great Lakes, but a good place to start is the information center. Whether you’ve lived in Michigan or elsewhere around the Great Lakes your entire life, or you’re a recent transplant to this beautiful area, you’re bound to learn something new at GLIN.
05.28.08
Living Green at Wayne State University
Kudos to Wayne State University for their recycling efforts. Since 2006, the school’s Living Green Task Force on Environmental Initiatives has been working diligently ”…to protect the environment and enhance the campus.” WDET-FM, Detroit Public Radio, licensed to Wayne State, is doing its part, too. Join the radio station for “Recycling at Eastern Market” on Saturday, June 7, from 9am-1pm. Learn more about what you can bring to the event, and please participate, if at all possible.
04.29.08
U-M Commencement, Diag Memories
Congratulations and bon voyage to the roughly five thousand of University of Michigan students from the graduating class of 2008 who participated in the school’s first-ever Spring Commencement on the venerable Diag, featuring keynote speaker Bob Woodruff. I wasn’t at the event last Saturday, but wandered through the area briefly on Friday, and enjoyed seeing the impressive setup and backdrop. It brought back memories of my own graduation at Crisler Arena many years earlier — won’t reveal exactly when that was, but the date was April 29, and let’s just say this is one of those “spike” anniversaries — and the untold number of times I dashed through the Diag on the way to class, sometimes barely looking up to enjoy the setting. Caught up recently with a U-M classmate of mine, Julie Yolles, and we both found it hard to believe how long it’s been since we donned cap and gown ourselves.
04.21.08
No Child Left Inside, GoCityKids
Kudos to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources for their “No Child Left Inside” campaign to get kids out of the house this spring and summer, and throughout the year, especially in light of studies that indicate children spend less than 30 minutes per week outside, one-ninth the time current adults spent outside when they were of the same age. On that note, I encourage you to check out GoCityKids, filled with a range of activities for you and your brood, and searchable by major city.
03.13.08
Growing Hope in Washtenaw County, Michigan
For those who possess any of the following: 1) a green thumb, 2) time, or 3) money, consider helping out Amanda Maria Edmonds and her expert team at Growing Hope, dedicated to “improving lives and communities through gardening.” Here are the group’s many current programs, with which you easily can get involved. It’s almost spring, there’s no better time! Learn more about the organization in this guest piece I wrote for the terrific Quicken Loans blog, What’s the DIFF?
02.28.08
Get Involved with 826michigan
I did just that about a month ago with this “non-profit organization dedicated to supporting students ages 6 to 18 with their creative and expository writing skills, and to helping teachers inspire their students to write.” I’m tutoring students grades 6-8 at West Middle School in Ypsilanti, just one of the many participating schools. Rewarding, important, and often quite fun.
