Family Fall Photo

We've been taking a photo on the stairs of our home for the past two years... here you go!


As a bonus, here we are at Sally's Fall Festival at LaPetite:

I am Welcome

Keegan and I took a tour of brainstorm media today. Fun, hardworking group of folks over there.

It was finally satisfying to see my name in lights, just like my mom promised all those years ago.


Sadly, Keegan was a surprise guest and thus un-welcomed.

Frank Joseph Follis

Frank Joseph Follis
(January 5, 1939 - June 22, 2009)

U.S. Veteran Frank Joseph Follis, age 70, of Bolivar, Missouri passed away June 22, 2009 at Citizen’s Memorial Hospital in Bolivar, Missouri

He was born January 5, 1939 in Springfield, Missouri to Carl Follis and Dora Melanowski Follis.

On July 30, 1965 he was united in marriage to Marilyn Baker. To this union was born three sons, Jay, Joe and Jack.

After graduating from Willard High School in 1957, Frank enlisted in the United States Marines and after boot camp went through ROTC training at Southwest Missouri State. Frank graduated from SMS College in 1961 with a degree in Music.

He attended Drury College from 1961 to 1963 and graduated with a degree in Sociology and Psychology. After graduation he began working for the Division of Family Services and while working attended Southwest Baptist College and received his Masters Degree in Psychology in 1973.

Although, most of his career was in social service and healthcare, Frank was an accomplished musician. He had mastered several instruments. He gave private music lessons during and after his college years. Among the long list of noted students, one stood out, Robert Stroud, the “Birdman of Alcatraz”, one of his students while teaching music at the Federal Medical Penitentiary.

In 1970 Frank became the administrator of Bolivar Nursing Home where he served in that capacity for 19 years. During that period Frank served on several state legislative committees and served in several capacities for the Missouri Healthcare Association, which included Treasure, Secretary and eventually President of the Association in 1981.

He was also involved in a family partnership which owned and operated 32 facilities throughout the State of Missouri serving the developmentally disabled. In that capacity he served on several local, regional and state boards. Frank was instrumental in starting the Bolivar Sheltered Workshop. He continued to work with the partnership until his death.

He was an active member of the First Assembly of God Church in Bolivar, Missouri.

Of all the accomplishments Frank achieved, his most treasured moments was with his family. He was loved and adored by his wife, sons, daughter-in-laws and grandchildren. Over the past few years, although he was dealing with health issues, he rarely missed a ballgame or function that the grandchildren were in. They could always count on “Pa” being there.

Frank was preceded in death by his parents, Carl and Dora Follis, and a daughter-in-law, Angela Follis.

Frank is survived by his wife, Marilyn of the home, three sons, Jay, Joe and Jack, two daughter-in-laws, Amy and Jennifer, five grandchildren, Kaleb, Kolby, Jacey, Jackson and Jed, and many other relatives and friends.

Funeral services will be held at 10:00am, Thursday, June 25, 2009 at the First Assembly of God Church in Bolivar, Missouri with Rev. Gary Ankrom and Rev. Billy Russell officiating under the care and direction of the Butler Funeral Home in Bolivar. Burial will follow at Mt. View Cemetery in Polk, Missouri with Full Military Honors provided by the AMVETS Post #114 of Flemington, Missouri. There will be no formal visitation per the request of the family. Friends may stop by the Butler Funeral Home for viewing and sign the guest book from 10:00am-5:00pm, Wednesday, June 24, 2009. Pallbearers will be William Graham, Jack Baker, Chris Nickos, John Kallenback, Steve Keller, and Dean Griggs. Honorary Pallbearers will be Max Bacon, David Cribbs, Jack McCrimmon, Greg Powhida, Richard Appleby and Charles Fraser.

The family suggests contributions to the Carrie Babb Cancer Center in Bolivar, Missouri or to the Bolivar High School Music Department in memory of Frank.

Friends and family may sign the guest book or send private condolences at www.butlerfuneralhome.com

{Author's Note: Frank was my sister's father-in-law. He was a wonderful person and an excellent father/grandfather. His resilience was only matched by his positive outlook on life. He will be missed.}

Things I have learned

I had the opportunity this weekend to talk about my job and past experiences. It made me think about the people in my life, what they have taught me and the important things they have said. Here are some examples. Please forgive me if I have boiled your life lesson down into just a few words:

Do the hard thing first.
-Greg Powhida

When given two options, take the third.
-Joe Wisne

A great pleasure in life is doing what people say you cannot do.
-Allen Boerger

We can do that.
-Rodney Heiligmann

Commit. Teen angst. Heart of stone.
-Anne Deffenbaugh

If you can’t take care of yourself, how can you be expected to take care of others?
-Kim Roberts

Don’t create a punishment that you are not prepared to go through with.
-Sally Powhida

Predict your customers' needs. Don't wait for them to ask for a re-fill.
-Deborah Fisher

If you don't schedule it, it will never get done.
-Jeffery Ford, PhD

I just know that you are going to become famous someday.
-Jane Powhida

You should start a blog.
-Lia Eastep

Let's do it.
-John Acton

Kill them with kindness.
-Dave Briely

I do.
-Sally Powhida

Celebrate Burdock Day: Tuesday May 19, 2009

This coming Tuesday is a very special day at our work place. It marks the last weekday that our museum is closed before the “open seven days a week” summer schedule kicks in. For some Team Members, it is a time to take one last deep breath before diving into our busy summer. For other Team Members, it is a time of reflection. For me, it’s all about Burdock Day.

Burdock Day celebrates the Burdock in all of us. What is Burdock? For some, it’s an unending drive towards near perfection. For others, it’s the 11th hour (and 59th minute) last ditch, 110% effort that goes into making experiences in our building top notch. A small few might suggest it’s the “Get The Crane”, grab ‘um by the horns attitude. And lastly, Burdock is any of a group of biennial thistles in the genus Arctium or a leather bag, used by sheep headers, to carry wine.

No matter what you consider to be “Burdock”, we request that you help us celebrate this year on May 19th. How can you participate? Here are the Ten Ways to Celebrate Burdock Day:

1. Buy a T-shirt at skreened.com : http://skreened.com/holyjuan/burdock-day Choose your favorite color and wear your shirt with pride.
2. Buy the larger frozen meal to fill up and not be hungry later in the afternoon.
3. Shave your head and claim that the ladies dig it.
4. Embrace the message and stay true to the Big Idea.
5. Write your name overtop other peoples on their tape measure, ruler and stapler.
6. Outsource It!!
7. Clean your desk (actually, clean his desk).
8. Dream about the computer game “Lemonade Stand” coming back
9. Paint it orange.
10. Use “making coffee” as a legitimate excuse to be late to a meeting.

**Due to lack of participation, the 2009 Burdock Day 250K Run/Walk has been canceled. Sorry, no refunds.**

Photos from Burdock Day 2008

It's all worth it - Build A Duck

I was a chaperone for Greg's class trip to COSI. Seeing as I work there, my little group of three kids got a very detailed visit, as I seem to know all the cool things that six year olds like to do.

Right near the end of the trip, I took them into the Innovation Showcase. This area highlights Ohio people and companies that use science, technology and creativity to make the world a better place. One of the interactives I worked on was a Flash based computer game in which guests try to innovate upon the standard rubber duck. The game is called, "Build A Duck." By talking with your career team, you can make decisions on what different items you can add to the base duck. After you design the duck, it goes into production and a sales report is generated about how well you did. (Spoiler: if a guest designs a truly horrible duck, they can actually blow up the factory.)

The project team tested the game out on the Friends of COSI and during limited openings of the exhibit. We think we did a pretty good job.

Greg and his friends stopped at the build a duck and I gave them an overview of how to play. They spent the next twenty minutes trying out different duck combinations and were very excited when their duck did well. I was very pleased to see them having fun and repeating the program that our team developed.

I was even happier to learn that it had a lasting impression on him as you can see in his drawing from kindergarten.



This makes it all worth it.

PS The cave/man/purple dots drawing is the "Black Hole" which is located in the Space exhibit. The kids ran through that about 18 times.

Parental Myths That No Parent Will Tell You About

Here are a few items that every parent, pre-parent or misguided parent should know. Sorry Mom and Dad.

Parents love their children equally
Bottom line, one kid is always going to be better than the others for some unknown, visceral reason. Either because they were the first or have more personality or they are smarter than the others. Parents also seem to like the child that physically resembles them the most. I’m not saying there is a whole lot of difference in the amount of love, but that deep in the back of their minds, parents all ready have their “Sophie’s Choice” choice made up. If you are an only child, congrats. If you are adopted with natural brothers and sisters, you are screwed.

Parents check in to see how their child is sleeping
Parents “check in” on their kids every so often during nap or night time. As an outsider, you may think that it is simply to see if the child is awake. In actuality, it is to see if the kid is dead or not breathing. The relief gained from having a not-dead child is priceless.

Having two kids is twice as hard as having one kid
Sadly that's wrong. Here is the math:
-Having one child is like having one child
-Having two children is like having four children
-Having three kids is like having five kids
-Having four kids is like having two kids.
The complexity going from one kid to two is that you, as a parental team, have shared the responsibility of taking care of one kid. Once you have two, that whole little unwritten sharing contract is out the door. You now must put out four times the effort to manage the two kids. Once you have three kids, the ratio starts to go down. Four kids might as well be none because you can split them into two teams and pit them against each other. If you have five kids, obviously the other wives can help to take care of all the little darlings.

Scientific studies say that sugar actually does not make your child hyper
Wrong. Sugar does make your kid hyper and I don’t care what scientific studies say as I have seen the effects. Not only does it make them hyper during and after consumption, it makes them pre-hyper. If kids know about the existence of candy within a five mile radius, which they do, they will desire it. Because kids only know how to eat and how to crap, that candy will fill 90% of their reality. And their reality will be jumping up and down and screaming. They want it and that’s it. Once you give it to them, they want more. If you deny them, they will kid bitch and kid bitching sucks.

My child is advanced
Every parent believes that their kid is somehow smarter than other kids and they will share this information with you. Wrong. Your child is just as not-smart as the rest. They may be advanced in some area, but that's the only area the parent will focus on that one ability. Kids are only as smart as you let them be. I suggest a daily dose of brow beatings to drop of heavy load of self doubt on your kid. Self doubters work harder and make more money to take care of you later in life. Unless your little Einstein is reading and writing at age three, go sit down. If they are reading and writing at age three, my kid with low self esteem is going to beat them up.

Having kids ruins your sex life
Ok, you’ve got me on this one.

Reason #73 why I’m a bad parent

Greg is in kindergarten and Miss Sally and I went to his parent/teacher conference right before Christmas. We didn’t learn anything that we didn’t already know: he’s a very smart kid and, on occasion, can be a real jerk. Overall was it was a very positive meeting.

Towards the end of the conference, the teacher handed over two sets of missing child identification cards. This is a card that you receive from the contractor that takes the school photos. If your child gets lost, you have a card with the child's photo on it that you can give to the police to help with the search.

In Greg’s case there two sets of photos. When his original class photos were taken, Miss Sally didn’t like the look on Greg’s face and had them shoot re-takes. The teacher gave me both sets of Missing Child cards while we listened to Miss Sally’s explanation of why she didn’t like the frowny look on Greg’s face in the first photo.

Greg frowny :(


Greg happy!

So I interjected, “I think the frowny face works well on the Missing Child cards because your child is probably going to be sad if he is kidnapped and this gives a better representation of what he would look like.”

Both Miss Sally and the teacher stared at me silently for seconds. The teacher broke the silence by gathering all the paperwork together and handing it over with a thanksforcomingin.

For the next conference, I have been directed to not speak.