Is a business 13 years old when it starts its 13th year or when the 13th year is complete? However you figure it, we at the Free Press will complete 13 years when we reach the second issue of August.
The neat thing about owning and running a business is that you can cook up ideas and then try them out to see if they work.
I?ll have to say that not everything we have tried has worked. The concept of a free newspaper, however, has worked because of our many loyal advertisers and readers, and due to the efforts of our great staff, past and present.
Like all business anniversary milestones, it seems to spark the impetus to try more stuff. So be watching for new things beginning in the first part of our 14th year in business.
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A couple of weeks ago I wrote about all of the houses I have lived in during my lifetime. It took so much space that I didn?t get to relate a few notable things about living in those locations.
It seems as though we would buy a house, and by the time I would get the kitchens and bathrooms updated it was time to sell and move on.
One of the bigger projects was the garage at 214 S. Adams in Hillsboro. It was a little garage, about 18 feet square, and had a wall down the middle?not enough room on either side to do anything. So the plan was to tear off the roof and replace it with a gable roof using clear-span truss rafters that I built myself. I also extended the length of the building by 8 feet.
I worked all night on a Friday making those rafters and Satur?day was the day to put them up.
Wouldn?t you know it was raining that morning. The rafters went up anyway. The result was a very usable garage with a real garage door and a place for son Dan and I to pull motors, transmissions and the like.
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Next time I?m low on ideas, I?ll write about all of the cars I?ve/we?ve owned. It must be about 20, which is just about equal to the number of houses I?ve lived in.
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Patty Decker, who does news and features at the Free Press, took a video of the entire program at the all-school banquet May 28. My goal is to provide a few clips from it on the landing page for the all-school reunion on the Free Press website. I?ll let you know when it?s ready to view, and when that page has been updated for next year.
In case you?re wondering, the next all-school reunion will be May 26, 2012. Save the date.
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Summer isn?t the best time for TV. All of my shows are over for the season and there?s not much sports to watch. For the first time, I forgot to record the Indy 500 and missed it entirely. I don?t think I?ve missed it before, but I?ll be just fine without it.
But just in time for summer, ?Ice Road Truckers? is starting its new season. The premier episode was Sunday night. The show has two new drivers?one with a pretty face and the other who is a know-it-all and so far has serious problems making the adjustment.
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Over reunion weekend, both my sisters and brother were at our house for a get-together, which doesn?t happen often anymore.
We took a picture and noticed that we are looking very mature. I think sister Elaine said we look ?rugged.?
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Another benefit of the grandsons coming?they can teach me how to use my phone.
