And Now, for Something Completly Different

Yes, I confess, I was a "Monty Python" fan...thus, the title.

When Bettie's stroke occurred on June 23rd, I was about three weeks into a rigorous rehearsal schedule for a series of August performances of Meredith Wilson's wonderful musical "Music Man". I had auditioned for and been awarded a role in the barbershop quartet (known in the play as "The School Board"). Though I sing in Northwest Sound Men's Chorus, I have never performed in real stage drama. When I heard of the opening, I couldn't resist giving it a try.

Rehearsals were Sunday through Thursday evening from 7 to 10, beginning in mid June and going through the first performance on August 7th. Though all cast members were not required at every rehearsal, it was a very big commitment. So you're thinking: "I wonder how much they have to pay people to do that?" The answer: nothing, and that's what I love about it.

The production company that is putting this on is Twelfth Night Productions, founded and directed by Mary Springer. Over the years they have done a variety of productions, usually two to four each year, and this summer, it is Music Man. Though it is all volunteer, it is not amateurish. Read all about them on their web site.

Naturally, I had to resign from my role when the stroke occurred, but I remained on the e-mail list of the company. Thus, I know how hard they all worked to put on this show. I had told Mary that I wanted to bring Bettie, if she was able by the time the performances began. She set aside two tickets for me, from a sold-out house...I couldn't miss it.

Try as I might, I could not convince Bettie to come. She was quite adamant, like she is about going to church, that she would not come. She's just not ready. Veronica attended with me, and thoroughly enjoyed it.

Now I'm not a theater reviewer, so I'll leave that to others. But I am someone who appreciates things "American"...and this is, for my money, as American as it gets. Here you have dozens and dozens of people donating huge amounts of time and talent to give their neighborhood, their society, something good, happy, and entertaining. Not doing it for money, but for the sheer joy of doing it, and doing it the very best they could. Trust me: they succeeded. (Here's a video of the curtain call.)

I said they were not paid...that's not exactly true. I saw the pay on their faces out front after the show. Mary Springer's pay was running down her cheeks as I thanked her for her immeasurable efforts and told her that I would do this blog for the show, in case next weekend is not sold out.

So if you find an opening in your calendar next weekend (Friday and Saturday at 7:30 and Sunday at 3:00 - West Seattle High School Theater) you will see a slice of America at its finest.

Oh No...Another Commercial (or 2)

Without going into a long medical history here, I'll just say that the events leading up to this clot/stroke event included numerous appointments with various practitioners of the medical arts, and even a couple of ER visits. After awhile, one gets a sort of stereotypical picture in mind when the term "medical" is even mentioned. For any one practitioner or facility to stand out from the rest, they have to be something quite extraordinary. One of them is.

Highline Medical Center was the care provider for Bettie's first nine days, and they were simply the best we could have hoped for.

• The physical facilities (which, like all hospitals in the world, I think, are still under construction/expansion) are impeccably maintained, clean and efficient. Even bordering on luxurious in some respects.
  
• Parking is convenient and free.
  
• They have state-of-the-art equipment and procedures. (Bettie came here in the first place because it was one of few places that had the equipment and know-how to do what she needed to have done.)
  
• They have excellent food, delivered hot and on time. Something even some restaurants struggle with.
  
• And the staff. What can I say? They were simply outstanding. I tried, in my last few minutes before Bettie checked out, to get around to as many of them as possible and thank them for their role in her care. And "Care" is the accurate term here...they obviously do. From the professional physicians and nurses, to the various assistants, even the volunteers. My hat's off to them all.

So my advice to you, should you find yourself staring up into the face of a 911 responder some day, is to croak out: "Take me to Highline!"

_____________________________

And now, for the other "commercial" mention: I want to thank the wonderful people at i1010 Communications for, among other things, helping me create this blog. Within minutes of the first alarm going out about Bettie, plans were made to fly their entire staff in from San Francisco.

OK, OK ... so i1010 is just my son Steve and his one-man web agency (and his contractors). But what kind of a dad wouldn't put in a plug for such a helpful a son. Reluctantly, I have to take him to the airport this morning so he can get back to earning a living. He will still be my faithful editor though, ("Hey Dad, did you forget to run spell-check ... again?") making me look like I can actually write.

So if you, or anyone you know, needs help with a web project of any size, Steve at i1010 Communications should be your go-to guy.

And Now, a Word From Our Sponsor

The tool Steve and I are using to create this blog is owned by Google, you know them…yea, that Google. One of the features it allows me to do is put commercial ads along side the posts, as a means of earning a little something. Of course I'm not doing that, and won't. But if you'd allow me just this once, I would like to put in a word for a commercial enterprise that has risen so far above and beyond reason to accommodate me in this -- what shall we call it? -- this adventure?... that they deserve some favorable mention.

That entity is UPS. Yea, good old Big Brown.

The company I work for, iShip, is a little, but important, subsidiary of UPS. We create, manage, and host the retail shipping software used in all the UPS Stores, and also in a lot of other customer locations; like Nordstrom for instance. The people here are like a little family.

I guess there are around 50 of us, but from time to time we are visited by high level people from UPS and they make us feel like we are the real reason UPS is successful. Good people do that.

I write the online Help for our products, and dabble in training documentation, Flash demos, and such. My contribution is not on the critical path of our products functionality, but the people here make me feel very important. People ask me: "Dick, why aren't you retired?". "What, and let UPS fail? I couldn't do that!" Is my answer :-)

Like many very large companies, UPS self insures. That means that the health insurance we enroll in here at iShip, and the ultimate payer for Bettie's treatment, will be UPS. To me, of course, this is huge, huge, huge. Probably no big deal in the grand scheme of things for UPS but nevertheless, I'm grateful beyond words to have it.

But it isn't the insurance and the monetary considerations that make UPS and iShip great, it's the people...the heart.

UPS was founded right here where I live, in the Puget Sound area, actually in downtown Seattle. (The headquarters is now in Atlanta...or is it the iShip building in Factoria?) The founder, Jim Casey, was obsessed with two things: reliable on-time package delivery, and corporate integrity. The integrity part is what shows up in times like this.

Here are some of ways this UPS spirit has affected me:

• Tuesday morning, on my way from the hospital in Auburn to the hospital in Burien I get a cell call from my good iShip buddy Sid Heinz. (Sid is the one that "brought" me from a previous company where we both worked.) This is very early in the episode and Bettie's life, let alone quality of life, is still very much in question. "Forget everything here" Sid told me "Concentrate on Bettie, we've got it all covered here. We're praying for you".
  
  Ever try driving with tears in your eyes? Don't try it.
  
  
• Tuesday afternoon, just after Bettie's procedure with Dr Wiess, I'm at her bedside and I get a call on my cell phone from Tim Davis. Tim runs two of UPS's subsidiaries from his homebase in San Diego. iShip is one of them. He's got two companies to run, but he's calling to encourage me...he didn't have to do that.
  
  It undoes me now, just to remember it.
  
  
• Wednesday I'm making my first contact back to iShip and Cheryl Gray, our HR gal appears to have dropped everything to look into insurance issues for me. Very helpful. Then the next day I get this e-mail from her, subject: "Just checking in".
  
  It was a lot more than that...lots of insurance info, etc.., But that subject line just made me feel...supported.
  
  
• Just last night I get this (an excerpt from a longer message) from Shaindell Goldhaber, my immediate supervisor: "Please let me know if there’s anything you need, either personally or work related. Your work family will do everything it can to support you during this stressful time. I understand your need/desire to work, so I won’t chastise you for coming in. Just be sure you give yourself all the time you need to support Bettie and to take care of yourself as well."
  
  What a sweetheart I work for.

I could go on with other support I've gotten from my work family, but you get the idea that these are special people indeed.

So, if you are one of the countless people who have said "Just let me know if there is anything I can do", my answer is "Ship something using UPS!"

What can Brown do for you? More than you'll probably ever know.