July 31, Adam And Me. A Personal Commentary.

Today is the forty-first anniversary of the birth of my firstborn, Adam Roland Hansen. I am so proud of Adam; he is the epitome of human potential. As the years have been going by, Adam has continously done much to contribute to his community and the world. Adam is a man of whom all should admire and respect. He is a fine man, a good man, who strives to improve to be even better. The following is a reproduction of what I wrote two years ago on my other blog, Roland's Ramblings.

July 31, Adam And Me.

July 31 - A date very dear to me. Read on to learn why.
Here are two entries from the previous domain of Roland's Ramblings that I located on The Wayback Machine:

JULY 31, 2004
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Thirty-one years ago today, I became a father. My first-born was a boy. How appropriate his given name is Adam. Over the years, he has become a good man. If all men could be like Adam, we would all have a much better world. I am proud of him and proud to call him my son. I love him dearly.

JULY 31, 2005
HAPPY BIRTHDAY, ADAM
Birthdays are special days for everyone. I wish a very happy birthday to my son, Adam.
To Adam, I also say:
Your special day is also a special day for me. The day you were born 32 years ago, I became a father. You have really become a very special person in so many ways. I am proud of you; and, I am proud to be your dad.

Interesting, eh? Well, look at the July 31 Roland's Ramblings of 2011 with its embedded links to the July 31 Roland's Ramblings of 2010 and 2007 and the comment I made the day after it had been a year ago.

So, it is again that time of year when I say:

Happy Birthday, Adam!
Thirty-nine (39) years, and counting.

And as I do each and everyday, I think of how much I love my son, Adam Roland Hansen, and of how proud I am of Adam who constantly, consistently, and continuously strives to be the grandest version of the greatest vision of his highest self.

That which I scribed two years ago is just as true today as it was then.
Oh, there is one exception!
My statement of two years ago of "Thirty-nine (39) years, and counting" needs to be updated.
I now need to change that to "Forty-one (41) years, and counting."

Jesus was a Jewish Radical Nonviolent Revolutionary!!!

I saw a very interesting meme about Jesus that I decided to share with those folks who visit Roland Hansen Commentary. I think it will be interesting to see if anyone has the chutzpah to comment. That being stated, here is the meme about Jesus:

Ye Olde Durty Bird; 2 S. St. Clair St.; Toledo, OH 43604

On Tuesday, July 1, 2014 1:31 PM, I wrote an electronic letter to Ye Olde Durty Bird restaurant in Toledo, Ohio via the contact form contained on its website, a copy of which is reproduced below.

From: Roland Hansen
Subject: Dissatisfied customer
Message Body:
I am a very dissatified customer. I took a guest who was on his work lunch hour to your restaurant today. I am a reired 66 year old man, so time is not a problem for me, but it is for my guest. I informed the waitstaff of the time constraint. My guest ordered a big Italian Hoagie with chips; I ordered a classic burger with chips. It took about 20 minutes or so to have our order delivered.
There were fries, not chips, on my plate. I inquired about whether the fries were supposed to be included with the burger and that I thought it was supposed to be chips. The server asked if I wanted the fries to be taken back and chips to be brought out. I responded with "I do not care what you do. I did not order the fries and I am not going to pay for them." The server appeared irritated and walked away. I started eating my burger. Lo and behold, within a couple minutes the server returned with an extremely small bowl of chips (about the size of a custard dessert dish). The server set down the chips and while I had my burger in my hand with a napkin held under it in my other hand, the server removed the burger platter with the fries on it. and walked away. I was astounded at these actions. To make things worse, when I asked for the bill because we had to leave (my guest had to place half his sandwich and all his chips into a take-out container due to being late in returning to work), I was presented with a bill in which I was told $1.49 had been removed as that was the cost of the fries. None-the-less the bill included the full sales tax on the original incorrect amount and the $1.49 was listed as a discount. Consequently, I actually paid $.10 more than I should have paid. I paid with my Discover Card. In all my years, I have never received such poor service, nor have I ever witnessed such unprofessional actions as the way this incident was (mis)handled. FYI, my receipt lists the following: 1020 Phillipe, Tbl 21/1, Chk 4918

Almost immediately, I received an immediate automated electronic response which was as follows:

Ye Olde Durty Bird Management Team
To Me
Jul 1
Thank you for contacting the Management of Ye Olde Durty Bird, Downtown Toledo's Gastropub.
Your inquiry will be processed accordingly.

HOWEVER, IT WAS NOT UNTIL,
TEN (10) DAYS LATER, THE MANAGEMEMENT OF YE OLDE DURTY BIRD RESPONDED VIA E-MAIL.

On Friday, July 11, 2014 12:22 PM, The Management wrote:

Roland,
So very sorry to hear about your experience here at Ye Olde Durty Bird.
We strive to provide quality food and service for all guests.
Your feedback is important and helpful for us to make any necessary improvements.
Again, very sorry for the negative experience.
Sincerely,
Julie Ketterman
General Manager Ye Olde Durty Bird
2 S. St. Clair St.
Toledo, OH 43604
PH: 419-243-2473

THE SAME DAY AS THE DATE OF THE RESPONSE FROM YE OLDE DURTY BIRD, I RESPONDED WITH THE FOLLOWING.

To The Management
Jul 11
Thank you for your answer of July 11, 2014 to my concerns as expressed in my July 1, 2014 e-mail to you. I believe I just may share our communication exchange on my two blogs in order that others may be as aware of your responsiveness as I now am.
In that I believe you would want the general public to also be aware of your responsivenes, I will also give some thought to sharing this elsewhere on the internet.

To which, I again received an immediate automated electronic response, as follows:

Ye Olde Durty Bird Management Team
To Me
Jul 11
Thank you for contacting the Management of Ye Olde Durty Bird, Downtown Toledo's Gastropub.
Your inquiry will be processed accordingly.

IT IS NOW ANOTHER TEN (10) DAYS LATER, AND THE MANAGEMEMENT OF YE OLDE DURTY BIRD HAS NOT RESPONDED TO MY LAST E-MAIL. THEREFORE, IN KEEPING WITH MY MESSAGE TO THEM, I NOW POST THIS BLOG ENTRY.

Comments, anyone?

---

UPDATE (written August 15, 2014)

I wrote a very similar yet somewhat different entry of this Roland Hansen Commentary on my other blog, i.e. Roland's Ramblings, entitled Ye Olde Durty Bird Restaurant In Toledo, Ohio: Irresponsible Management which was posted on August 1, 2014.

Shortly after publishing that blog entry, I sent a link of it by private message to the Facebook account of Ye Olde Durty Bird. Within hours, I was contacted by Julie Ketterman, General Manager of Ye Olde Durty Bird Restaurant via her personal e-mail account that was used to avoid automated responses. In her e-mail, Ms. Ketterman took full responsibility for what had transpired, was very apologetic, and offered to right that which was wrong.

After a brief exchange of e-mail, an agreement was reached that I found to be extremely satisfactory and, in fact, was more generous than would be expected by anyone. I found Ms. Kettterman's personal attention to the matter to be personal, professional, responsible, and accountable. The end result of this entire matter is the complete opposite of my earlier impression.

I can now state that while the initial difficulties were very frustrating, the end result was much more than satisfactory. For this, I publicly acknowledge and express my appreciation to Julie Ketterman in her capacity as the General Manager of Ye Olde Durty Bird Restaurant.

A Dog Named Boo

In the YouTube video below, you may watch and listen to: 

"The Story of Boo Hansen. Boo's News from the House of Boo. The Adventures of Boo Hansen."

You may also view and read the story over on the website of WTVG 13abc; just go on over to:
Dog featured on 13abc's "Pet Project" now a therapy dog, Posted: Jul 06, 2014 10:18 AM EDT, Updated: Jul 06, 2014 2:56 PM EDT, 13abc.com Tony Geftos.

It was Tony Geftos who did the interview and then told the story of Boo Hansen on the Sunday, July 6, 2014 broadcast carried on WTVG abc. It was also Mr. Geftos who uploaded the story of Boo Hansen onto YouTube, both of which are above.

Mr. Geftos also provided the story of Boo Hansen over on the Facebook account of Tony Geftos 13abc - Tony Toledo. You may view that Tony Geftos 13abc - Tony Toledo Facebook posting in the embedded link contained herein.

Another Facebook wall also contains the story of Boo Hansen as you may see by going over to this embedded link: Meteorologist Ben Cathey via 13abc.

Christina Williams also referenced the story of Boo on her Facebook wall which you may see by following this embedded link.

The Story of Boo Hansen is catching on like wildfire. To the best of my knowledge, this story has been shared in the last couple days by over a dozen people on at least three social media venues (Facebook, Twitter, Google+).

I wonder if the Story of Boo Hansen is going viral.

Stay tuned as I am sure there will be more in the future of The Story of Boo Hansen with Boo's News from The House of Boo in the telling of The Adventures of Boo Hansen.

But for now, how about a song of another Boo? Here is "Me And You And A Dog Named Boo."

The Fourth Of July, Independence Day, and Richard J. Hansen

The FOURTH OF JULY brings forth thoughts of life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and freedom.

This year, 2014, is the first INDEPENDENCE DAY of my life that my brother Richard Hansen, a 20 year veteran of the United States Marine Corps, will not be physically present on this Earth. Rich died from pancreatic cancer on August 16, 2013.

Back on May 28, 2012, I wrote a Roland's Ramblings blog entry entitled Freedom. My brother, Rich, wrote the following as a comment to that blog entry:
"Very well said; Because I’d give my life for my country or anyone of my brothers and sister. Freedom is why I served my country and would do it all over again even at my age."

As I bring in the Fourth this year and think of freedom, my thoughts are of Rich. (Indeed, I think of Rich each and every day.)

In honor and in memory of a true American, my brother Richard Hansen who hated to be called Richard but instead preferred to be called Rich, I ask you to read a previous Roland Hansen Commentary as follows that I had written (and, please check out all of the included links):
What A Wonderful World, Dedicated to Richard James Hansen

Toledo Mayor D. Michael Collins and The Smoking Gun

This just in from Toledo, Ohio:

Smokers need not apply.

That could be a sign at Toledo government offices with Mayor D. Michael Collins’ signature if he moves forward with a plan to prohibit the hiring of tobacco and nicotine users.

“This is good public policy, and it’s not driven by anything political,” Mayor Collins said on Monday.

Read the entire article "Toledo may go smoke free in its hiring policy" courtesy of The Blade.

Okay, so Mayor Collins thinks the City of Toledo may save money on the costs of health care benefits - I get that; I understand. 

HOWEVER, 

I cannot help but wonder why that same reasoning is not applied to prohibit the hiring of people who consume alcoholic beverages, as I wrote over on Twitter.

I recently read an article that stated, in part, ".... employees who drink a lot are often absent from work, suffer from a lot of health problems, and are at a greater risk of harming themselves and others."

If you go to the following embedded link, you may read the entire article "Alcohol and the Workplace" courtesy of the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, Inc.

Hey, now go on over to read the following embedded article:

Link Between Alcohol Consumption, Work Absence

Another interesting article that I suggest you read is 22. Alcohol and the Workplace from the International Center for Alcohol Policies. 

Now then, I am not really advocating a "no hire" policy on people who drink alcoholic beverages.

HOWEVER, 

I am wondering why Mayor Collins would use the rationale of cost savings in regards to a "no hire" policy of people who smoke but not in regards to alcohol users or to obese people or to any other number of groupings of people who may have the effect of adverse increased health care and related costs to the City of Toledo.