Passion on a 6 Foot Grill

Hey kids, it’s Dad. For today’s Tommylog, I want to tell you about an experience I had on my trip to NW Arkansas. I had the opportunity at eating at a restaurant called Herman’s Ribhouse in Fayetteville.. The story is well worth a listen!

We need more passionate people like Nick and Carrie in our life!

A Friend Through Many Lifetimes –Mr Taylor

Hey kids, it’s Dad. For today’s Tommylog, I wanna talk to you about my old friend Pat Taylor. Pat Taylor and I met almost 20 years ago when I was running a prepress department at Banta. Pat helped me install some digital infrastructure in our server room. Pat was co-owner of a company called Proactive Technologies in Dallas Texas. One thing led to another, led to another and I found myself in Dallas, in his home, breaking bread with him and his beautiful family. He welcomed me into his home like his own. This is how Pat operated. It’s amazing how friendships like that can flourish. He has always been an avid writer. I love reading what he writes. Because we’ve met in person, when I read what he writes, I hear it in my mind in his voice.

Several years ago, Pat sold his stake in the business and decided to cross the Rocky Mountains by himself on foot. He kind of became a mountain man. His nickname is “Texas Yeti”. He now lives in a remote mountain ranch in North Idaho. he has written a few books, one of which I just ordered and can’t wait to read. One thing I love about Pat Taylor is the fact that he forges his own road. Does it his way. Others may have done it before, but darn it, Pat’s going to do it his way. Pat has a love for life! When you’re around Pat, you cannot help but have a good time. Laughter and amazing stories are the order of the day. We need more of that in our life.

The world needs more Pat Taylors!

Thank You from the Mailman

Hey kids, it’s Dad. For today’s Tommylog, I want to talk to you about a think you note I received from our mailman. This year for Christmas, I wanted to thank those who work so hard for me. Clearly thanking my family was important, but one person I see each and every day that brings me so much love and joy, my mailman! Brian comes faithfully every day. I’m an avid Amazon prime shopper, much to the dismay of some my foreign coworkers 🙂 – – but Brian makes sure that all my packages show up at my back door so no porch Pirates take my treasures. Brian is just awesome. I love my mailman and I appreciate his hard work. And this year I wanted to thank him in the form of a gift card for Christmas. Then a few days later, I received the nicest thank you card in my mailbox. That made it all worthwhile. I love getting handwritten personalized thank you notes. I try to be a good thank you note sender, I learned that trait from my buddy John Lavery. THANK YOU SIR!

Thank you mailman Brian for the thank you note. It really brightened my day. I’m not sure why, but it did. I appreciate your faithful service and I appreciate the note. We need more thank you note writers in this world! I’m trying to do my part!

We need More Michaels In This World!

Hey kids, it’s Dad. For today’s Tommylog I have kind of an emotional topic. I know you’re going to be shocked, but that’s the way it is.

Today I want to talk about my great friend Michael. Michael knows that I’m a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Though we have different religions, we find time to talk shop, technology, movies and family. always planted on common ground. Michael is an avid traveler. He travels to Los Angeles quite often. During his trips to Los Angeles, he will send me a picture of the Los Angeles Temple. Temples are very near and dear to the hearts of every latter-day saint.

Michael knows this. He knows how important temples are in my life. Even though that might be just another good-looking building to him, he knows the significance of it in my life. Michael knows the smile that seeing the temple will bring to my face.

Michael is an amazing friend. Michel sends me his regular dose of LA Temple because he cares. he cares for our friendship and he knows what it means to me!

In this day and age, the world needs more Michael’s in it!

More Than Just Waffles!

Note: this video got delayed due to Tommy’s gallbladder surgery. I posted that video before this one. Enjoy.

Hey kids, it’s Dad. For today’s Tommylog I want to talk to you about something that happened this morning. It was really a pretty amazing moment. Christmas morning. The house is full of kids. Excitement abounds. It was amazing that this was the first Christmas that didn’t start at like 5:30 or 6 o’clock in the morning. We all slept to a reasonable hour, got up to open gifts.

But after opening gifts I told everybody we were going to make waffles. I was so excited. A few weeks prior I was at a friends house and saw they had this awesome double-sided waffle maker. Very similar to those you see at hotels. It was reasonably priced so I got it. This morning we had our first “Full Clifford waffle breakfast”.

And as I was making waffles, we’re listening to Christmas music and I heard all the laughing and playing and giggling and I got emotional. Fancy that! Thinking to myself, this is what it’s all about! This is what family is all about!

So as we all sat around the table, partaking in waffles, I thought to myself, this is more than just waffles.

This is family!