Lisa Neisen and 25 years

 I WAS AT Blessing Health Hannibal yesterday for the noon delivery and lab pickup, and I noticed a big tent set up and people gathered, presumably to eat lunch. It was BHH's annual employee appreciation cookout, and at the urging of lab and purchasing staff, I stopped by.

Standing there, of course, was my friend for many years, Lisa Neisen. Her title is something fancy now, like Administrative Director, Corporate Communications. When you have a stray comma in your title you've either been at the job for a while or awesome. Or, in Lisa's case, both.

Some 25 years ago, Lisa worked for Blessing PR. I joked about her writing my Herald-Whig health page stories. She laughed and said, "I don't even remember that!"

Well, I do. I can't remember what I had for breakfast, or the fact my Urology appointment was Tuesday and not Monday, or what time my skin cancer screening appointment is Friday, or when my latest credit card payment is due.

But I remember Lisa and her fellow staff members Steve Felde, Jenn Drott and Emily Robbearts. I think Ann Awerkamp Dickson was their boss. They worked out of the old St. Mary's Hospital Building on Vermont Street. Now it's just a big field - I think they put a plaque where Steve used to sit with the inscription "STEVE DID SOMETHING HERE."

I remember them mostly because they were very kind and patient when dealing with a nervous new reporter. In 1999, I switched over to the news side from sports and jumped into a whole new world. I was put on the health beat, and the Blessing PR staff made it easy and helped me navigate through an often confusing and intimidating time.

I always looked forward to meeting with them and figuring out stuff. If I needed something, they always delivered. 

I still see Steve wandering around the Blessing hallways. I think Ann and Jenn still work for Blessing, too. But I mostly see Lisa. She's usually holding a clipboard and going or coming from a meeting. The years have been very kind to her, much like she was kind to a clueless former sports guy a quarter century ago.

All these years later, I'm spinning around in circles for the same place I used to write stories about. It's proof that awesome people like Lisa are the ones who make the world go around.

Not a weatherman

 I AM IN trouble with a Lab Brat. Her name is Ashleigh. I gave her a wrong weather forecast yesterday.

"I have a bone to pick with you," she said, after it hailed golf ball-sized pieces of ice and rain flooded roads yet again yesterday afternoon. "You said it wasn't going to rain."

I was loading up my Blessing vehicle for the afternoon Hannibal run around 3:15 yesterday when Ashleigh and another Lab Brat walked by. They were on break and decided to take a walk. All day it had been sticky and threatening, but the rain kept sliding north. Now the sky to the west was black and the air was still - sure signs of nasty weather on the way.

"Is it going to rain?" Ashleigh said. 

"Nope," I said. "Wanna drive to Hannibal with all this stuff in the back?"

"Hahaha," she said, staring dubiously at the black sky and presumably rolling her eyes as she kept walking.

A little after 3:30, I was on Ill. 57 near 12th Street when all hell broke loose. The golf balls pounding the metal roof of my van sounded like bombs going off. I couldn't see because of the rain and the wind blowing debris sideways. So I  pulled over and waited it out, and waiting is something a lab courier isn't very good at doing. After a 15-minute wait, I kept going through the driving rain

I finally got back to 11th Street in Quincy more than half an hour late. Were the Lab Brats concerned about me driving through Armageddon?  

"You were wrong about the rain," Ashley said.

"It rained?" 

"Yes! We went outside and we watched it!" she said. She was very excited.

Look. We all want to be Rich Cain and try to get the forecast right. But let's face it, we can't always be like Rich, or his amazing daughter Audra, who took guitar lessons from me and is a rock star. But that's besides the point.

I just drive through it, splash through it, pray my windshield doesn't crack when being bombarded by hail, slow down and let idiots in large trucks roar past me on highways, or pull over when I can't see.

I'll try to be a better weather guy for the Lab Brats. Or give them simple advice, like, "Stay inside when it's storming."

 

Going out to eat = $$$

 MOST LATE AFTERNOONS DURING the week I eat at the Blessing Hospital cafeteria. It's really good. You can stuff your face with an entree, salad and drink, and it's cheap - less than $10 for a full meal for a Blessing employee. 

Every now and then I run late and I have to grab something on the run. In Quincy, this is a challenge. Drive-throughs can be busy and the food substandard. And expensive, for what you get.

There are great restaurants in Quincy. Tiramisu is my favorite. 8te Open is running a close second lately. I do love Jimmy Johns, Chicks on the River and Platt Daddy's. People have their favorites like Tower, The Abbey, Kelly's, etc. It's likely more than tradition than anything.

I prefer to stay away from the chain places - the other night I got Taco Bell and it was awful, and horribly overpriced.

One of the Blessing Lab Brats suggested QDoba by whatever they call the Quincy mall these days. It turned out to be amazing - the burrito was almost bigger than my head. They make it right in front of you like a sandwich place, and the employee was very helpful when putting it together.

I got it with chips and salsa and a small drink. It was $20. What? 20 bucks? 

Then I thought about it. Gone are the days of restaurant workers making $5 an hour. More power to them - restaurant jobs are challenging, to say the least. The rent in that place must be astronomical. And if you think we pay more for food these days, well .... so do restaurants. So we don't have to like it, but I get it, and once in a while it's not a bad thing to support them.

You get what you pay for. I'll be back, every now and then. There was a steady stream of people coming in to eat and picking up orders on a late Monday afternoon, so hopefully it's doing OK.

My hat is off to restaurant owners and workers everywhere. It's a huge part of what makes Quincy special. There are a ton of places I haven't mentioned and a goal is to visit as many as possible

Eat on, Q-Town!

Emily is a Gator!

 DR. EMILY HART is a Gator. A Florida Gator. Her old man couldn't be prouder.

Emily officially received her DMA, or Doctorate in Musical Arts, from Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y. Her long and challenging path included graduating from Quincy High School in 2009, Western Illinois University in 2013 and Eastman with a Master's Degree in 2015. After several years as an assistant professor of Oboe at Western Illinois, she returned to Eastman to get her doctorate.

In August, Emily starts her new job as Assistant Professor of Oboe at the University of Florida School of Music. As in, the Gators. The big school in Gainesville, Fla. When I talked to her about the big adventure, she said, "Wanna go to a football game?"

She knows her old man too well.

Her oboe odyssey began at a very young age when she went to a "petting zoo" at Quincy University. The details have faded with foggy memory, but somebody recognized Emily had ability to blow on a reed, a very difficult thing to do. Quincy Public School's music program helped her lay a foundation for the rest of her life.

There are so many people who helped her, and I wish I could name them all.

I'm going to Rochester at the end of May to hang out. And yes, I've checked the Florida football schedule for the upcoming season. Hmmm .... Gainesville is beautiful in November, right?

Dr. Emily Hart, I couldn't be prouder. I love you bunches. You have worked so hard and gone through so much to get here. And the adventures will only continue to get better and more exciting.

Go get 'em, Gator!

You can still park close

 ALLISON HUTSON AND I are stoked about playing at the Quincy Brewing Company Saturday night. We are hoping the rain stays away and the beer garden in back is rocking and rolling. 

QBC is on Sixth Street between Maine and Hampshire. It's part of the Sixth Street Promenade. It will look amazing when it's done.

But progress often carries pain. The street looks terrible right now and is all torn up because workers are replacing sewers and doing other work. You can't park right in front of the Quincy Brewing Company, or any business on Sixth between Maine and Hampshire, except those on the corners.

But it's still easy to access. There's tons of parking within a square block, including several city lots. You don't have to walk far to see us play Saturday night. In fact, you can walk into the back area where the beer garden is located.

Click here for more info on public parking in downtown Quincy. Most businesses are within 300 feet of a municipal parking lot. And the lots are always open.

We battled parking issues when we owned Second String Music at Fifth and Maine, mostly because the WCU Building employees sucked up all the spaces first thing in the morning. Still, you didn't have to park far away.

Parking is all about perception. If you go to Wal Mart, you park more than a block away, but it looks like you are close because of the massive building. The businesses on Sixth have small doors on smaller buildings, so it appears you are further away. You aren't. A few years ago I walked off the steps from a block away from our store, then went to Sam's Club on a busy Saturday. I parked much further away at Sam's. 

 Come see us play Saturday night! It's just a short stroll from the parking lot to the beer garden. And sooner than later, you might see us playing on the street of the beautiful Sixth Street Promenade.

Kelleys at rest ... later

 

VICTORIA AND CHRIS Kelley are two of the coolest cats you will ever meet. They own Table 16 Productions. Over the years we've had a few adventures, including making movies in music stores, having glory stolen from us at talent shows and hanging out in haunted places.

If you really want to see their artistry, check out the guitar drop video they made with me and the legendary Greg Ellery. I can't believe this was 10 years ago. And Greg STILL cheated. But I'm over it. Maybe.

Victoria and Chris have creativity and talent, something I lack in spades. But we do share one thing in common - our love of Woodland Cemetery. The Kelleys, ever the planners, have decided where they will rest in peace when that day comes, hopefully many years from now.

They put up a tombstone in Woodland this week. It. Is. AMAZING. And there's a poem on it. The marker is not far from Quincy founder John Wood's grave. John Wood allegedly brought his father's head from New York and buried it in the family plot, so it's fitting the Kelleys will rest near a legend, with legendary tales. And heads.

We walk the dogs every morning and always say hello to familiar faces - Bob Mays is the most prominent. Now we get to say hello to the Kelleys. And they aren't dead. Yet. How cool is that?

There's got to be a way to tie this in with some sort of Green Room or wedding vow gathering. Wow. A Kelley bash in Woodland Cemetery? Perish the thought, and I wouldn't be caught dead thinking about it. 

Still .... it's an idea!