Here’s what might be on schedule for me:

2009 : This year I have struggled with the software operating this site. Hopefully all is now at least stable. So lately, the last few years, I have been basically retired and disabled and operated on and medicated. I had about 1/3 of each lung removed at the Cleveland Clinic; we bought a condo in Tucson, and I brought music back into my life.

In spite of the rest of this page, life is not so bad. I can read a lot, and often too. I am learning much about early blues and blues I grew up with, and the relationship between the two. I am so lacking in knowledge about what I really have a blast doing - dealing with music by either listening to it or playing it. I am getting better at the guitar. I got a Taylor DN3 through an abomination of events at a great price. I learned that it is better to spend a little more and get a good, quality guitar.

Random postings here. I quit law in 2000 - burned up, burned out, and got burned too much. So, then I joined the ‘Dot-Com’ group, and learned all about HTML and web authoring. I had run a BBS in Grand Rapids for years, so the menuing was pretty intuitive.

Unfortunately for me, about 3 days after my intensive courses in HTML ended, the bubble burst. No jobs. No ‘Dot-Com’ insanity was left. (We are still making up for that one!)

So . . . I was reading in the paper one night and discovered that Forest Hills High Schools (Northern and Central) needed someone to teach Latin which was of course my major at college, and so in August, 2000 I became a Latin teacher. That year our country elected a new president, and with the coming of GWB came budget problems for all schools everywhere, trying to not get left behind. Latin was cancelled.

So ... I decided to become certified to teach secondary Latin, and did so at Western Michigan University, graduating right in the midst of no opportunity left, in March, 2003. The day after I completed classes, I became a full-time substitute at Kalamazoo Central High School for Frank Cody, who had been diagnosed with cancer. I finished up the year there, and learned during that time that Latin was being eliminated from the curriculum.

Since then I have been substituting at different schools around the area. Kids seem to enjoy my sense of humor, and I have found that I have an ability to connect with the kids, and in particular the kids no one else seems to want - alternative school kids - but to no avail, since school districts aren’t particularly growing, or they don’t want someone my age (I was actually asked by one woman at a school if I could keep up with a full day’s schedule... Isn’t the aging process great?) So, I have been taking occassional courses to get certified in ESL but at this point have basically given up serious hope of landing a job teaching high school. This is unfortunate and a great loss to some school district, but that’s why I’m not hiring I guess...

I have learned that I am good at shutting down Latin programs. That looks like a good niche to become involved with.

I had left tomryan.com in the dust, and this year (2005) have decided to re-establish something here so folks can find me if they want. Like Joe Walsh says, “Leave me a number, maybe I’ll write.”

Sometime around 2002 I was diagnosed with emphysema and it has been getting progressively not better. So now I take all sorts of breathing meds and run out of air sometimes. I was hospitalized in 2005 when I was unable to get a normal breath - I thought I was going to smother! - and since then have been spending more time at our home in Arizona to get away from the dirty air of Grand Rapids.
I got my first guitar at about age 12, but really started playing it in 1972 (thanks to getting to watch Hans Olsen play his guitar at bars around Tempe and Phoenix, Arizona. Since then, and in particular in the last 10 years, I have put some time in learning about the guitar. I am not bad at this point. My favorite guitars are made by Oscar Schmidt and generally I am an “e/a” type guy - accoustic electric. I don’t have a lap steel guitar yet, and don’t have a bass guitar. I do have harmonicas but at this stage in my life it is too difficult for me to play. I have several accordians I like to mess around with - button accordians.

I like to listen to music, but I have strange likes. For example, right now my favorite group (at least to listen to) is Afroman (the group that became famous because of their hit “Because I Got High”) and I have continued during the years to listen more and more to common blues. If you want some good tunes, listen to Hooker and Heat (John and Canned). The “Rock and Roll” I focus on is blues-oriented (Deep Purple, Bad Company) and my interests extend to Jan Arden (Insensitive, I Would Die For You), Joan Osborne (GREATSTUFF) (What if God was one of us?), and the jazzy Fiona Apple. I have been able, thanks to the internet and newsgroups, to get a collection of some 50,000 or so songs during the last couple years. I don’t like country (excepting Shania) but do like folk music. A couple Gordon Lightfoot albums can take me far far away... .

I tan really well. See?  You can tell it’s me - my face!

We got a Roomba which is of course a robotic vacuum. Infortunately it broke pretty shortly after we got it, and it is in the process of being returned on an RMA so we can get a new one. These things are incredible. If vacuuming is difficult for you (as it is for me), or if you are lazy, or if you just don’t love the sensation of vaccuumming roombas all the time, you should at least check it out. The folks at www.irobot.com really know what they’re doing.

Ok. Roomba came back and she has been working like a champ the whole summer. What a gal, that Roomba. I think that Maureen is getting a bit jealous, as she makes veiled threats against the poor vacuum cleaner. Best $300 I have ever spent. Get a Roomba. And if you get a robotic lawnmower let me know how it works. Thank you. You’re welcomed too.

Speaking of robots, I also like news radio. I listen to NPR almost constantly and recommend it to anyone as it is a tremendous source of information on the world. One day I listened to 4 hours of Alan Greenspan live on tape, and I learned about the Feds. Actually my joke is that Greenspan is used to torture prisoners, because listening to him is like listening to wall paper dry. Speaking of Feds, the name “Thomas Ryan” is apparently on some government watchlist, and accordingly my flying travel is not unlike Cat Stevens’. His song Mona Bone Jakon is great - one of the best songs I have ever heard. Not that my hearing is improving as I get older. That’s the second thing to go. The first is ... I’ll get back to you on that one - I forgot it.

Speaking of forgetting, do you remember the Beatles? One of them named George joined the Travelling Wilburys, who are often mentioned by Homer Simpson. You should listen to them sometime - some of their songs are very good, and the members of that group .. what a lineup! Hey, George, I got my mind set on you.