Cliffs Riffs - Stuph n Nonsense

It has taken me a couple weeks to process the death of Jeff High, one of the most brilliant people that I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. I cannot claim to have been best buds with Jeff, but I can and will claim that he had a profound influence on my jewelry career in many ways. On top of that, he was easy to talk to and an inspiration. In November of 1999, I met Jeff when I attended a 3-4 day training session at the original home of his company, GemVision, when it was located in Davenport, Iowa. Jeff started the company in 1990. I went with two other people from my first job in jewelry to learn all about Computer Aided Design (CAD), back when CAD/CAM jewelry production was something new and exciting. Holy smokes did we learn about jewelry manufacturing from Jeff and his team in Davenport. My instructor was Steve Brethauer, more about Steve in a moment. I earned my GIA Diamonds Graduate papers in 1998, so it was perfect that Jeff and his crew provided the next GIANT step in my g...

This is a rendering of one of the units facing Main Street. It will be raised to allow it to be built in the Flood Plain.  Flat River Outreach Ministries (FROM) is a a steady feature in my Brag About Lowell file. Over 20 years ago the now retired local pastor, Roger LaWarre, had a heck of an idea. His vision was for the local churches to band together and created an organization to help local people - with the co-operation of almost every church in the area. BOOM - Flat River Outreach Ministries was born. FROM tackles real world challenges faced by people every day - food insecurities, housing, transportation, and others - including annual help with tax returns. Once upon a time, I found myself in a financial mess and found help from some agencies that were not the government. I had recently moved to the Lansing area, was working two part time jobs and ends were not meeting. I got help from one organization that filled my fuel oil tank and relied on help from a food bank for a coup...