The Convery Press

Convery Press Bracket Contest Ends — A Week Ahead of the Championship Game

Our participants have demonstrated incredible efficiency in completing the Convery Press 2011 March Madness Bracket Competition.  Though there are still two more rounds of play and the Championship game is more than a week away, we already have our winners.  It is rather sad that not a single member of group could foresee the upsets and have even one of their bracket hopes left intact as we enter the Final Four.  Maureen  will be receiving her $25.00 Applebee’s gift card for her (comparatively) outstanding prognostication.  I am upgrading 2nd place to a $20.00 Applebee’s Gift Card since mom will be in Florida until after the end of the St. William Lenten Fish Frys.  For his third place finish, Brian L. will recieve a family-style pasta dinner.

Final  Group Standings  are as follows:

Rank      Name                           Score

1    Maureen Convery            212

2   Audrey Convery               190

3   Brian Little                           188

4   Judy Theiss                          187

5   Diane Ziroll (2)                   185

6   Scott Convery                     183

7   Tom Convery (2)               177

8   Tom Convery (1)                176

9   Elizabeth Convery             175

10   Brian Convery                    173

11   Gary Theiss                          172

11   Todd Todd                            172

13   Diane Ziroll (1)                   168

13   Patrick Convery                 168

15   Ron Bretz                              157

16  Leslie Bretz                           153

17   Zac Spencer                         149

18   Christine Convery             148

18   Peg Convery                         148

Good Friends Are No Trivial Matter

Last night we managed to gather all the kids – Patrick just back from 2 weeks at Camp Sancta Maria, Maureen and Brian 1 day from leaving on their honeymoon, Elizabeth and Zachary from East Lansing and Christine who was busy with friend on UofM’s campus – to Connor O’Neils in A² for their Trivia night.  The prospect of getting together with the the Englishes – Dan & Donna and Matthew (Nate was on vacation) – provided a significant incentive to the three girls.

Trivia night was fun though we did not come close to placing in spite of the fact that Matthew was able to provide nearly as many answers as the rest of our team combined.  (Or perhaps it was because the rest of us combined could barely muster as many answers as Matthew provided.)    We are looking forward to another get-together soon; perhaps with an activity at which we can be more successful.

New House!

I see that my dad has been too impatient to wait for my tardy post about the new house and has written an update himself.  Suffice it to say that Brian is all moved in and we are incredibly happy to have everything settled and to be first time homeowners (I have already filed the amendment for our tax credit!)  We are eager to explore downtown and become experts on our new hometown and to have many, many visitors, so please come by so we can show off our beautiful new home.  Here are a few picture of the place before the mess of moving took place… eventually there may be after pictures as well.

Brian settles in to new house

Maureen and her fiancee, Brian, became homeowners on Friday, May 12, 2009 at 4:30 p.m..  Saturday morning was the big moving day as Brian picked up a rental truck and loaded up everything in his apartment with the help of his brother, Matt, friend, Germaine, and Maureen.  By the time Christine, Patrick, and I arrived at 11:15, the truck was practically empty.  (Peg was conveniently busy with a Chem Ed planning meeting.)  I was happy to learn that the behemoth entertainment center which I had already moved from brother-in-law Ron’s to my garage and then to Brian’s apartment was still on the truck waiting for me.    It isn’t really the weight of the unit which intimidates me ( though it is massive enough to hold satellites in its orbit), but rather its unweildy dimensions.  Brian, Matt, and I got it up the front steps and into the living room easily enough and even got it up to the first landing of the living room stairs without incident.  We nearly lost Matt as we turned up the main flight of stairs.  When we found the unit to be 2 inches too tall for the stairway ceiling, we began to have problems and decided to return down… 45 minutes later we unjammed it and rescued Matt from a nearly fatal entrapment and carried the unit downstairs.

Brian and I went out to Brighton to retrieve some of Maureen’s furniture which had been stored in the Bretz basement, while Maureen and Christine did some unpacking and orgainizing and Patrick remained oblivious to everything outside the world of his Nintendo DS Guitar Hero game.   With the last few pieces of furniture moved in, Brian & Maureen returned the truck while I trimmed bushes and Christine and Patrick cut the front lawn with the rechargeble electric mower which I bought as a very earth-friendly housewarming gift for Brian & Maureen.

Brian and Maureen returned  and ordered some pizza for us.  Naturally, mom arrived at the house after all the work was done, but five minutes ahead of the pizza.  She did take these pictures of the house before she ate:

Hurrah! for the Yellow & Blue

After four years, Maureen has recieved her degree and now calls herself an alumnus of the University of Michigan. She earned an A.B. and a secondary teaching certificate majoring in English and minoring in history. Saturday, April 26, 2008 was a picture perfect day in Ann Arbor with brilliant sunshine and spring flowers in bloom everywhere. The “main” graduation ceremony took place on and around the diag which had been incredibly transformed from its usual park-like setting to a concert–like event with flooring, stages, risers, sound systems, jumbotrom screens, and folding chairs to accomodate the anticipated crowd of up to 30,000.

We had lunch at the Michigan Union in a private room which Maureen easily arranged as she works with Michigan Union catering. The lunch was fabulous as was our time spent walking around the union and the rest of campus recalling our days at Michigan. Elizabeth and Christine made every moment between the lunch and the School of Education commencement at Hill Auditorium at 4 p.m. a photo opportunity clicking off 230 pictures (see “Graduation” album in out Photo Gallery).

Hill Auditorium is historic, intimate, beautifully renovated, and the perfect setting for the pomp and dignity of such a solemn occassion. Here at this smaller School of Education ceremony, Maureen had the opportunity to be individually recognized and “walk” across the stage.

Patrick insisted on teaming up with “B” to take on Maureen and Dad in a game of “waterpong” before leaving Maureen and Ann Arbor. Maureen & dad prevailed and Patrick and Brian were forced to drink a considerable quantity of water.

Convery Press has affiliated site!

Now that Maureen has begun student-teaching, she has also established her own website conveniently hosted on the ‘ConveryPress’ server. Her first unit is Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet. Check it out at msconvery.com

Maureen has New Apartment

Maureen moved around the corner and up the street into new digs with Hilary Conlisk who has been her roomate since freshman year. Peg & I and Maureen’s boyfriend, Brian spent a good part of the day taking truckloads of boxes and furniture from the old house to the new apartment. Maureen was quite appreciative and took us all out for dinner afterward (she really paid!)

Her new apartment is quite nice (as college housing goes). It is a first floor apartment with two bedrooms, a decent sized living room, serviceable kitchen, and clean bathroom. The house in which they have their apartment is a stately old house with a tile roof (unusual for Michigan) and a spacious, covered front porch which will undoubtedly get lots of use on football Saturdays. Maureen and Hilary also get the entire driveway (no getting parked in by others) which will be nice as Maureen will be driving to a placement at an Ypsilanti middle school this fall and to a high school student teaching placement in the winter term.