Weblog
Friday, July 11, 2008
-
Spank Me I'm Giddy!
There was this guy named Scott
Made xanga friends he enjoyed a lot.
They helped him through thick
And they helped him through thin.
He got everything and much more than he sought.
Spending SO many nights
With our hearts on our sleeves
And even the odd email
Explaining our pet peeves.
I remember the warmth
Of nights spent on a virtual “beach”.
And the flip-side of that
A good lesson she did teach.
Some pondering of God
With a minister to boot
Someone I could relate to
Not only football we did root.
And a virtual family
That is second to none.
Gave me instant credibility
With the xangans who have fun.
This poem never ends
Just as my thank-you’s never stop.
To the ones listed above
And the others who bop. ;)
We bonded through sorrow,
We bonded through pain.
We worried and wept
Yet never missed the “laughter train”.
While farewell this is not
It is definitely “best wishes”
You’re still thought of often
So don’t go sleeping with the fishes.
And tonight right before
You “lay you down to sleep”
Be thankful for the xangans
That are caring and deep.
(‘Cause I sure am grateful! How about you?!
...btw, one last note ... YOU are one of the ones I am thankful for! )
Scott
Saturday, March 22, 2008
-
GOD AND FOOTBALL
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned the movie Rudy before and I just saw that it was on tv last night. I’m not disappointed in NOT seeing it again, but it brought to mind a scene from the movie, which is one of the best “underdog-win” movies, imho.
Of course, that might have something to do with me being a fan of football.
Add to that my belief in God but my disgust with “religion” and you get the following …
In the movie, Rudy is in the chapel and speaking with the priest, wondering whether he has done “everything” he can to achieve his goal of being accepted into the University of Notre Dame, his life-long dream. (i.e. “Do I have to pray more?”)
To his queries the priest answers … (as best as I recollect)
“In 35 years I have come upon only two incontrovertible facts;
One, there is a god.
And two, I’m not Him.”
Today I’m thinking that if all religions agreed on that as a major principle of their manifesto, we would have a big step taken towards world peace.
Yes, I may be pushing it a bit, but let’s move on to a “Happy Easter” greeting to all who are recognizing it.
Peace
Scott
Monday, February 25, 2008
-
Into The Night
I'm prepping for St. Patty's Day, and since I've got some friends that haven't heard of this girl, I thought I'd pass her on to you. She is NOT a one-hit wonder, but she is fairly fresh! Indie-like at the least, dontcha say??
Basia Bulat ... say hello to xanga. (She's a myspace girl, but hey, everybody's gotta make a living. :) )In The Night (click to listen)
Thursday, February 14, 2008
-
Care Packages
Note the date on the blog below. While I was recovering from a hectic work schedule, that is still no excuse for leaving it as PRIVATE for over 6 weeks... especially since I thought I had published it (PUBLIC)back then!
____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Thursday, December 27, 2007"Care" Packages
It's sorta neat when I have to go through the protestations that follow the offer of sending me along my merry way with a "care" package.
At this time of year, it happens almost everywhere I go. At least everywhere a husband and wife reside. Some of my single friends are NO help at all, and I guess it follows that I return that hospitality.
Not
because both sides wouldn't LIKE to do it. We just always order
takeout, so the extras naturally stay with the host. An unwritten,
unspoken rule of sorts, for the young and useless... umm... you know
what I mean. If there is no BBQ possible (snow and ice), then there
is no at-home cooking for me!
BTW, what does "care" package MEAN, anyway?
Anyways, home cooking is a regular occurrence these days, with those "care" packages being put together for me. I go through the "oh, don't be silly, I eat very well. (which I do, just not "home-cooked" very often in the winter).
Usually the people know exactly my favorite foods, and fill the package with my favs. But the odd place that doesn't know me well will give me a sampling of ALL the dishes, which is probably the "thing" to do, but for which I must hide my disappointment at having things like cooked broccoli, squash, carrots, etc. taking up space that could be inhabited by my favs.
So it's taken me a couple of years to perfect this. I NOW take a date to people's places that I don't know that well. After we leave, when I split the "care" package between the two of us, I GIVE HER ALL THE FOODS that are nutritious. Thankfully, I very seldom hear an argument!
I suffer with "the rest"... (***drooools***)
Naturally, I TRY to go it alone to all family and long-time friends places that are serving me dinner.
What, share the "GOOD STUFF"??!!
When I was five years old my one aunt was in the habit of buying me something "special" that I hadn't "asked" for, for my Christmas present. My mother knew I was not interested in clothes, as I HAD LOTS OF THOSE, so the beautiful, expensive sweater that my aunt bought was sure to get an adverse reaction from me. It seems I HAD a habit of speaking exactly what was on my mind, despite my having been punished for being rude from day one.
I was clearly told to say "Thank you very much for the ...", no matter what it was.
I ripped open the packaging, saw it was a sweater, and said, "Thank you very much for the sweater Aunt B.", and then looked at Mom and said, "But it isn't a Truck, IS IT MOM?!!"
So I'm a spoiled little brat. But I just paid off my sizable student loan, even though I didn't even have to even HAVE a student loan (as in parents wanted to pay, but I didn't want that "influence"). I did it by taking on a job that was brutal in it's hours, and difficult in that I was the only certified person out of the 120 people that worked on it. And THAT part of it was as hard to deal with as any other.
But we got through it. And the bonus was worth the sacrifice. My Mom's expression, and her inability to speak sorta shocked me at first. In your typical "guy thing", I asked what was wrong, as she had started to accumulate water around her eyes at the "news" of my loan being paid off and my car free and clear too. As soon as I said it, I realized it had to be Dad she was thinking about. He had been happy to see me take on the responsibility of paying for my education, even though Mom wanted me to allow them to pay for it. He wasn't cheap. He just believed in me.
I know that the SAME pressure isn't there for someone who has that sort of backing if things don't work out, compared to the person coming from a household with limited funds. But there is still pressure to do what you say you will do. Pride is involved as well.
Aside from that, I can definitely say that I'm happy that THAT part of my employment "contract" has been fulfilled.
And if you're still with me, let me wish you a 2008 that fulfills every wish and dream that you have!!
Peace
Scott
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
-
Scott The Coach-Who'da Thought
I’ve decided to relay a story, merely for the simple reason I think there are some out there who will “understand”, and probably laugh at my decision-making when people ask me to get involved in something I had no intention of ever having anything to do with said subject. And during the busiest time of my life, by far.
My big boss (majority owner) at work came to me and asked if I would mind “helping” him coach his daughter’s hockey team last fall, as their coach “had to leave”. “Had to leave” meant “he got tired of the girls act”, but I didn’t find THAT out until the first practice I attended.
I obviously agreed to do it “for a couple of weeks at the most”. FYI, these girls are 13 and 14 years of age.
When I got to practice the first time, I found my owner could hardly stand up on skates. I wasn’t the best player growing up, but I had had good coaching, and had coaches, for the most part, who pushed me to be better all the time. So I get around okay, and have a pretty good understanding of the game itself. Still, football was always my passion, but hockey would be second to that.
Anyways, my boss was standing by the boards holding himself upright, so I finally decide to call the girls over, introduce myself, joke, and then ask them to work hard and not waste my, and my owner’s time. After answering 100 questions, I start to explain the drill I want them to do, using a big board with a rink drawn on it. As I’m turned towards the board while “dry-markering” the path they need to take, I was shocked when I turned back around, towards the girls, and they ARE LYING DOWN ON THE ICE! Watching, yes, but chatting and propping themselves up on their elbow like some pajama party.
I couldn’t help but laugh, before I asked wtf are they doing. (no actual swearing)
I was told that that was how they’ve been doing things for 5 years, and that’s how they wanted to continue to do it. “Can we negotiate on this?” Some said maybe, most said no, and none of them got up from their prone positions. So, as I had been smiling most of the time thus far, I skated the perimeter , silent but smiling , then stopped suddenly, and yelled at the top of my very loud voice, while raising my stick and slapping it very hard on the ice. “Get you’re a….self up off that ice and along the boards … NOW!!!!!”
I skated them for the rest of the practice, over one hour, without them getting to touch a puck, which is the fun part of hockey. No puck, and it’s just figure skating. When I say “just” figure skating, I do not mean to diminish that sport one bit. It’s just that hockey players are used to chasing a puck around the ice, and aren’t enthralled when one isn’t present on the ice.
I’m going to fast-forward from that first practice, in the hope that you understand why I’ve used a fair bit of space setting the stage.
I’ll sum it up. It was supposed to be “helping coach for 2 weeks”, until they found a full-time coach. It took 8 weeks to find one!! Obviously, any job concerns weren’t relevant, with the big boss’s daughter on the team. This situation had us delay our project 5 or 6 times. Crazy to some, but I saw another side of my big boss here. It cost him a good chunk of money when I was delayed in my travels due to this hockey club.
The girls instructions from that point on were that they don’t have to like each other away from the rink (the backstabbing of that age-group still stays with me), but they MUST RESPECT THE TEAM AND THEIR TEAMMATES WHEN THEY HIT THE ARENA.
I had many conversations over the 8 weeks with these girls. Often they were short and to-the-point, as I, a male, can’t go in the dressing room until 5 minutes before we go on the ice. You can try other numbers, but girls this age are best at 5, I found.
So this group of “bad-ass” girls, who were about to be suspended, as a team, from the league, since no one could control them, ended up going undefeated for over 2 months, with team-play becoming their priority, and the girl who I was told was the biggest puck-hog anyone had ever seen ended up being the leading assist girl in the league, while not dropping even a goal off the pace she had set goal-wise.
On the “other” side, I had to deal with 2 girls that bawled their eyes out because they panicked and shot the puck into OUR net. EVERY player tried to console them, but couldn’t. Somehow, I was able to get them back, after a whole lot of explaining, about life, liberty and the pursuit of … ;) . Believe me, it wasn't easy... :)
It’s funny though. When they finally found a full-time coach for the team, I was ecstatic. Even at that, my employer tried to keep me in town and finish the season. The girls made videos, pleading with me to stay. Ones that their PARENTS followed up on, begging me to finish the season. I found this both touching and a bit crazy. I’m no super-coach. Billy B.-now there is a super-coach!!!
But I have to admit the girls got to me. Not WITH THE VIDEO, NOR THEIR PARENTS SUPPORT.
They “GOT” to me because of their drive, their competitiveness, their willingness to lay it all on the line for the team. And of course I’m affected, honored actually, at the quickness of their acceptance of my “program”.
They will hopefully continue their success. I told my boss he could never do that to me again. I understand fully, in fact he gave up a bunch of money so that his daughter would have me as her coach for a few months. She is better for it. So am I. But it's hard to stop right in the middle of winning, where EVERYBODY is happy.
My boss is now getting heat for sending me "home", to complete a huge project, and after he delayed it many times to help the hockey club out. I feel terrible for him.
So even the best of intentions ... :)
Gotta love the the girl's attitudes and fortitude!
Peace
Scott
And it will not surprise me if a couple of those girls are playing in the Olympics some day.
I can’t think of anyone more deserving…
Peace
Scott
Premium