Discrimination

I have no eye hand coordination. At the tender age of 10 my parents signed me up for Pee Wee baseball. The first time I got hit in the face with a thrown ball my teeth cut through my lower lip and it took 3 stitches inside and 3 out to patch me up. After that, in addition to not being able to catch a ball, I was afraid of the ball. I was such a crummy player that when the other team didn't have enough players for the game I was assigned to the other team. I always ended up in left field. When balls were hit towards me I would run to the outfield, to get away from the ball. I'd wait for the ball to hit the ground then I would run up, grab it, and throw it to third base. The team I was playing for was pissed because they thought I was trying to make their team lose. My team was laughing in the dugout because they knew I couldn't catch the ball. That pretty much ruined me for team sports. With that background, I never developed eye hand coordination or decent reflexes. Now I sit in my cave with an XBOX 360 trying to survive in on-line play such as Call of Duty 4. The verbal abuse I get is pretty stiff ( I now know what PWND means - pronounced POWNED!!!). I've gotten to the point that I unplug the headset and turn the TV volume off and shout "F" "U" at the other players - they can't hear me. Today my son introduced me to a neat song, it is a song from an XBOX game "PORTAL". If it weren't for my son I'd never hear this song http://vimeo.com/1612411. Why? Well you have to finish the game to hear the song during the credits http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RthZgszykLs . With my eye hand coordinatin I'm lucky to finish my beer, I'll never finish the game. Sometimes life sucks. Baseball sucks. I am glad I have a son and nieces and nephews to enlighten me. I don't think I needed to learn PWND.

Carry a Message to Garcia

“By the Eternal! There is a man whose form should be cast in deathless bronze and the statue placed in every college in the land. It is not book-learning young men need, nor instruction about this or that, but a stiffening of the vertebrae which will cause them to be loyal to a trust, to act promptly, concentrate their energies; do the thing — "Carry a message to Garcia.”

http://www.roycrofter.com/garcia.htm

It's my work ethic. I believe it, I practice it. I learned it from my Dad when it didn't have a name. I'm pretty confident that my Dad never heard of the phrase "Carry a message to Garcia". Dad lead by example, and this says how my Dad lives his life.

Philosophy

My dad was a great philosopher. He doesn't remember how great he was, I guess that's my job. One of my first lessons in philosophy involved a washing machine. Many of my lessons involved fixing and building things for other folks. After all, in the Midwest my parents needed additional income to support four boys and one girl, all about 1 year apart in age. That's a fair amount of food. But I digress. I'm helping dad fix a washing machine and he sends me to find some tool of mass destruction. Probably a left-handed monkey wrench (Dad had a sense of humor). Anyway after an enternity of searching - time was measured the number of times dad said, "Haven't you found that damn thing yet!", I found the tool and proudly carried it to my dad, laying on the floor, dripping in sweat and waste water. I then proclaimed, "It was in the last place I looked!", and dad responded, "I'm glad you stopped looking when you found it". The philosophy lesson here is that you should stop looking when you find things. That could be a significant other, lunch, a magazine, etc. Know when to stop looking

Catalyst for Change

I had an Uncle who passed away 31/2 years ago. It was termed a "hunting accident" but really he just fell off the tailgate of a pickup as he and his friends were riding to a different pheasant hunting location. He didn't leave a will. He did leave behinds friends and family.
The whole event was a catalyst for change, some good and some bad, but I'm convinced that is how life is mapped out. Unfortunately, just like a rainy campout we always remember the really bad times, but, we have such a struggle to remember the really good times. Put Blue Hill Nebraska in both columns. Put cold beer (for an underage kid) at the end of a wheat harvesting day in both columns.