my uncle al

i'm sorry to anyone who reads this that i have not blogged sooner. i am quite poor at it now that i'm on facebook a ton more. SO PLEASE FORGIVE ME! and until everyone i know has a facebook, i'll continue to try to update my blog as much as possible.

I'M SORRY uncle al! you rock. and i'll try to do better.

(let me know when you get a facebook!)

and thanks so much for having us out every year for thanksgiving. i love coming out. the food is always awesome and the company is always fun.

happy thanksgiving to all, and to all, a GOOD NIGHT.

1st source bank should be your LAST resort

first national bank of valparaiso was bought out by first source bank. i've had a checking account with them since my senior year of high school. a good friend of my family's used to be a "higher-up" at the main branch, brian terpstra. i think he lives in texas now; man, do i miss him!

anyway, when the banks switched my account number from FNB to first source's new numbers, apparently someone else got my info as well. i'm just now realizing it and am PISSED. i'm making the big trip to downtown valpo tomorrow to open up a can. (please tell me you know this phrase.) cuz i can't think of a better way to express my anger that this wan't caught. nor was it even MY OWN CHECK. the guy who signed "hull" didn't even spend my last name right. he was trying to pose as my dad, whose name was also on the account. he withdrew money. and apparently first source was happy to oblige.

there is hell to pay for this. i am pissed. and although it's not hundreds of dollars, it's the principle of the matter.

AND I WANT MY MONEY BACK. i'll update my blog tomorrow to let you know what they tell me. i have no problem picketing their dumb bank just for fun. i need to be outside more anyway. and i love to talk to people. but i hope they do the right thing.

funny stuff

"Huh. So Iran just friended us on Facebook...Like, do I accept?"

lots of blog ideas, no time to blog

if anyone has been to brown's ice cream in valparaiso, indiana, hopefully you will have had the chance to use the restroom there and read what is on the bathroom door. AMEN AMEN AMEN AMEN!!! i just had to interject that!

i've got some great pictures of the popcorn fest so when i find my camera, i'll upload them. yeah, i got there really early so i could run in the lil' kernel puff. it's a race for kids but my friend's three-year-old felt more comfortable with someone running with her & holding her had. so that's what i did.

i am proud to say i came in last place running against a bunch of toddlers. (gosh, i knew i was out of shape but that's ridiculous!) the reason was cuz my little friend was so very excited/distracted with the roaring crowd cheering us all on, she wanted to run slowly and get a good look at everyone who was looking at her.

so we had a blast and i was glad to get up early for my little tike friend.

and i'm tired of blogging so much about the crap in this world. it's getting old and wearing me out! and of politics (heaven forbid mrs. palin takes us to war against russia!) and everything politics entails. so as much as i blog for my own good and have a great place to vent, i also want to blog about fun things. so i'll keep writing about the political crap and my take on things in the world as well as losing a giant race to a bunch of knee-high racers.

oh well.

are you kidding me?

what a joke. i'm sorry but if you have "CHRISTIAN" anywhere in your name or title, i would like to think you could almost live up to it. or at least be making an effort. instead of all the hypocrisy that surrounds you. the PRETENSE of being upstanding and having good morals, beliefs, or principles.

whatEVER. i was not impressed at all at one of our area "christian" schools and a certain player's performance today at my place of employment. and i use that term loosely. actually, there are two terms associated with this place that i use loosely. "christian" and "school."

what a farce.

get over yourselves. and be careful how you live. because believers who are watching you are EMBARRASSED to be identified in the same "grouping" as you and those who are not believers see you as complete hypocrites. i could not be more embarrassed and pissed off right now. not a chance. sadly. hopefully this school with either fold completely or improve tremendously. cuz i don't know what favors it's doing these kids anyway. and it can't get worse than it already is.

i am so disgusted.

but if certain people EVER come in again the way they came in today with the same horrible attitude and complete disrespect for the gym, their butts will be thrown out so fast it will make your head spin. same will happen to their parents when they come to try to rescue their children. and then the cops will be called.

TRY ME.

@ cedar...

having fun making a movie up here! (and spending time with people i love!)

fun before i head north

erin duey got married today...wow. i wish them well. everything was beautiful and fun. meanwhile back at the ranch, evan duey is getting close to being taller than me.

BUT NOT YET!!!

circle Y reunion of sorts...

saw some old schoolers last night at the beginning of teen week...

in the first picture: me, marque, jacquie, kelly
second picture: marque, chris, me, tyrus

freefallin

more to come. sorry i've been so awol! here's a fun pic from today!

superslowreflexes

so i got high last night more than i ever have before from secondhand weed smoke. the joe cocker/steve miller band concert last night at the old tweeter was awesome (even though steve miller forgot some of the words...) but since we got to the concert late, we got to park in the VIP section for free! which was at LEAST a $30 value. which also meant we got to park right behind the motorcycles AND got to be some of the first to leave. i was actually thankful for that cuz i'd rather not be driving around anyone who was in the state of most of the concert-goers. (high AND very drunk.) i could tell i was quite lightheaded and in a daze but flying down 80 with the windows down and music cranked helped. the fresh air was amazing. (as fresh as you can get in this populated of an area....)

surprisingly, there were few old schoolers there. bearded hippies and such. there were disappointedly a LOT of little teenagers there who were just there for a good time. not to enjoy the music. just to get drunk and high and have a little fun outside. so why wouldn't they just stay home and do stuff like that in their backyards? it's a little cheaper, safer, and less annoying to the rest of us. i was also surprised how many teenyboppers showed up with their parents too. it's unbelievable and unforgivable the number of parents who are all about being friends with their kids rather than being parents. that will so bite them in the butt later!

oh yeah, we were late to the concert cuz we decided to hit up the ikea in bolingbrook. that was pretty cool...although i like the one in schaumburg tons better tho! i forgot how small this one was. but i'm sure it was better this way otherwise we would have been REALLY late!

bunch of complainers we are

most americans are so self-focused. we're very ego-centric. our country can eat whenever. sleep comfortably wherever. entertain ourselves until hell freezes over. (how many billions of dollars go to ENTERTAINING US?) and yet all we do is complain....

Buh-BYE!

Saturday can't come soon enuf, dear Hillary! Good Grief. You've run a good campaign but you needed to congratulate Barack last night after he got all of his delegates. And CONCEDE. I'm not sure that Barack would make a good president, but I'd rather have him in office than Hillary. She's been in politics for too long. Can't remember what it's like to be a normal citizen. Barack's inexperience and ties to crazy people like Jesse Jackson and his pal Al also frighten me though. And that crazy pastor and that Catholic priest. UGH. How disgusting. I believe everyone knows that he is keeping his distance from them because they would bring him down. And the public is SICK TO DEATH of Al Sharpton & Jesse Jackson. And of all the politics from behind the pulpit.

HOWEVER, I'm not sure about John McCain either. He's got the experience but he's been in politics for so long (and is subscribing to Dubya's foreign policy--domestic too--for so long) that he might make horrible decisions as well. Besides that, you age SO MUCH and SO FAST in Washington and John McCain is not going to hold up very well. He's too old to begin the oval office thing. He isn't going to get my vote. Yes, even as a registered republican, I cannot in my right mind vote for another republican this time around. NOT GONNA HAPPEN.

I don't know that I'll vote for Obama either. I hate voting for the lesser of two evils. However, it's easier to see the least evil here. But I may vote for my dad again as a write-in like I did during the last presidential election. It's for the principle of the thing. Dangit.

scott mcclellan, "rev" michael pfleger

what a couple of clowns.

scott mcclellan has every right to write about his days in the white house--but he immersed himself too much in the beltway, i believe. he got sucked in so much that he himself didn't even know the truth. yet he sat and jawed on and on about lies and "misconceptions." (which was painfully obvious to the rest of the world...) so i guess i'm glad he wrote about his experiences. it's a free country. but to me, he's not anymore a newly liberated man than he is a fool to be mocked for standing up and defending all of our dear president's decisions and being super cocky about it when he knew nothing of what he spoke about at all. i suppose the democrats will jump all over this. oh well. the current administration needs to be replaced anyway.

as for mike, i don't have much to say other than WHAT AN IDIOT. since when is the pulpit a place to get political? EVER??? so he likes to be controversial, eh? whatever. nobody's impressed. he hasn't really apologized for what he said either. he just somewhat said he was sorry that people took what he said the wrong way. i don't even like hillary. but i guess he's gotten enough hate mail that he'll prolly back off from such a spirited "sermon" for a good long while.

what a couple of morons.

i'll be gardening?

here are a few pics of my progress thus far. since i decided to take over a plot of sod about 14x16 square feet in my parent's backyard, i've had to dig out the perimeter so mr. fox would know where to rototill. then i had to rake out the sod and now i'll have to do a little more digging & raking to get out those fern plants that stubbornly remain. but as for the fuzzies, (rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, etc.) if i need to i'll sit outside with a pellet gun to get rid of the varmints that will want to eat my veggies.

today i plan to erect my fence to mainly keep out the rabbits. (my dad's helping me.) but any fuzzies who i catch eating MY veggies will be subject to the hose, water gun, and if i get desperate, a pellet gun. unfortunately i won't be able to stand guard much. so hopefully my fence works really well.

btw, the house next to ours that has my garden flush up against their porch wall-which is actually on our property-has been abandoned for at least ten years. we have no idea what the heck is up with that but all i have to say about it is "no neighbors are better than rotten neighbors!" the house isn't the prettiest house and in fact the porch's reddish roof-awning type thing is quite ugly.

My Fix

i got my sailing fix last week. hopefully it will last long enough until i get to go out again! because SADLY, who knows when that will be. i'm back in valpo now. but although i'm back in valpotown, i don't have to report back to the barracks until wednesday. basically, i'm still in vacation mode but am slowly readying myself for another long haul. but i'll be ready.

freshest air ever

with an exception to the U.P., of course. (the air i'm referring to is out on the open water--where the calibogue sound and atlantic meet.) sailing yesterday was the funnest time yet. i went out on a tri-hull boat (four hulls including me! tee hee hee) and the wind was STRONG. in fact, my kayaking got cancelled for today because it was too windy. but i'm not too miffed because i got to sail yesterday and i'd much rather SAIL than kayak. but i do like them both. btw, i did see dolphins while sailing but didn't catch any of them on film. (how do you get saltwater out of a camera, anyway?)

remember how i explained earlier that everything on the island is really hard to find? stuff is very far off the road and just blends in perfectly? i found a very nondescript building today which ended up being a mcdonalds! the little silver sporty car in front is our rental. it's ok--but full of blind spots!

the guy with traci and i is Dennis Van Der Meer. he's a famous tennis coach who moved here from south africa about fifty years ago. he's a very cute old guy. the tennis school traci's at is called the "van der meer tennis university." mr. van der meer walks around a lot just nodding in approval and saying, "good, good." his wife is usually with him walking around and watching all that is going on. there's a guy named tim who works at the courts (my courts--in valpo) on occasion who took lessons from and met dennis van der meer and his right hand man louie. and this was all back in 1975! mr. van der meer is still here (obviously) and so is LOUIE! the van der meer tennis academy is a great little place with a lot of really supportive, kind coaches. it's full of a friendly staff who seems more like a family than a tennis staff of pros.

sorry i didn't post anything yesterday; i was too wiped out after being out on the water (and in the wind) yesterday.

and oops--i see i duplicated two pics. oh well!

dolphins are cute...

and fun to watch during dinner! our table was the funnest table at the restaurant tonight in sea pines. we had the best view of the sunset, the boats, and the DOLPHINS that came to say hi to us! dinner was good too. above are some of the pictures i took today. there is also a sign marking a spot on the ground where you are to stand if you want to be on their (holiday inn's) live cam. the holiday inn is one door down to the south of us. i went pool hopping today. it was fun. the holiday inn pool is not as warm as our pool here at the condo. but i like all the pools. (we're staying at a place called the "breakers.")

oh yeah, and the lady in yesterday's blog (picture of me and a lady) was my field representative from the chicago teacher's union...she was the one who i was in touch with when my one student decided to make me his gang initiation and shoot me...

anyway, i sat next to her on the flight from chicago to atlanta and we only realized who each other were after we had landed in atlanta! (small world!)

down to 64, up to 85

that's tonight's low & tomorrow's high. i can dig it. for any of you who are familiar with hilton head, we are staying at a condo on south forest beach. our condo is on the 3rd floor of a building that looks more like a boardwalk. it's very ocean city-ish. our front deck faces the ocean & pool. i'm most amazed at this island by the fact that everything is HIDDEN. for example, there is a walmart here and fast food restaurants, but the building code must have been such that no one can actually see them unless you study the landscape REALLY well and happen to notice a BUILDING back in all the woods/forest/foliage. it's amazing. and when you DO find the mcdonalds & walmart, the buildings are brown. VERY camouflaged. which makes finding things on this island a lot harder. not only is this a new place, they're trying to hide the stuff you're trying to find. not fair.

so of course, after we landed, we got our rental car, went to check out our condo, and went to have dinner. we had dinner at some restaurant in shelter cove in which a drunk guy fell off of a ledge about 10 minutes after we got there. (mind you, we were there at about 5:30 on a sunday evening...) i FELT the thud of his body hitting the ground. he is SO gonna feel that tomorrow! the entire restaurant staff came flying out to see what was going on and to shoo him away. hope he's ok!

we then went to walmart (after we searched & searched & searched) and crammed our little rental car with STUFF. besides the normal stuff like bottled water, snackies, sunscreen and all, i also got ANOTHER boogie board and beach chair. yikes. i spend a LOT at walmart wherever i go. it's disgusting.

so above you will see some pics from today. thankfully, traci has been here before and knows her way around pretty well. she starts at the van der meer tennis university tomorrow and that's when i start sleeping in. (and then going to the beach.) or the pool. it will prolly depend on whether the waves are big enuf to boogieboard on! and depending on whether or not i get my economic stimulus rebate placed generously in my account tonight, i'll be planning a few other fun items for myself later this week. but we'll see.

btw, i'll leave you in suspense till tomorrow about who the lady is that is standing next to me at the atlanta airport.

who could it be???

as i sit at midway--bored out of my mind

i decided to add a fun video. this was me and mark yesterday with rocks. i mean boulders. the one in this video almost took off my left foot. oops. yeah. that would've been bad! however, in jumping out of the way somewhat, i managed to try to catch the bajillion pound boulder. as, in, catch it with my hands. (actually, my LEFT hand, specifically.) it only took off a little skin. but three of the five fingers on my left hand are pretty stiff this morning. oh well.

cuz moving rocks at the courts is FUN. prolly should have worn work boots too. steel toed work boots. maybe next time.

considering the amount of $$$

considering the amount of $$$ shawn olson and his wife have spent on the ridiculous amount of mailings i've gotten, you'd also think they would have paid someone to proofread their junkmail. woops, i mean "literature." or maybe the money would have been well spent for them to attend some post-high school English classes since high school must not have done the job....

are you serious? the error is here:

"STANDING FOR THE TAX PAYER'S"

um...the tax payer's rights? the tax payer's hard earned dollar? what?

i think i'll vote for his opponent based on the NUMEROUS pieces of junk mail i've received from him/his campaign and the errors in such. it's the principle of the thing.

does america no longer know how to write well? ugh. i actually don't want to know the answer. but to be honest with you, if you send out numerous letters/mailings to homes in the area, you should REALLY consider sending out materials without such blatant/flagrant errors. have someone proofread them. OR just don't send out this crap.

SOMETHING!!!!!!!

LBC women's retreat 08

check out our crazy video on youtube!!! be sure the volume's on!

up late...

and it's one hour later here in this eastern time zone! i gotta go to bed. but i just hafta say i am having a ton of fun at this retreat. we got in trouble tonight from the hotel staff for being too loud. guess we gotta keep up tradition! i'm in the bottom of this pic with jamie costas, (forgot her married name), lisa haislet, bethany drew, holly sutton, and a sally person that i don't know very well. gotta change that!!!

but i duked it out on guitar hero with bette jo. she's fun! but watch out when playing spoons with her. she's VICIOUS! betty marquez and betty stralnic are animals as well and i must say cindy miller plays for blood! ruth fortney and kathy underwood will DEFINITELY be bruised tomorrow! penny sacrificed a necklace as well. too bad it looked like a spoon from afar. ahhhh, what fun.

oh well. (and GOOD NIGHT!)

lover of the north, the weather, the island

if you know me at all, you know what i'm all about. and what interests me. what i like. if i were to go to college again (or at this point to get my master's) it would be in some form of meteorology. i'm ALL about the weather.

however, the only other thing that interests me as much as the weather (if not more) is the U.P. of michigan, the straits of mackinac, mackinac island, ships & sailing around lake michigan/lake huron and finally, the mighty mac, which is the 5 mile long longest suspension bridge in the western hemisphere.

so when i turned on the weather channel tonight to a show called "weather ventures" to find the guy talking of nothing other than the weather around the straits of mackinac, i almost keeled over. i turned on the tv to see what appeared to be my backyard. (this picture was the one shown on my tv tonight! kinda weird seeing your backyard on tv, eh?!) it was actually a video shot of the round island lighthouse from the backside of the mackinac island library; one of my most favorite spots on the island.

(for anyone who hasn't seen my messy room, i've basically wallpapered it with sailing charts of the mackinac island area, the straits, and the les cheneaux islands. i've sailed to mackinac once in 1995 from the cedarville area (michigan). i could live there. anywhere in the U.P. live on a sailboat docked, moored in the harbour, or in a cabin by the water. i could never sail enough. (hence the name of my blog...)

so with my little eyeballs GLUED to the tv, i watched a show about mackinac island, the straits & great lakes, and the weather that i had never seen before. LOVED IT. i'm inspired now to watch my "making of the bridge" dvd i got last year while on the island. did you know the bridge is 200 feet above the water? the bridge supports are also amazing--they go down twenty stories into the bedrock. (which is mostly limestone.) did you know that when the winds exceed 60mph they close the bridge? did you know there are 42,000 miles of cable holding up the bridge...if it were all stretched out, it would go around the earth 1.5 times! if there's anyone too scared to drive across the bridge the mackinac bridge authority will take your car across for you. if winds get up to or exceed 100mph, the bridge can sway (very gradually) up to 25 feet in the middle! there are metal grates that make up the inside lanes of the bridge to allow for the wind to pass through so that the bridge doesn't have to withstand more than it is able. the fun fact of the day is this: as the expansion joints move , they sing! any civil engineers out there would know what this means...

only one car has ever blown off the bridge and only one airplane has ever crashed into it. (it can be very WINDY and lighter cars are a bit of a threat...many trucks and campers have been blown over on their sides, but to my knowledge, only one car has ever been blown OFF the actual bridge structure.) as for the airplane, as i learned more tonight, the fog in the area can be INCREDIBLY dense during certain seasons which makes the bridge supports VERY hard to see. although the road part of the bridge is 200 feet above the water, i believe i heard the tops of the towers are 500 feet up. you can see the problem.

mackinac island has only about 400 residents year-round but can have 15,000 or more people on the island at any one time (workers/visitors/etc.) during the summer.

the great lakes makes up one fifth of our world's fresh water. the chicago to mackinac freshwater sailing regatta is the LONGEST freshwater regatta in the WHOLE WORLD! this year marks the ONE HUNDREDTH chicago to mackinac race. HOW AMAZING. i would give ANYTHING to be crew on someone's boat for this race!!!!!!!

in the northern great lakes, the visibility underwater can be up to 100 feet!!! (btw, i drank water out of lake huron while brushing my teeth in the lake off the starboard side of our sailboat, the Dawn Treader, and i was ok! but i wouldn't recommend drinking a LOT of water out of any of the great lakes--especially lakes erie & michigan...) and one thing i left out about mackinac island is that the ONLY highway in the state of MICHIGAN that does not allow cars is on mackinac island. only horses and bikes!

okay...so now i've likely bored prolly most anyone reading this. but if you've gotten this far at least you know a bit more about the state just to the north of indiana! and that i'm a LOVER of the northern great lakes, the mackinac straits, and weather!

new bike

i have a sweet new ride. it's one i have to power myself but i'm glad to have it. it'll be another fun thing to do this summer. i haven't had a bike for 2 years...after having one for about 13 years. it's a good thing. especially if gas prices keep going up. my other option was my old skool skateboard.

The Center

of the Atlanta Falcons visited The Courts last week. he's a really big guy. i could give or take the hair. his NFL pics aren't that great but i like his eyes!

check out our new borders!

we are going to outsource ourselves to death. literally. my gosh. can we be more stupid??? i'm so sick of the embarrassment of being here! i'm TIRED of our government and TIRED of the politics. i'm at a loss here. are our passports going to be american passports? american passports "made in thailand?" or are we selling out our country bit by bit so that we won't have a country left???

welcome to our new homeland! looks like our boundary lines look like the ones on this map i've attached.

UGH.

are you KIDDING me?

okay. so i went to get gas yesterday but i waited longer than i normally would have because i was waiting for gas prices to go DOWN. yeah. well, that didn't at all happen. i paid $3.39 for gas last night. i was at about an 8th of a tank and still paid $55 bucks. i'm so pissed. this is ridiculous. our country produces 7% of the world's oil. yet we act like we produce nearly all of it. but none of our oil refineries have been built/seriously revamped in more than 30 years. are we living in a black hole? or like those birds who bury their heads in the sand? i think we do.

our dollar every day is reaching an all-time low. i guess all i can say is DON'T TRAVEL TO EUROPE! or anywhere else for that matter. unless you also plan on living there and getting a job there as well. the american dollar has tanked and continues to do so. maybe our illustrious politicians can find a way to solve these problems.

HA!

george bush as of about two weeks ago IN A PRESS CONFERENCE had no idea the projected price for a gallon of gas was $4.00. he voiced, AUDIBLY, that he had no idea this was the case. he said "no one told him." apparently the government is no longer "of the people, for the people, by the people." anymore, our "democracy" means whomever has the most money gets into washington. to run the country. we must look like an absolute CIRCUS to those whom we are trying to convince a democracy is the way to go. every vote counts? really? then what about these superdelegates? and now what about michigan and florida?

in my opinion the idea of the electoral college needs to be revisited. the popular vote must stand for something. because as it is, each individual vote does NOT count.

and in a parting note for my fun and uplifting entry today: they're saying my new ipod shuffle as well as other new ipods, navigation systems and other electronics could be full of viruses before the packaging is even opened. they're brand new. not even out of the box yet. this due to the fact that (because we've outsourced our jobs-mostly to china) the carelessness of the workers are putting us all at risk.

and we're outsourcing our military stuff too? are you KIDDING me??? yeah, i guess that seems SAFE. and LOGICAL. who are the boneheads making these decisions???

does this mean we're still a world power? cuz from what i can tell we must be the laughing stock of the world. once again...this is embarrassing.

who can fix it? and is it too late?

time for a new post...

not much going on here! although i do believe i'm too old to pull all-nighters...even IF it was for fun! emily came over last night after work and we were going to make shirts to help encourage shane at his first home baseball game today. it was a long and tedious process. and emily had several mishaps. oh dear. and then i finally went to bed around 6:30 hoping emily would do ok. anyhow, i'm completely unhappy because shane just wrote on her facebook and told her the GAME WAS CANCELLED ON ACCOUNT OF THE WEATHER!!! i am so mad! and i want everyone to know i pulled an all-nighter and it was for NOTHING! i'll get you shane!!!

how 'bout this weather?!??

wow. just a few measly snowflakes here in valpo. mostly RAIN. drenching, soaking rain. a few degrees cooler towards chicago, they got 3ish inches. north of chicago got 6-12 and some places in wisconsin were lucky enuf to get 20. and we don't even have a dusting. i'm not sad or depressed due to the fact that at this point in time, we've only had eleven minutes of sunlight for the past six days (all of february) but becuz we have no snow. they keep talking about how we're getting more snow than we have in a long time but aren't acknowledging the fact that even though that may be true, it melts so fast that we don't even know it was here! i still haven't gone skiing OR sledding yet this year.

then there's those tornadoes. i'm not sure about the new fujita scale though, with the "enhanced" numbers. i'll need to take some meteorology classes or attend a lecture or something. i don't know if mr. fujita (the inventor) would appreciate this. but anyway, the "EF4" tornado must've been huge. i can't imagine a tornado or any other such natural disaster blowing away my college. that would suck. but i wonder where these poor kids will go for two weeks. (why are they only closing union university or whatever it's called for two weeks when the entire campus was destroyed?) wow.

now FEMA and the joke that it is can actually try to make a difference. and restore our hope in our own lousy government. if they can provide for the needs of these students and these towns, my faith will be marginally renewed. but whatever. i'll have to see it to believe it.

okay, i suppose that's about it. oh, and if you live around here, watch out for the potholes. they're everywhere. especially on route 6. your whole car might fall into a pothole. and no one would be able to find you.

YIKES!

cheaters never prosper...giants deserved it

not sure why the giants won other than the fact that eli manning is AMAZING. the last two minutes of the game were fabulous. and it's fitting that new england LOST. how ridiculous of a coach they have!!! how can he sleep at night living/coaching the way he is? and trying to cheat as much as he is? i mean, i know he's getting paid a ton, (relative to me) but these are men throwing and catching a ball on a field. if you can't coach fairly and be a good sport, even if your season & post-season records are perfect, you do not deserve to win. too bad for you. wonder how many other times you taped the signals and didn't get caught.

you go eli. manning bros rock! thanks for making the patriots send all their super bowl championship garb (hats, shirts, etc.) to a third world country.

buh-bye.

GOOD GRIEF, MAN!

well...this afternoon's open gym was rather interesting...

a bunch of guys came to play this afternoon. some of them are on our men's league but i don't believe all of them are. anyway, they brought in the sorriest looking basketball i've ever seen. the one dude asked if he could use our ball pump and we inflated his sorry ball so that he and his friends could use it. we explained that they could go full-court until 4pm and then again from 5-6pm. i explained that we had to cut them down to half-court from 4-5pm since another team would be practicing on the other half of the court at that time.

they were cool with that.

well, another dude shows up and pretty much refuses to use the sorry-looking basketball and offers his driver's license to me to borrow one of our wilson evolution balls. i politely declined, explaining that we have had 46 of our nice basketballs already ripped off and the only way he could borrow one of our balls is if he leaves us $50 to hold for him to use the ball. he provided me with two twentys and i went back and gave him a ball.

around time for him to leave, he came back up to the desk and asked for his money back. i told him to bring back his ball. we switched goods and he left. next thing, i turn around and this one stoopid-looking dude is asking me why i took our wilson evolution back. i explained that his friend who had to leave took his money back and so we needed to put the ball away. he started to get all crazy and began to say, "what, are you serious? UGH! you must be..." and i cut him off with, "EXCUSE ME???"

he stormed off all mad. i reminded him that he brought a ball and that he should use that one.

next thing, a bunch of other guys come up and demand to see a written list of rules, guidelines, and procedures. i asked them if there was anything i could help them with and the one goes on and on and on about how he paid to get into open gym and we should provide him with a ball. my response was, "we've got everything posted online about our guidelines for open gym and it is also posted that we no longer--SINCE LAST MAY--provide basketballs. we've had 46 ripped off already and just don't lend out balls anymore. sorry."

he was floored. began talking about how he was being degraded. and freaked out on why i made that other poor guy fork over forty bucks to use one of our balls that we should be otherwise lending him as it is. i tried to explain to him that this was the other guy's business. if he wanted to fork over the dough, i was more comfortable lending a ball. furthermore, (smiling), i explained that i was being NICE in letting the dude borrow a ball. i told him i shouldn't have even let him use a ball PERIOD.

he hit the roof. asking "didn't he pay the same amount to get in as everyone else," yadda yadda yadda. i then had to explain further that the kids on the other courts with their rack of balls were there in PRACTICES and we provided them with our balls because this is our way of operating and YES, because they rent the court and they actually DO pay more. once you get to the front counter of our facility, you've already passed THREE SIGNS explaining that "YOU ARE TO BRING YOUR OWN BALL TO OPEN GYM."

this guy's logic was WHACK. yup. i said whack. i went inner-city on ya! and i had to keep explaining to this poor man (and i use the term "man" loosely) how we operate and that he would have to bring his own ball next time. he continued to ask me the same question over and over. and i continued to repeat, "sir, just bring your own ball! it's that simple!" wow. idiots.

i'm surrounded by people like this most of the time i'm at the courts. everyone complains to ME. (i usually don't mind the logical complaints, though. but it is still a downer.) but stuff like this gets tiring. and draining. i hate dealing with people who are just like my little kids from the projects but are in grown-up bodies--acting like i OWE THEM SOMETHING.

please.

i hope this guy only ever comes back when i'm there. i'd love to discuss the topic more. or do i mean talk myself in circles with him? what a turd. so as for my title to this post, "GOOD GRIEF, MAN!" this is the reason i write. i spoke to a brainless creature today. someone with a lack of reason. maybe none. ignorant. no sense. hard-headed. whatever you wanna call it. listen dude, maybe you should ask your mommy or granma for a basketball for your next birthday. or next christmas. heavens knows you'll prolly never buy your own ball so you can come and complain to me. about how we owe it to you. or about how you're entitled.

GOOD GRIEF, MAN!

sometimes you have to be told no; someone's always gotta lose

i am sick to death of the way we're babying our youth and young adults of this nation. are we already not screwed with a dysfunctional government? and this two-party political system? our society is going down the tube fast. good thing most people live less than 100 years...so we all don't have to put up with too much of this.

my reason for writing today: check the title. when people play a basketball game or any other game for that matter, someone wins and someone loses. there's hardly ever a draw. but no doubt, those who lose complain. the reffing was one-sided. my kid didn't get to play enuf. so-and-so played for too long. we didn't get all our fouls called.

and what about the whole "social promotion" thing? good grief. well of course! we wouldn't want some poor lazy kid to have hurt feelings! everyone regardless of capability, motivation and progress must be moved to the next grade each year so they don't get left behind and feel sad their friends moved on without them. never mind the kid named diante who missed 98.5 days of school. he must move on to the next grade so that he can stay with his friends! (what the heck? he dropped out of sixth grade anyway!)
and what about that kid tony who made no effort at all? he turned in ONE-HALF OF AN ASSIGNMENT ALL YEAR! but even after the fit that i threw in the principal's office, he was of course moved up to the sixth grade as well.

we're not teaching anyone ANYTHING important. i believe old school is the way to go. you must WORK and take INITIATIVE. you must have some sort of motivation and be DRIVEN in order to move up in any aspect of life. these kids are not dumb. (well...) they know they don't have to do a dang thing in school in order to progress up through the ranks. is anyone aware that the city of chicago is graduating seniors from high school who can't even read? not that they're NOT CAPABLE, but they're unwilling. and since we are rewarding their indifference and whiney attitudes, this'll continue.

the message is: we need to keep everything moving without causing a blip. a bump. a disturbance. we need to try to keep everyone happy. and i for one don't think that ANYONE is benefitting in the end. the children involved nor the society we're graduating them into.

i wonder what will happen when the presidential candidates are told they haven't won and that so-and-so has taken the majority of votes. maybe in the not so far away future we'll have a "joint-presidency" because some of these children who were never told "no" as children won't be able to accept "no" as adults.

and this whole post began because of parents complaining at my place of employment. it got me to thinking.

any thoughts?