I’ve been in a strange mood today.
In fact, ever since the last second ticked off the clock during last night’s Butler game, I’ve been unable to shake this feeling that’s been draped over me. I had dreams about it last night, woke up thinking about it this morning, and here I am with it still on my brain this evening. It seems to permeate my thoughts no matter how hard I try to bring it to a peaceful resolution.
I finally decided that writing a blog and getting my thoughts out would help. I haven’t written in this blog for more than a year since I have a paid freelancing gig that eats up my free writing time, but I needed somewhere to put it so here it goes.
I played a lot of sports as a kid and am very dedicated to my favorite sports teams, but never have I felt a sporting “hangover” like this. Had my beloved Packers lost in the Super Bowl this year (I grew up in Wisconsin) it would have been a major letdown, but I don’t think I would have had the feeling I have today.
It sort of feels like I’ve been having the time of my life at the best party ever and suddenly the music shut off and the lights came on. The problem is I didn’t think about it ending and now that it has, I’m not ready for it to be over. It just happened so abruptly.
I felt a real connection to this team. It has taken my alma mater to heights unimaginable to any of us fans just two years ago. Less than 10 years ago, as a student, I thought just reaching the Sweet Sixteen was the greatest thing ever. Now, here we are having made back-to-back national championships.
I've also read a million articles chronicling the players' quirks, backgrounds and aspirations. Since last year’s run, every possible story angle has been covered and each in-depth look into the lives and minds of the players has drawn me in closer and made me realize what good people they are. These are not pro athletes cashing million-dollar checks, win or lose. These are college kids balancing school and work -- with aplomb, might I add -- and exhibiting an incredible amount of determination and class in a program with a fraction of the resources of teams in the power six conferences. Like the NCAA commercials say, "almost all of them will be going pro in something other than sports."
The NBA is a possibility for some, and playing overseas will beckon for others, but this group will never again don Bulldog jerseys and step onto the Hinkle hardwood as a cohesive unit ready to slay Goliath. Never again will they ignite us fans and turn us into screaming fools with a barrage of threes, courageous comeback or feat of awe-inspiring hustle. With last night’s loss, this group will never take the court together again in the form of a Butler basketball team.
And even though this team was different than last year’s team without Willie, Avery and Gordon, there was still enough of the same DNA left on the roster to make it feel like it was a continuation of what we did last year. Now, losing Matt, Shawn and Zach, the other seniors, and possibly Shelvin, it really does feel like it’s the end of an era.
I feel genuinely bad that they didn’t get to hoist that trophy last night and that they had to shed tears of frustration and sadness rather than tears of joy and pride. The article Dan Wetzel wrote (http://bit.ly/butlerway) darn near had me in tears myself. I had to choke back a lump to keep from looking like a fool at work. They deserved that win more than any other team I’ve known, but deserving just didn’t convert to reality this time.
There will be many more great Butler teams to come filled with other young men that will make their school and us fans proud. Heck, there may even be more runs through the NCAA tournament, but there will never be another span quite like this. Never again will it seem so beautiful, so improbable, or so undeniably magical.
But even if this is the highest peak I reach as a Butler basketball fan, if this is what I remember years from now as I reflect back, I know I’m very lucky to have even had the opportunity to experience it. And, all that said, I look forward to what this program will bring.
The past two years of success, and the student-athletes that fueled them through gritty determination and sheer will, have forever changed the face of this program. Butler basketball is no longer an underdog. It’s a force to be reckoned with led by, in my opinion, the absolute best coach in the country. Other coaches may have more wins or championships, bigger contracts or more highly touted recruits, but nobody does it with as much class, integrity or as genuinely as Brad Stevens.
I guess what I’m trying to saw is I’m darn proud to be a Bulldog.
Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Friday, April 2, 2010
Of Basketball and Marriage -- A Butler Love Story
April 2010 will be the greatest month of my life.
Why? Well, for starters I'm a diehard Butler Basketball fan and my beloved Bulldogs will play in their first-ever Final Four tomorrow evening in Indianapolis. I’ve loved the Bulldogs through thick (NCAA appearances and Horizon League Championships) and thin (the Smalligan/Brooks years and watching Ben Grunst amble down the court at the end of blowout wins in 2002).
You’d think nothing can top that, but it just so happens that April 2010 will also be the month I marry the girl of my dreams. I’m my own biggest critic, so I consider the fact that I’ve managed to snag a girl as great as her as the biggest accomplishment of my life.
Laura is incredibly intelligent and talented, beautiful, loves sports – she WANTS to fall asleep to SportsCenter and thinks going to B-Dubs for wings and UFC fights is a treat – and, best of all, she loves me and all my quirks!
Strangely enough, these two monumental events in my life actually tie together, dating back to Butler circa 2002. It was then that a Butler freshman, and dance team member, named Laura was forever connected to yours truly at hallowed ground for any Butler alumna, Hinkle Fieldhouse.
A fellow dance team member recommended my soon-to-be wife introduce herself to me. For that piece of advice, I am forever indebted to Ashley.
After meeting Laura, and finding out she was on the dance team, I was in the front row of the student section for the next home game. Watching her out there on the Hinkle hardwood on a Saturday afternoon, with the sun streaming in from the west windows, I knew I had met a girl I never wanted to let go.
I also met her parents for the very first time at Hinkle, following the March 1, 2003 home game against UW-Milwaukee. Knowing I would meet her parents, I still couldn’t resist joining my fraternity brothers in dressing in “Braveheart” gear for the game. Donning a plaid bed sheet fashioned into a kilt and blue face paint I participated in my first, and only, court storming, after Avery Sheets hit a buzzer-beater to win the game for us. After the scrum, I promptly introduced myself to her parents, kilt, face paint and all.
You can actually see me at the :13 second mark of the video, most of my back is showing in my makeshift kilt ==> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jE2m_n_yHY
So, April 2010, I stand at your precipice with bated breath. I can hardly stand the anticipation of what you have to offer, and know that when you’re over you will be a month I never forget.
Why? Well, for starters I'm a diehard Butler Basketball fan and my beloved Bulldogs will play in their first-ever Final Four tomorrow evening in Indianapolis. I’ve loved the Bulldogs through thick (NCAA appearances and Horizon League Championships) and thin (the Smalligan/Brooks years and watching Ben Grunst amble down the court at the end of blowout wins in 2002).
You’d think nothing can top that, but it just so happens that April 2010 will also be the month I marry the girl of my dreams. I’m my own biggest critic, so I consider the fact that I’ve managed to snag a girl as great as her as the biggest accomplishment of my life.
Laura is incredibly intelligent and talented, beautiful, loves sports – she WANTS to fall asleep to SportsCenter and thinks going to B-Dubs for wings and UFC fights is a treat – and, best of all, she loves me and all my quirks!
Strangely enough, these two monumental events in my life actually tie together, dating back to Butler circa 2002. It was then that a Butler freshman, and dance team member, named Laura was forever connected to yours truly at hallowed ground for any Butler alumna, Hinkle Fieldhouse.
A fellow dance team member recommended my soon-to-be wife introduce herself to me. For that piece of advice, I am forever indebted to Ashley.
After meeting Laura, and finding out she was on the dance team, I was in the front row of the student section for the next home game. Watching her out there on the Hinkle hardwood on a Saturday afternoon, with the sun streaming in from the west windows, I knew I had met a girl I never wanted to let go.
I also met her parents for the very first time at Hinkle, following the March 1, 2003 home game against UW-Milwaukee. Knowing I would meet her parents, I still couldn’t resist joining my fraternity brothers in dressing in “Braveheart” gear for the game. Donning a plaid bed sheet fashioned into a kilt and blue face paint I participated in my first, and only, court storming, after Avery Sheets hit a buzzer-beater to win the game for us. After the scrum, I promptly introduced myself to her parents, kilt, face paint and all.
You can actually see me at the :13 second mark of the video, most of my back is showing in my makeshift kilt ==> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jE2m_n_yHY
So, April 2010, I stand at your precipice with bated breath. I can hardly stand the anticipation of what you have to offer, and know that when you’re over you will be a month I never forget.
Thursday, February 18, 2010
That’s Us in the Spot Light, Losing Our Religion
Whenever a friend finds out I attend church pretty regularly, I tend to get one of two looks. It’s either a, “I didn’t think anyone our age went to church every Sunday” look, or a, “that’s something I feel like I should be doing, I should get on that” sort of look.
I have to admit, I don’t get the looks very often because I’m not a very good Christian in the evangelical sense of the word. My faith is not something I talk about with others unless it’s brought up, and even if it is I don’t make judgments about others involvement, or lack thereof and don't say much about mine. It’s my opinion that religion is a very personal choice that should come from ones own feelings and convictions, not something rooted in pressure, guilt or any other motivation other than personal desire.
Yes, the irony of a blog about religion after those first three paragraphs is not lost on me. However, I write about it only to make a point. If only I could stop digressing, I’d get to that point.
It's important to make the distinction between religion and faith before I go any further. I used the term religion in the title only to quote REM, but religion to me refers to affiliation with a particular church, while faith can be had without a church.
I don’t have very many friends who practice religion in a traditional sense, or are religiously affiliated. However, most of them have faith, and I would be willing to guess at least 75% will return to regular church attendance once the kid explosion hits my circle of friends. I have a feeling it’s going to be a lot like when all of my friends were suddenly getting married, only with offspring this time.
An ABC News article from May of last year found that both Generation X and Y are claiming no religious affiliations a unprecedented levels. The number of “younger Americans” that do not claim an affiliation is between 30 and 40 percent, compared to between five and 10 percent for all Americans.
It’s not hard to confirm that, just go to any local church on any given Sunday. You’ll see pews filled with scores of quadra, quinqua, sexta, septua and octogenarians. What you wont see is an abundance of youth. Sure, you’ll see some, but they are always way outnumbered. I went to Ash Wednesday service last night and I had one young lady in front, one behind me, and three to my right, and that was it.
It’s also not hard to figure out why. We youngsters are products of instantaneous information, constant innovation and change, and millions of attention diversions. As I type this, I’m checking my Twitter account and my e-mail. So, the thought of sitting through a tradition-steeped church service that moves at a snails pace and hasn’t changed in many, many years is a bit contrasting to the way we live.
The truth is, I don’t care whether people go to church, it has no affect on how I view them. It would be hard for me to see eye to eye with an atheist or someone who worships on the opposite end of the spectrum. As I stated at the beginning, though, I’m not one to care about others' choices in this matter. It is, however, interesting to see this phenomenon taking place, and I’m curious as to whether our generation will end up attending church at the same rate as those before us. Perhaps only the big guy knows, err.. that is if you believe in that sort of thing.
I have to admit, I don’t get the looks very often because I’m not a very good Christian in the evangelical sense of the word. My faith is not something I talk about with others unless it’s brought up, and even if it is I don’t make judgments about others involvement, or lack thereof and don't say much about mine. It’s my opinion that religion is a very personal choice that should come from ones own feelings and convictions, not something rooted in pressure, guilt or any other motivation other than personal desire.
Yes, the irony of a blog about religion after those first three paragraphs is not lost on me. However, I write about it only to make a point. If only I could stop digressing, I’d get to that point.
It's important to make the distinction between religion and faith before I go any further. I used the term religion in the title only to quote REM, but religion to me refers to affiliation with a particular church, while faith can be had without a church.
I don’t have very many friends who practice religion in a traditional sense, or are religiously affiliated. However, most of them have faith, and I would be willing to guess at least 75% will return to regular church attendance once the kid explosion hits my circle of friends. I have a feeling it’s going to be a lot like when all of my friends were suddenly getting married, only with offspring this time.
An ABC News article from May of last year found that both Generation X and Y are claiming no religious affiliations a unprecedented levels. The number of “younger Americans” that do not claim an affiliation is between 30 and 40 percent, compared to between five and 10 percent for all Americans.
It’s not hard to confirm that, just go to any local church on any given Sunday. You’ll see pews filled with scores of quadra, quinqua, sexta, septua and octogenarians. What you wont see is an abundance of youth. Sure, you’ll see some, but they are always way outnumbered. I went to Ash Wednesday service last night and I had one young lady in front, one behind me, and three to my right, and that was it.
It’s also not hard to figure out why. We youngsters are products of instantaneous information, constant innovation and change, and millions of attention diversions. As I type this, I’m checking my Twitter account and my e-mail. So, the thought of sitting through a tradition-steeped church service that moves at a snails pace and hasn’t changed in many, many years is a bit contrasting to the way we live.
The truth is, I don’t care whether people go to church, it has no affect on how I view them. It would be hard for me to see eye to eye with an atheist or someone who worships on the opposite end of the spectrum. As I stated at the beginning, though, I’m not one to care about others' choices in this matter. It is, however, interesting to see this phenomenon taking place, and I’m curious as to whether our generation will end up attending church at the same rate as those before us. Perhaps only the big guy knows, err.. that is if you believe in that sort of thing.
Monday, February 8, 2010
Babies, Betty White, Doritos and Beer – The Stuff Commercials Are Made Of
Despite being a resident of Indianapolis, and an adopted Colt’s fan, I’ll admit I was pretty equally excited to see the commercials as I was the game. Call me a terrible sports fan, a “typical” American, or whatever else comes to mind, but the Super Bowl is the showcase of some of the best work of some of the best creative types in the business. Typically, they don’t let me down.
This year had its ups and downs, but some highlights included Snicker’s use of Betty White, the Doritos Dog, the “milkaholic” baby, Lebron and Kobe, and the High Life spot.
For the male demographic, the advertisers know they can never go wrong with a little physical humor, and seeing Betty White get tackled elicited some good laughs from the crowd in the room I was in. The Lebron and Kobe spot was actually just OK until Larry Legend came in at the end – that put a smile on my face. The Doritios commercial with the dog was the only Doritos spot to make me laugh, but it also made me wonder how many stupid American’s put their dogs’ shock collars on to see how it felt immediately following it (I know somebody did that). The High Life ad was one of the most creative, in my humble opinion, and I liked that they foreshadowed it before the Super Bowl. But, that one that made me laugh the most was the babies.
Somebody at my future mother-in-law’s place of work said you had to be an idiot to think those are funny. I think that person is an idiot for saying that. A large portion of comedy is pretty dumb stuff, but if it makes you laugh then it’s successful. I don’t know any other criteria for good comedy other than laughs. What got me is when the baby popped in at the end.
I won’t get into the ads that didn’t make me laugh, there were many, but the few that did make me laugh were pretty good. The rest of the Budweiser and Doritos commercials left me pretty straight faced, but I won’t call them dumb because I’m sure they made some people laugh, and I won’t make the same mistake as the aforementioned person.
Overall, I thought it was a pretty good showing. I wish ads the rest of the year were half as good as they are during the Super Bowl. Luckily for me, the invention of DVR has made it possible to skip ads the rest of the year. If I had to vote for my favorite inventions of the past decade, DVR would definitely make my top five.
This year had its ups and downs, but some highlights included Snicker’s use of Betty White, the Doritos Dog, the “milkaholic” baby, Lebron and Kobe, and the High Life spot.
For the male demographic, the advertisers know they can never go wrong with a little physical humor, and seeing Betty White get tackled elicited some good laughs from the crowd in the room I was in. The Lebron and Kobe spot was actually just OK until Larry Legend came in at the end – that put a smile on my face. The Doritios commercial with the dog was the only Doritos spot to make me laugh, but it also made me wonder how many stupid American’s put their dogs’ shock collars on to see how it felt immediately following it (I know somebody did that). The High Life ad was one of the most creative, in my humble opinion, and I liked that they foreshadowed it before the Super Bowl. But, that one that made me laugh the most was the babies.
Somebody at my future mother-in-law’s place of work said you had to be an idiot to think those are funny. I think that person is an idiot for saying that. A large portion of comedy is pretty dumb stuff, but if it makes you laugh then it’s successful. I don’t know any other criteria for good comedy other than laughs. What got me is when the baby popped in at the end.
I won’t get into the ads that didn’t make me laugh, there were many, but the few that did make me laugh were pretty good. The rest of the Budweiser and Doritos commercials left me pretty straight faced, but I won’t call them dumb because I’m sure they made some people laugh, and I won’t make the same mistake as the aforementioned person.
Overall, I thought it was a pretty good showing. I wish ads the rest of the year were half as good as they are during the Super Bowl. Luckily for me, the invention of DVR has made it possible to skip ads the rest of the year. If I had to vote for my favorite inventions of the past decade, DVR would definitely make my top five.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
The Curious, and Sometimes Unfortunate, Results of Video Technology
Have you ever seen an image on TV that made you cringe, jump, recoil, gag, or grimace?
I certainly have! The first incident that comes to mind is from a Packers/Vikings game last year. On a kickoff return, Charles Gordon of the Vikings suffered a horrific ankle injury that left his foot pointed 90 degrees in the wrong direction as he lay motionless on the field. Typically, this would not be replayed due to the severity of the injury. But, the producers didn’t see the injury so they ran the replay to see whether he had fumbled before his knee was down for all of America to see. The unintentional replay made it possible for me to see something that left me with goose bumps.
Ten years ago, this would have been a shudder-worthy replay. Today, it was far worse thanks to high-definition TV. I’m sure any sports fan can recount an incident where they saw an injury in high definition and yelled out in pain for the player.
Between the high-def cameras, the increase in the number of cameras, and the amazing quality of new slow motion cameras, video technology has changed the way we watch sports. For example, the NFL has those amazing cameras that run remotely along wires above its fields. If you’ve been to any major sporting event lately, or event watched one on TV, the number of cameras present, and the variety of angles they can show you, is pretty unreal.
In our homes, on the right TV, blades of grass or individual floorboards are easily detectable. The parquet floor of TD Arena never looked so nice as on a 1080p, 120hz LCD TV. And, the giant screen at the Cowboy’s new digs look just as clear in my home as it does for the fans pondering its gigantic glory. It makes watching sports at home a joy, because we are now seeing the game pretty close to as if we’re literally there.
Sometimes, though, especially lately, this has been a curse too. As I mentioned, there are the injuries. Another thing I’ve noticed lately is with the high-powered zoom and high quality, we are seeing more and more players, coaches, and even fans mouthing obscenities. I saw two on Sunday alone during the NFL games. I’m sure there are parents not too happy about their kids seeing sports figures and coaches mouthing these words and phrases.
In addition, this new video age has given us a much better look into the darker side of sports. Take, for example, Legarrette Blount’s KO of a Boise State player. Ten, even five, years ago we would have never seen that footage as clear as we did this year. Without the close up, high definition view of the punch, the public reaction would have been much less. If I told you a college football player punched an opponent, you would probably dismiss it soon after. But, seeing the actual punch crystal clear is a whole different ballgame. Or, how about the now-infamous Brandon Spikes eye gouge? Again, that footage would not have been possible not too long ago.
Video technology has a definite bright side, but a bit of a dark side too. But, if you ask me whether I want the high-def, 40” living room TV on Sunday afternoon, or the 19”, tube TV in the office, I’ll fight you for the remote.
I certainly have! The first incident that comes to mind is from a Packers/Vikings game last year. On a kickoff return, Charles Gordon of the Vikings suffered a horrific ankle injury that left his foot pointed 90 degrees in the wrong direction as he lay motionless on the field. Typically, this would not be replayed due to the severity of the injury. But, the producers didn’t see the injury so they ran the replay to see whether he had fumbled before his knee was down for all of America to see. The unintentional replay made it possible for me to see something that left me with goose bumps.
Ten years ago, this would have been a shudder-worthy replay. Today, it was far worse thanks to high-definition TV. I’m sure any sports fan can recount an incident where they saw an injury in high definition and yelled out in pain for the player.
Between the high-def cameras, the increase in the number of cameras, and the amazing quality of new slow motion cameras, video technology has changed the way we watch sports. For example, the NFL has those amazing cameras that run remotely along wires above its fields. If you’ve been to any major sporting event lately, or event watched one on TV, the number of cameras present, and the variety of angles they can show you, is pretty unreal.
In our homes, on the right TV, blades of grass or individual floorboards are easily detectable. The parquet floor of TD Arena never looked so nice as on a 1080p, 120hz LCD TV. And, the giant screen at the Cowboy’s new digs look just as clear in my home as it does for the fans pondering its gigantic glory. It makes watching sports at home a joy, because we are now seeing the game pretty close to as if we’re literally there.
Sometimes, though, especially lately, this has been a curse too. As I mentioned, there are the injuries. Another thing I’ve noticed lately is with the high-powered zoom and high quality, we are seeing more and more players, coaches, and even fans mouthing obscenities. I saw two on Sunday alone during the NFL games. I’m sure there are parents not too happy about their kids seeing sports figures and coaches mouthing these words and phrases.
In addition, this new video age has given us a much better look into the darker side of sports. Take, for example, Legarrette Blount’s KO of a Boise State player. Ten, even five, years ago we would have never seen that footage as clear as we did this year. Without the close up, high definition view of the punch, the public reaction would have been much less. If I told you a college football player punched an opponent, you would probably dismiss it soon after. But, seeing the actual punch crystal clear is a whole different ballgame. Or, how about the now-infamous Brandon Spikes eye gouge? Again, that footage would not have been possible not too long ago.
Video technology has a definite bright side, but a bit of a dark side too. But, if you ask me whether I want the high-def, 40” living room TV on Sunday afternoon, or the 19”, tube TV in the office, I’ll fight you for the remote.
Monday, September 14, 2009
It's That Season
Jeremy Grey: John? I need to see you right away. It's important.
John Beckwith: [Walking into Jeremy's office] What's going on?
Jeremy Grey: [sighs] We got three big weeks ahead of us. It's wedding season, kid!
John Beckwith: You sandbaggin' son of a b----!
Jeremy Grey: I've got us down for 17 of them already.
You may recognize that exchange from the comedy “Wedding Crashers.” While my name is John or Jeremy, I haven’t been crashing weddings this summer, and it hasn't quite been 17 weddings, I have felt like my summer is a whole lot like the montage of the two friends crashing a slew of different weddings.
This summer has been, indeed, “wedding season, kid!” Between Laura’s friends and mine, our official count of weddings attended over the past four months may very well have topped double digits. While weddings are, certainly, joyous occasions, and the receptions are typically a lot of fun, that’s just a whole lot weddings to attend, a lot of gifts to buy, and a lot of awkward conversations with people you know, but not really, but just well enough to feel obligated into that awkward semi-conversation. I know you know what I’m talking about.
The positives have been great, though. I’ve seen a bunch of my friends marry really great girls they are very in love with. I know the statistics about lasting marriages aren’t great, but I’d be truly surprised if any of them boosted that statistic. One of my favorite things to do at my male friends’ weddings is to buck tradition and keep my eyes trained on the groom when the bride is revealed. I love to see that look in his eye when he sees her for the first time. Without fail, it’s the happiest I’ve seen him in all the years I’ve known him.
I’ve had the opportunity to see friends that have moved to other parts of the country, get out and dance a little bit, even though not too many people would qualify what I do as “dancing,” and spend some really fun evenings with my fiancé. Each wedding we go to brings us closer to our own, and each one hits a little closer to home as our date rapidly approaches.
I can’t wait until all my friends have to return the favor and buy me a gift!!
John Beckwith: [Walking into Jeremy's office] What's going on?
Jeremy Grey: [sighs] We got three big weeks ahead of us. It's wedding season, kid!
John Beckwith: You sandbaggin' son of a b----!
Jeremy Grey: I've got us down for 17 of them already.
You may recognize that exchange from the comedy “Wedding Crashers.” While my name is John or Jeremy, I haven’t been crashing weddings this summer, and it hasn't quite been 17 weddings, I have felt like my summer is a whole lot like the montage of the two friends crashing a slew of different weddings.
This summer has been, indeed, “wedding season, kid!” Between Laura’s friends and mine, our official count of weddings attended over the past four months may very well have topped double digits. While weddings are, certainly, joyous occasions, and the receptions are typically a lot of fun, that’s just a whole lot weddings to attend, a lot of gifts to buy, and a lot of awkward conversations with people you know, but not really, but just well enough to feel obligated into that awkward semi-conversation. I know you know what I’m talking about.
The positives have been great, though. I’ve seen a bunch of my friends marry really great girls they are very in love with. I know the statistics about lasting marriages aren’t great, but I’d be truly surprised if any of them boosted that statistic. One of my favorite things to do at my male friends’ weddings is to buck tradition and keep my eyes trained on the groom when the bride is revealed. I love to see that look in his eye when he sees her for the first time. Without fail, it’s the happiest I’ve seen him in all the years I’ve known him.
I’ve had the opportunity to see friends that have moved to other parts of the country, get out and dance a little bit, even though not too many people would qualify what I do as “dancing,” and spend some really fun evenings with my fiancé. Each wedding we go to brings us closer to our own, and each one hits a little closer to home as our date rapidly approaches.
I can’t wait until all my friends have to return the favor and buy me a gift!!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Celebrating My Day of Birth
The last 3 hours of my birthday this weekend were some of the worst hours of any birthday.
Let’s rewind 24 hours, though. That’s way too negative of a statement for me to make. Every moment of my birthday up to that point was fantastic. I had the best 26th birthday I could have asked for.
The day started at midnight (obviously), inside a really unique bar in downtown Chicago. I was surrounded by friends, one (Megan) I’d known for 12 years, and two (my brother and Chris) all my life.
After some sleep, we were on the Megabus to Milwaukee by lunchtime, where we met up Chris’s family. It was great to see them, great to see his brother Alex’s new house, and good to be back in Wisconsin – even if I was only there 7 hours. We went up to see a Brewers game, and it was a fun game that ended in a Brewers victory. It was so nice to have the Stelsel and Vant Hoff brothers together and we shared many laughs, mostly at the stark differences between the people Chris and I have become. We still remain best friends though.
By 9:00 p.m., Chris, David and I were back on the Megabus, headed back to Chicago. That’s when it started. It was a double decker bus, and we headed to the back. Little did we know, it was the perfect storm at the back of what became my jail cell on wheels for the next three hours.
The trip started off fine, with me dozing off. But when I woke up, to the sound of a screaming child, I never made it back to dream land. Two seats back, two very young parents had a child who was absolutely screaming at the top of her lungs, on and off, for the entire trip. They did nothing to stop it, other than yelling at her to shut up a few times. They used awful language, said naïve things, and spoke like they were the only ones around.
I could not believe nobody said anything to them, until people on all sides of me started to join in on the idiot party. To my left, a girl got on her cell phone and let loose like she was in private, and behind me a woman got on her phone and started using motherf*#@er approximately every 10 words, like it was the only qualifier she knew. At one point, she said “if that B*#$ch doesn’t show up, I’m going to punch her in her motherf*#@ing throat.” IN THE THROAT?!?! That’s pretty violent.
By the time we got off the bus from our trip down the River Styx, I had 10 minutes left of my birthday. I lamented for 5 of those, and took the last 5 to soak in the beauty of the Chicago skyline on our walk back to Chris’s apartment.
You know what, though? On second thought, I bet my actual birth day was way worse than those three hours. I was removed from my home for the past 8 1/2 months, slapped on the butt, cut away from my food source, and exposed to lights for the first time ever. That had to be pretty rough!
Let’s rewind 24 hours, though. That’s way too negative of a statement for me to make. Every moment of my birthday up to that point was fantastic. I had the best 26th birthday I could have asked for.
The day started at midnight (obviously), inside a really unique bar in downtown Chicago. I was surrounded by friends, one (Megan) I’d known for 12 years, and two (my brother and Chris) all my life.
After some sleep, we were on the Megabus to Milwaukee by lunchtime, where we met up Chris’s family. It was great to see them, great to see his brother Alex’s new house, and good to be back in Wisconsin – even if I was only there 7 hours. We went up to see a Brewers game, and it was a fun game that ended in a Brewers victory. It was so nice to have the Stelsel and Vant Hoff brothers together and we shared many laughs, mostly at the stark differences between the people Chris and I have become. We still remain best friends though.
By 9:00 p.m., Chris, David and I were back on the Megabus, headed back to Chicago. That’s when it started. It was a double decker bus, and we headed to the back. Little did we know, it was the perfect storm at the back of what became my jail cell on wheels for the next three hours.
The trip started off fine, with me dozing off. But when I woke up, to the sound of a screaming child, I never made it back to dream land. Two seats back, two very young parents had a child who was absolutely screaming at the top of her lungs, on and off, for the entire trip. They did nothing to stop it, other than yelling at her to shut up a few times. They used awful language, said naïve things, and spoke like they were the only ones around.
I could not believe nobody said anything to them, until people on all sides of me started to join in on the idiot party. To my left, a girl got on her cell phone and let loose like she was in private, and behind me a woman got on her phone and started using motherf*#@er approximately every 10 words, like it was the only qualifier she knew. At one point, she said “if that B*#$ch doesn’t show up, I’m going to punch her in her motherf*#@ing throat.” IN THE THROAT?!?! That’s pretty violent.
By the time we got off the bus from our trip down the River Styx, I had 10 minutes left of my birthday. I lamented for 5 of those, and took the last 5 to soak in the beauty of the Chicago skyline on our walk back to Chris’s apartment.
You know what, though? On second thought, I bet my actual birth day was way worse than those three hours. I was removed from my home for the past 8 1/2 months, slapped on the butt, cut away from my food source, and exposed to lights for the first time ever. That had to be pretty rough!
Monday, July 20, 2009
Family Matters
I did a lot of thinking about family this past weekend. A no, not about the Winslows... sorry for the misleading title.
For starters, I spent the weekend in the great state of Wisconsin with my family. I traveled up there with my brother, sister-in-law and fiancé for a high school friend’s wedding. Spending time with my parents in Wisconsin is always different than when they come to visit us in Indianapolis. I think this is mostly because my brother and I always have eight million things we want them to help us with once they are here. My dad is Mr. Handyman, and has the drive of the Energize bunny, so we have him working on house projects with us all weekend.
Besides that, though, it’s just different being home – being in the place where you grew up. There is a greater sense of family there. No matter how many years I’m removed from my life in Waupun, there will always be a certain feeling I find there that can’t be found anywhere else. I don’t wish I was still there, but I do like going back and being there from time to time.
Along with the trip came the challenge of seeing my grandmother, the matriarch of the family, ailing from severe back pain. To see a family member in state of pain is a hard pill to swallow. I know, and fully accept, that with age comes health issues but it’s not easy being face-to-face with it.
On Saturday morning I had breakfast with a different friend from high school. He was a close friend, but at least two years had elapsed since we had last seen each other. At breakfast I learned, from the size of his wife’s belly, that there was a bun in the oven. To think of anyone you were friends with in high school, unless they were unusually paternal in their high school years, is a funny thought. I, of course, remember all of the crazy and fun things we did together, but it also opened my eyes to the way life is changing in a hurry.
On Saturday evening the wedding was the seventh of eight weddings Laura and I will attend this summer. This was, again, a constant reminder of how much life is changing for us and all of our friends. With my own wedding only nine months away, the mid-20’s wedding train is moving full speed ahead. This wedding was unique though, and brought about some new thoughts. The bride has gone/will undergo some major life changes all in a short period of time. She met a guy from Germany at a work event in late 2007. Since then she has fallen in love, become engaged, lost her job, gotten married and will soon move to Germany and start a new job. Mind you, she does not even speak fluent German yet, although that will come in a hurry when she is immersed. She will leave all she knows, all her friends and family, behind to start a new family, a new life, in a new country. I cannot imagine dealing with all of that at once, but she seems genuinely happy and I’m happy for her.
I also read a book, “There Are No Children Here,” that follows a family growing up in a Chicago project in the late 80’s. The mother faces an impossible task, and the family is so very different that anything I can relate to. I guess that’s what kept my eyes glued to the pages. That book threw a range of emotions my way.
The underlying factor in all of this, family, is so critical to everyone’s lives. Even in the absence of it, family plays a huge role in people’s lives. I’m thankful for the family I’ve been blessed with, and hope to look at the branches of the family tree that have sprouted below me some day with a feeling of pride, and the knowledge that I have left a positive mark on the world.
For starters, I spent the weekend in the great state of Wisconsin with my family. I traveled up there with my brother, sister-in-law and fiancé for a high school friend’s wedding. Spending time with my parents in Wisconsin is always different than when they come to visit us in Indianapolis. I think this is mostly because my brother and I always have eight million things we want them to help us with once they are here. My dad is Mr. Handyman, and has the drive of the Energize bunny, so we have him working on house projects with us all weekend.
Besides that, though, it’s just different being home – being in the place where you grew up. There is a greater sense of family there. No matter how many years I’m removed from my life in Waupun, there will always be a certain feeling I find there that can’t be found anywhere else. I don’t wish I was still there, but I do like going back and being there from time to time.
Along with the trip came the challenge of seeing my grandmother, the matriarch of the family, ailing from severe back pain. To see a family member in state of pain is a hard pill to swallow. I know, and fully accept, that with age comes health issues but it’s not easy being face-to-face with it.
On Saturday morning I had breakfast with a different friend from high school. He was a close friend, but at least two years had elapsed since we had last seen each other. At breakfast I learned, from the size of his wife’s belly, that there was a bun in the oven. To think of anyone you were friends with in high school, unless they were unusually paternal in their high school years, is a funny thought. I, of course, remember all of the crazy and fun things we did together, but it also opened my eyes to the way life is changing in a hurry.
On Saturday evening the wedding was the seventh of eight weddings Laura and I will attend this summer. This was, again, a constant reminder of how much life is changing for us and all of our friends. With my own wedding only nine months away, the mid-20’s wedding train is moving full speed ahead. This wedding was unique though, and brought about some new thoughts. The bride has gone/will undergo some major life changes all in a short period of time. She met a guy from Germany at a work event in late 2007. Since then she has fallen in love, become engaged, lost her job, gotten married and will soon move to Germany and start a new job. Mind you, she does not even speak fluent German yet, although that will come in a hurry when she is immersed. She will leave all she knows, all her friends and family, behind to start a new family, a new life, in a new country. I cannot imagine dealing with all of that at once, but she seems genuinely happy and I’m happy for her.
I also read a book, “There Are No Children Here,” that follows a family growing up in a Chicago project in the late 80’s. The mother faces an impossible task, and the family is so very different that anything I can relate to. I guess that’s what kept my eyes glued to the pages. That book threw a range of emotions my way.
The underlying factor in all of this, family, is so critical to everyone’s lives. Even in the absence of it, family plays a huge role in people’s lives. I’m thankful for the family I’ve been blessed with, and hope to look at the branches of the family tree that have sprouted below me some day with a feeling of pride, and the knowledge that I have left a positive mark on the world.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
I Think I’ll Give This a Tri
Anyone who knows me, knows I love to try new adventures.
On Saturday, I’ll take on my latest and greatest adventure when I set out to complete my first Triathlon. I’ve been training for about four months, particularly on the biking and swimming as they are new to me, and in that time I’ve realized some things.
The first is that Triathlons are somewhat of a subculture in America. Everyone has heard of them, but not many people know much else other than you swim, bike and run. To be honest, I knew nothing about them before I suddenly decided to try one out.
The number one reaction I have gotten from people after telling them what I’m training for is amazement. The feelings after I tell them the distances, however, are mixed. I’m only doing the shortest of the four races you can take on. My distance, called a Sprint Tri, can vary a little based on the race organizer’s preference and mine consists of a 500 meter swim, 10 mile bike, and three mile run. My more fit friends become a little less impressed once they hear that, and others are still amazed.
While training for three different events is no joke, and the race does take more than an hour to complete, it certainly is not an unattainable goal or a major feat. It’s more of a primer, and actually quite a great marketing tool for USA Triathlon. By offering up a distance any beginner can train for, and feel comfortable with, is like handing out free samples at the grocery store. They’re trying to get you hooked on their product so you come back for more.
If the only distances were the top three, Olympic, Half Iron and Iron, I doubt they would generate near the interest. I, for one, would have thought twice about taking on an Olympic-length tri for my first attempt, whereas the Sprint distance was a no brainer. On a side note, anyone who completes an Iron Man Tri is a true champ in my book. Imagine running a full marathon after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112. That makes me hurt just thinking about it!
The sport is also much younger than I thought. The first sanctioned swim/bike/run tri was held a mere 35 years ago in 1974 in California. That’s quite a bit younger than any other sport that comes to my mind. It’s certainly gaining traction quick, though. An internet search is evidence of how popular the sport has become.
While I certainly can’t vouch for other people’s reasons for giving Tri's a shot, I know what inspired me. I’ve become somewhat of an avid runner the past couple of years, and frequently compete in 5k’s, my favorite distance. I plan on doing at least one 10k this summer, but I was often feeling lazy or unimpressive when my friends would talk about completing mini’s or marathons. The problem is that distance of running has no appeal to me. My knees aren’t up for that kind of stress, and I just get bored after about mile five. Tri’s, on the other hand, offer me the opportunity to complete a more challenging race, but spread the time out on different events. I’m exciting about getting out of the water and getting on a bike, and then trying to get my tired legs to pump for the run portion. It’s a whole new challenge, and if I enjoy it I plan on going for an Olympic-distance race in August.
I wont even get into the insane rule book, or incredible amount of money you can spend on Tri gear in this post. I visited a store aptly called T3 (the transitions between events are called T1 and T2) and left having spent $0 and my with my head spinning. For this race I’m forgoing expensive, sport-specific gear until I’m sure I like it. On Saturday I’ll be wearing a knee-length Speedo, not Tri shorts, swim goggles from TJ Maxx, and riding a 1970’s road bike inherited from my dad.
For anyone who loves competition, challenging themselves, cardio workouts and the outdoors, I highly recommend giving Triathlons a look. As my friend who is an avid Triathlete told me, though, be prepared to have a 60-year-old man whiz past you on the bike or a young kid breeze by you on the run. You may feel like you’re in great shape, but there are always people better, sometimes in unexpected forms.
On Saturday, I’ll take on my latest and greatest adventure when I set out to complete my first Triathlon. I’ve been training for about four months, particularly on the biking and swimming as they are new to me, and in that time I’ve realized some things.
The first is that Triathlons are somewhat of a subculture in America. Everyone has heard of them, but not many people know much else other than you swim, bike and run. To be honest, I knew nothing about them before I suddenly decided to try one out.
The number one reaction I have gotten from people after telling them what I’m training for is amazement. The feelings after I tell them the distances, however, are mixed. I’m only doing the shortest of the four races you can take on. My distance, called a Sprint Tri, can vary a little based on the race organizer’s preference and mine consists of a 500 meter swim, 10 mile bike, and three mile run. My more fit friends become a little less impressed once they hear that, and others are still amazed.
While training for three different events is no joke, and the race does take more than an hour to complete, it certainly is not an unattainable goal or a major feat. It’s more of a primer, and actually quite a great marketing tool for USA Triathlon. By offering up a distance any beginner can train for, and feel comfortable with, is like handing out free samples at the grocery store. They’re trying to get you hooked on their product so you come back for more.
If the only distances were the top three, Olympic, Half Iron and Iron, I doubt they would generate near the interest. I, for one, would have thought twice about taking on an Olympic-length tri for my first attempt, whereas the Sprint distance was a no brainer. On a side note, anyone who completes an Iron Man Tri is a true champ in my book. Imagine running a full marathon after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112. That makes me hurt just thinking about it!
The sport is also much younger than I thought. The first sanctioned swim/bike/run tri was held a mere 35 years ago in 1974 in California. That’s quite a bit younger than any other sport that comes to my mind. It’s certainly gaining traction quick, though. An internet search is evidence of how popular the sport has become.
While I certainly can’t vouch for other people’s reasons for giving Tri's a shot, I know what inspired me. I’ve become somewhat of an avid runner the past couple of years, and frequently compete in 5k’s, my favorite distance. I plan on doing at least one 10k this summer, but I was often feeling lazy or unimpressive when my friends would talk about completing mini’s or marathons. The problem is that distance of running has no appeal to me. My knees aren’t up for that kind of stress, and I just get bored after about mile five. Tri’s, on the other hand, offer me the opportunity to complete a more challenging race, but spread the time out on different events. I’m exciting about getting out of the water and getting on a bike, and then trying to get my tired legs to pump for the run portion. It’s a whole new challenge, and if I enjoy it I plan on going for an Olympic-distance race in August.
I wont even get into the insane rule book, or incredible amount of money you can spend on Tri gear in this post. I visited a store aptly called T3 (the transitions between events are called T1 and T2) and left having spent $0 and my with my head spinning. For this race I’m forgoing expensive, sport-specific gear until I’m sure I like it. On Saturday I’ll be wearing a knee-length Speedo, not Tri shorts, swim goggles from TJ Maxx, and riding a 1970’s road bike inherited from my dad.
For anyone who loves competition, challenging themselves, cardio workouts and the outdoors, I highly recommend giving Triathlons a look. As my friend who is an avid Triathlete told me, though, be prepared to have a 60-year-old man whiz past you on the bike or a young kid breeze by you on the run. You may feel like you’re in great shape, but there are always people better, sometimes in unexpected forms.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
America Temporarily Lowers Its Freak Flag
I have a guilty pleasure.
Well…to be perfectly honest I, like most others, have many guilty pleasures.
My personal laundry list includes watching romantic comedies, plucking my eyebrows (I blame the fiancé for that addiction), eating the salt at the bottom of pretzel bags, attempting to rap and/or sing along with songs in my car, crappy 90’s hip hop, Kelly Clarkson, eating a spoonful of peanut butter right from the jar, drinking milk and/or juice from the carton or bottle, chili cheese burritos, and the list goes on.
The guilty pleasure I am reference on this instance, however, is watching, and actually getting wrapped up in, “American Idol.” The human interest side of me is so weak, and I just can’t help becoming emotionally invested in the contestants as I get to know them.
Last night the contrast between the final contestants was night and day. Adam is a “dude” that wears glitter eye liner, tighter pants than my fiancé would ever dream of wearing, shoes with heels, etc… all while giving the camera a stare that gives me the heebie jeebies. Kris is a wholesome college kid that gently strums his guitar or tinkles the ivories with a grin of content on his face. Adam likes to scream at the top of his lungs, and is uncomfortable without the flamboyant. Kris has a smooth, soulful tone and seems uncomfortable in the limelight. The differences go on.
So, I was very curious which side of America would make the greatest showing last night? Was it going to be the internet/social media side of America, where freak flags are flown without hesitation, and people feel free to express wishes/desires/views they would never have the guts to share face to face? Or, would it be wholesome America that likes puppies, white picket fences, and apple pies cooling on the window sill?
It seems the 100 million votes were skewed in the favor of apple pies last night, and I was thankful. I found Adam’s voice to be slightly grating at times, and his dramatic performances and creepy stares to be too much. It sure was interesting to see how America felt though.
Now that Idol is over, it’s right on to yet another guilty pleasure, this one far more embarrassing that American Idol. Last year, I’m sorry to admit, my fiancé got me hooked on another Nigel Lythgoe creation, “So You Think You Can Dance.” I never really had much appreciation for dance, but something about that show caught me. It got so bad last year that on the way in to work one morning after an episode I started visualizing what moves would go with a song I heard on the radio. Man, I really hope none of my male friends read this… my man card will surely be revoked!
Well…to be perfectly honest I, like most others, have many guilty pleasures.
My personal laundry list includes watching romantic comedies, plucking my eyebrows (I blame the fiancé for that addiction), eating the salt at the bottom of pretzel bags, attempting to rap and/or sing along with songs in my car, crappy 90’s hip hop, Kelly Clarkson, eating a spoonful of peanut butter right from the jar, drinking milk and/or juice from the carton or bottle, chili cheese burritos, and the list goes on.
The guilty pleasure I am reference on this instance, however, is watching, and actually getting wrapped up in, “American Idol.” The human interest side of me is so weak, and I just can’t help becoming emotionally invested in the contestants as I get to know them.
Last night the contrast between the final contestants was night and day. Adam is a “dude” that wears glitter eye liner, tighter pants than my fiancé would ever dream of wearing, shoes with heels, etc… all while giving the camera a stare that gives me the heebie jeebies. Kris is a wholesome college kid that gently strums his guitar or tinkles the ivories with a grin of content on his face. Adam likes to scream at the top of his lungs, and is uncomfortable without the flamboyant. Kris has a smooth, soulful tone and seems uncomfortable in the limelight. The differences go on.
So, I was very curious which side of America would make the greatest showing last night? Was it going to be the internet/social media side of America, where freak flags are flown without hesitation, and people feel free to express wishes/desires/views they would never have the guts to share face to face? Or, would it be wholesome America that likes puppies, white picket fences, and apple pies cooling on the window sill?
It seems the 100 million votes were skewed in the favor of apple pies last night, and I was thankful. I found Adam’s voice to be slightly grating at times, and his dramatic performances and creepy stares to be too much. It sure was interesting to see how America felt though.
Now that Idol is over, it’s right on to yet another guilty pleasure, this one far more embarrassing that American Idol. Last year, I’m sorry to admit, my fiancé got me hooked on another Nigel Lythgoe creation, “So You Think You Can Dance.” I never really had much appreciation for dance, but something about that show caught me. It got so bad last year that on the way in to work one morning after an episode I started visualizing what moves would go with a song I heard on the radio. Man, I really hope none of my male friends read this… my man card will surely be revoked!
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Beware of Your Seventh Amendment
According to the Marion County Juror Pool website, I got to experience one of the “privileges of citizenship” yesterday. On the surface, I couldn’t agree more. Our forefathers shed blood and tears to set forth the seventh amendment.
But, privilege is not the overriding feeling I walked away with.
I’m not going to rail on the process of jury duty. I actually thought the city did a fine job. Instructions were clear, we were kept informed throughout the day, and the process was explicitly explained to us. I even had the luck of being called on “juror appreciation week.” As such, they had muffins, fruit, and juice boxes for us – a luxury not normally afforded to potential jurors
What troubles me, however, is some of the people I shared the room with. What I witnessed during my four and-a-half hours of waiting shocked me.
For starters, at least a quarter of the people showed up late – some, as many as 20 minutes late.
Then came the blooper reel. I could tell the woman who was in charge of keeping us updated had done her job for quite some time. She simplified every instruction to the most basic level humanly possible, addressed mistakes and misunderstanding others had made, and politely repeated the most important parts. It reminded me of the saying, “tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you just told them.” This woman had it down to a science.
Despite her skill, multiple people in the room failed to pay attention, comprehend, and/or heed her instructions. Throughout the day, she had to deal with an insane level of what appeared to be either extreme stupidity, or just a complete lack of care.
She called half of the names in the room and asked those people to hand their surveys to the bailiff, and asked the other half to hold on to their forms until the next bailiff came. Simple, first-grade level instructions, right? Wrong. Within seconds, somebody walked up to the podium to ask her what to do because his name hadn’t been called. This forced her to get back on the microphone to make sure people whose names hadn’t been called had not given the first bailiff their form.
After the second group was called, another guy had an issue. He apparently showed up, went to the wrong room, which was empty, and sat there for 20 minutes. The fact that nobody was checking him in, and there were no other potential jurors showing up, must not have been a strong enough clue to him that something was wrong. After his name wasn’t called, he approached the lady in charge to find out why. When the lady found out he had sat in the wrong room, come in late, had not checked in, didn’t tell anyone, and expected everything to proceed smoothly, she was dumbfounded. So was I.
Throughout the day, she had to call off names at three separate times. She asked that we loudly and clearly say “here” when our name was called. Again, that’s something we learned back in grade school, so surely nobody could mess up that instruction. Boy was I wrong again. Some people said here so quiet nobody could possibly hear them, and she was forced to asked people to speak loudly at least 10 times. Others, despite sitting right there, didn’t respond to their own name! It took two or three repetitions for some people to get out the word “here.”
That’s not all of what I witnessed during my fateful day of jury summons, but I think it’s enough to paint a clear picture of the humor that kept me from boredom yesterday. If only our forefathers could have been flies on the wall yesterday. I’m not sure if they would laugh, cry, or both, but I’m pretty sure that was not what they imagined when they wrote the seventh amendment.
But, privilege is not the overriding feeling I walked away with.
I’m not going to rail on the process of jury duty. I actually thought the city did a fine job. Instructions were clear, we were kept informed throughout the day, and the process was explicitly explained to us. I even had the luck of being called on “juror appreciation week.” As such, they had muffins, fruit, and juice boxes for us – a luxury not normally afforded to potential jurors
What troubles me, however, is some of the people I shared the room with. What I witnessed during my four and-a-half hours of waiting shocked me.
For starters, at least a quarter of the people showed up late – some, as many as 20 minutes late.
Then came the blooper reel. I could tell the woman who was in charge of keeping us updated had done her job for quite some time. She simplified every instruction to the most basic level humanly possible, addressed mistakes and misunderstanding others had made, and politely repeated the most important parts. It reminded me of the saying, “tell them what you’re going to tell them, tell them, and then tell them what you just told them.” This woman had it down to a science.
Despite her skill, multiple people in the room failed to pay attention, comprehend, and/or heed her instructions. Throughout the day, she had to deal with an insane level of what appeared to be either extreme stupidity, or just a complete lack of care.
She called half of the names in the room and asked those people to hand their surveys to the bailiff, and asked the other half to hold on to their forms until the next bailiff came. Simple, first-grade level instructions, right? Wrong. Within seconds, somebody walked up to the podium to ask her what to do because his name hadn’t been called. This forced her to get back on the microphone to make sure people whose names hadn’t been called had not given the first bailiff their form.
After the second group was called, another guy had an issue. He apparently showed up, went to the wrong room, which was empty, and sat there for 20 minutes. The fact that nobody was checking him in, and there were no other potential jurors showing up, must not have been a strong enough clue to him that something was wrong. After his name wasn’t called, he approached the lady in charge to find out why. When the lady found out he had sat in the wrong room, come in late, had not checked in, didn’t tell anyone, and expected everything to proceed smoothly, she was dumbfounded. So was I.
Throughout the day, she had to call off names at three separate times. She asked that we loudly and clearly say “here” when our name was called. Again, that’s something we learned back in grade school, so surely nobody could mess up that instruction. Boy was I wrong again. Some people said here so quiet nobody could possibly hear them, and she was forced to asked people to speak loudly at least 10 times. Others, despite sitting right there, didn’t respond to their own name! It took two or three repetitions for some people to get out the word “here.”
That’s not all of what I witnessed during my fateful day of jury summons, but I think it’s enough to paint a clear picture of the humor that kept me from boredom yesterday. If only our forefathers could have been flies on the wall yesterday. I’m not sure if they would laugh, cry, or both, but I’m pretty sure that was not what they imagined when they wrote the seventh amendment.
Monday, April 6, 2009
I had a dream... but why?
On Sunday morning I woke up in a strange mood. I don’t know how to explain it, other than strange. It wasn’t necessarily a bad mood, and it wasn’t a good mood, either. The mood wasn’t a result of what had happened before I fell asleep, nor what happened in the moments after waking up, but rather the time between.
I’m pretty sure everyone experiences this from time to time, but it still amazes me how much of an effect dreams can have on my mood after I wake up. Even after I’m fully awake and come to grips with the fact whatever I had dreamt was not real, the resulting mood can stick with me for as long as a day sometimes. But, why does this happen?
Through my research of Oneirology, the study of dreams, I learned that dreams spur negative emotions more commonly than positive ones, with anxiety topping the list. That was definitely the overriding emotion I felt Sunday morning, so I was on the right track. I already knew that dreams were associated with Rapid Eye Movement (REM), and that sleep-deprived individuals often fall into REM very quickly and have very lucid dreams. I learned the average human spends six years dream, and that was pretty interesting, but still didn’t answer my question of why I couldn’t shake the emotions after I was conscious.
I also learned quite a bit about all the different kind of dreaming, such as reoccurring dreams, which I’m sure everyone experiences, dreams where we seem to have control and can change the outcome, dreams where we think we are awake, dreams that wake us up at a critical point, dreams that incorporate noises we are actually hearing, etc… The overriding lesson I took away from my research, however, is that nobody really knows that much about dreams. Some believe them to be spiritual or prophetic – I hope not since I’ve dreamt my own death, – others feel they are a subconscious manifestation of our true desires and fears. There are a lot of theories on how we dream, why we dream, what shapes content, why they can be so weird, and how to interpret them, but no one answer has be collectively agreed upon.
There is, almost literally, endless information about dreams on the web, including everything from people asking or tell about their dreams, to “experts” stating their theories. I didn’t find an answer to my question, but at least I can rest assured – no pun intended – that I won’t ever find myself in a situation like the episode of “The Simpsons” where Groundskeeper Willie is killing students during their dreams, resulting in their real-life death…right?
I’m pretty sure everyone experiences this from time to time, but it still amazes me how much of an effect dreams can have on my mood after I wake up. Even after I’m fully awake and come to grips with the fact whatever I had dreamt was not real, the resulting mood can stick with me for as long as a day sometimes. But, why does this happen?
Through my research of Oneirology, the study of dreams, I learned that dreams spur negative emotions more commonly than positive ones, with anxiety topping the list. That was definitely the overriding emotion I felt Sunday morning, so I was on the right track. I already knew that dreams were associated with Rapid Eye Movement (REM), and that sleep-deprived individuals often fall into REM very quickly and have very lucid dreams. I learned the average human spends six years dream, and that was pretty interesting, but still didn’t answer my question of why I couldn’t shake the emotions after I was conscious.
I also learned quite a bit about all the different kind of dreaming, such as reoccurring dreams, which I’m sure everyone experiences, dreams where we seem to have control and can change the outcome, dreams where we think we are awake, dreams that wake us up at a critical point, dreams that incorporate noises we are actually hearing, etc… The overriding lesson I took away from my research, however, is that nobody really knows that much about dreams. Some believe them to be spiritual or prophetic – I hope not since I’ve dreamt my own death, – others feel they are a subconscious manifestation of our true desires and fears. There are a lot of theories on how we dream, why we dream, what shapes content, why they can be so weird, and how to interpret them, but no one answer has be collectively agreed upon.
There is, almost literally, endless information about dreams on the web, including everything from people asking or tell about their dreams, to “experts” stating their theories. I didn’t find an answer to my question, but at least I can rest assured – no pun intended – that I won’t ever find myself in a situation like the episode of “The Simpsons” where Groundskeeper Willie is killing students during their dreams, resulting in their real-life death…right?
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
It ain't easy being green... except today!
This morning my fiancée proudly announced to me that she had remembered to wear her green in honor of St. Patrick’s Day, and therefore would not have to endure pinching as a result of not dressing appropriately for the occasion. This came as shock to me. I had never heard of being pinched on St. Patrick’s Day for not wearing green. If someone had pinched me without this prior knowledge, I likely would have had some choice words for them – she saves me yet again. I don’t know whether I’ve been living in a pinch-free bubble my entire life or she just has strange friends, but it inspired me to dig a bit deeper into the Irish-inspired, green-beer-soaked holiday.
We celebrate a lot of holidays throughout the year, many of which have taken on a whole new meaning than originally intended (i.e. Santa-centric Christmas), but we often know little about the origins. St. Patrick’s Day isn’t even an official holiday here, but we celebrate like it is! When I think of St. Patrick’s day I think of the color green, beer, shamrocks, and funny little Leprechauns doing a merry jig to Irish flute music. Don’t let those happy little Leprechauns fool you, though, some are evil, as evidenced by the Leprechaun films of the 90s! But I digress...
Similar to Christmas, St. Paddy’s Day, or Lá ’le Pádraig, started as a religious holiday in Ireland, and has transformed into so much more. Over the years it’s gone from a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics in Ireland, to a reason to get drunk on a weekday. What was once the humble celebration of the patron-saint of Ireland has now become a suitable excuse to wear a t-shirt proclaiming to be Irish for a day or asking strangers to plant one on you. The original use of the shamrock was to explain the Holy Trinity, now the word shamrock inspires in me a Pavlov-like mouth watering zest for those delicious limited-time mint shakes at McDonalds. I don’t care what anyone says, adding mint flavor to a regular McDonalds shake is just not the same!
I must say though, despite our complete misconstruing of what the holiday actually meant when it was originated, I sure do enjoy the opportunity to put back a green beer with friends while wearing a green shirt and planning my next trip to get one last Shamrock Shake before they are gone for another long year. But what the heck, McDonalds is kind of an Irish name, right?
We celebrate a lot of holidays throughout the year, many of which have taken on a whole new meaning than originally intended (i.e. Santa-centric Christmas), but we often know little about the origins. St. Patrick’s Day isn’t even an official holiday here, but we celebrate like it is! When I think of St. Patrick’s day I think of the color green, beer, shamrocks, and funny little Leprechauns doing a merry jig to Irish flute music. Don’t let those happy little Leprechauns fool you, though, some are evil, as evidenced by the Leprechaun films of the 90s! But I digress...
Similar to Christmas, St. Paddy’s Day, or Lá ’le Pádraig, started as a religious holiday in Ireland, and has transformed into so much more. Over the years it’s gone from a holy day of obligation for Roman Catholics in Ireland, to a reason to get drunk on a weekday. What was once the humble celebration of the patron-saint of Ireland has now become a suitable excuse to wear a t-shirt proclaiming to be Irish for a day or asking strangers to plant one on you. The original use of the shamrock was to explain the Holy Trinity, now the word shamrock inspires in me a Pavlov-like mouth watering zest for those delicious limited-time mint shakes at McDonalds. I don’t care what anyone says, adding mint flavor to a regular McDonalds shake is just not the same!
I must say though, despite our complete misconstruing of what the holiday actually meant when it was originated, I sure do enjoy the opportunity to put back a green beer with friends while wearing a green shirt and planning my next trip to get one last Shamrock Shake before they are gone for another long year. But what the heck, McDonalds is kind of an Irish name, right?
Monday, March 2, 2009
A Means to a Beginning
Wedding planning is a funny thing. Some people choose to go big, some small, some elope, others welcome the opportunity to gather family and friends.
No matter how you choose to enter matrimony, though, the one constant is money. I knew going in that weddings cost, but until you’ve worked on planning one, you can’t appreciate just how much.
The big costs are easy to indentify, dress, flowers, music, food, drink, etc... But there are so many more small costs you forget to take into consideration. I’m lucky enough to have fantastic support family and future family, but I can’t imagine not having that. For me, the most important aspect of the day, besides getting to say I do to the best person I’ve ever met, is getting to share it with my family and friends and that requires money.
As I pondered that thought, I began to wonder whether there are people actually postponing their weddings due to the economy. What if the future bride or groom, or brides parents lost their jobs? Or, what if there wasn’t a lot of money to start with and now there’s just not enough to pay for even the basics of a wedding.
The economy is starting to affect aspects of life I never would have imagined in a million years, and the longer it goes on, the more parts of our lives it will affect. I saw an idea a journalist was working on that revolved around finding couples who were planning to have a baby but holding back due to the economy. I can’t imagine planning to start a family and then deciding to hold off. That has to be a major downer, because that’s just an exciting time in life.
I know there are too many effects of what’s happening right now to even begin to explore, and I’m way off topic from where I started, but I sure do hope we start to see some positive economic signals by the end of the year.
No matter how you choose to enter matrimony, though, the one constant is money. I knew going in that weddings cost, but until you’ve worked on planning one, you can’t appreciate just how much.
The big costs are easy to indentify, dress, flowers, music, food, drink, etc... But there are so many more small costs you forget to take into consideration. I’m lucky enough to have fantastic support family and future family, but I can’t imagine not having that. For me, the most important aspect of the day, besides getting to say I do to the best person I’ve ever met, is getting to share it with my family and friends and that requires money.
As I pondered that thought, I began to wonder whether there are people actually postponing their weddings due to the economy. What if the future bride or groom, or brides parents lost their jobs? Or, what if there wasn’t a lot of money to start with and now there’s just not enough to pay for even the basics of a wedding.
The economy is starting to affect aspects of life I never would have imagined in a million years, and the longer it goes on, the more parts of our lives it will affect. I saw an idea a journalist was working on that revolved around finding couples who were planning to have a baby but holding back due to the economy. I can’t imagine planning to start a family and then deciding to hold off. That has to be a major downer, because that’s just an exciting time in life.
I know there are too many effects of what’s happening right now to even begin to explore, and I’m way off topic from where I started, but I sure do hope we start to see some positive economic signals by the end of the year.
Thursday, February 12, 2009
I have questions, but rarely answers
My brother has a knack for finding bizarre, and sometimes alarming, news articles that run the gamut of topics. He loves to send them on via e-mail and I’ve often considered blogging about them. I’m sure I’ll write about one again, but the first one I’ve decided to write about concerns lifespan extension. Basically the issue boils down to this, if you had the option, would you choose to live longer?
There are really two topics here, extending this life or being cloned into a new life as the same person. Who really knows if either is possible, I’m sure one, if not both, will be at some point, but this particular article focused in on extending this life. To avoid writing too much, I’ll stick to that one.
So, if you had the option of undergoing a medical procedure that could help you live, and this is important, a HEALTHY life for longer, would you want to? The article described doctors who think they have found a way to dramatically slow the effects of aging so that we not only live longer, but do so in a healthy state. A number of thoughts came to mind, so here are the top few in the order they came
One, our population is already growing at an alarming rate, particularly in certain countries like China where measures have been put into place to slow it due to overpopulation. We are currently at 6.8 billion and continuing to grow. Consider this, in 1900, which is not that long ago considering how long humans have been around, the world population was 1.65 billion, and in 1800 it was under a billion! By the way, women who have 14 babies aren’t helping anything – that’s just nonsense if you ask me.
Sometimes I feel like we are a virus to Earth. We have spread at incredible rates, cut down the forests, depleted natural resources, polluted the water and air, extinct other species, and generally ruined the beautiful state of the planet. If we lived longer our cities would continue to grown in size, we would use up more and more resources, and we would surely continue to see all of the problems I listed above continue to become more dire. According to physicists such as John Bernal, Erwin Schrödinger, Eugene Wigner, and John Avery, life is a member of the class of phenomena which are open or continuous systems able to decrease their internal entropy at the expense of substances or free energy taken in from the environment and subsequently rejected in a degraded form. But we seem to take part in that process in a much more harmful and invasive way than any other organism. By the way, thanks to Wikipedia for that definition.
Ok, the obvious thought was that we are already helping ourselves live way longer than ever before though pharmaceutical drugs and modernization. The average lifespan today is 66.12 and in early 20th century it was 30-40. Obviously that’s an average range, and it’s way higher in some areas of the world, and much lower in others. So, is this any different that what we’ve already done?
The biggest mind boggler I came across was whether we are preconditioned to expect to live to a certain age. I, to be 100% honest, would be absolutely content to life a full, healthy life that extended into my late 70’s or 80’s. My grandparents are 85 and 86 and still very active and healthy, and I would love to do the same. But, do I accept that only because that’s what I think is supposed to happen? If it was normal for people to live to be 150, or on the other side of the coin, 30, would I be perfectly content to do the same? The answer is of course I would because that would be the accept norm of everyone I knew.
This leads perfectly into my next thought, whether we are messing with things we need not mess with. Is science going to places it shouldn’t go? The answer is nobody can really know. When it comes to cloning, the human genome project, life extension, stem-cell research, and so many other topics that prod the ever-present beehive of how far is too far, there is no real answer of what will be good for us, and what will be bad. The only way we will know is to actually move forward with it and see, which is what we always end up doing.
I guess the real question is are we like the cat in the old adage – will curiosity some day kill us? I’ll likely not live to see the answer, but I’m curious to know!
There are really two topics here, extending this life or being cloned into a new life as the same person. Who really knows if either is possible, I’m sure one, if not both, will be at some point, but this particular article focused in on extending this life. To avoid writing too much, I’ll stick to that one.
So, if you had the option of undergoing a medical procedure that could help you live, and this is important, a HEALTHY life for longer, would you want to? The article described doctors who think they have found a way to dramatically slow the effects of aging so that we not only live longer, but do so in a healthy state. A number of thoughts came to mind, so here are the top few in the order they came
One, our population is already growing at an alarming rate, particularly in certain countries like China where measures have been put into place to slow it due to overpopulation. We are currently at 6.8 billion and continuing to grow. Consider this, in 1900, which is not that long ago considering how long humans have been around, the world population was 1.65 billion, and in 1800 it was under a billion! By the way, women who have 14 babies aren’t helping anything – that’s just nonsense if you ask me.
Sometimes I feel like we are a virus to Earth. We have spread at incredible rates, cut down the forests, depleted natural resources, polluted the water and air, extinct other species, and generally ruined the beautiful state of the planet. If we lived longer our cities would continue to grown in size, we would use up more and more resources, and we would surely continue to see all of the problems I listed above continue to become more dire. According to physicists such as John Bernal, Erwin Schrödinger, Eugene Wigner, and John Avery, life is a member of the class of phenomena which are open or continuous systems able to decrease their internal entropy at the expense of substances or free energy taken in from the environment and subsequently rejected in a degraded form. But we seem to take part in that process in a much more harmful and invasive way than any other organism. By the way, thanks to Wikipedia for that definition.
Ok, the obvious thought was that we are already helping ourselves live way longer than ever before though pharmaceutical drugs and modernization. The average lifespan today is 66.12 and in early 20th century it was 30-40. Obviously that’s an average range, and it’s way higher in some areas of the world, and much lower in others. So, is this any different that what we’ve already done?
The biggest mind boggler I came across was whether we are preconditioned to expect to live to a certain age. I, to be 100% honest, would be absolutely content to life a full, healthy life that extended into my late 70’s or 80’s. My grandparents are 85 and 86 and still very active and healthy, and I would love to do the same. But, do I accept that only because that’s what I think is supposed to happen? If it was normal for people to live to be 150, or on the other side of the coin, 30, would I be perfectly content to do the same? The answer is of course I would because that would be the accept norm of everyone I knew.
This leads perfectly into my next thought, whether we are messing with things we need not mess with. Is science going to places it shouldn’t go? The answer is nobody can really know. When it comes to cloning, the human genome project, life extension, stem-cell research, and so many other topics that prod the ever-present beehive of how far is too far, there is no real answer of what will be good for us, and what will be bad. The only way we will know is to actually move forward with it and see, which is what we always end up doing.
I guess the real question is are we like the cat in the old adage – will curiosity some day kill us? I’ll likely not live to see the answer, but I’m curious to know!
Tuesday, January 27, 2009
A penny for your thoughts
For years I have subscribed to a select number of magazines that I choose to read for a mix of entertainment, knowledge, and self improvement. Every month I peruse the various articles looking for those that most interest me, and the ones I think can have the greatest impact on my life.
The most recent addition to my repertoire of knowledge-dropping glossies is Men’s Health. Each year, I think back about which magazines I liked best and which ones I can shed, and then determine what new publication I should try. I chose Men’s Health this year primarily for its advice on, well, health tips for men. It also offers a variety of other tips for men, and is a well-rounded publication.
After reading only one issue, however, I finally had a light bulb that had been dim for many years go on. I love reading my magazines, but they always leave me feeling a bit lacking. After reading about 100 different ways I can strengthen my core, “shred” my abs, etc… I realized why it is I always get that feeling. It’s simple, change really is hard.
It’s easy to read about ways to improve your life, but so very hard to actually do it. Heck, there are literally millions of self-help books out there about how to make money, forge good relationships, be a better person, get in shape, and the list goes on. If you analyzed how much money is spent on them every year, I’m sure the figure would be astounding.
So, why aren't we all pulling down six or seven figure salaries in our dream jobs that allow us to vacation to our beachfront properties often, while not thinking twice about what we look like in our bathing suits with our flawless mates?
Well, part of it is we are human, and, as a result, we are not perfect. But, part of it is also finding the strength, courage and, most importantly, time to change is not easy. Once we get into a pattern, rhythm, groove, habit, whatever you want to call it, it takes that much more effort to change – even if we know it’s for the better. An object in motion tends to stay in motion, right?
All of this, of course, is just conjecture on my part. I don’t hold a degree that would help me speak intelligently on this topic, but I've been speaking my mind for 9 blog posts so why change now?
The most recent addition to my repertoire of knowledge-dropping glossies is Men’s Health. Each year, I think back about which magazines I liked best and which ones I can shed, and then determine what new publication I should try. I chose Men’s Health this year primarily for its advice on, well, health tips for men. It also offers a variety of other tips for men, and is a well-rounded publication.
After reading only one issue, however, I finally had a light bulb that had been dim for many years go on. I love reading my magazines, but they always leave me feeling a bit lacking. After reading about 100 different ways I can strengthen my core, “shred” my abs, etc… I realized why it is I always get that feeling. It’s simple, change really is hard.
It’s easy to read about ways to improve your life, but so very hard to actually do it. Heck, there are literally millions of self-help books out there about how to make money, forge good relationships, be a better person, get in shape, and the list goes on. If you analyzed how much money is spent on them every year, I’m sure the figure would be astounding.
So, why aren't we all pulling down six or seven figure salaries in our dream jobs that allow us to vacation to our beachfront properties often, while not thinking twice about what we look like in our bathing suits with our flawless mates?
Well, part of it is we are human, and, as a result, we are not perfect. But, part of it is also finding the strength, courage and, most importantly, time to change is not easy. Once we get into a pattern, rhythm, groove, habit, whatever you want to call it, it takes that much more effort to change – even if we know it’s for the better. An object in motion tends to stay in motion, right?
All of this, of course, is just conjecture on my part. I don’t hold a degree that would help me speak intelligently on this topic, but I've been speaking my mind for 9 blog posts so why change now?
Thursday, January 15, 2009
25, going on irrelevant?
I was sitting at a recent Butler Basketball game and I happened to look over at the young girl sitting next to me. She was texting on her slide-out keyboard cell phone, and my friend also took notice of this and made a comment about youth. It was then that I realized something… I think I might be falling out of touch with today’s youth.
I’m not saying I don’t text, I do quite often, but it was just the catalyst that spurred this thought. When I was young, I just assumed I would always be young, or at least in touch with the young crowd. I still remember how cool I felt when I set up my first e-mail account on Hotmail! Now, I’m not so sure I’m 100% in touch. Instead of moving with the times, I sometimes feel like I'm just trying to keep up.
I’m on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, I write comments about news stories, post to online discussions, I obviously have a blog, etc… but these are supplements to my every day life, bonuses if you will. For today’s youth, it’s a necessity. It’s an extension of their everyday interactions and it flows seamlessly into their day-to-day life.
As many thoughts do, this got me thinking down another path. Isn’t it amazing what the internet has done to our society? When the first computers – the ones that filled an entire room – were invented they were going to change the world as we knew it, and they did! They kept getting smaller, and smaller, and soon every home and office had one. I remember our first Compaq Presario, it was the bomb! Pre-Pentium, it rocked a 486 processor, blazed through Doom with 16 mb of RAM, and had endless hard drive space with a whole 500 mbs!
But, the true impact of computers – albeit big at the time – was nothing until one single phone line cable was plugged into the back. The internet has changed the way we think, the way we interact, our knowledge base, heck, it’s changed everything. The world is truly a different place than it was pre-internet.
Whether it’s for the good or for the bad will be determined in time, but anything that can bring me a hilarious video of a little girl screaming obscenities at Will Ferrell can’t be all that bad, right??
I’m not saying I don’t text, I do quite often, but it was just the catalyst that spurred this thought. When I was young, I just assumed I would always be young, or at least in touch with the young crowd. I still remember how cool I felt when I set up my first e-mail account on Hotmail! Now, I’m not so sure I’m 100% in touch. Instead of moving with the times, I sometimes feel like I'm just trying to keep up.
I’m on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, I write comments about news stories, post to online discussions, I obviously have a blog, etc… but these are supplements to my every day life, bonuses if you will. For today’s youth, it’s a necessity. It’s an extension of their everyday interactions and it flows seamlessly into their day-to-day life.
As many thoughts do, this got me thinking down another path. Isn’t it amazing what the internet has done to our society? When the first computers – the ones that filled an entire room – were invented they were going to change the world as we knew it, and they did! They kept getting smaller, and smaller, and soon every home and office had one. I remember our first Compaq Presario, it was the bomb! Pre-Pentium, it rocked a 486 processor, blazed through Doom with 16 mb of RAM, and had endless hard drive space with a whole 500 mbs!
But, the true impact of computers – albeit big at the time – was nothing until one single phone line cable was plugged into the back. The internet has changed the way we think, the way we interact, our knowledge base, heck, it’s changed everything. The world is truly a different place than it was pre-internet.
Whether it’s for the good or for the bad will be determined in time, but anything that can bring me a hilarious video of a little girl screaming obscenities at Will Ferrell can’t be all that bad, right??
Monday, January 5, 2009
Rorschach, Smorschcach: A much-needed update to psychological evaluation.
Every year, my mom makes somewhere in the ballpark of 20 different kinds of cookies and candies at Christmas. So, what does this have to do with psychological evaluation you ask? Great question! You see, each cookie and/or candy varies greatly from the other. And, as you might expect, each person has his or her favorite kind. It’s my theory that you can learn a lot about a person, simply based on their favorite Connie Christmas Cookie, or CCC.
For anyone who didn’t recognize the name Rorschach in the title, it refers to Hermann Rorschach, the Swiss Freudian psychiatrist best known for developing the Rorschach inkblot test. By looking at the inkblots and describing what they see and why, patients supposedly reveal characteristics about themselves.
By analyzing people’s choices in CCCs, I’ve been able to extrapolate my own data with which to asses my unsuspecting patients, muhahaha. We’ll start with me – my favorites are my mom’s spritz cookies, and her gingerbread people (this is a PC blog)! One has a very strong almond extract flavor to it, the other has overriding notes of ginger and cinnamon. As such, I’m a person who likes bold things and to take chances. The typical is very boring for me and I often seek new adventures or take risks.
My grandfather, on the other hand, specifically avoids the spritz cookies because they are colored green with food dye. This is the same man who, at 86 years old, had never eaten an M&M until recently because he thought they were flavored to match the colors, like Skittles. My grandfather is a skeptical man, who does not take an uncalculated step. For example, he’s a very good handyman but before he undertakes a project he has thought every aspect of it through. I, on the other hand, love to attack projects head on. Thus, the difference in cookies!
My fiance loves the seven-layer bars. They have a wide array of ingredients and a diverse flavor. She loves to have a lot of different things going on, and to take on a ton of responsibility such as working two jobs, planning a wedding, going to the gym on a regular basis, taking up knitting, relearning Spanish, making time for me etc… Just thinking of all the things she does makes me tired.
One of my coworkers just commented to me that the sugar cookies are her favorite. As you might expect, she is a very even-keel type person. You typically won’t find her doing something outrageous or risky. She likes to be on the safe side of things.
As you can see from my study of humans and their favorite CCCs, it’s really quite easy to develop a better understanding of those around you based on cookie preferance. Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a gingerbread person that has been taunting me all day long and I have to go threaten to take its gumdrop buttons.
For anyone who didn’t recognize the name Rorschach in the title, it refers to Hermann Rorschach, the Swiss Freudian psychiatrist best known for developing the Rorschach inkblot test. By looking at the inkblots and describing what they see and why, patients supposedly reveal characteristics about themselves.
By analyzing people’s choices in CCCs, I’ve been able to extrapolate my own data with which to asses my unsuspecting patients, muhahaha. We’ll start with me – my favorites are my mom’s spritz cookies, and her gingerbread people (this is a PC blog)! One has a very strong almond extract flavor to it, the other has overriding notes of ginger and cinnamon. As such, I’m a person who likes bold things and to take chances. The typical is very boring for me and I often seek new adventures or take risks.
My grandfather, on the other hand, specifically avoids the spritz cookies because they are colored green with food dye. This is the same man who, at 86 years old, had never eaten an M&M until recently because he thought they were flavored to match the colors, like Skittles. My grandfather is a skeptical man, who does not take an uncalculated step. For example, he’s a very good handyman but before he undertakes a project he has thought every aspect of it through. I, on the other hand, love to attack projects head on. Thus, the difference in cookies!
My fiance loves the seven-layer bars. They have a wide array of ingredients and a diverse flavor. She loves to have a lot of different things going on, and to take on a ton of responsibility such as working two jobs, planning a wedding, going to the gym on a regular basis, taking up knitting, relearning Spanish, making time for me etc… Just thinking of all the things she does makes me tired.
One of my coworkers just commented to me that the sugar cookies are her favorite. As you might expect, she is a very even-keel type person. You typically won’t find her doing something outrageous or risky. She likes to be on the safe side of things.
As you can see from my study of humans and their favorite CCCs, it’s really quite easy to develop a better understanding of those around you based on cookie preferance. Now, if you’ll excuse me, there’s a gingerbread person that has been taunting me all day long and I have to go threaten to take its gumdrop buttons.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Christmas Postpartum
Yes, men can suffer Postpartum – Wikipedia told me so! – but no, I’m not suffering from depression following Laura giving birth to our first child. If everything goes according to our plan of attack, that’s a good 5 years off. Planning a wedding is work enough!
I am a little bit blue about the end of the celebration of somebody else’s child, though. I’ve decided to coin my own term for this sadness – Christmas Postpartum.
As a dragged my sorry behind into work today, yawning all the way, I couldn’t help but feel that same nagging woe I feel about this time every year. The presents have been unwrapped, the hugs have been shared, the good times have been had, and the vacation and holiday time has been used.
To be honest, it’s not even the presents that I look forward to the most. I’d much rather give presents than receive them. For me, it’s the time spent with family and friends who are always in great spirits. After spending four days in Florida with my family, and five days in Evansville with Laura’s family, I’ve grown accustomed to being around loved ones all day, and a schedule that involves little-to-no stress.
I’m not ready to give in to Christmas Postpartum just quite yet, though! With a New Years party that will bring together a bunch of friends coming up, and my parents coming down for a long weekend visit, there is still plenty to look forward to. And, I just finished reading Michael Phelps’s book, which has me motivated to get to the gym more than just once or twice a week. Four-to-six pack abs… here I come!
I am a little bit blue about the end of the celebration of somebody else’s child, though. I’ve decided to coin my own term for this sadness – Christmas Postpartum.
As a dragged my sorry behind into work today, yawning all the way, I couldn’t help but feel that same nagging woe I feel about this time every year. The presents have been unwrapped, the hugs have been shared, the good times have been had, and the vacation and holiday time has been used.
To be honest, it’s not even the presents that I look forward to the most. I’d much rather give presents than receive them. For me, it’s the time spent with family and friends who are always in great spirits. After spending four days in Florida with my family, and five days in Evansville with Laura’s family, I’ve grown accustomed to being around loved ones all day, and a schedule that involves little-to-no stress.
I’m not ready to give in to Christmas Postpartum just quite yet, though! With a New Years party that will bring together a bunch of friends coming up, and my parents coming down for a long weekend visit, there is still plenty to look forward to. And, I just finished reading Michael Phelps’s book, which has me motivated to get to the gym more than just once or twice a week. Four-to-six pack abs… here I come!
Thursday, December 11, 2008
The best thing about this time of year (besides Christmas)
As far as I’m concerned, the 2008-09 college basketball season is off to a fantastic start. I have a major penchant for Butler basketball, and nothing makes me happier than an 8-0 start from a team that features three freshman, a sophomore and a junior in the starting lineup. OK, maybe the 2006-07 season that included a Preseason NIT Tournament championship and a Sweet Sixteen appearance takes the cake, but I’m living in the present.
My allegiance to the Dawgs is obviously a result of attending Butler but it’s more than just that. Ever since the first game I attended at Hinkle Fieldhouse as senior in high school, watching them play has been a special experience. Some of my favorite memories from Butler include waking up on game-day Saturdays to trudge down to Hinkle with a bunch of my fraternity brothers and cheer on the team from the student section.
Everyone has a different definition of quality basketball. Some people love to watch major programs with NBA shoe-ins and find Butler games to be boring, but to me watching Butler is where it’s at. I love their style of play, and the incredible level of unselfishness they show. Every player has a crucial role, its not uncommon to have four-plus players score double digits, and leading scorer is a title that’s passed around freely.
I don’t think anyone could accuse any Butler player in recent history of being selfish. The closest the team has come to a star in recent history was last year’s starting point guard, Mike Green. He was invited to NBA tryouts and strongly considered by the Cleveland Cavaliers before going to play overseas, but he was never selfish. He knew when to distribute the ball and when to shoot, and played perfectly into Butler’s system.
The best part is although the Dawgs are not anything like the major programs, they have proven time-and-time-again they can not only hang with the big guys, they can beat them. Butler’s record against major programs is really pretty unbelievable and its success in the NCAA tournament has been nothing short of amazing. I’ll never forget them giving the back-to-back National Champion Florida Gators a run for their money in the Sweet Sixteen. Butler played them closer than any other team that year.
This year’s team is the youngest squad Butler has had in a long time, and Saturday they will be put to the test. Playing perennial MVC powers Drake and Bradley on their home courts, and a Big 10 team (albeit, a lower-end one) was just the warm-up. Now they will face former Butler Coach Thad Matta and his No. 21 Buckeyes on their home court. It will be a test unlike any of Butler’s three starting freshman have faced. The Buckeyes will have superior size, strength and talent, but one thing they won’t have is the moxie Butler has become renowned for.
I just hope the Dawgs remember to bring their sling! (No pun intended in regards to Ohio State's 7-foot freshman center)
My allegiance to the Dawgs is obviously a result of attending Butler but it’s more than just that. Ever since the first game I attended at Hinkle Fieldhouse as senior in high school, watching them play has been a special experience. Some of my favorite memories from Butler include waking up on game-day Saturdays to trudge down to Hinkle with a bunch of my fraternity brothers and cheer on the team from the student section.
Everyone has a different definition of quality basketball. Some people love to watch major programs with NBA shoe-ins and find Butler games to be boring, but to me watching Butler is where it’s at. I love their style of play, and the incredible level of unselfishness they show. Every player has a crucial role, its not uncommon to have four-plus players score double digits, and leading scorer is a title that’s passed around freely.
I don’t think anyone could accuse any Butler player in recent history of being selfish. The closest the team has come to a star in recent history was last year’s starting point guard, Mike Green. He was invited to NBA tryouts and strongly considered by the Cleveland Cavaliers before going to play overseas, but he was never selfish. He knew when to distribute the ball and when to shoot, and played perfectly into Butler’s system.
The best part is although the Dawgs are not anything like the major programs, they have proven time-and-time-again they can not only hang with the big guys, they can beat them. Butler’s record against major programs is really pretty unbelievable and its success in the NCAA tournament has been nothing short of amazing. I’ll never forget them giving the back-to-back National Champion Florida Gators a run for their money in the Sweet Sixteen. Butler played them closer than any other team that year.
This year’s team is the youngest squad Butler has had in a long time, and Saturday they will be put to the test. Playing perennial MVC powers Drake and Bradley on their home courts, and a Big 10 team (albeit, a lower-end one) was just the warm-up. Now they will face former Butler Coach Thad Matta and his No. 21 Buckeyes on their home court. It will be a test unlike any of Butler’s three starting freshman have faced. The Buckeyes will have superior size, strength and talent, but one thing they won’t have is the moxie Butler has become renowned for.
I just hope the Dawgs remember to bring their sling! (No pun intended in regards to Ohio State's 7-foot freshman center)
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