Expert from book:

The boys started coming in one by one. Some were in groups but most saw me and walked slowly toward where I was standing. They didn’t really know what to expect I guess, even though Coach Thompson had spent over an hour explaining the whole process to them. Once the locker room was empty we spent the first five minutes giving practice jersey’s out. Coach Reyes taped their last names on the front of their shirts so coaches and teammates could quickly learn names. This process could have been done earlier when they met with Coach Thompson but I liked being part of that. I had learned over time that if I wrote or read a kid’s name only about three times I could have it memorized. So by the end of this five minutes I’d have everyone memorized. Very helpful. But very frustrating to the other coaches. I liked it and I liked that it made them frustrated. Most of the players kind of freaked out about it. Later in the first practice I would bark at one them and use their name and they were so shocked that I knew it. I was happy because I figured they’d listen to me if I knew their name and said it every chance I got.

ohhh very nice. More to come. I'm in the second chapter now... it gets good :)

Sometimes...

Sometimes I sit and I wonder what to do next. I am so hot and cold at work. Last week or last couple of weeks it's been so busy and everyone was was yelling and screaming and dancing on graves etc. But now quite, still calm and boring. I wish I had a job that I just sat around and did nothing and made good money, until I have a job where I sit around and do nothing and make good money. Time is slow man. Anyway today I thought of a bout a million things to do that were not work related but that I couldn't do because I was at work. It's all so boring. I think that I need a new job or something. I like my job when we are actively engaged but when I'm not oh man I don't like it. I want to switch jobs with someone that works at home. I don't even care what you do. I just want to be able to fill the boring moments with stuff. Like a nap or sweeping or even cleaning something. I don't care I just am not able to sit here and blog or surf the net anymore. I of course could do some work stuff like call people and see where I can help or go talk to someone that probably could use some help. But I don't want to. It goes back to its easier to sit here and complain then to go out and find something to do. I used to think that I'd like a job where I'm driving around all day. Thinking "how convenient another QT, I'll stop." But on the other hand I'm not sure I'd stick to doing whatever it was I was supposed to be doing. I also think that I'd rather have a job where it's the same busy all the time. Like building or teaching, but then again who knows, I'd probably not like that either. I'll stay here as long as I can because it's the only job I figure where I can blog twice a week and it looks like work!

Musings while waiting...

Here's a view of the world from my eyes. It ain't half bad.

Everything around me is falling apart but guess what? I don't really care. FUNNY huh? The freezer doesn't work, the AC / Heater doesn't work, my car leaks oil my truck is acting weird the Van is getting beat up and falling apart and If half of my kids venture into the weeds in my back yard I may never see them again. There are more crickets in my house then in the entire state of California and I haven't been past about 1/2 way in my garage in so long because I can't get past all of the crap. I don't watch TV before 9:30 at night and I never ever go anywhere for fun. I think that the only thing I do is work, drive and do football with Drew and Sky and that's it. I'm ready for a break from all this and just work on other stuff (like my house) but then I'll just get tired of that too. However like I said i don't care because busy people are happy people. Does a clean house, perfect yard/home and other stuff equal happiness? nope.

How can anyone be a house wife? No, seriously. I mean I worked from home and barely got up from my desk twice between 6:30 am and 11:00 am. I went to the fridge to get a drink a couple of times and that's it. Both times I wanted to fix this, pick up that, help with something or do something else. My wife does a great job with our home but it is very overwhelming keeping up with it and I'm part time help at best. I don't know how she doesn't walk out with both middle fingers in the air every night when I get home and come back around 10 at night. Honestly.

When you are a dad life is different. Today a person accused me of being an anti-bachelor. Meaning that I'm the opposite of a bachelor. duh. They said I had a "herd" at home. I prefer "flock" but my wife may agree with herd. I wonder how quite, clean and empty the house would be without our flock. I was home all alone yesterday and it was noticeably quite since I'm very rarely home all alone. I liked it but not totally. It seemed foreign.

Today there was a crash on the freeway. So what, right? well except it made me late for work. See as long as I don't get in a crash I don't care about them until it makes me late for work. Do you ever think about all of the tragedies in the world? I don't. Because I think if you do you'll go crazier then you already are. There are too many to count. Besides what's a tragedy? I think if I get in a car crash that's a tragedy. No matter how minor.

My daughter got a cut on her bum the other week. It was huge so the wife had to get some really big band-aids. Like 4"x6" band-aids. We all knew about her cut because she's 4 and isn't too modest about it. Anyway after it quit hurting it was kinda funny and cute when she'd show us or talk about her bum owey. Next I got hurt a burn on my hand so I asked Sky and Vance if they knew where the Ace-bandage was so I could hold the Ice on my hand. Sky says "what's an Ace-Bandage? Is it the band-aid Mom used for Tawny's Ace?" We all had a good laugh. Well last night I took it a step further. Drew, Vance and I were walking home and Drew asked if I'd rather ride his bike then walk. I said "no I don't want to fall off and get hurt and need an "Ace-Bandage" If I was Stacy I'd say "I'm so funny"

Control; Lose it!

Well today I'm frustrated. I want to control everything. I want to take control, not relinquish it ever, and remain in control. What do I want to control? Myself, others, situations and emotions. See I want to be able to dictate every situation. I want to be able to tell others what to do. I want to quickly fix mistakes and control the situation so the same mistakes aren't going to happen. I want to get in the front of a situation so that I can control the outcome. You know what else would be cool? Rewind buttons. If a situation doesn't work out, just rewind and start again. That would be cool. Ok, ok, I know that one is out there. All of this rambling is. So I think that I have to go to the other extreme. So here's the solution. Control nothing. I think that's the solution. I'll just go along fat dumb and happy. See if you don't worry about controlling things you remain in control of yourself. I shouldn't try to control the outcome of situations because most of the time I'm just going to get frustrated and wish it had gone differently anyway. I think that if I try to control others I'll mostly be disappointed anyway so I'll just stop trying. I'm not quitting I'm just 'letting go'. There's a difference see. It's the difference in allowing myself to try to be in charge to letting others worry about stuff. See we all have a choice. Try to control it or let it go. I'm letting go and man it feels soooo good.

Game Face

Vance's game face!

2007 Hornets pre-season party

These are a few of the boys that I work with each wee! My sons are both there. All these boys are Awesome!

And yet again i say YES!

Well I ran 4 days in a row. That's some kind of record. Today was good. Stacy didn't go with me so I was alone and it is very dark. I went up one way then back down then back again the way I came so it's like running the same street twice. So it's 2.4 mile run. Today was hilarious. I was running along (slowly) like always and as I passed the "white" park I saw a lady walking. She was "speed" walking you know with elbows flying back and forth and barely bending her knees and heel toe heel toe all the way. It looked like she was holding something really small in her crack. It was comical, but yet very fast. It's dark so I'd only see her when she passed under a street lamp. I wasn't catching up very fast I was more like staying 30-50 yards behind her. Pretty soon I could tell that she knew I was behind her. So I thought she might think I am a stocker or something so I crossed to the other side of the street. But her walk was so amusing that I couldn't help but giggle internally every time I saw her. She also was trying to keep her eye on me so every time she'd get a chance she'd look over her shoulder and look at me. That slowed her down I guess because once we go just past the school I had gained on her a lot. We were nearly even I was still watching her though because like I said it was funny to watch her seize as she walked down the road. It was one of those "train wreck" moments where you know you should look away but you can't (like big boobs). Anyway finally I got where it wasn't feasible to watch anymore since I was jogging even with her and by the school it is quite light. So I forced myself to look forward. At that point I did it. I had to I couldn't help it. Yeah I think she'll walk faster tomorrow. I'm just glad I was on the other side of the street. You shouldn't hold those in, it's bad for you. So I didn't. It wasn't silent, but it was deadly.

Fine then I will

Blogging is supposed to be for me. The only reason I do a blog is because Journals are boring. I was a blogger before bloggers were cool Whetten people! (I CAN PROVE IT TOO). You know I'm right. Anyway. I've been busy too. Blogging is low on the priority list. I've been spending too much time annoying football player's parents, getting fatter and offending football officials and coaches to have time to blog (not to mention working). So here's my blog message today: Only blog for yourself. Don't blog because you want to share your life with other people. It's very much less genuine when you do that. See Stace used to send out an email blog of sorts to everyone on her email address list. I loved it. It was for her. She shared with us her life. But now she quit because she was worried about other people thinking "Why does she send this to me?" When she should have been thinking "I love writing emails to these people for myself!" Here's the thing: You aren’t interesting to everyone. No one is, least of all me. So what you do is blog, email, or type whatever for yourself. It's sincere that way. It's real. If you get someone pissed off or laughing at you, awesome, you don't care what they think anyway. This last weekend in conference the best quote (my blog my opionion) was President Hinkley in Priestood quoted a former President of the church when someone wanted to know what to do when they've been slandered in the newspaper. He said (paraphrase), "Half of the people in town don't buy the newspaper, half of the ones that do won't see that article, half of those that see the article won't read it, half of the people who read it won't understand it and half of those who understand it are of no consequence anyway!" So think of your blogs that way. Because, we that love you will enjoy it more because it is the real you... Love ya and Get off of my butt about my blog! It's mine!

Last days...

Well we are on our last days before the big race! It's this saturday. Scarry. I'm ready I guess. I've been looking forward to it so I'd better do good. My goal is still 2:30. It's gonna be tight. I hope the hills aren't too tough. We swam in the lake last night so I at least know I'll finish that part. In reality If I don't make my time but I finish then I'll be happy :) I've programmed the fakey Ipod for about 90 minutes of music. I figure after that much I'll start over on the same songs. Or all I'll just turn it off. I'll be walking by then anyway.

Triathalon 1 month away

Well, I have only one month to my first offical triathalon. We did the "mock" race on Saturday. We started out at the YMCA at 9:00 am on Saturday. We swam our 1000 meters in about 25 1/2 minutes. It was pretty tough. That was the first time I'd swam that far in about 2 years. My shoulder (hurt it skiing in December) was killing me. I mostly just did the breast stoke because the freestyle wasn't working on my right side. But I finished. Then we dressed and headed out for our 14 1/2 mile bile ride. I started out OK. I was good for about 4 miles. I slowly slowed down after that. I did finally finish in 1 hour 6 minutes. I changed my shoes and started out on the 3 mile run. I ran then walked then ran then walked and then gave up and walked the rest. I finished in 55 minutes. My total triathalon was 2 hours 26 minutes. Stacy (wife) finished in 2 hours 15 minutes and Darcey (friend) finished in 1 hours 58 minutes. I was slow, however I beat the estimated time by 4 minutes. I think I can keep training and make 2 hours and 10 minutes by the time of the race. My biking and running is really hard. I can't imagine being able to run after biking that far, but maybe. More to come.

Updated Triathlon

Update on my Triathlon activity. I am doing it. My wife, me and our Friend Darcey are all running it. It is gonna be touch and go if I can finish it or not. the Wife will. She's been really working on it. The most I've done on the bike so far is 7 miles. And I haven't worked out even once in the pool yet. Who has the time? I'm going for it. If I don't finish then so what. We are gonna give it a shot on may 12th. We will drive to the YMCA pool with the bikes then do our 1K swim, ride the bikes 14 1/2 miles to the elementry school and then run to our house (about 3 miles). If I can finish that in 2 hours and 30 minutes then I'll feel alot better. It should be pretty cool to at least go for it. I've really been busy though and can't seem to find time to run. I'm not lazey just busy (yeah, that's the ticket). Anyway, If I run 3 miles in the morning and bike two or three times a week, I'm just gonna have to trust myself on the swim. I'm not sure when I'll get in the pool. We are going to ride 14 miles this Saturday for the first time, should be fun. More to come D-day is June 9th...

Five Reasons Why I HATE Mark Cuban

1) He's a silly "know-it-all". I bet he's never said "I'm wrong!" Just read his dumb blog . Also he thinks he's the news story. If you go to the Mav's website under the NEWS menu an item is called "Mark Cuban". You ain't the news man it's the players looser!!! fade away already!
2) His dang Dallas Mavericks are coached by a crybaby, and the whole team are crybabies, because HE is a crybaby. In AJ's defense he was a crybaby as a player so he didn't learn from MC.
3) Mavericks are always good. (Nuff said!) Dang!
4) He has more money then most folks yet dresses like a looser. (actually, I'm kidding, I like that about him). Get a hair cut my man! Also
5) I hate him also because of all of the stupid Cuban wannabees that post to his blog and ask for advise... Dude get over it. Cuban isn't a genius, if he was, the Mav's wouldn't have lost to Shaq & Flash last year! Also we'd all have heard of some of the movies that his company produced, and we'd be watching movies on the Internet instead of the movie theater like MC wants. I think that he should sell the Mavs and get on with his life (Dairy Queen anyone!) and join the Surreal Life cast in 2010.
5b) Because he's in the huddle. If you don't hate him for this alone then you have no right to watch basketball anymore. I'm glad Cuban doesn't have kids (or if he does, he doesn't mention them, good job my man). Because I couldn't imagine what it would be like to have his kid on your youth basket ball team and have him sneak in the huddle and say "Hey coach, you should try this and that..."

All this being said, I do like his players. JET and Dirk are awesome. Dirk is a whiner and a winner. So I guess I can live with him. He's the MVP this year, but he needs to shut up. I don't know how they work for Cuban though. Maybe its the case of he's on their side so its cool, but from the "outside" it looks embarassing.
later

Trust is a weird thing

You see people don't trust anyone, really. I mean do you? I don't. I trust my wife, but I avoid asking her to do things that I want to do myself. It's not that she can't do it, its just that I rather do it myself. Most people are the same from my observation. In fact you know what? I think most people would not want others doing things for them. I've noticed that it is much easier for people to help others then it is for them to let others help them. That is a lack of trust. I had a friend that had health issues. They were pretty serious. Her neighbors wanted to help her but she didn't want them too. She likes them, they are her friends but does she truly trust them? (no, for you slow readers out there, as if you existed). I don't trust anyone completely. It is something that I need to work on. My opinion is that we all need to trust someone completely. Naturally we don't want to do this. Naturally we want to be independent. That's the way we are made or wired. It's hard to trust someone completely, because no one is perfect and everyone will let you down once in a while. I'm very bad about that. I could never imagine anyone fully 100% trusting me. (I doubt I even trust myself 100%). What's the secret? the answer? Does it exist. In my religion we are asked to be "one with your spouse". Is this possible without this 100% complete trust? No. But is 100% complete trust obtainable? No right because then that would mean that the trusted person would have to be perfect, which by humans is not possible. The reality is that sometimes in order to trust someone you must experience disappointment or frustration. That is the only way, that improvement can be made. I'm not talking about improvement by the person you are trusting, but improvement in you (meaning me too). We also have to be able to forgive and forget. They are both important, because if you don't forget then you haven't forgiven and you aren't trusting. See if you trusted someone and they let you down, but you never ask them to help again in that area, then you 1) haven't forgotten and 2) you don't really trust them do you. Reverse it. If you let someone down and they never ask you to help them again then you never get a second chance to earn their trust. My dad was great at that. He'd tell me "You lost some of my trust with that action." but soon enough he'd trust me again and give me the opportunity to increase his level of trust of me. But what if he never gave me another opportunity? I'd never would have increased that trust, thus improving myself. How are confidence and trust related? You may have a great confidence in yourself or in someone else, but not 100% trust (or belief) in yourself or that person. The action must take place before confidence becomes trust. So Confidence (opportunity) + Correct Action = Increased Trust... However Confidence + Incorrect Action = Decreased Trust. Think about it next time you need help... Asking someone who may have let you down before, but you want to trust, give them the opportunity (a.k.a confidence) to gain your trust. Of course if they let you down again, then you only have yourself to blame...
Later.

Triathlon

Yeah Right, that's what my wife said (to herself). But today I told her that I am going to start training to run a triathlon. Why? because I did my BMI (body mass index?) and I'm offically clasified as "obese". Yep, me Obese. Wow. I at first thought "High Standards". However I'm just not sure, after I took a shower at the gym today. I guess I'm pretty fat. Oh well, I can't just get motivated this time trying to lose wait. I am gonna do this dang triathlon and I started today to train. I ran 2.2 miles in 25 min, 37 seconds. Terrible. I don't know what to tell you. I can ride the stationary bike for 30 minutes but man running is way harder. I'll update with pictures and update my progress as I can. I hope that someone will join me. We've talked about doing a family "relay" triathlon, that sounds fun. I hope that soon enough I can call my self a "triatlete"!