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...Something For When You're Bored!
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My Blog
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I started keeping this blog as an attempt to make lemonade with the lemons life tossed my way.
Coincidentally, some entries are a bit more sour than others.
The blog entries keep coming, as do the death threats and bags of poo on fire on my door step.
It's been well over three years since my first posting, and all I can say is, "I can't believe you keep coming back!"
But seriously, thank you all for the continued support, encouragement and inspiration. I
hope you all keep reading, keep smiling, and keep cashing those bribe checks I've been sending.
For all you newcomers, thank you for taking the time. I hope you enjoy the nonsense that rattles
around in my head. Oh, BTW ..... don't forget to sign my guestbook!
Please note the blog entries are listed in reverse chronological order.
To view previous entries to my blog, please follow the date links at the bottom of this page. Thanks.
Want to be automatically notified of updates to this
page? Click here.
Click here to see me hard at work.
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Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Attitude of Gratitude
I first began blogging just over 27 months ago. I can’t say there was one particular reason as to why I started
writing. Rather, I think it was a myriad of reasons and circumstances which compelled me to click away at my keyboard.
And in these past 27 months I’ve written about so many things. Kids and cars, love and lust, failure and forgiveness.
It’s all there. My life for the world to see.
Over the past several months, however, I’ve been asked by several friends why I don’t write as often as I used to.
I would post 3–4 times per week. And not just 2 paragraph ramblings. I’m talking about 500–700 word rants and
soliloquies about what was happening in my life. For me, it was my therapy. It’s how I dealt with the pain of
losing my dad. It’s how I coped with the fact I left my wife. It’s how I healed after my heart was crushed.
It’s how I rejoiced after my life was saved.
So here I sit looking back at what can only be described as a tempest of time. A whirlwind of emotions and experiences
that brought me to where I am today. The father of two wonderful and beautiful children. The boyfriend of a woman
who is true, endearing and so amazing that I am often rendered speechless. The member of a community that is so loving
and embracing, it’s hard to imagine a life without it. All those dominoes that fell, all those ripples that floated
outward, all those breezes that were born into gusts that begat changes in direction, perspective and understanding; they
all brought me to where I am today.
And where I am today is a wonderful and remarkable place. I am a couple of chapters into the new book that is my
life. My new life, where the rear view mirror is no longer haunting and the horizon is something to be embraced and
no longer feared. It’s a life in which my daily battle is to temper my desire to floor it because I know the future
has so many more wonderful events in store, yet I want to pace myself and be able to thoroughly enjoy the here and now.
I used to write to dull the pain. I used to write to justify the course of my actions and the decisions I made.
I used to write because I hoped that someone reading would empathize and understand. We all know that misery loves company
and I was miserable. Even though I never really was, I felt alone. I felt in despair and the only thing keeping
me together was the ability to click a button that reads “Post to Blog.”
I have to admit, it’s much more of a challenge to write now. Just like crawling into a bottle or laying in bed
for days upon days, it’s so easy to write when you’re sad and depressed. I have so much for which to be thankful, that
I just want to shout it out to the world (hence this entry). Yet I find myself too busy enjoying life that I don’t make
the time to sit down and write. And sometimes, that’s alright with me.
Tuesday, February 6, 2007
Birthday Blog
Today is my birthday (da na na na na na .. na na), and Beatles references aside, it's been a great day.
It began with a voice mail from a dear friend of mine. He was waxing eloquent about how we have both traveled similar
roads in life. He was remembering fondly conversations we shared, experiences we created together and how it was apparent
God allowed us to meet so we could draw strength from each other.
"It's like we're riding together in this peloton of life" he told me. "Sometimes I take the lead and break through the
wind. Sometimes you're out in front, leading the way."
I was sidetracked by my inner twelve year-old. "Did he say 'breaking wind'?"
me: "Look out back there……I just broke wind."
him: "Awwwwwwww. Geeeeees, dude. You're not right.
Man, you should have that checked out. Seriously. Did you have Mexican last night or something?"
me: "No, but
your MOM did. Haaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhh!"
And that's what being 34 is all about. Having friends around whom you can 'release' yourself and totally bust on
their moms. That is, of course, unless their mom is deceased. Then you go to sisters and ex-wives. It's
important to note, however, that under no circumstances do you ever bust on a buddy's daughter. That's completely sacrilegious.
But in all seriousness, my birthday had been great because of one constant. Love. Beginning with that of
my girlfriend, proceeding to the love of my kids, surrounded by the love of my family and enveloped by the love of my friends,
today – as is every day – has been a complete blessing.
About 8 months ago, my world was forever changed with one road trip. It was the Sister Hazel Hang at Isle of Palms, South
Carolina, and it's were I met most of the people I consider close friends today. And these friendships have branched
out to relationships and to the point where I no longer view these individuals as friends but rather as family.
We have shared moments together. Ice cream socials, dinners, concerts, nights out around the town, and this little
thing called The Rock Boat, my world has been strengthened and solidified by all the individuals that make up the Hazelnut
community. In addition to this amazing aspect of my life, I have long-established friends who have been there for me
from the beginning, two beautiful children who are my world, and a beautiful girlfriend that loves me unconditionally.
And one by one, they have called, e-mailed, text messaged, and posted comments on my MySpace and the Sister Hazel message
board. They have sent an outpouring of love and well wishes. They have made me feel like a king for the day.
They have made me the center of their thoughts and focus for one day out of the year. And ultimately, they have all
made me feel loved.
I am truly blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful people. Friends, family and Sister Hazel fans .... it really
doesn't get much better than this. And to quote Sister Hazel, "It's all about the love", and I In my 34 years of life,
I have never been in a better place or felt as much love as I do right now.
I thank everyone for making today that much more special, and I thank God for guiding me to where I am in my life.
Sunday, February 4, 2007
Indeterminable Certainty – A Look at Super Bowl XLI
I was perusing ESPN the Magazine and came across an article previewing tonight’s Super Bowl match up between the Indianapolis
Colts and Chicago Bears. This article presented 5 arguments as to which team had the advantage of winning. The
one that jumped out at me was the concept of Pythagorean wins. It claims that rather than looking at wins and losses
in the regular season, one should review the formula devised by stats guru Daryl Morey that takes into consideration Points
Scored versus Points Allowed in the regular season. Since 1989, the team that has finished first or second in
Pythagorean wins has won 16 of 18 titles. In this past season, the Bears had 12.4 PW’s. The Colts had only 9.6.
This got me to thinking about all the quirky, little stats and the slew of information that is unearthed every year before
the Big Game. Everyone becomes an expert. Everyone becomes a statistician. Everyone has an opinion as to
why THEIR team will win. Well, if you know me, you know I’m a geek. Particularly, a sports geek. And when
in comes to general Super Bowl trivia and knowledge, my geekness is off the charts.
So here are some nuggets of knowledge you may appreciate regarding tonight’s game.
• This is the ninth Super Bowl to be played in Miami. In the previous eight games played, the advantage goes
to the AFC (4-3). We cannot count Super Bowl III in which the Jets defeated the Colts. Both teams are currently
in the AFC.
• Of the Super Bowls in Miami, they have been played in 2 different stadiums, however, this will
be the 4th different stadium name for a Miami Super Bowl (Orange Bowl, Joe Robbie Stadium, Pro Player Stadium, Dolphin Stadium).
• Speaking
of the Colts, this is the third appearance for them in a Super Bowl. All three games have been in Miami. The Colts
are 1-1 in their previous two games.
• Speaking about .500 performances, the Southeastern Conference has produced
8 Super Bowl starters. They are 4-4 and this stat is guaranteed to remain unchanged following tonight’s Super Bowl.
Both Manning and Grossman played their college ball in the SEC.
• In a related aside, the PAC 10 has produced the
most winning Super Bowl starting quarterbacks (8). For that matter, the PAC 10 has also produced the most losing Super
Bowl starting quarterbacks (9).
• The starting quarterbacks of the first 10 Super Bowls are in the pro football Hall
of Fame. Ken Stabler (Super Bowl XI) remains up for HOF consideration every year.
• Speaking of future hall-of-famer’s,
Peyton Manning is from Louisiana. LSU, Louisiana Tech, U of L Monroe and U of L Lafayette have all produced Super Bowl
starting quarterbacks, and they are a combined 4-3 in those games.
• Finally, of all the franchises making their
second ever appearance in a Super Bowl (alla the Bears), they are 11 - 7 in their second game. The Colts lost their
first Super Bowl but won their second.
What does this mean regarding Super Bowl XLI? Actually, nothing. To quote O.J. Simpson, the team that will
win the game is the one that outscores its opponent. No wonder he hasn’t found the real killer yet.
And if you are a Bears fan and hanging your hat on the aforementioned Pythagorean Wins, it’s important to know the Bears were
2nd in PW’s this season. In order to reach the Super Bowl, the Colts defeated the Ravens and Patriots, numbers 1 and
3 on that list, respectively.
There are so many variables that come into play during a game if this magnitude. Preparation, nervousness, officiating,
weather, sheer dumb luck. Nothing can be predicted and nothing is ever certain. Well, perhaps one thing is.
Tomorrow the pundits and stat jockeys will be at it again digesting the data and analyzing every angle of what happened in
the game. As for me, I will still be digesting the hoards of food I am certain to eat. Calories, carbs and cold
beer. Those numbers will be irrefutable.
I'll Be Right Back With That
I love going out to dinner. One reason is that I love eating. The other is that I am a lazy slob when it comes
to cooking. I would go out to eat every night except for the fact my wallet and waistline could not take it. Yet,
tonight was special because we took Lee's mom Patsy out for a birthday dinner. We were joined by Lee's sister (Tammy),
her nephew (Hunter), and Lee's aunt and uncle (Mary and Terry), all of whom made the trip down from southern Alabama for the
weekend. It was a special occasion ….. or at least it was supposed to be.
We made plans to go to Remington's steak house for dinner. We were wise enough to call ahead for seating as this
saved us about 45 minutes of wait time. This would prove to be the highlight of the night as the dining experience basically
went downhill from there.
I'll begin with the relatively tight sitting arrangements. We were a party of nine and they placed us at a series
of daisy-chained, square tables that were in between two rows of booths. I think if the individual square tables were
turned 45 degrees, the arrangement would work. But since we were sitting perpendicular to the customers in the booths,
it felt like we were dining in a NY subway that had somehow veered off course and ended up in Texas.
Our server, Walter, was prompt with the bread rolls and small blocks corn bread. Unfortunately, this would be the
best thing he did all night. After about 15 minutes of conversation and bread eating, Walter (who from here on out will
be referred to as Falter) came around for the drink order. Now anyone who's ever eaten at a restaurant knows how the
formula works. You order drinks, you wait, the drinks arrive, you order your food and you wait. Given how long
he took just to take our drink order, I felt we would be in for a long night. And we were.
I won't go into every specific detail, but suffice it to say that orders were messed up, salads were missed, drinks were
forgotten …… you get the idea. The proverbial highlight of Falter's night was the fact that Mary did not get her entrée
until I had finished mine. I will admit I am a fast eater, but I was eating steak (an overcooked one at that).
I can normally wolf down a sandwich or slurp up some pasta, but I don't inhale steaks. I chew and I savor. Nevertheless,
I polished off 14 ounces of beef before Mary was able to even SEE her chicken.
Which leads me to point of this blog entry. Service is something I like to take seriously. As a service consumer
and a service provider, I like to study and analyze what I feel people do well or can do better when it comes to overall service.
I am a firm believer in a positive and rewarding customer experience. Why do I want to give you money for an experience
that will have me up at 1:30 in the morning griping to the rest of the world?
Yet, I feel I can't set high expectations of others if I don't maintain high expectations of myself. Courtesy, patience,
understanding, basic chivalry ……. these are all characteristics I study and analyze in myself in everything I do. I
don't always meet my own expectations (some days I don't even come close), but I keep trying anyways. If we view every
interaction we share as a customer service moment, I think we foster a higher sense of respect, good will and overall happiness.
And that is something in which no one should ever falter.
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