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I have a problem with the word potential. It feels like an empty promise. Everyone is born with potential, and as we age that potential ticks towards empty like the minutes of our lives. Just the other day I watched an excellent commercial by Nike that showed a very overweight boy running to the point where his body dripped with sweat. That is potential in its raw form. That is the realization that our bodies are molded by ourselves and we must put in the required effort in order to achieve the goals we wish for ourselves. This is where the general understanding of potential fails.

We, at least in this iteration of American society, place caps on potential. It is pervasive. We compare everyone to someone who came before. Usain Bolt is trying to be Carl Lewis, Lebron James is trying to be Jordan, every female astronaut is trying to be Sally Ride. This may be true, but it should not be. Potential, as a capping mechanism, weakens our individual ability to grow beyond the boundaries of someone else’s imagination. When I started writing I wanted to be the next Stephen King. I didn’t want to rule his genre, but I wanted to be that big. This was the cap of my imagination. Then, as I grew and saw the walls of opportunity closing in, I wanted to be the next Nigel Findley, the next Kenson, the list goes on.

What I didn’t want to be was the first me. I did not recognize what that could mean, because there was no roadmap to get there, which is what potential unfortunately creates. Potential allows one to craft a path by someone else’s history. It tells you how to get somewhere, which is in the vicinity of where you thought you wanted to go, but is unlikely to be anywhere near where you are meant or capable of going on your own. I am not saying in makes you wish for more than you can be or even less, but it makes you wish for someone else’s experience when all we should ever wish for is what we ourselves are capable of becoming.

I don’t talk about my kids in terms of potential. I talk about them in terms of ability and preparedness. I give them the skills and the tools to learn what they want to be. They need to build their own roads to get there.

Some Thoughts:

1. I know this is waiver wednesday, but I wanted to put it on hold for a very special wednesday next week once the pre-season is in full swing.

2. Writing. Yeah, I’m back at it. Nothing I can say right now other than there is some GREAT stuff in the pipe. Stay tuned.

How many more posts can I make? Will we see 8465. Waiver Wednesday? Or will I have decided to move on by then? When is enough enough? I have been thinking about time a lot lately as the school year quickly approaches. I started the blog in a time of great need; when my writing no longer spoke to me and the rest of my life followed suit. I needed it then, like a lifeline to my own soul. Since that time the need waned and I struggled to find topics to converse about. Several times I talked, Seinfeld-like, about absolutely nothing. In recent months I have found patterns and conversations to follow, but they don’t strike me with the necessary regularity to make the columns valuable to potential readers. Of course, this didn’t start out about the readers, nor are there enough to significantly impact the direction. No, this all comes back to time.

When will it be time to break the rule?

The rule was about finding that time to write in spite of the world around me. That challenge still exists, perhaps to a greater extent than it previously did, because the writing demands are pacing the personal demands and there are still only 24hrs in a day. Two years ago I found myself trying to parcel out time according to a set schedule. This hour is four tv, is for gym, this for kids. That strategy is useless unless you control the elements demanding your time. So, now I go with it and squeeze in my writing time as I can, and that still is not enough.

I hope to write 4000 words tomorrow. It is the first day I have to write without any responsibility over a 7 hr block. Out of that time, I will likely write for 4 hours, with the rest going to the nubile up stage and other odds and ends. I wish I had that chunk every day, but normally I have a tenth of it. That tells me this: it is not time for the rule to be broken.

So long as I still struggle to write, I will have need of the ten minute rule. Besides, where else will I Talk about football on wednesdays?

That tightness in my chest is probably driven by e over abundance of coffee in my system coupled with the crowds of people pressed into the narrow aisles of Gateway CC’s new enrollment services area. It is the first day of school for my youngest two, which means my wife, child #1, and I get to go to wifey’s school and help her register for her final semester of nursing. “Help” in this context means sitting around and waiting for her to do whatever drawn out process is required for her to be able to walk into class that first day.

Calling the process foolish would be like calling government cumbersome. Like government, the process is so entrenched that nobody is willing to make the sacrifices required in order to rebuild it from the ground up. Like government, the cost of doing such would be monumental. So, here I sit with my son trying to find a way to cut through the boredom of it all.

At least I have an iPad.

I also have a job starting soon. That means summer is nearly over and I am largely unfulfilled in my need for some rest and relaxation. Sure, I lounged around and played games, but I really wanted to hide away for a week and do nothing but write. In my perfect world, the kids wander off to the grandparents or something and I wander off for a week to do nothing but write. Dream on, eh?

I get it. The public school system is broken. Administration is bloated and likely overpaid. School teachers are not getting the job done. Worst still is the plight of the government grunt. Government workers are amongst the most hated groups in the world. They are generally rude (largely as a result of being overworked) and in situations where their roles are redundant they are fiercely protective of their unnecessary jobs. So, when the GOP launches into an attack about how government needs to be downsized, I understand. But here is what I don’t understand: How does firing people help the job market?

The fact is, it doesn’t. Yes, government needs reform. However, in order to do that level of reform will require firing more people in one day than the country hires in its best month. We could easily add a percent to the jobless rate and in the process destroy a number of lives. Of course, you never hear about what is going to happen to all the people put out of work. You won’t because it isn’t popular to talk about what happens to hard working Americans when they are stripped of the jobs they invested their lives in. No, instead we talk about firing the people it is easiest to hate.

Scapegoating is about hiding the truth and the root cause of the problem. We we let it happen we only make the problem worse.

 

Some Thoughts:

1. The difference between good cgi and bad cgi is no longer the processing power. Quite flawless CGI can and has been done by amateurs using readily available and affordable software. There is no better indication of this than in recent movies and fabricated paranormal footage. The stuff looks great. I think the real difference is the talent of the programmers involved–as it should be.

First, apologies on the rather intermittent service. On occasion this blog disappears. It always comes back, but it does lapse into these periodic silences as do I–at least in terms of physical improvement. The good news is I’ve come alive at last. I’m back in the gym and slowly working to put my body on the path to stay alive a lot longer. I am exceedingly sore. I did a short upper body workout preceded by a few minutes of light cardio. It wasn’t a super workout, but it was a breakthrough. Now I know I am back on track to be a healthy and it feels right.

What feels wrong is the incredible amount of money I spend on fast food for the family. Did You know that it cost $24 to feed a family of five at McDonalds, $24 at Sonic, nearly $30 at Chick-Fil-A, and only $20 at Panda Express. The fact is, fast food is quick and super costly.

This lesson was brought to my attention after realizing my kids spent the last few days living off that stuff. Call it the storm before the calm, or rage before the start of school. By whatever name it is a lot of bad eating. Well, it all stops now and the kids are going on the same diet we are on. Everyone should be healthy and fit.

Just found this sitting on my IPad. Apparently it never published. It should have been 820….

Sometimes memes are reflective of a feeling; a sense commonality and force of will. Today I was watching a recorded episode of Adventure Time and saw a meme born right before my eyes. Here is how it happened.

Adventure Time is a show about two individuals who live as brothers. Jake is a dog with the power to expand his body to enormous proportions. Finn is a human who happens to be one of a handful of humans in this magical world. He was adopted as a baby by Jake’s parents. Now the two are sorta grown up and living together in a treehouse as an adventuring duo. The floop episode, called Card Wars, is about downtime. Jake is a guru at the card wars game. He has developed a strategy based around corn and doesnt lose. Now nobody will play with him. So, he convinces Finn to play and Finn destroys Jakes well planned strategy by playing a random card, a pig. Finn doesn’t attack with the pig, as one apparently should. He floops it, setting it loose on the cornfield and eating all the corn.

Floop the Pig.

There is already a website and several mentions across the web about this young meme. So what does it mean? I say it means beat them when they underestimate you or even the weakest seeming person can be a beast. It means different things to different people. The fact that is became a meme shows that people can easily attach their emotions to the idea. I will watch this develop and report more as I know more.

In the meanwhile, I plan to help it spread.

It occurs to me that football begins on Sunday. The preseason begins in earnest on August 10th, and a few weeks later the games count. With that in mind I want to talk football.

The injury bug smacked up the Giants again. Nicks is out, leaving me to wonder who the #2 and #3 receivers will be. Hixon cannot be relied upon to stay healthy, Barden is rather untested, and the rest are question marks.

It doesn’t get any better on the D-side. Starting CB Terrell Thomas blew out his knee again.  Same knee, which means it never fully healed. Former 1st Rounder Prince Amukamara is going to have to step up now. No better time for it. The former Nebraska Blackshirt will be starting in a season that his former college team wears black shirt jerseys for a game for the first time.

The Jets are looking lovely this time of year. The marriage of Tebow and Sanchez appears to be working beneath harsh media scrutiny. NY media wants them to fail–needs them to fail or be on the verge of it to sell more papers and web time. Tebow is being his ever-gracious self, but you gotta know he’s looking for a shot at starting. It will happen again somewhere, and perhaps even in NYC.

Small post. Just a few thoughts on the coming season. I’m sure there will be more when I start considering the fantasy draft.

Some Thoughts:

1. I need febreeze for my car. The commercials sold that sucker. In fact, It has me thinking about using commercials in my classes. I am particularly fond of the Dos Equis commercials. Like most they seek to establish credibility of the spokesperson, but they do it in a very fun way. They’re also a logical fallacy for the most part.

2. 19 days till classes start. Not ready at all.

I am a city boy. I grew up in NYC and spent most of my time walking the streets and enjoying the world outdoors. Fast forward twenty or so years and here I am in the desert with a remarkably ordinary backyard. In fact, this is the type of yard that is so powerfully boring that my own kids are loathe to play outside.

What can be done to turn an ordinary backyard into something worth coming home to? My yard consists of a patch of grass rimmed by an L shaped porch against a slope of rock and trees. This is all contained in a 30 x 45′ rectangle of useful space. Now a lot of the space is wasted. The slope eliminates a great deal of the useful ground and the unkempt grassy area is imposing to the boys.

What I want is something that inspires calm but also leaves room for fun. I want the patch of grass, but I also want the space around that grass to be warm and inviting. I want to feel like I can sit in the yard and not be trampled by bugs of all flavors. I want to know there is shade available and a place to sit and have a drink. I want a happy spot.

Happiness is supposed to be the guiding principle of home, and we have created a space that looks okay but doesn’t feel all that happy just yet. It should be the first thing you think about in your indoor and especially outdoor spaces.

Some Thoughts:

1. The clock says I am completing this post near 3:12 AM. What time zone is my server located in? Reminds me that the world moves on very different schedules and my time, no matter what part of the USA I happen to be in at the time, is not the most important time to everyone else.

In a perfect world we would be comfortable having commercials where Wendy (namesake of Wendy’s) is the sexy and friendly spokeswoman that drives your business towards her establishment. We have come far enough that there are a handful of commercials starring the illusive owner of the Wendy’s empire, but most are run by skinny red-headed stand ins that are there more for their looks than any serious acting chops. In a visual world, modern media is predicated on spokespersons who are attractive in a specific way. We don’t leave room for all forms of beauty, because it doesn’t vibe with the beauty meme.

The Beauty meme is the idea that beauty is either X, Y, or Z. In reality beauty is subjective, but in many nations beauty is prescribed by history and the controlling class. They decide what beauty means and populate the media with that image. Therefore we fall in love with the idea of what is beautiful, even though that idea wasn’t originated inside of us. In order to become a part of society, we conform to the mores, one of which is dating and marrying those who society finds most desirable.

What does that mean to Wendy? It means that because she cannot look exactly the way we have defined beauty, she doesn’t sell products as well as a younger thinner version of herself. So, Wendy cannot be herself and feed us burgers.

Memes, Talis, whatever you choose to call them are created as a result of a need–be it for  independence, unity, uniqueness, or perhaps even a need to just feel good about something. Arizona mastered the self-created/personally altered situation. In other words, we do stuff here in AZ that is not done in this fashion anywhere else. Why? Because we want to be special, no matter how dumb we seem as a result. SB1070–our self-created immigration law. Yes, we forgot that immigration is the domain of the federal government. Yes, we don’t care. However, that isn’t the most egregious of our ‘changes’. Here are some Arizonisms that I could think of in 10 minutes flat:

1. We call the DMV the MVD. Why? Because we can. Nevermind the fact that the letters are arranged in the traditional fashion in most other states in the union. We changed in order to be special. We are the kid who nobody wanted to play with, so we went off in the corner and started our own game. It looks just like the one everyone else is playing, but just slightly weird enough so you know it is different and find yourself wondering why.

2. You can be convicted of a DUI in Arizona without actually driving a vehicle. If I get drunk off my butt and decide not to drive home and instead call my wife to pick me up, I can still be arrested, so long as I have keys to the car she is driving. Yes, even if it is not the set of keys presently being used. This is some sort of presumed intent. Of course with the new DUI rules, you can be nabbed for a DUI without any alcohol or drugs being involved, especially if they draw blood. If it is in your system and you fail the road test, you are impaired. Levels be damned.

3. In AZ we allow people to carry concealed weapons without any firearms training. Worst still, many many people carry guns out in the open, hanging from their hip as it were. Now, if I am a cop and I encounter someone strapped with a gun, am I going to be concerned? You betcha. Imagine how I feel as an unarmed civilian…

4. We blame the victim. Former Senator Russel Pearce blamed the victims of the tragic Colo shooting for getting shot. He asked why they weren’t more like the brave men of United Flight 93. Okay, Pearce, 93 is a thinly veiled myth. We shot that plane down, because it was a direct threat to the thousands on the ground. I’m not proud of it, but I understand. BEYOND THAT: How can you blame someone for 1) not carrying their own gun into a movie theater (he was upset they weren’t prepared for that scenario) and 2) not trying to fight off a man carrying an AK-47, shotgun, and pistol while wearing a bulletproof vest and a gas mask in a room filling with tear gas? Of course, O’l Russel woulda leapt up from his walker and beat the hell out of that kid without taking one stray round. Or he wouldn’t have moved at all…