Day: July 28, 2012

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…

I don’t think people live at a set level of mental and physical exertion. As with a wave there is a rising and falling action. However, I believe we have the ability to control our rising and falling actions through the incredible power of will.

I haven’t heard from my fantasy football league yet, but I gotta admit I’m getting psyched about the challenge. Our league is a pay league; a group of football watchers who plunk down a fee to see which of us can collect the best ‘point scorers’ in the NFL. I know many NFL players, beat writers, and even fans consider Fantasy Football to be a powerfully stupid activity. It is literally football out of context. We’re betting on the skills of individuals (and occasionally defenses) in a team sport. So, this post challenges the myths and stereotypes of Fantasy Football. I seek to validate what I’ve come to enjoy as my ‘paper sport’. Fantasy Football is a colorful extraction of an intrinsic part of professional football.

What is fantasy football? It is a bet. You bet on how well players will perform against a given team under a very specific set of variables in a given week. In essence, fantasy football team owners are laymen NFL scouts. We determine mismatches and orchestrate lineups in order to take advantage of those mismatches. This little step made the Patriots great. Now I’m not saying I’m like the Patriot coaching staff, but I am trying to be a student of the game in that same fashion in order to play a game that is both fun and earns me a little bit of coin just in time for the Super Bowl party.

I know this post tries to make fantasy football team owners seem more than we are, but I enjoy playing and I do learn more about the game from it. Fantasy football makes me a better football coach to all of the kids I lead unto the field on saturdays. That has to be worth something.

(transcribed from shoddily handwritten text)

Yesterday was tough for me. The Big Evil Wave ™ is still cascading over my life, lately resulting in massive knee pain made worse by slamming into a coffee table knee first. A younger man would shrug it off. I am no longer a younger man. As a result I was in no mood to deal with my kids (which is becoming a more and more constant state of being), they learned to keep their distance and entertain themselves for large stretches of time. This shows that I am developing a really negative attitude towards childcare and have skewed priorities.

The Big Evil Wave ™ is always self-inflicted. It is, after a fashion, me telling the universe that I need to be checked. Check me it does; always hard enough to make the point impossible to miss. This year’s points are crystal:

1. My priorities are out of whack.
2. I am too careless with my money.

The first point is a painful one to admit, because it shows me that I am trying to hard to escape fro my daily routine, which means I am unhappy with the home life. This past year taught me that I think about anything else while spending time with the kids, they’ll know and they will try to destroy whatever else I am thinking about. If I try to work on that other thing, it’ll be ruined, as will my time with the kids. Part of that is inattention blindness, but it is mostly the willful way these kids refuse to be ignored–as they should.

They deserve my full attention. I need to become more proactive about organizing and grading priorities. I need to shape my time in a way that allows me those moments to do nothing but hang out with the family as well as those moments to work and to write. Most of all, I need to be clear about what is most important.

The money issue is equally rough Isn’t it always?

Some Thoughts:

1. My job used to be my vacation. That is hardly the case these days, because I haven’t found balance yet. I need to figure out a way to do that.

2. Wearing your shades on the back of your shirt is stupid. There, I said it. Someone had to. In a world where 50 Shades of poo is a NYT best seller, we need to start calling bullshit when we see it.

No, I didn’t give up on the rule. In the financial poostorm that is daily life my account lapsed–triggered by a change in banks (We no longer endorse BOA here). When switching banks and bill pay accounts there is certain to be some lag and resulting drama. The last few weeks have been all of that and worse. Hopefully the financial madness will stop trending and I can exchange that level of drama for a few weeks of focus on rebuilding myself.