Month: August 2015

I saw Dominique Wilkens on a Victoza commercial, featured alongside a half dozen aged and overweight men laughing and acting like life was wonderful. The way he moved held memories of athleticism, but his chest and belly hinted at hours and weeks on the couch. I thought for a moment, wow I finally have the body of an elite NBA player.

It was a fleeting thought.

I chased it with a slice of cake and some water. As I was munching on the cake I considered a second piece along with some coffee. Generally I lead with the coffee but I decided to change it up a bit, focusing on the cake and water to really experience the taste of the Louisiana Crunch Cake. It was right about that moment that I realized what my problem was. It is a mindset issue. I’ve just grown so accustomed to enjoying all of the foods that aren’t so great for me and I do so without restriction. This is a symptom of a larger lifestyle issue. It is so hard to strike a perfect balance between taking care of your body and taking pleasure in good foods. I’ve never mastered the secret of turning that into reality. I am certain a great deal of it has to do with moderation and the rest is squarely about living a lifestyle that allows for steady exercise and healthy thinking.

That is yet to come.

 

Some Thoughts:

1. Condolences to family and friends of Maricopa High Schooler Nate Ford who tragically lost his life today in a collision with a truck. I didn’t know Nate the way many did, but to hear it from his closest allies, he was one of the good guys and will be missed.

I’m starting to get a glimpse of how it is going to be for the boys this football season. I expected hard work and the need to fight for their spot, but given the lack of depth on the offensive line, I am seeing my boys either put to work on the line in practices or left as a running back facing the number one defense with a line composed of–literally–the smallest kids we have.

On one snap the D-line beat the ball to the QB.

Under those conditions our #1 back would look horrible, but what really has me concerned is my mid kid who is playing for the first time and discovering–the hard way–that it sucks being the new kid.  He’s trying to learn all the plays and find his place on the field. As one of the smallest on the team you wouldn’t expect him to be on the line but there he was tonight. He was on the o-line and the d-line and struggled to make plays. He took a couple of big hits too–kind of a welcome to the game situation. Still, he fought through. I wonder if he is still going to like the game after the season. He’s already talking about the upcoming soccer season–a sport he’s been dominating for years now.

Monday is our first team scrimmage, which will give him a chance to play against the kind of competition he will face this year and perhaps make a few plays to build confidence. He’s used to being wildly successful at all that he does and this is a new challenge for him. I’m curious to see what is going to come of it all, and I look forward to being an interested observer vs. a helicopter pop waiting to swoop in and save him.

Some Thoughts:

1. With NanoWrimo quickly approaching I’m doing the front end work for a solid run. I expect my students to work the month too, all of us trying to hit big numbers and maybe crank out an entire draft.
2. Tyrod Taylor looked legit out there today.

If I’m being honest about the first dozen pre-season games, New York is already out of the running for a championship. The Giants looked rough on defense and then both their new safeties were injured. The Jets looked rough on defense and that is supposed to be their strength. The Bills were, well, the Bills. Add it all up and there’s a real interesting surprise: Some valid fantasy options.

Let’s start with the Giants. If Beckham and Cruz are capable, they’ll have a lot of work. Add in the option of Jones and a defense that will give up a lot of points, and we are looking at one of the best Points Per Catch options in fantasy. The G-men receivers will get plenty of touches in the vein of Patriots receivers. They’ll need to get big yards for the come from behind habits that are about to be formed. Don’t forget that this is a contract year for Eli, who expects to become the highest paid player in the NFL. Last year’s work won’t earn him that contract, so this year must. If those Manning boys know anything, they know how to be earners.

The Jets are a mess. A real bad mess. The starting QB only has the job due to the original starter getting cold cocked. With that mess (and likely that QB) in the rearview, it boils down to what the Jets are going to have to do. Well, they are going to have to play some scoring defense. That is going to happen, and smart people will ride that D to the fantasy championship.

The Bills have two injured running backs and a QB that is unknown. Mark my words: This is going to be a breakout year for Tyrod Taylor. He’s the best thing to come out of VaTech since Vick, and though lacking some of the footwork and speed of the fleet footed Vick, he does have far better accuracy. I’m banking on him to be effective…

All in all, draft weekend will be one for the ages. I have two drafts in two days and lots of unknowns. Here’s hoping for a good season.

This is a farewell to summer. The boys said goodbye some time ago, trading in swimsuits for school shorts and knapsacks. Long afternoons of gaming fell away to reveal homework and reading. For me there was still time. With them in school it was almost a mini-vacation. It shifted quickly, however, becoming a task-driven time of problem solving and infant cat watching. Now it is fully over. I strode back into the office, calling out my official return to the business of teaching. Now I get down to the business of building schedules and working hard.

I like the summer. I love the chance to reset but also to explore different aspects of my psyche and spirituality. I played a ridiculous amount of Minecraft and finished the complete Gilmore Girls series. I did work projects and taught classes. I read a half dozen books–some good. I learned how to be a better football coach. I recognized how terrible I am with money.

Every summer I learn something new about myself. This year was no different.

 

Some Thoughts:

1. Right after my last post I sat and watched an hour of CNN (Crappy Network News). They talked about Trump for 43 minutes. They only mentioned 3 of the other Repubs and hardly anything substantive about those three.

I think Trump is going to win.

There is no reasonable way he should, but I believe he will. I think we’ve reached that point of bounce back where the GOP (which is reduced to about 25% of the nation these days but a much larger percentage of the vote) will piggyback on the people disenchanted with Obama (for some failed promise or another). Trump is a pompous asshole who believes his brash talk and self assuredness is not only the way to go but excites people to the point that they actually support him.

Some do. Most don’t IMHO, but we live in a media-driven world that really cannot get enough of the dude. Without Trump the GOP race is boring. There are 18 other candidates that aren’t the least bit interesting. We hire people because of what they represent and so much time is spent blowing everything about this dude out of proportion that it has become a lead story (if not THE led story) on every channel. No matter what the dude says, he gets press and more and more people become polarized about him.

I think he is going to win by a landslide because people are jaded on the Clintons (as a symbol), jaded on the Republican Party, and completely obsessed with sound bytes and people who are going to ‘set it off’ in a way that is sadly and darkly reminiscent of Islamist extremists. Think about it: How do they recruit? They prey on fear and poverty. They prey on the idea that some outside entity is going to take away what little rights and possessions you have… It sounds like politics to me.

Some Thoughts:

1. This article about Trump sums up how most people feel about this situation.
2. I’m looking forward to seeing what the new Daily Show will be like. The show is set to premiere on Sep. 28th. Trevor Noah, do your thang!

Note: I was AFK yesterday and this unable to post. I figured I post what I wrote yesterday before I write tonight…

A long time ago, back when Rand was a name you’d expect to find in a Jeremy Piven comedy and not in a serious contender for the presidency, we used to be a nation that could make fun of itself. I remember those days. I remember them being as recent as the birth of ‘The Apprentice’ as opposed to a time where that man was leading the polls for the presidency. This time before feels like nostalgia to me, solely because I was a different person then. I was young enough to still capture the idea that America the Beautiful was a country that wanted to make the world a better place and not a country that wanted to give the world more profitable corporate structures. I guess I’ve become jaded or perhaps even more of a realist about the capitalist system.

 

Here’s a fact: we are a country that puts itself above all else. While we have our flaws and our problems they are best not spoken about by other countries because we will not tolerate anyone talking down to us. We are a nation that preaches freedom of religion—so long as your religion doesn’t seem to have a fundamental problem with us (in which case you will get bombed by unmanned orbital deathstalkers and then we will arm your opposers and leave it to them to light you up).

 

We are a country that expects to rule the world both economically and militarily and, of course, we do. This is the gift of the United States—a country that has the power and audacity to call itself America, ignoring the multitude of foreign nations attached to the continents.

 

Here is the kicker: I say such things about the nation not because I hate it, but because I love it and with all things I love, I want to be honest about who and what they are. For all of these flaws I illustrate, for all of the caricatures of ourself that we perpetrate we are still an incredible nation of people who give so much to this reality and always will.

1. Getting your mind and heart and health right requires sleep. I do no such thing. The past few nights have not been sleep filled and I need to curb that flowering habit right away. I can feel my body saying terrible things to me under it’s breath.
2. Ramping up for school for me means really cleaning up the piles of drek littering my home. I make these piles with the intention of returning to them and getting organized. of course, that never really happens and they remain untended piles of drek in need of culling.
3. I think I am being hacked by Chinese cyber warriors. If I disappear from the net, I’m sorry for whatever I did to torque them off…
4. I put capital letters in weird places and I’m okay with it. I have noticed a tendency to do that in my titles thus far and it is just one of those curiosities… like the Crystal Skulls.
5. The Giants are horribly cursed. Every year there are injuries to key players. Last night they lost both new safeties, leaving the team to wonder who is actually going to pass defend?

A friend reminded me some time ago that there will come a point where my body (and subsequently mind) will no longer get into shape at the rate it used to if at all. I fear that moment is swiftly approaching. I feel that I need to uncover the motivation to take action, but I’ve been highly unsuccessful so far. It could be I’m going about things the wrong way. Setting workout goals and fiending for a Summer 2016 beach body isn’t productive. Slowly I’ve come to terms with the fact that I’m 40 (ancient in athletic terms) and am realizing that any growth must be a holistic activity that starts with finding balance and completeness in my lifestyle.

I’d love to say I came to this on my own but that isn’t true. I’ve been nudged time and again by many friends who would love to see me lead a healthier lifestyle. They would, for example, like to see me sleep more than 2-4 hours a night. They openly call for a reduction in the processed sugar yummies that saturate my home and gut on a daily basis. A life routine that involves regular exercise is a commonly heard suggestion. It is often accompanied by the suggestion that trying to race into a 60-days to fitness model is less than productive. I’m listening. I have to come to things on my own and develop them in my own time. Nudges help. They get me moving in a greater than elderly pace.

Some Thoughts:

1. Recorded both the Jets and Giants games. I got a chance to watch the Jets and was extremely excited–about the Lions offense. The Jets looked like they were not ready to play football. The disfunction of a few key players is pervading the locker room. Fix it, coach!
2. Got to watch my son’s coach take his older team (High School) unto the field tonight. By half time it was clear that the Pumas owned Imagine Schools. 26-6, with the 6 being the result of cockiness and lazy play from a team that was so far up they couldn’t see any chance of Imagine touching them.

The day of drafting draws near and I, lowly football lover am thrust into a moment of gambling glee. Fantasy Football is something that, ten years ago, I would have called very stupid. Now it is a way beyond the video game for an aging athlete to interact with the game. Let’s be real, some folks stay in the game through their kids. It becomes very obvious early on that the kid is a conduit for their own love. I’ve treaded dangerously close to that line time and again, often reminding my kids they could quit the game as a way to remind myself it isn’t about me. Fantasy is all about me and my ability to read the situation accurately.

The situation, as it were, is as complex as it is fluid. Nowadays you have to think about schedules, player contracts, police records, and more. The balance of so many factors is a slippery slope, so much so that there is no possibility that the fantasy game is rigged.

So with a fair game, how do I fare? Not great lately. This is about putting in the time and critical thinking and in order to win you gotta do both. You also need a small bit of luck. I mean, who predicted Jonas Gray would run for like a million yards in three games?

 

Some Thoughts:

1. Marg Hellenberger is kinda odd. Her level of plastic surgery makes her appear very inhuman. Now, I can only imagine what it is like for someone to have to kiss her on screen and feign deep attraction.

I fell into a wonderful book by Paolo Bacigalupi called The Water Knife. Paolo B. is known for books such as Shipbreaker and The Windup Girl. The Water Knife strikes a lot closer to home by creating a world in the none too distant future where water is fiercely scarce to the point where states are fighting each other over water rights and cities are drying up in the desert heat. Water Knives are the ‘fixers’ who go into a city, bribe all the officials and gather all the info they can about the water the city gets. The Knives do more as well. Often they are employed to blow up water treatment plants and dams, effectively ending the cit’s access to water.

The story unfolds as a mystery surrounding a death and some high level information the dead man was privy to. I’ve thought about using it for a class or two in the spring because the book references several real texts about water scarcity in the midwest. Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert in particular is an eye-opening look at how unsustainable desert life is.

This is particularly important to me as a reader, because I live in the desert. While the book goes to extremes in terms of corruption (okay, maybe not THAT extreme, I mean this is Phoenix after all… we are on our third uncorrupt Governor), but the deep and important message is that the water cannot last.

So, what to do with this information?