A Change in Policy

Yesterday, Caleb Campbell was one day away from beginning his dream of becoming an NFL player.

But today he is days away from another dream......joining his fellow classmates in Iraq or Afghanistan.

Campbell was drafted in the 7th round of this year's NFL Draft by the Detroit Lions. At the time it was a rule and agreed that he would be an active Army recruiter while playing in the NFL instead of completing his necessary 4 years of active duty.

Those were the terms when he was drafted.

But on July 8th the Army changed their rules. Now Campbell will have to serve 2 years of active duty and then he can ask for an early release and (possibly) become a recruiter for the final 2 years of his 4 year requirement.

Why did the Army change their policy?

Mainly because the Air Force and Navy complained. They said it would hurt their recruiting of athletes. Because they still require a graduate to fulfill his required active duty before he can begin a career in something else.

And why are the Navy and Air Force complaining anyways? How often does something like this happen?

Those two academies still had a 4 year requirement in place. And most (if not all) players that sign with service academies instead of colleges are planning on serving their 4 years of active duty. Or else they wouldn't have signed up.

And why wouldn't they change their rules instead. It seems to me that the academies would get more athletes to sign with them if they could reduce or eliminate their active duty requirements if they sign a contract with a professional sports league.

It doesn't happen often. And it would help bring in more kids who figure they are going to the be active duty military when they graduate but there is always that chance that they could be drafted into a professional sport instead.

I bet you would see more talented kids going to the service academies to play sports and become officers if there was an option for that.



Now, do I agree with the ruling by the Army?

Sure. It is fine with me. It is up to them as far as what rules are in place.

But why isn't Campbell's situation being considered under the rules that were in place when he got drafted?

He was drafted when the rule stated he could become a recruiter instead of serving overseas in active duty. So why not allow him to continue on that path and change the rule for any future situations?


Is it okay with Caleb Campbell?

Absolutely. He signed up to be in the Army and the possibility of an future in the NFL developed while he was there. And that is something he still intends to do. He can come back to the NFL in 2 years. It isn't like he is just going to be sitting on his couch watching tv for the next 2 years.

But what does this say about the decision makers at these academies that allow a rule to be in place even though they aren't going to follow it?

This just makes it look like the Army, and most government agencies, will change the rules around whenever they want to get what they want.

This does not make the Army look good.

And it surely WON'T help with recruiting!

more about ME!

I got this from simply, me. So here it goes, my second meme (with more to come cause I am lazy and these are easy).

What were you doing five years ago?

1. I would have been working construction (probably pouring concrete to be exact)
2. Trying to start my own business (it didn't work out)
3. Looking for a new job
4. Playing NCAA Football 2004
5. As little as possible really

What are/were five things on your to-do list for today?

1. Finish prepping a project for work
2. Play NCAA Football 2009
3. Work on an audio file at home
4. Purchase a new domain name for a new blog (more info coming soon)
5. Work out - I did this this morning, I got up at 5AM to do it!!

What are five snacks you enjoy?

1. Cheez Its
2. Ritz crackers
3. Pringles or Lay's Stacks
4. olives - yes I eat (green) olives as a snack
5. popcorn

the first three are NOT kept in my house or I will eat them ALL in one sitting!


What five things would you do if you were a billionaire?

1. Retire from any real job
2. Donate money to different charities
3. Give the wife some money to open an animal rescue
4. Start a couple dream businesses
5. Pay off my house and buy a couple new cars

What are five of your bad habits?

1. Eating/Snacking (it is one of my favorite things that I have begun to control)
2. Being lazy and un-motivated to do much of anything as far as pursuing my goals
3. Surfing the Internet at work instead of working
4. Forgetting to call people that I intend to call
5. Putting off housework

What are five places you have lived?

1. Lemoyne, PA. I lived here for the first 5 years of my life.
2. New Cumberland, PA. I lived here until I was 19
3. Enola, PA. I only lived here for one year but it was my first time living on my own
4. Mechanicsburg, PA. We lived here until last year and bought our first home in town
5. Etters, PA. We built our new house here last year and moved in in April and plan on staying here for many many years.

Yeah, I have never moved outside of the Harrisburg, PA region. All of these places basically border each other. But I love it here!!

What are five jobs you've had?

1. Retail.....I worked retail at a number of different stores from the time I was 16 until about 21 when I finally left vowing never to return!
2. Delivery....for six months I got up at 2 or 3 in the morning and delivered newspapers around Hershey, Camp Hill, Mechanicsburg, and Harrisburg. Some weekends I was putting 250 miles on my car. Luckily I had this job before gas prices went up. And actually this was probably my favorite job until I wrecked my car because I was sleeping at the wheel. Oops!
3. Construction worker......or grunt laborer. I did all the crap jobs and poured/finished concrete everyday for 4 years. It was a decent job though, as I got plenty of exercise and made decent money. (actually I made more money doing that than I make NOW)
4. Self employed.....for a year and a half I was partners in a construction company. I was still doing the grunt work but at least I was in charge (kinda). But then the housing market FELL APART and I had to leave to make any money.
5. Auditor......I now work (aka. show up and surf the web) for a large organization that treats its employees VERY well. But it is boring and I am already looking towards the next thing.


and that's that. I am not going to tag anyone but if you do it just let me know.

The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Beers

Someone sent this to me today, and I think everyone needs this little reminder.



The Mayonnaise Jar and 2 Beers

When things in your life seem almost too much to handle, when 24 hours in a day is not enough, remember the mayonnaise jar and the 2 Beers.

A professor stood before his philosophy class and had some items in front of him. When the class began, he wordlessly picked up a very large and empty mayonnaise jar and proceeded to fill it with golf balls. He then asked the students if the jar was full. They agreed that it was.

The professor then picked up a box of pebbles and poured them into the jar. He shook the jar lightly. The pebbles rolled into the open areas between the golf balls. He then asked the students again if the jar was full. They agreed it was.

The professor next picked up a box of sand and poured it into the jar. Of course, the sand filled up everything else. He asked once more if the jar was full. The students responded with an unanimous 'yes.'

The professor then produced two Beers from under the table and poured the entire contents into the jar effectively filling the empty space between the sand. The students laughed.

'Now,' said the professor as the laughter subsided, 'I want you to recognize that this jar represents your life. The golf balls are the important things---your family, your children, your health, your friends and your favorite passions---and if everything else was lost and only they remained, your life would still be full.

The pebbles are the other things that matter like your job, your house and your car.

The sand is everything else---the small stuff. 'If you put the sand into the jar first,' he continued, 'there is no room for the pebbles or the golf balls. The same goes for life. If you spend all your time and energy on the small stuff you will never have room for the things that are important to you.

'Pay attention to the things that are critical to your happiness. Spend time with your children Spend time with your parents. Visit with grandparents. Take time to get medical checkups. Take your spouse out to dinner. Play another 18 holes.

There will always be time to clean the house and fix the disposal. Take care of the golf balls first---the things that really matter. Set your priorities. The rest is just sand.'

One of the students raised her hand and inquired what the Beer represented. The professor smiled and said, 'I'm glad you asked.' The Beer just shows you that no matter how full your life may seem, there's always room for a couple of Beers with a friend.'

Ah, Look At The Puppies

Well the weekend was a good one.

Saturday we got up and headed out by about 10 in the morning to make the drive to pick out our puppies.

We got there right when we were scheduled to at 1 in the afternoon.

The puppies were still too young to really be moving around alot. 1 of the litters was actually too young to even hold as their eyes weren't open yet.

But the other two litters were a little older (the oldest were 3 weeks) so we held a few of them.

We were looking for a red one and another color (we were leaning towards silver/gray) depending on what options there were.

We ended up getting 2 from the middle litter, they were born on July 2.

The 2 we picked were the only red male in the litter and the only silver female in the litter.

That way there is no real confusion when other people are picking their dogs out.

We got to see the father too and he is a BIG husky. Most male huskies average 45-60 lbs but he is 95 lbs in the winter and around 80-85 lbs in the summer.

And the best part of that....

is that we didn't pick the runt of the litter.....

no, we took the biggest of the litters!

Ash, the red male, has huge paws and was noticeably bigger than the other dogs even at 17 days old.

Simi, the silver female, isn't as big and will probably be average sized.

Now I would love to show you plenty of pictures of the dogs now.

But we had a little problem when it came to taking pictures on Saturday.

The problem you ask...

no media card in the camera!

Yes that's right. The wife, who possesses these cameras, forgot to check for the card and unfortunately they were sitting on the desk at home instead of in the camera.

So no digital pictures.

But we improvised and she took a couple with her cell phone and used a disposable that was supposed to stay and chart their growth to take some pictures. (we had taken 2 disposable cameras up so there is still one there)

So here are 3 picks from the cell phone:

this one is Ash
this is Simi
this is both of them sleeping (that is pretty much what the do!)

What are the Odds?

What Are the Odds?
By: Natalie Josef (View Profile)

About one out of every three people in the United States thinks that winning the lottery is the only way to become financially secure. But the odds of winning a single state lottery are about 18 million to 1.

That’s why I laugh at my friends who buy lottery tickets—to me, it’s just throwing money away. The likelihood you’ll be killed by lightning is roughly 2,650,000 to 1—a lot more likely than winning the lottery.

Have you ever wondered how the odds stack up against each other? For instance, did you know that your odds of winning an Olympic medal are roughly the same as drowning in the bathtub? Check out these odds:

Odds of dying from a dog bite: 1 in 20 million

Odds of becoming a saint: 1 in 20 million

Odds of becoming president: 1 in 10,000,000

Odds of dying from parts falling off an airplane: 1 in 10,000,000

Odds you will be injured by a toilet this year: 1 in 10,000

Odds of finding a four-leaf clover on the first try: 1 in 10,000

Odds of spotting a UFO today: 1 in 3,000,000

Odds of dying from food poisoning: 1 in 3,000,000

Odds of dying from a shark attack: 1 in 300,000,000

Odds of dying from Measles: 1 in 300,000,000

Odds of a child being in a fatal automobile accident: 1 in 23,000

Odds of being wrongly declared dead by a Social Security data entry mistake: 1 in 23,483

Odds of writing a New York Times best seller: 1 in 220

Odds of dating a millionaire: 1 in 215

Odds of getting AIDS from heterosexual sex without using a condom: 1 in 5,000,000

Odds of dying from contact with hot tap water: 1 in 5,005,564

Odds of winning an Academy Award: 1 in 11,500

Odds of bowling a 300 game: 1 in 11,500

Odds of injury from using a chain saw: 1 in 4464

Odds of dying on a bicycle: 1 in 4472

Odds of being murdered: 1 in 18,000

Odds of dying in a car accident: 1 in 18,585

Odds of getting arthritis: 1 in 7

Odds you don’t have health insurance: 1 in 7

Odds of dying from heart disease: 1 in 3

Odds of an American woman developing cancer in her lifetime: 1 in 3

Odds that you will die from the collision of an asteroid hitting the earth in the next one hundred
years: 1 in 500,000

Odds of a non-felon being murdered with a gun: 1 in 500,000

Odds of being in a plane crash: 1 in 500,000

I think we need to keep things in perspective and ignore the commercials that tell you to start dreaming about the millions you’re going to win in the lottery. Actually, just ignore TV altogether. While they’re busy recalling every vegetable for fear of salmonella, no one is mentioning the fact that you’re more likely to die of appendicitis than salmonella. How many people do you know who’ve died from appendicitis? The moral here? Eat your vegetables and don’t play the lottery.

Tomorrow.....

Well I am officially excited now.

Why?

Tomorrow myself, the wife, and kiddo are heading out towards Altoona, Pa.

So what is so special about Altoona?

Nothing usually.

But tomorrow there is.....

We are purchasing 2 of these....

And eventually they will look like this....

And I am really looking forward to it!

The only problem is that we can't actually bring them home until the end of August.

But we are going to go out and play with 22 puppies and pick our favorite 2.

That's right, the breeder had 3 dogs spit out 22 (actually 23, as one didn't make it) puppies.

And WE get the FIRST PICK!!!!!!


And in other good news....I met with a real estate agent/broker about becoming an agent.

I think I am going to do it. I have to do some schooling first (which I can online) and then pass the test.

But I want to give it a try. I am not going into it full time as I need to actually make money for now. But eventually I would like to be able to quit my job and just sell houses.

That would be pretty cool!

My first MEME

I have not done a meme on here yet. So let's do one today. I got this from The Black Lounge. His blog is really good, go check it out.


Anger
1. Who did you last get angry with? My friend Monkey
2. What is your weapon of choice? Talking
3. Would you hit a member of the opposite sex? Depends on the situation
4. How about of the same sex? Absolutely if I needed to
5. Who was the last person who got really angry at you? Probably Monkey as well, no one has told me, so thats a guess
6. What is your pet peeve? Lots of them, #1 would probably be people who don't do what they say the are going to do
7. Do you keep grudges, or can you let them go easily? Let go TOO easily; it usually comes back later on

Sloth
1. What is one thing you’re supposed to do daily that you haven’t done in a long time? take vitamins; nothing really necessary
2. What is the latest you’ve ever woken up? probably noon
3. Who have you been meaning to contact, but haven’t? a friend in vegas
4. What is the last lame excuse you made? Not sure, it has been awhile
5. Have you ever watched an infomercial all the way through (one of the long ones…)? No
6. How many times did you hit the snooze button on your alarm clock today? I have never hit a snooze button; I just turn it off, which causes more problems than hitting the snooze!

Gluttony
1. What is your overpriced yuppie beverage of choice? not really sure what falls into this category so I will say nothing cause I drink water most of the time
2. Meat eaters are…: Awesome
3. What is the greatest amount of alcohol you’ve had in one sitting/outing/event? 2 beers; I don't drink much if ever
4. Have you ever used a professional diet company? yes, it didn't work
5. Do you prefer sweets, salty foods or spicy foods? salty

Lust
1. Have you ever caught yourself staring at the chest/crotch of a member of your gender of choice during a normal conversation? yes, hopefully it wasn't too obvious
2. What is your favorite body part on a person of your gender of choice? butt
3. Have you ever been made a proposition by a prostitute? no
4. Have you ever had to get tested for an STD or pregnancy? no
5. Is love at first sight really lust? no; I believe in it

Greed
1. How many credit cards do you own? 1; 2 if you count my corporate card (business travel only)
2. What’s your guilty pleasure store? fast food restaurants, I love em and hate em
3. If you had $1 million, what would you do with it? pay off house and invest
4. Would you rather be rich or famous? rich
5. Would you accept a boring job if it meant you would make megabucks? yes for a while
6. Have you ever stolen anything? yes; we were all kids once
7. How many mp3s are on your hard drive? 500ish

Pride
1. What is one thing you have done that you’re most proud of? raising my daughter (she is 7 now)
2. What’s one thing you’ve done that your parents are most proud of? finished college
3. What thing would you like to accomplish in your life? make a living doing something I actually enjoy ---- write a novel
4. Do you get annoyed by coming in second place? more than people know
5. Have you ever entered a contest of skill, knowing you were of much higher skill than all the other competitors? yes; but the question is, did I win?
6. Have you ever cheated on something to get a higher score? yes; like you haven't!!
7. What did you do today that you’re proud of? I purchased 2 half priced gift cards; they sold out in under 3 minutes! But I got 2!

Envy
1. What item (or person) of your friends would you most want to have for yourself? I would like to have a job I love like my sister and Patty do (they are both teachers and love it)
2. Who would you want to go on Trading Spaces with? No One; I don't trust anyone enough to do it right
3. If you could be anyone else in the world, who would you be? No One; I am perfectly happy in my life!
4. Have you ever been cheated on? not sure, no one ever told me
5. Have you ever cheated? unfortunately, yes (Sorry)



I have more meme's that I need to do, so you will probably be seeing more of them. If you do this one, just let me know so I can check it out!

Contact Info??

Okay.

So I have been looking into becoming a real estate agent lately and I took this survey/quiz thing for Century 21.

At the end of it they asked if I would like to be contacted by someone for more information.

It asked for some contact info, my home phone number, best time to be reached, and a comments section for anything else.

I put my number, said LATE AFTERNOON, and said in the comments section that if they could not call after 5 than to call my CELL PHONE around lunch.

(and lunch time was an option in the time to be reached section)

So the wife sends me an email earlier telling me that someone from Century 21 called this morning.

They called in the EARLY MORNING to my HOME PHONE NUMBER!!

Why bother asking for the information if you aren’t going to use it?

Exposaroonie-Patriotic

Hi all, I didn't have a submission for last week's contest but here it is for this week. Please go here to vote for me.

Don't Just Sit And Watch

Quit being such a wimp.

No more excuses.

Stand up and tell them what you are thinking and feeling.

And don’t take no for an answer.

You owe it to this person and yourself to push them.



What am I referring to here?

Anyone who has a friend or family member that is causing harm to themselves.

Whether that harm is being caused by alcohol abuse, drug abuse, abusive relationships, or just blatant ignorance of a situation.

Obviously there are some people that are going to respond favorably to you saying something and there are some people who won’t.

Does that mean you should be content to just stand back and watch?

Let’s say you have a friend that drive’s drunk on a regular basis.

And just for arguments sake, let’s say you disapprove of them doing this (which you should by the way).

Do you say something to this friend??

Let’s say you decide that they are an adult and can handle it themselves and you ignore it and right it off as part of who they are.

Now let’s say this person has an accident and is killed in it.

Now, don’t you wish you would’ve said something??

Let’s now say you did say something.

But the friend didn’t want to listen and threatened to not be friends with you if you didn’t chill out about it.

Now what do you do?

Your friendship is on the line here.

I think most people would back off because they don’t want to lose a friend.

I am not sure what I would do personally. It would be really hard, especially if it’s a good friend, to risk that friendship for it.

Especially considering your point may not be heard and it wouldn’t make a difference. And then you would have lost a friend and your efforts wouldn’t have changed anything.

That would suck.

But you know what would make that worse.

Is if you back off and they have an accident and die. Then you would beat yourself up about not doing more.

It isn’t an easy thought to have.

But sometimes you have to put your friend’s well-being before your own.

If you truly are a friend and care about someone than you need to step up and say something.

I don’t care if you have never had a more personal conversation than “hey what are you up to tonight?”

You still owe it to your friend and YOURSELF to stand up and do something.

If you watch from the sidelines as your friend tempts death than you aren’t a good friend.

No matter what excuses you come up with.



Note: there is more to this, but it can’t be told right now.

Summer....

I hate summer!

Okay, maybe I don't hate summer but it just seems to fuck with me a lot.

My problem comes from being completely unmotivated to do anything in the summer.

I am going to the beach in about a month and am doing nothing but thinking about it right now.

And when I get back I will do nothing but think about how much fun it was and how much I want to go back.

Does anyone else have this problem?

My other problem with summer is that sports suck during the summer. I have said on here before that sports are a big part of who I am.

I am a big football and hockey fan, so from about the middle of August til the middle of June I am content. But during the summer there is nothing interesting in the sports world.

Just baseball......which is incredibly boring. I don't mind going to games but can't afford to go to many, but watching it or following it is not something I am interested in doing.

And tv sucks during the summer too. There are no really good shows out there on tv. Just repeats of shows.

So there is really nothing to keep my mind off of my boring job and how much I hate working!

But I think most of my problem is due to vacations happening and nice weather outside. I would rather be at a pool than here all summer long.

Some people probably love summer because of cookouts and vacations and other things.

And I love those things too. But it really affects my motivation and I hate that.

How do you all feel about summer??

Privacy? Maybe not...

This is for anyone out there that has had their blog discovered by people they didn't want reading it.

And also a message for those who are afraid of that situation happening.

ARE YOU SURPRISED?!?!?

Did you seriously think that all of this is secret and no one is ever going to find out?

There are some people out there whose significant other doesn't know.

If that is you, I will give you a tip......when they find out it will only end BADLY!

A lot of people look at blogging as a form of therapy. Like writing in a journal.

Except....

That a journal is private and NO ONE else (usually) sees it.

And there are a lot of people out there that I am sure use journals as therapy. It makes sense to me.

But blogging is NOT writing in a journal. And it is NOT private.

But I can understand that writing a blog is a form of a journal. But you better be careful what you say cause eventually someone that isn't supposed to see it, will see it.

And then what??

If you are going to put your life out there for others to read and respond to than you better prepare yourself for when someone sees it and doesn't like it.

Cause when you start a blog and start complaining about your life or the people in it you take the risk of those people finding it and getting upset.

I have read about multiple occasions of this. And I have had the worry on my own as far as some friends that I may have insulted on here.


Every time you give a detail about your life, a puzzle piece if you will, you are giving people a clue to your real identity.

And with every little clue people can start to piece together the puzzle.

Even the biggest puzzle can be put together with time and effort.

If someone wants to know who you are they will find out and if you are giving them daily updates than you are just helping the cause.

Even when you give total anonymity to your characters and yourself people could still figure it out. All it takes is a little knowledge of the real world situation.

If you have no connection other than the blog to readers than it would be almost impossible to complete the puzzle.

The problem is.......

There is no way to tell who is reading.

Still alive and kickin

Wow....I haven't posted since the 25th of June.

Huh? I wonder where I have been.....oh well.

Are there any readers still left out there?

If so I apologize. I haven't really been overly busy or anything, just unmotivated to blog.

Last week I was on the road for work. I didn't have to stay over night but I had to drive about 3 hours a day and by the time I got back I didn't want much to do with a computer.

The past couple weekends have been relatively uneventful. A couple family dinners and one with friends.

Job is still kinda shitty. Finding out more and more about the future lately. Looks as though my job is possibly going to change. Could possibly be moving offices around the city. Hoping to get promoted and transferred to another department but I have to wait a couple months for that yet.

I think I might start applying to other jobs just to see what is out there. I kinda like the one I am in but there isn't much of a future and earnings are limited.

Oh well. Maybe I can stay on task and post every day or so again.

Time will tell.......