Until Next Year

Christmas always comes and goes too damn fast. To me the season isn't over until the New Year but with having to work today, tomorrow, and Wednesday it doesn't feel the same.

Next year I think I will take off the week after Christmas. Christmas falls on a Friday next year so I think I will take off the Monday-Thursday the following week. That will make it much better.

But it was a good Christmas. I didn't really want anything since money is the only thing that would really do me any good and for the most part I only got money. So I am happy.

My parents, like most anymore, are divorced. Which makes for fun times and lots of attitude around the holidays.

We spend Thanksgiving with my dad's side at my grandparents house. Then we spend Christmas Eve with wifey's grandmother. Christmas day (and dinner/lunch) at my Mom's and her Mom and step Dad come to our house Christmas night.

Then the attitude's begin. My dad gives me shit and my grandparents on his side give me shit because we don't see them ON CHRISTMAS!! We went over on Saturday to see both of them and they were fine but a little complaining is always on the menu.

But all that is over now and that is good. I will be at my grandparents (dad's side) for New Years day dinner so they can just get over themselves.


Perhaps the best dinner of the week though was at my house on Friday night. For the past 4 (I think) years we have had a dinner around Christmas with some friends. We make a Turkey with all the good stuff....mashed potatoes, stuffing, a couple veggies. And everyone just has a good time.

This year was no exception.

A couple of the guys that come are friends that now live in Baltimore and Philly. I have known these two guys since I was in kindergarten and don't get to see them too much. So getting to see them at Christmas is cool. Another friend that sometimes comes lives in Florida now and didn't make it home this year.

But it was fun and I am looking forward to next year when we get to do everything all over again.

Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas. If you are traveling please be safe and take your time...it is better to get there late than not at all.

Wow....2 posts in one day

Hell I barely post 2 times a week let alone 2 times in one day but here you go....consider it a Christmas present.

I saw this story and thought I would share it. You can find the article here but I am going to put the whole thing below for you to read.

Life of Reilly

There are some games where cheering for the other side feels better than winning.

by Rick Reilly

Gainesville State players douse head coach Mark Williams in celebration.

They played the oddest game in high school football history last month down in Grapevine, Texas.

It was Grapevine Faith vs. Gainesville State School and everything about it was upside down. For instance, when Gainesville came out to take the field, the Faith fans made a 40-yard spirit line for them to run through.

Did you hear that? The other team's fans?

They even made a banner for players to crash through at the end. It said, "Go Tornadoes!" Which is also weird, because Faith is the Lions.

It was rivers running uphill and cats petting dogs. More than 200 Faith fans sat on the Gainesville side and kept cheering the Gainesville players on—by name.

"I never in my life thought I'd hear people cheering for us to hit their kids," recalls Gainesville's QB and middle linebacker, Isaiah. "I wouldn't expect another parent to tell somebody to hit their kids. But they wanted us to!"

And even though Faith walloped them 33-14, the Gainesville kids were so happy that after the game they gave head coach Mark Williams a sideline squirt-bottle shower like he'd just won state. Gotta be the first Gatorade bath in history for an 0-9 coach.

But then you saw the 12 uniformed officers escorting the 14 Gainesville players off the field and two and two started to make four. They lined the players up in groups of five—handcuffs ready in their back pockets—and marched them to the team bus. That's because Gainesville is a maximum-security correctional facility 75 miles north of Dallas. Every game it plays is on the road.

This all started when Faith's head coach, Kris Hogan, wanted to do something kind for the Gainesville team. Faith had never played Gainesville, but he already knew the score. After all, Faith was 7-2 going into the game, Gainesville 0-8 with 2 TDs all year. Faith has 70 kids, 11 coaches, the latest equipment and involved parents. Gainesville has a lot of kids with convictions for drugs, assault and robbery—many of whose families had disowned them—wearing seven-year-old shoulder pads and ancient helmets.

So Hogan had this idea. What if half of our fans—for one night only—cheered for the other team? He sent out an email asking the Faithful to do just that. "Here's the message I want you to send:" Hogan wrote. "You are just as valuable as any other person on planet Earth."

Some people were naturally confused. One Faith player walked into Hogan's office and asked, "Coach, why are we doing this?"

And Hogan said, "Imagine if you didn't have a home life. Imagine if everybody had pretty much given up on you. Now imagine what it would mean for hundreds of people to suddenly believe in you."

Next thing you know, the Gainesville Tornadoes were turning around on their bench to see something they never had before. Hundreds of fans. And actual cheerleaders!

"I thought maybe they were confused," said Alex, a Gainesville lineman (only first names are released by the prison). "They started yelling 'DEE-fense!' when their team had the ball. I said, 'What? Why they cheerin' for us?'"

It was a strange experience for boys who most people cross the street to avoid. "We can tell people are a little afraid of us when we come to the games," says Gerald, a lineman who will wind up doing more than three years. "You can see it in their eyes. They're lookin' at us like we're criminals. But these people, they were yellin' for us! By our names!"

Maybe it figures that Gainesville played better than it had all season, scoring the game's last two touchdowns. Of course, this might be because Hogan put his third-string nose guard at safety and his third-string cornerback at defensive end. Still.

After the game, both teams gathered in the middle of the field to pray and that's when Isaiah surprised everybody by asking to lead. "We had no idea what the kid was going to say," remembers Coach Hogan. But Isaiah said this: "Lord, I don't know how this happened, so I don't know how to say thank You, but I never would've known there was so many people in the world that cared about us."

And it was a good thing everybody's heads were bowed because they might've seen Hogan wiping away tears.

As the Tornadoes walked back to their bus under guard, they each were handed a bag for the ride home—a burger, some fries, a soda, some candy, a Bible and an encouraging letter from a Faith player.

The Gainesville coach saw Hogan, grabbed him hard by the shoulders and said, "You'll never know what your people did for these kids tonight. You'll never, ever know."

And as the bus pulled away, all the Gainesville players crammed to one side and pressed their hands to the window, staring at these people they'd never met before, watching their waves and smiles disappearing into the night.

Anyway, with the economy six feet under and Christmas running on about three and a half reindeer, it's nice to know that one of the best presents you can give is still absolutely free.

Hope.

I thought that was a good story to share around Christmas. Hope you enjoyed it.

Death by Food

Have all of you seen the new Burger King commercials? The Whopper virgin ones?

If you haven't seen it go here and watch the video.

They went to Thailand, Greenland, and Romania to find people that had never had a burger to find people to do a taste test between a Big Mac and a Whopper.

Now I have a couple problems with this...

1. These people have never eaten anything like this. No offense to Burger King or McDonalds but these items are not exactly healthy. All the crap that they put into the meat and stuff is probably going to make some of these people very sick. And that isn't right.

2. What difference does it make what these people think? Are they going to buy the sandwiches? Are they going to influence me? Hell no. So why put them through it. Do a taste test with people that might actually buy your product.

But these people did agree to eat it so it is also on them. But considering some of these people had NO IDEA what they were eating do you think they would have eaten it if they knew how it was produced?

I am not so sure.

But either way it doesn't matter. If I had to pick one I would say the double Whopper.

Why?

Because if I am going to try and clog my arteries I might as do it right....with more meat and less bread.

Different....

I love Christmas time but this year it seems different. I think actually working has something to do with that.

See the past two Decembers haven't really been filled with work.

2 years ago I was doing the final jobs for my dad's construction company before they sold the development we were working in. Which only kept me busy for like 10 hours a week for a couple weeks.

At the same time my dad and I were starting a new construction company and were in negotiations for a piece of land. We also started my house at that time.

But none of those things kept me very busy. I think most of the month that year I was working about 10-15 hours a week.

Last year after the HOUSING COLLAPSE I was basically not working at all. I would go to the developments that our company had started and were working in on most mornings but since there was really NOTHING to do since NOTHING was selling. So I would go home after about 1-2 hours a day.

Now this was really nice since I got to be home and enjoy the decorations and my family's company but it sucked not getting paid.

Prior to that I worked for 4 years for my dad's company and would usually work from 7-3 each day so at least I was home by 330.

Now I am working from 745-415 but with travel time I am really gone from the house from 7-5. And that sucks.

But for some reason I think it is affecting my Christmas joy. There isn't as much time to just stop and relax when I don't have something going on.

I really do miss the time off but you know what I don't miss.....not getting paid.

UN-FREAKING-REAL

The wife sent me another interesting article this morning.

This one has to do with what a couple named their child a few years ago.

Heath and Deborah Campbell, of Easton, PA, named their 3 year old son Adolf Hitler Campbell.

Yes....SERIOUSLY....but wait it gets better.....

This is making the news BECAUSE a grocery store REFUSED TO PUT HIS NAME ON A CAKE for his birthday.

Apparently this isn't the first time something like that happened. They had previously asked for a cake maker to put a SWASTIKA on a cake.

Now I know that symbol wasn't originally a sign of hatred. But it is now.

But wait.....the story gets better....

The couple has two other children. Honszlynn Hinler Jeannie Campbell will be 1 in April. AND JoyceLynn Aryan Nation Campbell will be 2 in a few months.

Those poor children...could you imagine having those names? I would change mine the first chance I got!

Now for the kicker....

The father Heath Campbell says this about the name...."no one else in the world would have that name." He sounded surprised by all the controversy the dispute had generated.

WOW!!!!


Now think about these things for a second....

Do you think this kid has ANY CHANCE at public office??

Could you imagine your kid saying he was going to Adolf Hitler's house to play video games?

Someone will be saying this one day....my boss's name is Adolf Hitler!!

Staying Cool at the Beach

This article was sent to me by the wife today and I just had to share it with you.

Apparently there are people with SO MUCH MONEY in Dubai that they are going to refrigerate the beach.

Yes thats right....they are going to (and I quote):

"suck the heat out of the sand to keep it cool enough to lie on"

And what do potential environmentalists think about this....probably nothing,

“Dubai is like a bubble world where the things that are worrying the rest of the world, like climate change, are simply ignored so that people can continue their destructive lifestyles.”

Sounds like my kind of place!!

Tough Crowd

I have always been interested in the weather and am generally interested to know what it is going to be like in my area each day. I can usually look at the weather maps on TV and give a decent forecast based on what I see.

But there is no way in hell I would be a weatherman. Those guys get abused by everyone.

Think about it....most people get on their case as soon as it rains or snows a little bit more than it is supposed to. Or god forbid they forecast the day as sunny and a few clouds show up to block the sun for part of the day.

The other day I was listening to Colin Cowherd on ESPN radio and he went off on a tangent about how weathermen have the easiest jobs because they get paid to be right half the time.

Really? Half the time is the best they do?

And he said something to the effect of "if I made that many mistakes I would be fired." Really? Fired for making a mistake once in a while. I would be willing to be that he makes a mistake DAILY on the air by pronouncing something wrong.....but yet he is still working there. Hmmm.

I would be willing to be that 90% of the time.....the weatherman are dead on.

You can go months without hearing anything about them and then all of a sudden they say snow but instead it rains and people freak out. Or maybe they give a 50% chance of rain and it rains all day....oh no what am I going to do now. I didn't think it was going to rain. Well why the hell not....you knew the possibility existed.

The only times they make mistakes are the only times you hear about them.

It is probably one of the most thankless jobs in the world. No one gives you ANY CREDIT when you are right....they only blame you when you are wrong.

So I would like to say thank you to my local weathermen for telling me what the weather is going to be like most days. I appreciate knowing that it is going to rain today so that I can bring an umbrella with me to work.

Inspirational....

I am a big college basketball fan. And it just so happens that I am a Villanova fan and they were playing last night in the Jimmy V Classic in New York. Before the game they played Jim Valvano's ESPY's speech from 1993 in it's entirety.

I have seen it many times before but each and every time it moves me.




At halftime of the game last night between Villanova and Texas Dick Vitale spoke on ESPN and at Madison Square Garden about the V Foundation. I wanted to find that video for you because it was great but I can't find it anywhere online right now. If I find it in the future I will post it on here.


Jim Valvano was awarded the Arthur Ashe for Courage Award on March 4, 1993. He died on April 28, 1993.

Since its inception the V Foundation has raised over 80 MILLION dollars with EVERY CENT going to cancer research.


Check out these links for more information:

ESPN-Jimmy V week....videos and other stuff
V Foundation website
More information on Jim Valvano

Back to Work....

Back on the road this week. I am a little north of Pittsburgh, PA until Thursday morning.

But anyways....


How was everyones Thanksgiving and weekend?

Mine was pretty good, thanks for asking.

Although at dinner on Turkey day there were about 6 or 7 too many people. We had a table of 20 people plus 3 babies in the house. That is a few too many people.

I was at one end of the table and couldn't hear what was going on halfway down the table.

But the food was wonderful and there was plenty of it. Even with 20 people there were leftovers to take home.

Friday I decorated my house with Christmas lights and went and got the tree. And believe it or not the dogs still haven't knocked it over!!

Although they did eat part of an ornament.

And now I am in Pittsburgh, or more accurately about 20 mins or so north of Pittsburgh, for business.

I am not a fan of this travel stuff so no offense to anyone from this area but I would rather be at home.

But after this I don't have to travel again for work until at least the middle of January and maybe longer.

In February I am putting in for a transfer to a position that doesn't travel at all. That way I can spend all my time in the Harrisburg region of PA instead of all over the state.

And that would make me happy!