Monday, May 16, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
The road to hell
Yeah, so I've totally dropped the ball on the whole 90 in 90 thing. It seemed so easy at the time; just post once a day for there months. How hard can that be? Apparently very hard. I had good intentions, but as "they" say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Part of it (part?) is due to my personal nuttiness. I don't like typing on the lap top, I don't want to spend too much time blogging at work, and I don't make the time to get on the desktop computer upstairs. So, I don't do it at all. Not that anyone really noticed which begs the question, "Why am I blogging to begin with?". I don't really know except that I enjoy writing. Does something written need to be read?
Part of it (part?) is due to my personal nuttiness. I don't like typing on the lap top, I don't want to spend too much time blogging at work, and I don't make the time to get on the desktop computer upstairs. So, I don't do it at all. Not that anyone really noticed which begs the question, "Why am I blogging to begin with?". I don't really know except that I enjoy writing. Does something written need to be read?
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Compassion
Noun: sympathetic consciousness of others' distress together with a desire to alleviate it.
It has been suggested in some quarters that I take a more compassionate approach to step parenting. On one level, being more compassionate won't be too hard. If I am brutally honest, I have little sympathy at all for K, so there's plenty of room for being more conscious of her suffering and desiring to alleviate it. The hard part for me is to get past the visceral disdain she has for me, and her sheer disgust at my presence.
On another level I have been very compassionate, though my desire to alleviate her suffering through order and discipline is clearly not working. I cannot break her defiant spirit to reveal the loving child. The walls of anger need to chipped away at with a sculptors chisel rather than smashed with a wrecking ball. Time to get on with sculpting and leave the wrecking behind.
It is not me, but the Father within, who does the work.
It has been suggested in some quarters that I take a more compassionate approach to step parenting. On one level, being more compassionate won't be too hard. If I am brutally honest, I have little sympathy at all for K, so there's plenty of room for being more conscious of her suffering and desiring to alleviate it. The hard part for me is to get past the visceral disdain she has for me, and her sheer disgust at my presence.
On another level I have been very compassionate, though my desire to alleviate her suffering through order and discipline is clearly not working. I cannot break her defiant spirit to reveal the loving child. The walls of anger need to chipped away at with a sculptors chisel rather than smashed with a wrecking ball. Time to get on with sculpting and leave the wrecking behind.
It is not me, but the Father within, who does the work.
Tuesday, May 3, 2011
Cake
I know, you're all wondering where I've been. I promise you 90 posts in 90 days and I don't even make it a full week. Just remember, I told you up front I may miss a day or two here and there and double up. So have no fear, faithful readers, I will complete my 90 in 90. I know how much it means to all of you... [insert chirping crickets here]
On to cake. It's quite timely that this past Sunday Scribblings prompt was"Cake"; my son and I went to see the band Cake in concert a few weekends ago. I enjoy their music very much and one song in particular, The Distance. The refrain of "He's going the distance, he's going for speed" is relevant for me as I think about triathlon. I got into this sport with a very specific goal of doing an Ironman while I'm 50 years old. I've been working at this for over three years. Longer really, if you factor in that first moment many moons ago when I thought, "I'd like to do that someday." "Someday" will be July 24 2011, and while working towards that goal I've trained and raced my way to longer distance and faster finishes.
Now, here's where distance and speed get really interesting. My last triathlon was a smallish sprint distance race where I took 3rd place in my age group, qualifying me for an award. The competitive side of me (yeah, ok, that's every side of me) is very excited by this and sees the potential for actually taking 1st place in my age group in some of these shorter races. I doubt I could ever finish that well in longer distances but I think I can go pretty fast in a short race for a guy my age. So there's where the gotcha is; do I go for distance or do I go for speed? Of course I'm 100% focused on and committed to Ironman, but after that's done.......
On to cake. It's quite timely that this past Sunday Scribblings prompt was"Cake"; my son and I went to see the band Cake in concert a few weekends ago. I enjoy their music very much and one song in particular, The Distance. The refrain of "He's going the distance, he's going for speed" is relevant for me as I think about triathlon. I got into this sport with a very specific goal of doing an Ironman while I'm 50 years old. I've been working at this for over three years. Longer really, if you factor in that first moment many moons ago when I thought, "I'd like to do that someday." "Someday" will be July 24 2011, and while working towards that goal I've trained and raced my way to longer distance and faster finishes.
Now, here's where distance and speed get really interesting. My last triathlon was a smallish sprint distance race where I took 3rd place in my age group, qualifying me for an award. The competitive side of me (yeah, ok, that's every side of me) is very excited by this and sees the potential for actually taking 1st place in my age group in some of these shorter races. I doubt I could ever finish that well in longer distances but I think I can go pretty fast in a short race for a guy my age. So there's where the gotcha is; do I go for distance or do I go for speed? Of course I'm 100% focused on and committed to Ironman, but after that's done.......
Saturday, April 30, 2011
It can't really be that hard
Here's your warning; I'm going to rant a bit.
What the hell is wrong with the guys at the gym who can't figure out what hook to use in the showers? There is one hook for every stall and they are located on the "far" side of each stall. By far side I mean furthest from the entrance to the shower area, or closest to the back wall. When guys use the wrong hook it just messes up the entire order of the Universe, not to mention that it can create an uncomfortable situation where there is an open stall but no open hook.
You see, I believe in order. Order makes sense, it creates harmony, it helps the natural flow of energy. Unfortunately, I am all too aware when things are out of order. It hurts my soul when I witness things like roads where two lanes merge into one and people violate the every other car rule, or when I'm cycling and well meaning motorists will yield the right of way when I have timed my gearing and/or my unclipping to my expectation of them following the orderly flow of traffic (and the law too, but let's not quibble). It gnaws at my very being when people start to line up at each individual self check out at the grocery store when clearly there is a single line where we all wait in an orderly manner for the next available check out.
What bothers me the most is when I'm driving and other drivers simply ignore the rules of the road; they jump the light to make a left, they pull out of a driveway into my lane just to drive slowly, or they have no freaking idea how to navigate a four way stop and pull out in front of me when it's my turn to go. Some day I am going to buy a big old Buick. I am going to reinforce the frame with steel I beams, and replace the bumper with rail road ties. Then, when the next guy makes a left turn in front of me when I have the green light I am just going to plow right into him. Oops, so sorry. Did I hit you when you turned right in front of me? My bad. Gee, did you fail to yield the right of way and I plowed your nice new BMW? Oh well.
In the mean time, I will continue to "nicely suggest" to others that they follow along in an orderly manner. We'll all be better off.
What the hell is wrong with the guys at the gym who can't figure out what hook to use in the showers? There is one hook for every stall and they are located on the "far" side of each stall. By far side I mean furthest from the entrance to the shower area, or closest to the back wall. When guys use the wrong hook it just messes up the entire order of the Universe, not to mention that it can create an uncomfortable situation where there is an open stall but no open hook.
You see, I believe in order. Order makes sense, it creates harmony, it helps the natural flow of energy. Unfortunately, I am all too aware when things are out of order. It hurts my soul when I witness things like roads where two lanes merge into one and people violate the every other car rule, or when I'm cycling and well meaning motorists will yield the right of way when I have timed my gearing and/or my unclipping to my expectation of them following the orderly flow of traffic (and the law too, but let's not quibble). It gnaws at my very being when people start to line up at each individual self check out at the grocery store when clearly there is a single line where we all wait in an orderly manner for the next available check out.
What bothers me the most is when I'm driving and other drivers simply ignore the rules of the road; they jump the light to make a left, they pull out of a driveway into my lane just to drive slowly, or they have no freaking idea how to navigate a four way stop and pull out in front of me when it's my turn to go. Some day I am going to buy a big old Buick. I am going to reinforce the frame with steel I beams, and replace the bumper with rail road ties. Then, when the next guy makes a left turn in front of me when I have the green light I am just going to plow right into him. Oops, so sorry. Did I hit you when you turned right in front of me? My bad. Gee, did you fail to yield the right of way and I plowed your nice new BMW? Oh well.
In the mean time, I will continue to "nicely suggest" to others that they follow along in an orderly manner. We'll all be better off.
Friday, April 29, 2011
NFL draft
I guess I'd cry too if I just got drafted into the NFL as a 22 year old kid. These guys are instant millionaires. I miss coaching football.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Oops I did it again
Left the jammers at home and swam in running shorts. Again. Not that big a deal in the grand scheme, except that I had a time trial and I came in with a 1:42 average over 1000 yards. I went pretty hard and was expecting to see a better average. Oh well.
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