My Opinion On Everything

My son is probably a bit too young to get the gist of it, but today NFL wide receiver went along ways in teaching a valuable lesson to my son, and kids every where.

There are few wide receivers in professional football with more talent than Terrell Owens. The guy can flat out catch the ball. He also has the toughness to run the hard route over the middle. He even possesses the speed, quickness and moves to gain a good amount of yardage after the catch. Terrell Owens is exactly what an NFL team is looking for when they are looking for a big name receiver.

Terrell Owens’ problem though is all between his ears. He apparently thinks he is the best player in the game and at times has plainly stated that if his team wished to truly win more games they’d find a way to get him the ball more. There have been times when his teams have won a game but he has had a post game outburst because the quarterback didn’t throw the ball to him enough.

A few things about Terrell Owens:

-Terrell Owens has led the NFL in touchdowns three different times (2001, 2002, and 2006).

-Terrell Owens is the league leader among active NFL players in touchdowns scored. No one else playing the game today has scored more touchdowns in the NFL than him.

-One of the statistical marks that sets the best wide receivers apart from others is the thousand yard season. In nine of Terrell Owens’ thirteen seasons he has gone over 1,000 yards receiving.

In spite of all this, today the Dallas Cowboys cut Terrell Owens from their roster. The Cowboys are one of the better teams in the league and for Owens to be such a problem that they would rish their future by cutting one of their best players is amazing. From a parental aspect though, it is also somewhat comforting. It’s about the team and not the individual. The truth is, the Cowboys are possibly going to make their team better by not having one of their star players on their roster anymore.

My mom always said you can learn just as much from a bad example as you can from a good example… Terrell Owens has just proved her right.

People keep asking me what it feels like to turn forty.

I don’t really think that it is any different than any other day or year. If it is suppose to be a life changing moment, I’m not getting it. My life is pretty darn good, not perfect, but darn good. I have an awesome wife and wonderful kids. What more could I really want?

Well, Happy Birthday to me.

Well, my weekend plans changed, but that’s okay.

Jen decided to throw a surprise birthday party for me yesterday. I had an inkling that something was up, but I wasn’t sure. It was a lot of fun as I got to see a decent amount of people I don’t see a whole lot of. My wife is pretty special. To list the reasons I think so right now seems like an unachievable task.

I also got to see Michelle and Sean which was a very special treat.

Maybe we’ll have to go for a drive in a week or so, it is a little cold right now.

You know, it isn’t that I mind my job. I actually really enjoy it on a number of levels. There are good opportunities for accomplishment, communication, and order. But, the weekend is here now.

What flashes into your mind when you hear the word weekend?

For me, it is images of my children smiling and laughing. Everything they do, even the not-so-good stuff, absolutely warms my heart and tickles my soul.

I love weekends. It gives me a chance to plan out how to make them laugh and smile. Maybe it’ll be a late winter trip up to Lake Wenatchee tomorrow. The boy does love that place so much, just like his Mommy, Nana and Great Grandpa. We’ll pack a picnic lunch, on the drive up there we’ll be on the look out for Boog and Elliot (any Open Season fans out there?), and then we’ll spend the entire time up there playing and trying to convince the boy that it is far too cold to get into the water. Incidentally, his defense will first be that it isn’t that cold, and once that line of argument is used up he’ll state that “it’s okay, I like cold”.

Then the weekend will be over and I’ll return to the job that I really do enjoy… but it still ends up being a countdown towards the next weekend.

“Sometimes I think maybe I see what I want to see in my Dad, and not what is really there.”

The quote above came in a rerun of The Waltons that started about twenty minutes ago. There is a lot of truth in that statement and I think it applies to many people. I’ve discussed this with my sister before. My Dad died when I was five and my Mom when I was twenty-seven. I think an early death can skew how those left behind view the departed. Logically, my Mom and Dad had to have faults. Looking back though I cannot recall many, if any at all. Where there are gaps in my memory, I plug in the scenario or character trait that casts them in the best light. Honestly, I don’t think there is anything really wrong with that and I assume it is fairly common, but it does force us “orphans” to lose a valued learning opportunity. While I was growing up, Mom would often mention that “you can learn just as much from a bad example as you can from a good”. Are there lessons that people fail to learn because they hide the faults and mistakes of those they love and respect? And if so, I suppose that would be true of people who have not yet passed away as well.

Anyway, back to The Waltons.

Last night I saw something I’ve been wanting to see for years. One of my biggest driving pet peeves is people who don’t pull over or stop at intersections for the flashing lights of fire trucks, ambulances and police cars. Very seldom are any of them ever pulled over, most likely because law enforcement usually has somewhere more important to go. But, last night I was driving through town when a fire truck with its siren on came up from behind. I pulled over, as required by both law and common sense. Most other drivers did as well, all but one who apparently felt that wherever he was heading was just as important as where a fire truck was heading. Then it happened, a city police car coming through the light from the other direction. He flipped around, hit his lights, and pulled him over. Justice makes my day.

A Super Bowl story:

Sunday morning, long before Arizona took on Pittsburgh, my little family was sitting around the breakfast table, chit-chatting as we dined on Captain Crunch. Jen dressed the girl up in red and white and said “look, baby sister is a Cardinal”. I responded with “oh yeah? The boy is a Steeler”. The boy quickly responded with an annoyed look on his face “I am not! I’m a good boy!”

Dear me.

I have two months left of the graveyard work schedule I do for half a year. It actually isn’t that bad and I get used to it fairly quickly. The only time that it gets rough is when it’s a slow night. Anyway, the schedule allows me to get home to see my wife and kids in the morning, sleep while they are gone, then be up again to spend time with them in the evening. In that way, it is much better for than a swing schedule would be.

My superhero told his mother a few weeks ago that when he grows up he doesn’t want to have a job. That’s it, I thought… we’re raising a free loader, he’s going to be living with us until he’s twenty-five, maybe thirty-five. Mom asked him why he didn’t want to have a job when he was older. His response: “Because I like sleeping in my bed, I don’t want to go away at night and sleep at work like Dad”. For the record: I DON’T SLEEP AT NIGHT!

We had a Super Bowl party at our house yesterday. It was a lot of fun, I hope for those that came too. We watched the game, socialized and of course ate great food. We went with an all appetizer menu this year which was perfect. On the menu were meatballs, twice baked potato skins, BBQ mini sausages (cock doggies as they’re called around here), nachos, cupcakes, and more.

Re: the game.

I wanted the Steelers to win, I like a few players on the team: Troy Polamalu, Ben Roethlisberger, Santonio Holmes, and Willie Parker. I was among the many people that thought the Steelers would win by about 14 or more, and I didn’t think the game would be that competitive. The Cardinals really impressed me. It looks like I’m guilty of underestimating Kurt Warner, that’s a club with a pretty big membership.

Two things about the game, one little… I’m happy that Santonio Holmes won the MVP award, but could’ve just as easily seen it go to Ben Roethlisberger for what he did during the fourth quarter. Other thing, that last play should’ve been reviewed. I do think it was a fumble by Warner, I don’t think it really affected the game, but it probably should’ve at least been reviewed.

Re: the football pool.

We did the normal pool, one hundred squares at a dollar a square. The first quarter was won by Gail, the second quarter was won by me, coincidentally the third quarter was also won by me. At this point I was feeling pretty guilty, you know… invite a bunch of people over and take all their money. I was somewhat relieved to see that it didn’t look like I would win the final score, then there was the safety, then the Cardinals scored, now all that had to happen for me to win the fourth quarter was for Ben Roethlisberger to march the Steelers down the field and score before the clock ran out. Needless to say I was none too popular when that happened. Oh well, they’ll get over it.

I am constantly amazed at the many ways that people influence and alter the lives of those around them.  Parents do this with their children in a major way.  Children even do this with the lives of their parents.  For better or worse, sibling interaction can affect the rest of the lives of everyone involved.  But there are also minor ways that we influence the lives of others we meet or observe.  Many times we don’t even think about it, but a habit we developed or a way we do something may have been caused as a direct result of a specific person we interacted with.

Example:  The Ketchup Man

When I was five or six years old my mom, brother and I went to Disneyland.  Sitting in a restaurant somewhere in the park, I was having trouble getting the ketchup out of the bottle.  I remember vividly pointing the bottle straight at where I wanted the ketchup to go and then beating the tar out of the bottom of the bottle with my hand.  When this didn’t work I stuck a knife in the opening of the bottle while still holding it upside down and tried to remove the ketchup that way.  At least now I was getting somewhere as a little bit of ketchup was coming out on the knife and I was then wiping it on the edge of my plate.  Just then a stranger appeared by my side, this was back in the day when a stranger coming up to your children in a restaurant was probably not as alarming as it is today.  He said something to the effect of “Let me show you a trick, son”.  He held the ketchup bottle at a slight angle and with two fingers gently tapped on the neck at the point it begins to widen.  Within five taps of the stranger’s fingers ketchup was flowing onto my plate and I would now be able to eat my french fries in the way that God intended.  My mom thanked the man as did I, and then he pulled out a small piece of paper and handed it to me.  I wasn’t aware at the time what a business card was, but that is what he handed me.  It had a picture of a Heinz ketchup bottle on it, the man’s name, and the words “Vice President of Marketing” below it.  For years, up until the proliferation of squeeze bottles, I would tackle the troublesome ketchup bottle using the method this man taught me during what was at the most 45 seconds of interaction.  Mom and I often shared this memory and we both referred to him as “The Ketchup Man”.

Now he had no idea that his one action in a restaurant at Disneyland would cause that little boy to think of him nearly every single time he picked up a bottle of ketchup, but it did.  I often wonder if there is someone in the world who has a trick they learned, shares a chuckle with themselves, or has a factual piece of information they think about occasionally because of something I said or did.  The other thing this drives home with me is the need to always be aware of both your behavior and your ability to act as an example when others are watching, especially little ones.