94) 2013 New Year's Resolutions

The following includes how I hope to be a better husband, son, brother, friend, employee, musician, writer, and father for 2013!

* I will limit the number of boring movies I make my wife watch.  This includes music/sports documentaries, even though they are NOT boring at all.

* I will NOT limit the number of sporting events I watch with my puppy.  She loves sports and I vow to make sure she gets to watch more games on the big screen this year.

* I hope to get the mail more often this year and not misplace it where my wife cannot find it.

* I will not lose my sunglasses!  

* I will take Polly to the dog park twice as much this year.  So, I guess that means we will have to go at least 4 times.  But I'd like to go more than that.

* I will not occupy as many photo booths in 2013.  Not sure what the wife will think of this.

* I will try and not play Chess With Friends while we are watching girly movies or driving somewhere in the car.

* I will not spend more than $70 this year on Vinyls that I do not need and probably will not listen to.

* I will pick up each cat at least once per week.  For some reason they love when I pick them up.  

* I hope to lessen the number of times I try and unsuccessfully sneak a fart while in the living room.  Not sure if this means I am only lessening the number of unsuccessful times, or if I am lessening the number of times I try, but either way I will do my best.

* I will not ignore the calls I receive from Tomoko Komori, even though we do not speak the same language and the calls last longer than 20 minutes of her repeating Japanese and me repeatedly saying, "Sorry, I don't know what you are saying to me..."

* I will try and not purposefully annoy my wife.  That is so hard because I enjoy annoying her so much...

* I will not hurt my foot playing soccer.  I just won't this year!

* I'm going to take Cody to at least 1 movie this year.

* When I cook dinner I will try and not resort to the 1 of 3 things I know how to make comfortably.

* I will try and only have 1 night in 2013 dedicated to showing my wife how great the band Rush is!  I repeat, I will TRY.

* I will try and limit the number of chocolates I eat from the candy bowl in our lobby.  It is hard because Ruthie buys the good candy.  

* I will limit the number of raunchy bathroom posts I write on my blog.  

* I will not throw a hissy fit when one of my sprinkler heads breaks.  I will simply dig up the broken sprinkler and replace it.  

93) Vedder

Erin bought Stephen and I tickets to the Eddie Vedder concert (Stephen's Valentine's Day present) that took place in Dallas last Thursday.  The concert was originally scheduled for April, but Eddie suffered a shoulder injury that required surgery and he was unable to play.  Eddie Vedder is a personal hero of mine, so needless to say I was extremely excited about the show.

Something funny to note:  Originally, the concert was set for April, and Stephen received the tickets in February.  A couple of months passed and one night I was watching TV with L.  and I noticed that it was already May.  I yelled, "SHIT!!!  I missed Eddie Vedder!  What the F... was I thinking!!!"

I called Stephen to tell him the horrible news and he calmly said, "We didn't miss the show.  It got postponed for November."

Obviously, I was relieved to hear this.  Seven months went by and L. and I were once again watching TV.  Out of nowhere she suddenly yelled, "OH MY GOD, when is the Vedder concert!?"  I looked at my phone and realized it was already November.  I yelled, "SHIT!  Who misses the Eddie Vedder concert TWICE!!!"

This time L. looked online and discovered that the show was four days away.  I decided to set four alarms, 1 for each day, so that I would not miss the concert a third time.

The day of the concert arrived.  I brought to work a compilation CD of music I thought Vedder might play so that I could get familiar with his acoustic/ukelele songs I did not know so well.  In my morning status meeting I informed the people I work with that I was leaving promptly at 5p to see Eddie Vedder at Fair Park.  I work will all girls, and 5 out of the 6 of these girls looked at me quizzically and said, "Who is Eddie Vedder?" I wasn't sure if this was a joke or not.  The girls I work with range in age from early twenties to early thirties.  I am thirty five years old and am definitely older than the people I work with.  However, I did not think me so old that the dominate American cultural influence in my life could be completely unknown to an entire team of young workers.

I was wrong.

I feel like I am an old man holding on to the important things from my youth.  I feel crotchety.  I feel like the kids of today have no idea.  I feel like the people I work with are unaware of something seriously significant. And I feel like there is little I can do!

I went to the show and was impressed with the performance.  Vedder still has it, and I felt privileged to be in the same room as him.  I drank a lot of scotch.  And when the show ended I spent 3 hours burning every relevant Pearl Jam song for the 7 coworkers who had no idea who Vedder or Pearl Jam was!

92) A Problem

I teach a college level class each semester at a community college here in Dallas.  I arrived to the classroom early this past Saturday in order to set up and I discovered the following poster on the wall:

This is a "Student Participation Chart" that is lower budget looking than what I remember seeing in elementary school.  I do not like criticizing a fellow professor, but any student seeing this on the wall will fail to take this class or professor seriously.  Engaging your class is at the heart of what it means to be a teacher.  This simply is not going to cut it.

And we wonder why we as a society have unemployment issues.

After reading through this, I feel sort of bad for calling this out.  Is this because I am too nice of a person?  Because I feel like this should make everyone mad.

91) Kids and Career

Been thinking about grown up things recently, which is strange because tonight I am going to a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert, and most of my free time is split between playing in a band, playing soccer, or drinking until 3 in the morning.  The 2 topics that have been surfacing and resurfacing are kids and career.  I'm only going to address one of these right now, and that is career.

I'm not convinced I chose the right career path.  I like what I do, and I am decent at it.  I feel challenged, yet not overwhelmed.  However, I am not inspired.  I am not making a difference in the lives of others.  I am not creating anything unique or beautiful.  I am not inspiring others to think of things they normally ignore.  And for this I am slightly unhappy.  

I know there must be balance in life, and one of the things we must balance is money.  I like that I make some money, that I am employed and have the ability to sustain employment because I have learned an industry to some degree.  Recently I've felt as though I am not putting in all the effort I could into my career in order to spend time writing music or playing sports.  Or spending time with my wife.  I do not regret that.  Instead, this situation forces me to think that if my career is not competing for my attention, then I am in the wrong place and wasting my time.

So, what would not be a waste?  

* Documentary film maker

* Mediocre amateur musician

* College professor

* An MLS scout for FC Dallas

As of now I'm not brave enough to drop what I have spent the last 10+ years doing, but a larger side of me has recently thought, "why the hell not?"  

So beware, there is a chance you will see me around Dallas holding a camera and filming a documentary...

90) Political Time 2

The Republican and Democratic National Conventions are over, and I must admit that I did not watch them.  But I have heard references to the 2 keynote speakers (besides the candidates themselves) in the media recently and decided to check them out for myself.  What I watched was interesting and entertaining enough for me to dedicate my second non-partisan exploration of politics blog post to linking you to these two speeches.

Clint Eastwood speaks for the Republicans and his speech is just over 11 minutes.  Bill Clinton speaks for the Democrats and his speech is just over 49 minutes.  I do not wish for you to watch all of Clinton's, but watch 11 minutes of both so that you can get a feel for what the different parties (not necessarily the candidates) stand for in the upcoming election.



Clint Eastwood at the 2012 Republican Convention:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=933hKyKNPFQ


Bill Clinton at the 2012 Democratic Convention:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5knEXDsrL4

CubeJoy 3

89) Political Time 1

The last few elections I have taken more of an active interest in educating myself so that I could at least on some level feel like an informed voter. And while there are a number of things that annoy me as it pertains to politics, I think the most annoying is when uninformed people push their thoughts/beliefs onto other people, and then get angry when you disagree or present evidence that disproves their thoughts/beliefs. So, heading into the upcoming election my mission is one of learning to inform myself.

A few caveats:
* Doing this is difficult. It is hard to find information on really what is at stake by voting one way or the other.
* My goal is to uncover facts, or help lead others to uncover facts. My goal is not to project my opinions onto anyone.
* I admit at the beginning that my knowledge and resources are limited, so any guidance by fellow readers is encouraged.

To begin, I found a website that allows you to score your stance on major issues. Once you submit, the website shows you how major political figures feel about the same issues. The most helpful aspect of this site is the descriptions of the issues. If you click on the statement you are asked to either support or oppose, there is a detailed description of that each answer represents. This helps in actually determining how you feel about a particular issue. Having one place to see the major issues will help individuals understand that a president should not be chosen on how he/she feels about one issue. Going through this quiz is the first step to understanding how you really feel, and how you should cast your vote.

More to come...

http://www.ontheissues.org/Quiz/Quiz2010.asp#sec1