Hang on, I think I am going to get a drink rather then Kiss any of you.

Nashville Tiger Fan sent this photograph to me:

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I think its funny how those women act like kissing them would be better then drinking.

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Tobacco Road

The oldest bar in Dade County. It has been at this location selling alcohol for over 100 years.
They also have some nice burgers. I am particularly fond of the Death Burger. It comes with Jalapenos on top and spicy cheese.
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I was sitting in my convertible, stuck at the draw bridge at this exact location, so I took this picture, and then I just figured I would put it up on my blog. No particular reason, Just cause.
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Also, I love that I can get on that train thing that runs through my building and get off at the 8th street station and walk about 100 yards or so and I am here. Drink as much as you want Bill you don't have to drive home.

Buy Randy Pausch's book, Watch his video on You tube, It will make you a better person.

Watched 20/20 tonight. It was about Randy Pausch. He Died this past Friday. If you don't know who he is, then you should go to You Tube and watch his "Last Lecture" It has been viewed over six million times. there are other videos. Lectures that he did after his "Last Lecture" Of course, their is also his best selling book that you can read.
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Here is what he can do for you. He can lay it out there and give you insight into your own life. He can make you cry, Not in a sad way, although it is sad, but in an inspiring way. I am glad I read his book and have watched pretty much all his videos and tonight there was the 20/20 piece.
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His testimony in front of congress is pretty spot on, about the situation. He was beyond bright, because he had figured out what was important and had a good blueprint for living, and then he shared it with the world. Its up to the world to listen.


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Its coming....

Can you feel it? The most wonderful time of the year is on the cusp of beginning once again.
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Soon the sports pages will be chalk full of football news. Saturdays and Sundays will take it to another level. Saturdays and Sundays are already the world class athletes of the week, but soon they will be down to their playing weight, all cut up, lean, and just showing off their skills at being the best two days out of the seven. Monday will also step up, and although still the crappiest of them all, for the next few months anyways, Monday will provide a little candy at the end of the crapfest and let the evenings have a little creme brulee.
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Being on dial up, in a high speed world

This past Friday, July 25, 2008, I drove to Gainesville to see my kids. It’s something I do every third weekend since I moved to Miami. * It’s 332.9 miles from my parking space, to the parking space in front of my ex-wife’s apartment, give or take a tenth of a mile depending on how many times you pull off into the rest stops.
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I go, because I want to stay in their lives. I do it for me, because I love them and hate not living with them on a day to day basis anymore. That part sucks. These weekends are like recharging a worn out cell phone battery. Instead of “triple A’s” or “C” or “D” These batteries are labeled “Me.” The week before I go, I am pretty much on less then one bar.

When I say I do it for me. I mean that. It may be selfish, but it is not just selfish on the level of me missing them and wanting to see them, no, this is selfish on multiple different layers. Its not just the happiness I derive out of seeing them, and being with them, and watching them grow up. It goes well beyond that.
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It’s me being selfish in the future also. Years from now when they are grown, I want them to be a part of my life. I want them to have fond memories of me. I want them to know I am there for them, not only then, but that I always was. The money I send to their mother is just the entry point in all this. They don’t know about that, or if they do, they don’t comprehend it, but It’s why I live here, instead of there. Without Miami, I can’t afford the money I send. I love you Miami, for being so full of people. People that own homes.
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Because I live here, and they live there, I only get to watch them on dial up, with a 900 baud modem. Their lives are going at high speed, and meanwhile, I get to see it in snap shots. The view I have is like when you used to pull one page up on the Internet and it took 30 minutes, only multiply that times lives being lived, versus our time on earth. Our lives may take approximately 80 or so years, but three week intervals missed, while kids become adults is way worse then having crummy dial up on such a high speed Internet that is their lives.
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Still, if you only have dial up available, its better then not having the Internet at all right? No matter what you do, from now on you are only allowed dial up. Even if I figured out a way to live in Gainesville and still make the money I do down here, ultimately that would only be like upgrading from the 900 baud modem dial up, to maybe a 2400 baud modem dial up. In the end it’s still all dial up no matter what.
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* I missed one of my weekends. Some crap was going down in the high speed world and I became very frustrated with the dial up service.

Wisdom from a 7 year old

A conversation at dinner last night:
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DAUGHTER: - Why do we get "TWO" forks?
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ME: - One is for the salad and the other is for the meal.
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DAUGHTER: - But I didn't order a Salad?
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ME: - Still, thats what the other fork is for, It comes with all the silverware sets.
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SON: - I think they give you two forks in case you drop one on the floor

An open letter to a guy who ranks higher then Three Star General in the united States Military

Caleb Campbell, You are a Good Man. I know that from listening to your story. I know it from listening to how you reacted to the bullshit that was thrust down on you today. There is quite a bit to be said for attitude in this life, and you sir, not only have a great attitude, but you also have some seriously high character. You are clearly among the best and the brightest that this country has to offer. I admire you for the way you have dealt with this, and want you to know that the rest of this post is going to be me bitching on your behalf, as I realize you are to good of a person to do it for yourself.
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For those of you who are not familiar with Calebs story, here is a brief summary: Caleb chose to become an officer in the United States Military and was given an opportunity to go to West Point to do so.
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West Point makes Harvard look like a community college in terms of opportunity to get in. Maybe not academically, but seriously, I think you can only get in if a senator or a congressman asks for you on your behalf, and even then, you still have to have some grades and records that are top end stuff. Getting in to West Point is not like signing up for Miami Dade Community College.

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Caleb did that, He became a cadet. He was given that opportunity because someone, probably a senator or a congressman, and also probably a football coach believed in him, and he did not let them down. He was given that opportunity because someone was able to see that the kid he was, would turn into, not only a good and decent man, but also a leader. He full filled that trust.

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Besides doing all the crap every plebe in the academies is supposed to do, he also played football . He did it well. So well, that the National Football league believed he may have a chance to be one of the 1,693 men that get to be in the league each year, and he was drafted. The team that drafted him did not do it for altruistic reasons. They also believed he might add value to their club. At that point the military also believed he could add value in that role and had a policy that said for this type of situation, they would allow him to do so.
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On draft day he was in New York. When they interviewed him, he brought down the publicity for West Point. He brought it down like the thunder that it truly was, and he brought it down with a sledge hammer in the force that it dealt. The National Football league benefited, but so did the academies, all of them. Not just West Point. He explained how he would work in recruitment during the off season as part of his orders. His mere presence implied the huge P.R. benefits he was also bestowing to both of his employers. He did it with a huge amount of humility and his character shined through.
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Today he was supposed to report to the Lions training camp to begin taking advantage of his chance to make an NFL Roster. Today, what he did instead, was drive back from Detroit to West Point, because the Army changed its mind. They were like Oops, never mind, we changed that policy, so now you cannot do this anymore. He had orders and he dutifully complied.
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He did that with humbleness and character as well. Dan Patrick interviewed him on his radio show. Caleb was talking on a cell phone while he conducted it, as he was driving back, and although you could tell he was disappointed. He gave the same line when he was first questioned about the situation. He said he is a lieutenant in the Army, and will do what he is told to do in that regards. Just like he was ecstatic to have been given the opportunity to play football, He was ok with the military changing their mind, and he would do whatever the U.S. Military said he should do. He truly wanted what was there for him, but he took the snatching away of it very manly like, and very admirably.
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He did say it came from way up top, because he personally knew a three star General who fought for him and lost. He said it wasn't West Point. That was the Three Star General that argued on his behalf. Tell me this? If a Three Star General cannot effect the orders of a lieutenant in the very same army that he is a Three Star, then who was it that must have made this decision? a four star guy? a five star guy? The President?
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Its all a bunch of bullshit. He may or may not have made that team, but he would have been way more valuable in that role trying, then the role he is being pushed into now. Know what that role is? He said he will either be a graduate assistant coach at West Point, or at the High School feeding school in New Jersey. He is going back to find out which of those positions he was chosen for. Those are his new orders, and he will do what he has to. I just think its a huge waste for the army, and a huge waste for him. I hope it gets reversed, and I hope that people that make military policy are not close minded idiots.

Hello Dolly

Hello Dolly --
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Bottom line, a hurricane hitting Texas, south of Galveston/ Houston at a level one force Hurricane. doesn't really do a lot for my pocket book -- Just driving there would be about a grand and then its kind of rural, meaning even what little there is, it will be spread out, thus costing more gas, Plus living in Texas somewhere, paying for a hotel .... No, Dolly, you are more like a metaphorical type of thing----- something to bring hope for later, but for now you kind of suck, as you cause that trouble on those poor rural Texans. Texans that fought Mexico. Texans who think their state is better then everyone else. Texans who think they are just better then you period, because you know, they live in Texas. and they want to tell you all about how they live in Texas and that they are better then you.

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Again, I hate that I do well when hurricanes hit populated areas, but that is how it is. and I live in a populated area so you know, sometimes I hate em for me as well, and love em for my pocket book all at the same time. It is a sucky thing that kind of works for me, but no, not in Brownsville Texas at a level one. that causes me more aggravation thinking what if, However, Miami at a level 3, that would certainly pay.

Book Review

Read the "Life of Pi." this weekend ....It was a good read, made you think about life, faith, and beliefs. Mostly about faith. The main character believed in god so much that he considered himself a Christian, Hindu and a Muslim. The book didn't beat you over the head with religion though, like so many books about religions do. It was a fictional story that is kind of crazy but so well done you were able to buy in to it and then the end tied it all together and the whole thing makes you think.

Golf!

Greg Norman and the boys seem to be having some trouble today:
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Look for me on the T.V.

What a beautiful Gorgeous sunny summer day in Miami.
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The Marlins are playing the Phillies today in a nationally televised game. Some friends of mine are going to take it all in. Look for me on the T.V. It will be on FOX. I am working on slowing down my mind right now so that I can get in the moment of each pitch, most of which will just get caught, and thrown back, but some of which will be swung at and missed, and others that will actually create about 4 minutes of excitement throughout the day. Although that will be exciting, its the cereberal-ness and the small things that make taking in a ball game such a good experience.
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Don't worry football, still love you the best.

A brief and boring summary of a pathetic softball game

This is a quick post about a coed softball game in Miami Beach, Florida that probably will interest no one in the world, but its like this, its My blog and I can write about boring shit if I want to.
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First of all, Bill still got to bat third even after last weeks o-fer . We lead off a girl, she makes an out, the number two hitter has a single with an error to get on second. I had a single also, but the outfielder made a mistake and tried to throw the runner out at home and I advanced to second on the play. We had our first lead of the season, one to nothing.
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the next guy knocked me in and we were up two to nothing. We held that lead through their half of the inning, went one two three in the second, held them again in the bottom, and lo and behold we still had a two nothing lead after two full innings.
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Then we played horrible the rest of the night and got beat 14 to 2, run ruled even. Kind of pathetic.
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Then some of us had beers and told some lies and stuff, and there you go. A Friday night kind of well lived except for the losing really bad part.
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Two for Two tonight as well I think that makes me 2 for 5 on the season after last weeks o-fer