Button Pusher

As previously mentioned our TV broke. Sunday we ended up buying a new High Def TV. WOW is it amazing. I cannot believe we were still using the TV we had for so long. We watched MNF last night and were in amazement. My son even said while Brett Farve’s Wife was on the show “Look you can even see the hair on her lip.” I can’t wait to rent of other movies and test this new TV out even more.

Monday was a tough day for me. I was the only one at work to cover everything and it was a busy day. One item is we at work hold these training classes that we set up 12 laptops, projectors and a server and small wireless network in a room at hotels. So everything has to be moved and set up and torn down afterwards. Well being alone on Monday it took me almost 2 hours to get everything set up and running. Not a problem just took away time from other issues that I fell behind on and had to catch up.

This morning I am working away and some people called from the training at the hotel. They could not connect to the server. I asked them the following:
1) Is the server running? They replied yes they turned it on.
2) So if you turned it on did you shut it down last night? Yes we turned it off and restarted it this morning.

I loaded up a monitor and keyboard and drove to the hotel and went in to see what was going on. I walked up to the server and it was not running. I pushed the button to turn it on let it boot up and guess what they could connect to it. They had a good laugh. I told them of another story about a person at work with the same thing that I just turn on the machine. She was in the room and gave me a hard time. I guess I have a talent for pushing buttons, on PC’s. OKAY I might push a few on people to but I hope that is normally good and not bad.

Trying to Rest

Thanks Bunny for the correction I did get the last one also. I am slowly getting used to my contacts and liking them most of the time. It seems the left eye keeps giving me the most problems and itches the most. I love the view with them most of the time though as I have all my peripheral vision.

Saturday I ended up running 8 miles instead of the 10 I was thinking about. I decided to cut back a bit and be smart about keeping my knees healthy. Going 8 miles was still more than the 10% increase in the weeks miles you should maintain when building back from an injury. So for once I was being smart. It was a beautiful run along a mountain road with the orange colors still in place.

I did notice though on the run that arm pain came in a bit for a while. I know it was a muscle in my shoulder though and I think it was from holding my arms the way I do when I run. It is a bit tender today but I am planning a full day of relaxing. Not even any Basketball tonight.

Our main TV has decided to go bad on us this weekend also. We will be going out today shopping for a new one. YEP I have to be able to watch the ROCKIES LOSE, and Heros and and and. See I can relax without a bit of TV.

Thongs at work

Okay Bunny here is something I have done for myself. Today I went and got fitted into contacts. I have worn glasses for about 10 years now as I needed them to drive. I could take them off when running or when at work on the pc because I need distance.
Here is the problem I have come up against. When going skiing in the winter my glasses fogged up and I could not see. So I would take them off and then could not see. I go play basketball once a week and need the glasses to make decent shots unless I become just a layup god. So contacts were in my future to see if I could continue seeing in sports and to make a change from the scratched, sweaty, dirty glasses.

I am trying them out now as a matter of fact and they feel a bit different but so far so good. I will update on this new adventure as I move forward with them.

Now for something to make you think back and maybe laugh. I was sitting there in the lobby waiting to be taken back to be fitted and my wife works at this eye doctor. She was sitting there with me and this one gal that also works there walked by. To me she looked a bit frumpy/sloppy in her cloths as she walked by. This is when my wife said the other day this gal was working on something and bent over. Her thong was twisted and pulled way up high on her back. I chuckled and this is when my wife said I guess you just thought the same thing I did when I saw it. I said yeah THONG BOY. Hmmm should we introduce them I asked?

Getting People Safe and Well

First we have to all pray for Mrs. Cubed to get well. I know all of you just have to read this and hope for her to get well. For me it is a bit more personal. I have to live with him, AT WORK, come on think clean here people. He comes in and is grumpy probably because at home he is having to either cover the stuff she would do because she is not feeling well, or because he had to watch MSNBC.

So based on what Cubed and Gator said I am wondering. Gator do you live in a celebrity neighborhood that is being threatened? OHHH wait that is right Cubed said that is what they focused the news on and not the normal everyday people. In any case we will keep you in our thoughts Gator.

I thought I would let you all know that I have some caring friends her at the office. I have received 2 different contacts for me to get a massage to help with my back. TB was at hers yesterday that she tried to get me to take. I guess they think it could be a pinched nerve. It is getting better but still sore. I am thinking of setting up an appointment.

On the other hand my knees gave me barely any trouble last night. I pulled out 9 miles with some friends. Though I can feel the muscles are tired today it feels good to know some distance is coming back. I am going to take today off. Planning 4-5 on Thursday and then actually considering a 10 miler on Saturday morning up in the mountains. I said considering and depending on how the rest of this week goes with pain. Would anyone be available for me to call and come pick me up if I collapse on Saturday? Lol.

Update

Basketball went great. I got in 4 games in 1.5 hours. Games consisted of 11 shots made by a team and win by 2 shots. That is a lot of running, quick bursts of sprinting, cutting, jumping and pushing big sweaty hairy shirtless guys around as you try to fight for the ball.

As for my pain as some have asked it didn’t hurt the whole time I was playing. I am positive it is not my heart as that is why I run and do this is to keep it pumping and strong. I would worry more about a heart problem during the game or run then after.

I did get home though and my right shoulder in the back began to hurt again. I went to bed and asked my wife to rub my shoulder for me. She did for a short time and said wow I can feel like a ribbon around your shoulder blade. It kind of hurt while she rubbed it but she didn’t rub it long enough to really take it out. I slept well and felt good this am on the way to work. I have noticed though the longer I am sitting here though it is beginning to hurt more. I am a bit worried how I will feel at the end of the day.

TB knows I am hurting and offered her massage she has for tomorrow to me. I know she is traveling for business this next week and with other stress in her life I would rather she keep her appointment and keep herself healthy. That and I don’t take offers like that very well. I am a pretty stubborn I can take care of myself kind of person. Ask my wife, though I might want a back rub persay I feel guilty getting one and thus never ask anyone for things like that.

Cubed I am holding out a prayer for the Mrs. to get better. I am sure I speak for everyone when I say we all want her healthy and happy. I mean she has to deal with you and the kids and she needs to feel good to do that. J Get Well Mrs. Cubed.

I hate pain.

Yesterday, Saturday, was PACKED. We had the State Marching Band competition and my sons school was in it. They competed against 25 bands in the state and were sitting in 4th place after semi-finals at noon. My niece’s band was also competing and made it for the first time into the Semi-finals. It was fun watching both of them competing.

I took my daughter and another niece home with me. My daughter had some homework to complete at friends. We got home a bit early so I took a run and put up 4.2 miles at a 7:54 pace. That is good for coming back with these knee problems. I was then able to take my daughter to her friends house. I went home and then worked on my yard and blew out my sprinkler system. This is when the day made a turn.

I got a call from my mom. She asked if I was headed over yet. That is when it hit me I was suppose to be at my parents for my dads birthday dinner. CRAPPPP !!!!!! So I called my wife and she went after a gift while I picked and dropped kids off. We hurried out for birthday dinner. I had just finished dinner and started fighting with my niece and her phone. She won, yes I am a wuss.

That is when I right shoulder and right arm went into pain. It went numbish. I was curled up in a chair trying to get myself in a comfortable position that just never seemed to happen. At one point I was watching the underside of my elbow pulse with my heart beat. It is really weird to be breathing hard and hurting like that and to honest I was a bit scared for a bit. No one knew that of course as my wife thought I was just sitting over there texting and no one really noticed me curled in the chair at one point almost in tears from the pain in my right shoulder. By the time anyone took notice the pain was relieving and with a couple ibuprofens’s I seemed to get better.

We left and went back to the State Finals for Band and my wife did keep checking on me a bit then. My daughter thought I looked a bit purple but it was just the sunburn of the day. The finals finished and the bands didn’t change the order any. So my son took 4th, and niece took 8th out of 25 bands for state.

We went home and I was working on the computer the rest of the evening. I kept getting a pain in my right side chest and rubbing it. Went to bed hoping it would stop but it seemed to hang with me all night and is still bothering me off and on a bit even now. I am going to go and play basketball tonight and see how it feels after. I think it is just a muscle in my shoulder but I know they say that is a sign of heart problems which I have in my family so I have to watch for.

Thinking Buggy B = Not a Good Thing

I was driving my daughter to church for her confirmation class tonight and we were talking. She is in the middle of tryouts for her Jr. High Basketball team. A girl we have known for years has a broken arm and after 2 days of tryouts didn’t have to come anymore because she made the team. My daughter was a bit upset that this gal gets whatever she wants as my daughter put it. She was upset as I explain to her that this gal plays basketball all the time at recess etc. It is the practice that counts. I then bought up that she pitched every inning of every game in softball for her team AS a 7th grader on the Varsity Softball team. That was a huge accomplishment to be proud of.

I asked my daughter if there was something I could help with. Take her running; help her shooting, practice dribbling. She shook her head and said no dad you can’t help right now. As a dad I felt defeated at that moment. I wanted to help her but it is just one of those times I think she just needs to figure it out in her head. We rode in silence for a bit and the conversation changed to another topic I needed to talk to her about a bit, but I could tell she was still mulling over her own thoughts.

On the way home and then to my yard where I had stopped vacuuming the leaves up with the mower to take her to church I had some time to think. I thought about her having to work through her, what I see as minor issues, and hoping I could help. I then reflected on my day and the questions I had been posed through the day. Also of some postings that Cubed, (Dumber) sent to TB about Addroc.

I reflected and laughed with Dumber and TB about the issues we had at Addroc. How it was all true and we had it easy to write all that we did. At the time it was rough, and hard and just pain sucked to go to work at Addroc and no one could help us with our problems. We wrote to try and protect ourselves and to vent. And now Dumber and I look back share some horrible thoughts, cringe at times but for the most part laugh at it. We can even share it now with others a bit and they get to laugh with us.

I also had to ponder a bit some questions I was asked by a friend. Deep questions that you never really take the time to answer. I didn’t know the answers and I still don’t. You would think that by the time your in your 40’s, YES I am, that you would know most of the answers. I found out today I don’t know crap. I don’t know answers to questions I was posed, I don’t know the answers to why Addroc was what it was, and I don’t know the answers to help my daughter with her issue. So this makes me think it is an age thing. I am realizing I don’t know everything about anything like I thought when I was in my 20’s.

I know Gator, Bunny, Cubed, and all that take the time to read this are younger. Maybe you can give me some insight? Does anyone else have days like this.

PS – As I drove the damn mini van home I dropped my daughter off in I almost headed to a car lot. I think I need a TT, or MX8, or a new Camero, Corvette. I need something fast and sporty before I drop the transmission in my CHEVY truck. J

SLEEPING?

EVERYONE. Lets welcome Cubed to the Old man club. That ahs to say something since I am older then he is and I was moving gravel while he was sleeping yesterday. :)

Chevrolet

Yes, I am a Chevy guy. I always have been and I think partially because I was raised that way. My parents and my all my grandparents were all Chevrolet families. My grandparents were in the logging business and swore by the Chevy trucks they used to haul the logs out the rough cut logging roads. I rode in these trucks may a day bouncing and learning as a kid about the tough trucks.

As I hit my teen years I began working with my father in construction. Again he always owned Chevy trucks. He owned a brown Ford for a short time but I remember him being almost ecstatic when he sold that piece of junk. He has never again bought a ford truck.

Today I was out running some errands. One of the errands was to haul home some gravel for a side driveway I have. I am in the gravel yard and the front end loader come by and dumps the gravel in my truck. I thought hmmm that was not very much he put in until I went to the scales. I go inside to pay for the amount of gravel in my truck and there is a guy in there paying for his load also. He had a Dodge. My truck had 1.25 Tons of gravel in a ½ truck. The other guy had ¾ of a ton. My Chevy hardly looked like it had a load the Dodge was dragging its ass.

I almost bought a Ford the last time I bought a truck. That was 10 years ago when I bought the Chevy I own. Now 10 years later I am still glad I bought the Chevy. I can in my mind make the perfect commercial. The ones you see with Chevy trucks slamming tail gates and bouncing through construction sites loaded full. I have lived that as a kid, a teen and an adult. If you ask me always buy CHEVY.

I double posted today. Was in a writing mood since if was raining out I guess. TB if your reading please comment. Gator this counts double for me so I get 1 strike less when I don't post for a while. :) Cubed for you just remember who your best friend is! :)

Broken Glasses

On Friday I took my glasses off. Yes, I wear glasses. As I did they snapped in half across the nose piece. This is the second time this has happened in a year. These frames are supposed to be memory steel and not break with bending. I do not bend them and still they keep breaking. I took them back to the place I bought them and they were shocked and again will replace them which is good. My daughter noticed this morning I was wearing a back up set of glasses. She asked about them and I told her. She then said “Well you could have taped them up like a geek. You know you are one.” I looked at her and told her to leave but inside I was laughing knowing her sense of humor is awesome to watch.

Old Man and Basketball

A comment left by Cubed. He said he “thinks I should come exercise with him” Well I ended up getting 5.8 miles in on Saturday without a knee brace. It seems that the biking I have been doing on some hills has been helping. Though I still feel a bit of hmmm something in the knee is a bit amiss or it talks to me slightly at times it seems to be getting better. The hard part is keeping going as a slow normal pace and not over doing anything to bring back the pain.

Sunday night I also put in a strong 60 minutes of continuous basketball play. WOOHOOO Basketball season is beginning again. Every Sunday night now games are back going.

This week was my first week back on the court. I got to the gym and there were only 5 guys there counting me so I got my shoes on and grabbed a ball to start warming up. I SUCKED!!!!!! I missed the rim, was leaving everything either short or when aiming at a bank shot slamming it off the glass. One guy said “I have to keep looking up it is raining basketballs you 2 are so rusty. I was a bit embarrassed that I was missing so badly and comments like that kind of sunk it home. But I keep at it for about 30 minutes while we waited for enough guys to play and started making a few here and there.

We finally had enough to go 4 on 4 and we went full court. That means a whole lot more running to make up for a missing 5 guy on the teams. Cutting and plays become more active. As the games continued my shots came back. I got my fat but off the court with some decent jumps for rebounds and tips to my team. I ended the night with burning lungs from running, and a good feeling for my game play for the night. I was on the winning team all night making 60% of my shots I took which is great for me. Only 1 injury as I took a hard hit in the face from a forearm on a reach. Didn’t feel good but I will get even with the guy as it was my son that hit me.

One of the guys that play with us is a local High School coach. He had ot ask about my son and where he goes to school. He noticed my son has gotten better. I did too. He was cutting and posting up like I coached him over the years. Not just half doing it like he did then but actually doing the switch moves and making his shots. I was also impressed he can now jump and hit the rim and if he keeps it up I think he will be slamming home shots soon.

I was soreeeeeeee on Monday. Anyone good at massages?

Gator get that pc fixed soon or I will attain my1st strike against you. :)

Bunny thanks for the comments. I read on the tai chi and I might have to give it a try. Alwasy interested in learning.

Softball Politics

Last year with competitive softball and my daughter went okay she grew in the sport and did and awesome job. If you remember I wrote about going to Park City Utah for the World Series. My daughter was the only girl to play every game in her primary spot and her batting grew to become much better. The problems come with parents. Being an assistant coach I was hearing a bunch of complaining about how the head coach had handled some stuff. I called a meeting with the Head coach and we discussed it. Now jump ahead a ways. The head coach calls me the night before tryouts and says he is not going want me there or to be an assistant this next year. No real reason given except that he has parents upset and he heard I was going to make my own team etc. We still have not cornered him with this crap and his going on hear say rather then talking to me directly as I did to him.

Tryouts happened and my wife and I were juggling would she even be picked up again and did we even want to continue with him. My daughter did get picked up by the same coach and this now has started us again is this where we wanted our daughter to be. Another girl from the team did not get picked up by him and has seemed to pick up some information.

Information is this coach is now going through separation with his wife. His wife is upset and might even pull the daughter from the team, (I don’t think so but is a rumor). We have always had to watch him and with me assisting I was able to curtail some actions. The coach only picked up 8 girls and is short 2. We hear he is going to have this other kind of aggressive coach from another team come help him. That would put two yelling type coaches on that team with no one to hold them at bay. The other team that my daughter could have played for picked up a full lineup and so now we are stuck.

The team had a 3 game scrimmage this last weekend. I was a bit of a jerk and held back. Stayed away from everyone and didn’t talk. I walked up when the games were playing and walked away when the game was over. Yes, I have been a bit of a jerk lately on a few occasions. YES, me I know it is hard to believe. That same day we had this big parents meeting with the softball organization and both of those teams were there as they are every year. Again, I was reserved and not very engaged almost jerkish again a scary thought. Another friend from the other team even noticed and mentioned we are going to be very unhappy this year.

At the end of this meeting though we found out some more information. The other team lost 1 player that our current coach approached the family and took. He must think he is softball god and can do anything. I wondered how we got 9 players for the scrimmage. The other teams coach seems to be a bit more kids oriented and wanting them to have fun and learn. She has coached a lot of years and has some girls on the team that will not play for our current coach. The other team is also going to not travel as much and have a more realistic schedule for 12 year old girls.

Do you see where I am going with this? My wife and I have been trying to now decide to continue with the current team or become one of the non followers and pull our daughter and put her on the other team. We know we can because we talked to the other coach and she said our daughter would be her first choice to fill the spot she now has. Yes, my daughter is a good little player.

Well over the last few days we have pretty much decided to make the change. We are going to take that 1 spot and leave the team she was on. Is this the right decision for a year from now when she might have a team? I don’t know. She says she only wants to play 1 more year, but then again she says that every year. I am afraid though that when me make this change we have burnt a bridge and won’t be able to get her on a team the next year but maybe that is over worrying. What are your thoughts with what information you have now?

Change is complete. Daughter is officially on the new team. When we showed up to the new teams practice yesterday my daughter was welcomed on the team. AND I received hugs from 4 different moms all welcoming us and my daughter to the team. We were received with open arms, which is making this decision so far feel like the right thing. What a weekend.

Questions

I think cubed passed off a bit of his funk on me. I been bouncing in and out of it some lately. In a bit of one today and for no apparent reason. I think it might have something to do with having a bit too much time on my hands lately. I do much better if I have things booked and filled in. It seems as I look ahead in my schedule right now there is lots of blank spots in my calendar and I need something to fill those. Anyone out there that can give me some ideas on stuff to do?

Okay, I will own up to it. The reason I have so many blank spots is my knee hurting and me not getting to run enough. Last night i did go get a 13.3 mile bike ride in the mountains which filled that night. I was going to run tomorrow morning again but found out I have to be at a parade. SO I will fill my run in another blank spot. I hate funks.

I have just read Cubed's last post and also read some comments left on his site from Bunny and Early. I too would love to know why they have moved and are looking to buy a house down south in Guatamala or ??. How long you planning on staying there? Will you again move back to CA? What is it like to sit against a urinal wall in the rain? I think I am going to try and pass on that experience. :)

I would like to see a picture of Bunny saying the proper Vegas Hi to me in a picture though. :) Sounds like you might just fit in our group JUST fine.

The Un-Sex Pool

One of the people in the group sent out this.
I have a new wager for all of you....but I'm not collecting any money or any guesses.
Set your own personal O/U for the number of days at home it will take you to have sex the number of times you had on the Vegas trip. Based on the 63 number, I have a feeling some of you will be struggling into late October. Make Halloween the goal.

Also another funny is I and my wife have run across a few different people from the group that went. When we have seen them we have put are arms in the air and did a quick little grind dance and said “Hi (NAME)” to which they have always did the same move and said hi back. Our kids look at each other or at us with this really funny look on their face. The kids ask what that is and we tell them this is how the Vegas group says hi now. The kids shake their head and try to hide. What a fun group of friends.