VETERANS DAY. THANK YOU!

this is quite simply a BIG ASS THANK YOU to all of our veterans. they are the real backbone of our country. sure, the country has is principles, norms and freedoms that define us.

however, it is our veterans that support and protect those principles and freedoms. they are the muscle to the words of the CONSTITUTION and DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. they give of themselves so that ALOT of us do not have to give of ourselves. i know that i am touched by their gift, and far to many times their ultimate gift.

take a moment, think about the true and real gifts you have been given through your life and be grateful. and, hopefully you can start to pay it forward, even if just 0.00001% of what you have received.

THANK YOU TO ALL VETERANS; PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE!

Up Again.

yeah, getting up again.  and, not about waking up.  about getting shit down for my own well being of mind and body.  for to long i sit and think about what i need to do.  well,  it is time to get up and out and start doing some more.  

so, i am back on the workout kick.  back to doing the p90x.   funny, that thanksgiving is a few weeks away, but what better reason to start.  and, besides there is always a reason not to.   bullshit.  there is aways a reason to DO IT.     got my tracking sheet, took my day 1 pictures... not quite as svelt as i used to be, so here we go.

been working on the mind, now is time to work on the mind.

Dangerous Expectations

isn't funny how expectations can work out?   this is primarily the case when reality doesn't match up the predicted or expected version of reality.  no where is this more evident than in the world of sports.   and that is exceptionally true here in buffalo.  actually, it is funny because there currently is a case of high and low expectations.

the low expectations deal with a 5-2 football team that is performing beyond anyone's expectations except for maybe those of the actual team.   key part here is that the team believes in what they can accomplish and damn anyone else's take on what reality would be.   this is just a great example of knowing your own path, sticking to it and making your own reality happen.   key take away is "nothing is ever as bad as can be made out to be".   if you focus to much on other people's negativity and bullshit then you deserve to not reach your own potential.  put more faith in what you can accomplish, and yes you will need help because we don't work or live in a vacuum.

well, high expectations can be just as shitty to a person.   the example that i am thinking of is of a certain hockey team.  a team that made so many moves on paper to improve (notice the on paper part) was supposed to be the cream of the crop.  well, after 12% of the entire season they are 6-5.   hey, still over .500,  but to listen to fans and experts  the team is in rough shape.   now, high expectations will cause you to wear 'rose-color lenses' and not really see the severity of a possible real situation.   it can be said that "nothing is ever as good as it made to seem".   not truly seeing a problem can be a huge because a head up the ass can be difficult to explain to a doctor or an insurance company when making the claim.   when you don't acknowledge a problem then you will never be able to fix that problem.

i am always amazed at how sports is such a wonderful metaphor for what we deal with in life.   it would be nice to deal with those salaries, oh what a pain that would be!   it just seem like such a powerful metaphor when looking at how each of the teams have performed against the expectations from experts.  it is something that i have been dealing with the last few years both in my professional and personal life.   it doesn't matter what others think, it matters what you think and what you can accomplish.  nothing like accomplishments to change somebody's expectations.  

Expectations; they are  never as bad AND never as good as they seem.  somewhere in the middle.  to dwell to much on either expectation is no good because it is preventing reality from being made.

-just my thoughts

That is just lazy...

i really could not believe what i had heard this morning.   while listening to some podcast, and only ones that deal with humor, i heard a promo about a company that is a modern day answering service.   but, it seemed the big modern spin was that they would transcribe your missed phone call and convert into an email for your reading leisure.

i nearly shit my pants.  (nice image, huh?)

i could not believe that there was a market for people to have their phone calls transcribed like somebody in court.  really, are you that GD lazy that you can't answer your own phone, check your GD voicemail and return a call.   but apparently there is a huge need.

this just seemed to smack of everything that is wrong with where we are as a society these days.  people are lazy and don't want to do even the most basic things for themselves.  people think think more of their position than what they are actually doing in the position.   if we are keeping up with the 'joneses' great, but somebody better check to see if they are actually in a job, in a house, not in debt or all the other shit that people are dealing with in the world.  but, hey maybe we are keeping up with the real jones and not the "reality jones".   (interesting thought there)

so, how about we get lazy on all of this extra crap that is out there.  maybe, work to try and make a smaller imprint but an imprint that actually brings good to somebody else and yourself.
for me the easiest way is to cook for people i care about.

Southern Fried Xmas Dinner '10; CFS w/ white gravy, mashed taters, bacon-brussel sprouts, honey carrots, and cornbread.   Dear Santa, can i have some cholesterol meds?

-just my thoughts

More than words...

we all know how the phrase goes,

 a picture is worth 1000 words.

these pictures just seem to hit my mood today.   we ALL have something that is holding us back, maybe it is scary even.   and, sometimes you need to step back to see your "full and layered" self.

-just my thoughts(images)

Dilemmas...

ok, it isn't really that dire of a situation.  but, the word dilemmas does seem to suggest there is an issue/question that requires an answer.   an answer that is difficult to generate or to implement or maybe both.

so, which is the tougher of the two?   thinking of the solution or making the solution actually happen.   i suppose it would be implementation.   big idea are easy, especially if will allow yourself to think that way.    but, to make something happen that requires more of yourself and of others.   and, there is the tough part, getting others to see your idea, agree with your idea, and then participate in making your idea tangible.
so, i guess that wasn't that hard to answer.  :)

i think all the tough questions/ dilemmas have that common thread to them.   the idea versus the actual performing tasks to make the idea happen.  performing requires moving from potential to kinetic which requires more energy.   now, this simple analysis doesn't even factor in the results that will occur, both good and bad.  see, now this is were it gets interesting.   positive results make it all worthwhile all the effort put forth with the implementation of an idea.  however, when the results suck this is where you have the camp that is all for "its better to just have the idea".   but, i think it is still tougher but more meaningful to implement the idea regardless of the result.

OK,
just a few random thoughts:
-if you tend to focus on bad luck rather than good luck, are you a optimist?
my thinking is that the optimist doesn't really believe in luck because they focus on doing what is required to make good things happen for themselves.   OR can you believe in one type of luck but not the other type?  
i tend to believe that an optimist would not believe in luck, but rather they made decisions that make positive or negative results likely based on their decisions.   things tend to be more in their control rather than some higher-being or fate.

so, with all of  that said, i would say that pessimist believe in luck (either good or bad) more than an optimist.   the pessimist has little belief in themselves and thus puts their hopes for results in the hands of luck.   just a thought and not where i thought this would go.  :)
oh well.

-just my thoughts.

Upon Reflection...

don't we always hear that?  or, maybe it is "in hindsight"?
but, there is a truth in the statements.  if you look back at the information (or data) the answers are there just waiting to be extracted.

i guess this is coming as i reflect upon the bills losing yesterday.   yes, when you look at the statistics of the team's overall play...you see that this wasn't that surprising.   but, sometimes the heart (emotions) makes us overlook what the brain (logic) is telling us.    no, this isn't some big post game analysis.   it is like i said, just something that got me thinking and i decided to use for my own self analysis.

and...

i decided that i needed to look at my attempts for weight-loss.  i am just your average guy who knows that  he needs to lose a few pounds, if not for bikini season but for overall better health.   i have been daily tracking my weight in a notebook.  but, today i decided to get "engineer" on it.   information put into excel and a chart was generated.  looking back it has been flat but with maybe a slight downward slope (good).  now, the key here was to reflect upon the information.   i could see that i wasn't getting larger but i wasn't really getting smaller.  this wasn't a news flash but i think it was just another example of getting the logic to match the emotions.   this is always a good thing.  the key take away for me wasn't the amount or lack of exercise (that was inconsistent at best) but rather on how i was eating.  

where was i?  damn, blogger with a gabby mother can be difficult.  :)  haha.

ok.  the key point i was trying to make is we all need to strive to have our logic and emotions in synch.  when we do the decisions we make will be easier.   those difficult decisions are when logic says one thing and emotion says another.   and, one way to get that synch-up is to sometimes take a step to the side (notice, not back) and truly analyze the situation, and "listen" to the analysis.

just a thought.

After the trip....

so, i just finished my 3 week tour of central europe.  actually, there was a pretty fair amount of discussion if i was touring eastern or western europe.   i decided that like my politics (hahaha) that i was in the middle and thus went with central europe.

what can i say?   well, in the most basic terms it was by far the best trip i have taken in my life to date.   but, that sorta feels like a child's favorite toy...it is always the most recent one, right?  

well, i feel that this trip was the best in terms of really allowing me to experience peoples, sights, sounds, ideas, cultures that were completely new to me.  but, i should say that i was amazed at how similar people really are in living....but is that really a shocker?    for the first time in my life, i was the "foreigner" or person who didn't speak the language.   it was very humbling; a very powerful lense to which i hope that i will look at issues of life as i move forward.

i know there is so much in my mind that is racing about what i saw and experienced.  i hope that as i continue to write here that i will work in what i learned on the trip.   and, i think i learned probably the most about myself...but that should be the way shouldn't it?

so briefly, what did i learn?

- a hello, a thank-you, a smile and shitload of humility goes a LONG way.
- you really can travel 3 weeks with 1 gym-bag of clothes.
- nobody but american tourists wear baseball hats in europe.
- the history of europe is so vast and intertwined
- a whole generation of people have been born since the fall of communism in europe
- a significant amount of reminders throughout europe about what can happen when evil people are allowed to spread their ideas.
- women wear fantastic shoes everywhere, even when pedaling their bikes.
- mcdonald's look like trendy cafes in europe but i never went into any business i would have seen in america.
- you can easily "unplug" from the internet for days at a time.  no texts, no calls, no headaches.   still nice to have internet/wifi at times though.
- european cellphones work going through tunnels.   and, they use them all the time.

i guess that is enough for now.  i just wanted to get back to writing a little bit, i mean typing.  i was actually writing in europe in a journal and damn my handwriting is horrible.

-later

Anticipation...

yeah, i am sitting here waiting to start my trip to europe.  i have decided on what clothes to take, created my playlist for my ipod, copied my documents to various spots, spot checked locations on the map, purchased my travel book, got my language book, tried to learn a language, downloaded language apps, test drove my new camera, and did a practice packing.    (whew, nice long/ run-on sentence)

so, i guess i am just to the point to put the proverbial rubber to the road.   the false bravado may come down a little bit after i get onto the plane heading for berlin.   wow.   talk about a challenge.  go to another  country and get it down by yourself.   i can't say how much i am truly excited for this but i am not going to say that i have some nerves too.    does that have to do with flying on 9/11?   maybe.  but, i do feel that by doing something like this is truly a great to honor those lost on that day and those since who have been protecting us since.

i remember setting this trip up in march, and it is less than 72hrs away.  something to be said for seeing something through.  

so, maybe this is the new phrase:

PREPARATION 
          leads to ANTICIPATION 
                       followed by IMPLEMENTATION 
                                              producing CELEBRATION 

Happy Labor Day

pretty basic title.    labor day is about celebrating the workers of our society.   working doesn't have to equate to employment, but it does equate to a job.   we all have jobs in our own lives; spouse, friend, sibling, relative, and even acquaintances.   it really boils down to our biggest and most important job we have being their for others.   friendship in the simplest terms.   have we made a phone call ?  have we returned an email or text?  have we made somebody smile or laugh?   have we thought of another before we thought of ourselves.  

i always find it funny how i let my own thoughts (maybe, misconception is more accurate) cloud my judgement on things.   a simple and likely selfish one is keeping my fb friends to a "reasonable" number.   really?  yeah,  my thinking was "how do you really know or talk with that many people?"  i am talking 300+.  but, so what!   it was me being a bit selfish and spoiled and selective in who i know.  i think that is silly on my part.   why can't i "friend" more people?   here is a wonderful tool to allow people to make those small little interactions with others that help to make life a bit more bearable on those bad days, and we all have them.

so,  at least for me, i am gonna try to reconnect with folks and if i can try to give others a little more smile in their life.   and, it is good for my soul too.   :)

just my thoughts.