A new beginning

I haven't blogged in well over a year.  I've thought about it dozens of times, but just never got around to doing it.  Other things took priority (most of them not really worthwhile).  I've made a committment to doing it more, I think.  With the election coming up, I've got a lot of things on my mind.  I'm sure I'll have much to say.  I plan to watch the final debate this evening, and I will likely comment on that.

Trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio

This week I was in Akron, Ohio for business.  After my meetings today, I made the short drive from Akron to Canton to visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame.  Basketball will always be my first love, but football is a close 2nd, so this was a pretty cool opportunity.  It was very cool.  Lots of memorabilia, and plenty of video.  If you have ever seen anything put together by NFL Films then you know that it always top notch.  I took lots of pictures, so here they are:

Jim Thorpe

Thought it was interesting that they chose Steve Young for this poster instead of Joe Montana.

He not officially in the HOF yet, but I guess they assume he will be.

Earl Campbell.  I had to take pictures of the some Oiler players.

Walter Payton

Steve Young

Warren Moon

Bruce Matthews, Oilers Off Tackle

Jerry Rice

More Houston connections.  This is the former USFL team, the Houston Gamblers.

Steve Young as a member of the USFL's L.A. Express

The uniform Walter Payton was wearing when  he broke Jim Brown's rushing record.  I know that Emmett holds that record now, but for my money, I'll take "Sweetness"

The Lombardi Trophy

Colts Super Bowl Ring

Golfing Fun in St. George

Last year my step dad decided to start a family tradition where all the men in the family go to St. George and play golf for a weekend. I wasn't able to make it due to business travel commitments last year but I was able to go this year. We had a great time, and although I was pretty rusty, I didn't play to badly and a good time was had by all. I took some pictures of the courses we played and some of them include the guys
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Larry on the tee at Coral Canyon.

Larry and Quinn at Coral Canyon.

Me, Quinn and Larry

A shot of the surrounding area from Kokopelli.

Another shot from Kokopelli

Kokopelli

My uncle, John Boswell.

Larry, Zach and Marc.

Weiner-gate

I haven't blogged in some time. I've had a lot of other distractions. This Anthony Weiner Twitter story is just too awesome not to talk about. The entire web/blogoshpere is erupting on this story. Congressman Weiner has been in the news before. He's always struck me as a pompous douche-bag. On MSNBC he gets softball questions and bloviates about his ideology. But I've always respected him for having the stones to go on Fox News. He's done interviews with Hannity, O'Reilly and Megyn Kelly. And as courageous as that has been, he's acted like a jack-ass (google the Megyn Kelly interview) dodging questions and refusing to let the interviewer control the interview.

Whoever Congressman Weiner's PR people are, they need to be fired. As of today, Weiner isn't commenting anymore , but the damage is already done. If you haven't seen the myriad of interviews he's given in the last 72 hour, stop everything you're doing and see them now! Weiner's apparent damage control has hurt him 1000 times more than a simple "No comment" would have at the outset.

This is nothing new for politicians. They do something that will make them un-electable, try to get out ahead of it so they can be electable again, and end up making things worse. Why not just come clean? You're busted, dude. Take your medicine, ride out your term and become a lobbyist when you lose in your next primary. Congressman Weiner, Arnold Schwarzenegger and John Edwards thank you for the cover. Without your complete meltdown, we'd be talking about them instead of you today.

Teacher suspended for criticizing students

Check out this story.

Natalie Munroe, a 30-year old teacher from Pennsylvania, criticized her students on a personal blog. She never mentioned her full name, the school or any student or parent by name. The blog has been taken down, but allegedly contained profanity laced comments. The more tame comments have been reported in dozens of articles, including the one I've linked.

Naturally, there are 2 camps on this issue. One camp supports the teacher, and even if they don't condone her tact, they can understand her frustration in dealing with unruly students. This was a private blog, meant for a private audience, and didn't violate any one else's privacy.

Camp 2 thinks the teacher is out of line. She had no right to attack her students in that way. She obviously hates kids, and they wonder why she went into teaching in the first place.

It will come as no surprise that I'm firmly in Camp 1. I'm not a proponent of profanity, but so what? The blog wasn't targeted at students. And even if it was, according to Ms. Munroe herself, "They are rude, disengaged, lazy whiners. They curse, discuss drugs, talk back, argue for grades, complain about everything, fancy themselves entitled to whatever they desire, and are just generally annoying." So it's required of a teacher to sit passively by, while student curse them out, but if a teacher uses salty language it's the end of the world?

Teachers are generally untouchable in this country. They're underpaid, overworked, over-stressed, etc. If anyone criticizes Teacher's Unions, the Department of Education, or anything that has to do with our educational system, they are panned by the media as not caring about children. But the second a teacher questions the general attitude and behavior of the students, instead of rallying around her and giving the benefit of doubt, there's a segment of the population ready to label her a bad teacher, that doesn't care about kids. This is insanity. There are teachers in New York state that have been on paid leave for months for such incidents as sexual harrassment and theft. They can't be fired, because they're teachers. But by all means, let's fire this one for voicing an opinion.

Those who criticize Natalie Munroe, make me laugh. They should check out the blog posts and Facebook status updates of anyone under the age of 25. It routinely highlights everything that is wrong with this country. But they're critical of someone who does the exact same thing, but is criticizing said young people. As usual, it's completely hypocritical.

Thankfully, humankind has given me hope. As of the writing of this post, there are 4 Facebook pages dedicated to Natalie Munroe. The 2 positive pages, "I support Natalie Munroe" and "Natalie Munroe Blog - Support for Natalie Munroe". Thy have a combined "Like" total of 1823. The 2 negative pages, "Throw the book at Natalie Munroe" and "Fire Natalie Munroe" have a combined "Like" total of 26. This includes the official Facebook page of Good Morning America. I'm glad the liberal media is staying unbiased on this one! I'm aware that's pretty unscientific, but it does make me happy that clear thinking Facebook users outnumber the haters by 70 to 1.

For Shame

I'm probably over reacting to this story: Potential scams top 7,000 in BP spill compensation

It seems that people like to debate topics like "What's wrong with America?". For me, stuff like this tops the list. Based on the total number of claims, the fraudulent ones only account for 1.5%. Yet, I'm still bothered by that. Where's the honor? Where's the integrity? Why is there always a percentage of the population that has to take advantage of a crisis?

I'm not going to go on a big rant here, but these fraudulent acts are now costing the American tax payer, since the Justice Department now has to investigate (and hopefully prosecute) these low-lifes.

For shame.

Getting Older and Friends

I turn 37 years old today. For the first time that I can remember I actually feel older on my birthday. This could have something to do with the fact that I'm completely out of shape, and have a little extra baggage around the middle.

I've never really made a big deal out of my birthday. I don't feel a lot of anticipation over receiving gifts. That's mainly because I've reached a point in my life where, when I want something, I just go buy it. This upsets my wife a bit, since it makes me impossible to shop for.

This weekend I was able to spend some time with good friends. That has made me reflect on my life a bit. I realize the person I am today has a lot to do with the friends I've chosen. I'm lucky to have found friends that share common interests and values. As I remember high school, there's barely a fond (and sometimes, not so fond) memory that doesn't involve one or more of my very close friends. Ryan, Adam, and Joey. You will not find 3 more amazing men on Earth. For over 20 years, we've been through thick and thin. Although we've got jobs, family, and countless other distractions, I find joy in knowing that any of them would have my back if I need it. Joey recently moved to Idaho, and I don't get to see him often. But I cherish the 6 Saturdays between August and November that I get to see him. Adam and I are, geographically, the closest. But between my hectic travel schedule and our mutually busy work and family lives, the occasional lunch is all we manage to squeeze in. Ryan, I still see a couple of times a month. We were roommates in college and stay extremely close to this day. I hope it goes unsaid, but if they're reading this, I would like them to know that I would do anything for them. I love you guys!

I've also been fortunate to work for some companies that employee exceptional people. Although not as close as those listed above, I've made some great friends in the last 10 years at work. Even when things at work aren't going well, great colleagues and friends, make working through those challenges a little less painful.

To all my friends out there, thanks for being my friend! I really appreciate each and every one of you.