What I learned today

Don't create a perception of somone soley based upon the first impression…give it some time, then look back on the first impression & see if it changes.

Hitting the links tomorrow

Day off tomorrow, I think I need one. So, 18 holes it will be, tee time @ 9am … Eagle Ridge is the place. I haven't played it yet this year, but have played it many times. One of my favorite courses in the Raleigh area.

As for my game, who knows. I didn't make it to the range tonight, so I'm going to have to go for the round in my head while I'm sleeping. Wonder why there's a 30 stroke difference in the round in my head vs. the actual?

Practice the swing…need to do much more of that. I have a lesson left over from last year, I just need to figure out what I want to work on. Likely the driver again, it continues to prove to be the worst club in my bag, buffalo head cover and all.

I predict a 94 tomorrow…swing oil will begin on hole #10.

Church – week 2

It's been 1 week since my last blog…it's been many years since my last confession to a priest.

Anyway…today was my second week of 6:15am mass. I was about 10 minutes late today, but the priest was likely about 5 minutes late… I arrived right at the beginning of the gospel. 

I'm not "all into church," I mean, this is only my second straight week of church in years, so I won't even try to pretend that I'm a good Catholic. But, I think I may try to make it a habbit. Not 6:15am, that's only gonna happen for lent. Church once a week is a good thing, it certainly can't hurt.  

As for the women, week two, another week of disappointment. I'm not sure church is the right place to meet women anyway, certainly not at 6:15am mass. 

Church

So, I’m going to attempt 6:15am mass tomorrow…why? I’m really not sure. Maybe to try to get myself going again, and at the same time, start trying to get up earlier in the morning. It’s lent and I haven’t been to church yet, so I figured I’d start now…we’ll see how it goes.

(PS…I also heard there are a lot of women who attend Thursday 6:15am mass)

Quote from my sister

"For Every Dark Night There's A Bright Day After That, So No Matter How Hard It Gets … Stick Your Chest Out, Keep Your Head Up, And Handle It." (url here is the first one I found when googling it)
I googled it to see who originated this quote, come to find out it was Tupac Shakur (a rapper who was killed). I'm not sure if it was part of a song or not, but I still like it.
I like this quote…need to use it when I start to feel sorry for myself about things or get pissed off about something…just handle it and move on is the way to go.

What I learned today…

Just because you get out of somewhere earlier than expected, does not mean you’ll get to the next place earlier (i.e. home). Happened to me tonight…due to the wonderful 1/64 traffic. Down to one lane so they could do something else to the barrier between sides. I guess they assumed that at 8:30pm, there would be no impact to traffic flow…only took 30 minutes to go 3 miles, not bad…jack asses.

Note to self, that I really need to remember: Must pick an alternative evening route (I have a morning route!) until the construction is complete.

Sunday night hockey

I guess I forgot to post about RAHL hockey last night…maybe because I wanted to catch the midnight run of The Sopranos as soon as I got home. Anyway, another loss last night. We had about 8 guys…the other team had 7 (including two women, who are actually very good). One of the women, their goalie, put on a great showing of skill last night. 48 shots on her, only 4 went in. Granted, at least half we’re right in the pads/chest, but still…we just couldn’t put the pucks in. I had likely 10 shots on net…a few right from the slot, a break away and couldn’t put one in. Next week, I have to bury one.

Open communication or secrets?

I was watching 60 minutes this evening (I typically never watch it), but there was a topic on that I wanted to hear about. NASA’s top climate scientist, James Hansen, was on discussing the state of global warming, telling us what the US government doesn’t want him to. The segment was called “Rewriting the Science”. Hansen says the government censors him, even their written reports have to go through the White House for “editing.” Why does the government do this? Well, who knows…maybe to ensure there isn’t a panic? Well, a panic is very unlikely, since the global warming issues are years off. However, Hansen says if we don’t act within the next 10 years, there’s no hope for it to get better, can only get worse.

I would think the government would allow this information through, maybe to spike some more interest in the public to act now, in any way they can. Surely this wouldn’t cause a panic, maybe just some change for the good?

This happens in all parts of life … families, businesses, friendships … In a family, a serious illness of one family member may be hidden from another. In business, a new project may be hidden from certain employees. In friendships, when a friend witnesses someone cheating (on their husband/wife or boyfriend/girlfriend), it may be hidden from the person who was cheated on. Are these scenarios bad? Is it better to hide these truths or just let them out? I guess it does depend on each situation, but, my view is…let them out! I’m not the best communicator in the world (though, I am working on it), but I think more openness is needed these days. Just as companies such as IBM are “opening up their patent portfolio”, people need to open up and communicate more…the good and the bad. The potential good likely outweighs the harm more information may cause, that’s my view.

Paddy’s Day in Raleigh

3/17 is always a day I look forward to. The anticipation of that day is pretty exciting, only to be deflated by the actual day in Raleigh, NC this year. I was talking to someone earlier today who mentioned that there was just a study about how people get excited about something that is about to or going to happen, but when that something happens, it turns out they were not has happy or excited as they were just thinking about it (prior to).

That happened to me this weekend! Paddy’s Day in Raleigh wasn’t all that bad, but not nearly as exciting as in Buffalo, NY. I guess it was just the atmosphere, the number of bars, the friends and family in Buffalo, etc…

As I was looking back on the last time Paddy’s Day fell on a Friday, I remembered that day 6 years ago. I was still living in Buffalo, just about to turn 20 years old. A friend of mine & me got up around 8am and hit the bars near the University of Buffalo. It was amazing how many bars opened by 9am and just how many people were there that morning. Needless to say, as the morning went on and the afternoon became evening, the day became even more fun than anticipated. But, those days are behind me and there’s no need for 16 hours of drinking anymore (HA!).

So, as Paddy’s Day weekend comes to an end, I’m finding myself thinking about the St. Patrick’s Day parade going on in downtown Buffalo right now. My friends, family and fellow party’ers out on Delaware with the kegs lining the streets, firemen & policemen walking the parade, beer in hand and the likes of me running them fresh ones out in the middle of the parade (this is something I do each year for my uncle, who marches in the parade).
Next year…it’ll be some place other than Raleigh, NC where I celebrate Paddy’s day, that’s for certain.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!!

Experiencing my first Paddy’s day in Raleigh today…festivities will begin around 4pm, we’ll see how it goes, but I’m not getting my hopes up for a “Buffalo-like” celebration.

Running tracks…

I'm not talking about the tracks you run on, this is about music. I have my ipod with me when ever I run, it is a must. There are songs that get me moving (or keep me moving) and there are songs that slow down the pace, don't motivate me, etc… So, I started thinking as I've been running (I find it the most inopertune time to think sometimes, because I can't write anything down, so I just hope I don't forget it by the time I get home!), are there "running tracks" … songs that get you moving, get you motivated. The key to this would be putting them in some sort of order, as a playlist. This would be similar to the way a composer writes a symphany. The playlists could be available for purchase on itunes, no? I'm not in the mood for googling tonight, but I'm going to look into this one. I also need to do the blogging thing and link some of the stuff in this post.

In my search, I came across a site called figl.com. This is a site dedicated to playlists, a place for people to share their playlists. You can also browse based on genres, moods & occasions. But, nothing helpful here for me.

I didn't spend much time looking on the web, but there seems to be a void in this area, are people interested in this?

“The Apprentice” on NBC (episode two)

After last week’s season premeir of NBC’s “The Apprentice,” where two people were fired, this week’s episode was not nearly as climatic. The teams put on an event for the launch of GM’s 2007 Chevy Tahoe. The attendees where the top GM deals (assuming from the NY area). Not much to talk about…basically, the teams picked a bunch of activities (rock wall, fly fishing, chipping contest, golf cart racing, etc…) for the attendees to particpate in. I’m not sure of the budget for these things, but the teams likely should have hired someone who puts on events for a living to get some advice, then they could excute.

Post lost

Over the last couple of days, the wordpress servers have been acting up. Just now, I lost a post, a very good post, I must say. It took me about 10 minutes to write and likely won’t be able to put it back in word-for-word. WordPress needs a real-time save function so this doesn’t happen!

Remember where you come from, who you are…

This is a saying you will always hear. What does it mean? Does it mean you shouldn’t try to be better than where you grew up? Does it mean you should always settle? I’ll always know where I came from and who I am… I came from a great family in South Buffalo, NY. My parents, started a family young & sacrificed everything for their five kids. Mom drove us kids everywhere & anywhere, cooked dinner every night and made sure we were happy. Dad worked the 9-5 (and more), coached us in every sport imaginable & was always there to help with the homework. To this day, they’re still the same parents, and I wouldn’t want it any other way.

So, do I know “where I come from & who I am?” Of course, I’m a guy from South Buffalo, NY, the place of infinite friends and family, a blue collar, close knit town. I am from a great family, a family that has taught me a lot & a family I will continue to learn from.

Life is not perfect, you will never be the person you aspire to be, but you can always strive for the best, and that’s what you should learn from where you came from.

Just an extra stride…

Sometimes in hockey, it just takes one extra stride to make the big play. It’s a game of hustle, when you don’t, you lose. Tonight’s game (vs. the last place team), was an interesting one. Started out with one ref, seemed very new to the game. Lots of hostility from the other team, we weren’t sure why. A few fights (not me this week!), goals were in our favor, and I played another game on D. All-in-all, it was a good game & I finally put a puck in the net.

We’ll see how next Sunday goes…being Paddy’s Day weekend and all 🙂