Shopping Thoughts

I just had one of those: What in the blue blazes am I
doing moments that I had to share.

Heather was at Wal-Mart doing christmas shopping for the kids.

I was at work.

She called me on her cell, asking about a certain toy for Sally.

I logged on to Wal-Mart's website and proceeded to 'virtually'
shop along side her as she walked down the
toy section. I could see the prices were the same as the stuff
was on the shelves, and so I could offer
input as to what would be a good idea, etc.

Then I realized that, by using a cell phone, computer, internet
and all that plethora of technology, we had
taken Christmas shopping into a new realm.

One that was, oddly enough, fun. But not something I'd
want to do all the time.

Side note: one of my last-ditch reasons of not having a
cell phone was that  I didn't want to be the clueless guy
at the grocery store walking up and down the aisles, saying
into his phone things like "They have crunchy, not creamy"
and "They have three blue ones but only one green one"
and the like.

Fast forward to now: I'm that guy. Much to my chagrin.

Awarding Awards and Soccer Muses

I'm making some soccer awards for my son's soccer team.
I have a few thoughts.
I am trying to balance the "Politically Correct" terms:
Best Defensive Player instead of Best Defensive Man

And the stupid awards. You know. "Most Improved" and "Best Kick" and the like.
I came up with
Best Striker, Winger, Defender, Keeper, Sweeper, Forward, Stopper. But I had to go with "Best All-Around Player" for one girl because she was good at everything. I almost used "Best Team Player" but couldn't. I don't want to do "Pat on the Head" awards.

I've seen those. Stupid. Best Sportsmanship awards fall into this category. I like the MVP awards only when the team votes on it, not the coaches or the league. I'm trying to decide who should be nominated for that.

Coaching soccer with kids is fun. I've had to deal with the petty issues. Divorced parents causing tension on the sidelines, obnoxious parents, kids that aren't motivated, weather, etc. I've liked seeing their eyes light up when I teach them a new skill or new thing -- and they get all excited, running and playing.

My two favorite things to play with them are two games. One is "Hit the Coach". Pretty simple. I give everyone a ball, mark out a spot on the field (usually the mid-field circle or a goalie box) and then let them try and hit me. It's a good workout. They can really kick hard, and it teaches them to strike quickly instead of waiting to kick. The other game is "Everybody Against the Coach". I can sometimes get away with this on half a field. Everyone plays against me. Oh, I let them make a few goals. I use my stopwatch countdown timer to give them a timeframe. And when some kids start to dominate the scoring, I'll say "Ok, the next 5 minutes only Max and Zoe can score -- everyone else has to help them or pass the ball to them." And then I force the other players (by pressing the defense on the others) to pass the ball to the designated strikers and we all get a learning experience out of it.

Ahh, Under-8 Soccer. I love it. My son is on the team and I've not really had any favoritism things. He's a good keeper and I think he'll want to play that position as he gets older. :)

More later.

CD Minded

Big Daddy Weave.
I'm not a big, huge fan of Christian based rock.
But when I find something that is cool, I tend to listen to a lot of it.
Big Daddy Weave. I was given their 2002 Album, "One & Only."

While it did have a bit of Blues Traveler mixed with a hipper Eric Clapton and tang of Sting, I felt that some of the album started to repeat itself. I really enjoyed the standout songs: "In Christ" , "Audience of One" and a few others. I liked lead singer Mike Weaver's voice -- but I enjoy the album more when he mixes it with other singers more. His lead solos are good, but a dozen tracks of it tends to get a bit grating. His harmonies with Jay Weaver blended well (are they brothers?) and the lyrics on "Audience of One" start off with a kneeling, gentle prayer that makes the guitars backing Mike's voice up soar over the melody.

This is where this band shines. I hope they can keep the message of their music on the same level as here: Not so overpowering that the music is left behind. I'm going to go check out their newer stuff...here.

Blogging Bloggers Bludgeoning

Here I am, two, no three months since my last post.

I feel bad.
My cousin has a blog. http://wjw.blogspot.com
He's been blogging forever.
Even did it on his church mission. (the sneak... the white handbook has nothing about blogs, the sneaky sneak. Oh, it's a "online journal". I likey. Wish I had done so)

So here I am, trying to blog more.
I think I will.

Today I'm slated to go and work out.
I've lost 54 pounds since June. Maybe that's what I'll use for an excuse of not blogging. :) http://www.jrmc.org/us/weightloss.html
My ultimate goal is 80 lbs. I think I can manage it -- but won't finish before the program ends. I will continue to work out though. Got addicted.
Love running with my son's soccer team. We've been playing "Everyone Against The Coach" and "Hit the Coach" as fun games. I get a good, 45-minute workout against eight 7 year-olds.
More to come.

Second Shift Tastings

So here I am, working a second shift.

Not that it isn't a smart idea, mind you. Why some higher ups decided to make our department work a second shift is beyond me. Idiots. They have NO idea what goes on in this department and how we make things work.

So here's my question to the cyberspace person who stumbles across this blog, if ever. Does the size of your company automatically coincide with the amount of common sense you seem to not show?

Two incidents.

One: My company decides that we're not working fast enough, so they decide to make us work 2 shifts. Not only is this stupid, it has slowed down the workflow. Gag. They didn't even ask us our opinion. So now if I work the night shift, I find myself with jobs that can't be completed because Customer Service goes home at 5pm ... and I'm still here working after that.

What comet struck the head of my boss up the chain? Who is he listening to? Why is he/she/them/it not even caring about the strain this puts on my family and my coworkers??
Gag. I haven't been this close to looking for a new job since I left the newspaper buisness 4 years ago.

Two: Adobe shipped Creative Suite 3 with bugs. I know all programs have them... but then you'd guess a company as big and 'user friendly' as Adobe would be open to all bug reports. Not this time. I've left emails, messages and even bug reports. No answer.
And it cuts into my design work having to mess with this bug. Arg.

You can see the Adobe Forum here.

I'll stop ranting. Working this late (8:32pm) is hard on ya when you haven't done it in 4 years. Blarg.
Here's to hoping this blog is more updated. And more positive!