Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Wanna guess what I didn't do along with not posting this morning? That's right, no gym for me. Didn't sleep well last night, so slept in.

Talked to some people today who are going into management/leadership coaching and training. Sounds like a good idea - I'd be curious to know how many executives buy in enough to make good leadership a requirement for managers. All the bad managers I know would just shrug off good advice (if they didn't, they'd at worst be inexperienced managers), so I don't know how much good training will do without the carrot of promotions/raises or the stick of a pink slip.

Yep, work has me that cynical this week.

Things I'm Thankful For: 1) Balloons - Dad apparently bought a balloon the other day, and his chocolate lab was jumping up to his head (Dad's 6'3") trying to burst it and finally managed to. The other dogs apparently looked on, disturbed that one of their number had so little dignity. 2) That cats don't eat as wide a variety of everything as dogs.

What I've Learned: 1) Turtles are apparently easy to kill but difficult to maneuver (Life of Pi is a great book!). 2) My editorial skills are sufficient to be recognized in the Blogosphere (see the link to HappyTheMan at right).
posted by Unknown 6:16 PM | 1 comments

Monday, January 09, 2006

Woohoo! Major Applewhite is now offensive coordinator at Rice. Congratulations to him as 26 is pretty young for that kinda gig, even at Rice. A little worried that he'll be coaching against UT for the next couple of years, and if anyone knows and can help the defense exploit our biggest weakness, offensive coordinator Greg Davis, it's Major. On the other hand, maybe he can show up Greg Davis and become Mack's offensive coordinator/heir apparent earlier than we'd ever imagined. Regardless, congratulations, Major.

Someone guessed that my lack of blogging and reporting on exercise probably indicated a lack of exercise. Good point. So for the record, this morning was 1.1 miles in 10 minutes (angle 20, resistance 13) - had the energy from more, but my knee was sore, and at my size, I can't take a chance with knees and feet. Also managed a set and a half each of situps/leg lifts.

I signed up for a class that started this morning from Barnes&Noble University on The Founding Brothers. I already owned the book, so I'm sure they're regretting providing the course for free (other students mentioned in their introductions getting the book from Amazon). :-) It's supposed to be a great book, and I'm looking forward to the interaction with students and teacher, even online, to see if I can muster the discipline for even minimum classes again. Should be an interesting experiment.

I also used to update what I was reading - the main ones that have stuck with me are Genomics (great recommendation from Wife on basic genetic science), The Plot Against America (could've been a lot shorter but still solid), The Thief Lord (can't recommend it - might be good for middle schoolers, but its recommendation based on liking Harry Potter is a joke), Darwin's Radio (good genetic science fiction from Greg Bear) . . . I know I've read more in the last 6 months, but everything that wasn't a re-read (the first 6 Dragonlance, enough Xanth to convince me to give away my Piers Anthony books) isn't springing to mind. If it does, I'll letcha know. Currently I'm reading Life of Pi, which is really good. (No, it's not about math, although that definition of Pi is referenced.)

btw I saw our illustrious VP checked into the hospital last night. I don't know about you, but I'm on the edge of my seat awaiting God's detailed explanation of the sins that caused his illness, always delivered without editorial by Glorious Prophet Pat Robertson.

To revive one last old tradition, What I'm Thankful For: 1) Wife, 2) a YMCA that has the machines I like to use, plus racquetball and basketball courts, 3) Internet - it's brought me several jobs, a wife, this fantastic communication medium, and just generally seems to help out.
posted by Unknown 7:13 AM | 2 comments

Thursday, January 05, 2006

I'm a bad, bad blogger. Fortunately most of the 5 or so of you who read this aren't much better. ;-) So I'll now join the Resolution Re-bloggers (think we outnumber January gym memberships?) because I can't keep one inside (and no - this isn't about Pat Robertson labeling Sharon's stroke an act of divine retribution, I know God's merciful because Pat didn't get one himself for saying that).

We won.

Not we as in me having anything to do with it, I know, but I am a fan and am thus celebrating the 2005 National Champion Texas Longhorns. The game was one of the best championships ever, with one of the most outstanding individual performances as Vince Young led us through and struck Heisman poses just to remind the voters of the December travesty. It was great fun watching with Laura, Chris, and Andy, although I think Laura was a bit worried when the three of us were all pacing in the living room for the last 5 minutes. The cats were definitely freaked out.

After the penultimate moment, I noticed the tower was orange and I thought I could make out a 1 from Mopac@183, so Laura agreed to my insane idea to head towards campus. Well, I-35 was backed up almost to 51st, and people were leaning out of their cars, hookin' em, honking, and just all-around celebrating. I opened the sunroof (I do like Laura's car!) and hooked em high for a small stretch of highway and then as we cut over to Duval. We got to 27th where we had a straight view of the tower - there was no 1, but it was fully orange and very, very cool.

Guadalupe South was backed up past 38th Street - people were running through the streets, high-fiving hands out of cars, horns were going wild, and it was just one of the most positive crowd feelings I've ever gotten. We went North as we prefer to observe and head out rather than get stuck in the middle, but I kept the hookem going through the sunroof and helped instigate other horns and honking. (It should be noted that while I hooked my lil heart out, I didn't honk - that was Laura.) One of Laura's friends saw us, so I even got to embarrass her in front of people she knew. Good times.

So today's been fun watching everyone eat crow and ESPN rush out a "Where does Texas rank among the top teams of the last decade?" to try to make up for last week's "Where does USC rank among the top teams of all time?", but being down near campus, even if only for a few minutes, will be my favorite memory of this whole experience.

We won.
posted by Unknown 4:30 PM | 0 comments