Random Responses

Well, this is just to kill some time while I am working on writing about my goals in my teaching career and at the same time possibly introducing some new reading material to the few people who actually read this. Maybe you will be able to find something more entertaining from this. (There are a couple of links to other blogs, if you don't want your blog linked, let me know and I will remove it. However, you are probably the only people reading this anyway, so you shouldn't have to worry).

From the blog of a friend: We put things on this giant set of tubes because we want other people to read the things we put here. The premise of this quote (read the blog though) is that people want to be famous. In a response to this, I agreed, but to a lesser extent because of my educational background. As a teacher, I have been taught to believe (and strongly agree with) the principals of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs. I think fame is a component for some, but for most, it is to fulfil the need of acceptance and communication. This intrigues me and scares me at the same time.

A semi-related tangent to technology: I teach and coach at a local high school. I asked the girls (frosh) if they thought they could survive without technology. Their reactions were interesting. Most of them said they could do without TV; they don't watch it much (I disagree based on the conversations I have heard about Laguna Beach, amoung others). Having to live without computers or cell phones was not even fathomable to them. When I further added that we would have no cars or electricity, what would they do? Most of them agreed that they would kill themselves. I can understand that response since we are in Las Vegas. If I had no A/C, I would probably want to kill myself as well. I think that I was raised with enough common sense to figure things out and hold my own in a technologically absent world. Plus, I was raised in the sticks and I am one-quarter Iroqouis, so I have an advantage over most city folk.

Not that I am without fault: When I think back to when I was 14, TV was a big part of my life. Television similar to this video was what I lived for on Sunday afternoons. Among other things, I have viewed some of the commercials that were marketed towards me as a kid and I am not really too much different than these kids, their toys just have a lot more bells and whistles attatched to them. I joke with them that I am so old, that the only two toys my brother and I had were called "stick" and "rock". The game was simple: someone threw a rock at the head of the person with the stick and the other person had to hit it or get hit with the rock. Technology is probably a good thing...

One scary thing about technology is when people can find you. If you already haven't, Google your name. Try variations, including Mr. (insert last name). Also try searcing in images. I find that I have some links to some letters I wrote to the RGJ years ago. I also found some old interviews and sports statistics from various prep websites. I even have a pictures of me bribing the President. It was not a real bribe, nor was it the real President. It could bother me that a picture of me from 5 years ago along with these other things are still on the web. These all now become permanent records that anyone can find, so people need to be careful about what they write. The ony thing that bothers me is seeing that although it was starting to go, my hair was thicker than it is now.

The one scary thing that I found was that someone with my exact same name was arrested and convicted of possessing with intent to sell cocaine in Michigan. I always wonder what will happen if I get pulled over or since I am a teacher what would happen if there were ever a case of mistaken identity. It should also be interesting since I am flying to Ann Arbor to watch the Michigan Wolverines play the Iowa Hawkeyes in October and I know I will be drinking probably more than I should.

If this blog format looks somewhat familiar, yes I am stealing ideas. I do not have enough of a technological background to figure things out, yet. I can see something I like and hit the help button to figure how to roughly imitate and get the results that I want out of things, though.

Baseball

I love baseball. More specifically, I love the Dodgers. They are the best team ever to grace the grasses of the senior circuit. I grew up in NorCal with family in the San Francisco Bay Area. Everyone, including my father, are giants fans because of this. I, on the otherhand, turned out normal by maybe little more than the grace of God. It can vaguely be attributed to the 1981 World Series and the magic that Fernando Valenzuela created with his "Fernandomania" rookie season. I was 7 that year and had played T-ball for a couple of seasons, but I was primarily a soccer player at the time. At soccer practice that fall, I broke my leg; I didn't wear shin guards like one is suppossed to. That not only ended my season, but I was also laid up in bed with a plaster cast up to my thigh. My dad brought in the old black and white television set from the garage for my bedroom so I could stay in bed and not have to move around. This worked well for me since the only other television in the house was upstairs and probably weighed about 200 pounds, so it wasn't moving anywhere. The black and white on the other hand, was only about 13 inches and portable (this being a television from the 70's though meant it still probably weighed 30 or 40 pounds though). It took about 3 or 4 minutes for the TV to warm up and the antena had to be adjusted just right to get one of the 4 channels that were available to us (pre-cable by about 4 years for us hicks). So I watched the World Series. I watched the Yankees take a 2-0 lead in the series. I watched Fernando pitch in game 3 and win for the Dodgers. After that, they never looked back and beat the Yankees in the next 3 games to win the World Series. From there a Dodger fan was born.
I bring this up for a specific reason. That was 25 years ago. I have been to probably a dozen or so Dodger games; nothing is more exhilirating or exciting than a baseball game in person (at least nothing that you can do in the company of 40,000+ people). All of these games though were watched at "The Stick," home of the hated giants. This is not going to be a story about how my dad being a giants fan and me beign a Dodgers fan created this huge rift in our relationship. The only problems we ever had were created by me being a typical, pain in the ass teenager while I was in high school. This has to do with the comparison of watching games at "The Stick," and a game at Dodger Stadium. This past weekend, I went to LA on Sunday to watch my first Dodger game at Chavez Ravine. In addition, it was against these same hated giants. Additionally, it was going to be Greg Madduz on the mound, a shoe in hall of famer. To top that off, he was throwing against Jason Schmitt, the ace of the giants (a good pitcher in his own right and deserving of that credit despite wearing ugly-ass orange and black. Trick or treat, anyone?). The game was as expected, a National League beauty full of great pitching and defense.
I could continue to describe the details of the game, of the stadium, of the Dodger Dogs, but that is not and has not been my intended point, which I am now getting to. As previously mentioned, I have seen many games at Candlestick. Almost every time that I went, I was with friends who were giants fans. And almost every time I went there, I was harrassed and threatened by giants fans. I am a sports fan. I love rivalries and the competition that they spur. I expect to be heckled and ribbed. I am also an adult, and with the population of students that I work with, I can handle being told to, "go to hell," or to go "fuck yourself." However, after dozens of peanuts and a few beers being wasted on my back, it gets old. The average giant fan has very little class. When I was at Dodger Stadium, I sat next to a couple who was wearing giants jerseys. They were not the target of hatered or ridicule. No beers, no peanuts, no churros were hurled in their direction. Other than an occassionaly beach ball that indiscrimately headed towards them, nothing malicious attacked them. In fact, out the the 45,000+ people that were there, probably 10,000 were dressed for Halloween. And other than the occassional clown wearing a Barry Bonds shirt, no one appeared to be harrassed or overly heckled (the treatment of the Barry fans is pretty universal, I summise from watching games and hearing the crowd reactions).
It is sad that giant fans have had such a negative impact on my memories that after spending what possibly could be considered one of the greatest days of my life, the thing that I will remember the most will be the lack of class that they have. That is my rant. Dodger fans will understand. giant fans will continue to hate. Life will go on and so will baseball. Unless you are a giants fan and it comes time for game 163 on the season. Then you will be home watching the Blue in the playoffs. Have fun, but remember that if you hurl that beer at the television set, you might ruin your TV (as well as waste a beer).

The Blogging Bandwagon

Well, after reading everyone elses thoughts, I figure it is time I start writing about thoughts of my own. This will be an intersting experiment for a couple of reasons. First, I hate writing. Especially after just finishing my Masters. Thankfuly, I took my classes at unlv and the actual quality and depth of my writing did not require the highest of academic standards or intellectual thought. Plus, I don't spell very well and don't type nearly as well as your average twelve year old can with their text messaging cell phones (hopefully my writing has a little more depth, though, lol). Last time you will ever see "lol" in a post, I promise. Second, although I feel I can hold my own in some intellectual conversations, especially after a few beers, it can often be difficult to find people to have intellectual conversations with. Maybe I am actually not as intellectual as I think I am (hence, attending unlv for a Master's) but it is the beer that makes me think I am actually smart while simultaneosly diminishing the intelligence of my audience, thus exponentially increasing my perceived intelligence. Because of this, (see, not supposed start a sentence with "because") my occasional rants will be pretty darn boring and normal observations of my life and the world. Hopefully for those of you who know me, a light goes on in your head and you can say to yourself, "Well, that explains a lot about him," and those of you who don't know me realize that if you ever meet me, don't buy me any beers if you want to have a normal conversation.

*disclaimer-this post, as all posts, will be written while sober. Comments to replies, if any, on the other hand are subject to beer-goggled responses. If my responses are aggresive or violent by nature, then I was probably drinking Jack, which has been proven to increase testosterone levels (although anyone who ever went to college and called an offensive lineman a lard-ass already knew that).