not a top ten list

I'd say these are among the all time worst jobs:

Referee or Umpire - any level. Doesn't matter the sport or the level, there are always angry fans/parents that only see things as they could be for their favorite player/child

the guy who cleans the grease traps at Taco Bell

Third shift factory worker at a factory that makes heavy things that ultimately cause people great harm

Hillary Clinton's publicist

Lawyer for big tobacco

IRS auditor

Trash man - I know we all discovered how much they make when we were in grade school...and then thought it wouldn't be that bad of a job. They pick up trash, bags tear, stuff leaks on you, you have to lift heavy things all day, try climbing onto and off of a truck 500 times in one day...even without the lifting....and did I mention you have to do it when it's 20 below?

Defensive tackle playing the Broncos

Fourth grade teacher in NYC - your kids might be older than you

Paulie Shore's road manager

New guy for a salt removal company in Minnesota (up all night spreading salt by hand...and it eats through your clothes...and you never know when you're on and when you'll actually get to sleep)

hmmm

I've heard two silly arguments this week.

"Why is everyone giving a free pass to Chris Rock, Jesse Jackson, and a whole bunch of rappers for their racist remarks and then coming down on Imus?"

and

"What ever happened to free speech?"

Chris Rock, Jesse Jackson and a whole bunch of rappers aren't the issue here...they're just a distraction from Imus' stupid remarks. It's the -I have no argument so I'll point to someone else - argument. It's what people do when they get a speeding ticket and complain about all the "real criminals" out there stealing and robbing widows and orphans.

They're not the issue here, it's your driving recklessly.

It's the press complaining about Kenneth Starr when he was brought in as an independent council - blame the guy trying to gather the facts, instead of the person committing the crime. You also heard the traffic argument with Clinton's lying under oath. They didn't talk about him not actually doing it...because he did...they talked about the far more important problems out there. That's certainly true, but he still did it.

the free speech thing just seems silly. We have the freedom to say stuff without being thrown in jail - but we don't have the freedom to say whatever we want and still keep our jobs, friends, speaking engagements, etc. It's one of those misunderstood amendments (like "seperation of church and state") that people throw out there whenever they don't like something that's been done because of something someone said.

it's just a silly argument and I can't help but point it out...it's just bugging me.

we're moving into a bubble

Strep

-

throat feels like it's sprained

have too many things going on

must live in bubble

-murph

"they're not acting very Christian"

So we expected 500+ at our Easter Egg Scramble (Hunt) and had 5 times that many people show up. Because of the weather, we moved our location...and had to flex a bit.

We had wall to wall to wall to wall people. It was crazy. We rented games, gave our free hot dogs, pie, drinks, candy to tons of people. We had 11,000 Easter Eggs.

And yesterday I started getting the ticked off e-mails of moms who's kids didn't get any eggs.

I've heard that it happens at any Easter Egg Hunt with more than 30 kids. I talked with a couple of churches that have done hunts on this level and they told me to just expect it.

Ours was a little out of control though. At one point we had a couple of thousand people around our field just waiting to run out and pluck their 4 cents worth of plastic. They were cold and not very patient. I thought we'd curbed the impatience a little by keeping most of the pre-event games, etc. inside the building in the gym and other areas in our church. I was wrong.

At one point we had a couple of people in each area with big bags of candy walking around to the folks behind the lines giving them candy. We figured that'd buy us 5 minutes...sort of like you entertain people in between innings by shooting t-shirts into the crowd. Right when they started handing out the candy, a lady in the crowd yelled out, "Ready- Set - Go!" and even though there were still people coming outside from the gym and atrium - the crowd just started the Easter Egg Hunt on their own.

You can't really stop 2,000 people once the mob starts.

So kids didn't get Eggs (including Griff, Cooper and Parker). Moms were ticked. Kids were crying. Some kids went home with a garbage bag full of eggs and some didn't get any.

I'd heard that we should put a limit on the number of eggs kids can have. It's hard to believe that since we found kids breaking into the boxes of eggs before the event - had parents elbowing kids out of their kids way to the eggs - and a near riot, that kids would follow our limit that we'd have no real way of enforcing.

So this might have been two egg hunts in one.
My first - and my last.

Easter is upon us

I guess I can see buying into a bearded guy traveling the globe and giving presents to everybody. There are a few holes in that
- time constraints
- how's the big fella getting down the chimneys?
-Reindeer flying?

The thing is, Santa has all kinds of endorsement deals with Coca-Cola, a bunch of malls, some jewelry stores, he's in a dozen or so movies starring Tim Allen...he's getting really good press.

I'm just not sure I can get behind the Easter Bunny. He travels around to all those houses by hopping? You really need to fly if you're going to cover that kind of mileage.
Also, I can barely see having time to throw some presents under a tree, let alone hiding all those eggs. Doesn't make sense.
I'm not buying it.

I'm just not...there, I said it.

just something kind of fun

I wrote my opinion on the scoring system of t-ball and was told that my opinion was "nuts" and that I wasn't tolerant of other's opinions. I've always hated dumb arguments (telling me my opinion of something was dumb and then telling me I was intolerant is just kind of silly) so I responded back....a crazy number of comments later I realized it was probably not going to fix anything.

I wrote about missing a school concert for my 6 year old because I had committed to speaking at an event three months prior...and 45 comments later I realized this was kind of out of control.

I wrote about an Easter Egg Hunt and a cowboy...and still the angry comments flew.

Today I would like to direct you to far better things:
This
or
This
or
This
or
This
or
This

or better yet

This

I don't wanna be a cowboy

I think if I was a cowboy, I'd struggle with the outfits. I come home and immediately want to take off my glasses, shoes and put on some shorts...that's my routine.

If you're a cowboy, you come home - take off your cowboy boots, your vest, your hat, your holster, your chaps, and just try and throw on some shorts and not get made fun of by the other cowboys. Now if you're in a 1970's disco band, you could probably get away with throwing on some shorts...but if you're a real cowboy - I think shorts are disallowed.

When I come home I hit the button on my keychain that locks my car. They have to go into a smelly stable (that's never attached to the house with a door that goes between the two) take down the saddle, and then put their horse into a stall. On the other end, they don't have to pay near as much for fuel.

I know cowboy boots give you an extra inch or two in height. I get that everyday they get to play dress up. I'm sure there are a lot of moments where riding a horse is a lot cooler than a sweet 2001 miniature van. I also think it probably gets old. You end up being the guy with the convertible that really only opens the top when you have friends in the car. After a while, it's just more trouble than it's worth.

Easter Egg Scramble (Hunt)

We're putting 11,000 Easter Eggs on the Princeton H.S. practice football field.

You can't really hide 11,000 eggs that are colorful in design (try as you might). You definitely can't hide them on a football field...unless you bury them...but they won't let us do that.

The thing about our Easter Egg Scramble is that it takes place at 11:30 on Saturday, April 7th.

This is the weather report for Saturday, April 7th in Cincinnati, Ohio:

Saturday, Apr. 7
Few Snow Showers
39°/25°
30%
30 %
Plow and salt parking lot

So now I'm thinking that maybe we can hide the Easter Eggs under the snow?

two for Tuesdays

I have a conflict.

Griffin is performing at his school this evening. They announced it a couple of weeks ago. The problem is that a couple of months ago I committed to speaking at this deal tonight.

So clearly I'd go to Griffin's deal if I had a choice...the problem is having someone fill in for me tonight doesn't look likely. It's different when you need someone to fill in for you when you're running a meeting, or picking someone else up at the airport.

People like to actually think about and plan a talk.

So I'll miss Griffin on stage tonight. I blame the school for throwing the date at us so late in the game. I'm running into the same deal with sports. I'm the head coach of Griff's t-ball team and our practices start Thursday. I don't even know when the games start, where they'll be, or how long the season lasts.

I keep asking and they keep telling me they'll know in a couple of days. They thought they'd have the schedule by the time our last meeting came together (two weeks ago) - but still - nothing.

So now I have this fear of planning to be at any meeting, any time. I'm guessing this'll get that much tighter once Coop and Parker start playing sports....

Maybe I should have been a mailman.

Two!

This is kind of a fun day. Cooper is two years old today and he's just been given a fun little birthday present.


Based on this picture

he just received a call from Nancy Seidel. This probably doesn't mean much to you...nor did it to us. Turns out that Mrs. Seidel is a producer on the Live with Regis and Kelly show. Annie sent in Coop's pic a few months ago for their beautiful baby contest (even though he's now officially too old) and they want him to be their poster picture for their beautiful toddler contest.

What this means -
This means that Coop's pic will now be on their show, their web site, and in Parents magazine. He'll also get flown to NY (along with his 4 best friends) and appear on the show alongside his favorite mom. (as long as she doesn't pass out)

So, on top of the scooter, sponge bob foot stool, and monkey cake - he's getting his 15 minutes of fame on his birthday.

So that's kind of fun.