The Steelers think they gonna beat dem Bengals

24-10 and life is still great/awful/normal/fun/boring/life. The Buckeyes are playing for the national championship, the Steeler's are having a playoff bound year, and I have a bunch of friends that really don’t like either of them.

The Steelers dominate the Bengals. Life goes on. It doesn’t really affect anything – really.

I was in a Steeler’s Bar/Restaurant last night with some friends. If there were 150 people there, 80 of them had Steeler’s jerseys, 30 had Steeler’s shirts, 35 of them were just hoping they’d win while not wearing the ‘ol black and gold….and you know….there were five other people just chillin. At one point two Bengals fans walked through the place and I got a quick glimpse at how annoying Steeler’s fans can be towards Bengals fans. I’ve experienced the reverse countless times. Apparently we’re all annoying, I just don’t get to see that side of Steelers fans living in this city too often.

I remember talking in my neighbor’s yard this summer as he told me that the AFC North would be the toughest division, “even though the Steelers are going to be awful”. I remember people laughing at the Steeler’s win over the Browns – it was a joke win over a joke team…that later ended up beating up on their team.

One of the comments on Annie’s blog “The Bengals will finish with a better record than the Steelers...”

And after all of this, the Steelers have clinched another winning season - they're 2-0 against the Bengals, and a lot of people went nuts at the Steeler’s bar tonight.

And really that doesn’t affect that much in my life or yours. (unless you’re reading this Big Ben?) We worship sports. We pour our time, money and energy into watching grown men play playground games. It’s actually a lot of fun, so I get it…but it’s just a child’s game.

I can say this because my team won – it doesn’t ultimately matter. If I say this after my favorite team loses, it sounds like the guy that pretends not to care just because my team is awful.

So today I’ll think about, and maybe even pursue, some of the things that do matter… Anybody up for a game of euchre?

the mole

I’ve been eyeing a moleskin journal for a while now. I’ve tried daytimers, recording devices, palm pilots and even calling my phone and leaving voice messages every time a thought popped into my little head.

I’d call whenever I thought of an illustration for a talk.

I’d pull out my palm pilot and jot down notes for a meeting…and hope I’d remember to synch it to something I’d actually read later on.

I’d say little one liners into the mini recorder and try to remember later what the heck, “Donald Trump and Rosie playing charades” means??? And what could I possibly do with this information once I figure it out???

So the latest thing I’ve been debating is the possibilities of a moleskin journal. They’re all the rage. They look kind of cool. You can get little ones that fit in your pocket – so they’re as handy as a palm pilot, but quicker. They’re kind of expensive, but cheaper than a daytimer. They don’t require batteries…so there’s that.

The thing is they’re really overpriced for a simple little notebook. I just have never had any luck with the spiral bound notebooks…they just get battered and bent and make too much noise when you try to rip out pages…and some pages come out that you don’t want to come out.

Some might see this as a cry out for Bragg to buy me one for Christmas…sure, but he installed a hanging lamp in my dining room – and what says the birth of Jesus more than a hanging lamp? Exactly.

No, this is just the plaintive cry of someone realizing that he should just buy a cheap notebook at CVS and find a tiny pen that he can keep alongside it….(sigh)

yang/yin

love - The Office

don't love - little burns on my fingers from the iron, stove or crackpipe

love - ping pong

don't love - people talking in a meeting to hear themselves talk

love - laughing because of a great story

don't love - guilt

love - conviction

don't love- hopelessness

love - hope

don't love - sitting in a cold car first thing in the morning

love - the remote control

don't love - ill fitting shirts

love - Hasslehoff on stage in full Vegas glory

don't love- the dearth of Saget on tv these days

love - the Beatles' later years

don't love - Coulier, the scene chewing space taker from the house

love - Kramer

don't love - Michael Richards

love - the Duke of Earl

don't love - weak handshakes

love - the option

don't love - the prevent defense

love - this blog

don't love - this blog

love - bumper pool

don't love - a parade

hate - paper cuts

hate - traffic

all time great inventions

I think I could add one more complete waste of time to my list of things I could watch for hours.

Right below window washing, I'd add tennis ball picking up to my list.

I could watch people walk around with those little square baskets picking up tennis balls, simply by dropping the basket on the ball, for hours.

Each time I see a ball about to be picked up I think, "oh wait, you're about to drop that basket on the ball!" and then I see the ball become part of the basket...as if by some sort of voo doo.

It captivates me.

and there you go...

smarties

I wonder how you'd find out who the smartest person in the world was?

You could take the guy who won jeopardy a record number of times, but I'm guessing there are people out there that are smarter...they just don't crave being on tv. Ken Jennings might just have a really great memory and spend way too much time studying pop culture.

So is the person with the amazing memory, who devotes tons of time reading - smarter than the person with incredible problem solving skills?

There are some people that are more likely to score near the top on the S.A.T.'S than someone who could tear apart an engine and put it back together. So who is smarter?

I know that being smart doesn't always mean being financially successful. I know people that rule trivial pursuit, but can't seem to win at the real life game of paying their bills.

I know that English majors often seem smart. They read a lot - that's a sure sign of a smartie. They use good english...so there's that. I also know some folks with really high test scores, who read several books a week - who couldn't tell you who their congress person was...or how to take apart an engine and put it back together.

Is the person who is happy smarter than the person with the high test scores who is always miserable?

I do know that an English major is more likely to win at Scrabble than an electrical engineer.

So is a quick thinker smarter than the slow thinker? They're the ones who fix problems in meetings while everyone else is scratching their heads. Is the person who finishes the New York Times crossword puzzle in 17 minutes smarter than the person who took two days to write it?

Is the Math/Science person smarter than the English/History because their job pays more and they wear a lab coat?

I'm guessing that if you took the smartest person in the world and stood them up next to my seven year old son, I could ask some questions that Griffin would know that the genius with the bad haircut wouldn't.

So is it possible that we're all the smartest in the world when it comes to one or two areas? Maybe you're the smartest person in the world when it comes down to thinking through ways to help out that guy at work that everyone ignores. Maybe you're the smartest person in the world when it comes to how to carry 15 packages at the mall while singing 'Who let the dawgs out' and irish stepdancing through the crowds.

So if you're the smartest book memorizer in your neighborhood, I think that's great. As for me, I'm going to attempt to be the smartest person in the world when it comes to thinking about ways to show Griffin that I think he's destined for greatness.

how's about that?

to an audience of one...

I've been thinking a lot about people pleasing. I have some friends that I've always thought struggled a bit too much with people pleasing. It's a hard one to talk about, because why wouldn't you want to please other people? Isn't that part of our deal?

On one hand, the world around us is telling us to look out for number one. That's not a very good strategy (unless you don't care about the kid in Darfur or the homeless girl living on the street a few blocks away)and if we make it our goal to please other people - we'll eventually go crazy.

-We'll make decisions that are based on other people being happy, as opposed to doing the right thing.
-We'll wrap up our significance in whether or not we're liked, and how many times we're told that we're the greatest.
-we'll compromise.
-and don't forget - we'll go crazy.

I have a few friends that are great speakers/performers. There are probably 8-10 people that I have some regular interaction with that get asked to drive or fly to far away destinations and speak or perform in front of groups. Some of them pursue these things, and some of them are just sought out.

They're really good. They have some gifts that they don't rely on. They work on them and get better...and people notice those gifts and begin to ask them to use those gifts at various functions. They're better at these things than you or me (and if you're thinking, "not me" then read chapter 18 of C.S. Lewis' book on the basics of his faith). My point is that they're really good.

Every time they speak or perform on some level, they invariably have a bunch of people come up to them and thank them for doing so. They get great feedback and are often asked back. And they also get e-mails, calls, and ugly evaluations. Always.

I'm doing evaluations for an event we have right now and a dozen or so people have commented on how much they love a particular thing - and one or two will comment on how much they hate that same thing. We have some people rate a particular speaker a 10 (on a scale of 1-5) and some people rate that same speaker a 0 (again, on a scale of 1-5). On some things, it's just impossible to make everyone happy - and that's ok.

YOU CAN'T PLEASE EVERYONE

A friend of mine pulled off an incredibly successful event this past weekend. I've seen this event for three years in a row and this was by far the best it's ever gone. I've talked with some folks who were around when the event began, and they say the same thing. She spent a good part of yesterday fielding calls and e-mails from folks who were really mad about the things she had changed. One lady that had two entire turkey dinners delivered to her house told my friend to "go to hell" because she didn't deliver three...

YOU CAN'T PLEASE EVERYONE

That lady who called really helped me to put into perspective this whole issue. If you're going to personally deliver two entire turkey dinners - that would feed 10 people - to one lady...and that lady is still going to complain about the two free 10 lb. turkeys...stuffing, vegetables, etc. - this kind of thing will drive you crazy.

And what do you think my friend is thinking about and talking about more? The great comments - or the crazy lady?

me too...
and it drives me crazy

crossing the line

I've decided to scab it up today. I'm crossing the picket lines. I'm going to the other side. I'm fighting the union.

I'm writing my blog.

Writer's strike or no writer's strike, I owe it to the good people on the interweb...

If I don't come over to the good side, why would the writers of The Office ever cross over? If not me, then who?

I do kind of wonder if they're marching in front of the studios holding blank picket signs...you know...to keep their no writing without compensation thing going...

just a thought

what?!?!

TV Land and Entertainment Weekly came up with their list of the 50 Greatest TV Icons of all time.

Cool. I love lists. Bring them on. Most of these should be obvious.

Surprises in the top 10o? Marcia Cross? Shannon Doherty? And how are you going to put Ted Knight at #82? You try and name 8 bigger tv icons, never mind 81. Apparently the viewers forgot about a little show you might have forgotten...by the name of the Mary Tyler Moore show - and let's not forget Too Close For Comfort - a classic, where Mr. Knight wore a cow puppet as he drew cartoons. Top that Angela Landsbury!

Tony Danza - a no brainer. Don Knotts clearly should be in the top 10 - Barney and Mr. Furley...come on people!!

All of these are mere slights compared to the 2 biggest injustices of all time.

I won't even mention them - but these two should easily be #'s 1 and 2.

AND THEY'RE NOT EVEN ON THE LIST!!!!