Floyd is coming home. I don't knw how long he has been away. I know it has been awhile since he was home.
And it is a shock that he is coming home. It took a lot of hard work, some luck and it cost a guy his job to get Floyd home.
And today, the University of Minnesota beat Iowa to bring Floyd of Rosedale home to Minnesota. A nice tradition and a totally unexpected win for the Gophers.
The coach was fired mid season. Sometimes a new face is what is needed. A new face cna bring a new atitude. Old excuses are gone.
Might be worth watching a game or two more next year...
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Sunday, November 7, 2010
The New Phone
My son and some of his college buddies moved into a house that my wife and I own last Spring.
Good bunch of guys (better son).
We were doing some work on the place after they had moved in. Finishing hanging doors and finishing a shower and stuff like that.
My son was setting up the Internet and cable for the place. Like most young people today, he and his buds only use cell phones. When he went to get the cable and Internet set up the cable company gave him four handsets for his new land line. It was part of the "deal".
So he set it up. Took a couple of calls to customer service.
He got it set up. I called his number from my cell. Worked great.
Then my wife and son ran to Home Depot to pick up a few things. This is the same Home Depot that sent my wife a handwritten thank you note for all the business we were doing while we rehabbed the house.
As they were pulling out of the alley the phone rang. Not my cell phone, the new land line. I figured my son was calling to see how it sounded on the call in side.
But no, it was a sale call. It wasn't more than twenty minutes after he got the line set up and working.
The other day, I asked him if they ever got any calls on the land line. He said no, it was all sales and political calls.
Not more than 18 years ago, we got a first cell phone, a bag phone for emergencies only. Now it is the primary means of communication for a generation. Land lines are going the way of the telegram.
At least the political calls are over for now...
Good bunch of guys (better son).
We were doing some work on the place after they had moved in. Finishing hanging doors and finishing a shower and stuff like that.
My son was setting up the Internet and cable for the place. Like most young people today, he and his buds only use cell phones. When he went to get the cable and Internet set up the cable company gave him four handsets for his new land line. It was part of the "deal".
So he set it up. Took a couple of calls to customer service.
He got it set up. I called his number from my cell. Worked great.
Then my wife and son ran to Home Depot to pick up a few things. This is the same Home Depot that sent my wife a handwritten thank you note for all the business we were doing while we rehabbed the house.
As they were pulling out of the alley the phone rang. Not my cell phone, the new land line. I figured my son was calling to see how it sounded on the call in side.
But no, it was a sale call. It wasn't more than twenty minutes after he got the line set up and working.
The other day, I asked him if they ever got any calls on the land line. He said no, it was all sales and political calls.
Not more than 18 years ago, we got a first cell phone, a bag phone for emergencies only. Now it is the primary means of communication for a generation. Land lines are going the way of the telegram.
At least the political calls are over for now...
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
One Thousand
In March of 2000, I became a certified soccer referee. I started out doing little kids games and then older kids and adults and high school games.
Recently, I refereed my 1,000th soccer match. Some have been as referee (center) and some have been as assistant referee (linesman).
I have kept track of my games from the start to make sure that I get paid correctly and also to make sure that I pay my taxes properly.
The game itself wasn't all that special. A mid division, girls premier, under 15 match. I was the referee. Thirty five minute halves. No cards, no real problems, score of 6-1. There were a couple of areas that I could improve on.
This has caused me to reflect a bit.
You see, hitting 1,000 games made me realize how big a mile stone that is. A hundred games came and went without notice. Same with 500.
But a thousand, why that is four digit territory! It means about fifteen hundred hours on the pitch. It means a lot of weekends and evenings in the sun, rain, wind, snow, clouds and temps from 15 degrees to over 100. It means over three thousand miles running and countless bottles of water.
It meant reffing with my daughter and son. A true highlight even if neither still refs.
It is constant learning and trying to improve. I now referee totally differently than I did ten years ago. While some coaches, players and parents might think otherwise, I think that I do a pretty good job.
There are a lot of people who don't referee this long. I know of some guys who have passed on and many kids who didn't like the constant criticism. I think I have a thicker skin now. I realize just how ignorant most coaches and especially parents are of the game. Most kids playing the game never hit a thousand games played.
So what does it all mean? In the long run, not much.
But I am proud of it...
Recently, I refereed my 1,000th soccer match. Some have been as referee (center) and some have been as assistant referee (linesman).
I have kept track of my games from the start to make sure that I get paid correctly and also to make sure that I pay my taxes properly.
The game itself wasn't all that special. A mid division, girls premier, under 15 match. I was the referee. Thirty five minute halves. No cards, no real problems, score of 6-1. There were a couple of areas that I could improve on.
This has caused me to reflect a bit.
You see, hitting 1,000 games made me realize how big a mile stone that is. A hundred games came and went without notice. Same with 500.
But a thousand, why that is four digit territory! It means about fifteen hundred hours on the pitch. It means a lot of weekends and evenings in the sun, rain, wind, snow, clouds and temps from 15 degrees to over 100. It means over three thousand miles running and countless bottles of water.
It meant reffing with my daughter and son. A true highlight even if neither still refs.
It is constant learning and trying to improve. I now referee totally differently than I did ten years ago. While some coaches, players and parents might think otherwise, I think that I do a pretty good job.
There are a lot of people who don't referee this long. I know of some guys who have passed on and many kids who didn't like the constant criticism. I think I have a thicker skin now. I realize just how ignorant most coaches and especially parents are of the game. Most kids playing the game never hit a thousand games played.
So what does it all mean? In the long run, not much.
But I am proud of it...
Back
I was reminded recently that I need to post some new items. And so I shall.
My excuse is that I have been busy beyond belief. But that is just that: an excuse.
So I shall endeavour to be more regular from here on out.
My excuse is that I have been busy beyond belief. But that is just that: an excuse.
So I shall endeavour to be more regular from here on out.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Everyone Communicates Few Connect by John Maxwell
This is a manual on connecting with others. There is a lot of value of in this book and I recommend it.
In today’s media driven environment, we are often bombarded with words, images, programs and other attempts to sway us to a certain point of view. Most of this onslaught goes unnoticed and we fail to pay any attention. John Maxwell points out that “Connecting with others is the ability to identify with people and relate to them in a way that increases your influence with them.” Most communication directed our way doesn't connect.
John lays out Five Principles and then Five Practices on connecting with others spending a chapter on each. At the end of each chapter is a summation that provides practical points for connecting one-on-one, connecting in a group and connecting with an audience. I found these summations especially helpful and concise.
The only issue I have is that it appears that the bulk of the information in the chapters themselves seems to focus on connecting with an audience. But this is a minor complaint.
As far as I can tell this is the first book that John has put out on his blog for a period of time for comment prior to publication. He used more than seventy quotes, anecdotes and stories and made over a hundred corrections and improvements based on net feedback. It was a lot of fun to be reading along and find a quote from a guy I knew in high school.
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
In today’s media driven environment, we are often bombarded with words, images, programs and other attempts to sway us to a certain point of view. Most of this onslaught goes unnoticed and we fail to pay any attention. John Maxwell points out that “Connecting with others is the ability to identify with people and relate to them in a way that increases your influence with them.” Most communication directed our way doesn't connect.
John lays out Five Principles and then Five Practices on connecting with others spending a chapter on each. At the end of each chapter is a summation that provides practical points for connecting one-on-one, connecting in a group and connecting with an audience. I found these summations especially helpful and concise.
The only issue I have is that it appears that the bulk of the information in the chapters themselves seems to focus on connecting with an audience. But this is a minor complaint.
As far as I can tell this is the first book that John has put out on his blog for a period of time for comment prior to publication. He used more than seventy quotes, anecdotes and stories and made over a hundred corrections and improvements based on net feedback. It was a lot of fun to be reading along and find a quote from a guy I knew in high school.
I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze.com book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
Friday, March 12, 2010
Be Careful Who You Help?
Big basketball game on Wednesday last week. Kansas State played at Kansas. Kansas State was ranked number five and Kansas was ranked number two.
Place was pretty nuts. Students camped out for a week to get tickets (Classes? We don’t need no stinking classes (yes, I know that there is a group system that means that only one person has to be in a line at a time)). The local ticket outlet was totally sold out. The highest price I heard of for a ticket was $1,200.
Kansas won. Great game.
Turns out that last December on a flight from Los Angeles to Kansas City, one of the assistant coaches for Kansas (Kurtis Townsend) had met a woman who graduated from KU a few years ago. She talked about wanting to take her brother to a game on his birthday and Coach Townsend arranged for a couple of tickets to be left for her.
Pretty common for coaches to leave tickets for alumni and fans.
After the game, the woman sent out a Twitter to her “small” group of followers (only about 2,000) talking about a what a great game it was and thanking Coach Townsend for the tickets.
Problem: The woman is a porn star.
And word started to get around about the whole thing.
So then Coach Townsend had to talk with the press and the University about the whole thing. And he had to explain to his wife about how he knew an adult film actress.
The coach says that he didn’t know what she did for a living and there is no reason to doubt him.
The University doesn’t think that Coach Townsend did anything wrong. Head Coach Bill Self doesn’t think that Coach Townsend did anything wrong. And not that it matters, but I don’t think he did anything wrong either.
I think he was just trying to do something nice for a fan of the team.
And it came around to bite him. Happens.
Sometimes we’ll try to help someone and it won’t work out the way we expect. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t quit helping them. Just means that it didn’t work out the way we expected it to work out…
Place was pretty nuts. Students camped out for a week to get tickets (Classes? We don’t need no stinking classes (yes, I know that there is a group system that means that only one person has to be in a line at a time)). The local ticket outlet was totally sold out. The highest price I heard of for a ticket was $1,200.
Kansas won. Great game.
Turns out that last December on a flight from Los Angeles to Kansas City, one of the assistant coaches for Kansas (Kurtis Townsend) had met a woman who graduated from KU a few years ago. She talked about wanting to take her brother to a game on his birthday and Coach Townsend arranged for a couple of tickets to be left for her.
Pretty common for coaches to leave tickets for alumni and fans.
After the game, the woman sent out a Twitter to her “small” group of followers (only about 2,000) talking about a what a great game it was and thanking Coach Townsend for the tickets.
Problem: The woman is a porn star.
And word started to get around about the whole thing.
So then Coach Townsend had to talk with the press and the University about the whole thing. And he had to explain to his wife about how he knew an adult film actress.
The coach says that he didn’t know what she did for a living and there is no reason to doubt him.
The University doesn’t think that Coach Townsend did anything wrong. Head Coach Bill Self doesn’t think that Coach Townsend did anything wrong. And not that it matters, but I don’t think he did anything wrong either.
I think he was just trying to do something nice for a fan of the team.
And it came around to bite him. Happens.
Sometimes we’ll try to help someone and it won’t work out the way we expect. Doesn’t mean we shouldn’t quit helping them. Just means that it didn’t work out the way we expected it to work out…
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Free at Last
The family just switched out cell phone plans. We have had the same carrier for about ten years. But we came to the conclusion that we could save about $30 a month by moving to a different carrier.
We looked at a lot of different plans and carriers. The big problem is that most of them require a two year commitment. We didn’t want that. We wanted the freedom to be able to switch carriers at will if they start to raise rates.
The catch is that we have to buy our own phones. And phones cost more than they are advertised for. Because you pay for the phone over the life of the contract. And you keep paying for those phones.
But we were able to get our old carrier to unlock our phones since they were old. My wife spent several hours wading through phone tree hell to get the unlock codes (and one of the codes she got from one rep was totally wrong).
But with the help of a patient clerk at the new carrier and a last minute call to the old carrier’s customer service, we got all of our phones successfully unlocked and switched over.
So we now have a new cell phone provider with the same cell phone numbers as before.
And we have no contract and no obligation.
Reminds me of sin. It binds me to death. When I accept Christ as my savior I am set free from death.
And through his death on the cross I am free at last…
We looked at a lot of different plans and carriers. The big problem is that most of them require a two year commitment. We didn’t want that. We wanted the freedom to be able to switch carriers at will if they start to raise rates.
The catch is that we have to buy our own phones. And phones cost more than they are advertised for. Because you pay for the phone over the life of the contract. And you keep paying for those phones.
But we were able to get our old carrier to unlock our phones since they were old. My wife spent several hours wading through phone tree hell to get the unlock codes (and one of the codes she got from one rep was totally wrong).
But with the help of a patient clerk at the new carrier and a last minute call to the old carrier’s customer service, we got all of our phones successfully unlocked and switched over.
So we now have a new cell phone provider with the same cell phone numbers as before.
And we have no contract and no obligation.
Reminds me of sin. It binds me to death. When I accept Christ as my savior I am set free from death.
And through his death on the cross I am free at last…
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