As I expected when I started the new blog earlier this year, my ability to post on a routine basis these days is somewhat limited. That said, I’m back here and now to reel off a few posts. To kick things off, I’d like to talk about a new take on an old passion of mine: Hockey. This may sound funny coming from a guy who has spent a majority of his life in moderate to warm climates (mainly, Tampa), but that’s exactly why I’m taking this opportunity now.

With the introduction of the Lightning to the Tampa Bay area in 1992, the sport has gained in popularity and there are now several rinks offering open session skating, skating lessons, hockey lessons and hockey leagues. After close to a decade of being unsettled, I have my roots planted firmly enough that I felt comfortable taking off on a new adventure. For the past month and a half, I’ve been learning to skate. If you were to attend my first lesson, you might have compared me with something resembling a drunk chicken on a skateboard. What a difference a month makes. I’ve worked diligently, taking in as many open sessions as I can attend and focusing hard on the lessons taught during classes to develop my skating into something useful. I was easily the most challenging pupil during our first two lessons (mostly related to sizing and resizing rental skates), but have developed into the star pupil going into our final lesson.

In two weeks, I get to start the beginning Hockey Class and I have to admit: I’m excited for the opportunity. You could say I’m living a childhood I never had an opportunity to live. Whatever the case, at 39 years old, I’m really amped to get started in the game. I’ve spent the past two weeks researching gear and have finally made the financial commitment required to get started. For anyone that’s never played and looking to get started: be prepared to open your pocketbook. It ain’t cheap! After starting myself out on a basic low-end pair of Bauer skates, I stepped up and made an investment in a pair of Easton Stealth S12s, thanks, in large part, to a sale price that was too good to pass up. I don’t expect the equipment to do the job for me, but I’m looking forward to seeing what impact the upgrade will make.

An Interesting Side-Story: Today, my wife joined me at the Pro Shop to price and acquire the last of my gear. We were initially side-tracked by some of the Bolts’ apparel that was available, which sparked a conversation about the availability of a couple of the items in the arena store (As season ticket holders this year, we get a significant discount on team store items, so having the specific items we were looking for in the arena store would be nice). During this conversation, we were approached by a very polite fella with a noticeable European accent. I recognized him, but it didn’t register who he was until he told us (To respect the former player’s privacy, I won’t mention his name in this article). He basically stopped us to say that he speaks to team management regularly and would convey our feedback. I shook his hand, explained that it was nice to meet him and then thanked him for taking the initiative to do it. This was a pretty sweet end to my skating session today. It’s also consistent with the atmosphere and vibe that Lightning ownership and management have taken this past year and a half. A couple of other teams in this area could learn a thing or two from that organization.

I wanted to share a little insight into my experience buying hockey gear for the first time. I’ve tried to keep my investments small at the start to ensure that sizing is correct and it is applicable to what my playing style will be. While I’m waiting for my pads, helmet and new skates to arrive, I went ahead and made my final investments today: stick and gloves. The gloves were just a matter of finding a fit that allowed my hand to move comfortably without breaking the bank. I opted for a reasonably priced pair of Warrior gloves. The first stick has been my biggest concern, due to the variances in sticks: flex, length, material and lie. I opted to invest in a wooden stick to start, so that I could get a feel for what I will need and want. When I got the stick home, I wrapped the blade and the handle and started playing around with it. Right from the start, I noticed my first misconception. I thought that it would be more natural to use a stick that would lead with my right hand on the shaft and my left hand on the handle. After playing with it and flipping it both ways, it seems like my thinking was backwards. Moving the stick with my left hand on the shaft and controlling from the handle with my right seemed much more fluid and natural. This could easily change as I get into the game, but, for now, it looks as though I’ll be investing in another wood stick. Once I’ve had some experience with the sticks and start getting a feel for the stick and how I’ll be using the stick, I’ll start looking at some composite sticks or even two-piece blade/shaft combos.

Looking back on what I’ve done so far and looking forward to what I’ve yet to do, I feel pretty satisfied with the choice to go for it and play. Fortunately, I’m still young enough to play, but old enough that I want nothing more than an enjoyable part-time activity that will give me a bit of a cardiovascular workout.

Yes, he did it again. This time, instead of a Wal-Mart price tag, the culprit was a plastic coin about 1cm thick. And this time, the surgery on the Playstation was more involved. But, once again, Daddy prevailed and the Playstation is functioning as designed again. Tally, to date:

Daddy 2
Son 0

I turned 39 this week. No longer a spring chicken, but certainly not old, by any means. But, I was not prepared for the night leading into my birthday to be an all-out medical event.

As the wife and I were heading to bed, I started feeling a tremendous amount of pressure on my chest. This lead into a continuous pulsing pain that shot from the left side of my chest into my left arm. The pain was moderate and tolerable, but it was bothersome enough to wake the children and head out to the ER. I took a couple of Excedrin on the way out the door.

First, let me say that my fears about University healthcare were once again confirmed. Being closest to the University Hospital, we headed there first. After describing my symptoms, I was told to have a seat in the lobby and I would be hooked to an EKG shortly. Twenty minutes later, I was certain that death wasn’t knocking, so I took the apathy as a sign that this wasn’t the best place for my health needs. Once again, an organization heavily subsidized by government funding showed its glaring inefficiencies. Shocking.

We headed to the hospital I was most familiar with in the area. I was greeted with a sense of urgency and, after providing my basic information, I was immediately ushered into the triage area and connected to an EKG.

Private Medicine 1 – Public Medicine 0.

After the EKG and vitals were verified as normal, only THEN was I ushered into the waiting room to await an available examination room.

Within a half hour, I had been monitored, tested and prepared for a Cardiac CT scan. With the kids safely in the care of the Nanny, the wife joined me in the ER.

It didn’t take long for blood tests to come back and it looked as though everything was going to be fine and I’d be going home, but they wanted to perform the CT to make sure there was nothing missed.

After a few minutes of preparation and a few more minutes of waiting in the Radiology room, I was moved over to the CT Machine. I’ve never had a CT Scan before, so that, in itself, was an interesting enough experience. But, the “contrast” they pushed through my veins, which is some sort of Iodine solution, was REALLY bizarre. I could feel it shooting into my veins very rapidly. The second round actually made me feel as though I’d pissed myself. Quite strange, but, as usual with me, I was just curious enough to be amped about it. Once the CT was complete, I was returned to my wife in the ER Examination Room.

About an hour later, the doctor returned with a somewhat distressed look on her face. She explained that the blood tests came back normal, but the Cardiac CT Scan revealed a 50% blockage in one of the arteries in my heart. The wife and I stared at one another without saying a word for what seemed like an eternity. The doctor advised us that they weren’t going to recommend surgery at that time, because all other signs were normal, but they wanted to perform a Stress Test to ensure the heart itself was functioning properly. After another 8 – 10 hours, the Stress test revealed that my ticker’s ticking as well as it can. The good news.

This is certainly not something you expect to deal with at 39, but I have to admit, I haven’t always been overly health conscious. That all changed on my birthday, but it’s going to take some time to make all of the necessary changes. There’s also the matter of following up with a Cardiologist to determine what all of this means. I’m hoping that, with time, I can at least improve on things and reduce the risk that goes along with this kind of thing. We shall see…..

Plush Toy Label

This tasty little tag from a little Wal Mart Plush Toy was jammed in the disc drive of the PS3. I’m assuming because it was a neat trick for an 18 month old. Or a challenge. Or something. But Daddy won and is now settled in to a round of Gran Turismo 5 after a complete disassembly and reassembly of the unit. Score: Daddy 1 – Byron 0.

Daddy had to perform something resembling brain surgery to get to the internals of the drive, without the benefit of the required T8 Security Torx, and managed to get all of the screws out and back in to their respective locations. Chalk one up to one geekishly awesome Daddy (who will likely spend many more nights making hasty repairs over the next few years) for getting this job done and salvaging an integral part of our home entertainment setup.

I love SPAM. I logged in to the blog today to find 65 comments, all completely irrelevant and most veiled attempts at a free link. But my favorites, were the two from people who were trying to convince me that the site doesn’t render properly in Firefox and Internet Explorer. I may not be the latest and greatest Web Guru, but I do know two things:

1. How to test for browser compatibility and

2. How to sniff out a desperate attempt at a free link for some junk product or service that some clown is trying to make a fast buck on.

Here’s a clue: Find something that people are actually interested in…a subject…a commodity…a service…and stick to it. Stop shamelessly plugging and phishing for something that, by the very fact that you have to put that much effort into, people clearly don’t want.

Dumb...

Bill O’Reilly and Michael Moore. Two men who are prepared to go to any length to disprove the intellectual growth of man. And, sadly, they are the representatives of choice in the United States of America today. Two men who rely heavily on strawmen and a fundamental failure to understand the world we live in. And both of them are just arrogant enough to get in front of a camera and let the show play on for the entire world to see.

I could fumble down the long, dark road of status quo “Democrat said this”/”Republican said that” semantics, but I’ll save it for one of my more comedic moods. Long story short, there is a thirsty independently minded middle in this country that wants one of you Big Time High Roller Parties to present us with ONE viable candidate that demonstrates even an ounce of consistency in their platform and their basic philosophy of how a government should run. A Presidential Candidate. A Congressional Candidate. At this point, we might even settle for the Local PTA Board.

...and Dumber

Clearly, these two gentlemen aren’t going to be paraded around as the latest darlings at the Republican and Democratic National Conventions, but it’s what they represent that really gets to the heart of my currently elevated levels of dissatisfaction.

On the one hand, you have Michael Moore. A documentary film-maker whose short-sightedness in Bowling for Columbine wasn’t enough…he had to make four more pieces of trash to remind us that he loathes everything the United States once represented. His argument might have been more convincing or compelling had he scratched just enough below the surface to identify one of several glaring differences that exist between Canada and the US that didn’t include “We have guns and they don’t”.

The perfect representation of left-leaning thought, relying on the feel-good notion that Government can wave its magic wand of equality, dig deep into the pockets of the majority and prevent the Titanic from careening into that giant iceberg of impending doom.

Then you have Bill O’Reilly, the puppet-master of Right-Wing zealots everywhere. A true Patriot who understands that the strengths of Capitalism rely heavily on free markets, except when it offends his own moral compass. In that case, all bets are off, buddy. I want MORE government, MORE control, MORE intervention.

The perfect representation of right-leaning thought, relying on the strict Moral Code of his Grandparent’s Sunday School Class, Monetarist Justifications of expanding the role of government and a never-ending urge to impose the will of the United States on every third-world country that sneezes wrong.

And somehow, they keep finding ways to stream their poison into the American consciousness, perverting the meaning of the Constitution because, in their arrogance, they forgot one simple rule in life: you can not force a square peg into a round hole. How do we get to this place where the most-funded and most-powerful political machines in the United States offer solutions to one problem that are thoroughly inconsistent with their solutions to the next? Even worse, how do we get to this place where they continue to feed off of one another in their attempts to grow the slimy tentacles of government?

I know why. I’ve known the sad truth for far longer than I’ve been consciously aware that I’ve known it. The riddle that I, like so many others who feel my pain, am trying to solve is “How do we change it?” Breaking through the general reluctance of Human Beings to have their foundations shaken is the most monumental challenge that has ever been presented. It’s uncomfortable. It does not feel “safe”. It’s akin to a child walking away from his/her parents for the first time. We do not want to consider or contemplate those things that make us feel unlike ourselves and, for that simple reason, most of us are reluctant to change. Most of us are reluctant to CONSIDER change.

So opposed to the slightest hint of something that would fundamentally change us, we search for any means to belittle and discredit those whose comfort zones are diametrically opposed to our own.

This is the dilemma that raises the question that I still can’t find the answer to. And I’m slowly coming to the realization that I never will.

I WILL say this: reliance on the government to think and act on our behalf, as individuals, is a slippery slope for the very reasons stated here. Once it becomes our comfort zone, we can not extract ourselves from its filthy grasp without a significant struggle.

My Little Guy

There are some things in your life that change you. Some things change you in small ways. Some things change you in odd ways. Some things have such a major impact and change you in such significant ways, that your life takes on a whole new meaning. My son has changed me in VERY significant ways.

Classic example: Lately, the wife and I have found that he loves the little reading nook in our bedroom. It’s like his stage. He walks back and forth across this little stage of his, holding his hand out and in front of him as though he were Julius Caesar delivering a compelling speech to the Roman Senate. Not even 18 months yet and he’s master of his own domain. Daddy approves.

This little guy has changed me in ways that I never thought possible and with the added benefit of PURE ENTERTAINMENT. There’s no equivalent monetary value that can be placed on that and this, being my own personal sounding board,  is the perfect place to share my joy with the world.

I’ve been meaning to link these in, so here they are. I’m looking forward to Round Three.

I’m writing this as our government stands over Apple with a watchful parental eye because of their alleged interest in purchasing a large package of Nortel patents. Those who know me can remember back a decade or so to a time when our government was doing the same with Microsoft. Despite the fact that I have always favored Apple products to Microsoft products, I was adamantly opposed to any interference into a market that was blossoming at the time. At what point do we finally wake up and realize we are stagnating technological growth and progress with over-regulation and ballooning government intervention?

Wait. How could I possibly infer that the technology sector is stagnating? We have 3G, 4G, Clouds, Streaming Media, Bluetooth Car Stereos. What possible justification could I have for saying technology is being stagnated by market interference?

While Steve Jobs is on the verge of presenting us with what I can only imagine will be another revolutionary Keynote Address, I have to wonder what Jobs COULD BE presenting to us. It’s not about what we have. It’s about what we don’t have. It’s about the potential to destroy progress in the name of “fairness”. It’s about concepts that are unrolling behind closed doors in Cupertino that could easily be crippled under the threat of Anti-Trust Regulation. Taken to its most fundamental level, its about the fact that government interventionism and union thuggery have jointly and universally destroyed the greatness of the automotive industry in Detroit.

As someone who grew up under the misguided notion that The United States of America stood for something that transcended the history of government, I look around at the men and women who wear the suits in Washington and wonder where the Champions of Liberty and the Champions of Capitalism have gone. The battles that wage on between the Monetarist camp and the Keynesian camp continue to trample on the fundamental concepts of Capitalism and, ultimately, the fundamental concepts of Liberty.

The parental coddling that seems to be happening with Apple is simply an indicator that our fiscal policies are out of whack. As one word in a novel that makes Atlas Shrugged read like a magazine article, it is merely a drop in the bucket.

I look at the fact that Capitalism is difficult to summarize in a five-minute soundbite. You can’t package it the way you can package Hope and Change and generate the same level of interest. On its surface, it is very easy to paint the picture that it is the work of a demon, hell-bent on terrorizing the working class. When the majority suddenly become obsessed with their piece of the government pie, under the guise that endless supplies of money and assets lie at the fingertips of the man who holds the golden pen, Capitalism doesn’t feel so fluffy and nice.

For every challenge I’ve faced in my life, standing by my own economic and philosophical beliefs in the current political atmosphere has been and will continue to be the hardest. I have been accused of bigotry without a mention of the culture, race, gender or sexual orientation of those who oppose my views. I have been attacked on a personal level while engaged in political discourse. Ad Hominem and without justification.

So, I understand. I understand why the Champions of Capitalism and the Champions of Liberty are nowhere to be found. After all, it’s only cool to be a martyr when the majority believe in you and/or believe in what you stand for.

Still, it’s sad that we have to effectively wait for the destruction of the single greatest government in the known history of our world for the point to be driven home.

I said my first order of business would be writing about my Bolts’ loss to Boston last Friday. However, after listening to a segment on sports radio this morning about coaches creating a culture, I felt a need to expound on that concept as it pertains to the workplace.

It’s interesting to think about the wide variety of workplace cultures I’ve experienced, but it’s more interesting, in my opinion, to think about the ideal work culture that I could create. In my utopian workplace culture, how would my employees feel about me and about their environment? How would that culture feed their motivational center and impact productivity.

I’ve always been a firm believer in the “Work Smarter, Not Harder” philosophy. Proper preparation and organization can be a key building block in the success of any task, regardless of the scope and size. It’s like a race. You can let the opponent beat you off the line and appear to have an edge, but you’re really letting them put more wear on their tires and burn more fuel.

Performance Indicators can skew the reality of one’s productivity in this way. I know. I’ve been there. When you’re sitting in a chair that has rigid boundaries and measures of performance, skirting the rules in the process of developing enhancements to improve performance across the business can put you out if a job in a hurry in the right business culture.

My culture wouldn’t function with such rigid constraints. My culture, while keeping Key Performance Indicators in check, would nurture and encourage creative “out of the box” thinking. My reward system would provide incentives for reaching milestones within the context of routine metrics, but it would also incentivize the intangible grunt-work and calculated risk-taking that is sometimes required to achieve optimum results for the business.

Though time-driven production roles do sometimes necessitate strict adherence to a window of time, roles that are milestone-driven would be treated as such.

Rather than preaching the gospel of morale out of the sides of a tightly closed mouth, morale would take a prominent role within the business. Team chemistry would be the driving force in selecting contributing members. There is nothing worse than having to grind through a workday in a place where you don’t feel you belong. Talent should never be wasted.

Relieving team members of their duties would not be an expected consequence of doing business, but would be a last resort for disciplinary practice.

Pre-planned, but unannounced, events would be prevalent to provide much-needed boosts in morale.

The cultural bottom line – the values of the business- would be reflected in a trust relationship amongst all stakeholders and all contributors. The mission would be simple: to provide superior products and/or services by coupling an empowered and productive workforce with an appreciation of preparation, organization and perseverance.