WHOAA! Its been a long time since I posted here

I don't know if anyone follows or reads this much if at all but I just thought I would drop in and put up this little update.

Oct 1 2010 - Call from my boss; job being terminated on Dec 1st. I am stunned and unable to talk for about 3 minutes but then I come back to him immediately asking if they were would be willing to have an independent manufacturers representative...same job just me working for commissions only.

Oct 2 2010 - Call back from boss; yes we can work out the details. Lets get started immediately so we can keep you on board and moving forward.

Oct 10 2010 - Proposal sent and negotiations on agreement begins for me to start 2 Dec.

Oct 30 2010 - In Wisconsin to talk with boss and HR to make sure that everything is going to be OK. They are actually worried that I will not be able to make it work. Puts a bug in my ear to show them a thing or two about me as a person.

Dec 1 2010 - Bad day for me. Job gone and it finally hit home that I wasn't going to have a regular paycheck anymore. Seriously depressed.

Dec 2 2010 - First day of working for myself. Turns out it was OK for a while.

Fast forward to August 3 2011 - Its been a rough year so far but pretty good. Bills are being paid and life is continuing. I am working on a few other companies to represent and they are finally beginning to make headway in the area. Looks like it just might turn out alright. Still depressing at times knowing that I am just a couple of weeks away from failing but that is the driving factor in what I do now.

Adult ADD...WHY NOW??? Why Me?

I know now that I have had this for years? I made it through school with lots of visits to the principals office "discuss my lack of performance" and extra work and teachers that cared about me and all of us as students. I was never diagnosed but now I know I have it and I need something to help me out.

Decided to write a book...well we will see how I do it

For the last several months I have been seriously considering writing a book from the perspective of a college football player who finally had to realize that life was about to jump up and smack him in the jaw. That person was ME! From 1989 - 1994 I lived the dream. I tell you what I had all I needed and then some. I had school paid for, tutors (if I wanted them), girls, football, extra credit for no reason other than being a football player, did I mention girls, etc... You name it and it was mine for the taking during that time frame and I SCREWED IT UP!

But that is not the whole story. Now that I have had several years to reflect on things it isn't just that. Since 1995 I have gone to as many UAB games each year that I could as an alumni/former player. One thing has always been felt by me as lacking was direction and leadership from the administration as a whole. This program could be so much better but has been extremely lackluster in performance. I mean when I was there we had 4 winning seasons in the first four years. They have had THREE since 1995!!!

So I hope that I am able to get it all done and work on it the way that I want to...who knows if I am a decent writer or not or even if I know what in the heck I am talking about but I intend to do my best.

Life in our house...

Well yesterday was a melt down of a day for us. All three of the kids are coming off being sick. I am finishing up a sinus infection that the doctor gave me some pills for instead of just killing it with the steroid shot that I need to get better instead of having it develop into a chest cold/beginnings of something worse which I have now...my wife now has her once a year sinus infection and our oldest threatened to blow up the house (man he lets his alligator mouth overload his humming bird ass sometimes) at 9pm last night because we told him to get his ass in gear and pull his mediocre grades up to at least A's and B's instead of just coasting and forgetting half his assignments.

AND to top it all off my wife jumps me about eating a plate of pasta for dinner at 9:30pm last night and for eating 3 pieces of a small 8" Kashi Mediterranean pizza for lunch yesterday. All she saw was a small serving that was spread out on the plate to cool off since I cooked and then I got the lecture about "Where is the athletic guy that I married?"; "I don't want to be married to a walking heart attack!", etc... talk about making me REALLY feel like sticking around and wanting to be a part of this. So I pop back with "That SOB didn't have a job, kids, a wife, money or anything else so if you want him then we have a problem!" and "One last thing you haven't called or even made an effort to go/call/make an appointment to see a female doctor since your last one after E was born!"

After that it was quiet for a while until I got a "Sorry honey" and a kiss before she went to bed while I was reading on the sofa to not bother her with the lamp...just another typical day in the home.

Lions and Lambs

After watching the movie last night directed by Robert Redford...I never knew it came out btw...I started reviewing my life...so many paths not taken for whatever reason and I came to the conclusion that at many points I have been so careless and thoughtless of others and their needs that I find myself falling into a rut that just seems to get deeper the farther I go into it. Occasionally I am able to pull myself out but just when I get far enough out there to expose myself and take a deep breath of the good air...I get hit by the "Whack a Mole" hammer!

Anyway not to get off track with this but change is coming for me. It has to come and I need it to happen now. I have to loose some weight...not for medical reasons but simply because I am tired of this. That is the first step and the second is to continue being the lion that I need to in order to prepare my children for the cold, reality that will hit them in a few years...Simply because they don't need lambs leading them when they get out in the world.

Why do we want to make our kids be the next superstar athlete?

I have read many articles on this over the last few years and I have an idea why...I think we all want something better but are too afraid to bust our own butts to get it done. Well maybe not all of us but you know what I mean. A great article was posted some time ago over at http://www.parentingbookmark.com/pages/GO02.htm dealing with this subject and I have to say that I agree with nearly everything the writer says. I mean come one why can't we just let kids be kids? Why do we have to force travel baseball, cheerleading, gymnastics, basketball, tennis, swimming, golf, football, lacrosse, etc... down their throats. I think many of us turned out pretty well playing multiple sports all the way through high school and only playing one in college albeit on a scholarship.

Who says that our kids need to be the next Peyton Manning, Dominique Dawes, Mary Lou Retton, Andy Roddick and so on? We as parents need to GROW THE _ _ _ _ UP and let them be the kids. Quit trying to live vicariously through them but live with them. I mean I think our parents did a pretty good job of teaching, guiding, coaching without being all up in our business unless we really screwed up. Even then we had to live with the consequences of our actions and make it right one way or the other. We were punished when we messed up and some times I look back and realize that if they had let me get away with things then I would not be writing this at my home but rather from a 10x7 cell or from a trailer in central Alabama with who knows how many kids and a wife that I would rather leave than look at for one more day...but that is a whole other rant.

So parents let your kids PLAY! They don't want to play baseball 6+ months a year or any other sport; sometimes they just need a break! I know I learned the hard way with my oldest!

Rant Off!

First time...nothing major

Just wondering what I am supposed to do here now that I have started this...I guess I need to keep it moving...now to put down some material for you all to read.

Till next time!