Blogging

I like blogging for many reasons. One of the primary is that this gives me a forum to voice my thoughts and feelings on many issues. It is something that I think is very important because I don’t like to not understand why I feel a certain way about something. I think that it is very healthy to understand why you take a certain position on item A,B or C.

It helps me to understand myself better. I won’t write all this crap down in a notebook, I just won’t do it. It is not me, but this forum is something that I’ll engage in. And one of the things that I think is worth mentioning is that if you want to look your darker secrets in the eye, write them down and then read about them.

I share myself here for the primary purpose of growth and understanding. It sounds nutty, but it is true.

So here are a couple of nuggets. I have always wanted to be the person who asked the most insightful questions, the one that made you stop in your tracks and say, “whoa.” Maybe it is my ego, maybe it is something else, but it is something that I wanted to do.

I say wanted to do because over the course of time I have learned that there are many people who are smarter and better at many things than I. And over time I have accepted this, it is ok with me. That doesn’t mean that I give up, just that I accept that Jack’s best is not always going to be as good as someone else. It doesn’t mean much and it doesn’t denigrate me as a person.

And here is the lesson that I want to pass along to my children. I play basketball 2-3 times a week. It is usually with the same group of guys. There are a number who are better than I am. And not just by a little, but by a lot. They are more talented and always will be.

But one thing that I am proud of is that I am always one of the players that people want on their team. They want me because I am a blue-collar worker on the court. I work harder than the other guy and I am constantly trying to leverage that hard work into an advantage.

This is how you compensate for not being as talented, you work hard. And you endure and persevere, tenacity will lead to good things. And the reason that it does is because many people don’t have the discipline/will to work that hard.

To my children I charge them with this work ethic. There will be people who will be smarter and more talented. There will be people who have the complete package, talent and a solid work ethic. But if you work hard there are dividends, rewards that are not always immediately evident.

To my children I say that this method will lead you to a place in which you can sleep comfortably at night, secure in the knowledge that you tried your best to succeed.

It is not profound, nor particularly insightful, but it is a proven method.

I have about 30 seconds to try and bang out a post. I am sitting here feeding my newest addiction, blogging. I blog because it provides an outlet that I don’t have anywhere else. I blog because I love to write and the words flow from my fingers like an endless river. In my mind’s eye I see a glacier that represents all that I have to say and it calves giant icebergs that go crashing out into the area we call cyberspace.

Some of it is meaningful, some of it is fluff and some of it is neither.

I blog because I love the interaction and I believe in learning and I am convinced and confident that this provides an opportunity that doesn’t exist anywhere else. I blog because the computer doesn’t judge, it just accepts the good, the bad and the ridiculous that I spew out without judgement and without reservation. Of course I am still looking for more things/people that accept my without reservation.

For that matter I could use a good steak dinner and a nice single malt, some quiet music and a good cigar. Haven’t smoked a cigar in a number of years, it is very social and I like it. It reminds me of my grandfathers, who G-d willing will remain with me for many more years.

And now I see that I have exceeded my 30 seconds by 90 seconds and in moments the new and improved version of me will come and take me by the hand. It is dinner time and as usual my canny inability to make sense of the time I have is showing itself. One day I’ll figure out a way to pause time so that I have time to do what I do. And now I demonstrate what I do best, I procrastinate, proclaim and project. Not sure if that makes sense, but it sounded good at the time. Later I think that I’ll edit this down so that it makes more sense so if you find it meaningful copy it now with my authorized signature.

-Jack’s Shack, signed by Jack of Jack’s Shack where you never know what you read about or if it will be another repetition of topics covered earlier. Of course as a father I am endowed with not just the ability but the right to tell bad jokes and repeat my stories without a care as to whether you have heard them before. But take heart, I am good at elaborating and you just might find that they sound a little different later on.

Ok, now I am really late and my son is staring at me with a look that he stole from me. He ought to thank the stars that his genetic makeup includes that look, it is mine and I’d like to copyright it, but I think that he has got it down pat.

Of course it doesn’t measure up to the exasperated look that women manage to put out. What is it about them that allows them to give you that death stare. And how is it that even little girls seem to be able to do it.

Ok, ok, ok, he is tugging at my arm, 35 pounds of terror poised to strike and ready at a moments notice to reign terror down on the house. He is a powerhouse of energy and far smarter than his abba. Thankfully I can still benchpress him with my pinky, for now I am safe. Back later folks with more important news than this nonsense.

Here is a short list of things I should be working on instead of typing away at the computer:

1) Thank you notes for gifts for my daughter. If I could email you all a general thank you and have you find it to be personal and meaningful I’d do it.

2) Fixing the side gate on my house. I have to go to Home Depot and buy a gate, some anchors, a 2×4 and a couple of hinges so that I can repair the soon to be completely broken gate. I like working with my hands and enjoy these kinds of projects. However something like this is going to take a while and at 7 PM it is way too late to start. For that matter I am one of those people who once I start a project will continue doggedly until it is completed or completely broken into so many pieces it can never be reassembled. So I’ll take this on next weekend or earlier in the day during the week.

3) Clean up around the house. Pretty self-explanatory really. The house is not ridiculously dirty or messy, but two young kids and 230 pounds of me running around have their impact on things.

4) Develop new technology we need. That is a very important task, one of the more crucial is determining how to build a tool/filter that automatically kills offensive odors. The elevator at the office needs this so that I can climb into it and not pass out.

There are three specific smells that I want to mention here, smoke, perfume and gas. Sometimes I enter the elevator and I feel like I am taking an impossible journey through a cigarette or some tired casino. It smells like someone smoked an entire pack in there and I hate it.

Perfume is really directed at women who haven’t the olfactory capacity to recognize that pouring a bottle of perfume on your body is not a good way to win friends and influence people. I don’t know if you are in dire need of bathing and trying to hide it. I don’t know if you have CP or MS and have such poor motor skills that you cannot help it. And I am not sure if you did so much coke in the ’80s that you cannot smell it.

What I do know is that you stink and I find it hard to breathe around you. Cut back on the bottle, put it down slowly and back away. It can be done and you may even find that you get dates with people, not just grungy men in dire need of their first blow job of the past 15 years.

And gas, well that does hit close to home. I have a a “healthy” digestive disorder that gives me the ability to compete with methane output of large factories. I try hard not to force the others in the elevator to breathe this, it is common courtesy. And I ask that others try to do so too.

If not I am happy to follow you into your office, close the door and fumigate it for you. It is a free service that I am happy to provide.

Ok, I have managed to waste another 15 minutes or so. I suppose that it is time to bear down and do some of the less enjoyable things around the house. I hate being responsible. Sometimes I’d like to stop being dad for a few minutes and be the bachelor again. There is nothing like living by yourself to give you some additional free time. If the underwear on the couch still bends you know that it must be clean.

Paper plates are all that you need, but a paper towel is even better. That ring around the tub is something to be proud of. It is like the rings you use to estimate the age of a tree. So many good things to say. But the truth is that I love being a father more.

My son and daughter haven’t any clue just how much dad loves to dote on them. I wonder if my parents got as much pleasure just watching me as I do with my children. My son is taking gymnastics. One of his coaches is named “Al,” but my little boy calls him “Owl.” I don’t know if it is because he thinks that it is funny or if he cannot say “Al.”

I do know that he calls my Aunt Rhoda “soda” because he thinks that is funny. Anyway, I like watching him show me the tricks that Coach “Owl” teaches them. And now, I am off to work for a bit. Back soon.

We implemented a new feature on the Blog. It is called the chatterbox and it is kind of a chat area that is currently placed on the left hand side of the page. It is being tested. We’ll see what happens, it may stay or it may go.

Feel free to use it or to post your thoughts about it.