I finally got some new hats yesterday. And I think I picked two winners!
For those that know me (and have seen my favorite hat), know that I am very particular regarding hats. In fact, the only hat that I really like is seven years old. The white hat has long been yellowish-brown and the only thing that holds it together is the duct tape.
Thus, I give you my two new hats:
Texas A&M
-and-
The Cubs
Monthly Archives: August 2005
Basketball — The End
Tonight was the last night of the Summer League at Champion Forest. Yeah! It was tiring, my team talked (complained) too much, and I got a little upset as I heard the endless whine that it was “the refs fault.” At any rate…I had fun for most of the season; I ran more during the past summer than I have in ages, and that was definitely good for me.
I think I scored thirty points or so for the season. Not that great. My rebounding is pretty good, blocks are decent, but since I hurt the thumb three weeks ago my play went south in a hurry. Every time my right thumb would touch something, the throbbing would return. And I don’t like pain so I tried to stay away from people. Which, by the way, is not a great way to play basketball.
Like I said…it’s over. It was fun. But I’ve got some mad practicing to do.
On another basketball front…Michael Finley was wavied by the Dallas Mavericks last night. Sad.
Fin was my favorite player in High School (and college). He led Dallas as we went from the perennial laughingstock to perennial winners. He was there when we sucked and it’s a shame that they let him go.
Sure, his numbers were down last year, but I think he was the glue that held the team together. We’ll see how things go this year. But, as Marc Stein reports, Finley is a hot commodity right now and it’s possible that he will go to the next NBA champion. I hope he does…
Cheers to Fin.
Summertime
So, tonight was my last night to hang out with some of the coolest chicks I will ever meet, Erin and Janae. They are about to go off to the wonderful world of college, but alas, I shall wait patiently for them to return.
In other news, I led Bible study again last night for the college group. I was stinking awesome. Everyone there loves me. What can I say? I will say that I think the whole night was directed towards me though. We talked about sarcasm pretty much the whole night. After anyone said anything about sarcasm, everyone would give me evil looks as if I was guilty of such actions.
I will admit….I do not know the meaning of sarcasm. Actually, I don’t know the meaning of a lot of words. I use a lot of big words in my speech, but I have no clue as to what any of them mean. There you have it. I am a big fake. I use these big words to get girls, but it hasn’t worked yet.
As many of you know, I have a great hobby…..photography. I like taking pictures. I really just like taking pictures of Janae. She is the apple of my eye….and my camera’s eye.
I will continue to wait patiently until Janae returns at Christmas time. On that note, It is time to wrap this up and go dream about my girl.
This entry is part of BlogSwap.
Defensive Learning
A couple days ago, I posted about why we are defensive. After thinking about it some more, I decided it is not an exhaustive list. I never really thought it was: there are definitely some more points. However, I think the most important part is “What can I learn after I was defensive.”
1. The World Does Not Revolve Around You
That’s right…everyone doesn’t bow down to your ideas (unless, of course, you’re the boss [this should not be construed as a barb against my boss, but rather a generalization regarding bosses and "suck-ups" in general.]). Consider how you treat other people and their ideas. Chances are that you treat them no better than you get treated yourself. If they don’t get upset, why should you?
2. The World Probably Doesn’t Want to Poop on You
Unless you’re a jerk and hacked a lot of people off, most people aren’t interested in seeing you fail. (Side note: You’ll probably know if a person wants you to fail, so this entry does not apply to that situation). Most of the time, they are promoting their idea (not because you’re bad, but because they like their idea better) or are interested in talking through the situation. A negative comment or thoughtful question should not be considered a peronsal affront — it should just be considered a comment.
3. You should prepare yourself for conflicting opinions.
People never agree on everything. I people did, politics would be much prettier. But people are naturally in strife against each other. It has something (everything) to do with a sin nature. At any rate, prepare yourself by thinking of as many different and opposing ideas as possible. The more that you have considered, the better. When someone brings up an opposing point, you will have a stronger footing to reply.
4. Your opinion or design was likely missing important details.
When you create something, you miss details. It just happens. You’re human.
It’s good to work with people who point out those details that you overlooked. It helps to create a better product or service. When people bring those points up, they’re not personally attacking you, they’re just pointing out what needs help.
The tendancy of mankind is to gravitate toward the negative. It’s easier to see what is wrong than to see what is right. As a result, the negative points generally come up first. Always remember, there are good things about your work (sometimes the good is very very small) and it is sometimes not mentioned in convserations.
Take the advice gladly; allow it to be constructive.
5. Be quiet. And let everything soak in before replying.
This is the biggest one for me. Don’t respond reflexively. Take in what people say; consider it. Then respond.
A little bit of silence may seem awkward, and people may read into your silence; big deal! Sit there, think, and respond intelligently. Thank them for their suggestion; take it if it’s good; ignore it if it’s bad. If you don’t have a reply — admit it, and suggest that you finish the conversation later after you have had a chance to mull over their comments. Say you want to have a constructive talk and in order to do that, you need some time.
If they’re interested in helping you, they will agree.
Time Warner Cable
My cable internet service died. Again. I think this is the tenth time in the last year that my internet has gone out. I’ve called Time Warner so many times that I stored their phone number in my cell phone.
Anyways, while I’m working through the menu system, I have narrowed down my problem to Time Warner Cable > My Phone Number > Cable, Phone or Internet Outage > Internet > Road Runner > Phone Number … now I’m on the list to speak with a “CSR” — whatever that means (I suppose it’s a customer service representative). I also heard a friendly message saying, “There are no known outages in your area…”
While I wait, I’m hearing a variety of messages. The first is: “Is your DVR out? If it is please, unplug it….bla bla bla.” But I think, “Why am I listening to a spiel about a DVR. I just told their computer system that I had an internet outage — not a DVR problem.” Stupid.
The next message I hear is “Time Warner Cable .com is a great resource if you have questions about your service. If you do not want to wait, you can hang up and search for your question there (paraphrased).” WHAT??? Check out the internet? I just told you that my internet was down. Even stupider. (Yes, stupider is a word now).
Time Warner Cable would be out of business if there was decent competition. With incompetence like that, I certainly would love to use another company, but I’m stuck.
Update: I’ve been on the phone 24 minutes now…I haven’t talked to a real person yet. Now it’s 45 minutes. Final update: The phone call took 56 minutes and ended with the “CSR” saying, “We have a known outage in your area. Thank you for calling Time Warner Cable.”
Arg!
Modern Prayers
This is too funny not pass on:
Emergent Hipster – I thank you. Lord, that I am not like this traditionalist: stiff, irrelevant, uncool, a real Gen-Xer, not. I practice authenticity by coordinating my fashion with my spirituality. I only act virtuous when I feel like it; there’s nothing worse than hypocrisy. I look, speak, act and think like the rest of society so that I can show them how relevant Christianity is. I’m not so sure it’s working. Amen.
From “A Postmodern Retelling of the Parable of the Pharisee and the Publican” From Jason at AxeGrinder [Via]
The Story of Life
In my many years I have come to a conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two is a law firm, and three or more is a congress.
John Adams
Buying Drugs
So I went to Walmart today to purchase some Actifed…you know, the stuff that is used to make meth. I go to the pharmacy to pick some up…no big deal, right? Wrong.
The pharmacist asks for my ID; I gladly grant her request, and she retrieves my medicine. Afterwards, she inputs my information (probably name, address and dl number) into some database. I think, “Great, I’m now in the national meth users database.”
Five minutes later, I’m walking to the check-out lane. Like all good Walmarts, all of the lanes are full. I proceed to the self check-out lane, where I scan my newly gained medicine.
“Unapproved Item. Unapproved Item.” The screen flashes at me like I have stolen the Mona Lisa. The red light glares at me and the self check-out attendants aren’t paying attention. I wave at the ladies, and one of them saunters my way.
She asks me my age (while sighing)…I tell her I’m 23 (well over the minimum 16); she punches in a set of twenty numbers to authorize the purchase; now I can finally pay and leave.
All this for 24 allergy pills. What’s up with the world now?
Defensive?
What are the root causes of being defensive? Why are people defensive, but more importantly, why I am defensive from time to time?
1. We are unprepared.
Being defensive is partially caused by not planning. Is the website that you designed well thought out? Is the navigation useful? Are the buttons easy to read? Are you creating something for a reason? Are you just creating something to fill space?
If you create something with no overall plan, when someone questions your reasons, the natural responnse is to deny and get upset.
2. We are prideful.
No one likes to have their work criticized–especially if they have put a lot of effort into it. To a certain extent, it’s like you are being personally criticized.
3. We don’t seperate ourself from our work.
When you create something, it is no longer you. So when someone criticizes your work, they’re not necessarily criticizing you. Most likely they are interested in making your work better. (I guess as a result, they will be making you better as well…)
4. We forget there are other people in the world.
This is nearly identical to point #1…Being defensive is primarily a result of poor planning. We didn’t think about this. We didn’t think about that. We fell in love with what we were working on. We worked on the project so long that it became a part of us (see #3). And we assumed the rest of the world would naturally see the goodness of the work.
But they didn’t.
And so we get defensive.
The Many Faces Of…
The Many Faces of Andrew
No, I’m not saying that I’m two-faced! I’m just going to describe all of the roles that I played this weekend.
1) Andrew the driver.
So I drove home…
2) Andrew the mechanic.
So I vacuumed my car (I got rid of a bunch of glitter–thanks Janae) and changed the oil. Fun times!
3) Andrew the courier.
I delivered punch stuff, tuxedos, and more.
4) Andrew the florist.
I delivered 20 flower baskets.
5) Andrew the encourager.
The poor groom was just a little nervous before the wedding…he needed all of the encouragement he could get!
6) Andrew the soloist.
I sang my song, and let me tell you, it was good.
7) Andrew the usher.
I delivered the grandmothers to their right place. 
Andrew the groomsmen.
I stood still with my hands in front of me for a whole 30 minutes.
9) Andrew the host.
When you’re in the wedding party, people want to talk to you. It’s kinda weird.
10) Andrew the janitor.
Somebody had to help clean up and take stuff home; it was especially bad because the “stuff” had to go back to my house.
11) Andrew the cook.
Family brunch doesn’t magically happen.
And that was my weekend.