Haven't talked to you in a while. For the last week or so, I've wanted to blog about a run in I had with a senior (citizen not HS student)at Chase's last hockey playoff game but so much has happened, I can't seem to catch up. Chase's team is playing for the Championship tomorrow night.
Jen and I have been looking to rent a house which is much more involved and taking a lot longer then I expected. And our 3 year old came down with a virus over the weekend which is how it seems to be going. It's like you can't catch your breath.
The Senior - I've made up a bunch of sayings, mantras, proverbs, "words to live by", if you will, on my radio show over the years. One of which is "Don't Mess With Old People (and stay off my lawn!)". Well, last week at Chase's game our opponents were not being called for infractions like hitting a player into the boards/glass from behind and high sticking, stuff that can result in serious injury. At the same time, the refs were penalizing every offense we committed. I don't mind refs calling a tight game, as long as it's equal, but I was more upset because I was afraid somebody was going to get hurt. If you don't punish blatant/dangerous infractions, players get upset and things get out of control.
Well, this , uh, older gentleman who was standing nearby and happened to be a supporter of our opponent, misintrepreted my loud freedom of expression (booing the referees) and said something derogatory and I responded in a rather rude manner, much to my wife's chagrin. I didn't swear or totally lose it , but I called him some things like "Pap" and "Geritol" which I later regretted. I always prided myself on not being one of those parents who gets out of control at their kids game but I guess I've got a ways to go.............
Chase's team (Greensburg Salem Freshmen) plays Serra Catholic for the PIHL Championship tomorrow night and I am excited and nervous almost as much about my behavior as I am the game. Jen has not let me forget my boorish behavior last week.
I worry about what to say to Chase if his team loses. They've come so far and expectations are so high and he's been through a lot over the last 6 months that I really feel like he deserves this , but life isn't fair and it's bigger then sports, but it's hard to explain that to a teenager. So let's hope they win.
Maybe next time I'll tell you about some of the adventures Jen and I have had looking at houses. Not sure how many we've looked at , but I'm guessing it's 20 or more and man have we seen some fascinating and met some interesting people.
Have a great day!
Monday, March 30, 2009
Friday, March 20, 2009
My Wife Is Smart. But, I Took Out The Trash And She Didn't Cook So I'm Winning
SO, my wife, Jen and I have been talking to a Pastor friend of ours as we continue the process of reconciliation and something she (Jen) said made a profound impact on the Pastor whose name, by the way, is Brian and I'm going to paraphrase some of what he said just to set the scene.....
Pastor Brian was talking about how many people go into a marriage or serious relationship viewing it as a contract. When you sign a contract, you generally do so because you're getting something out of it. The other person feels they are getting something out of it too. Neither of you would sign if you didn't feel it was beneficial to you in some way. This is how most of us view our relationships. We have certain expectations of how things are going to be and tend to keep score in some way causing us to feel angry or cheated if we feel we're putting in more effort and at least from our perspective doing more then our significant other. This of course leads to anger, resentment and fighting. Pastor Brian suggested that we would all be wise to view marriage as a covenant rather then a contract because that enables us to focus on wanting and doing what is best for our significant other without worrying about what they're doing or not doing for us. (Note: This of course does not apply if you're being abused in any way or cheated on).
We were all agreeing that it sounded great in principle but wasn't easy to actually put into practice. That's when Jen said "It's not hard to do for your kids". Pastor Brian was taken aback and said that he'd never thought of it from that perspective. We all serve our kids and will do pretty much anything for them without expecting much,if anything in response so why can't we do it with our partner? If we could apply the same selfless attitude to our husbands/wives the way we do with our kids, our relationships would be much improved. Do you agree?
Pastor Brian was talking about how many people go into a marriage or serious relationship viewing it as a contract. When you sign a contract, you generally do so because you're getting something out of it. The other person feels they are getting something out of it too. Neither of you would sign if you didn't feel it was beneficial to you in some way. This is how most of us view our relationships. We have certain expectations of how things are going to be and tend to keep score in some way causing us to feel angry or cheated if we feel we're putting in more effort and at least from our perspective doing more then our significant other. This of course leads to anger, resentment and fighting. Pastor Brian suggested that we would all be wise to view marriage as a covenant rather then a contract because that enables us to focus on wanting and doing what is best for our significant other without worrying about what they're doing or not doing for us. (Note: This of course does not apply if you're being abused in any way or cheated on).
We were all agreeing that it sounded great in principle but wasn't easy to actually put into practice. That's when Jen said "It's not hard to do for your kids". Pastor Brian was taken aback and said that he'd never thought of it from that perspective. We all serve our kids and will do pretty much anything for them without expecting much,if anything in response so why can't we do it with our partner? If we could apply the same selfless attitude to our husbands/wives the way we do with our kids, our relationships would be much improved. Do you agree?
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Dr. Suess Never Wrote About Green Milk Mold
Hey! Well here it is 11pm again. This posting at night thing is becoming a habit. Maybe I could start a new trend cause based on what I've observed , most blogging and blog reading seems to take place in the AM and early afternoon, therefore by evening it's a little stale, nothing fresh, so maybe people will be desperate enough for something new that they'll think this blog is trendy.
My stepsons (Austin-15&Chase-13)have been providing me with lots of material lately and the trend continues. I would like to thank them for their latest unintentional scientific experiment in which they proved that if you leave a little milk in the bottom of your cereal bowl, preferrably dyed by the cereal you consumed (in this case Lucky Charms which colored the leftover milk green) for a period of time in your room, we're not really sure how long (that would require an archaeologist and they're not in the yellow pages), it will coagulate into a gelatinous mass that does not dissolve in water no matter how hot you make it.
See, I've been doing the dishes here and there trying to help out and while recently engaged in the aforementioned endeavor, I saw this green jello/marshmallow/flubber type residue int the bottom of a bowl and figured, "No problem, I'll just put it under really hot water for a while and it will go away". 15 minutes later I was fishing it out of the drain with paper towels. But I learned something.
Tomorrow I'll venture into their room and see what else they're cultivating. Better green milk mold then certain green plants.
My stepsons (Austin-15&Chase-13)have been providing me with lots of material lately and the trend continues. I would like to thank them for their latest unintentional scientific experiment in which they proved that if you leave a little milk in the bottom of your cereal bowl, preferrably dyed by the cereal you consumed (in this case Lucky Charms which colored the leftover milk green) for a period of time in your room, we're not really sure how long (that would require an archaeologist and they're not in the yellow pages), it will coagulate into a gelatinous mass that does not dissolve in water no matter how hot you make it.
See, I've been doing the dishes here and there trying to help out and while recently engaged in the aforementioned endeavor, I saw this green jello/marshmallow/flubber type residue int the bottom of a bowl and figured, "No problem, I'll just put it under really hot water for a while and it will go away". 15 minutes later I was fishing it out of the drain with paper towels. But I learned something.
Tomorrow I'll venture into their room and see what else they're cultivating. Better green milk mold then certain green plants.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
Geez, it's 11pm on my 2nd day with a blog and I'm just getting around to posting.
A rather auspicious start.
Anyway, I took the day off in order to attend Chase's (my 13 yr old stepson) hockey playoff game. He plays for Greensburg Salem School Dist on their freshmen team. Well, they won and Chase got an assist , so all is well with the world. Can we talk about traffic for a moment? The game was played in an area named Castle Shannon which would normally be about a 45-50 min drive, but with Pittsburgh city traffic (supposed to arrive at arena at 4:40pm), it took an hour and 35 minutes. This was stressful enough until Chase announced about 60 minutes in that he had too pee. We decided not to stop cause we could already tell we were going to be late. It made me appreciate the fact that I encounter virtually no traffic on my daily commute (knocking on wood as I type) as my shift starts at 3pm and the radio station where I am employed is located in a rather rural area.
Do you deal with traffic on a daily basis? If you or your significant other has to deal with city rush hour traffic, I salute you (or them). How can one even beging to focus on their workday or family and down time after dealing with the craziness and stress of rush hour traffic? It's exhausting. By the time we arrived at the rink, I was exhausted yet wired all at the same time. Felt like I needed some sort of a sedative/buzz combo. Like taking a valium with a red bull (I've never tried it). How can you focus on the report your preparing, the presentation you're giving or your family and dinner when you're still fuming about the guy in the red sports car who cut you off, pulled out in front of you and flipped you off when you honked, etc??
Well, this is getting lengthy, so I'll wrap it up. Chase made it to the arena without an accident although by the time we pulled into the parking lot he was telling us a story he swore was true about an elderly lady who died from holding her bladder. Oh well, alls well that ends well.
A rather auspicious start.
Anyway, I took the day off in order to attend Chase's (my 13 yr old stepson) hockey playoff game. He plays for Greensburg Salem School Dist on their freshmen team. Well, they won and Chase got an assist , so all is well with the world. Can we talk about traffic for a moment? The game was played in an area named Castle Shannon which would normally be about a 45-50 min drive, but with Pittsburgh city traffic (supposed to arrive at arena at 4:40pm), it took an hour and 35 minutes. This was stressful enough until Chase announced about 60 minutes in that he had too pee. We decided not to stop cause we could already tell we were going to be late. It made me appreciate the fact that I encounter virtually no traffic on my daily commute (knocking on wood as I type) as my shift starts at 3pm and the radio station where I am employed is located in a rather rural area.
Do you deal with traffic on a daily basis? If you or your significant other has to deal with city rush hour traffic, I salute you (or them). How can one even beging to focus on their workday or family and down time after dealing with the craziness and stress of rush hour traffic? It's exhausting. By the time we arrived at the rink, I was exhausted yet wired all at the same time. Felt like I needed some sort of a sedative/buzz combo. Like taking a valium with a red bull (I've never tried it). How can you focus on the report your preparing, the presentation you're giving or your family and dinner when you're still fuming about the guy in the red sports car who cut you off, pulled out in front of you and flipped you off when you honked, etc??
Well, this is getting lengthy, so I'll wrap it up. Chase made it to the arena without an accident although by the time we pulled into the parking lot he was telling us a story he swore was true about an elderly lady who died from holding her bladder. Oh well, alls well that ends well.
Monday, March 16, 2009
New Blog
Yo Peeps or Friends if you prefer. After years of being told I should start a blog, I finally started a blog. Well, actually, my wife set it up for me. My goal is to make this like my radio show, interactive, so that it's not just a one sided conversation. I will try to update daily, so be sure to check back often.
Don't forget to tune in weekdays 3p-7p for the Jeff Gerard Show on Music Power 104 (103.9FM).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
