Sunday, September 23, 2007


BC!

BC!

BC!

BC!

"...Jackson drops back to pass...good protection...He's got a man open!

Geroy Simon inthe End Zone! Touchdown BC!

and the Lions take the lead for the first time in the game with less than a minute left on the clock."



And the entire city of Regina fell silent.

Sweet!
C'mon and Roar You Lions roar!

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Deliberate Practice, and 10,000 hours of pool and kittens

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ne3L99fjhyo&mode=related&search=
For those of you who love kittens .... and who doesn't ???

Plus - amazing vid below
Thanks Dennis!


you have to see this kid to believe it.

Talk about Deliberate Practice.... a tiny shout out to the UVic cohort of the century!

If research tells us that we have to spend 10,000 hours in deliberate practice to become elite, how do we explain prodigy like the video??

And please don't get me started on the concept of competitive thinking.
I still believe one does not have to BE an elite athlete in order to THINK like an elite athlete. Fat curlers and emciated poker players can still qualify as elite.
Where we get stuck is in our definition of elite.

Now that i am all worked up I am going to replay the kitten video from the top...
sigh
[leaning back in my chair and feeling cuddly]
[suddenly catching myself in a non-male moment!}

Hey
Go Lions!
Kick some Rider Tail on Saturday.
(whew - that was a close one. I was drifting.....)

Keep on pushing - Straight ahead
Jimi Hendrix
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AduRG9NSesU

Sunday, September 16, 2007

Death Cab and Settling



For Christopher - who turned me towards Death Cab for Cutie - thx - and is presently convalescing (sp? too lazy to look it up!) hopefully on a couch under a warm quilt as he reads this.

This is the Sound of Settling

I am pissed at the lap top - crashed in the middle of producing my Review of the Literature tonight.

It literally ATE hours of work in one blue screen moment.
sigh...

Solja On Bruvva.



What choice do I have - I am settling, too I guess.

the old Og would have busted something right quick.....

Meet the new Og
Same as the old Og

Saturday, September 15, 2007

On the topic of guru vs. mentor.......

On the topic of guru vs. mentor.......


Magnetic Fields : "I don't believe you"

Check the line:

You seemed to be in love with me

Which isn't very realistic...

so delightfully cynical...
Thanks B-dis for turning me their way. :)


This is my weekend for thinking of others.

Memorial today for a colleague and mentor.
Memorial on Sunday for an instructor that influenced my life.

Saturday i am off to visit a courageous young man fighting to maintain his fragile sense of balance.


To lead is to serve. - Thanks Sully - words of wisdom.


I am a reluctant leader, a recalcitrant server.


i hope everyone who has read this far (all three of you!) (okay, two) take a moment on the weekend to reflect on mentors and their place and value in our lives.



not gurus -



















mentors













It's been my experience that having a mentor doesn't take much more than a willingness to listen and learn.

i am appreciative of the mentors i have had.
From their January '07 appearance on Letterman

the Shins "Turn on Me"


You had to know that I was fond of you,
Fond of Y-O-U.
So I took your lips at the time,
And to change like that is just so hard to do,
Hard to do.
Don't let it whip-crack your life,
And bow out from the fight.......
From the new home of the Terry Fox Family, Chilliwack BC, - go make a difference this weekend......

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

UVIC Coaching Studies







The video above will mean almost nothing to anybody other that those in it.
In fact, out of context it likely needs explanation.
Except if you have been to grad school.
'nuff said.
In the meantime - no word on the TKR situation.
Doc says he wants more X-Rays of my knee joint in a weight bearing situation.

Okay.
Small delay.
Off to X-Ray.
It's the only way.
Live another day.
So.......

the Grass Roots - 1968 - "Let's Live for Today"

Sunday, September 09, 2007

TKR - Total Knee Replacement

Question: What Does my body have in common with Billy Idol's Jacket?


Answer: They are both covered in zippers.





















Crikey, (as Billy would no doubt exclaim) I am a technological walking miracle.

Working from the bottom up -
L ankle ligament repair
L achilles tendon rupture repair
R achillies tendon rupture repair
R achilles tendon graft from material taken from inside the R gastrocnemeus
R Knee cartilege and meniscus repair arthroscopy


And now i go see a specialist about TKR - total knee replacement.

i have to admit it is more than a bit scary.

But if it means i can return to a level of activity I am used to - then hurray.

In the meantime I would try and pray about it - but that involves kneeling, and that involves knees - so maybe, dear reader, that is something you can do for me instead.















But seriously - does this look like something you would want?

sigh.....




Feeling nostalgic tonight.....
Here's a curious nugget, a blast from the past.

Dusty Springfield: All I See is You"
"I tried so hard all summer through
Not to think too much of you...."
;>)
corny, hey, but great pipes!



and as an antidote: Billy Idol : "Dancing With Myself"
"Let's sink another drink
It'll give us time to think..."


night

Saturday, September 08, 2007






















Bruce Springsteen - Thunder Road

...So you're scared and you're thinking
That maybe we ain't that young anymore...

...And I know you're lonely
and there's words that I ain't spoken
But tonight we'll be free,
all the promises'll be broken

There were ghosts in the eyes of all the boys you sent away
They haunt this dusty beach road
In the skeleton frames of burned out Chevrolets
They scream your name at night in the street
Your graduation gown lies in rags at their feet
And in the lonely cool before dawn
you hear their engines roaring on
But when you get to the porch they're gone
On the wind, so Mary climb in
It's a town full of losers and
I'm pulling out of here to win.


Oh, Bruce - How does he do it so well?

So often when you write down on paper the lyrics to a song it diminishes the impact.
Not so with Bruce.
It is kind of the opposite with me.
I am soooo impressive on paper, but when you see me in real life - dullsville.
I guess I am the anti-Bruce, the oppo-Bruce, not the Boss but the underling.

In honour of Bruce - may you never again...

"...hide `neath your covers
and study your pain
Make crosses from your lovers,
throw roses in the rain
waste your summer praying in vain..."

Not me.
I already have my next five summers semi-planned!
Maybe i am thinking I... I dunno "ain't that young anymore.."
It gives purpose to every day I am here.
I really like that.
thanks again, Bruce. Enjoy this  version of a terrific poem.



or see Bruce and Melissa - nice version, too

Hold you in my arms, hold you in my heart



Maybe I didn't love you
Quite as often as I should have....
You were always on my mind
You were always on my mind
--willie nelson

.

Good to see you
Good to see you again
Good to see your face again
Good to see you
--neil young

And there you have it.
In a nutshell.
I think love is more about holding someone in your heart than it is about holding them in your arms.
This has been a good, positive week.
Everyone agree?
good
good to see you.
and it will be good to see you again.
One for the rook.

Lifehouse: " Take me Away"

nighty nigh
B-dis

Thursday, September 06, 2007

Coaching and Changing the Culture




( a little inside joke for the rook!)

Positive Attitude

- it truly goes a long way. It can make a long season of losing an enjoyable journey amongst friends. It can make a new job a challenge instead of a chore.
It can make the people around you more pleasant (or at least they seem to be.)
I think coaches need to possess a positive outlook or they make the room toxic.

Coaches are guests at the request of the players. Players want to be pushed, but they want to be treated with respect.

It's a tough chore to come in new and "change the culture" as Sean Payton said he wanted to do for the New Orleans Saints. But he did it. not everybody liked it because there are many who have so much invested in status quo they fight change.

Or they leave.

My first year coaching varsity girls i had three senior players on the team. Four others quit as soon as they found out one of two things - 1) old coach was not coming back; 2) new coach was me.

I could have used them that year.
We were dreadful, but we improved every year.




I believe we will be terrific this year.

Same school, same neighborhood.

But i have had my battles. I expect that anyone who tries to change too much too soon experiences the same thing.

You find out how many friends the dead have when you try to move a graveyard.....





From the Soundtrack to "Half Nelson", the story of a troubled and addicted teacher (Ryan Gosling) gets help from an unexpected source of positive attitude - one of his adolescent students.

Here's Broken Social Scene: Stars and Sons
check out the basketball scene - Awesome coaching style....!




sing along:

Then when you let it

You asked for nothing

Why don't you share it

All of the time you live

There's something out there


This one will know, how far I live on

This one will ever know in this town


And in the red room

At a distance

How would you know it


You're the same when you're living

I don't know when

It won't be this


This one will know, how far I live on

This one will know, how far I live on


All of the time you wait,

there's someone out there

And anyone can find all the rest

How would you show it?
You can see through the rest

I don't know when

It won't be this time

This one will know, how far I live on

This one will know, how far I live on

Tuesday, September 04, 2007

Domestic Bliss! in troubled times

The pleasure of routine following long hours of concentration.

Domestic Bliss!

Here is a great shot of the three kitchen wenches I had in my residence looking after me and attending to my needs.

The big fellow in the foreground was my personal training guru - he gave incredible backrubs - no happy endings! - all on the up and up , so to speak.

In the background is the head chef who looked after all my nutritonal requirements and helped sculpt me to become the Adonis i now am.

Here is a shot of me performing my "Shake Until Invisible" routine.
You have to see it to believe it.
At the point of this photo I am exactly eleven seconds from disappearing from sight all together. You can see part of my arm is beginning to fade already.
I reappeared on the other side of the room. Tru story.



In the middle is the cleaning lady we let in to the gathering on the condition she cleaned up after us. Just being in our presence gave her a thrill.

All the marks are in - all that is left is the completion of the project, and it is heading in the right direction.
i need diversion and more exercise.

Where my trainer?
Where my b*tches???

Go Canada! Rugby on the Weekend, don't you know????


Let's hope they have their "Moments"

Emerson Drive: "Moments"



And: In honour of my incredible act:
Radiohead: "How to Disappear Completely"



center
clarity
peace
serenity
:)

Monday, September 03, 2007

Beach Future Summer Cyber



Can you think of a better place to start a new career than on the beach?

Not me.

Not even two weeks after I finish one batch of "book learnin'" and I am headed straight into another.

Cybercounselling.
I can see it now - on the beach, wireless internet connection, working with clients I never see.....from anywhere.

i really am into this idea.
Maybe i can even mentor a rookie counsellor or two while I am at it.

I figure the best counselling takes place at he beach.
It's hard not to bare your soul when you've already bared most of your skin.

And it is always summer somewhere. and there is always more beach.
hmmmmm.
thoughts forming.
permanent summer.......

i will let you know how it works out.
through the internet, of course.

"When the weather's fine, we go fishin' or go swimmin' in the sea
We're always happy, life's for livin' yeah that's our philosophy"

Mungo Jerry: In the Summertime



with some cheesy beach photos thrown in.
Future! Forward, March!

nighty night summer......

Sunday, September 02, 2007

Mid Life is not a Crisis

Baby, you can choose despair,
Or you can be happy if you dare.
So let me take you there....

-- Ian McEwan, Saturday p 170

So, dear reader, what is the difference between "mid-life crisis" and "mid-life awakening"?



Faith No More: "Mid Life Crisis" (for Danielle and all the Danielles to come)




We refer to mid Life Crisis as if we know what it is.

We don't.

We shouldn't even pretend we do.

Is it a selfish chase for the good life, an opportunity to catch up on missed chances, a reckless seizing of the moment?

Carpe Diem or Bust?

Is it truly the Pusuit of Happiness unbridled?

- The Pusuit of Happiness, as you know, was a semi-raucous punkish Canadian band fronted by a cynical Torontonian (by way of Edmonton) named Moe Berg that had a hit entitled "I'm an Adult Now"


("I can't afford any artificial joy




remember now?

Mid life - is what exactly?

It might be the intersection point between productive relevance and unproductive uselessness.

Or the tipping point when health only continues to fall off.

Or perhaps it is a time of endless questioning of self and self worth.


How did you measure up?

Me?

I'm fine.

I'm productive, relevant, and in the best health i have been in in fifteen years.

I am anticipating the next twenty - five years with eagerness and continue to seek passion.

I still want to lose myself in the two hundred projects I have left to do.

I like what I am doing.

I like where I am going.

Come along for the ride.

If you dare.

Being happy, as noted above, takes courage.

Get the courage.

Ask the hard questions.

Be great.




Interpol: "The Heinrich Maneuver"

"How are things on the West Coast....?"

I really dig this video...