I Am The Proud Owner of a Bachelor's Degree

I graduated from USC with a bachelor's degree in 1993, but I finally own my degree. It only took seventeen years and five months to pay for my college education, but it is now officially paid off. It was a struggle at times in the beginning, but I made it. I guess I can now say that my education has paid for itself.

I was not in a hurry to pay off my student loans because the interest rate was so low. There was always something else that took priority. It is a relief to be done with it though. Now I just need to work on The Queen's loans. She did not get a great rate on her student loans. I don't know why that is other than the fact that she graduated fourteen years after me.

I have done just fine in my career even with my student loan payments. My loans have not been much of a burden on my financially. I don't think student loans would be too much of a burden on any college graduate and I think they should be part of the financial aid package for everyone who attends college. You need to value your education and in my mind the only way you can is if you have to pay for it. You would think twice about all of your career decisions if you had loan payments to make every month.

I think this goes hand in hand with my belief that every teenager should work had. I worked in a fruit packing house stacking boxes every summer after I turned sixteen. It was long hours and difficult manual labor, but it made me appreciate college and my career after college. Even before I turned sixteen I worked one year picking up grape trays our in a grape vineyard. After that and working in the packing house, I did not want to end up having to do manual labor for the rest of my life.

The problem today is that it is difficult for teenagers to get those jobs. Most of them are having to work in fast food or retail jobs. Retail jobs to me are just too much fun. They are not hard work at all and are very social jobs. They do not teach the value of hard work and do not make you appreciate working hard for what you get.

Kids today also seem to have much more of a sense of entitlement. They feel like they should not have to do manual labor. It is beneath them. All they want to do is have a job that is fun. They don't know what a serious job is like and will be shocked when they enter the real world and work for their first difficult boss. Most of them will not be able to handle it.

My life has taught me some valuable life lessons and has shaped me into the person I am today. My parents helped me with my college expenses or else I would not have my loans paid off yet. I appreciate their support and believe that what they provided for me was appropriate. They did not give me too much help and I value that. I am planning to do the same thing with my kids and hope they turn out even better than me.

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NFL Draft 2010

What a shocking draft this has been. I like that they put the first day in prime time, but it did create an interesting situation. Having only the first round on Thursday night meant that Jimmy Clausen had to wait overnight before he was selected. Any other year, a player like him who was predicted to go high in the first round would have just had to wait later in the day to be selected in the second round. Instead, he had to stress out all Thursday night and most of the day Friday before being selected.

Another surprise was Tim Tebow being selected so high in the draft by Denver. I think he is totally over rated for the NFL. He was a great college player, but will not be a star quarterback in the NFL. I like the fact that Denver said that if he does not make it at quarterback he will be a good H back. Why do you spend that much money on a guy you have a feeling might not make it at his natural position? That makes no sense to me.

The biggest surprise of all was the selections that Pete Carroll made for the Seattle Seahawks. I think his selections speak about the job he did the last few years at USC. All three of the players he selected in the first two rounds were from positions that there were players available to select from USC. He started out with an offensive tackle and passed on Charles Brown. He next selected a safety from Texas instead of taking Taylor Mays from USC who was rated a higher prospect by many analysts. His only pick today was selecting Golden Tate from Notre Dame while Damian Williams was still sitting there.

I think the one pick he is going to regret is not taking Taylor Mays. Taylor could have played for his former college coach in his home town. Instead he will be playing for San Francisco. Taylor will now have a chip on his shoulder while playing in the bay area. Pete will have to play against him, since they are in the same division. I know this is a business and you have to take the best player available, but Pete was Taylor's college coach and Taylor did everything that Pete asked him to do. I never heard Pete say anything negative about him and then he passes him over. All I can say is wow!

Taylor is obviously upset by not being selected by Pete and I can understand why. You trust your coach and believe everything he tells you. Taylor even returned to school for his senior year because he felt he needed to learn more. I really feel bad for him.

I think Pete is telling the entire football world that he and his coaching staff did not do a very good job of developing players that last few years. He also did not do a very good job of recruiting if there are players that are better at every position than the players he brought to USC. If I were in his position, I would be a little embarrassed about the statement I just made in the NFL draft as a criticism of my own work in my previous job.

I wish Pete and the Seahawks success, but I really feel like he might have stayed too long at USC. He lost his passion for the school the last few years and it was visible as he was entertaining NFL offers each year. I will not be a fan of the Seattle Seahawks, but will continue to follow the careers of USC Trojans in the NFL. After all, we are all a part of the Trojan family.

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Where I Belong

I was at Fresno State yesterday for their spring career fair and I must say that it is always interesting when I go there. There is just something about that campus that does not feel right to me. I just don't feel like it is a university. It has the feel of a junior college to me. I guess that is why you really need to visit any potential college you are considering before making a decision.

I made my college decision without making a visit. I did not actually visit the campus until orientation over the summer. The good thing is that I felt comfortable on campus. My only regret is that I did not get the chance to live in the dorms my freshman year. It was not by choice, but I still regret it. It is so easy to make a lot of new friends when you live in the dorms. I would encourage everyone to do it their first year of college, especially if they have left their home town and don't know anyone like I did.

College was a great time in my life. I got to escape from my home town and meet people that were very different than I was. For instance, I did not know any black kids in my hometown. When I got to college I lived just down the hall from a few. Later in college I met a few more. I also only knew a few asians in my home town, but in college I met a lot of asian guys and girls. My junior and senior years I ended up living in a house with an asian guy and four asian girls. For some reason, I just did not click with a lot of white people in college. I was definately more comfortable with minorities and I think that had to do with the fact that I was a minority while going to school in my home town.

To this day I feel extremely comfortable when I travel to different parts of Mexico. I also felt comfortable when I traveled to Puerto Rico earlier this year and to China a few years ago. The places I really start to feel uncomfortable is areas of California that are traditionally known for having wealthy populations. I just don't fit in with that whole keeping up with the Jones' mentality and you are what you wear attitudes.

My other regret is that I didn't do something more exciting and helpful when I graduated from college. As I think back, I realize that it would have been a great experience to have joined the Peace Corp and traveled around the world helping disadvantaged people. I just wish it would have happened.

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Vacation

We checked into our hotel early on Monday afternoon after the long drive. We stayed at the Hyatt Century Plaza in Century City adjacent to Beverly Hills. The hotel was great for the price. I booked through Priceline and got a good rate.

We went to the Fashion District downtown to look for a prom dress for Chacha. We were off to a bad start as we walked through Santee Alley. I told her not to get her hopes up, but she ended up finding a dress she loved that fit her.

We left downtown and headed to USC, my alma mater. The Queen and Chacha had been probably fifteen years ago and Cheeseball had never seen it. I gave them a quick tour including Doheny Library, Heritage Hall and the bookstore. It felt good to be back on campus. Sometimes it feels like I only dreamed I went to school there.

Tuesday morning I went for a jog and noticed some filming going on in the hotel lobby. A TV pilot for fox, Traffic Light, was being filmed. There was a clown and an actor that The Queen recognized. I spoke to an actress to get the name of the show and asked her what the story with the clown was. She told me, "it's a long story dude."

We made our way to Knott's Berry Farm. We ate at the Chicken Restaurant before entering the park. It was weird because most of the employees were over fifty years old. The restaurant was a little run down and it was very fitting that the employees were all older people. We made some jokes, but the service was good. They ticket taker at the gate was also an older gentleman. I made a joke that there must be a retirement home attached to the park.

We entered the park with low expectations. The first ride line we looked at was pretty long and slow moving. We decided to look for another ride. We were surprised that the next roller coaster we went to had a short line. That was the trend for the day. Every roller coaster except for one had a fifteen minute or less wait. We entered the park at about twelve thirty and had ridden all of the coasters by about three o'clock. We then let Cheeseball choose whatever ride she wanted. She chose some of the kiddie rides. One actually had the longest wait of the day! We left the park very satisfied with our visit. It really was a good experience. At one point, I looked out at the park and all I saw were roller coasters. Knott's Berry Farm is a great alternative to Disneyland.

Yesterday morning we went to the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood to watch Alice in Wonderland. It is a Disney owned theater where most of their movies premiere. We had no problem finding a great general admission seat and ended up saving about ten dollars per ticket over reserved seats. There was an organist playing on the stage when we got there. He played a few more songs before the previews began. We put on our 3-D glasses for the last few previews, then the movie was about to begin. Another screen descended from the ceiling and a special movie introduction began. There were pictures and crazy designs being projected all over the theater, including the screen. Then, out of nowhere, flower petals began raining down from the ceiling. After the movie, we went downstairs and got to see some of the props from the filming of the movie. It was a great experience and the movie was OK.

We walked around Hollywood for a little while and then headed back to the hotel to check out. Traffic back to the hotel was horrible. We checked out and headed back home after a great little vacation.

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National Signing Day

Today was national signing day for high school football players. It is the day that they can formally sign with the college of their choice. It is a day that I usually look forward to and start following as soon as I get to work. I usually keep an internet window open as I work and get updates from time to time.

Today was different. I did not even get a chance to browse the internet until about 10:00. By that time, a lot of letter of intents(LOI) had already been faxed into the college athletic departments. I only had the chance to get updates about three or four times throughout the day. I was just too busy at work.

I was looking forward to today because it was the first time USC alumni were going to be able to judge the new coaching staff. Lane Kiffin and company did not have very much time to try to rescue the Pete Carroll recruiting class and add to it with their own players. I was worried that they were going to lose a big chunk of the recruiting class.

I was pleasantly surprised with the job they did. They hauled in a couple of players who were not verbally committed to USC and virtually kept the entire class in tact. A few players slipped away, but that was expected with a coaching change. If I had to give them a grade on the class, I would go with a solid A.

They had a lot of excuses for not keeping the class complete. Nobody could blame them if it happened. The timing of the coaching change was just not ideal for them. They did not rest and did not accept any of the excuses and did a great job. I can't wait to see what they are able to do with spring practice.

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A Whirlwind Weekend Comes to an End

Wow! After the Seattle Seahawks fired their coach on Friday, rumors started to spread that Pete Carroll had accepted a deal to be their new coach. I took everything with a grain of salt since the media and Internet posters are all trying to break news. Their was no word from Pete or USC. The NFL has the Rooney Rule that requires all teams to interview minority candidates for jobs and at that point it appeared that rule had not been satisfied.

The one minority candidate they had targeted told them he would not waste his time to interview if a deal was in place. The Seahawks convinced him to interview on Saturday morning. On Sunday, Pete called the group who enforces the Rooney Rule and told them that he had not done anything to be out of compliance with the rule.

Monday morning it was officially announced that Pete was leaving USC. It was later made official that Pete had accepted the job with the Seattle Seahawks. I was glued to the Internet all day Monday. There were rumors about who would be the next coach at USC. There were rumors about who had been offered the job and who had turned it down. It appeared that the front runner, Jack Del Rio might make a decision on Today.

After meeting with the Jacksonville Jaguars owner earlier today, Jack told the media that he was staying put. Another mini meltdown happened on all of the USC message boards. Who was next in line? Nobody knew. I certainly didn't know.

At about 6:15 today an announcement came out of left field. Lane Kiffin was named the new head coach of the USC Trojans. Lane was a backup quarterback at Fresno State. After a few coaching stops he was hired by Pete Carroll at USC. He started as a wide receivers coach and quickly worked his way to offensive coordinator and recruiting coordinator.

Kiffin was hired as the Oakland Raiders head coach in 2007 and fired by Al Davis in 2008. Two months later he was hired by the University of Tennessee as their head football coach. He started making waves in the SEC immediately. He was calling out other coaches and just generally being mouthy. He also had some recruiting and player issues while head coach at Tennessee. He had assembled a pretty good coaching staff with his dad, Monte Kiffin, ad defensive coordinator and Ed Orgeron as recruiting coordinator, associate head coach and defensive line coach.

Kiffin is bringing both his dad and Ed Orgeron with him to USC. Ed coached at USC and was the recruiting coordinator prior to being hired as the head coach at the University of Mississippi. Kiffin was Ed's replacement as the USC recruiting coordinator. It is great to see coach Orgeron coming back to USC. He has a fiery personality and is a great recruiter.

The rumor is that USC is in negotiations to hire Norm Chow back as the offensive coordinator. That would go a long way for recruiting. He was a great quarterback coach while at USC. He has struggled in his more recent stops, but maybe he can bring that magic back with him. We will have to wait and see.

I don't know how I feel about Lane yet. I will have to wait to see how the team does before I pass judgement. I guess I am excited about change right now. Fight On!

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An Epic Battle in South Bend

USC vs. Notre Dame on Saturday! This should be an epic battle pitting their offensive strength against the USC defensive strength. This game scares me a little as the streak has to come to an end sometime. I just hope that Matt Barkley, the stable of running backs and receivers can put everything together and break out this week.

The game is in South Bend, so I expect some shenanigans again. I expect that their grass will be a little taller than usual to try to stop the speed of USC. Who knows what else Charlie will come up with to try to save his job? I believe that he is really on the hot seat this year, especially if he cannot beat USC.

Charlie has recruited well during his tenure at Notre Dame. He has had his guys in place for a few years now, so he has no excuses for them to underperform. JC is his quarterback and has three years of experience now. He has a good group of wide receivers to throw the ball to, even with the injuries. Their defense should also be improved with Manti working his way onto the field.

I think the USC defense can contain ND’s potent offense, but I do have some doubts. I hope the USC secondary can just shut them down and force them to run the ball. I think the front seven can contain their running game very well. I am just afraid that the secondary may let JC pick them apart a little bit. I hope I am wrong.

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Football Season has Begun!

Today was the official start of the football season with the first game for USC. It was a beautiful day at home, but I really wish I would have been at the game. I need to get to at least two games this season because it has been so long since I last attended one.

I really thought it was going to be difficult for USC to cover the spread. I don't even remember what the spread was, but with a true freshman starting at quarterback it really did seam unreasonable. The game started and after the first quarter I thought it was going to be a long day.

USC got off to a really bad start with some sloppy play. San Jose State seemed to be doing a lot more right than USC. I thought at that point that it would be impossible to cover the spread. In the second quarter USC really started to hit their stride and began to simply dominate every aspect of the game. The running game was on fire and it did not matter which tailback was in the game. After the half, even Stanley Havili who is a fullback took some reps at tailback and had a lot of success. Stanley was a tailback in high school and that experience really showed.

In the end, USC covered the spread easily and looked much better than next weeks opponent, Ohio State. I really hope we keep things going and just embarrass Ohio state next week in the horse shoe. I think Pryor is overrated and I hope we expose him for the fraud he is.

On a side note, both Cal and Oregon State look to be legit this year. I hope we keep things together and can make a run for the national championship. The game is played at the Rose Bowl this year, so it would be nice to have a home game for all the marbles.

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Football Season is Upon Us.

As the oft quoted Hank Williams Jr. might ask, "are you ready for some football?" I sure am. It has been a long off season. I even watched parts of the Hall of Fame Game on Sunday even though I had just a little interest in the teams playing. I had no interest in watching T.O. play for his new team, Buffalo. When it comes the NFL, I follow players rather than teams. I must confess that I do have some interest in the Tennessee Titans because both Jeff Fisher and LenDale White are Trojans. It was great to see a slimmed down LenDale and the Titans pick up where they left off last season and I loved the fake punt run for a touchdown.

I really want to make it to a few USC games this year if I can. I have not been to a game in over 10 years and I am really starting to miss the game day atmosphere. I have been to both college and pro games and I just love the college game and fans much more than the No Fun League. The Coliseum also got a cardinal and gold update to the exterior rim and some other updates this summer that were long overdue.

I made it to a spring practice last year and cannot believe the size of the players that Pete Carroll is getting to play for USC now. The players were big when I was there in 1989-1993, but now safeties and receivers like Taylor Mays and David Ausberry are as big as some of the linemen back then. It is just amazing!

FIGHT ON!

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