First Day of Soccer

Last night was the first day of soccer practice for B. She was excited to start playing and was greeted by the assistant coaches daughter by name. That should have made her feel good.

About half way through the practice the assistant coach asked me how long she has been living with us. I told him that we picked her up on Wednesday. He asked how long she would be staying with us and I told him that as far as we know it will be permanent.

I asked him how she was doing so far and he said that she is not playing like someone who has never played before. I was watching her play and she was playing pretty well. I think the biggest adjustment for her will be running all the time. She seemed to take it easy as often as she could. But then again, most of the girls out there do the same thing.

I think soccer is going to be good for her.

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Finally, New Additions

We just got a call and The Queen is picking up two sisters within the hour to come live with us.

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Commitment

I understand commitment. I guess my understanding of it is different than that of other people.

Meg's soccer coach emphasized that everyone should be at practice by 5:30 yesterday. Not 5:45. Not 6:00. We got to practice a few minutes early and started kicking the ball around. The team mom got there a little later and said that none of the coaches would be there. I told her that I have no problem with coaching the girls, but a little notice would have been nice so I could prepare some drills.

The team mom asked me to coach and I agreed. I waited a while and the assistant coach for the other team showed up and took over. I asked him if his team was going to scrimmage, like they normally do and he said they were. I told him that when they do I could take the younger girls aside and work with them.

When it came time for the scrimmage I took over and set up a little scrimmage between the six girls that were there. They were disappointed that they did not get to scrimmage a real team. I was very sympathetic to them. The older girls scrimmage every practice and they never do. It seems that they older girls are the priority to the coach.

I had the girls scrimmage for a while and then I stopped them and taught them what off side is, how to handle the ball if they are the goal keeper, strategy for each position and strategy for throw-ins. They were all messing around quite a bit, but that is expected because of the way their coach runs practices. There is usually so much down time in between drills that they naturally mess around.

Near the end of the practice, they assistant coach from the older team told me that picture day was on Saturday. He said that he did not know what time, but asked me to hand out the order forms. I really came away from this practice disappointed in our coach.

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New Weezer Album

I have listened all the way through the new Weezer album, Hurley (Deluxe Version), once and it is a catchy collection of songs. There are some really good songs on the album and some that are not as good as with most albums.

Their sound has evolved again. There really is little similarity to the Blue Album that first made me love the band. Hurley sounds like it will be more accessible to the masses. We will see if Weezer will gain more commercial appeal with this album.

I need to listen to it more, but so far I do like what I hear. I just wish they would go back to the early Weezer sound on a future album.

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Decisions, Decisions

We all make decisions every day. Some are good decisions and some are bad. Some are much worse than others. It is how we make these decisions and how we correct the bad decisions that matters most.

I know a couple who are having some problems. One of them made a bad choice and they tried to work through it. Then, the person who made the bad decision left. This person would then come back from time to time and expected everything to be back to normal. When it wasn't, this person got upset. They did not work hard to try and make the situation better. They did not try to win their spouse back.

The real problem is that the spouse just waited for them and accepted them back on their terms. The spouse did not make them change at all. The spouse just accepted them back when they were ready to come back. That was all.

I know this post is a bit confusing, but I think it brings up an interesting point. The spouse I reference above has low self-esteem. They have no drive and no ambition. It was just easier for things to go back to normal, however bad that is, than embrace change for the better. I think it was a poor decision and sets a bad example for their kids, but it is what it is.

I can tell you that would not happen in my relationship. First of all, we would never get to that point without talking to each other. If I was unhappy, I would tell The Queen and I know that she would do the same. We would work on the relationship with all of our energy before just giving up. Life is not always going to be perfect, so it will be what you make of it. We choose to make it the best we can. Not everyone feels this way and that is sad.

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Dinkey Creek

The Queen and her family went to the mountains on Friday. I got a call from her around one o'clock that afternoon telling me that she reserved a campsite at Dinkey Creek for the night. I rushed to finish as much as I could at work and then went to the grocery store to get some supplies. I got home and packed everything I could think of and then hit the road.

It took me longer than I thought to get to the camp ground. Once I got there I just felt relaxed. It felt great to be in the mountains. As soon as I got there I stated setting up the tent with The Queen's help. Her dad took all of the kids on a walk so we had some time without interruption. We got the tent up pretty fast and just in time. The kids got back almost as soon as we finished.

Little Jaime went crazy by putting several different types of chips on the BBQ. They were all really good after being heated up. I imagine that is the closest you can get to taking them straight off the line where they are made. The next morning we even put a banana and chocolate donut on the grill and made s'mores with the banana, donut and a marshmallow. The Queen and Lisa thought they tasted pretty good. We really had a lot of fun.

The next morning The Queen and I went on our standard hike of the creek. We do the same hike every time we go and it never gets old. We went back to the campsite and took all the kids on the longer version of the hike. They had a lot of fun. We got back just in time to pack up and then we headed out to the Dinkey Creek bridge. We stayed there for a while.

The kids had a lot of fun rock hopping. Meg just kept leading them farther and farther up the creek. Little Jaime and Eric followed her wherever she went. We stayed there for at least an hour and then we headed for home. Overall this was a great trip. The Queen handled the camping very well and even said that she could have stayed longer. She is looking forward to doing it again next year. I can't wait!

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Low Fidelity

I am obsessed with lo-fi photography. Several years ago I started playing with fact TtV using Photoshop. I really loved the results of this process. Last Friday I received an old Kodak Brownie that I ordered from ebay and I took my first test photo on Saturday. It turned out horrible, but I see the possibilities.

I have been scouring the web for any information about lo-fi photography, especially as it applies to the iPhone. We went camping overnight on Friday and I really went crazy taking pictures with my iPhone. It is just really handy to use. The quality is not great, but if you are going for a lo-fi look it is fabulous. I guess I am now obsessed.

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Do Politicians Affect Our Lives Personally?

I was watching the news this morning like I always do and I saw a commercial that I have seen once before. It asks if Barbara Boxer has affected your life personally in her 28 years as a politician.. I think it actually asked if you could name three things she has done to affect your life personally. Whatever the question, it made me think this morning.

Is it the job of a politician to affect our lives on a personal basis? I don't know if it is. What I do know is that most people are so blinded by politics that they could not even notice if a politician affected their lives on a personal level. The only time they do notice is when it hits them in the wallet in the form of a tax increase. Most people don't even give politicians credit when a new park is built or when their roads are repaved. And they really don't even want to notice when politicians make decisions that better the lives of those that are less fortunate.

I don't know if Barbara Boxer, or any other single politician for that matter, have affected my life personally. I would guess that they have many times, but I could not really name them. I think the better question is if politicians should really affect our lives personally. I think they work for the greater good which means that most times it may be difficult to determine what they have done to affect us on a personal level. Is that even their job?

I think this commercial is just trying to create fear in the voters. Fear that one of their elected officials has been in office too long and that she is not really doing her job. I don't know if this fear tactic will work, but this is now the status quo in political commercials. They rarely talk about positive items any more, instead focusing on the negative in order to create fear. I hate it!

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Feeling Negative

For some reason I was feeling very negative this past weekend. I don't know why, but it just happened. Maybe it was the change of the weather that made me feel this way. Or maybe it is just that there is a lot of negativity around me right now.

Either way, I need to change my attitude so that it does not bring me down. For the last few years I have really tried to change my outlook on life and I have succeeded for the most part. Every once in a while though, even the most positive people can start to feel negative. This is what happened to me this past weekend.

I don't like feeling this way and as soon as I realized that I was, I made a conscience effort to change. It is not something I can change immediately. It will take some work, but I know I can start to feel more positive. There really are more positive things happening around me than negative, so I just have to stay focused.

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Frustration

I am so frustrated with Meg's soccer team. Her practice last night was moved all the way across town in order to scrimmage with another team. When we get there, the coach is not there as usual. I start looking around and I don't see another team that is not normally at our practices. I make a comment about it to the assistant coach and he tells me he does not make the plans.

It turns out that the scrimmage is with the coach's brother's team. The only problem is that they practice right next to us. So why did she move the practice all the way across town? I just don't understand. Typically bad decision making on her part.

Another issue is that Meg's coach has two teams this year. She has a daughter on each team and is practicing with both teams together. The problem with this is that it creates longer practices with a lot of down time. Her end of practice talks with the teams stretches on forever because she has to address each team individually. Her meetings with parents is the same way. We all get lectured for things that the parents of her other team are not doing.

It is just an unorganized, chaotic mess. I know that people will say that if I am going to complain that I should volunteer to coach next year. I have done that in the past and I committed a lot of time to it. My practices were organized and well timed. I was very efficient. I also committed a lot of time to the other responsibilities such as being a referee. I did my part and know it takes a lot of work, so I appreciate her for being a coach. I just don't think she is right for the job.

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Photography

I have thought a lot about TtV photography for about the last three years. To accomplish TtV photography you get an old Kodak Brownie or similar camera and take a picutre through its viewfinder. The photos taken this way are slightly distorted and usually have a frame around them.

I have messed with TtV in photoshop adding the effect to some previously taken photos and have really enjoyed the results. I had not really thought about it for a while, until I got a Photojojo email that had a brief write-up about the technique. It renewed my interest and I started searching for a camera on ebay. I am now following an auction and hope to get it pretty cheap.

I am really trying a lot of new social sites lately. I first started using Blogger to write this blog. Then I joined Facebook to resarch it for work. I started using Twitter for the same reason. I moved on to Tumblr because I found that it works better with photos than Blogger. Now I have started a flickr account. It all ties together.

I started messing around with flickr because of the Hipstamatic app on my iPhone. I went pro so that I can upload more than one hundred megs a month. It is a racket, but I just felt the cost was worthwhile. You can view all of my photos. Book mark it and it will be updated with my new photos whenever you visit the link.

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Hipstamatic

I downloaded a new app for my iPhone 4 a few days ago. Hipstamatic is a photography app that recreates the look of photos taken by a Hipstamatic 100 camera with different film and flashes. It really is a pretty sweet app and I am having fun using it. I have had so much fun that I even started a flickr account. Watch my Hipstamatic photo stream.

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Controversy at Ground Zero

I first heard about the ground zero mosque controversy this past weekend. I guess the right wing, led by Sarah Palin, is up in arms at the thought of a Muslim religious building being so close to the former site of the twin towers.

Throughout history we have fought for freedom. The freedom to choose your religion without the fear of being persecuted. The freedom to make choices without fearing for your life. The freedom to vote in our republic. Remember that our form of government is a republic with democratic rule.

The group that is planning the new mosque is including a museum along with it. They believe that it will be a tribute to the people who died in the terrorist acts that took place on September 11, 2001. This group of American citizens should have the freedom to build their mosque where they choose. Muslims are not bad people. It is just the extreme few that have given the religion a bad image.

We must remember that this country was founded on religious freedom. The people who immigrated to this country from Europe did so to escape religious persecution. All of the men and women who have died fighting for this country have done so to ensure we continue to have the freedoms we have. They did not die for certain people to have freedoms while others do not. They fought for the freedom of everyone.

I think people need to open their minds and put themselves in the place of someone who practices a minority religion. What would you do if you lived in Europe three-hundred years ago and wanted to practice a Protestant religion. You would not be able to without persecution. I don' want that for my country.

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Work of Art

I watched the finale of Work of Art last night. I have really enjoyed this show. It is the first show in a long time that I can't wait to watch each week. There were several people on the show whose art I just did not like, but I think the final five were really talented. I don't know how people get that creative.

Simon de Pury was a great part of the show. He was really excited most of the time and the combination of his accent and choice of words was great. I can see that he was really inspirational for the artists on the show. I wish I was like him.

Miles was the typical tortured artist for the entire show. He had some major social issues, but they did not make him come off as a jerk. He was one of the closest characters to what I perceive a true artist to be. I always think of an artist as a quirky character and that is what he was. I knew that he would make it to the finals, but hoped he would not be the winner.

Peregrine always made pieces that were more crafty than art to me. She was very creative, but I just did not like most of what she did. On the finale Simon visited the home of each of the final three. Peregrin's house was the closest to where I believe an artist would live. The house was filled with art objects and looked very inspirational.

Abdi was the person I thought was the most talented for the last three or four shows. He made a few of the most impactful pieces in my opinion. I think his nature inspired piece was the single best piece of the show. I really like his style and he always seemed to be in awe of everything. I think that personality or attitude or outlook on life or whatever you want to call it is what makes him the creative person he is. He truly deserved to win the show.

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Feeling Creative

I went for a walk last night to check the mail and on my way back I was mesmerized by the moon in the sky. It was about nine o'clock and it was not completely dark yet. The sky was a dark blue with the last vestiges of the sunset near the horizon line. The moon was in the classic shiver shape and there was a bright star directly above it.

I was inspired. When I got back home I grabbed my Diana+ camera and went to the backyard. I did not have a good view so I decided to take a walk to see if I could get a better view. I walked to the open field near my house and got some photos. I went back home and then went into the backyard again with my digital Rebel.

I tried to take one photo of the moon and was not successful so I started looking at the flowers and plants in the yard. I posted some photos on my tumblr site. I was really inspired last night for the first time in a long time. I hope my creativity paid off.

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First Soccer Practice Down

Meg's first soccer practice was yesterday. The coach chose to practice all the way across the field from where the parents sit, so we could not here anything she was saying. It was an interesting choice to say the least.

She coaches two teams. A girls under twelve and a girls under ten. She has the practices at the same time with an assistant coach for each team. The scrimmaged for ninety percent of the practice. I did not see much skills practice at all. At one point, I guess the girls were not listening and she had them do push-ups. That did not make much sense to me. Why not make them run while dribbling the ball?

My first impression of the coach at the parents meeting was that this was going to be a bad year. I can't complain since she is a volunteer, but I can still not be happy. I really hope that our assistant coach gets involved. His daughter is a really good player and I hope that he has taught her what she knows and he can share some of that with Meg.

Having the teams practice together is also an issue for me. Of course the older girls will dominate the skills competitions that you usually have at practice. They will also intimidate the younger girls in the scrimmage portion of the practice. The coach already had to tell them to watch their kicks because they were hitting the younger girls in the face. Meg got hit in the face, but she was OK.

During the scrimmage, the older girls dominated. The coach mixed the older and younger girls on the same team, but the older girls still dominated at each position. I think this will affect team chemistry if she keeps doing this. The girls need to learn to play with each other and that will not happen as long as this continues.

I will keep an open mind, but it doesn't seem like this is going to be a good year.

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A Creative Spark

While The Queen was out of town on Friday night, Meg and I went to a movie. We watched Ramona and Beezus. It was Meg's choice, but I also thought that she would like this movie.

It was a pretty good movie and it inspired me to help Meg with her creativity. Ramona really reminded me of Meg. They are both individuals and are each very creative. Ramona's dad really encouraged her creativity. Watching the movie made me realize that I have not been doing a very good job of encouraging Meg's creativity.

On Saturday morning, Meg and I bought some turpentine to clean oil paint off of brushes. We then got all of our painting supplies out of the garage and set up an easel on the dining room table. We talked a little bit about what the subject of her painting would be and she decided she wanted to paint a picture of Cocoa Bean. I told her that was very ambitious for her first oil painting, but she insisted.

I took a photo of Cocoa Bean and printed it out for a reference for her. I helped her sketch the location of Cocoa's head and told her to paint the background without painting where Cocoa's head will be. She decided that she did not want a realistic background and chose to just paint it blue. I think the color is a great choice because the image of Cocoa will pop off of it very nicely.

This is a learning process for both of us, but it will be a lot of fun.

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My Next Books

I ordered my next set of books on Saturday. I am in a real funk right now and it applies to my blog posting as well as my reading. I hope that these new books will break my funk and give me some inspiration. Here is the list of books I ordered:

• Founders at Work: Stories of Startups' Early Days by Jessica Livingston
• Raising the Bar: Integrity and Passion in Life and Business: The Story of Clif Bar & Co. by Gary Erickson, Lois Lorentzen
• Shop Class As Soulcraft: An Inquiry into the Value of Work by Matthew B. Crawford
• Stirring It Up: How to Make Money and Save the World by Gary Hirshberg

I have wanted to read Stirring It Up for some time and have always put it off. I think that will be the first book of this new group that I dig into. I really hope these books will give me a creative spark.

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My New Book

Well, it isn't really my new book. It is just the book I am currently reading. I am now reading The Sign by Raymond Khoury. The beginning of the book seems strangely familiar to me. I can't put my finger on where I have read something similar, but I have.

I needed to take a break from all of the business books I have been reading to read something that is a little more entertaining. I am still on pace to read twelve books this year, but this new book is a big one. It has four hundred and fifty-eight pages and I am only on page sixty-one. That means I only need to read a little over fifteen pages per day, which is very manageable.

I will need to shop for my next set of books very soon to make sure I get them in time. I am open to suggestions from anyone.

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At the Coast

The Queen, Meg and I took at trip to the coast to see Unk Timmers. Here are some photos from the trip.

I am trying out Tumblr, so let me know what you think.

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