Irony

I just finished watching the movie, “The Blind Side”. It was a wonderful movie, that I can recommend to everyone. Very good for the young and old. I don’t remember hearing a cussword, while at the same time it was totally entertaining for me throughout. (I like hearing cusswords, to me they help make the story.) Once the movie ended the irony of it hit me smack in the face.

    My wife and I went to the University of Mississippi. We met there in the “Ice Storm of 1994″. She received her degree from that wonderful school. I was not able to receive my degree from Ole Miss, because I was in too big of a hurry to marry her. So, I took my degree from a college that would allow me to get married more quickly. We, have great memories of Ole Miss. We have many dear friends that live in or come from Oxford. In summation, she and I think Oxford and Ole Miss are totally great.

    Ole Miss has become and is one of those little spots in the country that people can think badly about. Ole miss is one of those places in our culture of today, so many would like to see its history erased. Ole Miss is one of those places that have no defense, at least not to the people that live outside of the South. They can say anything they want about the South and Ole Miss with abandon. They can say things like, “Southern whites only care about the Rebel Flag because they hate Blacks.” If you are not from the South you can say basically anything you want about a white Southerner. This is what hit me most about the movie, “The Blind Side”.

     I waited to see the movie, because of all the media attention. I thought it is much too early to tell this dude’s story. “He isn’t even been pro yet.” So, I waited. The movie has won all kinds of awards and is a box office hit. So, that made want to wait even more. Tonight, I saw the movie with my in-house Ole Miss graduate. It was a very good and entertaining movie. It was a movie that told about a wealthy white family adopting and helping a black boy. It is very clear that this family helped this young man. He is now a college graduate and NFL football player. He is a “Millionaire”.

  The irony came for me when in the movie, the NCAA questioned the young man about his “parents” (the white folks) getting him to go to Ole Miss. These people opened their house and loved this young man. No racist white family WOULD EVER take a young black boy in to live with them for a few years. Pay all of their expenses just to get them on a football team.

Ole Miss has lost its flag. Ole Miss has/is losing its mascot. All because those symbols are too racist for “society”.  Ole Miss, with all of its “racist” past produced three more graduates.   Two of those were white and went to school under that racist past. Those two took in a black young man and helped him to become a graduate of Ole Miss just like them. If there is a school that optimizes Old Southern ways (including racism, if you say so) it would have to be Ole Miss. Yet, Ole Miss is the place (at least in this story) that brought a young black man out of a very impoverished situation with the help of a Ole Miss graduate.

Patience

Patience

     I coach girls softball. So the other day I was going onto the field to coach my team as another team was coming off. The coach of the team coming off spoke to me. He asked me what he was supposed to do with this girl he has. He said, “Dan, I got nothing to teach her. She is way better than the other girls.” So, I told him some drills he could do with the child that would work her, make her better, and it would not disrupt his practice. I went back to my girls playing catch. A parent and her child came up to me. They were on the outside of the fence. They felt disappointed about their practice. The mother said, ” I wish we could get her some more competition..some better practice. I feel like this is holding her back.” I told this mother and daughter some drills they could work on at home. I turned to go back to my team, but then I turned back and said this, “Just remember there is a little boy in The Caribbean that will never know baseball till he is like 16 or 17. He is right now throwing some funky ball against a wall, and he will be in the Major Leagues. So, take your practice as just that. It is up to you to become good.” I think about these poor dads and moms that volunteer their time to coach little league teams. They didn’t play ball and they have no idea about what they are doing, but they are doing their best. You shouldn’t expect them to train your kid to become a great athlete. Your kid is going to do that with practice, not at practice. Sports is just like school. The only difference is you don’t go to school only for only 6 hours a week. Parents be patient with your children in sports. LET THEM BE 6 YEARS OLD. They will get it with practice. Just because your kid is not on top at 10 does not mean he or she won’t be at 18. Teach them stuff at home. Last, when it comes to baseball/softball never forget this…. every parent no matter if they played or not can roll the ball over and over to their child. If you do that your child will become good. Ozzie Smith took over 100 ground balls a day for over 35 years (FYI that’s like 1.2 million grounders). That was the strongest reason he was probably the best fielding shortstop that EVER has been. It was not because of his size, strength, speed,….or who his daddy was. Be patient and work hard over a long period of time.

Change

Change

     I asked my wife a question tonight. One that I have pondered a lot over the last year. I asked her, “What should we do for our family if we have a high inflationary environment?”  This is an important question for sure, but it led me to analyze something else. Why would we have high inflation? Also, what does the world look like today?

    So, I said to her there are 3 things I want you to consider. We can invest in the stock market. We can buy oil. Last, we can buy gold. I don’t want to hear anything from my friends about BONDS. I know that is another important asset class, but now is not your time. I asked her to look at the differences between these 3 things (things I would invest in possibly). I said, “The DOW is about the same as it was over 11 years ago. I sold Diamonds on the DOW at 8600 back when I was a broker. Oil is a great way to deal with currency changes as it pertains to the US dollar and we all know that you buy gold in an inflationary environment.” She said, “Ok, My head is hurting now, and I can’t remember if I took Macro or Micro economics. What should we do?”

     So, I started to think about these facts and how they apply to my family and our economy. I believe no matter how much you hope things will get better they won’t. I feel very confident that you can’t talk the economy into a recession any better than you can talk yourself out of one. To make a point, I know that Affiliated Foods went bankrupt. Now that they have a chain of stores named Cranford’s is done for because they can’t get merchandise (they have already closed stores as of today). Chrysler is in bankruptcy this has meant dealers are being shut down. I know that Crain Dodge Chrysler is effectively out of business because Chrysler said so. I know that I see TONS of commercial real estate up for lease. Heck, I know at least 5 guys who have accepted a 20% or greater pay cut to keep their job. All of this has happened in the last 4 or 5 months. Those types of things DO NOT affect the economy instantly. Whether or not you believe it EVERYONE does not spend all their pay check on the Saturday after they got it on Friday.  These poor people who have lost their jobs are going to make it by for as long as they can no matter what. If you can agree with that logic that it will take time to see what happens more than a few months, let me take you to where my mind went next.

     The world stage. The global economy. How does America affect it or does it affect us? I do believe that these things are intertwined, but I do believe that they can’t swing as fast or as hard as our local economies. What I do see are wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. What I do see are Iranian ships moving unopposed into international waters as a show of strength. What I do see is a North Korean Military detonating nukes and shooting off missiles. I see a country, Israel, that others countries want gone from the earth. I see countries like Japan being threatened by their neighbor with nuclear arms. It would be like Mexico detonating a nuke within a few hundred miles of our border. I see dictators like Hugo Chavez change the constitution of his country so he can stay in power longer and do it with no problem. I see all these things happening and that leads me to the question. Is it an economic question?

    I have studied and been a little informed on history because it is something I like. I know some, if not all, of you have heard the statement…”WWII got us out of a recession.” I think I have even heard, “The wars have always turned our economy around.” These ideas, I believe are out there, and I also believe that some tried to apply it to the Bush administration. Here is the question though. What if the “great leaders” of their times didn’t get into wars to save their economies? What if they got into wars because of their economies? That is the question. This is my question. As I go through life worrying about social issues (but not getting involved), I always do everything thinking of my children and my beautiful wife. How can I serve and protect them? I think of school, nice clothes for the girls, and treats for my lovies. This is now my question. What if the leaders of our country and the world cannot stop the powers of math and science? I don’t believe they can. I am most confident that you will see unemployment in the 18% – 20% range. I know that Social Security will fail. There will be no universal health care or anything like that. I know that most of you will be worse off than your parents…. What a sad thing.

     I am sad to tell you that the power of math is too great to stop. I am sad to tell you that your dreams of retirement will never come to fruition. I am very sad to maybe have you realize what all this means I am saying. I know I have always been a voice of optimism and hope. I know that my mother will be very disappointed in me for sharing this. She always said, “Share good stuff Dan.” I have always tried to do that. I talk serious but always focus on the positives. So I will do that now. There is a chance for us to come out of this, but only if we have any leaders left. This will only be solved by a leader. I know that there are none in Washington. If your hopes are on them, you are not in a very good spot. So let us pray for a leader. In the mean time, love your family. Be good to people and try to make the world the best place you can make it. Change is coming for a while, and it’s not the kind of change anyone of us will want. 5.27.09

The Best Hitter That Has Ever Lived

                I had one great day with my daughter. She had an All-Star softball tournament all day. Overall we had a super fun day. It very much reminded me of going to my sister’s swim meets when I was very young. Today was one of those days that changed my daughter’s and my life forever.  We had a double elimination tournament in Bryant that would last all day long.

                I woke up before 7 am.  I had to get Miller up and dressed to be at the field by 8 am. I woke up on my own and headed upstairs to get my girl awake. She and I made it to Chick-fil-A by 7:50 am and were on our way to the field. We got the most fooked up directions to the field from the girl at Chick-fil-A.  We ended up in Bauxite. I knew we went too far, but I deciphered from her directions the location of the field. She and I rolled into the ball fields like 2 superstars.

                Miller is not one of the “best” players on her team. There are 11 girls on the team and Miller is per the roster number 11. Miller plays to have fun. By having fun I mean winning (she is my daughter). We got to the warm up area so we decided to practice our hitting. The coach of the team informed me that Miller was going to sit the bench for most of the game. I don’t think either one of us was fazed by it. I believe my exact words were, “Hey man, whatever it takes to win.” I was good with that and I know Miller was. So she went through her first game and our team won 11 to 10. It was a great game. Miller got her one at bat and played one inning in the field. The problem was Miller struck out during her at bat. We won so we didn’t have to come back till 4:30 pm because we were in the winner’s bracket.

                She and I walked back to the truck to go home after the first game of the day. As we walked back to the car neither of us spoke. I knew something was off. I was not mad or sad. I didn’t know what to say to her. Finally I said, “What’s up with you?” She said, “What?” I said, ” How do you feel about the game?” She started to speak but I said, “Hey, Let’s just get in the truck.” We got into the truck to leave. So, as I started to back out of the parking lot spot and drive away we still didn’t talk. I said, ” Ok, so what’s up? What are you thinking and feeling?” She said, “The balls were way over my head and I couldn’t hit them. (pissed off)” I said, “You’re right, but you have to be able to hit every ball. That’s no excuse. What are you really mad about?” She told me, and I listened to her story. I said, “Baby, here is the reality. You are one of the best hitters that has ever lived. Do you believe me?” She said, “What?” I said, “You are one of the best hitters that has ever lived. It is a fact. All you have to do is trust me and God. I said you trust me don’t you? You trust God don’t you?” She said, “Yeeessss” I said, ” Miller, it doesn’t matter what any coach thinks. It doesn’t matter what people think. All that matters is God gives you gifts. Your only job is to use them. If you don’t use them that is your choice. That’s on you. You don’t have to worry about what coaches or people think. You are to use what God gives you as hard as you can use it. Miller, I was a great ball player. I could have played pro ball if I wanted to. I have played and beaten the best many times over. I am telling you. You are the best hitter on this team. Do I not coach the number one team in our league?” (I coach Miller’s regular league team.) She said, “Yeeessss.” I said, “No matter the choice I choose you first. You’re my All-Star because I have the numbers to back it up.” She asked, “How is that?” I said, “You have the best hitting average on our team. You have the least amount of strike-outs of any batter we’ve got. You have the second most runs scored. Those are just facts. You know why else your my first choice?” She asked, “Why?” I said, “Because, you know they are only going to let you hit one time a game, but yet you will do your best and have fun while doing it. You know what else?” She said, “What?” I said, “The cool thing about math and baseball/softball is the numbers will keep telling the truth, and so will your Daddy.”

                We finished up the last of the drive back home to rest for a couple of hours. I explained more of the mechanics of hitting Charlie Lau style and life. She told me about the friends on the team she had. (Who was funny. Miller loves funny people.) We put 8 year old softball in perspective. Later that evening she went 2 for 2 with 1 RBI and 1 stolen base and we had ice cream on the way home from Mc Donald’s. That’s softball.

Jason Mraz

 

So, my wife and I went to the Jason Marz concert tonight. Plain White T’s was the opening group. I felt compelled to describe to you my experience.

The show is supposed to start at 7:30 PM. Thank goodness it didn’t because we got there at like 7:45 pm. We’ve got kids you know. So, she and I got a beer each and went to our seats. These were pretty good seats on the side about mid-way. The lights are still on in the arena, “Alltel Arena”. This is totally interesting because Alltel is gone. We were wondering if it will become Verizon Arena? We don’t know but I told my wife some crap about what could happen. She was cool with that so we began doing the one thing we really enjoy. We enjoy watching people. She likes watching them. I like judging them. I like to call them like I see them.

Here is what I saw. I want to set this up with a reminder that we were at a Jason Mraz concert. He tends to draw girls around the age of 18-24. I have found girls of that age attract certain types of people. While I was at the concert I saw Lou Ferrigno sitting down in the field. I was like, “WTF, is the Lou Ferrigno?” He was with some real fat chick and he was wearing those real squared off shades like Don Johnson in Miami Vice from back in the eighties. Once I saw the shades I knew it was Lou Ferrigno. 

By now the Plain White T’s are going. Man let me tell you the music was….crap. I ain’t going to lie. These dudes were so off key. It kind of hurt your ears. Some drunk dude really liked the music though. He was sitting down on the floor level. We were on the second row of the bleachers, so we could see everything -the stage and the people. This dude was dancing his butt off. I swear he even grinded an event staff guy. He had so many moves some chick came down from the bleachers. She was like, “What’s up dude. Let’s grind.” Her back was to me for like 2 minutes, so I had to watch them grind from the back. Thank God she finally turned around so I could see her. It was confirmed. This chick was the Russian wife of the fighter in Rocky 4. I knew I had seen her before. She was sooo ugly. It has been like 20 years since that movie and a lot of drugs. She was absolutely tore up.

The lights just came on and those dudes finished their set (Plain White T’s).  Myself and my wife proceeded to get a beer.  After the beer we went back to our seats. The lights were still on. What did I see next? No, not another 80′s celebrity, but the most mean redneck chick thing ever. There was this young couple in their early 20s. They had blue shirts with homemade letters ironed on them. These were the kind of letters that are fuzzy and puffy. The dude’s shirt said, “Lucky I’m in love.” The girl’s shirt said,” With my best friend.” (Those words are lyrics to a Jason Mraz song.) My wife of 11 years just had a hot dog and she almost puked it up whole. My wife said, ” You see that? What a poor man.” I said, “No, he probably deserves it.” You know he does if he is wearing that dumb shirt. I told my wife, ” The funny thing is I bet the redneck girl friend that made the shirts is probably cheating on him with her best friend.”

I found out while at the concert I am getting old. Here is how I know. When the artist sings that special song…the lights go out… and everyone puts a lighter up. You know that special moment. We didn’t have a lighter this time. There was not a lighter in the whole place except of one fat dude that couldn’t stand up. All these people had their phones lit up shaking them. There were literally like 1000 phones (Ok more like 50) lit up doing the wave back and forth. It kind of messed me up. I thought, “Damn this is gay.” Then I thought, ” Man, times are changing.” Then I thought, “These little punks are not very green using all that power.” Then I hated them further because there were no fossil fuels being used. It was quite a sight seeing 1000 phones lit up swaying back and forth, be it that it was still super gay.

Finally we got to see Jason Mraz. He is a very talented dude. Make no mistake though. Do not pay a lot of money for his concerts. I learned the hard way. Pay money for musicians that have like 100 songs. Pay money for a Billy Joel, a Clint Black, a Rolling Stones, not some dude that has like 3 or 4 songs. The math just doesn’t work out. I was so disappointed after the concert I asked my wife, “Why did we come to this?” She said, “Because you bought the tickets dummy.”  She and I had fun talking but that got overridden by a weak concert.

So what is the lesson? Only pay $5 per song that an artist or band has that you like and there is a cap of like $75. If you like 3 songs..$15. If you like 10 songs pay $50. I think $5 per song you like is a good measure.

The Maggie

The Maggie

                So I am writing about Maggie. She could be a very unexceptional girl. She has all of the same genes as the other ones. I decided to write about her because she gave me something to write about. She is 5 years old and not a care in the world. She is just as likely to slap you in the face as to kiss you on the lips. She thinks about teetees, bacon and candy. That is Maggie. So, I decide to share with you…Maggie.

                I was riding down the road with Maggie the other day. She was riding shotgun – you have to call it. We don’t follow all the rules in my house (or the law). So, she was riding shotgun and looked over at me very seriously. She said, “Daddy, I don’t want a baby.” Maggie is 5 years old I remind you. I said, “Baby, You won’t.” She said, “Why not?” I said, “Because you don’t want one. You have to want a baby or do things to have a baby to get one. It doesn’t just happen.” I thought that was a freaking great answer to a super surprise question. She said, “So, God isn’t just going to give me a baby?” I said, “No honey. God doesn’t give 5 year old girls babies. It just doesn’t work like that.” This conversation is only profound because she is 5 years old.

                So, tonight we are on a Rocky movie marathon. We are on Rocky V. Maggie knows that I work every day. She just doesn’t know what I do exactly. She thinks I’m tough and that I protect all the girls. So, there was a scene with Rocky and his son. His son saw his Dad get beat up real bad. Maggie said to me, “Daddy, do you wear those gloves on your hands?” I said , “What are you talking about Maggie?” She said, “Do you have to put those gloves on your hands like Rocky to make money? Do you have to fight for money?” I said, “No baby, I don’t have to put gloves on my hands to make money. I don’t fight like that.” She said, “So Daddy, when the bad men come to our home to get us, they don’t know you don’t box?” She said, “I guess they don’t know they are bringing a knife to a gun fight.” I almost cried. It was a very special moment for me. I left the movie and went upstairs to tell my wife.

                I have NO idea where this 5 year old little girl got that. I know she heard it somewhere. What I was proud of most is she knew what it meant. That is my Maggie.

Reverend Hicks

I went through diversity and harassment training today. I was informed that the only class not protected by the law is white males under the age of 40. I did not know that. This came from a very reliable source of my company. I am only 34 so I guess in 6 years I will finally be protected too. This interaction made me think of a story – something that happened to me and maybe 20 other kids.  This story, I had forgotten. It happened to me a long time ago…

                I was in the ninth grade and I just come off of a season of being strong safety. I remember this because I was cool with everyone, but not the QB. I went to Forrest Heights Junior High in the Little Rock School District. We had this really old but nice Principal named Mr. Wise. He always started his speeches like this, “The Eagle is the only animal that can directly into the sun with its eyes open.” I don’t really know what that means, but he thought it was great. HE was an old school black dude. He grew up during Blacks being persecuted for sure. So it was Febuary, Black History month, the assembly is set, and its 9am on a Tuesday. We all loved assemblies because we got out of class and this assembly was no different. My school was probably 30% white and 68% black, ( so the math doesn’t mess anyone up we had 2% of the  kids that were not black and not white) as far as the ratios go. So the assembly starts…and so it begins…

                We did the pledge and Mr. Wise did his saying…”The Eagle Is The Only Animal That Can Fly Directly Into The Sun With His Eyes Open!”  I was with my class like any other assembly.  We got to see the drill team do their thing, then the cheerleaders. It was just like very assembly you have ever been to. Mr. Wise stepped back up to the podium and said, “I would like to introduce our key note speaker. He is a wise and good man from the community. …MR. REVEREND HICKS!”  and the applause.

               Reverend Hicks came up to the podium. He spoke into the microphone like a perfect student of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. He started out about how we need to come together as a people. Blacks and whites should love one another…..RIGHT?  No, That’s not what he did. Reverend Hicks came to the podium and said, “Be glad you’re Black. Everything you know about yourself is a lie. White people have enslaved you. White people have stolen from you, and White people want to see you fail. They expect it.” Then he said, “The light bulb wasn’t invented by Thomas Edison…it was invented by a Black man, and Edison stole it. The telephone was not invented by Alexander Graham Bell, it was invented by a Black man and Bell stole it.” I am not going to lie, at this moment my head started to get dizzy. I really was feeling sick. So I just got up and walked out. The teacher asked me where I was going; I didn’t answer. I just left.  Ok lets reset for a minute. What did I just do?  Whole school is in an assembly..You just left it. This is not a good idea. Pause. Pause. Pause.      

               So, now I just left an assembly in the middle of it, and I was out in the hallway…alone. My mind came back into focus, and I thought…dude you are in BIG trouble. I was not the best student and got into things all the time. (Let’s just say I knew the principal and the vice principals on a first name basis.) So, I did the only thing I knew to do. I headed to the office. Why did I head there? Number one is because I got into trouble so much it was default for me. Number two, I knew it was where I would end up anyways. Last, I knew the principal and vice principals were not there – they were in the assembly. So my mind came back to me while my legs were walking. What the heck am I going to do? So, I marched right up into the office and said, “I AM VERY SICK. I NEED TO CALL MY MOTHER!” They actually let me call my house, but my mom was not there to save me this time. (oh yeah, she saved me ALOT of times before and after this.) So, I sat there for a little while in the funky green chairs. Finally the secretary told me I had to go to the nurse’s office because I could not just sit there. So, what am I going to tell the nurse. I better have something or otherwise someone is gonna think I left the assembly because I didn’t like what I heard. I had nothing. I waited, still I had nothing. The lady said, “Dan you have to go to the nurse. We can’t get your mom.” So I left. I walked out of the office, and you would not believe what I saw. There were at least 10 white kids sitting with their backs to the wall in the hallway. They all looked at me as the door closed. I said,” What are you guys doing out here!” They said, “We saw you leave and so we left. What that dude was saying was wrong.” I was thinking good for you. I said,” So what are you guys doing?” They said, “Well, we are not listening to that.” I said, “Me neither guys. I told them I was sick.” Then some adult comes by and says, “Are you guys having a protest?” Some kid says, “Yep!” I thought, “Not good.” About that time a Vice Principal walked up with his walkie-talkie and said into it, “Yes, Yes, I got them all here.” He said, “Do you know what you guys have done? We are very concerned for your well being. You all must stay here so we can protect you.” One of the kids said, “Ok, what did we do?” He proceeded to tell us we offended the black students in the school. He said, “We are very concerned that you might get hurt.”  This one girl said,” Man, I am not scared of those kids.” He said,” Well you guys have to sit here until we know what to do.” So I’m sitting the hallway with my back against the wall talking to the kids. Notice by now, I didn’t go to the nurse. BAD MOVE! Let me tell you these kids were pissed. After like a few minutes I remembered I should be with the nurse. We waited about 30 minutes and the other Vice Principal came up and said, “What is the problem?” Man, all these kids had started shouting at him. He yelled, “WAIT, WAIT, WAIT. This isn’t going to work. You guys have to have a leader or a spokesman.” Every damn eye in that hallway looked at me. I was like WHOA…not my deal. He pointed his walkie-talkie antenna at me and said, “Dan, Ok, you’re the guy. Come with me.” So I left with him to his office. He reiterated how dangerous it was for us. He told me what we did was wrong and disrespectful. He said, “I hope you’re up to this… let’s go back out there.” So, we went back outside into the hall from his office and no one was there. He got on his walkie-talkie and said, “Where are they?” They had all been moved to the library for their protection. A Little Rock School District Associate Superintendant had arrived and took over. So the Vice Principal and I headed into the library…All eyes turned to us. The kids said, “There he is.” So I started telling the story about what happened to bring us there. This Superintendent told me,” You shut up. I don’t walk you talking. I want to have these children tell me what happened.” I said, “Ok.” He said, “Shut your mouth.” So I did. He asked the question to the group, “Ok guys. So tell me what happened. What’s the problem?” No one spoke. It went like this for like 1 or 2 minutes. He said, “Ok, you guys need to tell me what happened or you will all be suspended.” That same one girl spoke up and said, “Dan can speak for us. Talk to him.” So he calmed down a little and said, “Ok, Dan what happened.” I proceeded to tell him just what happened and why we were there. Those older people that worked there all saw what happened. Not one of us got hurt nor suspended. By the way I left school that day at the normal time finishing my classes. I rode home on my scooter. (It was sweet too. Not like these gay scooters everyone rides now.)

                 Not one Black kid said anything to me about what we did back then. I am to this day still close friends with some of those “offended Black kids”.  One particular black kid in the assembly by the name of John is one of my longest friends. 15 years later he asked me why we left the assembly that day. I said, “John, what the dude said was wrong. It just wasn’t true.” He said, “Dan, That sounds OK with me man.” We as children knew what was wrong. Also, that Associate Superintendent became my Principal in high school and one of the best men I have ever known. He is a very good man. I speak about him all the time to people.

So what is the point of this story? You need to take away what you want. I just told you the facts. I will say this. I got a call about 2 days after I left that assembly by a guy by the name of Reverend Hicks.

Please post anything you think about this story.

The Leprakid

One of the best times in my life….One of the best times in my life was when I was 14 years old. It was the summer. IF it was summer during those years I played baseball and a lot of it. This particular summer had landed me on a new team. I was really good at baseball, and so my parents moved me to a new league. This new league had better facilities and better competition. So, that meant I had to go through the draft. This league was called something like tinny bopper or something, and it was a 14-15 year old league. I went through the draft, did all their drills and was the best in the draft. So where did that land me? Yes, on the worst team in the league. This team had a total bunch of retards on it. The coach was a very nice man and was good to me. He had an assistant coach who had his 15 year old son on the team and I think all of the rest of these dudes rode in on the small bus, this included the Leprakid. The Leprakid was a 13 year old guy about 3 foot tall. I think this dude was some kind of genius cause he was always in the dugout talking about dumb **** that didn’t have anything to do with baseball. He talked about bugs and math and stuff like that. He had glasses and needed a ton of sunshine. Kinda looked like he lived on fruit roll ups or something. He got his name from me…Leprakid -because of what he did in the field. One inning he was playing right field. They only let him play right field because he was terrible. Leprakid knew exactly why he played right field, because he knew math. He knew mathmatically why he was in right field. He was in right field because there were less left-handed hitters than right-handed hitters, so less balls pulled to right field. That meant mathematically less balls would be hit to him in right field. It made the most perfect sense to this little home-schooled boy.  He got it.  He understood it.  So, to him that meant he had more time to think and dream and solve math problems while in the field.  His position came with all of that, and it also gave him the opportunity to get vitamin D- which he badly needed being that he was home schooled. ( Now that I think of it have you ever seen a really healthy tan on a home school kid? I haven’t.) So anyways, our team was really bad and pitching was a problem. One night we had a really long inning when Leprakid was in right field. He missed a pop fly just because he never saw the ball at all. I mean this dude was doing something else when the ball came off the bat. It landed straight down 3 feet from him and went limp on the ground. He never saw it, heard it, was never even close to even trying to catch it. We finally ended the inning and he came in. I saw him and said, “Man what the hell where you doing. He said, “Hey man I’m sorry, but look.” He held up his glove and had weaved clovers all through it. Well, being around baseball as much as anything else so far in my life. I had seen the clover basket baseball glove weaves plenty. I said, “So what you damn knucklehead, We had to stay out there another 15 minutes cause you were not paying attention.” He said, “No look.” So a couple of us looked closer. This kid had like 30 clovers all weaved though his glove. That’s not that cool, but all of these clovers were 4 leaf clovers. I am not playing… it must have been 30 or 40..4 leaf clovers. I had never seen a 4 leaf clover before and I don’t think I have seen one since. We made him pull them out of the weave in his glove slowly one by one to verify if they were all 4 leaf clovers. They all were. This is why he was the Leprakid.

There is more to this story……

One other thing. If you want me to email you when the blog is updated you must email dl_dicker@yahoo.com so I can add you to the list. I will add everyone that emails their email address to me. Thanks for the good feedback. ;)

The Art of Communication

This blog will be on the art of communication. I will talk about any range of topics surrounding that idea. So now we begin. Feel free to post a comment about anything you want.

 

The Alien Primer

 

What will be laid out before you are truths about communication. How it affects us all in every phase of our life. These concepts will be based on psychological, visual, verbal, and spiritual means of communicating. I will spend particular time on how all great movements and moments in history come from individuals that have the ability to transform people, ideas, and their environment. We are not talking about Captains of industry, Professional athletes, or the dreamers of great new technologies. I will define and explain who the people are that make all things come in motion. These people have been famous, infamous, and some you have never heard their name. These people walk the earth with us now and you may be one. I want to show you how to recognize these aliens among us.

A primer is to give you a guide that helps you understand something much more complex. This is a Key..a Rosetta stone if you will. There are going to be many meanings, ideas, and thoughts in the blog that will challenge you. These ideas will exist on many different levels. The levels we all communicate in are mental, physical, emotional, verbal and spiritual. From this blog you can learn how to recognize the individuals with these skills. You can increase your own abilities to communicate.

An alien has different characteristics than what is normal. It comes from a different place than what you know. Aliens seem strange or foreign, communicate differently, and possess a radically different view than what you know or can see. I want you to understand who they are. How they operate. When they are present and why they are able to possess so many extraordinary abilities.

From this blog you can pull many ideas. It is very important that you pull at least one message from this blog. The information in this blog will affect you whether you understand it or not. The information contained in this blog is not new, but it is very rare and endanger of being lost. The few that have it protect it because it is extremely valuable. I have decided to share this information with you because our world depends on it. These ideas were given to me from experiences, people, books, and my ancestors. What I am teaching is a special craft few individuals ever get the opportunity to learn. I have been moved to put these most important teachings down as a record. I hope that this blog changes you in many ways to be more able succeed, protect and provide for yourself and family, and bring new light to the truth of the way the world is.

 So now here is the question. How do you turn rice into a gourmet dinner?     

How do we find security?

      I remember this beautiful blonde little girl. School was out for the day and she just walked into the house from the bus that dropped her off at the end of the drive. She was tired and hungry.  As all growing children do they head to the pantry or the fridge to find an after school snack. After looking and finding nothing that interested her she calls out, “Dad I want something to eat.” So, I say, “Well find yourself something.” She says, “There is nothing in there to eat.” I say, “What??? Well, baby I know there is because I paid for it. Let me come help you look.” So, I take her from the fridge to the pantry seeing what we have to choose from.  What I saw was eggs (everyone has eggs or should in the fridge), butter (we all have butter), some onion (most of us have onion), carrots (they help you see good at night), and soy sauce (In my life we have always had this one in there too.) Now I move to the pantry and I see rice(we all have rice no matter what). So I said, “How about Japanese night.” She said, “Woohoo…SWEET.” So I procceded to make her some fried rice. It took me like 15 minutes. I think it cost me about 22 cents to make, maybe 25 cents because I only use the GOOD butter. So as I cooked she talked about school and how her day went and I listened to her stories.  After I was done cooking she ate a whole plate of fried rice. She finished up and took her plate to the sink, turned around,rubbed her belly as she licked her lips and said, “Dad that was the best Japanese night ever.” I said, “Cool I’m glad you liked it. Now go do your homework.” ..and she did.

That’s how you turn rice into a gourmet meal!

    Please forgive me when I answer the question about security with the word fear. Fear is the word we must deal with first. I understand that security is something we all need. Security means love, shelter, purpose. I know that we are all dealing with those “real life things”. We have had our fortunes lost, our jobs lost and our future take from us in the last few months. Some of us don’t know how to pay our bills. Lost our retirement. We are all worried about our future and the future of children. All of these things are real issues. I want to make the argument that security is a state of mind. Security is something we can do something about. WE think of more barriers, more police, more walls for security. All of those things do not give you security. When you think of your job, and you may be fired at any moment. Do you worry about what you will do? When you think of you home and how you will pay for it? Do you worry about where the money will come from? When you think about your husband do you worry if he loves you and no one else? How will you keep him? When you think of your child, do you worry if they will be happy? If you can get your life right you will not worry about those things. Those types of issues are real. Those issues are human and very important. You will find “security” if you know the answer to those types of things. Security is having a idea of the future. It is about having hope and doing something about the hope. It is about having a purpose to your life. Money, walls, and guards don’t give you security. Governments DO NOT give you security. Your hope, your mind, your god, your belief in something better to come gives you security. Do not let the now overwhelm you. Let your hope, your intellectual mind, and your God give you security. Have faith, have hope, and take action for your security. Hope is your state of mind.