Is Your Sippy Cup Half Full Or Half Empty

I was reading my Newsweek this week and ran across a interesting figure. It reminded me to blog. By the end of 2007 there will be 100 million bloggers. I didn't know whether they included my blog in that figure or not. I have to start writing more because I'd hate for there to only be 99,999,999 bloggers at the end of the year.

We had Will's baseball party last night. The season is over for the Red Sox. He smiles everytime he looks at his trophy. And smile he should because anyone who watched them play definitely smiled too. It was fun.

I was telling the coaches last night, Will truly likes to play baseball. Not even once did he ever say he didn't want to go. Our days in the backyard are filled with him saying "Dad pitch me a ball".

I know children look up to adults, but we can also learn from them. When I throw to Will he misses at least 9 out of 10 times. But he seldom gets discouraged. He's ready to try again. When he does make contact he cheers like its the greatest thing that's ever happened to him. And when he's telling you about his homerun he never mentions that he missed the previous 9 times. Focusing on success not failure.

And no matter how much success or failure you have there is always a rainbow snowcone waiting for you at the end.

Missing and Out of Action

I haven't posted in a week or so. Here's the story:

Got Dish Network folks to come and put a receiver in my bedroom, which I should have done 6 weeks earlier when I was spending a majority of my day in bed. Now that I am up and moving again, I get satellite...go figure. But anyways...after they installed it my DSL started to move very, very slow. I ran a speed test and it was slower than dial-up. The Mr-fix it in me figured they knocked some wires loose at the side of the house where the phone lines and TV lines are close. As much as I tried I could not fix it.

On to the never ending phone tree at the AT&T DSL help desk. After 10 or 15 minutes or so Jack answered the phone. Sure, Jack sounds like an all-American kid from the Mid-West, but, no, he was from somewhere of which I could barely understand a word. 10 minutes later he said my problem was fixed (I think) and I say thanks and hang up. By the way never hang up....it wasn't fixed. So I started over.

By the end of the whole ordeal the 3rd person I talked to figured out that the TV guys had plugged in the receiver's telephone line into the modem side of a filter. I unplugged it and it was like a miracle.

And to think it only took a little under a week to figure it out. I woke up this morning and the coffee pot will not make coffee. I may go a week without Internet, but coffee is a different matter. No help desk, no press 1 press 2 press 1 press 3 press 4, no fixing it at all. To much is at stake. Just a quick trip to the store, where the only Jack I hope to find is at the register.

A Week I'm Glad To See Gone

This is the week I went back to work. 6 straight days in fact. I did it that way on purpose because we usually work 8 or 9 hour days. I decided to make my days shorter and work more of them. It worked pretty well. But it was, by far, my toughest week since my surgery. I didn't necessarily hurt...I told myself if I start hurting I'd take some Ibuprofen and I never felt like I needed any. The only way I can describe it is a dull ache. Aching in my back and legs. After each day I felt like I had run a couple of miles. Not to be confused with the cramping pain in my legs before surgery. But I must say each morning I felt better and Saturday was easier than Monday. I think over the 6 weeks at home I went from a D in physical fitness to a F. I never thought I was in any shape at all before, but this week has proven different. I think maybe this week or the next I will be back in the little shape I was in.

All you can do is take 1 day at a time. Do the things you are supposed to do and avoid the things you can't. At the end of the day you can't forget to rest and give God thanks for the opportunity you had to do your best.

I'm glad this week is over and I'm looking forward to my opportunities in the next week.

Credit Not A Minute Too Soon

Within about 4 or 5 hours of writing the last post, Dallas lost in their bid to win 18 in a row. I guess a new streak begins today!

Good Week To Be A Sports Fan (for most)

I returned back to work today. I was really excited about it even though it was only a half day. Tomorrow will be much of the same with Wednesday being the push to a 9 hour day.

Today has been good though. My back hurts very little. I feel more like I used to feel after playing full court basketball at the YMCA for a couple of hours. My legs and back are just kinda achy. I'm confident my legs will catch up in the next week or so. I just have to remember to be careful while it still heals over the next month or two.

It's awesome that the Razorbacks are in the NCAA tournament. Even more awesome that they play the late game Friday, so I won't miss it. Every non-Arkansas opinion is really complaining that the Hogs are going to the tournament with the record they had. Consider, though, the Razorbacks have better rankings that all those left out...even Syracuse has an RPI ranking of 50 compared to our 35. Plus we have a much tougher schedule. If you're Drexel don't complain until you don't have a loss to Rider or William & Mary. I don't know what the controversy is all about. Beating USC will make all the haters go away, and we should beat them (unless they bring the football team to the court). Otherwise we may not get a nod in close situations in the future.

Also while I am on sports...my Dallas Mavericks have won 17 in a row and have a record of 52-9. Of course if they were 9-52 they would be "the" Dallas Mavericks not "my"!

What's cool about the Mavericks this year is that after the first 4 games of the year they had 4 losses and no wins. Worst week of the season right off the bat. Proof that even though your situation may not start good...in the long run it may be the start of something awesome.