Blacura - The Irony

I took a look at the mail today and saw that the EZ Pass transponder for Blacura had arrived. We ordered it for Robert since he would be driving between home and Penn State and wanted to make the commute just a bit easier. It was ordered a couple of days prior to his accident, and arrived less than a week after.

So if that is not enough irony for you, consider that the check to re-register Blacura cleared the same day as the accident.

Want more? Blacura was detailed the day prior to the accident.

And I won't forget that we paid over $1,000 in Blacura maintenance expense to have the car prepared for its journey to Penn State.

Timing is everything, or so I'm told...

New Toy

I know I should not have started that subscription to a running magazine. It was only $10 for a one year, but I should have known it would end up costing me much more. I just could not resist that watch with a built-in GPS receiver that was advertised on the last page of the first issue I received.

But that watch is really cool! Of course it tells the time, as well as how long I ran. But, in addition, you guessed it, it tells you with great accuracy how far you ran. And then, when you download the runs into their website, it gives you your pace for each mile, your elevation changes, and it shows your exact path via Google maps. And it even shows the pace at each moment of your run! So now Pam is calling me a geek, but I can live with that given how cool this watch is.

The watch is made by Garmin, the car GPS people. I'm sure there are lots of other companies making similar watches, I know I saw an ad for one by Timex. But be assured, I still run in t-shirts and cheap shorts from Marshalls. I promise I won't buy those $15 socks that they say are so special...but good sneakers are another story!

Near Disaster - RIP Blacura

Thursday night Robert and three good friends went to see the Philadelphia Union professional soccer game. On the way home, near the Linc (that would be Lincoln Financial Field, where the Eagles play, for those outside of Philly), Robert stopped with traffic at a construction site. Unfortunately, the guy behind him, driving a big SUV, didn't stop, at least not until he ran into the back of blacura at about, Robert guesses, 30 to 40 miles per hour.

Blacura was so named because it is a black Acura - get it? Of course, the black 1999 Acura TL has a vanity license plate that reads BLACURA. The plate does get attention; Crista was telling us today about the time she was leaving WaWa (a local 7-11 type store) only to find a young boy taking pictures of the license plate.

Robert and his front seat passenger were not at all hurt. The airbags did deploy, probably helping to keep them safe. The rear passengers, Matt and Callie, were hit with a lot of shattered glass from the rear window and one of the rear side door windows. They were bleeding from the glass, but were remarkably healthy after the crash.

Pam and I raced down to the accident site to do what parents do, and then to give everybody a ride home. It was a relief to see the kids in good spirits after their near disaster.

In looking for a new used car for Robert and Crista, we decided we would not look at another Acura, especially a black Acura. This blacura was actually blacura number 2; the original blacura (a black Acura CL) was totalled by a drunk driver while parked in front of our house. The drunk driver drove away dragging the car's front bumper. When stopped by a local police officer, the driver denied hitting our car...go figure. So, after two blacura's being totalled, we decided not to tempt fate. Enough is enough.

The next car for Robert and Crista, if Pam has her way, will be a tank. A really, really big tank.

Just Wait 'till Next Season!!

Roller hockey playoffs started a few weeks ago. We finished the season 8-2 and in first place, so we got to play the 8th place team for the first game. That was an easy game, 8-0, mercy rule at the end of the second period.

The semi-final game was much tougher, we won 3-2 in a nail biter. It was the kind of game that you love to win, hate to lose. Fortunately for us, we were on the right side of the final score.

So the championship game was this morning. It was our third championship game in the last four seasons, so you would think I wouldn't be too excited, right? But no, every playoff game brings real anticipation. Sure, it's not the NHL, it's just the bronze league at the Northeast Racquetball Club, but still...it gets the blood flowing!

To make a long story short, we lost our championship game today to the Pylons, 6-5. Which was exactly how we started the season, with a 6-5 loss to the Pylons. Such symmetry. Damn symmetry.

So what to do about another loss in the championship game? Easy, blame the refs!

Robert Left for PS Tonight

Robert was home this week for spring break. It seems like he just got home, and off he goes returning to school. He's having fun at school and his grades are, as far as he admits, still very good. After not seeing him for months, it's really great to have him back, even if only for a week, and even if he spends most of his waking hours with his friends. The biggest change when he is home is that the decibel level seems to increase exponentially. While he is not as loud as he was when he was younger, he still pumps out the vocal volume. My relatives nicknamed us the Loud Family.

Right now he is driving back with Chris, his roommate for next year. It reminds me of roadtrips of my youth, making an adventure out of a simple trip. I hope these trips, indeed his whole school experience, leave him with memories that will last a lifetime. What a great age he's at, what a great experience it is for him being a college student.

I already miss him. In two months he'll be home for the summer.

Crista is Going to Penn State!!!

Crista made up her mind this week, she is going to Penn State! Yes, it makes me happy...for lots of reasons. Right now you're thinking I'm happy because PS is a state school and it will save us big bucks compared to the private schools she was considering. I won't deny it, that does factor into the equation, but it's far from the only reason, far from the most important reason. PS provides a great education, has a terrific campus, isn't too far from home, and has outrageous school spirit. And there's more...but I'll save that for another post.

While Pam and I are thrilled with Crista's decision, her big brother, a PS sophomore, is not at all happy. I'm not sure I understand that feeling, the campus is so big that he won't see her unless he wants to see her. But I'm sure he'll be on call to fix her laptop when it crashes.

Which makes me think about August when Pam and I will be empty nesters. That will be interesting, a mixture of quiet and loneliness that will make for a strange change. At least Crista will welcome our phone calls, unlike her brother, Robert, who reacts to them like they are a dose of poison. I'm not ready for this empty nester thing, maybe we need to have another child...kidding!

While I'm on Pet Peeves

This is another thing that just drives me crazy. I see this every morning on my drive to work.

Why do people double park when there are open parking spaces only a couple car lengths away? Sure, it would be nice to always park right in front of your destination, but can't you park 25 feet away and walk? And you think it's just fine to disrupt and slow down rush hour traffic to save yourself a few steps? Come on people, you are not the sun, and the earth does not revolve around you.

Now I feel better.

A Snow Pet Peeve

This drives me absolutely nuts.

Why do people not clear the snow off the top of their cars before driving off?

It's dangerous - don't they understand that snow flying off their cars can create a hazard for the people driving behind them? Really, it's not that complicated to understand. So, are they just flat out lazy? Or are they just simply rude? You don't need anything fancy to clear the snow, an old broom will work just fine. And if you can't find a broom, just use your hands. Seriously.

And Even More Snow...

Ok, the first snow storm was kind of cool. But again and again?

So in preparation for the upcoming snow, I started and warmed up my second (smaller and older) snow blower. I put fresh gas in it and it started on the second pull. Since I had this snow blower in the shop over the summer to have it prepped for the winter, I wasn't surprised that it started easily. Not surprised, but still relieved.

So the snow starts Tuesday night and just keeps on coming. I go out Wednesday morning to snow blow the sidewalk and driveway. Being cocky because of the easy snow blower start the day before, I fill up the tank and pull on the starter rope. And I pull and I pull. And pull some more. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Then I notice gas leaking from the carburetor. I never did get to use this snow blower during the storm. For those of you counting, that makes two broken snow blowers in one week.

That meant shoveling. Five hours of shoveling. Two hours in the morning, two hours in the afternoon, and then one hour just prior to bed time. For anybody that had to do something similar, I have one word for you: ibuprofen. And if you want to do it right, take the ibuprofen before you start working, not after.

I actually don't mind shovelling. It's nice to do something and see immediate results. But then again, as soon as a path was cleared, it was covered again with fresh snow. But it was a truly beautiful snow, just too much of it.

Can you believe they are calling for another three to six inches of snow next week?

Snow!

As I write this, we have 18 inches of snow down, and the possibility of several more inches to follow. So far, this is the sixth heaviest snow fall in recorded Philadelphia history. It's Saturday, I have a snowblower and gas, so this should be fun, right?

Sure, it's fun, but my staff and I manage a 24x7 emergency call center, so we have to worry about getting the staff in and keeping them there as long as they can stand it. The management team is great, as is the call center staff, so that helps to keep the stress levels in check. But it's still a worry. Thinking back, I haven't been able to truly enjoy a snow fall for 25 years, as I've always had to deal with staffing issues.

The staff is in, so far so good. Now I just have to decide when to go snowblow...that is, until the 5:00 shift change.

Changing my Email Address...more

I thought I was totally done with my email address change, but I was only close. Even after changing my email address, some sites continued to send to the old address, and two sites were sending to both the old address and the new address. I'm thinking that the sites that sent to both old and new addresses do so as procedure, playing it safe for the first email after the change, then deleting the old address. At least I can hope that's the case.

The thing that bothered me the most about the process is that so many sites make it difficult to change your email address. They do make it one-click simple to be deleted, typically by way of a link on one of their emails, but not so simple to change. Easy to delete, but difficult to change? That shouldn't be. Fact of life, people change email addresses for any number of reasons.

Fingers crossed that I'm done with this. It was worth it, gmail is good and I'm no longer tied to comcast...oops, forgot about my wife who doesn't want to change from her perfect comcast email address. Another project for another time.

Changing my Email Address

For years I have used a comcast.net email address. And for years I have watched my Comcast bill go up and up and up. So I started thinking that I might want to change to FIOS or some other alternative. Changing from Comcast's TV service would be easy, and with FIOS I might even get better picture quality. I still use Verizon for telephone service, so that wouldn't be an issue. And changing internet providers would be a snap too...except for that email address that is used not only for friends and family, but also for so many business transactions. The bank, telephone company, monthly parking bill, credit cards, select mailings, and website sign-ons are all tied to my email address. It would be easy to let inertia control the situation and do nothing, but my anger over the Comcast bill was too great, and I needed to prepare to move on.

I sat in front of the TV, laptop in hand, and started the process. I decided gmail would be the way to go, and I found an email address that worked for me. I sent out an email to family and friends and advised them of the change - that was simple enough. Then came the businesses. For the most part, it went well, just a bit time consuming. I had previously kept a file that listed all the sites where I had an account, thank heavens for that. Of course, there were a few places I forgot to list in the file, but no big deal.

But there were some pain points. Live Nation, the ticketing company, just doesn't want to let go of the old email address. I was so frustrated with them that I deleted my old account and made a new one; but they still send to the old email address and still do not send to the new one. Ok, there is probably a logical explanation for this, but it escapes me. I even sent multiple emails to them to check to see if I had some other account tied to the old email address (which I am certain I don't), but I received no response. And Parkway, the parking management company in Philadephia, seems totally disinterested. I sent their customer service department an email asking them to change the email address and to reply advising that they had done so. No response. I sent four follow ups asking if it had been done, still no follow up. Is there any possible excuse for that? I guess I'll have to call them next week to get this done...I expect I'll be on hold until my patience runs out and I hang up. And Verizon, after changing my email address, they insist on sending emails to both the old and the new address...go figure.

So the email change is just about done. A few pain points, but for the most part, a successful project. So when the next Comcast increase comes along, and I can't get another 6 month price reduction, I'm ready to make the change.

Teamwork

We won our hockey game today 9-1. (Observant readers will recall that it's the same score as last week.) Funny thing is, the other team (the Bullies) had just as much talent as our team, and maybe more. Indeed, the Bullies were probably 10 years younger than us on average. (My 53 years does skew our average age up!) But we outplayed them from start to finish. The difference was teamwork.

Teamwork makes up for all sorts of shortcomings. Think about teamwork in your home life, with your family. My wife cooks and does the laundry, and my teamwork contribution is to...ok, bad example. But teamwork in my office is fantastic. We share the work load and help each other out all day long. We take advantage of each individual's strengths so as to provide the best service possible. And since people generally like to play to their strengths, this approach has been very effective. Teamwork allows us to do more with less, and takes difficult work and makes it fun. (And since I can't possibly say it enough, here's a great big thank you to all my teammates at work for being the great people that they are!)

In my high school years I played basketball, a true team sport. Around the age of 30 I traded my basketball in for a nice street bike, and instead of shooting jumpers, I took long solo bike rides. I enjoyed the fresh air, the exercise, and the time to think random thoughts. These were good times.

At the age of 40 I picked up my first hockey stick and soon after I was playing competitive roller hockey in Philadelphia. Hockey is another true team sport. We win and we lose as a team; no individual wins a game, and no individual loses a game. It has been great sharing the exhilaration of winning, and it has been comforting to share the disappointment of losing. And there is a special feeling knowing that someone on the team has your back, and you have theirs.

While I had great enjoyment in my individual pursuit of solo bike riding, I have really found great joy in the teamwork of hockey. At some point I will no longer be able to keep up with my teammates, and maybe then I'll re-find the joy of an individual sport. Until then, I'll keep enjoying the stench of a hockey locker room.

808

I was away from home at business meetings this week. I arrived home late Friday night and after catching up on all I missed, I went to bed late. So I woke up late this morning, at 8:08 to be exact.

Looking at my alarm clock showing a bold 808, it flooded me with memories. Look at the clock just right, and what does 808 look like? Why, BOB, of course. So 808 has always been a special number to me. Sounds weird, but I have always been a bit of a number geek. I probably should have been an accountant! Which is interesting, since Robert is studying accounting at Penn State.

The house we lived in before moving to the Philadelphia area was in DC. To be exact, it was at 808 Aspen Street. Yes, 808. Coincidence? My wife swears I bought that house for two reasons: one being it was 808, the other being that the closets had lights that automatically turned on when closet doors opened. How could I not love this house?

808 Aspen was a super house in a great location. And by great location, I mean funky location. Probably the worst thing about the location was the pay phone a couple of blocks down the street on Georgia Avenue. Remember pay phones? Drug dealers would sell in locations near pay phones, so the location attracted some undesirables. It was mostly after dark and far enough away so that it didn't bother or affect us, but it did cause some concern when we thought we would be raising our children there.

The pay phone would get vandalized every once in a while. I always thought it was the neighbors doing their best to move the drug dealers farther down the street. I never did find out for sure, but breaking the phone served its purpose...until the telephone company fixed it. That was back when the telephone company actually provided good service, unlike now when you call and get some automated system that tries to figure out your problem, but rarely does. Which provides material for another post, for another day.

Penn State

From the picture posted on the left side of this blog, you might guess that I am a Penn State fan. And you would be correct! The picture was taken in front of the Palmer Museum of Art on the Penn State campus. I was there to pick up my son, Robert, at the end of the spring semester. While Robert and I were visiting the museum, my wife, Pam, and my daughter, Crista, were seeing the Rockettes at the Bryce Jordan Center. Robert, a sophomore, had not yet been in the Palmer Museum, and really wasn't expecting much. But what a surprise! There were some great pieces of art in there, and of a nice variety too. There were quite a few old paintings that were simply wonderful, as well as modern sculptures, such as one done completely in sharpened pencils. If you are on campus, or even just nearby, make it a point to drop in.

Robert had a few great options for college, including NYU business school and Boston College. He ultimately chose Penn State for the academics, beautiful campus, and sense of community. The big time football program was probably a factor too, but I don't think he would admit that. And it didn't hurt that a few of his good friends also decided it was right for them.

I am in awe of the school spirit the Penn State students demonstrate. Not only are they the country's number one student section at football games, they do amazing charity work with their annual THON dance marathon. THON raises money to fight childhood cancer, raising over $7,000,000 in 2009, and nearly $60,000,000 since its inception in 1973. Whenever I see somebody wearing Penn State attire, I ask them about their Penn State experience. I have not yet heard one person say anything less than they loved it. And I have asked a lot of people!

My daughter will start college in September, and Penn State, at which she was recently accepted, is at or near the top of her list. American University (Pam's alma mater), Villanova and West Chester are still possibilities.

We are fortunate in the state of Pennsylvania (actually a commonwealth) to have several quality state schools that cost about half of what similar private schools cost. It is really a shame what is happening with the cost of higher education; middle class families struggle mightily to help their children attend college, while less fortunate families have severely limited options. Let's hope that something is done to reign in college costs before only the wealthy can afford to attend.

Why not blog?

I enjoy writing and sharing my thoughts, and what better way to do that than by blogging? I guess I'll find out soon enough if anybody out there is listening. At the very least, this can be like a diary, except for the small matter that there is no lock or key to keep my words from others.

It was a good time at the roller hockey rink this morning, we beat the Inebriators 9-1 (you have to love the team names people come up with - their jerseys had a mug of beer for their team logo). But don't worry about us getting too cocky, our Thursday night team lost last week 8-0. My Sunday team, Draft B, is made up of a great bunch of guys. We like to win, but our primary objective is to have fun and enjoy the competition. Captain Jim O'Brien named us Draft B because we started out as the second (and last) draft team set up by the league back about ten years ago. Draft teams are thrown together with guys that don't already come as part of a team. None of us knew any of the others when we started, so it was a challenge to keep the team together for very long. But, so many years later, much of the original team is still intact.

My Thursday night team, OGD, standing for Original Genuine Draft, was another team that started out as a draft team. The Sunday team and the Thursday team share many of the same players. It helps playing with the same guys on a regular basis, as we know each other's tendencies and abilities, which is critical for good teamwork. All of which reminds me of how important teamwork is in so many areas of life...a subject I should address in another post!

Until next time...