Friends - True or Not

"Friends, how many of us have them….friends," taking this from hip-hop group Whodini! For those that do not know this song you should look it up and listen to it. Not only is it entertaining but also true to an extent. The song is mainly geared towards relationships between men and women after the first verse. The first verse is where I am going with this blog. I worked with a girl who I thought we were really cool and this is strictly on a friend level. She started working here after me, I helped her during her new hire training and continuing education training on the job. We then ended up working together on the same team. We started working even closer on the same project together and carpooling to work. I stating this because all the time we spent together we would talk about everything and have no shame towards one another. We both had our personal problems that we talked about daily. Then you know how a situation comes up and you find out who your friends really are. Well this happened with us.

The project ended and then it came back up again. This time I was the only one chosen to implement the project. This is where things went downhill. It was the same old cliché. She got upset because she was not chosen for the project. First of all she knows this was bad and who cares. From the beginning of the first project management knew I put forth all the work and ingenuity to put it together because I kept them involved because I needed their help. This was obvious I did the work and she did nothing. While she was leaving work early or not showing up was noticed as well. While I was gone she threw me under the bus by bad mouthing me to everyone and trying to take all the credit for the first project. What she didn’t know was the feedback from the people we was completing the project for provided stated as such to her lack of performance and involvement. She did it to herself. Then the project was completed again and I had to return to my home work location. I then tried to approach her and she had attitude so I left her alone and let all that nonsense be on her. Nothing was my fault on this and she could not and still refuses to recognize her faults in many situations. This is where I am going with this blog.

Since then her life has just feel apart and a lot of what she told me comes up to be false. She said was married but come to find out since they split up no divorce is needed. She said her supposed to be husband cheated on her which she cheated on him. She has tried to make him look like the villain which he is just upset and hurt which she refuses to acknowledge. She wants everyone to be one her side and have pity for her. Well if she knew me like she says she would know I am not the pity party type person and especially when you lie. Still I try to help her and she continues to lie. For those out there in similar situations; if the person calls themselves your good friend but refuses to be completely honest and claims to always be completely honest, then keep them at arm’s length and sometime you have to let them bury themselves for them to realize who their true friends are.

Speech and Money

Some things are really really bad. I look at yahoo almost daily for stories for my blogging. Today I see another story about money within NCAA football. It discusses implementing a playoff system to prevent schools from paying so much money out of pocket for trips to bowl games. LSU is school mentioned in this article how much money they spent on players, coaches, marching band and school president tickets for the game. The schools are complaining they should not have to spend money on tickets. Although I agree but only in one aspect; the player’s family should all be comp tickets because of their hard work, dedication, pain and injuries to get their team to a bowl game. I think the players deserve this. School president and coach don’t because they already getting a high salary and can afford to pay for themselves as well as their families. Not to upset anyone but this only my humble opinion. If I was coach it would not bother me to pay for my family. I pay for my family now on little league level when we travel to play in championship tournaments. All this is another ploy for schools to make more money from bowl games to put in school pocket for them to spend it unwisely!

 I don’t think I will ever understand how freedom of speech actually works. All you here about is how someone should not have said this and that, how unprofessional, how dare they say that, and the response keep going. I wrote about freedom of speech a few blogs ago and how quick another person is being thrown under the bus for a response to a rude comment. I speaking in regards to NHL Florida Panthers COO responded to a NHL NJ Devil fans tweet. The fan called the COO a butt in good wording terms and he responded by letting her know her opinion does not matter. She took it personal talking about how terrible of a response that is brcause he is the COO. HHMMMMM? I take it this means one person is free to say whatever they want but be careful what you say for a response because you are wrong to express your opinion. I just do not get this. Just because he is a COO does not mean he is not a person. Just because he is a COO how does that make him better than anyone in regards to how he should speak? This is ridiculous. The NJ Devils fan called him an improper name and he let her know he wasn’t going to accept that so let’s move on. Blame the media and holier than thou people who cannot respect someone else’s opinion. Shame on them to act like self-opinion is truth or fact and someone else should acknowledge and accept what they say. All this because as a COO protecting his team decided not to sell a plastic rat for fans to throw on the ice for certain plays made during the game! Really!

Like my classmate!

I am going to take a page from a classmate and blog on several stories. Right now there is not too much going on that is really catching my eye. I did see a story about a 7 year old girl with no hands who won a national award for penmanship. That’s right you heard me, no hands and won penmanship award. The little girl name is Annie Clark who lives in the Pittsburgh, PA area. She was born with no hands and has learned to write with using her forearms. She holds the writing utensil in between her forearms. The story goes on to say how little Annie takes pride in her work and wants to make sure she does her writing correctly. How nice and wonderful is that! This is so great to see, hear and read about. With all the tragedies, political badgering and gossip; this story is a breath of fresh air!

 I really do not care that a secret service agent stated he was checking out Sarah Palin. This is not going to affect my life at all. This is just not news worthy story. I will say Sarah is not a bad looking lady, but Tina Fey is much better!! Should I say smarter too? All I can see coming out of this is proving how our government spends too much of our tax dollars on dumb stuff and this is President Obama fault. The Republicans will probably twist this to say this happened under Obama and OBiden watch so they are terrible for this. Oops, I pulled a Sarah Palin, I meant to say Biden. There is not much you can do when something like this happens. I say to fire these secret service agents based on the evidence. We do not need to spend any extra tax dollars to have an investigation completed to get details of this foolishness. If the government conducts an investigation than they are a part of the same foolishness!

Zimmerman is able to post bail. This case is going to be a long drawn out ugly trial in the media. It is not the same but very similar to the OJ case. This is going to be ugly. The prosecution will need to have plenty of substantial evidence to make the charges stick Zimmerman apologized to Martin family for killing their son. I don’t think it was accepted. Can you blame the family? I hope and pray that the Martin family continue on and remain strong. On the other hand how ironic is it that Zimmerman lawyer wants to keep Zimmerman where about a secret out of fear for his life. They must have forgotten already that he murdered a child. I just think it is funny how they trying to portray Zimmerman as a victim in this case. I cannot see anyone walking up to this man to try to do anything because you may not walk away on your own two feet! Rest in peace Trayvon Martin.

Stress

I am really stressed right now. I have so much going on that is becoming overwhelming. My brain is in over load mode. I have so much information to retain from all directions. I have to remember information for work, school, family, friends, coach for football, medical issues information and household bills. I am not looking for a pity party. I am just expressing my thoughts to get some stress relief by talking about it. I am currently searching for a new job to make more money. I have kept my low paying job for way too long and it is time to move on. We know how it is. If you do not get the promotion you were promised then it is time to move on. I know this is part of corporate America. Anyway, I have a phone interview. Can you believe I have to prep for a 30 minute phone interview? Well I do. Do not take this wrong, I am grateful for even being chosen for a phone interview. I am going in the direction of how things have changed. Things have changed in more ways than one.

I miss my younger days of no responsibility. All I had to do was go to school, do house chores and go outside to play. As I stated previous paragraph I am stressed now. There is so much responsibility to maintain it causes stress, especially when you have very limited help within your household. Let’s say I have a house full of grown folks and a pet dog. Why do I have to come home from work to make sure the dog is taking care of properly? This is something no one should have to stress over. Well, I do because of how the people in my house do not think and seem to be grateful with having a place to stay. Like today, I have this interview I need to prep for. I am unable to because my dog is sick and no one wants to help me out and keep an eye on my dog to help me out. These are the things we deal with for family. I really want to get a new job to make more money to be able to provide and help them get on their feet. I think I need to demand a little more gratitude from them before I start breaking my back for them. I try to be nice and not be selfish. I do not want to be selfish. Ungrateful people really try you but we must maintain our positive mind state in order to receive our many blessing for being a caring and giving person.

I will make tonight a late night and early morning to prep for my phone interview tomorrow and hope for the best. I will work on managing my time a lot better to relieve some stress through exercise which I plan to start on Monday. If any other ideas I am open to what you have!

My 21st

It is hard sometimes when you are losing a friend in a good way. I have a friend who is moving away to another part of the country. Congratulations to him on his promotion and move to Orlando, FL. I am speaking about my fraternity brother Chris. We have gained a relationship between an older fraternal brother and a younger fraternal brother. I am of course am the older brother. I have been in our fraternity for 20 years to his seven years. I have been active and a willing participant in our fraternity since day one. I had a pledge process from the old school ways before all the changes we have in place today. I wouldn’t change a thing on how I became a member of my fraternity. I guess you are wondering why I am talking about this topic in this blog. Well let me give some informational insight.

As an older brother it is our responsibility to be the mentor on the ways and means in the fraternity. I actually should say there is proper etiquette and protocol within our fraternity. I am always looking to be the bridge builder for those who become a member after me. It is very similar to how we should be within our families as well except I am the youngest in my immediate family. As the younger members came into our fraternity there was a gap in understanding how things should work in the fraternity. Chris was still down at the school we pledged at for some years until he graduated. He then moved back home to Kansas City where I currently reside. We just happen to see each other at a get together at our home chapter which is at the school we both pledged at. We started talking and seen we lived right by each other literally. He stays across the grass opening in front of my home. I explained to him how I am willing to help him learn about our fraternity if he wanted to learn. He said he wanted to learn. Soon we started to spend time together and talking a lot about our fraternity. We have road tripped together and during these road trips I taught him a lot.

He ended up being like my young wing man. I actually have seen him grow within the fraternity. I watched him start being a bridge builder with the members who came in behind him. He has learned and has taking on that role. When he told me he was going for this promotion I had full confidence he was going to achieve his goal. Now it is time already for me to let him go and continue his journey to become the best he can be. He has so much potential in him that he can only be successful in life. I wish him the best and have the utmost respect and confidence in him on his future endeavors. I never want to nor will try to get away from him. See It Through!

To Eat or not to Eat

What are weddings coming to? It seems it has come to the point of using feeding tubes. Yes, I said feeding tubes. Is it really that bad or important to focus on how you look on your wedding day? I am not stating or demeaning a person’s wedding day. I just do not see having a feeding tube to make sure I lose weight to fit my clothes nor my girlfriend for that matter. If you are getting sized that early it seems common sense would say do not like a pig. Maintain a health meal routine and steady exercise to help maintain the size you need to fit your wedding wardrobe. The name of this feeding tube diet is called K-E diet.

This K-E diet  consist of having a feeding tube pushed through your nose down into your stomach like some people have from medical issues. A person on this diet takes in 800 calories per day. Kids eat more calories in a day! This diet brings a cost of about $1,500 for 10 days. The tube provides a mixture of protein and fat, but no carbohydrates. They say this puts the body into a state of ketosis, which can cause the body to lose weight quickly.  This is because the body starts burning fat instead of carbohydrates for energy. This diet offers you to lose 20 pounds in two weeks. Is it me that this sounds a little dangerous? Twenty pounds in two weeks sounds like a lot of weight. The body has to be starving so as soon as you come off this diet your body will crave any and everything and almost immediately start to gain weight from eating regular food. I would think from participating on this diet it could only be a quick fix which would seem very unhealthy. There are many diets out there which could provide similar results in a much healthier way.

How about a good old fashioned soup diet to lose weight? You can eat fruit with this diet. Keep it simple and cheap. You already are spending a lot of money on your wedding depending on the size and type of wedding.  I just cannot see myself or my girlfriend doing this just for a wedding. This K-E diet was created in Italy. That is all I would need to here if it was me. It is expensive as well. “This is all you need to do in order to see the dramatic results in 10 days and for only $149.90 per day, all inclusive!” My point is I think I would definitely look to enjoy life and focus on my wedding to ensure we have a day full of joyful memories. So, to you ladies out there you are beautiful and do not put extra stress on yourself because of weight. I know it may be hard for some, think about your finances on this, whether you can afford it or not. This is diet money that can go towards a nice honeymoon vacation or household item. Think about and hopefully we spend or money wisely based on this economy!

None of the Above

Who remembers or seen the movie title Brewster’s Millions? This was a movie I think about all the time during election time. In the movie he had to spend the up front money in order to get the big prize at the end. The star of the movie was Richard Pryor who is the great nephew of a millionaire who passed away and left him $300 million. Richard Pryor character name was Montgomery "Monty" Brewster a second-rate

I think we need this platform sometimes in this present day. For example, look at the Republican GOP. Who do you chose? I really do not have a person I am confident in enough to choose one of them. I thought we actually use to have an option on voting ballots to say none of the above. I thought we use to have a spot on the ballots for a write in of some one running for a political office. Current ballots only give you the choice of people running for the political office. If you do not want to vote for them you just skip over that vote on your ballot. I am not going to touch or discuss the controversial issues with voting. Because we know how dead people still cast their vote!!

My point is that it is hard to choose a real good candidate for political offices. Money seems to change most politicians once they get into office. I will not touch this issue either because we will definitely go on and on for days. Outlaw lobbyist!! Politician feed us a good pick up line like a cheap date. Just like a cheap date leave us out there at the end of that date. We are stuck with check! I want to be like the movie and vote for none of the above. I am chanting now "None of the above" "None of the above" "None of the above" "None of the above".

I do not mean to offend anyone. I am only expression my personal opinion. I want to try to add humor to this disappointing political race we see every where in all lines of media. I just stating about how I am disappointed in our politicians. It seems like they care but once they get in office we do not see the promises made during their campaign race. This seems to be repetitive on all levels of the government in every election. The shape of our country will take a long time to get us back to the level we use to be in the past; which I whole heartedly hope for by the time my grandchildren are my age. Keep hope alive for the whole country.

minor league baseball pitcher. He was giving $30 million to spend up front and could not have absolutely anything left from the $30 million. During this time to spend the money he ran for political office. Because he was not a politician, his platform was "None of the above."

Change is coming!

Well it is that time of year for me when a lot changes. It is the sports season change not weather. I have no more football and no more basketball. Well I know NBA still has a few more weeks. But there is nothing like NCAA sports. I guess this is why I am so passionate on issues within NCAA sports. Some say this is America best past time game. I disagree; I am not a big baseball fan.

Baseball has always been called America favorite game and America best past time. For me it is the other two major sports – football and basketball. I did play street baseball when I was a kid and liked it. Even then as a kid I did not watch baseball on TV. I played softball and I do not watch it on TV as well. I played all three sports on a organized team in high school and college. In college baseball was not my sports so I had to change to track and field. In college the game was a whole level above me. This is not the reason why I do not like baseball. It is just I am not into it. The game is too slow. I think it more fun to play than to watch. Some of my co-workers agree.

I go through my sports withdrawal every year around this time, then depression mode over the summer. I usually start to snap out of it when August comes around. This is because it is time for football season. The best game on Earth……….yeah!!! I am just giving my personal opinion. I do not get into NFL preseason like I do get into NCAA football. Once bowl season is over for NCAA, I watch more NFL but start getting into NCAA basketball. Then NFL Superbowl comes and goes, and then it is time for full watching NCAA basketball. I know NBA has started by now, but I do not get into NBA until after tournament play for NCAA. NBA gets only a little bit of my time unless it is a big game for the Los Angeles Lakers. Don’t hate because we embrace the hate!! Again once NBA is over then it is baseball. I am so bored I flick through TV channels continuously just making people in the TV room upset with me because I cannot stay on one channel.

If anyone has any ideas for me feel free to provide them or just join me in my lack of sports depression and what for football season to start it all over again. The joys of life are so precious that we have to enjoy ourselves, friends and family..sometimes that is!! Again, I am just joking. I just wanted to blog something to try to enjoy and hopefully make some of you smile or laugh. I needed a laugh. Laughing is the best medicine!! I will continue to have humor and laugh if you all join in with me to promote laughter and humor to enjoy the wonders of life!!