A Very St. Patty's DYF Meeting

Miserable underbelly of youth sports, part two. I have been dreading this night. The candidate for head coach (HC) of Caz's would be team came before the board to present his side of Super Bowl Gate. I may have been overly polite and leaned towards the PC side, but I did address him. I wanted him to state his thoughts on the season. As he was speaking, all I could think of was the Costanza-ism, "it's not a lie, if you believe it." I actually did agree with him on few things, but overall I have a hard time fathoming how he can see it his way. I know it happens, and everyone has their view. But I honestly don't get it.
What really got me was the dishonest. For a coach that makes his team chant "Honor" at the end of every practice and game, the past two meetings were so dishonest, that I needed a shower to get the dirt off me. You have last year's HC saying that he didn't really run the team and that this year's HC was the guy running the show. So he couldn't have been responsible for the oversight of not playing kids. Plus, substitutions were delegate to an assistant. The assistant who is leaving and was the well like HC the previous season. How convenient. And this year's HC saying that he wasn't HC last year. It would have been different under him. Really? Two grown men hide behind each other like this? And their mouth piece, who joined the Board with me just playing Ed McMahon "yes, you are correct sir."
I feel like I am fighting a losing battle. But I guess the important thing is that I am fighting. I fight my way. I am more calculated. I like to plan out my argument. I do try to take the emotional factor out of it. I think it may be hampering my efforts. But then what happens? He who shouts loudest wins? That is the example we want to set? Wouldn't that make me as bad as them?

Another NH Trek

Since we missed our annual trip to NH (Attitash) this past November, we are really looking forward to this trip. We will be joining the owners of the condo, my college friend, Hillary and her husband, Michael. It will be nice to catch up with those two. Hillary was a good friend at Colby. And I think Michael is a great guy. They don't have kids, so this could get interesting. I hope they no what they are in for.
I think there may be too much snow on the ground up there to go hiking. That will be a bit disappointing. We may try to put the kids on skis or snowboards though. I was never a big skier growing up. Demi is a pretty good skier though. And just because I didn't do something, or find a sport/hobby to my liking, doesn't mean I won't try to expose the kids to it, so that they can make up their own minds. I know it's fun sharing something with your children that you enjoy doing. But I also want the boys to be their own person. As long as the family is together, that is fine by me.

Where Did I Come From?

My little brother is expecting his first child. These are exciting times for our family. It is also a landmark time in this parent/child relationship. The boys are very excited to have a cousin. Especially a cousin that will be younger than them. Demi and I have take this opportunity to address the age old questions "where did I come from?". Or at least we have started to broach the subject to see if they are curious or see what they know. They did exhibit some curiosity but got a bit shy when pressed further. They claimed they knew all about it. The older one was very sure of himself. Then he claimed Demi had two vaginas. Apparently, we have some work to do......

Happy Birthday Little Brother

Happy Birthday Lex. And it is extra special, now that you are a Dad to be. I think that I might be as excited for you, as you are. I hope you find these postings useful. I know you had the same good role model that I did. So you will do just fine.

Reading Challenge

Coco is still doing really well with his reading. He is in the Enrichment program at school, as he has really done well with his overall schoolwork, but especially reading. Demi and I just signed him up for the reading challenge at school. By mid-May he needs to complete 12 books (2 age appropriate poetry, 4 non-fiction, 6 fiction). He can either read them himself, read them out loud to a parent, or have a parent read them to him. I am willing to bet that he wants to read them all himself. I am very excited to share this news with him. However, I am struggling with the poetry. I do not want to have to resort to Dr. Suess. Nothing against the Suess-meister but Coco is above that reading level. I bet that Coco finishes this assignment early. Very early. There is a book that I got him on Dr. Martin Luther King that I have been looking forward to having him read. So I am enjoying the non-fiction aspect of this assignment.

WBC

Really. How excited are we supposed to get over the World Baseball Classic? It's not exactly the Olympics. Or the World Cup. The boys were actually interested though. We have talked about Youk and Pedrioa teaming up with Jeter. The pranks Pedrioa are playing. Big Papi playing for the Dominican Republic. Jason Bay playing for Canada. Dice-K in Japan. At least the WBC is creating dinner time conversation. That I can appreciate. More male bonding with the boys. Actually Demi chimes in too and plays along. She is a good sport.

LOST - Season 5 - 1/4 Season Review

It seems like a good time to talk about LOST so far. We are about a quarter of the way into the new season and all I can say is "Wow"! Really a fantastic season so far. The writers are answering a lot of questions but you walk away with exponentially more. I think from a broad fan base perspective, some casual fans will be turned off now that time travel has been confirmed. But that is their loss. The connections, the intrigue, the characters, and the plot lines are just well thought out and well done. Who's really the bad guy? Ben? or Widmore? And Widmore led the Others for 3 decades? Go figure. I love that Rousseau was brought back. Jin is alive. Walt is back. Things are good on and off the island.