Out of My League

Let those two titles soak in! (I’ll wait…)

It’s the thanksgiving season and I have a little bit of idle time.

I was counting my blessings today. The list is endless. Life is very good!

I went to see North Texas play Western Kentucky today. I only got to see half of the game because my two companions were ready to abandon ship during the first quarter. It was raining. They were cold. I made them hold out until halftime. They got colder… they couldn’t get wetter. We left. It hasn’t been a good season for my Alma Mater. While I was making dinner, a trip to sonic, I was listening to the post game show… North Texas 27… Western Kentucky 26.

I missed out on a great second half of football. I let me two companions know what they made me miss… they are twelve… they will forget about it… what? They already have. My Dad made me change the channel during the 1979 Cotton Bowl because the University of Houston was spanking one of my favorite teams, Notre Dame. Notre Dame won. Probably the greatest come back in Cotton Bowl history… I didn’t get to see it. I haven’t forgotten.

Today made me think about all the things I have been able to do in my life… and all the things I need/want to do in the time I have left.

In his book, Lou talks about his list of things he wanted to accomplish. He broke this list into five categories… including financial, professional, spiritual, husband/father, and excitement. Lou listed the following from his excitement category;

            Jump out of an airplane

            Land a jet fighter on an aircraft carrier

            Travel the ocean in a submarine

            Go white-water rafting on the Snake River at Hell’s Canyon

            Be on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson

            Attend a White House dinner with the president

            Meet the pope

            Go on an African Safari

            Become a scratch golfer and play the Top 50 golf courses in the world

            Run with the bulls in Pamplona

In the five categories… Lou listed 107 goals… achieving 99 at the publishing of his book.

So… that’s what I’m going to do… start a list… of things to do and places to see… and see how many I can scratch off before I wear out my last pair of shoes… the list starts below. Feel free to leave a comment with suggestions… I might just add it to my list.

     Jump out of an airplane (yes… a perfectly good airplane)

     Bungee jump

     White water raft

     Throw out the first pitch at a major league baseball game (without the one hop)

     Play one on one with Mark Aguirre (my basketball hero)

     Earn a doctorate in education

     Finish my career as a high school principal

     Live in a foreign city for six months to a year.

     Spoil my grandchildren (this one can wait about 20 years)

As of this posting, my blog is worth $1,693.62. I’m not really sure how it’s worth anything, but the little box to the bottom left of this post says it’s worth the afore mentioned amount.

As of this posting, Greg Farr’s blog is worth $14,113.50. WOW! INCONCIEVABLE!

One of my strengths is competition. I love to compete win. I know it’s not a competition with Greg as I am not in his league. He is everywhere! His posts are on numerous sites and he is quoted often in other blogs.

To give you an analogy, and let’s face it you knew we would eventually get to analogies on this post, Greg’s blog and writing skills are definitely D1. My blog and writing skills are so, how shall we put this, NAIA or even D3 if you will.

               Greg Farr : The University of Texas : : Greg Bicknell : Appalachian State

Okay, I picked Appalachian State because that means there is hope for me.

Words can be so powerful when strung together in just the right way. And believe me, I don’t always string them together appropriately and the redpencilpoliceperson (aka my wife) comes to the rescue. Greg has such a gift. He has the gift to push your buttons. To provoke you. To make you angry. What a gift. The gift that makes you think.

My goal is to someday put enough words together in a most coherent way so that you, the reader, will want to buy what I have to sell. That is, buy my blog. I want a new car. A small foreign convertible. I have a picture if you want to see it… it’s sweet. If only I could write like Greg Farr, but for now… I’m competing against Greg and other’s like him… and I’m out of my league.

I feel it is only fitting that I dedicate my first blog to the beautiful and intelligent woman that is sitting next to me. I’m sitting in a blogging/podcasting class on my seventh wedding anniversary. My bride of seven years is sitting in the chair next to me furiously working on her first blog. I know many men that wouldn’t be able to do what we are doing today. We have a full day planned. This training… followed by lunch… probably with a group of people… followed by the remainder of the training. When the training is over we will pick up two of our three children. Riley has swim lessons at 6. Then it’s off to vacation bible school for Riley and Tyler. Drew has a baseball game at 6:30. Finally when they are all at their destination… Angie and I will be enjoying a few hours out on the town. Something simple… small talk… exchanging gifts… food… and then… off to get the boys. There is no doubt… and everyone that we know will agree… I married out of my league… way out of my league… and my life is the better for it! I love you Angie!