Find a job you like...

...and you'll never work another day in your life. Recently, I've been spending most of my time trying to bend and fold time - it's not as easy as it sounds.

Monday through Friday morning trying to grunt the time to go by faster, just to get to the weekend. Then from Friday night through Sunday, trying to backspin the Earth enough to slow time down. What I'm noticing is that overall, time seems to be going by faster than ever.

I know they say as you get older, the time (years) seems to go by faster and amazingly it's true. However, I'm not so sure that it's the perception based on the beholder's age, but rather their state of mind.

Time flies when you're having fun, but sometimes accelerates out of control when you aren't. Yes, I'm approaching 40, but that doesn't really bother me. What does, is that I've been unfulfilled with my career accomplishments for quite a while. Don't get me wrong, I'm good at what I do, I make a good living and have helped grow revenue for all of the companies that have employed me. But, it isn't what I've WANTed to do.

I want to build something. I want to live and die (benefit or suffer) because of the business decisions I make. I started as an entrepreneur back in '94 and have been trying to get back to it since '97. Because of that beginning, every company I've worked for has benefited from my treating them as if they were my own. Their budget as if it came out of my own pocket. The revenue as if it meant whether my kids would eat. The direction as my future depended on it.

What I've had to deal with though is road blocks from other opinions, vetoes, and watching my efforts and hard work pay off into the pocket of someone else. It's not just about money, but security, independence and leaving something for my family (maybe that is the age talking).

Well, I'm at the point where I have a few irons in the fire but 'in this economy' (as they say - now hating that cliche) do you walk away from the security of the paycheck and health coverage? The better my compensation, the harder it is to walk away and less satisfied I become. (I know there are many without jobs right now, but this is simply my story - everyone has one)

Reading spot-on blogs like this one from Lisa Barone, Outspoken Media, just makes me want to stop strangers in the street and ask them to give me a swift kick in the ass.

Fear sucks! Pull the damn trigger already (or quit bitching).

I'm So Fortunate

Gina isn't feeling well, so we got Chinese take-out - mango chicken and brown rice for me if you're interested. She doesn't like fortune cookies - I do. It's always funny though that we only ordered two meals and they gave us five cookies.

I, of course, ate all of them.
1. Declare peace every day.
2. A truly great person never puts away the simplicity of a child.
3. A lifetime of happiness lies ahead of you.
4. Ambition is the incentive that makes purpose great and achievement greater.
5. You are never too old to dream. Dreams bring hopes.

So... which one counts? All of them? Or is it the first one I opened, do they cancel each other out or only the last one. Did Miss Manners ever do a segment on fortune cookie etiquette?

ADDENDUM:
Of course, each was read in the following manner:
1. Declare peace every day in bed. (I try every morning, but still have to get up)
2. A truly great person never puts away the simplicity of a child in bed. (Hmmm, that one is just creepy)
3. A lifetime of happiness lies ahead of you in bed. (YES!!)
4. Ambition is the incentive that makes purpose great and achievement greater in bed. (always try harder)
5. You are never too old to dream. Dreams bring hopes in bed. (so true)

Blogging from the iPhone

Possible? We'll see.

Plus a photo? As long as you start the email with the pic (another
iPhone deficiency)

Planning my routine

Okay, so I have OCD and I'm also anal-retentive, so I crave order and routine.
I have a couple of blogs, but never find time to post anything.
I buy a lot of books and rarely get to read them.
I always have a list of things to do, some of those I actually get done. Why? Because there's a list, a plan. That works for me (somewhat), so now I need to bring that principal to get into a consistent routine AND get more done.

• Write Blog Post/Ideas (don't need to post every day but at least work on ideas)
• Read (get through the books, magazines and online content that piles up waiting for my attention)
• Design (anything - I have many ideas)
• Work (yeah, have to make time for that too)
• Socialize (emails, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn - it's something I do that needs a timeframe for the stopping point, otherwise it's all I do)
• Meditate (relax, think OR don't think, reboot and recharge)
• Family (have to make time for the family - kids grow too fast and life is too short)

Now, I just need to designate when it makes the most sense to do what.
But that's for another day...

BTW... I'm also a procrastinator - that doesn't help either. *sigh

Legal Police Bribes?

I have a problem - but I'm getting better. I used to drive 30,000 miles per year consistently, and I was averaging a speeding ticket every 6 months, also consistently. Luckily, the points were spread out enough to avoid the 12 points in 12 months license suspension, but my insurance rate takes a beating. I've only been able to reduce my driving down to 25,000 per year, but more importantly in the last three years, I've cut down the tickets to about 15 month intervals - not great, but a definite improvement.

I always notice the Fraternal Order of Police Supporter bumper/window stickers or license plate badges and wonder about them. I would wager that 90% of the people who display them are just hoping for leniency should they get stopped. Of course, they all say that no special considerations will be given to FOP donors, but I wonder.


The scam of the whole thing (by the FOP) is that they put a year on them. That way no one receives any (non-existent) special considerations for more than the year they donated. If you want to continue to be looked upon favorably, you need to keep up your stream of contributions, because if you get stopped with a 3 year old sticker... you're getting a ticket!

Maybe the cost of the contribution would be worth it, but the police believe that "size matters". You can start with a $25 donation, but it will only get you a sticker and a wallet card. Wallet card? "Sure officer, here's my driver's license and insurance card... oh, I'm sorry, did my FOP Supporter card get stuck in with those? Oops!" Or, you can avoid having to be so shameless and spend the $55 and it will add the nice silver shield that should be more obvious to an approaching officer on the side of I-95. Lastly, you can drop the $75 to have your shield in eye-catching gold that screams: I love the police and respect everything they do! (READ: Please don't ticket me.)

I thought this was interesting:
"Although the Florida State Fraternal Order of Police is recognized as a non-profit organization by the IRS, because of its particular status [501(c)8], donations are not tax-deductible as charitable contributions for Federal income tax purposes."

I know the best answer is abstinence (from speeding), but we all know how easy that is to subscribe to with other issues. But if I had the $75 gold badge prominently displayed and the officer began to write me a ticket - I'd probably spend a night in the clink.

The Road To Canton Is Paved By Championships

Recently, I wrote about Zach Thomas' leaving the Miami Dolphins and joining the Dallas Cowboys. In that article, I purported that whenever Zach did retire, he would be a first-ballot Hall of Famer. This sparked several discussions and differing opinions—no one thought he didn’t deserve it, just whether or not he would be enshrined. So, I decided to investigate the practices of the selection committees and those at his position already in the Hall.

This year the Pro Football Hall of Fame will induct six more players on August 5th, bringing the total number of inductees to 221 since 1963. Of these 221, there are 18 that are listed as Linebackers. Almost all of them average the same individual accolades that speak to their success at the position. The averages of the group are that they each had eight All-Pro selections, seven Pro Bowl appearances and played in 161 games. Though the most important stat seems to be having won either a Championship or Super Bowl—depending on the era.

There are three exceptions to these averages:
Dave Wilcox (H.O.F. Class of 2000) played 11 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers. He was selected as an All-Pro in eight of those seasons and sent to the Pro Bowl seven times. He has the distinction as the only linebacker in the Hall of Fame to have never played in a Championship or Super Bowl.

Andre Tippett (due to be inducted this year) was selected as an All-Pro and to the Pro Bowl a few less than the average with five each and played in 151 games over his 14 seasons with the New England Patriots (’82-’93). But, besides Wilcox, he’s the only other linebacker to not win a Championship, though his team did lose Super Bowl XX.

The other standout was Chuck Noll (H.O.F. Class of 1993). Most people probably remember Mr. Noll for coaching the Pittsburgh Steelers to four Super Bowl victories (IX, X, XIII, XIV), but he’s in the Hall as a linebacker without ever being selected as an All-Pro or making a Pro Bowl appearance. In addition to coaching four Super Bowl teams, he also played in four Championship games (’53, ’54, ’55, ’57) during his seven years with the Cleveland Browns—winning two of those.

So what does this tell us about the parameters for entering the Pro Football Hall of Fame? While it appears that individual accomplishments count a great deal, it seems that The Ring is really the key for entry. There seems to be little in the way of written guidelines or outlined requirements to even be eligible for the vote. The closest expression of these are listed on the Hall of Fame’s website:

- Candidates are scrutinized for “strong enough credentials to give them even a remote chance of eventual Hall of Fame election.”

- “When elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame, an individual is recognized for his accomplishments as a player, coach, or contributor.”

This would seem to favor individual achievements over Championship and Super Bowl wins which are “team” accomplishments. I would think that the selection committee, made up of mostly sportswriters, would realize more than anyone the ever-increasing challenge of winning a championship. The number of teams, the number of games played, the level of talent and the competitive parody in the league have all increased, making it more difficult to win a championship, not to mention performing consistently above average in individual statistics.

Consider this, on this year's ballot was LB Derrick Thomas, his 4th time on the ballot since his first year of eligibility in 2005 after his untimely death as of a result of complications from a car accident in 2000. Derrick received the 2nd most votes of those not selected this year behind WR Cris Carter. In his eleven years with the Kansas City Chiefs (’89-’99), playing in 169 games, he was selected as an All-Pro eight times and appeared in nine Pro Bowls. These stats are above the averages of the other linebackers in the Hall, but he never got the chance to play in a Super Bowl. Will this keep him out of the Hall? He had more All-Star and Pro Bowl selections and games played that Tippett. Did Tippett’s Super Bowl loss carry enough weight to get him inducted or was it the actual 15-year ‘wait’?

Let’s take another case study. Ray Lewis is heading into his 13th season as a linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens. He’s amassed seven All-Pro selections, nine Pro Bowl appearances and played in 162 games (so far). He has two other factors in his favor toward enshrinement—his team won Super Bowl XXXV and he plays for a team that currently has no players representing it in the Hall of Fame. The Baltimore Ravens have been a franchise since 1996 and is one of only three active franchises without representation in the Hall—the other two are the Jacksonville Jaguars (since 1995) and the Houston Texans (since 2002).

Now, back to the original reason for this entire harangue.
Compared to the Hall of Fame linebacker’s averages, Zach Thomas has seven each of All-Pro selections and Pro Bowl appearances after 168 games. He racked up over 100 tackles in his first 11 seasons and was in the Top 4 in tackles six of the last seven years. He has more tackles than any other linebacker in the Hall and is 4th all-time with over 1,800 tackles behind only Randy Gradishar, Jessie Tuggle and Junior Seau—all of which, have been to, but never won, a Super Bowl. Will any of them be inducted?

So, what’s the conclusion? Zach Thomas obviously has the credentials and above average statistics to rank among those already in the Hall and even all of the linebackers that have ever played the game. So, though he’s already earned his place, he’s probably going to need a Super Bowl to guarantee his enshrinement. And though he’ll always be a Miami Dolphin at heart, hopefully going home to Texas will put the cherry on top of all of his career of Sundays.


Sideline:
There are currently no Punters in the Hall of Fame. Maybe Jeff Feagles should be the first? He’s now 42 years old, fresh off the New York Giants’ surprising win over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XLI and he just signed on to play his 6th season with New York—which is his 21st overall. WOW! He owns the record for the most career punts (1,585) and career punting yards (65,793 and counting). He was selected as an All-Pro and voted to the Pro Bowl in the ’95 season. With those stats and accolades, plus now having a Super Bowl victory under his belt (or kicking shoe), I think he’s earned the right to be the first to represent his position in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Dallas Cowboys' LB Zach Thomas?

Ouch!

As a lifelong Miami Dolphins fan and season ticket holder, that hurts to say.
Zach Thomas is a Dallas Cowboy...
Nope! Still doesn't sound right.

There's some solace that he went to an NFC team rather than the division rival, New England Patriots.

All the teams he met with made him an offer.
Well, of course they did, with this resume:
- Led the Miami Dolphins in tackles in 10 of his 12 seasons;
- Over 100 tackles in his first 11 seasons;
- Top 4 in tackles in 6 of the last 7 season;
- Selected as an All-Star 7 times;
- Voted to the Pro Bowl 7 times (most by any Dolphins defensive player;
- More tackles than any other linebacker in the Hall of Fame;
- 4th All-Time with over 1,800 tackles
- He's also tallied 18.5 sacks, 17 interceptions (4 for touchdowns), 13 forced fumbles and 7 fumble recoveries

Not bad for a 5th round draft pick (154th overall) from the small town of Pampa, TX (est. 2006 population = 17,000). After high school he traveled an entire 2 1/2 hours away to college at Texas Tech in Lubbock, where he set a school record of 20 tackles in a single game.

Now that his tenure with the Miami Dolphins ended abruptly on February 14 (Valentine's Day - a heartbreaker for all true Fins Fans), he'll be returning to his home state and playing just 6 hours from his home town.

Both New England and New Orleans also offered him a contract, but in the end, he chose the familiar over the "New" accepting a 1 year deal with the Dallas Cowboys worth $3 million. The deal reportedly includes a $1M signing bonus, $1M salary and $1M in incentives based on achieved playing time.

I know he was due over $5M, but it's surprising that when he and Bill Parcells met, they couldn't come to a more cap-friendly restructured contract similar to the deal he signed with Dallas. He's given Miami all he ever had and would continue as long as he could as was still evident in his post-release comments, "I am healthy and look forward to playing in 2008, but will always consider myself a Miami Dolphin."

But we just cut him? He had nothing left we could use? It doesn't make sense.

But what makes less sense is a player wanting to spend the twilight of his career with a team going through its 3rd rebuild in 4 years, that just went 1-15 and hasn't been to the playoffs since 2001? I think Bill did him the favor of looking like the bad guy and simply cut him, allowing him to find a more potential playoff team to join without looking like he was quitting on the Fins.

I like and respect Zach and even if this hypothesis is true and I hope he gets a championship and hold no ill will toward this thinking. He spent 12 years being the epitome of a loyal team player, he's afforded the right to think of completing his personal career goals.

Sure to be a first ballot Hall Of Famer (more on this in a future post), I look forward to seeing his statue in front of Dolphins Stadium flanking the main entry at Gate G opposite Dan Marino - perhaps by then he'll have the ring that unfortunately eluded Marino.

London Continued (3 months later)... and Barcelona too!

So, it only took me three and half months to go through 950 photos from our trip to London / Barcelona, but at least it's done. I was able to whittle the photos down to 500+ and get them loaded on to my Flickr account and separated into Collections and Sets. Flickr is an amazing resource - I so hope it doesn't fall into Microsoft's hands through a Yahoo! purchase.

Anyway, now everyone can get a visual tour of our journey.

London Highlights:
Day 1: Cemetary. Very cool, more serene than creepy. Interesting reading the tombstone inscriptions and dates. Biggest crows and squirrels I ever seen.

Day 2: Albert Memorial statue. Incredible depiction of the continents (Asia, Africa, America, Europe), the useful arts (architecture, engineering, manufacturing) and 169 individual composers, architects, poets, painters, and sculptors. The Queen "We Will Rock You" show was a lot of fun too.

Day 3: Seeing the Dolphins vs. Giants game at Wembley Stadium was awesome (despite the only rainy weather of our trip)

Day 4: Tower Bridge. Throughout Europe, seeing the older architecture/construction that adds so many aesthetic/artistic features (columns, sculptures, monuments, etc.). It's a shame that that seems to have been lost here in the US - even churches are now just simple CBS/stucco construction.

Day 5: Bath & Stonehenge. Again, amazing architecture/engineering (Roman baths) in a remote little town - awesome spa treatments ;-). And Stonehenge is probably one of the most intriquing sites in the World (IMHO).

Day 6: Westminster Abbey. You could spend hours discovering, reading and listening (handy audio tour) everything throughout that place. Shame they don't allow photography - at least allow non-flash/video. I also really liked Cleopatra's Needle (1 of 3) along the Thames.

Barcelona Highlights:
Day 1: Las Ramblas. Crowded street full of tourists, street performers and pick pockets.

Day 2: Figueres/Girona. Unfortunately, the train station was confusing. No one speaks English. The Dali Museum was closed by the time we got there.

Day 3: Ancient remains and Roman aqueduct of Tarragona; the medieval walled city of MontBlanc; the Monastir de Poblet; and the beautiful oceanfront city of Sitges.

Day 4: Montserrat. Beautiful mountain range, shame that the monastery is so commercialized now. Need to plan to spend most of your time seeing the art along the trails. Barcelona soccer game - Ronaldinho is amazing! Glad they don't allow smoking in US stadiums.

Day 5: Gaudi's Sagrada Familia and Parc Guell. Quite a body of artistic architecture.

Day 6: Museo de Picasso. Hard to find hidden in back alleys, but well worth the search.

Day 7: Monument do Colom.