Outlaw Feet

The Ministry Of Silly Walks might find a few issues with my gait. and I am not talking about my pigeon toed strut. That may have earned me the nick-names Twinkletoes or 'World's Fastest Duck' in Elementary School, but it is not what I am talking about here.



We are also not talking about my propensity to leave my shoes untied occasionally, or the fact that no one makes pants with a inseam length of 31 causing me to buy 32's that are always brushing across the floor.

Sure, those things alone would qualify me for Silly Walk status. But not for discussion here.

What I am blogging about is the silly things I do while walking socially, like at work or church etc.

Case in point, occasionally when I see someone at work walking toward me when I am busy, and I don't want to stop, chat, and exchange pleasantries. So, the walk strategy might be to pretend I forgot something and turn around. Or to make a quick left turn on a separate aisle and walk through some unnecessary cubes just to avoid the other walker. Yeah, like they don't notice that I turned down the aisle where nobody is working!  All this to avoid a simple 'hi, how are you?' Are we really too busy for politeness now?

Similarly, the awkward walking moment when you find yourself walking behind someone as they are heading out. Do you pass them like on a freeway passing lane? Do you slow down so you appear to not be a stalker? Do you do the left turn into the strange cubicles? Or do you stay in step sync stalking them like a carnivore feline?  Oh the choices!

And what do you do when they get to the exit door? If they get there too early, then they have to open and hold it and wait for me! Or perhaps I need to run to catch the door hold, AWKWARD!!! Or do I speed up and open and hold the door for them. Like when did door opening become so creepily important?? Everyone can open their own doors people, so why do we spend so much time each day stressing the door opening etiquette?  Do we actually have to reach our right arm out across the body of the other 'walker' just to pull the door open for them?  Whey is all this so AWKWARD???

That is just extremely silly!   The  result of cooping men up inside these sterile little buildings. Our forefathers were out tilling the fields and herding the animals....they had no time for this fiddle-fuddle. Our ancestors were hunter gathers, stalking and running and herding and hunting. What got in the way was probably whacked over the head, no politeness required!




Are we MEN or are we MEATBALLS!? 

Well, obviously, I am a meatball. I walk a very Silly Path indeed.

The RAC IT Team

This is the Phoenix branch of the IT team I manage. I am very proud of them and all their accomplishments. I am also blessed by their variety of skill sets and their diversity. Through IT I have been blessed to work with a wide variety of individuals from diverse cultures. I can't tell you what a thrill that is.

With the upcoming merger I realize that this team may no longer be organized at is is today. I don't know what the future will bring, but I am quite happy with what is here and now!

In my early years with the RAC IT team there was just a few of us. For a short time I was actually alone on the team through layoffs and attrition. For many years there were only three of us handling all development and day to day support. The Team has grown and changed over the years, yet the core of the original spirit of this hard working team has always been there.

Cheers to the members of my team, past and present....nca.

Designate This

Today I caught a Frank Deford commentary on NPR  titled:

'You Asked For It: Frank Deford's Top 12 List'

If you click on the title above it will take you to the NPR link where you can listen too. I thought it was pretty cool, particularly because I agreed with most of his top 12. The topics are various sports related suppositions that mostly hit the 'ball outta the park'. For instance, he talks about not allowing viewers to make judgement calls on golf 'penalties'. I totally agree. Have you ever noticed how articles that agree with our own viewpoints are infinitely more interesting then those that counter our beliefs??

In the article, Frank Deford talks about  how the dumping of Gatorade buckets on coaches has gotten really old, I could not agree more. Somehow I get this picture in my head of Abraham Lincoln getting a Gatorade shower after the Lee surrender at Appomattox. What!?! No, it's worse than even that, it is just so predictable and boring that I want to turn the TV off as soon as I see the players lurking around the bucket. It was probably tolerably funny the very first time...but enough already!

For the rest of Deford's top 12, you have to hear the article. I don't want to steal his thunder. Be sure to comment to me on the ones you disagree with or feel strongly about.

One Sports Top 20 he did not talk about was the 'Designated Hitter' rule. I read a recent article on the desire by many in Baseball circles to have the Designated Hitter rule migrated to the National League.

Please No! Emphatically! I love National League baseball, I love the traditions. I love the strategy. I love pitcher against batter...and I love the coaching decisions that have to  be made in the National League, many of which are wrapped around dealing with the pitcher as batter. Other sports like Baseball and Football change their rules yearly to attempt to squeeze more and more offense onto the 'show'. With all the prissy rules in Football, soon the Quarterback will just walk from end-zone to end-zone on each play.  Hockey stages brutal street-fights on the ice just to keep it's viewership, one step above WWF.  But baseball rules as they are today go back to the late 19th century...and they are as exciting and  thrilling now as they were back then. I love that baseball remains the one American sport with a real history...that batting .333 today is as difficult as it was back in 1930. I love that pitch-hitting for a pitcher in a tight low-scoring game is the same for Clayton Kershaw in 2013 as it was for Sandy Koufax in 1963.

The American League can keep the DH....I don't care really. If all the aging players who can no longer run, throw, and catch need a place to play ball, there is a whole league out there for them.  If MLB wants it to be the same in both leagues...go for it....they can get rid of the DH in the American League and send those old out of shape players packing.  But for the sake of the game and all things precious and worth keeping in these United States, please leave the Designated Hitter rule out of the National League!

Cheers,nca