questions & ideas & observations

been busy today trying to pick up a severance check, deposit said check, and meet with a marketing consultant. still, i’ve had some randomness bouncing around in my noggin that i wanted to toss out to the masses:

-if you’re the parent of a young child, what sorts of things do you include in party favors for birthday parties? how much do you typically spend on that type of stuff?
-does nashville have a parent/teacher store?
-as a non-fan of checking the weather, does anyone know if this niceness is supposed to be sticking around?
-been letting my hair grow out just a little bit. have a haircut scheduled for next thursday. any ideas on a style (no afros)? i tried the madmen slicked back thing. not for me. i’ve done the mohawk, the “european crackhead” look, and now have sort’ve resigned myself to looking disheveled, with varying degrees of effort put into style. i’m open to considering anything…except afros.
-is m.i.a. really awesome, or do i just think she’s awesome because its different?
-does it mean i’m getting old if all of a sudden my idea of good working music is opera, or does it just mean i’m around music 12 hours a day?
-if you’re doing a direct mail campaign, wouldn’t you check to see if you were mailing stuff to a business or home address? yes, i’m talking to you mr. real estate agent that always sends me mail.
-what color is the new black? it was red for a few weeks, pink for a few weeks, now what?
-how does one go about divesting himself of about 60 cubic yards of gravel?
-how much variety does an 8 year old want in a twice-weekly climbing program?

a good day climbing…

is better than a bad day anywhere.

today i went climbing at kings bluff in clarksville with a couple of my staff from the crag. the weather was perfect, the rock was dry, and the day couldn’t have gone better. i climbed in a great head space today: no expectations, no ego, no negative self talk. i climbed a route, poison ivy, that had been my mental nemesis for a while and it got me thinking about how much climbing has impacted my life – and not just because i own a climbing gym. even though i’m not a world class climber, i do consider myself to be a pretty good authority on climbing and its benefits. because the day went so well and because i’m looking for a reason to write tonite, i thought i’d make a list of three things that i’ve learned from climbing and how they’ve impacted my non-climbing life.

1. breathe. it goes without saying that breathing is important to climbing, but i’m not just talking about the normal in & out breath. i’m talking about focused, meditative breathing. when you’re on a route and you’re trying to focus and get some clarity, breathing audibly works wonders. it clears your head, fills your lungs, and moves oxygen to your muscles so they can function properly. the same’s true in my everday life. when i’m stressed, tired, or needing to focus, a few deep, clearing, focused breaths tends to make things right. next time you’re all bound up and overwhelmed give it a try.

2. know the difference between falling and letting go. in my world, falling is a great thing. that sounds counterintuitive, sure. after all, its hard to get to the top if you keep falling, right? well, not really. when you fall, it means one of a few things: a) you’re working right at your limit, b) you had a mental or technical slip, c) you let go. its important to know the difference and recognize the reason for the fall. if you’re working at the limits of your talents and abilities, you should expect to falter from time to time. if you weren’t mentally or technically sharp or made a mistake somewhere, you can evaluate what happened, look for the root cause, and correct it. if you let go…well, you gave up. and that’s okay, as long as you don’t let your ego make excuses to try to hide the fact that you let go. in my “real” life, i practice the same thing. everything won’t go well all the time; all you can do is to pay attention to your mistakes, your falls, be honest about their causes, and make the necessary changes to try to eliminate those mistakes.

3. don’t wish; do. i hear climbers all the time say things like, “i wish that hold was closer,” or “i wish that foothold was better.” what a waste of energy! what possible good does wishing do? all you’re doing is focusing on what ISN’T there and why what IS there won’t work. bollocks. rather, focus on what you do have, how you can use it differently, how you can use a different technique, or how you have to improve to actually pull the move. the same goes with your day to day life. don’t just wish you made more money or had a different job. find a way to use what you have, to make yourself better, or to trust yourself enough so you can step out onto the scary parts with confidence and precision. you can do it. and if you can’t, you can at least learn from it.

there you have it: three reasons why i think that climbing is the best sport or activity in the whole world. give it a shot (and i don’t just mean climbing).

an open letter..

dear dead presidents-

thanks for being great and all that stuff. i like seeing your faces when i make my bank deposit. i miss you when i pay bills. it makes me angry when people get possessive of you and won’t share you. truth be told, i hope that we have a long and bright future ahead. and i’m sorry that more people see less & less of you lately. hopefully our new president will fix some of that. hell, he can’t very well make it any worse, right?*

more than anything else though, i’m glad that you guys did your thing and that someone along the way decided that there should be a president’s day because it means that i get to go climbing. and what better way to celebrate your presidential goodness than to go do something that most people don’t understand, that i’m not particularly good at, and that has put me into mountains of debt? just following in your footsteps…

*actually, i guess he could go all bobby knight on us and walk out to to a press conference with a bunch of used toilet paper and start making analogies, but that doesn’t seem to be his style.

words to my wife & best friend

from her favorite artist & mine:

My love for you is real
It moves like a summer breeze
My love for you is strong
Lord it brings me to my knees

It’s born in the wild
This real love
Love strong
True love is ours
Honey now
My love for you is real

My love for you is gone
Candy sweet and thunder strange
My love for you is wild
It breaks the lockets melting

My love for you is long
Across the oceans all the same
My love for you is true
Need exchange the love it takes

It’s born in the wild
This river long
Love strong
True never stings
Honey now
My love for you is real

Uh huh
It’s real, ohhh
It’s real, ohhh
Honey now

My love for you is real

–

you’ve loved me when you shouldn’t have. you’ve given when all i did was take.

you’re my best friend, my strength in weak times, my touchstone in blind times. i love you. i pray for nine hundred more years to add to the nine we celebrate today.
–
ps-the traditional ninth anniversary gift is pottery. does the new fountain count?

better late than never…

so my firl (friend in real life) aj tagged me a couple of weeks ago in a post. i’ve been busy getting laid off, launching new programs at the gym, and frankly taking some much needed rest (and a cyber-life break), so i haven’t replied. until now…

ladies and germs, i present to you seven things you didn’t know about me.

1. before i was 10 years old i had been to a number of concerts: survivor (my first concert, in 1984. i was 8), the oak ridge boys, charlie pride, barbara mandrell (all at least twice), and had met all of the performers (except for survivor). mom ran a production company. maybe that’s why i turned into a musician.

2. when i was a kid my dad would take me deep sea fishing off the coast of galveston, texas each summer. during one of these trips i caught a hammerhead shark. i forget the exact date/year, but i’m certain that i was less than 9 years old. we had the shark mounted and, despite the fact that i’m now a vegetarian, when my dad dies, i’m gonna take that shark and have it on my wall (don’t tell bwe).

3. again, sorta weird for a vegetarian, i have a serious, possibly unhealthy, dislike of birds. i think they’re weird animals. they have sharp pointy beaks, some of them can talk, their heads move around like they’re robots, and they can fly. also contributing to my ire: 1) the fact that i found a dead bird in the front seat of my car years ago and 2) being divebombed for a month by a bird that had built a nest and laid eggs in a privet hedge at my front door.

4. i believe that i am one of the only people in the history of the world to accomplish all of the following: run over my little brother with a go-kart (not on purpose. loooong story.), run over myself with a three wheeler (i was doing donuts and fell off. the three wheeler kept going and kept turning), and run over a crepe myrtle tree on my very first driving experience. despite the fact, i’ve never been in a car accident where i was at fault.

5. if given the option & opportunity, i will always watch the following movies or tv shows if i come across them on tv: wkrp in cincinatti, mash 4077th, days of thunder, that thing you do!, law & order, any beverly hills cop movie, any fletch movie, any of the first 3 police academies. despite their popularity, i’ve never seen a full episode of the following: 24, lost, prison break, sex & the city, or the bachelor. were they the last moments of site i was given before lifelong blindness i would never watch any of the csi shows or an episode of survivor, big brother, or any other show that rewards mediocrity (thank you chuck klosterman).

6. i almost accidentally cut the tip of my left index finger off with an electric hedge trimmer because i wanted to see if i could just barely graze the skin. uh, no. i was 16. maybe 17. not the first or last time i’ve done something stupid (and ultimately painful or injurious) because of curiosity. never really thought of myself as a cat…

7. on a trip back to texas one summer (again, i was 16 or so), i went out with a bunch of my old friends. while we were out driving around and causing mischief, and with no chemical encouragement, i: a) stole a big plastic globe off of a light pole & threw it from the back of a station wagon just to see how much it would bounce b) threw an enormous chunk of rock out of said station wagon into someone’s rear windshield. i was aiming for the mailbox…to this day, i feel terrible about the person’s window and get embarrassed when thinking of my own stupidity & the inconvenience i caused.

so there’s seven things. hope they were interesting. here’s who i’m tagging back:

holly
bez
ryan
jag
lacey
i don’t know seven other people that i should tag, so i’ll stop at five.

The Rules:

Link to your original tagger(s) and list these rules in your post.
Share seven facts about yourself in the post.
Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
Let them know they’ve been tagged.

have at it…