People I Thought Were Dead

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Updates

  • Bill Dana – died 6/15/2017, age 92
  • Fats Domino – died 10/25/2017, age 89
  • Don_Larsen – died 1/1/2020, age 90
  • Bill Macy – died 10/17/2019, age 97
  • Roger Mudd – died 3/9/2021, age 93
  • Della Reese – died 11/19/2017, age 86
  • Dale Robertson – died 2/26/2013, age 89
  • Mickey Rooney – died 4/6/2014, age 93
  • Jerry Van Dyke – died 1/5/2018, age 86
  • Earl Weaver – died 1/18/2013, age 82

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Plato in 90 Minutes

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I’ve never gotten anything out of trying to read Plato, and yet you keep hearing that he’s essential to an understanding of man’s existence, so I thought I’d check out a secondary source for guidance: Plato in 90 Minutes by Paul Strathern.

I’m on page 10 when my son says, “That’s taken you longer than 90 minutes.” He looks over to see how far I’ve gotten. “Page 10,” he scoffs.

“It’s not 90 minutes from when you buy the book,” I say. “You understand that, right? You have to give me some time to actually read it.”

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Aside

Open-ended question: How do we live a life we can’t hold on to?

How’s That WBS Working for You?

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Sample Work Breakdown Structure www.wbs-tool.net

Michael James posted this annotated job listing in the Scrum group on Yahoo . . .

[Redacted] is looking for a dedicated and experienced application developer [blah blah blah] to ensure delivery of high quality artifacts, to adhere and to follow [Redacted]’s SDLC. This is an excellent opportunity [blah blah blah] well-known Fortune 50 company.

Tasks and responsibilities

[clip]

  • Provide accurate and timely estimates (work breakdown schedules)
  • Must have proven ability to provide project estimates and work-breakdown schedules

And you know these guys are getting great results from their precise WBS and SDLC because of these lines:

  • Must be extremely responsive, able to work under pressure in crisis with a strong sense of urgency
  • 24/7 on call responsibilities on a rotational basis

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Leadership Lessons of the Ottoman Turks

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“Flexibility,” “Adaptability,” “Gets along well with others.” I don’t believe they’re what’s needed today if we’re going to force our institutions to adapt to us–which is our central problem.

The Ottoman Turks for over three centuries produced an unbroken succession of able leaders. Their performance appraisal sheet would have looked like this:

Adaptability
0
Adventuresomeness
100
Cruelty
100
Energy
100
Flexibility
0
Intelligence
100
Justice
100
Gets along well with others
0

— Robert Townsend, Further Up the Organization

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We Aren’t in Business as Shopkeepers

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[The Mayor, a Communist, has asked what penance Father Quixote would give him for fornication. Ellipses are in the original.]

“You know–of course you don’t know–I don’t like the taste of tomatoes at all. But suppose Father Heribert Jone had written that it was a mortal sin to eat tomatoes and the old lady who lives next door to me came to me in the church to confess she had eaten a tomato. What penance would I give her? As I don’t eat tomatoes myself I wouldn’t even be able to imagine how deep her depravity might be. Of course a rule would have been broken . . . a rule . . . one can’t avoid knowing that.”

“You are avoiding my question, father, what penance . . . ?”

“Perhaps one Our Father and one Hail Mary.”

“Only one?”

“One said properly must surely be the equal of a hundred run off without thought. I don’t see the point of numbers. We aren’t in business as shopkeepers.”

— Graham Greene, Monsignor Quixote

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Hockey Parents I Have Known

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My kid has played hockey most of his life. I’ve spent a lot of time over the last 12 or so years at practices, games and tournaments with other hockey parents.

I’ll miss the parents who watch and wait without calling attention to themselves, don’t over-celebrate, and encourage their kids while pretending not to be nervous or sad.

I won’t miss the obsessive, out-of-control loudmouths, or the parents who were too drunk to be nervous or sad.

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Just Like the Pros

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Above the rim

The boy comes home from somewhere this afternoon . . .

“Where have you been?” I ask him.

“Playing basketball,” he says, as he heads into the kitchen for a beverage.

“I’ve been trying to call you. Why didn’t you pick up your phone?”

“Does Kobe pick up his phone during a game? Neither do I.”

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Belief and Vodka Both Wear Off

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“I want to believe. And I want others to believe.”

“Why?”

“I want them to be happy.”

“Let them drink a little vodka then. That’s better than a make-believe.”

“The vodka wears off. It’s wearing off even now.”

“So does belief.”

— Graham Greene, Monsignor Quixote

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Sit down and be quiet. You are drunk and this is the edge of the roof. — Rumi

NARCh 2011 – Day 4

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Semifinal: Devil Dogs vs. Tour Stealth

Both teams played a strong game. The Devil Dogs gave up the first goal, evened it up at 1-1, then allowed the go-ahead goal with about four minutes left.

They had some chances to tie it back up but couldn’t make it happen.

Stealth added an empty-net goal with two seconds left.

Final Score: Stealth 3, Devil Dogs 1

Semifinal: Choice Inline Selects vs. Top Gun

I didn’t see this game because I was watching the Devil Dog semi so I can’t tell you anything about it other than the final score.

Final Score: Selects 4, Top Gun 2

 

Bronze Medal Game: Devil Dogs vs. Top Gun

Three of the four teams in the semifinals win a medal — gold, silver or bronze. One team — the loser of the bronze medal game — doesn’t.

Coming into this game, I was trying to figure out how to convince my kid, if his team lost, that even though they ended the tournament with two losses and came away with nothing, they still played a great tournament — better than all but three of the teams in the country.

As it turned out, I didn’t have to do that.

The Devil Dogs were quite a bit better than Top Gun and dominated the game. They were faster and stronger and got to every puck first.

My boy scored the last goal of the game. I’ve watched him play a lot of games and score a lot of goals over the last 12 years or so but he’s starting college in a few weeks and his future hockey plans are uncertain at this time. It may be the last goal he ever scores.

Final Score: Devil Dogs 6, Top Gun 0

 

Final: Choice Inline Selects vs. Tour Stealth

Both teams are strong defensively. The game was scoreless until midway through the second period. Stealth took a 1-0 lead and the Selects tied it 1-1 with 1:13 left in the game.

It looked like the game was headed for overtime when the top shooter from Stealth fired a perfect wrist shot into the top left corner of the net, past the best goalie in the division, to win the tournament with 1.1 seconds remaining.

Final Score: Stealth 2, Selects 1

 

My expectations for this Devil Dog team started out pretty low. They haven’t been a powerhouse team this season. The goaltending and discipline have been subpar at times.

They hadn’t won a tournament in a while even in local and regional events, so my hopes were not high for their ability to compete at the national level.

At the beginning of the tournament, my hope was that they would at least win a game.

When they won a game, I hoped that they would win another game. Then I hoped they would make the playoffs. Then I hoped they would make the semifinals and then I hoped that they would win a medal.

I just saw all the kids eating pizza in the lobby of the hotel here so I took the opportunity to tell them that they’re great players, they’ve got a lot of heart, and I’ve really enjoyed watching them play.

That’s it from Florida, where the weather’s been great except for the heat, humidity and thunderstorms.

Heading back home in the morning . . .

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NARCh 2011 – Day 3

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Devil Dogs vs. Tour Roadrunners 93 (NY)

The Devil Dogs came into the fourth and final round-robin game with two wins and a loss, needing at least a tie to clinch a playoff spot.

The game didn’t start off well for the Dogs. They trailed 3-1 after the first period, their goalie had let in a bad goal on a long slapshot, and they’d missed on some good scoring opportunities.

They were also coming off a disappointing loss the night before, so I was proud of their mental toughness in coming back to tie the game 3-3 with about three minutes left.

A Roadrunner player took an untimely penalty with 1:37 left in the game. The Dogs were able to control the puck on the power play until, with 11 seconds remaining, they scored on a one-timer off a cross-rink pass for the game-winning goal.

Final Score: Devil Dogs 4, Roadrunners 3

 

Playoffs

That wraps up the round-robin portion of the competition. The top 10 teams get to stick around for playoffs.

  1. Choice Inline Selects (NJ)
  2. Alkali NC (NC)
  3. ISCA Grizzlies (NJ)
  4. Gladiators (PA)
  5. Revision Devil Dogs (CA)
  6. Tour Stealth (CO)
  7. Tour Roadrunners 93 (NY)
  8. Bandits Hockey Club (CA)
  9. Top Gun (NY)
  10. Mile High Mustangs (CO)

The top six seeds go straight to the quarterfinals. The other quarterfinalists are determined by 7-vs-10 and 8-vs-9 playoff games, which both went to the lower seed:

Mile High Mustangs 6, Roadrunners 2
Top Gun 6, Bandits 3

 

Quarterfinal: Choice Inline Selects (1) vs. Mile High Mustangs (10)

The Mustangs were the only team to score against the Selects in round-robin play, although they still lost the game. Chalk up another shutout for the Selects in this one.

Final Score: Selects 1, Mustangs 0

Quarterfinal: Alkali NC (2) vs. Top Gun (9)

Alkali was undefeated in round-robin, including a win against Top Gun, but they are outta here.

Final Score: Top Gun 2, Alkali 1

Quarterfinal: ISCA Grizzlies (3) vs. Tour Stealth (6)

Another upset. The Grizzlies were also undefeated (with one tie) in round-robin. I didn’t like them because the families were a bunch of Jersey Shore loudmouths.

Final Score: Stealth 3, Grizzlies 0

Quarterfinal: Gladiators (4) vs. Revision Devil Dogs (5)

Another poor start for the Devil Dogs. They went down 2-0 in the first three minutes, then rallied to win.

They’re in the semifinals tomorrow morning against Tour Stealth.

Final Score: Devil Dogs 6, Gladiators 4

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