Losing Pitchers
Twitter: 2010-08-05
- RT @eddiepepitone: If everyone would just relax about death, love, finances and their legacy maybe we could enjoy a day or two. #
- RT @eddiepepitone: I have a message for all the murderers, thieves and other scum on twitter: please follow me. #
- Spent 15 minutes looking for my car in a parking lot before remembering I've got a loaner car today 🙁 #
Happy Shark Week
Originally uploaded by wombatarama
Here’s a Strange Fact
Prop 8 was approved by a majority of California voters, it was overturned today, and yet I haven’t heard one person say that they’re anything but happy about it.
I think a lot of people are not comfortable with the idea of same-sex marriage but would rather not say so outside the privacy of the ballot box for fear of being labelled by loving, inclusive Prop 8 supporters as hateful, bigoted, hypocritical assholes who should all go burn in hell . . .
Twitter: 2010-08-04
- RT @WhitneyCummings: Read that NyQuil lessens the effectiveness of birth control pills. The 2 pills I need to have sex don't work together?! #
Driving Tests
My kid is taking his driving test today and he wants to take it in my car, so I’m driving my wife’s car to work.
Her car is more upscale than mine. It has features like Average Speed displayed on the dashboard.
What I can’t figure out is why the Average Speed is always 24 MPH.
It was 24 MPH when I left the house . . . I’m almost at work and it’s still 24 MPH.
I wonder if there’s some way to reset that. Maybe if I press this MODE button here on the steering wheel . . .
HOLY FUCKING SHIT!!!
Having your car radio suddenly come on full blast — which is what happened when I pressed the MODE button — is like someone jumping out of hiding and screaming at you. It’s alarming and you can’t recover from it right away.
Later, when I got home from work, I asked the boy, “How was the driving test?”
“Gotta go,” he said, as he brushed past me and out the door.
So I guess he passed it . . .
Twitter: 2010-08-03
- RT @robdelaney: Draw a picture of a house. Congratulations; you're an architect. I don't know what the fuss is about those assholes. #
- RT @eddiepepitone: signs of Alzheimer's disease- you brush your teeth with the mail. #
- RT @DamienFahey: Oh My God! It just hit me. I will never dunk. #
- RT @OnSluts: Monday Affirmation: I will get through this day without hitting a pedestrian because I'm thoughtful. #
- RT @daeganf: Lady Gaga afraid of having creativity stolen through her vagina. Possible concept for Inception sequel? #
- RT @thesulk: Chariots of Fire could also be called "Thank God, No Black Guys". #
NARCh Wrapup
As expected, Mission Black Ice 93 and the Mississauga Mission Rattlers reached the Bantam Platinum finals, with Black Ice winning 4-3.
The Colorado Kodiaks won the bronze medal, which you could think of as the gold medal for the rest of the field, because no one was in the same class as the Rattlers or Black Ice.
My son’s team, Revision Devil Dogs, had a killer draw: three of their four round-robin games were against the three medal-winning teams. They tied the Kodiaks and lost the other two.
Had they been able to beat the Kodiaks — and the Kodiaks’ goalie made a tough save at the final horn — the Devil Dogs would have advanced to the playoff round and the Kodiaks would have been ousted.
Final thoughts
In a way, I’d like my son to win every tournament he plays because I want him to be happy, but in another way, I don’t really care about winning at all. It’s not the important thing.
If it was, the right thing to do would have been to play Gold instead of Platinum, but by doing that, the team would never really know how good they are.
I’m proud of the boys for having the heart to play against the best teams, even if it meant going home without the medal they might have won playing Gold.
All of the kids have been playing hockey long enough. They have lots of medals.
To me, it doesn’t make sense to stop trying to get better just to pick up one more medal.
Headline of the Day
Learning Patience
I’m learning that when I feel like I have to say something and if I don’t say it I’m going to explode, that’s a good sign that maybe I shouldn’t say it . . .
Gandhi Was Right About One Thing
The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.
I agree with Gandhi on that point, although I disagree with his views on nonviolence and passive resistance . . .
— Lightning 
Twitter: 2010-08-01
- RT @eddiepepitone: If only there was a way 2 turn crushing debt, despair & horribly awkward interactions w/ people into lifelong happiness! #
- RT @SarahKSilverman: I try not to be as hard on myself as I am on other people. #
In Other Words
President Obama: Auto industry on right road
Or as President Bush used to say: Mission Accomplished!
On the Bright Side
The Worst Movie Year Ever?
Coming soon to a theater near you: absolutely nothing you want to see.
Go into a movie theater any day of the week and watch as the audience sits listlessly through a series of lame, mechanical trailers for upcoming films that look exactly like the D.O.A. movies audiences avoided last week.
Twitter: 2010-07-31
- The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time. — Bertrand Russell #
- RT @kausmickey: Just had flash that I maybe I could go to law school. Then realized I've already been to law school. #fb #
One Eye on the Path
A young but earnest Zen student approached his teacher, and asked the Zen Master: “If I work very hard and diligent how long will it take for me to find Zen?”
The Master thought about this, then replied, “Ten years.”
The student then said, “But what if I work very, very hard and really apply myself to learn fast — How long then?”
Replied the Master, “Well, twenty years.”
“But, if I really, really work at it. How long then?” asked the student.
“Thirty years,” replied the Master.
“But I do not understand,” said the disappointed student. “At each time that I say I will work harder, you say it will take me longer. Why do you say that?”
Replied the Master, “When you have one eye on the goal, you only have one eye on the path.”
Twitter: 2010-07-29
- RT @eddiepepitone: wikileaks is releasing the video of me giving the finger to mother teresa. #
Happy 17th Birthday
My son turned 17 today at the NARCh tournament in San Jose and he went with his teammates to Applebee’s for dinner.
The boys know that he doesn’t like to be the center of attention for things like having “Happy Birthday” sung for him in a restaurant so I’m sure they made every effort to prevent that from happening . . .
NARCh – Day 2
Two more round-robin games on Day 2 . . .
Game 3 – Mississauga Mission Rattlers
Remember when I said Mission Black Ice is the best 16-and-under team I’ve ever seen? I may have spoken too soon on that.
I’ll be shocked if the Rattlers and Black Ice don’t face each other in the final to find out which team is really the best in the universe.
The Devil Dog goalie was great yesterday but not today. He gave up eight goals, should have stopped about five of them, but didn’t get much help from his teammates either.
Final Score: Rattlers 8, Devil Dogs 0. Ouch.
Game 4 – Colorado Dynamite
Both teams came into the game with a good chance of slipping in to the playoff round as the fifth and final seed with a victory.
It was a very even game — too even. The game ended in a tie, which eliminated both teams from the tournament.
Final Score: Devil Dogs 3, Dynamite 3
Day 2 Wrapup
I thought the boys did great for their first time playing Platinum at the NARCh level.
They’re not ready to win it yet but they I think they showed that they belong, and they got a chance to see what it takes to be the best in the land at their sport.
As a team, there are things that they need to improve on and individually, they need to get stronger and faster.
There are two teams — Black Ice and Mississauga Rattlers — that look clearly better than any other team in the 16-and-under age group. Unfortunately, the luck of the draw had the Devil Dogs playing both of them in round-robin games.
Except for those two teams, it looked like the Dogs could compete with anyone. They were one goal away from making the playoff round, had they been able to win one of the two games they tied.
I really enjoyed watching the kids play this season.
Casey’s been teammates with most of these kids for three years now. They’ve improved as players from A to AA and now AAA.
A couple of kids who as recently as last year were the poster boys for not having your head in the game — on or off the rink — have actually developed some leadership qualities, so they’ve improved at things other than hockey as well.
That’s it. See you next season . . .