Month: August 2016

Prompt for today:    Have you ever been to see an NFL training camp? 

As promised yesterday., the entry from back then.  I didn’t write a ton about it.

What to do when you’re bored – 8/9/2002

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Me? Oh, I drove six hours one-way to watch a 45 minute football practice, then drove home. 😀

Went up to Carlisle to see Redskins training camp. It was really fucking surreal to be back in Carlisle. I guess seven years is a long time, but….

It might be that already, everything from that year is sort of a blur. You go someplace for just one year, and things don’t seem to fit together after awhile.

Biggest thing I’ll remember about Carlisle is my waist size. Ain’t gettin’ into those pants anytime soon….

My hip seriously hurts after the trip.

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What do I remember the most? Meeting Danny Wuerffel and Shane Matthews. Seeing the punters try to land punts right between the “1,” and the “0” on the ten-yard line.

A lot of it was really running through the speed of the vaunted “Fun ‘n Gun” offense. I didn’t see the morning practice where they taped their #1 pick, Patrick Ramsey, to the goal post.

Maybe that had the potential to be a good team. Marvin Lewis, now of Bengals’ fame, was the Assistant Head Coach. While Spurrier had made his name in college, he’d played (niners, Bucs), and coached (Tampa Bay Bandits) in the pros previously. Watching the offense, I was able to pick out the difference between the passing progressions and anything I’d done before.

Now, what for tomorrow. Actually, it’s a bit of a cop-out, but I’m going to write about water. From General Jack D. Ripper in Dr. Strangelove to the covered roadway I saw on the way to work this morning. What are the most clear memories you have of water?

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What job would you never take?

Another with the four-letter company where I worked.  What a disaster.

Backstory this criminal recommended me following a contract changeover. I’d butted heads with him several times, trying to get him to provide some justification for whatever hairbrained drop-in solution the vendor who’d picked up his bar tab was hocking….

And, so I took the job. For 77% of what i’d been earning.

But the overall experience was bad. The shitty compensation only exacerbated things. Because I wasn’t in a sunny mood all the time, and continued to call people on their bullshit….. I’m going to stop there, because it’s not all that interesting. (And I had to just delete more snark about it….)

So, that’s an easy answer to that question.

I had a dream last night I was back in radio. Who the hell knows where that came from. I really am not in shape to be doing air work, would have trouble doing some of the techie work, and would never do sales….I don’t know.

Writing early in the morning today because I woke up way early. I’m still in pain. Pfft.

So, what to write about tomorrow? Hmmmm….

The Hall of Fame game got cancelled because the logo painted on the field made the surface too hard to play on. I’m looking forward to Hard Knocks. Have you ever been to see an NFL training camp? One of my three high schools was in Carlisle, PA, which is home to Dickinson College, where the Redskins trained for years.

After the tumult following Jack Kent Cooke’s death, The Dan saw that Norval moved camp back to Virginia, after a couple of years in Maryland (Frostburg?). Either Schottenheimer or Spurrier decided it needed to head back to Carlisle.

I had a Tuesday off, and decided to head up to see camp. Going to go through my old OD archive to see if I can find what I wrote then, and whatever else I can add.

What’s the biggest thing on tap for you in the next two weeks?

Unfortunately, I’m doing medical stuff more than I’d like.  Not as much as the past few weeks, but that’s what I’m doing.  Along with trying to make sure I’m doing at work.

Still having lots of thoughts about what I should be doing going forward.  Unfortunately, I feel like I’ve wasted a lot of time since they  figured out what the hell was wrong with me.

Physically, I think I’m feeling better than I have in several years.  So, what can I do get back up-to-speed professionally?

Lots of things to think about.

But it does bring me to a quite appropriate prompt from NoJoMo 2013….

What job would you never take?

Other than another one with the four-letter company….?  Let me ponder….

I joined up to “my friend in the digital age” (who really aren’t my friends, seeing as how they cost me a job in 1998, and I hold a grudge) ‘s I could get HBO to watch Hard Knocks.  As I’ve managed to get my sleep schedule all out of sorts this week, I’ve been playing around with things like HBO Go.

Silicon Valley is not a good choice when you’re trying to get back to sleep.

But it does touch on what I dribbled out the other day.  Yes, I recognize that physically I can’t hang like I used to, but I marvel at people working for something, not just trying to check boxes.

As I told one of my counterparts this morning, trying to make sure the gears mesh seems like it’s such a big part of what I’m doing.  Do I like what I’m doing?  A bit, sure.  Do I like the folks I’m working with?  Yep, though some of their dining choices I question.  Is it where I ought to be?  Who knows?  Is it closer than the cesspool where I was prior to that?  Oh, fuck yes.  There, there was even less novel thought, and more spot-patching a wheezing mess to have it continue on.  If we throw enough money at this pile of shit, it’ll be great.

Ummmmmm.

How about starting with understanding what it’s supposed to do, and why it’s supposed to do it?

Well, that’s not the way it’s always been done, and we’ve been doing this a long time.

So, prompt.  I have no idea what I’d like to write about tomorrow.  Brett Favre is going into the NFL Hall of Fame, and there’s actually football being played.

I like this.

Speaking of Six, I really am starting to miss Empire Little Bar Bistro.  Humph.

Write an entry from the point of view of your pet(s).

Since all my pets have gone on to their rewards…….there’s not much to write on this. I miss the dogs a lot. sigh Eventually, we’ll move to a place where we can have one.

I miss having dogs.  What more can I say about it?

This is still true.  I don’t live in a place where I can have a dog.  Physically, there’s a bit of a question about whether I could do the things that it’s important for a pet owner to be able to do.  (See:  why we’re not having kids….)

But there’s many things that I admire about dogs.  Cats, in addition to making me itchy as hell, hate people.

So, if I had a dog, his/her perspective would be one of whether the master has the motivation to get up, and walk he two blocks to the dog park.

Prompt for tomorrow:  What’s the biggest thing on tap for you in the next two weeks?

;S]ince there were so many thirtieth anniversary celebrations last year about movies, I’m going to slightly modify one from one from last year.

Last year: 8-2. What do you remember from 1982?

Since tomorrow will be the fifth, 8-5. What do you remember from 1985?

Is it possible to write this without this:<iframe src=”

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What do I remember? Um, not a ton, really. I was in First Grade. We moved to Kansas. The Royals won the World Series. I wanted to be an Astronaut.

FWIW, the lifted open to “Stacy’s Mom” is better at capturing mid-80s stuff….<iframe src=”

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Today, I got my Tysabri infusion.  I barely slept the night before.  Consequently, I’m exhausted, and don’t feel like writing a ton.

So, what for tomorrow, hmmm……

Going to do a take on this one:

Write an entry from the point of view of your pet(s).

Since all my pets have gone on to their rewards…….there’s not much to write on this. I miss the dogs a lot. sigh Eventually, we’ll move to a place where we can have one.

I miss having dogs.  What more can I say about it?

I didn’t sleep well at all last night. I’m still peeking at other job opportunities; I’d like to GTFO of government.

I’m tired of being constantly concerned about whether there’ll be a job for me in a few months.

During one of my brief sleep periods, I dreamed I was once again in a role where I wasn’t just trying to check boxes, meet deadlines. Yes, I’m adept at that. Yes, I’m adept at making sure lower-case Fs are crossed, lower-case Js are dotted. But I’m not really fulfilled by it.

I want to do something fascinating.

Maybe that’s the wrong feeling to have for someone in my condition, but it is what it is.

I’m wondering if that’s the real source of my disappointment with the last period of failurejob

Who knows?

I did see some promising things back in the media. Not radio; I don’t know if I can do that anymore, but media, nonetheless. I didn’t apply to anything because I had a few reservations about the organization.

More than reporting, though, I’d like to be focused on something other than mere compliance.

shrugs

On to the prompt…

If you had one wish, what would you wish for?

From back then: My eyesight back. I’d be so much better off if I could recover at least some of what I’ve lost.

That answer really hasn’t changed. My other afflictions are troublesome, but the vision limitations are the toughest.

For tomorrow, since there were so many thirtieth anniversary celebrations last year about movies, I’m going to slightly modify one from one from last year.

Last year: 8-2. What do you remember from 1982?

Since tomorrow will be the fifth, 8-5. What do you remember from 1985?

I said for today, I was just going to free-write.

That’s what I’m going to do.  I am exhausted.  My shoulder is still bothering me quite a bit.

Still, a day and a half left of this nonsense, then I get recharged.  I’m going to be just working tomorrow, and Friday morning.

My PCP wants to give me a shot in my shoulder.  I was worried about that with my infusion on Friday.  He did say, though, that I should come next week when e’s “presiding.”  Okay.  If it’ll make the pain stop, I can deal with a big needle.  (He’s faculty, and is supervisering residents….)

I do feel a bit more confident with what I’m doing work-wise.  I was really worried last week, but things turned out okay.

Recycling from 2012, with what I wrote back then….

If you had one wish, what would you wish for?

My eyesight back. I’d be so much better off if I could recover at least some of what I’ve lost.

That answer really hasn’t changed.  My other afflictions are problematic, but the vision limitations are the toughest to deal with, really.

Who do you keep in touch with from high school?

Really only one person from the school where I graduated.  For awhile there, it was really a matter of trying to figure out who was still alive, and, of those, who isn’t in prison.

As I get older, there’s less of that.  But I was always an “outsider” at the school where I graduated.  It was a stepping-stone, and I viewed it as such.

I’m okay with that, though, as the only person I really keep tabs on is the only one who really understood what my situation was like.

I didn’t grow up in the ghetto.  (No, I grew up in various sets of Army quarters; I can remember, as a kid, my dad only being allotted a two bedroom/one bath apartment.) I didn’t have a parent who suffered from mesothelioma.  Just one of those things, I suppose.  Yes, I do have some pertinent memories…like seeing a young Michael Vick roll left, and fire a pass sixty yards flat-footed, and realizing he was going to be the better quarterback than Ronald Curry.

I could rattle on for hours about that, but I really don’t care to.  Are there folks I wonder about?  Sometimes.  How much time do I spend on it?  Not a lot.

Things are kind of going okay today;  I couldn’t say the same yesterday.  I am completely exhausted, though.  Friday can’t get here soon enough.

Because of that, I’m going to slack on coming up with a new prompt for tomorrow.  Maybe it’d be a good day to free-write?

Say it in French. Not that I remember much of my kindergarten lessons, but I do remember that.

Unfortunately, my prompt for today is leaving me empty.  I also feel like I wrote something similar already.

Repeating yourself in the first two weeks doesn’t bode well….

Prompt:  What can you not do today, that you really enjoyed when you were younger?

I think I was thinking about driving when I laid that one out. I wonder sometimes how my life would be different if I still could see well enough to drive.  As I took paratransit in this morning, I was not envying the guy next to me in the stick-shift Camaro.

(For more than just that he was driving a Camaro….)

I am exhausted.  Friday, when I get this month’s Tysabri infusion, can’t get here soon enough.

I also saw my former employer advertising, again, a position they can’t seem to keep filled.  Hmmmm…wonder why.

But a few more days of trying to do what I’m supposed to be doing.  I will make it.  I think.

Something for tomorrow;  who do you keep in touch with from high school?

Tease:  I went to three different high schools.  A couple of friends from Facebook, are also people I knew in elementary school.