First, Smoke Divers school.
I went, I survived, I did not succeed. I won't go into the details of what all it involved, if you're not a firefighter you really won't understand it. Simply put it was the toughest thing I've ever done physically and mentally. The reasons I didn't complete are both physical and mental. While it is true I did start blacking out, I let parts of the last evolution get in my head and cause me to burn out and then black out. I let myself down. One thing the course did teach me is I have a mild streak of claustrophobia I have to address and to hate 2' diameter pipe. I hate that damn pipe.
I will go back, complete it and walk out the final door, I have no choice in the matter.
Second, dinner with people I hadn't seen in 20 years.
Well 19 years. I'm in Austin for the ISP conference and two HS classmates, Erica and Amanda, live in the area. And so we decided to get together and have dinner at Chuy's in Round Rock. The conversation revealed that we're all doing well. Married, kids, careers, and generally happy. It was also revealed to me that they were both somehwat scared of me in HS. I believe Erica's quote was "At the reunion, I'd vote you as the guy who was most likely to bring a gun to school and kill someone." I smiled and informed her I preferred high explosives for mass casualty work...I'm kidding. I didn't say that, but from a tactical standpoint, more bang for the buck is better. This kind of information will be valuable to you when the Zombie hordes rise up and attempt to destroy humanity.
But I digress.
I honestly can't remember how I felt or what I thought about Erica and Amanda back then. I wasn't really friends with them but then I really wasn't friends with anyone. Yes, the antisocial streak is a long running theme. I guess what this dinner showed is what we should all know. What you did 20 years ago, what you did before you really started living life and making an impact on your world, it didn't mean a damn thing.
Lastly...a book review.
The Travelers Gift by Andy Andrews.
Yes the same Andy Andrews who is a comedian, who did the great joke about "as a kid, they told you not to run with a stick cause you'd poke your eye out. That makes no sense to a kid. You can poke your eye IN, but to poke it out, you're gonna have to run the stick up your nose and make it twist around, it just doesn't work."
Anyway, as to the book. Get it. Read it. Do it. This book will profoundly effect how you think about your place in the world and how you go about doing things.
One last thing...on baseball.
I said it last week, I'll say it again. Participation in youth sports can bring out the best in kids and the absolute worst in adults. When I was president of Dixie League 4 years ago, I said that I didn't care about All Star teams or the feelings of adults. It needed to all be about the kids and them having fun and learning the game. I still think that is how things need to be run.
Later...
