Rocky Lives!

I'll start by saying that today marks one year to the day that I have been blogging; and for the most part the experience has been positive. The only real negative side sadly has come from a few at work. I'll explain.

A few months ago one co-worker sent out a mass e-mail to many at HEMS with a link to my blog site for their "reading pleasure". I was naturally not included but it did make it's way to me in short order. Why would this person do this? While I'm not sure exactly, and frankly don't care too much, I am reasonably certain it wasn't because she thought highly of me and my writing. While I didn't ask for this attention, I am fully cognizant that it is a public forum with all that that entails. This sparked some negative comments on my blog but more importantly many more private and positive comments.

The positive comments have been very encouraging but a number have said they didn't want to draw attention to themselves by those that seem to have nothing better to do with their time than follow me around in my off hours. A position that I understand, but saddens me to realize that such pettiness exists to create such a position.

However, I digress. Today I saw the movie Rocky Balboa. This came highly recommended by my brother-in-law Gary. Needless to say I took this recommendation with a grain of salt because he doesn't like Godfather, which as most men will tell you is one of the best movies ever (aside from Star Wars of course!). Very shortly after the movie started I was captured and by the end, enthralled.

I was expecting a lame attempt to make some money by an actor that hasn't done anything good in ages and likely needs to make a mortgage payment. However I was taken aback by the quality of this film.

It showed a parallel between an aged and retired fighter who is trying to live his life as best he can and a current champion who has never faced a challenging opponent. The movie flips from the affluent Las Vegas to south Philly where the neighborhood looks a little run down (ok, a lot) but if you listen you can hear the heartbeat of the working middle class. And if you look past the peeling paint, you can see the character within.

I'm not going to get into to much detail and spoil the movie for you, but I will say that watching the fight gave me the same "root for the underdog" feeling that I had twenty odd years ago when I first saw "Rocky". It's definitely worth the price of admission; and I recommend anyone that enjoyed the original to see this movie. I don't believe for one minute you will be disappointed.

I will leave you with this one "Balbo-ism" from the movie: It doesn't matter how hard life hits you. It matters how hard life hits you and you keep moving forward.

Be well all.

The first of 2007!

Well happy new year's to everyone! The new year is usually a time for reflection and resolution and I have certainly done my share. I'm not going to bore you with everything but I will share some things.

Family. Jaci and I have been in many discussions about where we want our life to go in the future. Should we move? When? Where? Kids? etc etc etc. I'm happy to report that we have made no decisions but we have so many options open at this time that the next twelve months should be exciting!

Jaci is also missing playing in a band; particularly around Christmas. So she secured from her dad his cornet. Which he purchased when he was sixteen years old. I'm not going to say how old it is (just in case Stan reads my blog!) but lets just say it's been around a block once or twice. So Jac is talking about looking for a band to start playing with. We'll keep you posted on that!

Work. If you have been reading comments (like on the blog before last), there are one or two work types that aren't happy with my blog. If you read carefully you'll realize they didn't. Regardless, I am leaving John St. and moving to straight days, this I believe is going to be very positive in many ways. That's all I will say about that for now before I am accused of plotting the downfall of western civilization!

Freeway. All is going well I think on that front. Mentoring with Mark is going well, as well as Tuesday night study and the Thursday pub are filled with fun and frivolity. Pernell and I have some quality time booked to expand my horizons further and I am looking forward to that.

Resolutions:

• be a better husband, friend, person
• commit to losing weight (ie get off my backside and do it)
  
• finish my current reading - 800 pages down, 1300 or so to go.
• read all the books I got for Christmas.
• read more in general
• stretch my intellect
  

So to bring things around, 2007 is gearing up to have some exciting possibilities. There are some other things in the air right now but this is not the right forum (for obvious reasons) and the timing isn't right just yet. Again, I'll keep you posted as I am able.

I hope everyone enjoyed their new year's eve; I know I did (in Kingston) and that everyone's 2007 is blessed.

May your best day in the old year equal your worst day in the next.

Be well all.