When did my phone become so important?

I almost can't remember a time that I didn't have a cell phone. It was a different world when I was young. Slower, and more thought out you had to plan your day as well as your week. Going over to spend the night at a friends house was a major ordeal planned days in advanced. Phone calls were made the day before to make sure all the arrangement were O.K.ed by both parents.



Thinking back I also remember a time when my grandparents were living with us. The phone was not to be touched durning certain times of the day. My grandfather was a paramedic and was on call, it seemed like to me, all the time. I had to walk down to A&W Root beer, two blocks away to make a phone call. Now, back then a phone call cost 20 cents and the phone booth didn't give change for a quarter so I had to make change at the A&W or be out a nickel. The good thing was you could talk forever because there was not time limit on your call.

Now my world has changed. My cell phone is a piece, a very important piece, of me. It is with me all the time, with out it I feel naked and exposed to the world around me. I don't use my cell that much in fact I almost never text. Still, this small gray box is always there. Maybe it's a security blanket so I'm in touch just in case. I think I would miss my right pinkie finger less than the thing that interrupts my day and my sleep.



Now the cell phone as taken over my life. I have it with me all the time like its a part of me. To be with out my trusty cell would mess up my entire day. Thinking would be almost impossible. I even use the alarm to wake me up in the morning. It might be easier to loose my right arm.

DARE to compair

In my edu. class today we discussed the needs of children "at risk". The list is long like low income, single parent, GLBT, teen suicide rate and drug use. The issue was raised about teen pregnancy rates and how if the school take any government money the teachers must teach abstinence in the class rooms. Health education could not talk about safe sex or the use of any contraceptives. This stems from the fear that talking about such thing would increase teen sex and as a result would increase teen pregnancy and increase sexually transmitted deceases. This started a debate with the majority of the class in support of sex ed. classes to include all of the for mentioned as well as handing out condoms and birth control pills in school.



The next topic was drug use among teens. With an increase in teen drug use the drug awareness program D.A.R.E was dropped from schools. Some of the reasons for the removal of the program were the increased knowledge the students received made drugs more accessible and an increased curiosity leading to greater experiment with drugs. Including one student in class to say "D.A.R.E. was a joke."



To me this seems like a contradiction. More info is good for sex ed. and bad for drug use. The pregnancy rates have gone down in resent years. And drug use as gone up. Maybe the two are not connected at all. I just found it interesting that more information or less information can be justified among the same people. I think that emotion plays a larger roll in making the right decisions than most people want to admit.

one million dollars

If I had a million dollars I would do the standard stuff frist. You know, pay off the house, pay the bills, pay for school and tuck some money away for the kids. My wife would like a new car so that would have to happen. Dad use to say "If moms not happy nobodys happy."



Whats left for me? Not much. One of my secret dreams has been to open a guitar store. The store would small and simple with a relaxing feel to it. Acoustic guitars would hang from the walls and placed in stands on the floor. A small glass counter to hold guitar strings and other small do-dads like tuner and string wax. The store would open up towards the back of the shop with chairs and stools for nightly jams.

Acoustic guitars would be the only guitars in the store. Some would be lower cost name brands but the gems in the store would be the hand crafted guitars selling on consignment. Beautifully rich sounds would fill the store on each strum made on these one of a kind instruments.

The store would also be the place for after school lessons. I would donate my time and store to help teach kids to play guitar, sing and write songs. This is something I want to do maybe when I retire or if I get lucky maybe just maybe Sharps Fine Acoustics could become real and not just a what if.

The Next Paper

In Text form Dennis Hopper says to invest with ETrade and he's got a lot of money so that's where I'll go. I don't have time to look around for advice so I'll do what the movie stars says is right.

On a billboard A picture of a Dennis Hopper wearing a very nice suite holding a chicken in one hand and looking very confused. Caption below "You wouldn't want my advice raising chickens but I do have a lot of money and like to hold on to it! Save time and listen to an expert"

Blog If you needed advice on raising chickens you ask some one who has a lot of chickens and had the chickens for a long time. Just like a chicken rancher. Like wise you would want to get fiances advice from some one who has a lot of money. Has had a lot of money for a long time and has time to research how to invest the money. Movie Stars fit in all of the categories and can be readily seen in commercials telling you just what to do.

The way I introduced my argument became different on each media I used. Blogging was simply condensing the paper down and only making a small argument. As for texting, I don't text much at all so to put the argument in a text was limiting to say the lest. Maybe as an ongoing conversation it would work better. The billboard I can see in my eyes as a satirical comment but I found it hard to put in words.

pressure

Fall is here and the start of crunch for most of us. In one way or another we all feel the pressure. For some it is the school work and projects we have been putting off thinking we have plenty of time or avoidance to push away the pending pain as long as possible. The sands of the hour glass are now past the half way mark so good luck if you have not been keeping up on your studies.

For others it is the pressure of getting things, like the house, the kids the menus and all the rest that goes with the holidays, together for the holidays. You can over hear most every where you go"Wow, it here already and I was going to get every thing done early." How many of you have said the same thing in the recent days?

Some are trying to do both. Just the thought of trying to do both automatically puts a person three month behind to start with. Try to remember that we are all in this together, you are not alone, and some how, some way, we will get it all done in time. We may have to fake it on some stuff or get a little creative on the how. Just remeber your not alone and drinking is still legal.

To Vote

I stood in for an hour and a half waiting to vote. Finding myself with time on my side I decided to pass my time people watching. A balding man in glasses would be my point of reference as I moved forward in the line. He was about fifteen people ahead of me in this snake like line of people. He is taller than most so it will be easy to follow him as he makes it closer to the door at the DMV. It was great to see people of all walks of life in line that day. Another nice thing about the day was that no one was talking about politics. Maybe people have had enough politics and just wanted to vote and be done with it. Maybe the political tension is to high and people don't want to start anything that might escalate and get in the way of voting. For the most part people were nice and friendly to each other even with the differences hiding under neath the smiling faces. In fact this give hope that we can all get along and let the political system work in a very civil way. The tall bald man in glasses finally made to the door. The family just ahead of me had a small child maybe the age of four and the dad was trying to explain that we were all here to pick a new President. "I don't want to see the President." the small child said. Yes I made it in the door. I voted and I feel very hopeful for the future.

Rounders

Wow! This is one of my favorite movies. Rounders stars Edward Norton and Matt Dammon.
This movie draws you in from the beginning with a high stakes poker game. You fined yourself rooting for Matt Dammon's character Mike McDermott. Across the table from From Mike is Roman, a dark straight faced almost anger Russian played by Salva Schoot. I'm not a card gambler but this movie and the characters are so complex and rich I can't help but watch. The acting is superb and I get lost in the story of the world of underground gambling. Edward Norton plays Lester "worm" Murphy a con artist that blurs the lines of honor among thieves and will cheat his own mother to make a score. Great suspends and a must see.

A drive to Achieve

In a I believe essay by Juliet Frerking she speaks about achieving something great. Guiness Book of World Records got my attention right off the bat. As a kid I use to marvel at the achievements in the book myself. I related to the essay quite quickly. She has a drive to do something amazing with the memories from her past. The mood is uplifting with a spirit of wonder. It reminds me of growing up barely able to wait for the new Guiness Book to come out. Like most kids, dreaming of getting in that book. To see your name in there meant that you were somebody. You did something unbelievable that few in the world could do. You were super human! Most of us grow up and start living in reality but to the few that don't I give them praise to be what nobody else can. A motivator with a drive to achieve.

Young for a Short Time

Children are only young for a short time. Parents need to embrace this fact. I am not saying, by any means, that the child should be spoiled. In fact quite the opposite is true. My brother-in law and I once had a conversation about this very topic. He justified working long hours to make good money by saying "I want to provide the best for my kids." I then asked if it was important for his kids to ride around in a new sedan that he's paying $600 a month to drive. By the way the kids don't ride in his car.

I had a job that paid pretty well but the hours terrible. I would work five or six days a week from ten in the morning to ten at night taking Sundays off. When we started having children it did not take to long for me to realize I never got to see my children. Children are only young for a short time. I quite my job, took another for one half the pay, and worked a much more reasonably time demanding job. This put me at home before 6pm and gave me most weekends off. My wife quit her job as well and went back to school to become a teacher. Money was tight but we were and are there for our kids. I can make money later, children are only young for a short time.

My wife was told by a close friend that she needed to get a new car. It would be nice to have a sparkle new car. The friend then add "you just need to take your kids out of karate and gymnastics. They can do some activities at the rec. center." WOW! Josh is less than 4 months
from getting his black belt. Ashley just second place in the all around, in only her 4th meet, against 67 other girls. No problem taking that away from the kids so mom can get a new car. The car is a little old but its still runs well. Let the kids sacrifice so mom can have a new car so her friend feels better. What a great idea. Again, children are only young for a short time.

For my wife and myself, we have the rest of our lives to make money, buy cars, eat in restaurants and all the other stuff other people think we should do or have. Children are only young for a short time.

Hiyhaaa

Testing day once again at the Martial Arts studio. Time goes by so quickly. The Tini Tigers enter the mat. This is the first testing for my littlest one. 6 years old and looking for her yellow belt. The studio is set up with a table at one wall, facing the mats, for the judges to sit and scribble notes. The judges are all high ranked black belts form other schools and are dressed in their uniforms demanding respect with out saying a word. They deserve the respect as well, some, spending more than 15 years studying the art to achieve such ranks. The class lines up to bow and the testing begins. A set of movements called "forms" must be preformed in specific order and in struck form to be awarded and move on to the next level. The mood for the 6 year olds is keep light and some giggles are shared with the instructor just before the "forms' are to be done. Cindy, my daughter, made it through with out any mistakes. The stress parents put on themselves is amazing. How do these little ones do it. When the testing is all over my darling daughter looks up at me and says "that was fun. I can't till next time." As long as she's having fun we will keep doing Martial Arts. They are only young for a short time.

Whats Fair?

I'm in a class. Its a group project and our group is up to present. We are group 3 and our editor in the group had a computer crash that morning. We will go on. No, you can't go on with out a power point. We could switch with another group and go next class. We can get together and make a new power point. No, you don't have it to bad! So what if there are other groups that get an extra week or two, that's the draw of the hat. You will lose points for being late or lose all points for not having a power point. We are ready to go. Its not like we done nothing. We are copping out. Such as life, yeah, I know, "if I bend for you I'll have to bend for someone else and then we have mass hysteria and world as we know it will no longer exist." Bla bla bla. Joe could have ten computer crashes but Joe still has two more weeks to have his ready. So, from on I take the assignment with the last possible due date. Your a poor sucker if you get stuck with the first one. In the real world, yes,it might cost you your job or maybe the presentation would be rescheduled, this could effect everything. We are here to learn and, maybe this is a tough lesion that needs to be taught. flexibility is one lesson not taught by some instructors.
The argument can't be one. I am just a student. But maybe there is a bigger lesson here. A lesson on how I might deal with the same situation. As a teacher, hopefully in the future, I will need to face this one on my own. I hope I can reflect on this moment, use my best judgement a reach the best answer. Maybe it was best thing for the instructor to do, dock us for a computer problem. Maybe not but when it is my turn at the helm the influence will be mine. Someone will get upset and try to argue but I'll have the last say and it will be my turn to stick to my guns.

Fore!!

I was 11 years old when I started shagging balls at the driving range on the Ironwood Nine golf course. My first real job after having a paper route. I would ride my bike down the road only 5 blocks away. Tucked on a hill was a small 9 hole par 3 golf course. Now it was called a executive 9 hole course because it had to pars 4 hole on it as well. But to the small town of Pleasant View just outside of Golden it was a place to hit balls on a Saturday afternoon. The grass never really took root on the fare ways and the owners had little money. This was a golf course built by the land it on not by big bulldozers and earth movers. Small and simple things seemed to slow down just a little bit on Ironwood Nine.


I learned to play golf in the heat of the afternoon. Not much to on the course in 90 + degree heat in the middle of the week. It was way to hot to mow on the old tractor so I would bang the golf ball around in heat until the late afternoon when the business men would come and try to sneak in around or hit a bucket of balls before going home. Then a would spring into action selling the bucket of balls I would later have to retrieve and bucket up for the next day.

It was on this golf course I learned to drive. First on a small Cushman cart, a three wheeler with a tiny truck bed, to haul dirt, small trees and allot of rocks dug up on the old farm turn into Ironwood Nine. By the time I was twelve I was driving the tractor to mow the fairways, mostly weeds but we called them fairways. I moved to the big leagues and got to drive the Ford 250 truck. I can't think of a better place to learn to drive a standard three on the tree transmission. It took some time but soon that old truck and I became good friends.

I made some good friends too. Like Pat, she was a pro golfer in the early 70's. The tour was a struggle so she came out to Colorado to start this golf course. She made allot of friends on tour and, through her, I meet Pat Bradly, Nancy Lopez, and many more pro golfers that would stop by to say hi.

Don was an old timer. He retired from the railroad and started Ironwood Nine with Pat and did most of the work himself. He taught about the dirt and grasses, planting trees and filling the tractor with heavy oil. Don also let in on a little history like the "mob" killed Kennedy because of the Bay of Pigs.

Now the grand old course, in my mind at lest, is no more. Pushed aside to sell motor homes, and a nice little open space park with a walking path. If you squint just right in the heat of the afternoon, about mid August, you can almost see the flag on the first green. A high 8 iron with a fade just might get there or put out a window at lest.

Cookies

Round and golden, tasty and tempting, filled with chocolate delight. Begging and urging to stanched up, gobbled and swallowed down. Josh, my 10 year old son, brought home cookie dough he had been selling as fundraiser for school. I don't remember (bemember as my daughter of 4 would say) having so many fundraisers when I was in junior high school. So cookies we must sell and cookies we must eat. Lots of cookies we must eat. It would have been more economical to just give the school money and by cookie dough at the store.
When do you, as a parent say to those wide eyes "we can't afford to by cookie dough from the school so you won't be able to win a prize that you'll be board of in ten minutes. Sorry." To break a child's heart is something all parents must face. This is a tough learning experience for both parent and child. It is the day our son or daughter finds out that your not superman or wonder woman. Kids bounce back faster than we do. I think it is because they have little hart break to compare it to.
For now, we eat cookies around the table and remaining a superhero for at lest a few more days. I love cookies. Especially fundraiser cookie I bought form my son! Milk anyone?

Getting Inside

Where am I? How did I get here? Looking through a rocky frame I can almost touch the blues and reds. They seem so bright and so close but wait one step and I am gone forever. The illuminating oranges pull at me telling me to come closer. Rock and gravel remind me to stay and keep my footing. Dust kicked up by my feet whisper "yes, this is real". The battle continues in my brain to step out and fly in this strange world.

In the sky the sun is moving fast, yet time seems to have stopped. Time to go home, back to the real world far away from David Muench's Grand Canyon.

If I were President

Thank you! Thank You!
First I want to thank all the voters that did not vote. This made it easier for all my special interest groups and packs to do they're and steal this elections. Next I would like to thank the past Presidents, both republicans and demarcates a like, for hand the country over to the money whores. I'm planning on making a lot of money in the near future. Thank you goes out to my
party for giving me a turn at the money wheel. And who could forget the media? What a great job bring down all my appoints and making me look like a squeaky clean hero. I can change how things are done in Washington? Why would I want to? Sure I made promises, but really, even if I wanted to change things how could I with the House and Senate? Which brings me to my last big thank you. You the voters. You really believed all the things that were told to you by all the people I thanked earlier. Great job!
What will I do know? Same old same old. And, with the crack staff of spin doctors, you, the public, will actually believe that I'm making changes and doing a great job with your best interests at hart. It is my promise to keep my approval rating high at lest until the public catches on and by then it will be to late.
Now, those that still have jobs, go back to work! Make more money to pay more taxes. If you don't have a job this gives you time to catch up on your mindless TV shows. Relax in knowing that thing are not going to change unless the change benefits us in Washington. Thank you,thank you, thank you!!!

Welcome to what I see

Entering you find a dark double door. Carpet lines the floor giving you the choice to turn left or right around a counter and wall blocking the view of whats inside. stoping you notice the counter seems to be covered with white and red striped popcorn cups filled and waiting for ready hands to take. Rounding the corner, just a few steps, the room opens up with lights, much larger than the front counter lets on. Spot lights are focused on a small area of about four feet on a clean wooden floor. The stage rises above the floor some two or three feet alone in the corner. Empty chairs and tables fill the room focusing forward to the stage. Clean and ready, waiting for something. Lights hang on the wall faceing the dark painted black ceiling giving out light to fill the room, again waiting to be lowered and give full attion the the stage. One single cold steel railing stands on one side of the stage as if to catch the fallen performers. All is quite but ready to start somthing new. The pulse is low soon to take off.

Tattoos

I once thought about getting a tattoo. I was deeply in love and we were going to get some kind of matching tattoo (Pepe and Penelope I think). I'm not sure what stopped us but, needless to say, we did not go through with it.

Good thing? Yes, now some 13 years later its seems kind of silly. I can't come up with anything I would want on me forever.

For others, go for it. As long as its not offensive, and if it is keep it cover up.

Then again who am I to make that call? I'm just saying its not my thing. Does it add to atractability? I can't come up with an example, how ever some tattoos are beautiful works of art. I would prefer to see them on canvas.

The Why

I presented my collage, as did we all, in class. I found interesting see the other side of people. I as well showed a side of myself and totally mess up the presentation. I mean, I've done presentations in front of professionals and students alike. I ran training classes in a number of jobs I've had, but this one was different. The subject matter was much more personnel. I could have picked something like music, golf, teaching or any number of thing that help make me who I am.
Instead, I went for the one thing that drives me, keeps me up at night, and wakes me up early mourning. Yes, the most important and driving part of my life, my family. So, I choked. With each word I had to fight back tears.
I can not apologise for my presentation, only to think through my choices in the future. Maybe leave the touchy stuff for the blog and keep it more on the surface for any presentations in the future. Tomorrow is another day!

Empire of Images essay

The fact that women and girls are the point of Susan Bordo does not give a pass to males in our socity.
Men are bombarded with images of the "6 pack". Cut muscle defintion, next to no body fat, is everywhere. Even on men well into there 50s and 60s. These men need help having sex but boy they must have no problem working out 3,4,or 5 hours a day eating 1200 calories of wheat germ.
Even boys of 10 years of age have a six pack only pro body builder had less than 20 years ago.
The presure is tough out there and all we can do is try to tell our kids, and ourselfs, its not real as well as not safe!

We are the change.

McCain came across as stiff and boring in his acceptance speech. Not as flashy as Obama but the message was clear. We need to all work together to make the "changes" that, from the sounds of both party, we all want. A much kinder speech, McCain as set the election up for him to be the good guy. Riding in on his trusty steed to bring the town together and run the bad guys out of town. This leaves the "bull dog" to do the dirty work of calling names, throwing mud and attacking the other side.
What is the change "everyone" wants? Well, its hard to say, keeping it vague is the name of the games these day. Change Washington? aren't both candidates in the Senate? Is it me or does the President only have the power to write a bill or veto one. We need to ask ourselves "who has more backing in the Senate?". Doesn't seem to me that McCain has many friends and Obama, still new, is an outsider. So that leaves what can ether do? Foreign policy. Iraq, Iran, Russia and the rest of the world are the things that the new president will have to face. Will the massage of hope and change be enough to deal with concrete issues of today?

8 is enough!!

Obama fired up the crowd with the promise of change as well as the promise that all Americans should be responsible for ourselves and for each other. Stating that everyone has the right to pursue there dreams and that Business and Government have the obligations to take care of the less fortunate.
Same old, same old, will not do. Bad Republicans, bad Bush, bad McCain. Bad policies and McCain voting with Bush 90 percent of the time how can we (Americans) take a 10 percent chance on change?
It was clear from the beginning that Obama would not pull any punches. The stage is set that the country, not only needs change but, deserves change. All of America must come together and make this a world class country again. With names like Roosevelt and Kennedy to move and unite, he did not make any direct quotes, however, the impressions were there.
An outline of his plan was not far off from elections of the past with big promises of lower taxes, closing loop holes for big business and getting rid of tax breaks to companies sending work overseas. More money will be spent on start ups, schools, early education and 150 billion dollars to end oil dependency in the Middle East.
Cutting taxes and raising spending makes everything great all with the Congress that has not changed in more years than Bush has been in the White House. Hasn't all this been said before?
How long have we all heard, we need to take back America?
He ended the speech with MLK and uniting the country for a common purpose. Was the speech effective?
If defining the battle lines was the goal then yes it was. However, 8 is enough might just be more of the same.

Text as a part of learning

Text is used in every part of our lives from the time we get up to the time we retire at night. We talked about many of the different types of texts. Texts that tell us about the world we live in and give us a mass amount of info. We use this info to make choices, both large and small, in all we do in our lives. All texts are used for learning. To learn about our surroundings, from the sounds on the radio to the advertisements on billboards, signs, and radio. The artwork as well as clothing tell a store about the world we live in. Good or bad, friend or foe, we learn to make our choices and take action. If we make a bad choice we adjust how we view the text so we can make better choices as we continue to live our lives.