SoCal...

...this time next week! Family time, over-the-line tourney, trip back to the scene of the college shenanigans, reunions with friends...it needs to be Thursday NOW!

One year ago today...

It's hard to believe that it has been a full year that my grandpa's been gone, but as of today, it has. All who had the pleasure of knowing this great man, knew a man of strong principles and values who was also a kind-hearted and personable jokester.

I went into a lengthy description this time last year (and you can read that entire piece here if you'd like), but much of how we live our lives comes down to the simple dichotomy of right or wrong.

This great man was a shining example of what is right, and the values and principles I learned from him will continue to carry me through the rest of my life. For that, I am forever grateful.

Rest in peace, grandpa. You are forever remembered.

Merry Christmas!

Hope everyone's Christmas wishes come true! My Christmas miracle was finding my way out of the midwest despite ridiculous weather delays in Minneapolis and Chicago.

I had a blast in Duluth, though, and want to send out a ton of love and holiday wishes to all my friends and family back there who are the reason I go to northern Minnesota in the middle of winter (where I'm pretty sure it's eight months a year snow). To all of you here who read this and think I'm nuts, make the trip with me once, and you'll get it. The end.

Merry Christmas to everyone, and my next post will be #200, so I'm thinking I may save that until the new year (or at least way at the end of this year as a retrospective). I know my blog output this December has pretty much sucked, but you know what? Too bad. I'm over it. You'll get there too. Don't be mad. I'm a good guy. Truth.

Love you guys!

-DL

Word of the Day - clarity

Merriam Webster OnLine defines it as:

'kler-ah-tee (noun)
the quality or state of being clear: lucidity

Well, since "the quality or state of being clear" is a sucky definition that leverages the root word to define the derivative, let's go with "lucidity"

lü-'si-dah-tee (noun)
1: clearness of thought or style (there's that damn "clear" word again)
2: : a presumed capacity to perceive the truth directly and instantaneously: clairvoyance

Well since I am definitely not clairvoyant, and I could pretty much give a rat's ass about "style," let's go with the "clearness of thought" definition.

Two words you don't see anywhere in that definition are "smoke" and "stars," but they both factored prominently into the hour I stood outside tonight trying to refocus. Romeo y Julietas are amazing and apparently lead to the kind of serene relaxation that drives contemplation. It seemed strangely apropos that I could stand out on my porch here in Ventura and see stars, and then some things started to make sense.

One of the major problems I have had in the last month plus is that I feel like I haven't stopped. I haven't been home for a weekend. Sometimes it was for factors beyond control, and to be fair, all the time it was with some of the most important people in my life. But the fact of the matter is, that I wasn't home. I was either in locations where I couldn't see the stars or didn't stop to look at them. Both of which are problems but raise a couple important points.

1. I think of this place as home. This is a credit to the laid back environment in both the city and the apartment. My roommate is roommates are baller. After the absolute debacle post-ARob, I have a place to live that is comfortable and a person (and dog) to share it with. Bonus points for the neighbors being cool.

2. I like seeing the stars. I grew up in a place where I couldn't, so I never really thought about it before, but tonight I decided I really like it.

3. Even when I was places I could see them, I didn't stop to do it. This is perhaps the most disconcerting part of the whole thing. Something as simple as taking a minute to myself was something that I let get buried and lost. For a guy fighting burnout, that's pretty stupid.

I love my family and friends, and I am happy to put them before myself. But in the process, I'm realizing that I've lost sight of myself in a way. Happiness is nebulous, fleeting and difficult to pin down without some sort of roadmap. How do you develop that roadmap without some sort of introspective lucidity to give you direction? I don't know how, but I do know that the first step is coming to this realization.

This is the realization I came to...at home...looking at the stars in silent lucidity.

Letter from a Great Man

12-2-00

To my Grandson Dale:

Thank you for being such a fine man and upholding good standards. It has been such a joy for Grandma and I to have shared so much of your growth.

I thank God that we were able to follow you around on the baseball circuit.

The time is coming in your life that you will have to make big decisions, so make sure that you make good ones. If you're not sure it's right, just slap yourself. (haha)

Just want you to know that Grandma and I love you dearly.

Love,

Grandpa and Grandma

--
As you can tell by the date, this letter came to me a while ago--my senior year in HS. Those of you who went to Catholic high school know all about why and where this comes from, so I will divulge no further details on that.

The important part, though, is the focus on decisions, and this is a topic near and dear to me as I just attended the going away party of one of my former players who leaves for college this week. Another leaves next week, and the rest will be on their way too. Clearly as my knuckleheads take off for college, they will be faced with many decisions, and while I certainly had my share of shortcomings as a coach/mentor for my boys, the overarching point I always tried to drive home was that there are two ways to do things.

The right way and the wrong way.

What do you know? That point extends to more than baseball. I hope and pray that my boys always continue to work to do things the right way. It's not always going to work out perfectly for them, as it certainly hasn't always for me since I received the above letter eight years ago when I was their age. But as I told my grandpa in the response I wrote him, I know that in the big picture I've gotten more right than I've gotten wrong.

To me, it's a testament to the strong principles and family values he helped instill in me. While I could never measure up to the example he set for me with respect to impacting future generations, I hope that someday (maybe in eight years), my boys can look back and think that the lunatic freshman coach from 2006 taught them a thing or two about how to do things.

Live life with a passion for others and see God in them, because you never know when you'll lose them. Play to win, because playing not to lose is for...well...losers. Have each other's back always because you better believe I have all of yours. That's doing things the right way.

A Couple Weeks Ago

A couple of weeks ago, I posted my college entry essay, verbatim. It was about family and the wisdom and guidance that my parents have given me. It cited a specific example, and you can read the whole thing if you'd like, but the takeaway was that when I was in 3rd grade, my parents hit me with a lesson in priorities and proper behavior that has resonated more than any others and will stick with me for the rest of my life. I mentioned the scorekeeper, but the focus was primarily the coach...aka the guy who benched me.

This one's about the scorekeeper.

I use this blog (and facebook and twitter) to whine and moan and generally just bloviate about anything and everything. You all have a right (and are encouraged, really) to leave me comments to weight in or tell me to shut up and stop my complaining or any of a number of things you may want to sound off about. I love the dialog.

No one has as much room to tell me to shut up as the scorekeeper.

One word that never appears in my college essay is "strength." My parents taught it to me, but were so covert about it that I never really recognized it...until a few years ago when the scorekeeper and i nearly lost the coach. Then it became crystal clear.

In early September '05 (my first year out of school), I had gone back to spend a night with one of my college buddies and some of his friends from his apartment building. It was a prototype evening of college shenanigans and I woke up to a phone call from mom. She then proceeded to tell me that my father had a massive heart attack the night before, and they were at the hospital in Hollywood because that's the venue with the great cardiac team, apparently.

After I picked my jaw up off the floor, scrambled to say goodbye to everyone and violated a couple traffic laws to get there, I was greeted by my dad hanging out in his bed drinking some water and my mom hanging out talking to him like we were at home in the living room or something. Outwardly...not fazed. Pretty amazing. It put me at considerable ease and really eliminated any sense of immediate panic I had going in.

So they scheduled pops for surgery for later in the week. Mom worked out a deal with the office where she could work part of her day remotely, so she could spend as much time with dad as possible.

When he went into surgery, she was there, and she told me to just go to work and not worry about it.

While he was in surgery, she waited in the waiting room.

When I called after work, she told me not to worry and to just go home. (I ignored her...I always did have selective hearing.)

When the surgery went past the estimated time, she was glad that I'd ignored her, but if I hadn't, she would have hung in there.

When the doctor came to talk to her once he was out of surgery, she listened to every word and calmly asked questions.

When he was in the hospital for a couple months after surgery in constant danger of taking a turn for the worst, she was right there all day during visiting hours.

When things started to get a little better, the stoicism turned into a smile.

And when it was time for him to come home, it was like a party.

Since then, through good days and tough ones, she's shown the same kind of selflessness no matter what's been going on around her. Going in early, staying late, working through lunch...whatever she needs to do to finish her paid job as a CPA to get home to her unpaid job as a wife and primary care physician, she does with a faith-driven grace that I don't believe can be replicated.

This is why it didn't surprise me a whole lot that when she called me a few hours ago to tell me that her father (from whom I get my personality...I'm convinced, anyway) had been diagnosed with cancer that is believed to be terminal, she spit out the facts like a doctor without a hint of weakness in her voice.

My grandpa has always been the active type, quick with jokes and stories and all about fixing (and "fixing") things. He's as strong-willed and stubborn as they come, the larger than life personality and the commanding presence that you would expect out of a former Navy guy and head of a household with five kids, but with a heart of gold. Even in the face of the worst news someone could possibly get from a doctor, he wore it to stay strong for his family.

I guess we all know where the scorekeeper gets that from.

Please say a prayer and keep good thoughts for the Power family. As tough as we are, we could really use it, and it's much appreciated. God bless.

Photo credits to my cousin Crissy and her blog and my cousin Courtney and her Facebook page.

Also, Happy Birthday to...

...the guy on the left!


Need another family pic at dinner tonight. Egg egg.

Thanksgiving Weekend Potpourri

Lots of interesting developments since turkey day...

Friday: The Over the Line Tourney
While this thing had a ton of potential going into it, much of it was unrealized at the end of it. Team Legaspi went a disappointing 2-1, losing to the eventual champion of the tourney. To be fair, the team was good, but we kind of gagged.

Team Lauer made it to the finals, but was unable to come away with the W either. To top it off, neither Wilson nor I got into the hall of fame. They are running a new capital campaign for new batting cages. This year's inductees: Jeff Suppan and Trevor Plouffe. I'm not much of a conspiracy theorist, but having worked there and seen first hand how it works, I was not inclined to disagree with those who sensed an ulterior motive.

Per the norm, though, there was plenty of beer to take the sting out of a loss. Max Flaum made a cameo at the tourney, Delja made a cameo at the house for some jam time, and we all rushed the 'wick for some Bob show greatness.

Saturday: Family & Football
This was the day of the big family event hosted by my parents. Grandpa and grandma, aunts and uncles, cousins, significant others and (of course) my brother. Fortunately for everyone involved, dinner was over and done with by the time the SC game started, which brings me to the rant portion of this blog. The topic: college football (odd, right?).

As everyone knows now, the BCS standings heading into conference title games have Alabama at one, Oklahoma at two, Texas at three, Florida at four and USC at five. I, like seemingly everyone else in the country outside the state of Oklahoma, think this sucks. Texas got hosed. Plain and simple. What I don't get is why there isn't the giant national backlash against Oklahoma that there is against Ohio State. Let's run through a brief history...the last five years.

What was at one point in the season being talked about as "the greatest college football team ever" gets shelled by a plucky Kansas State team in the Big XII title game and still goes to the '04 Sugar Bowl. LSU embarrasses them on national TV.

(0-1, BCS: 0-1)

Undefeated headed into the '05 Orange Bowl against USC. Another national embarrassment. Actually, there were two national embarrassments that night, as at least Sooner fans could commiserate with someone.
(0-2, BCS: 0-2)

They get to lick their wounds away from the national microscope in the Holiday Bowl and stretch hard to beat a C- Oregon team from a largely weak Pac-10.

(1-2, BCS: 0-2)

Albeit in arguably the most entertaining game in recent memory, they get beat by a non-BCS team in the '07 Fiesta Bowl, further cementing their reputation as Chokelahoma.

(1-3, BCS: 0-3)

Cough another one up in the '08 Fiesta Bowl to a team that had just lost to Pittsburgh. (The Panthers...not the Steelers)

(1-4, BCS: 0-4)

As you can see, Chokelahoma has quite a history. Hopefully Mizzou can sack up and save us all the indignity of watching them suck on the biggest national stage again.

Speaking of crumbling under the weight of expectations, how about that Civil War Genocide game up in Corvallis? In one of the biggest home games in school history against your hated rival, you give up 65 points and 694 yards of offense.

Speaking of weight, Charlie should be out of a job in a week. Notre Dame is heinous. Plain and simple. I guess that's what you get for putting your trust in a fat man.

That takes care of half of our rivalry business. Now comes hater week. Tape up Tommy. Lynch your teddy bears. Refuse to wear blue...unless it's this. I've started a holy war in our building, and come a week from tomorrow, if this game goes the way it should, the owner (who is a hard core bruin fan) will be wearing cardinal and gold.