It's OPENING DAY!!!

It’s finally here!!!  After 5 long agonizing months of waiting, Opening Day for Baseball is only a mere 5 hours away.  I can’t even begin to describe how excited I am.  The Baseball season is the one thing I look forward to every year and it never gets old to me.  I’m a huge Red Sox fan but will watch any and every game I can.  I don’t care if it’s Kansas City Royals vs. the Oakland Athletics, give me a hot dog and a beer and I’m watching the game.

When Opening Day finally gets here, it always gets me pumped not only because I love the game but also because it means spring is finally here and summer is right around the corner.  Since we’re having a tough time shaking winter here in New England (another snow storm on the horizon) it’s nice to see baseball being played.  It’s like a signal that spring’s here and all this crappy weather is on its way out!

I’m even more pumped this year because I’ve signed up for MLBTV through the MLB network.  Basically it’s a system that allows me to listen or watch EVERY game for the ENTIRE season.  I plan on watching as many as I can.  I figure I’ll have the local TV on the Sox because they’re local, the computer on the Yanks (to watch our biggest rivals) and the iPad on the best matchup of the night.  The system also allows me to plug in my fantasy team or my favorite players and it will alert me when they are coming up to bat and automatically switch over to that game.  How cool is that!!!  Either way, I’ll be watching so much baseball this year I won’t even be able to comprehend anything else going on in the world.

So come 1:05, I’ll be listening to the games and then after work, I’ll be at the gym watching the games, then for dinner it’s dogs, kielbasa and some beer for the night games!!!

Maybe it’s me but Opening Day is like Christmas to me!!

"Celebrity" Apprentice...

Has anybody seen the new Celebrity Apprentice?  I can’t lie I’ve seen parts of a couple episodes and so many commercials on the thing that I’m ashamed to admit it.  I guess I wouldn’t be so ashamed if there were actual celebrities on the show.  Have you seen the lineup?  Almost every single one of the “celebrities” are irrelevant or has-beens and not worthy of the status of celebrity.

The show has the following “celebrities”:

Jose Canseco – former baseball great – NOW – a cheat and snitch.

LaToya Jackson – former playboy model, singer, actress? – NOW – was she ever a celebrity?  I think her last name carried a lot of her fame and fortune.

Gary Busey – actor – NOW – a drunk, borderline insane cartoon caricature of a human being (be careful Charlie Sheen, this is your future).

Mark McGrath – singer – NOW – a TV show host and really has anybody heard him “sing” in 10 years?

Star Jones – lawyer/TV Show Host – NOW – I guess she’s still on TV, but you wouldn’t know it because no one’s heard of her in awhile as well.

Lisa Rinna – TV soap actor – NOW – TV show host and a walking plastic surgery factory.

Dionne Warwick – diva and singer – Now this is a legitimate celebrity but has she really been relevant the last 10-15 years?

Richard Hatch – reality TV winner – He’s only a “celebrity” in that he won a reality TV show.  Big whoop.  He’s also a lying tax cheat.

Niki Taylor – supermodel – We’re calling models celebrities now?

Meatloaf – singer – Again, great musician but has he done anything since the early 90’s?

Marlee Matlin – deaf actress – a deaf actress that portrays deaf characters….what range!

David Cassidy – actor – Wasn’t his show on in the 70’s?  Really?

Hope Dworaczyk – playboy model – just because you get naked in a magazine, you’re a celebrity?

Lil Jon – rapper/producer – he’s a decent producer but annoying as hell if you’ve ever heard him.

NeNe Leakes – reality show actress – Again, just because you’re on a reality show doesn’t make you a star…

John Rich – country singer – Talented musician but again, hasn’t been a huge star in years.

I guess my point is that these people have had fame at one point or another but are they really considered celebrities today?  Maybe it’s me but this show should be called Former Celebrity Apprentice or B-List Celebrity Apprentice or Where Are They Now Apprentice.  None of these people are relevant in today’s celebrity world.  In fact, I bet none of these people would be on the TV screen or movie screen without reality television.  What I don’t get is how a normal person eats this crap up.  I guess that’s why I’ve only watched pieces of episodes.  I just get bored with these “celebrities”.  Most of them are making a complete fool of themselves and are showing the world how dumb and sheltered they are form the “real” world.

Hey NBC, let’s stick with regular joe’s or if you’re going to shove Celebrity Apprentice down my throat, how about getting a few real celebrities for me!

R.I.P. Nate Dogg

I grew up listening to Hip-Hop/Rap music, more specifically West Coast Rap because quite frankly I enjoyed the vibe better than I did “east coast” rap music.  While my music taste has broadened I still enjoy west coast rap music.  Unfortunately, today we lost a legend, the King of Hooks, Nate Dogg or Nathanial Hale has passed away.  He was part of the Dogg Pound with Daz Dillinger and Kurupt, and is probably most famous for his work with Snoop Dogg and Warren G.  He wasn’t a rapper and instead a talented singer that most often sang the hooks on rap songs.  While he had some solo albums, he’ll always be known more for his work as The King of Hooks as far back as Regulate.

I’ve been listening to Nate Dogg since the Chronic era (1992) and was a huge fan of him right from the start.  I remember the first time I heard Regulate with Warren G, I was blown away.  Then came Ain’t No Fun (If The Homies Can’t Have None) with Snoop Dogg and I was hooked.  Nate went on to mostly do hook work for west coast artists until the late 1990’s and early 2000’s.  He then blew up and was all over the radio for pretty much every rap artist on the planet.  There wasn’t a song on the radio (for hip hop and r&b stations) that didn’t have Nate Dogg doing the hook.  To put it like Mack 10 said in the song “Gangsta Nation”, “it ain’t a hit until Nate Dogg spits on it.”

His solo work was always hit or miss to me but I enjoyed most of his albums.  Usually any and every hook he was on was a great song.  I can’t think of one song he didn’t make better because he was on the hook.  In 2004, the 213 (Snoop Dogg, Warren G & Nate Dogg) album hit and to me it was amazing.  Nate Dogg really shined and I hoped for more albums to come.  Unfortunately in 2007 he suffered a stroke and another one again in 2009.  He hasn’t been able to talk for almost 2 years now and from what I’ve heard is a shell of his former self.  The last song I heard from him was on the new Dogg Pound CD and was an unreleased hook that they used for one of their songs.  One of the best on the CD and hopefully there is still a good amount of unreleased gems out there so we can continue to enjoy Nate D, O, Double G for years to come.

Rest In Peace Nate Dogg…..Maybe it’s me but west coast rap music just won’t be the same without Nate Dogg.  We’ll miss your hooks Nate…

RIP To A Very Good Friend...

THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN POSTED on 3/1/2011 - Trouble with posting prevented you from seeing it.  Here it is.
I have to write today about some pretty sad news.  A good friend of mine passed away over the weekend and it’s such a shame.  He was only 33 years old and has a five year old daughter that he adored.  Though we hadn’t spoken in about a year, there were no hard feelings and I was hoping one day to become close again.  His name was Tom and he was one of the nicest people I’ve met in my life.

Tom went through a divorce about a year and a half ago and as usual in that scenario you only continue to be close friends of one or the other.  In this case, the ex wife had the young daughter who is very close with my son so we naturally stayed close with her.  There was no bad blood or even resent with Tom, we just grew apart because he separated himself from friends that his ex was with.  The last time we hung out was near the end of the summer of 2009 and he was actually telling me about a new lady in his life.  He seemed happy and I later learned that he married her.  We spoke a few times through Facebook but nothing too in depth.  I guess I could have made a better effort but I was in a tough position as I am close with the ex and I didn’t want any resentment on either side.  I regret that now and wish I could have been friends with both of them.  I guess this has taught me that no matter the situation I need to be friendly with both parties of a divorce.  There’s too much to lose in the end.  Maybe it’s me, but sometimes it takes a tragedy to change your future ways.

I met Tom about four years ago through our children and we instantly hit it off.  It was nice hanging out with a couple that had a child around the same age as ours and we hung out quite often.  The news of the divorce shocked both my wife and me as they seemed like a great couple.  Tom’s best quality was that he was one of the most trustworthy people I’ve ever met.  My favorite memory of him is when he attended the bachelor party of one of my best friends.  I was so busy running around getting things organized and making sure everything was on schedule that I needed someone to hold the enormous amount of money that was coming in.  As you know, a bachelor party has money coming from all over.  Between people buying tickets at the door, raffles and games, the money is all over the place.  Since I was running around so much, I trusted Tom with keeping track of all the money and even though he didn’t know many people there and I only knew him for less than a year, he took the responsibility and really helped me out.  He made sure all the money was accounted for and held onto it the entire night.  He was just a stand up guy.  After the stag, we went to a local bar that he frequented and we had a great conversation about life and kids.  It’s something that I’ll always remember and wish I could talk to him again.

Usually deaths don’t affect me much and I suppose that’s because I haven’t had a lot of close people in my life die yet.  Most wakes and funerals I attend are for older people (grand parents, older family members, older friends of the family, etc.) and those people you expect to die.  They’re old, it’s there time.  Tom was 33 and in really good health.  He hiked, jogged and really took good care of himself.  A brain aneurysm combined with a series of strokes took down a man in his prime.  It’s a tough thing to deal with.  I feel awful for his little daughter and hope he’ll be watching over her for the rest of her life.  Maybe it’s me but these types of deaths are explanation-less and you really can’t make sense of them….

Rest in Peace Tom…..I’m sorry we drifted apart and I’ll miss you.

Embracing Change

About a week ago, I was informed that our department would now have a new Director.  My department has never had a Director since I started about 6 years ago and the whole company has been going through changes so I figured it wasn’t a big deal.  He came in and sat with each person in our unit and we had conversations on what we do and what we’d like to see going forward.  He’s a nice guy, but he doesn’t know much about what we do.  I work in the employee benefit division and we focus on group health and ancillary lines of coverage.  The new Director sold Individual Life products, 401K products and concentrated on Estate Planning.  I could tell by talking to him that he not only didn’t he understand the environment he was stepping into but that he also seemed overwhelmed by all the new responsibilities that were thrown at him.  Lucky for him he does have some managing experience from a stint about five years ago at MetLife so that aspect of the job will come easy for him.  He’s got a huge learning curve ahead of him and I can see it’s going to be an interesting couple of months as he gets his feet wet.  I wish him the best and actually see it as an opportunity for growth and future development of our department.  It’s almost like we can teach him and educate him to hopefully get some resources for the department that we sorely need.

As I spoke with my other co-worker she too saw the potential for good things to come out of this new Director and we both liked the situation.  The two producers in my unit though, a whole different attitude, they don’t like the change and don’t like that they have to report to someone who “knows nothing about what they do.”  They seem abrasive and from our discussions I can see that their meetings with the new Director were very hostile and demeaning.  Instead of embracing the change and helping the guy out, I can see that these guys are going to make his life hell.  I’m not exactly sure why either.  He’s been on the job for about 2 weeks, what do they expect out of him?  Our department needs resources and our two producers have been in talks with the President to get these resources.  The President then decided that he needed a Director to over see the development of the department and so he appointed this new person.  Sounds like a logical plan right?  Then why are these guys being so hostile towards the change.  It’s a positive route and while he may not know every facet of the environment we operate in, it gives us an opportunity to educate him and point out the need for the resources we require.  I see it as an opportunity and these guys see it as a threat.

In my opinion, the way they are handling it is very wrong.  They should have played it very differently by embracing the change.  How about we work with the guy for a couple of months and see where it goes.  If after a few months he still doesn’t get it, ok, then you can get hostile and abrasive but let’s see what the guy can do first.  Let’s work with him, make him feel welcome, let’s play as a team.

I only see negative things happening if they continue to treat the new Director this way.  Maybe it’s me but I’d be very careful how they treat him and how they conduct their business.  With the economy the way it is the company could easily find replacement Producers out there.  I mean, come on, a new grocery store opened up across the street from where I work and 300 people applied for jobs…..300!!!  Be careful my friends, embrace change or you’ll find yourself in a change yourself!

NOTE – as you read you’ll notice I didn’t use names.  I think that’s important as I don’t want to find myself in hot water.  Sorry if it’s a tough read due to that.

Babies and the Drama that Surrounds Them!

As you know from my last post early last week, I lost a close friend and though it’s been difficult to get over, I think I’m finally starting to move on from it.  Life’s pretty funny sometimes, though.  My best friend and his wife were expecting their first child any moment last week and on Friday they welcomed in a beautiful baby girl.  I’m so happy for them, as they get to join the “club” and know all the trials and tribulations that come with being a parent.  I found it strange and albeit a little comical that I lost someone in my life then coincidentally exactly a week later, I gain a new person into my life.  I don’t buy into religion and I’m still not sold on the whole God thing but if there is such a thing, he certainly likes to keep me on an even slate of people in my life.

I’ve been asked by a couple people that by being around this newborn has it given me the “itch” to have another and I can wholeheartedly say, HECK NO!  My wife on the other hand is ready to do it TODAY, so I’ll have to beat her off with a stick the next couple of days.  It’s not that I hate babies or anything, I just think with our current financial situation and how well things are going in our lives that throwing a baby wrench into the machine just isn’t the smartest thing to do.  I’ll admit it, having a baby is an amazing process and the end result of all the bullshit of pregnancy and the first year of baby stuff is worth it but it’s a very costly and stressful ordeal.  My wife and I have it great right now with our 6 year old and I don’t want to mess that up.  I love that I can talk and hang out with my 6 year old.  He’s like a real person now and quite frankly I really don’t want to start over. People seem to think that I’m being selfish but I think I’m just being realistic.  Babies are great but when you have a good thing going, I think you should keep it going.  Why mess it up?  Maybe it’s me but I think my life and the life of my wife and son are perfect right now, so why change it?

I worry about having another baby mostly for financial reasons and there are so many people out there that say I shouldn’t think about that.  You know who those people are, my parents, my wife’s parents and dummies that have 2 or more kids that don’t DO anything in their lives.  Whenever I heard my parents or my mother in law bother me about having another baby and I respond with the financial reason and they roll their eyes and say it’s not about the money, I laugh.  Both of our parents really don’t own anything.  They both still currently rent and to my knowledge don’t have any financial stability.  Yes, they made due, but I don’t want to make due, I want to provide more for my child and see the world and go on extravagant vacations.  Does that make me a bad person?  I don’t think so.  Maybe it’s me but having a baby is expensive and to me making due isn’t acceptable…..

Congrats Jeffrey and Kimmy and welcome to the world Natalie!