Lending Friends Money...

Have you ever borrowed or let a friend borrow some money?  How’d that situation turn out?  Most likely it either ended badly or made the friendship uncomfortable to the point where you don’t hang out or get together as much as you want or should.  Luckily, I’ve never been in a situation where I’ve had to borrow some money from a friend, I just borrow from the many other sources out there (thank you Visa and American Express…).  However, I have let friends borrow money and it never ends well.

The biggest problem I believe is the uncomfortable feeling that surrounds asking for the money back or what to do when someone doesn’t pay you back.  I won’t name people but I recently let someone borrow a large sum of money, but stupid me didn’t discuss payback times or options.  I figured that this friend was a stand-up person and it wouldn’t really come to that.  My friend seemed grateful and said they’d get it to me ASAP.  There were a lot of things going on in their life but they were adamant about it saying they’d get it to me when the have it.  Well, it’s been almost three months and not even a whimper about the cash.  Now, I’m stuck in a sticky situation where I have to bring it up and discuss how they plan on getting me the money without ruining the friendship or making our time together uncomfortable after I get the money.

I guess I wouldn’t really be concerned if my friends spending habits hadn’t changed in the past few months.  Not only has my friend been on numerous vacations, but they are also planning other vacations for the fall/winter.  Now every time my friend opens their mouth and discusses a vacation or new purchase, I just get angry and now have come to the point where I have to be a debt collector and start turning the situation ugly.

My biggest problem with this is really not the money.  It’s the common courteously.  If I knew I owed someone money, it would be a priority to pay them back.  I wouldn’t be out gallivanting around knowing I owe someone a substantial amount of money, I would be figuring out how to pay them back even if it meant paying them a little every week or month.  I’m the type of person that if I had to borrow, I would make sure I got them the cash as soon as possible.  Due to the friendship, I would want to make it square as soon as I could to avoid killing the relationship or making anyone uncomfortable.

The ultimate lesson in this whole mess is to never lend money to friends but its hard not to in certain situations.  Since they’re your friends, you want to “help” as much as possible but at the same time, you can’t just be handing out money all the time.  There should a friendship courteously that goes with lending money to friends that the ultimate goal in paying it back is to make sure that no one’s uncomfortable.  Maybe it’s me but if you owe friends money, it’s in your best effort to handle the situation as smooth as possible and pay back the money as fast as you can.  It’s just the right thing to do…

Don't Let An Accident Take the Magic Away!

There is something magical about catching a baseball at a ballgame, something so magical that grown men crave it just as much as children.  People will sacrifice $10 beers; catch balls with babies in their arms, and fight over the ball as if it was a gold bar worth millions of dollars.  When one gets a ball, they hold it up in triumph as if it were a trophy; the crowd applauds and sometimes cheers.  The pursuit and catching a ball inside a stadium is noble and awe-inspiring.

Which makes what happened last week at a Texas Rangers game just awful.  I’m sure many of you know the horrific details so I won’t get into them but in a nutshell, Josh Hamilton of the Texas Rangers threw up a foul ball to a fan by the name of Shannon Stone.  He was trying to get the ball for his 6 year old son and leaned over too far and fell about 20 feet and died from his injuries of the fall.  It wasn’t Hamilton’s fault, it wasn’t Stone’s fault, and it simply was a horrible horrible mistake.  Player’s do this all the time, its part of the charm of baseball, and fans love it.  It’s taking a piece of tradition home with you from the stadium.

I’m sure in the moments before the fall, this man was indescribably happy.  He was going to catch a baseball from one of the best players in the game and hand it to his son who would have a great story to tell all his friends for the rest of his life.  Unfortunately the ball came up short and to no one’s fault an accident occurred.  It’s a shame too because now, a six year old has to grow up without a father and Josh Hamilton, who’s been through a lot himself, has to have this on his conscience for the rest of his life.  It’s unfair really, to all those involved but again we have to see this how it is, a horrible awful accident.

As you’ve probably noticed, I’ve stressed how this was an accident pretty hardcore in this blog entry.  My point to it all is that we can’t change something that is so great about the game of baseball because of a horrible accident.  Maybe it’s me but we can’t let this accident stop players from interacting with fans and take away the magic that makes baseball one of the best sports and entertainment out there.

This type of thing hardly ever happens in stadiums and if it does, it’s usually a fan’s drunken stupor that leads to it.  Kind of like the incident at Coors Field earlier this year when a drunken idiot tried to slide down an escalator and fell to his death.  Even those incidents are far and in between.  Should we stop fan interaction and getting a ball from your favorite because of one senseless accident?  Absolutely not!

I’ve never been lucky enough to get a foul ball at a stadium or even have a player toss one up to me.  Do you think that this incident will stop me from trying?  Heck no, in fact, I’ll keep trying to get a souvenir for my son just like Mr. Stone I’m sure would have kept trying had he lived through this accident.  Perhaps stadiums should look into railings around the ballpark and re-access how tall they are but at the same time, let’s not go overboard here.  It’s not like we’re talking about hundreds of people falling out of the stands.  Let’s call it what it was, an accident and just pray and hope it never happens again.

Next time you attend a baseball game, look around you.  See how many people have gloves at the game.  Not just kids either, they’ll be tons of adults with glove.  Let’s not take that away, let’s keep the magic of getting a baseball at the stadium intact!

The 4th Of July

Well the fourth of July came, what did you do?  I’m sure everyone attended a cook-out or two over the weekend as I but on the 4^th before my 3^rd (yes 3^rd) cookout of the weekend I was fortunate enough to have some free time in the morning.  Flipping through the TV I came across HBO which was showing the mini-series John Adams in its entirety.  I’ve wanted to watch it for years but just never have found the time, being the 4^th, I thought, how appropriate, let me catch some of this.  After the first hour, I was engulfed.  I taped the rest of the series and finished it up yesterday.  If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it as the historical accuracy is spot on and to truly appreciate what our founding fathers went through building this nation, it must be viewed.

This post isn’t intended to praise this wonderful series but instead to bring awareness to the historical significance of the holiday.  Many people don’t truly appreciate why we celebrate this wonderful day and instead see it as a day off work and a chance to goof off with friends at a barbeque.  I would label myself a historical buff and have read a lot of books on the founding fathers and watched many television programs on the our Revolutionary War, but it never truly hit me until I watched John Adams.  You see, John Adams isn’t the most celebrated Patriot of our revolution and he isn’t the one that you think of when you think about us fighting for our independence but yet he was an iatrical part of the events.  It made me wonder about all those other Patriots that may not have fought on battle fields but did risk everything including death to make our country free and independent.  John Adams and others that attended secret meetings of a pre-America Continental Congress faced death by hanging if captured and were away from families not days but months and years at a time.  The hardships and risks they took need to be appreciated and praised just as much as George Washington and Benjamin Franklin.  For every Revolutionary War hero, think about all those unsung heroes that may have been omitted from our history text books.

Next year, instead of goofing off at a firework celebration or eating a heart attack waiting to happen amount of hot dogs, take some time to watch something on our founding fathers, maybe read a book, visit a landmark and appreciate those that fought hard and risked EVERYTHING to make our country free and independent.   Maybe sing the Star Spangled Banner and thank those brave young souls that you don’t have a British accent.

PS – Isn’t it amazing that our country just turned 235 years old?  That’s not a lot of time.  Just something to think about…

I Miss Summer Vacation!

My son had his last day of school yesterday and all he kept talking about last night was how great it was to be on summer vacation.  Mind you he’s only 6 and just completed 1^st grade but yet he already knows that for the next two and a half months he’s got nothing to worry about except having fun.  I miss those days.  When you get out of school and get a full-time job, you do have vacations but generally it’s a week to ten days.  I’ve never even had 10 straight days off of work for pleasure in my entire duration of working.  While I’ve been on disability for an extended period of time, that is hardly a vacation.  There is no relaxing involved in that scenario.  I long for the old days when you had two straight months of sleeping in and hanging out all day.  What I would give to have a full month off again!

I can’t even imagine taking a full month off.  Don’t get me wrong, I’ve definitely thought about it but when I take vacation for a week I come back to a disaster, can you imagine what you would come back to after a month?  Perhaps next year I should start with two weeks and see how it goes.  The problem is I worry too much about my job and the people I work with.  I work in a small department and when I’m on vacation there is only one person left to do the work of two.  I don’t know why but I can’t relax or enjoy myself when I know that the person I left at work is stressing and cursing me out.  Not to mention that in this economy a job is very important and losing it could be disastrous.  I know my work wouldn’t fire me because I’m taking vacation but I always worry that my co-worker or another person in the company will do a better job than I am while I’m out.  Again, needless worry and stress when I should be having a relaxing time.

Maybe it’s me but it’s time I stop worrying about what’s going on here and enjoy myself.  I have vacation time and it’s time to start using it to my full advantage.  Next year I will take two weeks off in a row and not care what happens here at work.  I have to!  Seeing and hearing my son “brag” about having fun for the next two months last night really got to me.  It’s time to get that summer vacation feeling back again!

Oh No Canada....

As most of you probably know, I’m a huge sports fan and last night was Game 7 of the Stanley Cup Finals.  I know what you’re probably thinking, hockey?  Really?  Well, believe it or not, I was actually into the hockey playoffs this year, or at least the last three rounds.  I don’t really follow any one team but being a Red Sox fan and seeing that the Boston Bruins hadn’t won a championship since the early 70’s I began following them.  I was treated to some really good hockey.  I can honestly say that in the last month or so, I’ve watched more hockey than I have in my entire life.  All three series were pretty fantastic and Game 7’s in any sport are usually great games.  Unfortunately for Vancouver Canuck fans, it was pretty anti-climatic as the Bruins rolled to a 4-0 win and it really wasn’t all that close at the end.  The sad thing, the game isn’t what this post is about; instead it’s about the sore-loser Canadian fans that were classless, dangerous and downright stupid for their actions in the final minutes of the game and after.

Canadian fans set the tone for the night by first booing our National Anthem, then loudly singing along to their anthem.  Real class there Vancouver, real class!  I’ve been to numerous baseball and even hockey games where a visiting Canadian city is in town (Toronto and Montreal) and have NEVER heard fans boo during the Canadian anthem.  NEVER!  Not only was this disrespectful but it was ignorant and just plain stupid.  My opinions and thoughts on Canada were not all that high before I heard this but now I will make it a point to not only SIT during your anthem but any time I can to absolutely ignore and/or miss when a Canadian team is in town.

That aside, after the game, when the Bruins were receiving the Stanley Cup and getting their praise from the Commissioner and the NHL, the fans loudly booed.  They booed so loudly it was tough to hear at times and it again showed poor class.  I’ve watched a lot of series clinching games that were won by the visiting team and I can’t remember one where the visiting team was treated with such disdain.  I even remember when the Red Sox won game 7 of the American League Championship Series in New York in 2004 after an improbably comeback that Yankee fans didn’t boo.  YANKEE FANS!  They HATE the Red Sox and even they didn’t loudly boo during the ceremony (granted, most had exited before the final pitch anyway, but that’s for another post).  Again, Vancouver, really?  Are you that ignorant?

During the final moments and after the game, the Vancouver fans and general public also rioted.  Yup, they rioted and acted like a bunch of poor-sport babies because their team couldn’t pull off the win when they were up 2-0.  Fans set cars on fire, even some police cruisers, local stores were destroyed, windows damaged and looting and people were injured while these crybabies acted like idiots.  While not ALL fans destroyed the city, there were thousands that participated and I just don’t get it.  I’ve seen fans go crazy after they WIN a series and flip cars and cause some ruckus but never really seen the destruction that happened after the game last night.  Here’s a good website with some video and photos (http://www.twirlit.com/2011/06/16/vancouver-riots-2011-photos-city-destroyed-after-canucks-loss-watch/).  As you can see, utter chaos!  I guess it’s true; Canadians are really into their hockey…perhaps a little too into their hockey!

Maybe it’s me but Canada definitely lost some of my respect and I can bet some Americans are waking up today with some bad views of Canada.  I know, personally, I never really thought much of Canada to begin with but with events like this, it just really puts a bad taste in my mouth.  Grow up Canada….it’s just a game.

What are your opinions?  Do you agree?  Were the rioting, booing of the National Anthem and booing during the presentation ceremony disrespectful and class-less?  Let me know!

Super 8 - A True Throwback!

This past weekend I was able to catch Super 8, the new movie by J.J. Abrams and produced by the great Steven Spielberg.  It felt like I’d stepped back into the 1980’s as the movie has that Goonies/Stand by Me/E.T. vibe.  J.J. Abrams pays homage to Spielberg in a great way because the movie screams 80’s Spielberg.  It had it all, the story that’s focused on the kids, the messy home life scenes, the setting, the lighting and the late monster reveal.

Overall I thought the movie was fantastic though some late third acts scenes had some plot holes I can forgive them because the movie as a whole was so good.  The nostalgic feel to me was the most important aspect of the movie.  In today’s movie market you hardly see a “smart” movie with kids aged 10-13 as the leads.  Generally it’s either late teenagers or older getting the main focus of movies.  Here the kids are 12-13 years old and their acting is superb.  Dialogue that was spot on and although it’s a far fetched idea, it still seems grounded in reality, much like E.T. and Goonies.

I brought my six year old and he too absolutely loved it.  Though, I’ve trained him by reliving all of my favorite 80’s movies over and over again with him.  In fact, some of his favorite movies are my favorites (Stand by Me, The Goonies and Sandlot).  The problem is, I wonder how late teens and early twenty year olds are viewing this movie, the 16-23 demographic for example.  They are a bit too old to remember these classics and with movies nowadays being vastly different, I wonder what they thought of it.  These days, movie patrons are treated to a full-on-shot of the monster 15 minutes into a movie or even before in the trailers.  How are these impatient high school and college kids reacting to having to wait and sit through some excellent character development before getting their monster fix?

If you have a chance to see it, DO IT!  Especially if you grew up watching those classic 80’s movies and miss them as much as I do.  Maybe it’s me but I don’t think we’ll ever get movies like those again.  Though seeing Super 8 has me optimistic, maybe these types of movies will make a comeback.  I sure hope so because there’s nothing like that feeling.

10:30 Game Time....Really MLB?

Did any of you guys stay up to watch the Red Sox vs. Yankees game last night?  Well, if you did, you’re better than me!  The game went through a 3 and a half hour rain delay and didn’t start until 10:30 p.m.  I was only able to keep my eyes open until the 3^rd inning and finally had to give up.  Outrageous!  If I had tickets to the game I would have been majorly pissed.  I just don’t get why they couldn’t scratch the game and play it at a later date.  They play each other numerous times and could even schedule the game around an off day due to the closeness of the cities.  It’s not like we’re talking about two cities that are on the opposite sides of the country.  We’re talking a 3 hour ride here.

I don’t really know who to blame here.  My guess would have to be Major League Baseball.  My guess is that they had the final call and decided that 10:30 was an acceptable time.  I disagree and don’t think anyone should have to wait around 3 ½ hours then sit through a 3 hour ball game.  I hope they made arrangements with the Subway transit for those that come to the games on the trains.

Imagine if I had tickets and had to go to work in the morning.  There is no way I would have been able to stay for the game.  As a fan of the Red Sox and more importantly a fan of baseball I think playing that game at that time was unfair and cruel.  Baseball is getting more and more ridiculous with their scheduling that at times it’s comical.  What about the kids?  Kids love watching baseball, especially the Sox vs. Yankees.  Do you think any parent would allow their 8-13 year old to watch a game that starts at 10:30?  I sincerely doubt it.

Maybe it’s me but better judgment should have been used last night and the game should have been cancelled and made up at a later date.  Shame on you MLB, shame on you!