Keep Your Eye Near The Ball

He wasn't the most efficient defender, but he was the worst.

21 Jump Street

I’d never seen the old T.V. show featuring Johnny Depp, but that didn’t matter in this comedy shocker that Jack and I didn’t see coming.

Important note: This was a perfect movie for anyone willing to indulge their crass inner silly teenager. If you can imagine yourself howling with laughter at the sight of a YouTube clip of the five stages of a hot new drug ingested by a progressively manic high schooler, snap up a couple tickets and treat yourself.

A (slimmed-down!) Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum were high school failures who’ve just joined the police force… and pretty much fail at that too. Their last chance is to be re-assigned to an experimental unit of the force, working undercover to infiltrate and disrupt an emerging drug trade.

It’s a highly physical comedy masked as an action movie. Shootouts, car chases, bicycle chases, even a production of Peter Pan are on the short list. There’s even a guest star appearance at the end.

Trippin': The Week(s) In Thanks

Sitting comfortably during a 2-hour layover at the Atlanta airport allows a peaceful window during which to blog a post of thanks.

It’s been a few weeks since a gratefulness post, and yet the spirit behind this year’s resolution to dream and be thankful has been strong throughout.

I shared all about the continuing good fortune with math tutoring. Over a half dozen students have met with me, and I feel myself becoming more competent for them with each passing week.

The season-ending basketball banquet is always a treat, since the coaches and our wives get a chance to spend time together. A handful of parents had found my “profile of a champion” season recap and it gave us a fun chance to reminisce. The team pitched in for gifts for Coach Short and me, and I was honored to receive mine (and a little thank-you speech to boot!) from Alex Prus, who rightfully won the team’s  sportsmanship award.

After some uncertainty, I was able to get into a league that Jack’s co-commissionering (is that a word?). The results were a pleasant surprise, I got a fun roster of players including four Cy Young caliber pitchers.

Hairspray musical rehearsals have started to take on that family feel for me. The dancers and chorus singers work so hard! A lot of times my role has been to provide a solo voice, and then I get to walk around to other parts of the building where complicated dance numbers are being choreographed and rehearsed. It’s a pleasure to just be an audience for them. We have a lot of youth in the cast, and the energy is amped. I hear that 400 tickets have sold for the 11 performances so far, still six weeks away from opening night. The inspiration from the other actors has got me singing, shimmying and reciting lines in the shower every morning (mostly in my head, for Dena’s sake).

This is smack in the middle of a two-week stretch where Dena and I are mostly apart.

This week’s been my early birthday present from Dena, meeting up with Jack who drove to Phoenix from California to cross an item off my bucket list – seeing the Cubbies in spring training. The weather was clear, sunny, room-temperature cozy in the evenings. Phoenix is mostly bug- and humidity-free. We saw two games, and in the most stunning development by far, the Cubs won twice. No, they didn’t just win. They won by two shutouts. Didn’t give up a run. I don’t know what the odds are of this rebuilding team winning two in a row during the season, but I’d bet my left lung that they won’t pitch eighteen straight scoreless innings after Opening Day.

I love to bask in the small moments of a vacation. During the second game we had lawn seats just beyond the left field wall, watching Alfonso Soriano sort-of paying attention to the action. By and by some combination of the direct sun and the speed of baseball caused the crowd to thin. So I find myself able to lie on my back at a major league event, drinking in the sun and sounds. I had to call Dena at the office and tell her what I was experiencing.

I kept in touch with the team at the office, and the ship continues to sail along at a healthy clip during a stressful week of final product testing. I had a chance to give a presentation about what my unit does to a group of new employees. It sinks in that we have four members with over 30 years of experience. What did I do to deserve this? Nothing. All I can do is walk into work every day with a spirit of humility and appreciation.

I can’t understate how great it was to spend a week with my brother. Jack pointed out that it’d probably been our longest stretch together alone since before I was married. And we did the things we’ve done our whole lives, poking fun at the absurd, feasting comically on make-believe scandals, inventing a new religious denomination, laughing our teeth loose at 21 Jump Street. Had our fair share of heart-to-hearts. The only thing missing from our youth was the conflict.

Dena’s mission trip to Reynosa, Mexico begins tomorrow morning. We attended a commissioning service and I got a chance to see this crew of primarily women and children who will be helping deaf children for a week. Dena’s role is to develop a mural that will be painted on the wall of their school. I’m eager to see the final product. But most of all, I’m eager to see her.

We spent a typically long and patriotic day together serving as election judges in the March primary, then rang in our 14^th wedding anniversary the following day.

So the past few weeks have been relatively quiet in the blogging sense, but fresh with continued good fortune, the optimism of more to come, and a grateful calmness that everything’s going to be all right.

About Hairspray

Music by Marc Shaiman; Lyrics by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman; Book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan
(Musical-2002)
Preview: May 10, 2012
Performances: May 11–13, 17–20, 24–27, 2012

Directed by Alan Wilson
Choreographed / Co-Directed by Wendy Baugh
Produced by Brett Cottone

CAST OF HAIRSPRAY

Tracy Turnblad - Kelly Slater
Corny Collins - Joe McDonald
Edna - Scott Myers
Penny Pingleton - Melissa Mullin
Velma Von Tussle - Wendy Fleming
Amber Von Tussle - Mary Francis Leake
Link Larkin - Jeremy Pease
Seaweed J. Stubbs - Gerald Price
Little Inez - Katrice Bridges
Motormouth Maybelle - Jennifer Rusk
Wilbur Turnblad - Mark Robinson
Prudy Pingleton - Ingrid Myszka
Mr. Pinky - Chris Terven
Gym Teacher - Mary Evenson
Matron - Sara Schramm-Bronson
Dynamites - Christy Vellella, Rachel Phillips, Gabrielle Lott-Rogers

WHITE COUNCIL
Sean Stevens, Austin Travis, Drew Eberhard, Chris Stanford, Leah Powers, Samm Bettis, Jenny Stevens, Aimee Kerber, Lisa Groves, Lauren Garvin, Brad Berry, Jon Biever

BLACK COUNCIL
Monica Hamilton, Taylor Matlock, Ricardo Chatman, Fania Bourn, Keeley White, Diontae White, Kayla Bullock, Rejene Phillips, Brianna Carter, Tony Smith, Daniel Imode

ENSEMBLE
Kylie Maurer, Cullyn Murphy, Christopher Myers, Bridgette Richards, Wendy Baugh

Based on the 1988 John Water’s film, Hairspray was the winner of eight 2003 Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book of a Musical, Original Score, and three individual acting awards! In 1962 Baltimore, plump teenager Tracy Turnblad's dream is to dance on The Corny Collins Show, a local TV dance program. When Tracy wins a role on the show, she becomes a celebrity overnight and launches a campaign to integrate the show. With a mix of 1960s-style dance music and rhythm and blues, and hits like “Good Morning Baltimore”, “Welcome to the 60s”, and “You Can’t Stop the Beat”, Hairspray will have audiences dancing in the aisles!

Environmentally Conscious Motorcross Racer

Dick Bennett's Pack-Line Defense

The basketball coach at Virginia 30 years ago, Terry Holland, was flush: He had 7'4" center Ralph Sampson—a singular player who was so talented that he declared himself "the next stage of basketball development"—and the nation's No. 1 team, which was headed toward a No. 1 seeding in the NCAA tournament. The coach of the Cavaliers today, Tony Bennett, has a Sampson-sized challenge: His 7-foot center is out with a broken ankle, his righthanded shooting guard is hindered by a broken left hand, and his 22--8 team, which is clinging to UVA's first big-dance bid since 2007, has only one real option on offense: senior forward Mike Scott.

Bennett didn't inherit the anxiety that drove his father, Dick, out of the game shortly after taking Wisconsin to the Final Four in 2000, but he is the caretaker of a defense created by his father to help overcome competitive disadvantages. The Pack-Line defense is a containment system in which one man pressures the ball and the other four stay in help position within an imaginary 16-foot arc around the basket. Virginia deploys it well enough to rank first in the nation in fewest points allowed per possession (0.87). But what the Cavaliers do, Tony says, isn't groundbreaking. "It's just about having an iron will and saying we won't budge on certain things defensively."

Bennettball demands stubbornness; its rules are called "nonnegotiables." What's unusual about this system, which has spread to high schools and colleges around the country, is that to become a Pack-Liner, Dick Bennett had to do more than budge: He had to ditch the system that first made him famous.

IT'S 1984 AND Dick Bennett, 41, is standing in front of a dusty chalkboard. At the top he has written STOP BALL and underlined it. Drawing attention to himself isn't his sort of thing; he was talked into making this instructional video by his assistant, Rod Popp, who's working the camera. Bennett is the reigning NAIA coach of the year, having taken Wisconsin--Stevens Point to the national title game, but he has no expectation that the tape, Pressure Defense: A System, will spread very far.

Bennett tells the camera that defenders in this man-to-man system must apply intense pressure and gamble with reckless abandon—a curious order from someone whose teaching style is painfully thorough (the video will run 82 minutes) and whose yellow UWSP polo shirt is neatly tucked into his blue polyester coaching shorts. He's a tightly wound man with a blueprint for suffocating "oh-fenses," as he occasionally says in his Nordic Wisconsinese.

This early version of Dick Bennett D aims to force 20 turnovers per game by following these rules: All five defenders must sprint back to prevent transition baskets. The ball is pressured as soon as it crosses half-court, and off-ball defenders are always in denial mode—"on the line and up the line," Bennett says—in the path of potential passes. (The players in the practice footage he splices in, including a young Terry Porter, hop around like trained jackrabbits.) There is no switching, only early help and quick recovery. The ball must be pushed to one side of the floor and then to the baseline, where a help defender is dead-fronting the post. Once the defense has ganged up on that side, the ball cannot be allowed to swing back around the perimeter.

"If you can get the ball on the baseline, eliminating ball reversal is a pleasure," Bennett says. "That's where you're gonna create tremendous turnovers." His earnestness is what makes this the tape's most precious quip, although Bennett's piece of chalk leaves a more lasting impression about 20 minutes into the video. During a vigorous drawing of a court diagram, it snaps in half, causing a brief crack in the coach's demeanor. After a chuckle he quickly gets the lecture back on track, but for years he'll hear broken-chalk jokes from coaches he's just met. That's evidence that his VHS went the pre-Internet equivalent of viral.

Where did the video spread? Where didn't it spread? Bob Hurley of St. Anthony's in Jersey City received a copy at a Marquette clinic in 1985. An instant convert, Hurley implemented the defense during his son Bobby's freshman season and used it to win 15 of his 24 overall state titles and induction into the Naismith Hall of Fame. Iowa-based Championship Productions bought the video for wider distribution, and in an SI poll in the '90s, college coaches said Dick Bennett was one of the men from whom they most wanted to take a clinic (along with Bob Knight, Mike Krzyzewski and Rick Majerus). When Pat Riley became the Miami Heat coach in '95, he cited Bennett as an influence on his aggressive Knicks-era defenses, even though he and Bennett had never spoken. The sideline fraternity knew Bennett as a professor of pressure, but a national audience will meet him as a purveyor of something else.

It's March 17, 1994, and Dick Bennett is a Division I coach in an NCAA tournament first-round game in Odgen, Utah. This isn't his first national TV appearance; he took Wisconsin--Green Bay to the dance three years earlier, when Tony was its star point guard, and nearly knocked off Michigan State. Now the Phoenix is a No. 12 seed, pitted against No. 5 Cal, an up-tempo scoring machine with Final Four aspirations and a soon-to-be No. 2 overall draft pick, Jason Kidd, at point. CBS tells viewers that Bennett is a "guru," but it's an indication of his employer's lack of prominence that analyst Ann Meyers refers to the school as "Green Bay Wisconsin" for the first six minutes of the game. By the time she corrects herself, the Phoenix has a 6--2 lead and two things are evident: Kidd's Bears are flummoxed, and Bennett's new defense has taken a philosophical 180 from the one that earned him guru status.

After the Phoenix sprints back in transition, the team builds a wall in front of Kidd to keep him away from the paint. Gary Grzesk, a 6'5" sophomore guard, is the primary defender on Kidd and becomes the game's quiet hero. Once the defense is set, the player on the ball applies pressure—but his teammates don't. Instead of denying "on the line and up the line," they pack themselves in a 16-foot arc around the basket and constantly reposition themselves, either as helpers who shrink Kidd's potential driving lanes or as angled post-fronters who prevent feeds from the top of the key. (Cal coach Todd Bozeman says it's almost as if the Green Bay defenders are "in the lane posing for a team picture.") The players are content to let the ball rotate, but they refuse to let anyone drive baseline, because post defenders aren't in position to help. No one ventures outside the pack line unless his man is about to catch a pass, at which point the defender closes out with a vengeance, his hands high to prevent a rhythm jumper, while the passer's man retreats to the pack. Gambling for steals is kept to a minimum, in favor of forcing a contested shot and sending all five men to the glass to end the opponents' possession.
  How well did the Pack-Line D work on that St. Patrick's Day? The Bears did not get a field goal until almost midway through the half. Kidd was held to 12 points on 4-of-17 shooting. And UWGB pulled off the greatest upset in school history, 61--57.

Tony was watching from a sports bar in Charlotte, where he was an against-the-odds NBA success as a backup guard for the Hornets. He saw this coming. When he was a junior at Green Bay in 1990--91, Dick started to doubt that all-out pressure was right for a D-I David that would always be at an athletic disadvantage when it faced power-conference programs. The north-south driving offenses that had come into vogue were tough to stop with slower defenders, and the Phoenix was getting caught out of position and giving up too many offensive rebounds. Dick reluctantly sought out a system that would neutralize the talent gap, and as an experiment he taped down a pack line on UWGB's practice court.

Tony's teams were the guinea pigs, but Dick didn't fully make the pushing-to-packing conversion until after his son turned pro in 1992. A few years after his NBA career ended in '95, Tony became an assistant to his father, who had moved on to Wisconsin. There the pack line was painted on the practice floor. Disciplined defenders are the key to Bennettball, and that season's pack leader was the unscreenable Mike Kelley, who guided the 1999--2000 Badgers to the Final Four.
Tony's Virginia team has a player in the same mold as Grzesk and Kelley. Junior guard Jontel Evans is a 5'11" self-proclaimed "pest" who leads the Cavaliers in steals with 48.
 
The most difficult part about doing a Pack-Line D story is that the Bennetts pressure you not to do a Pack-Line D story. They just don't believe it's a worthy topic. "The Pack Line isn't revolutionary," Tony says. "It's a basic containment man-to-man, built on simple rules that my dad put together. I wouldn't want to waste your time."

From Dick, more of the same: "We're very respectful of the work that's gone into developing defense," he says, "and the last thing that I want is to be thought of as an inventor of a defense that's been played in many variations." He adds that he didn't even coin the term pack line—that came from a marketing guy who talked Bennett into making a DVD on the new system.

So, in order to do a story on the Pack-Line D, you must assure the Bennetts that you won't say it's sui generis. Everything in modern basketball is built on something else, and Bennett stresses that he was influenced by Bob Knight's helping man-to-man at Indiana, Lou Henson's ball-line defense at Illinois, and Colorado State's Boyd Grant's emphasis on the importance of a player's keeping his hands high while closing out. Bennett selected the pieces that best fit his team, made a set of rules and drilled his players incessantly. He may not have been an inventor, but he has been a shrewd editor and an even better teacher.

His 2005 Pack-Line DVD became one of Championship Productions' best sellers and helped the defense gain traction outside the Bennett family. (Dick's daughter Kathi teaches it at Northern Illinois, and his brother Jack did the same at Stevens Point.) Arizona coach Sean Miller's father, John, a high school coach in Beaver Falls, Pa., admired Bennett's methods. When Sean got his first head coaching job, at Xavier in 2004, he implemented the Bennett's D and used it to reach the 2008 Elite Eight. Now, with the Wildcats, Sean has made the Pack Line the third most efficient D in the Pac-12.

According to Synergy Sports Technology, Arizona is the nation's fourth-best team at defending jump shooters. Miller's successor at Xavier, Chris Mack, stuck with the Pack-Line, and Northern Iowa's Ben Jacobson used a hybrid of it to upset No. 1-seeded Kansas in the 2010 NCAA tournament. Butler used Pack-Line principles in its recent back-to-back runs to the national title game, although coach Brad Stevens has reconfigured his defense, as Bennett had before him, into something that will inspire a future branch of coaches.

College basketball's steady de-acceleration since the '90s has less to do with stalling offenses than with the rise of containment defenses. Virginia plays at the 339th slowest pace in D-I because the Pack-Line is next-to-impossible to score on early in the shot clock. By limiting the number of possessions, Pack-Lining can fuel Cinderella runs but also produce aesthetic atrocities, like the 53--41 Final Four grudge match that Dick Bennett's 2000 Wisconsin team lost to Michigan State. That the system's highest-profile showcase was widely panned as a peach-basket-era grinder does not bother Tony Bennett, whose Cavaliers could be in the bracket as a No. 8 seed, just like his dad's Badgers. Says Tony, "I'd love to get to the Final Four and have them say that about me."

Taking Control

"During the course of the game, you have two or three plays on the field and four or five at-bats. You need to be prepared for each and every one of those situations on a nightly basis. That's all you can control. I mean, you can want it more than the next guy during an at-bat in the seventh inning, but after that at-bat's over and you're standing on first or second or third or whatever, it's out of your hands. It's up to your teammates." - Chipper Jones

Someone recently asked me about beating anger. I started rambling.

1. You never truly beat anger. It's like alcoholism. You can only manage it.

2. Deflect the angry thought with a happy one. Your weekend plans, your vacation, your dream.

3. Have a plan B. For everything, if you can. That way plan A is never life-or-death.

4. I believe that things happen for a reason, and usually for the better, even when the short run seems bad.

5. Surround yourself with happy people. Do what makes you happy. Speak happily. Steer away from the rest, within reason.

Ultimately, it's about focusing upon the things you can control. It may not be much, but it brings peace. For the most part, we're riding the bus, not driving it.

If You Build It, They Will Bomb

"The U.S. government said that they didn't want bin Laden's grave to become a shrine for terrorists. But wouldn't that have been a great way to catch terrorists?" - Glenn Wool

Listen Up!

"A lot of us are so eager to be heard, we forget to listen to the other guy. But when you shut up and pay attention to people, it keeps you engaged, and you learn all kinds of things. On the other hand, you never learn anything by talking." - James Garner

The Secret Of Success

"If I get a chance to compete for the championship, that would be great. If I don't, there is still a lot of reward to be had. It's an interesting dichotomy. In one respect I want to win a championship, but not at all costs." - Steve Nash, on the possibility of being traded from the Suns to a contender

This is a 38-year old player who's working with a balky back in the NBA. He's a multiple MVP winner who's leading the league in assists. His own fans chant for him to be "freed" to win the elusive championship. Yet he stays.

"I feel a sense of loyalty to my teammates. Maybe there is a time you part ways, maybe there is not."

This is a winner, no matter what the standings say.

Family Guy - Drunk Billy

Stunning Half Court Shot By Third Grader - Mar 26th, 2012

Dog Rescued By Family Shows Gratitude By Devouring Child

Buster, the German Shepherd mix rescued from the Pearly Gates animal shelter earlier in the day, celebrated his new home by feasting upon his new family's six-year-old daughter.

Jim and Leslie Kepper's hearts were captivated by the sight of the ravenous dog as it thrashed about in its cage at the shelter.

"It was love at first sight," Leslie smiled on her front lawn as paramedics arrived on the scene and dashed into the front door.

"Some dogs, you look into their eyes, the puddle of foaming drool on the floor, the self-inflicted teeth marks all up and down their legs, and you realize that this is a dog that just hasn't been given a loving home or a real chance."

Slightly elevating his voice above the cries of horror, rabid growls, and screams of life-or-death struggle radiating from the kitchen, Jim admitted his initial hesitation.

"No one wakes up in the morning saying 'Today I'm gonna adopt a dog gnawing manically on bloody, snapped bones.' You start second-guessing yourself a little bit when attendants use terms like 'carnivorous' and 'demonic.' But then you think, 'What if Emily grew up without a pet?'"

State Farm® - State Of Discontent (David Copperfield)

This Book Is So True-To-Life...

When You Know It's Time To Retire From Professional Tennis

Hairspray - Good Morning Baltimore Singalong!

Our rehearsals have been a ton of fun!

I've still never seen the musical or movie... but whenever we learn a new song it reveals a tiny piece of it that's like Christmas. Here's the opening number that we covered recently.

Hope a few Hidden Bloggers can get a chance to buy tickets for a 7:30 (or 2:30 on Sunday) show. I end up having two "solos," with a teenage ensemble chorus hooting and dancing along with it:

Performances: May 11-13, 17-20, 24-27, 2012
http://www.communityplayers.org/shows_hairspray.html

Re-Read Your Notes On How To Do A Header, Son

Worth The Weight

Here's what I do to manage my weight.

1. Step on the scale first thing every morning. Amazing what it does to hunger pangs throughout the day.

2. Watch what I eat. Some protein, some carbohydrates, some fat. Occasionally sugar, so that I'm not deprived. Increasingly, fruits and vegetables.

3. Thirty minutes of exercise six days a week, Monday through Saturday. MWF is weights. TRS is cardio. Cardio has to get my heart rate up to 23 beats in 10 seconds, usually stationary bike, or a run if it's nice outside. If I miss a day, I make it up on Sunday.

4. Do happy things, think happy thoughts. Squashes binging.

Not rocket science, just my way of taking care of the good genes God gave me.

State Farm, Allstate Eclipse Geico, Progressive

From Marketing Daily:

It might be time for Geico to retire the gecko and the caveman. And Progressive may want to put the perky Flo out to pasture as well.

Both brands have been on a long-term downtrend in consumer perception since fall 2010 in the U.S., while State Farm and Allstate have eclipsed those brands riding on their own quirky campaigns, according to YouGov BrandIndex, the daily consumer perception research service of brands.

Insurance companies have put old-school ads with men in suits and a deadly serious tone in their collective rearview mirrors. As a result, the category appears to be getting tighter with the possibility of a changing of the guard, said Ted Marzilli, senior vice present and managing director at BrandIndex.

State Farm, Allstate and Farmers Insurance have used their own edgy marketing to outdo Geico and Progressive. Taking a page from the Geico playbook, Allstate introduced its offbeat “Mayhem” character, which appears to have helped propel the brand to its highest perception point with consumers in more than four years.

State Farm got hipper by putting Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers in weird situations with his teammates and portraying him as being stalked by “cheeseheads.” Its latest “State of Disconnect” ad featured two guys quoting Journey lyrics to each other.

Farmers Insurance saw its consumer perception rise when it debuted its “University of Farmers” campaign in the fall of 2010. Its perception levels are now on par with the much-bigger Progressive.
Geico, Progressive, Allstate, State Farm and Farmers Insurance were measured with YouGov BrandIndex’s Buzz score, which asks respondents: “If you've heard anything about the brand in the last two weeks, through advertising, news or word of mouth, was it positive or negative?”

YouGov BrandIndex measurement scores range from 100 to -100 and are compiled by subtracting negative feedback from positive. A zero score means equal positive and negative feedback.
Geico led the insurance category in consumer perception for 2008 and most of 2009 with buzz scores hovering around 25. By October 2010, the company began gradually losing steam and its current score is at 21.

Progressive has seen its own fortunes rise based its long-running Flo character, rising from a 12 score on January 1, 2008 to averaging around 17 until -- like Geico -- fall 2010. At that point, Progressive began slowly drifting down to its present 13 score.

State Farm was at 19 from 2008 until April 2009, when it began its present long-term perception ascent, leading to its current score of 26. State Farm passed Geico’s score at the end of January 2011 and it has been the category perception leader since then.

Allstate was in a regular cycle of peaks and valleys from 2008 through the end of September 2011, depending on its spending activity, going as high as 19 and as low as 15. Since October 2011, Allstate has risen to its current 21 -- the highest it has been since the beginning of 2008 -- placing it at a virtual tie with Geico.

Farmers Insurance was averaging around 6 from 2008 to mid-2009. It began its impressive ascent in late January 2010, when it started at a 5 score and moved up to its present 13 score, right where Progressive currently stands.

YouGov BrandIndex (www.brandindex.com) interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample -- more than 1.2 million interviews per year. Respondents are drawn from an online panel of more than 1.5MM individuals. None of the insurance companies cited in the research are clients of YouGov BrandIndex.

Read more: http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/169427/state-farm-allstate-eclipse-geico-progressive.html?edition=44222#ixzz1pzAinwrq

The Positive Pledge

By Jon Gordon:

I pledge to be a positive person and positive influence on my family, friends, co-workers and community.

I promise to be positively contagious and share more smiles, laughter, encouragement and joy with those around me.

I vow to stay positive in the face of negativity.

When I am surrounded by pessimism I will choose optimism.

When I feel fear I will choose faith.

When I want to hate I will choose love.

When I want to be bitter I will choose to get better.

When I experience a challenge I will look for opportunity to learn and grow.

When faced with adversity I will find strength.

When I experience a set-back I will be resilient.

When I meet failure I will fail forward towards future success.

With vision, hope, and faith, I will never give up and will always move forward towards my destiny.

I believe my best days are ahead of me, not behind me.

I believe I'm here for a reason and my purpose is greater than my challenges.

I believe that being positive not only makes me better, it makes everyone around me better.

So today and every day I will be positive and strive to make a positive impact on the world.

Outstandupping

Sometimes someone will make an appointment with me, I'll show up at the meeting place, and they won't.

It's a little irritating perhaps, yes.

But, it's also a helpful learning moment.

How does the person respond later? Apologetically or with excuses?

Is this the first time it's happened?

If I respond with patience rather than frustration, it builds character - character that the other person sees and might return gratefully. Or not. Either way, I learn a great deal about this person and the prospects for a lasting relationship with him.

Why Blow A Kiss When I Can Blow My Whole Face?

Now he can cross this off his bucket list.

Math Tutor Blooming

This last week has been so gratifying in the tutoring career.

Got my first check in the mail from tutoring sessions via the wyzant.com web site.

Got a new 2nd grade student and helped her with subtraction.

Got two new high school students.

One of my current high school students asked if he could meet with me a couple of times this week.

Another's grade has risen from a B last semester to a 96 percent this semester.

Two of my students from last semester are doing well enough that they no longer need my help.

Then this unsolicited comment on wyzant.com from one of my students' parent:
 
"Joe has been tutoring my son in Algebra for the past few weeks and has done an amazing job. My son feels so much more confident about his math skills and his grades have shown a great deal of improvement. Joe is always on time and prepared. He is very patient and puts my son at ease. My son was really reluctant to use a tutor but now really values Joe's help. I would highly recommend Joe as a math tutor."

I remain humbled and excited by God's calling for me along this path.

Dumb Things People Have Said During Job Interviews

We've all experienced it. That sinking feeling that occurs when the job interview that was going so well suddenly goes off track. Maybe it's the expression on the hiring manager's face, or the awkward pause that ensues, but there is little doubt when it happens.

Common interview mistakes, of course, include bad mouthing your former employer, failing to adequately research the company or the position and just plain talking too much. Careerbuilder.com, a job posting site, publishes an annual list of interview blunders, including asking the hiring manager for a ride home or flushing the toilet during a phone interview.

Thanks to the rise of social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter, dumb interview moves are taking on a new character. The urge to share everything about one's life with friends and strangers via cyberspace is invading the very private atmosphere of the recruiter's office. Moreover, the need to stand out in the information cacophony of the Web has increased the pressure to seem unique and special.

"We've been socialized to assume that we have to stand out in some way, and we're encouraged to be bold," says Roy Cohen, author of "The Wall Street Professional's Survival Guide" and a New York City-based career coach. "But that is not necessarily what people are looking for in candidates to bring on board. They want people who fit in."

Oversharing has now become an occupational hazard of the job hunt. Here are 5 examples of when too much information was, well, really too much information:

"I'm in anger management because I hit a former co-worker."

"I've had candidates share with me their anger management problems, views on gender, age, and other things that can be damaging in an interview," says Shilonda Downing, owner of Virtual Work Team, which helps business owners find remote workers. "One candidate recently mentioned that he was going through anger management for hitting a co-worker in corporate America, and that is why he would like to work from home going forward."

Major character flaws, particularly when they are of the physical-harm variety, shouldn't be brought up in an interview. Bringing up disagreements with colleagues or managers as a reason for leaving a former employer doesn't bode well that you'll be reliable and reasonable in a new position--even if it is a remote one. "Mentioning this is typically deemed as someone who is unable to handle situations professionally and without violence," Downing says. Unless you're required to disclose that you're undergoing some kind of psychological treatment, find an honest way to work around it.

"Oh, that's because I just took a Xanax."

"I interviewed someone who swore she'd be great at the job, but she was talking incredibly slowly," says Chenofsky Singer, the career management coach. "A single word would take forever. I wanted to pull them out of her mouth." Concerned that the applicant might be suffering from a legitimate medical issue like low blood sugar, Chenofsky Singer asked if this was the candidate's typical rate of speaking. "'Oh, yes,' she replied, 'I take a Xanax before a meeting or a presentation because I get so nervous. I don't think I'm doing poorly, do you?'"

Having some nerves before an interview is normal, but before medicating, be sure of the effects on your personality and disposition. "More than trying to pick on her individual interviewing style at the time, I was concerned that there was something I should know," Chenofsky Singer says, which served as a distraction from a discussion of her qualifications.

"Just a little itch."

"I was recruiting for a sales director position for my employer," says Dany Bourjolly Smith, who's a recruiter with a professional services firm selling to C-level executives. "I was thrilled to have this candidate in for a live interview based on his resume. During the interview, he was saying all of the right things. Suddenly, he takes his right hand and sticks it inside his sock and shoe and begins scratching under his heel furiously."

Bourjolly Smith described the itching as "aggressive," and the candidate continued it while he was talking and answering questions unfazed. "At the end of the interview, I did my best to be subtle and not shake his hand. This amounted to an awkward bump of elbows. He definitely noticed that I didn't shake his hand."

For a client-facing position like the one this candidate was interviewing for, but really, for any position at all, behaving in a strange and unprofessional manner--particularly when it's hygiene-related--is a big red flag. "Naturally, I declined him for the position," Bourjolly Smith says. "If he would behave like that in front of a recruiter, I can only imagine what he would do in front of our clients during a sales meeting."

"I locked a mentally ill patient in a room to teach him a lesson."

"A few years ago, I was hired by a nonprofit that provided services for the homeless, the majority of whom were developmentally disabled, to find them a facilities director," says Bruce Hurwitz, author of "A Hooker's Guide to Getting a Job: Parables from the Real World of Career Counseling and Executive Recruiting." Hurwitz prescreened one well-qualified candidate who didn't raise any red flags, and sent the applicant forward to his clients for a full interview. When asked for examples of how he had interacted with people with psychiatric issues, "he told my client that there was a person living at his facility who refused to stay out of the library.

"One day, the candidate waited for the man to enter the library and locked him in. The man called him numerous times begging to be let out of the room. He refused until the man was about to soil himself. When he promised never to enter the library again, my candidate released him."

When asked for real-life examples of your skills and expertise, it is best to refrain from bringing up wild, controversial examples, like ones of abusing people to keep them in line, particularly when they're developmentally challenged. "The sad part? My candidate actually thought he was telling the client positive things about his judgment, and had no idea why they didn't want him," Hurwitz says.

"Oh, he was killed in a drug deal."

"I had a woman do an excellent interview," says Holly Wolf, who's currently the chief marketing officer with Conestoga Bank in Pennsylvania, but was formerly responsible for hiring staff for an emergency clinic. At the end of the interview, when she asked why the woman wanted to be a nurse, she explained that she had gone back to school after her husband passed away, and she wanted to serve as a good role model for her young girls.

"She was about 33 so that was an incredible accomplishment," Wolf says, "so I said, 'I'm sure your husband is proud of you and what an excellent role model you are for your daughters.' She looked at me and said, 'He really wasn't a good role model for our children. He was killed in a drug deal that went bad.'"

Bringing up losses of friends or family members in an interview can be a touchy subject. Bringing up the illicit and illegal dealings of your late friend or family member is an example of taking it too far. It can be acceptable if you're careful to bring it up in a casual way, and without so much detail that it makes someone uncomfortable. Despite it being an excellent interview, the candidate tainted it by sharing more than was necessary.

Loft In Space

Their captain's name is Richard Simmons-Kim.

Danilo Behind The Back Assist

This pass could just as easily have sailed out of bounds, but let's give him credit for a beautiful assist.

1992 Georgia Tech vs. USC 2nd Round

1998 Valparaiso vs. Ole Miss 1st Round

2011 NCAA March Madness Buzzer Beaters

Coaching The Millenial Generation

By Bill Salyers:

It hadn't dawned on me until I attended one particular coaching clinic last year.

As I sat through that clinic, the question hit me like a freight train. Was I coaching in a style in which my players would really understand me?

I was in my 14th year of coaching and had been successful each season and I’ve been an active part of the Winning Hoops Editorial Advisory Board, so things must have been working, right? But suddenly, after 2 hours of listening intently at a coaches clinic, I found myself re-evaluating all of the coaching techniques that I had, or had not, been using. It wasn’t a matter of X’s or O’s, rather, I found myself questioning how I had been presenting the information to the players.

I’ve always believed that the teams who are the most successful really understand what the coach is trying to accomplish. Additionally, I understood that players play harder when they feel they’re a real part of something and they buy into the priorities and goals that the coach has set down. So, what did I hear in those 2 hours of clinic lecture that made me question what I was doing after 14 years?

Adaptability: Knowing Your Players

The first two coaches who lectured that day had at least 20 years of experience each and they were discussing how the 3-point shot had changed the game. One of the coaches stated that it took about 4 years before every team in his league had put in plays to take advantage of the 3-point shot. This fact really surprised me, as I just assumed that coaches would quickly adapt to rule changes, game changes, etc. This really set the stage for a “coaching epiphany” that was about to occur.

Sue Ramsey, the head womens coach at Ashland University in Ashland, Ohio then lectured on “Coaching Today’s Generation — The Millennials.” I have three children of my own who are in this generation and have coached hundreds more, so I knew that this would be an interesting topic for me personally.

Ramsey did not let me down. I’ve kept in contact with her since that clinic and she has been kind enough to share her notes and thoughts with me so that Winning Hoops could pass this valuable information along to its coaching readership. Much of the generational information that Ramsey was presenting was from a 60 Minutes television program that aired on October 3, 2004.

Ramsey lists several characteristics that make up the millennial generation of players. The Millennials:

• Make up 21-percent of the current population.
• Are materialistic and often referred to as “the generation of consumers,” which also makes them extremely brand conscious.
• Are more likely to spend time conducting research and buy things online.
• Are wireless-, mobile- and technically-savvy.
• Are “masters of multi-tasking.”

The Most-Watched Generation

There are other aspects of this generation that we need to take into account. This current generation is classified as the “most-watched” generation to date. As young children, they rode their bikes while wearing helmets. As infants they rode in a cars while strapped into a car seat. They never used a medicine bottle without a childproof cap.

They also grew up with many options: hundreds of TV stations to watch and tens of thousands of Web sites to surf. They had a plethora of electronics to choose to use VHS, CD, DVD, I-Pods, MP3, etc. This generation is much more “connected” than prior generations — via e-mail, cell phone, instant messaging, text messaging — and they becomes easily irritated when responses are delayed.

Millenial Attributes

Keeping those prior facts in mind, there are other attributes of the current generation that you should consider as well. In general, the millennials:

• Worry less about being a leader and more about being accepted. There are few leaders in this group. Being accepted as part of a team is very important to them.

• Are trusting individuals. It’s been calculated that 50 percent of these young people trust the government and 75 percent trust their parents — both of which are all time highs. This statistic indicates that they loyally follow an authority figure who earns their trust.

Other general characteristics of millennials include that they also:

• Do not think long term.
• Want immediate feedback.
• Want immediate gratification.
• Have limited attention spans.
• Have limited creativity.

I certainly have seen these attributes in my own kids. Several of the coaches in our youth organization have discussed what we see during our open-gym sessions. Many of these players have never played “unorganized” basketball. They wait around for a drill to start or wait for some direction. Even concepts such as the give-and-go aren’t part of their “scrimmage always” mind set.

Putting The Knowledge To Good Use

So, how has Ramsey taken the knowledge of the millenials and applied it to her program? There are several things she now incorporates into everything the Ashland program does. Understanding that these student athletes are visual learners, have shorter attention spans, want immediate gratification, want to be part of a team and are technically savvy, there are good coaching techniques that can be used.

Visual Learners:

• Use your gym clock during practices.
• Color code your defenses.
• Post the practice schedule and game goals for all to see.
• Film study is more effective if it is broken down into small segments.     Write down your philosophy and program vision and put it in each player’s playbook.

Limited Attention Span:

• Teach new concepts during the first hour of practice.
• Repetition of drills or patient offenses may not be as effective as a run-and-gun offense or use of quick hitters.
• Coach your corrections on a small scale (one at a time).
• Keep team drills to a 10 minute limit and individual work to 7 minutes.
• Immediate Gratification:
• Find every opportunity to make practice competitive with immediate rewards.
• Set short goals to work toward (such as “the next game” or “this week” — not this season).
• Acknowledge off-the-court successes as soon as possible.

The Need To Be A Part Of A Team:

• The worst thing you can tell a millennial is that they are selfish. They can be held accountable for their “part.” Make sure your expectations are clear and that they will be held accountable for knowing and accomplishing them.
• All named drills should be in the playbook and the players are expected to know them when practice starts.
• Build a family atmosphere with your team.

Technically Savvy:

This is one of the most difficult parts for many coaches to accept. This past season, Ramsey tried several things which got great feedback from her players.

• All team handouts were e-mailed to each player and/or their parents.
• Utilize text messaging after games to send a positive message or to congratulate players.
• E-mail small video clips of something you want to stress to the team or to an individual.

Note: Do not allow cell phones, iPods, etc., on the bench. It’s important, however, to find out what sort of electronics young players are into and at least understand them.

Building Family Atmosphere

One of the important aspects of this study, and those items that Ramsey stresses, is the aspect of building an extended family. For Ashland University, this starts very early with what they call the “summer-letter series.” Each player and coach is assigned a week when she is to write a letter to all of her teammates and coaches. It must be postmarked on that Monday and come through regular mail. These letters serve as both an introduction to one another and as a motivational tool for all members of the team.

Each season, they also have a “theme” consistent with Ramsey’s philosophy, which she calls,“Commit To It!” The “It” stands for Integrity and Trust.  Everything starts with the commitment.

A simple example is leaving the locker room on road trips better than you found it. Other relationship building ideas include a freshmen-upper classmen buddy system and a laminated information card with all player and coach cell phone numbers on it.
Ramsey also feels it’s important to communicate both formally, with 1-on-1 scheduled meetings, and informally, with an open-door policy. She also stresses that coaches keep current with the latest vocabulary used by the athletes.
 

One Man Explains One-Man Losing

"I knew this team had enough pieces. You have to have a team of depth, and you can't be a one-man show if you're intent on winning." - Mark West, Indiana Pacers

That could hardly be truer of our basketball teams this year. The teams that passed the ball and played great defense were the most successful, the teams that played selfishly lost. Sometimes the same roster fielded both types of teams.

It's A Bird... It's a Plain...

Coach Witzig's screen saver!

I'm Corny Collins

Final callbacks for Hairspray auditions were tonight at 8:00.

I stayed up until 1:00 in the morning learning what the heck the Corny Collins character's lines were. As it turns out, he has no dialogue - it's all singing and dancing. So my breakfast, lunch, and dinner were consumed watching, repeating and inventing dance moves to two YouTube videos over and over.

By the time I got to the theater I'd pretty much memorized the two numbers from the movie.

Right away they told us which song we'd be singing in our audition. Actually, just a fraction of one song. That helped.

Also, they had songbooks there with the words. So I didn't have to concentrate on memory. That helped too! I could focus entirely on musical accuracy and throwing myself into the character.

We broke camp by 10:00. They said that they'd start calling with offers tonight, starting with the largest roles.

I was spent, but happy. Clearly others auditioning for the part were able to read music and had acting experience. I'd given it my best, and was ready to accept any bit part that they might offer. I stood to gain a lot about acting and dancing just by being around a musical. I'd worked my tail off all day, given my best, was ready for whatever.

After an hour I'd heard nothing. They said that they'd be calling the major characters first and then work their way down. No call tonight would mean no part. I supposed that God may have meant for my reward to be simply having a solid audition.

At 11:00, my phone rang. Lo and behold, I was offered the Corny Collins role!

I gave an exuberant yes, then did a hug and happy dance with Dena. Called Jack on the West Coast.

Our first script read is tomorrow. First show is May 10. And away we go!

http://www.communityplayers.org/shows_hairspray.html

9 Bad Habits That Are Good For You

Look at the Bright Side

When it comes to your health, some missteps are OK to make from time to time. In fact, many of these so-called mistakes, such as downing coffee and forgetting to take your vitamins, can actually help you improve your health, feel better faster and boost your mood. Learn the nine "bad" habits you should keep and how to make them work for you.


You drink a huge cup of coffee in the morning... and pour yourself a refill (or two)
WHY IT'S NOT SO BAD

A couple of cups of joe may perk you up in more ways than you think. Coffee gets a bad rap because of the caffeine, but it may actually help regulate your mood. A recent study published in Archives of Internal Medicine showed that women who drank two to three cups of coffee daily had a 15% lower risk of depression.

 
"Caffeine helps activate the brain chemicals involved in mood, like dopamine and serotonin," says study author Alberto Ascherio, MD, a professor of epidemiology and nutrition at Harvard School of Public Health. Coffee is also a rich source of antioxidants and other healthy compounds that may help protect against cancer, according to new research. One caveat: If you don't drink coffee, don't start (caffeine is a stimulant and can cause jitters or an upset stomach in some people). But if you're a java lover, consider this permission to pour yourself an extra cup.

 

You allow the Debbie Downer in you to sneak out
WHY IT'S NOT SO BAD

Think you should force yourself to stay positive (no matter what) when difficult things happen? Think again: Research shows that the key to long-term happiness may actually be dropping the "Everything's fine!" act. A new study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology found that newlyweds who remained positive in the face of negative but controllable circumstances (problems at work, financial issues) experienced more symptoms of depression four years later than people who looked at situations in a less positive (and more accurate) light. 

"Being realistic drives people to take steps to improve their lives, which helps ease stress and sadness," says study author Erin O'Mara, PhD, an assistant professor at the University of Dayton in Ohio. Also, forcing yourself to stay positive often means you may be suppressing worries or other emotions, which can be unhealthy. Changing your outlook can be as simple as saying to yourself, "We're in debt. What's the first thing we can do to start digging out?" instead of denying the situation.

 
You forget to take your vitamins
WHY IT'S NOT SO BAD

Although vitamins can fill in the gaps to make sure you get all the nutrients your body needs (a perfect diet all the time is next to impossible!), there's a downside to always popping a vitamin. It may make you reach for the bag of potato chips instead of an apple-and skip your workout to boot, reveals a new study published in Psychological Science. 

Researchers found that taking a multivitamin every day may make you feel like you have the leeway to blow off other healthy habits-like grabbing dinner at the drive-thru rather than eating right or channel surfing instead of taking a walk, notes Benjamin Caballero, MD, PhD, a professor of pediatrics, nutrition and international health at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

In general, your body best absorbs nutrients in their natural form, so rather than relying on vitamins, focus on eating a healthy diet packed with whole foods. If you do take vitamins, remind yourself that they don't replace a healthy diet and exercise or provide a buffer against unhealthy habits.
Find out which 5 nutrients you need the most-and how to get them.
 

You get angry-and show it!
WHY IT'S NOT SO BAD

"Anger is actually a good emotion that's often misunderstood or irrationally used," says Mary Lamia, PhD, a clinical psychologist in Kentfield, CA. "It motivates you to take action and remedy situations that are wrong." The key is figuring out how to appropriately channel your anger rather than lash out. Dr. Lamia lays out the three easy steps:

1) Figure out exactly what triggered your anger. Was it the rude comment your coworker made during lunch?
2) Consider any other emotions that may be behind your anger. Do you feel embarrassed about the snide remark she made in front of other people? Are you really unhappy with your job but afraid of change, so you don't look elsewhere?
3) Plan a course of action to fix the situation. Have a conversation with your coworker to find out why she made that comment. Check job boards and see what other opportunities are out there.
A good rule: Always "sleep on it" or take some time before reacting. The physiological effects of a triggered emotion affect how you think, says Dr. Lamia. Giving yourself a few hours can help you clearly think through what's going on and the best action to take.
Boost your mood with these easy tips.
 

You drink beer
WHY IT'S NOT SO BAD

Red wine gets all the attention when it comes to heart-health benefits, but a brew can be good for you, too. "Beer is rich in disease-fighting antioxidants," says Cassie Dimmick, MS, a registered dietitian in Springfield, MO. It also provides a dose of energy-revving iron (dark beers are a richer source than light lagers, says research) as well as dietary silicon, a mineral that helps promote bone formation, which may improve bone density and help protect against osteoporosis. In fact, research shows that some pale ales contain just as much or more silicon than oat bran, which is one of the best food sources of this mineral.

Beer contains 120 to 150 calories per 12-oz serving, which can add up fast. So if you do drink beer, make sure you stick to one per day (or less) to get the healthy benefits without the added calories and pounds.

 

You get stressed about the little stuff
WHY IT'S NOT SO BAD

Chronic stress is linked to conditions like heart disease, but short-term stress actually has a positive side, pushing you to get things done-and succeed at them. "Stress triggers the hormone cortisol, which helps energize us, revving up our systems to handle the day," says Judith Orloff, MD, author of Emotional Freedom. "It also motivates us to do better on the things we care about and problem-solve."

So know that the brief stressed-out rush you get before a presentation at work will help you perform better, and when the car breaks down, a little stress will help you fix the situation quickly. Balance is key, though, so it's important to recharge your batteries every day so those once-in-awhile stressed moments don't turn into a constant thing, says Dr. Orloff. Her suggestions: Spend five minutes every day doing an activity or hobby you love, or if you prefer peace and quiet, sit in a dark room and breathe deeply.

 

You skip your workout two days in a row
WHY IT'S NOT SO BAD

You don't have to exercise hard every day to be healthy (and taking a break is actually better). "Three to four days a week is enough to keep you in shape," says Mike Boyle, owner of Mike Boyle Strength & Conditioning gym in Boston. Here's why: Days off give muscles time to repair and strengthen, something that happens only with rest, he says. You may also get tired of-or start to dread-a strict routine.

It's a good idea to be active every day (whether that's walking with your friends at lunch or taking your dog out for a stroll around the block when you get home in the evening), but schedule tougher workouts for just a few days a week. At least two of those should be strength workouts with weights, which will deliver the biggest toning and fat-burning benefits, says Boyle.


 
You procrastinate by reading those forwarded jokes in your inbox
WHY IT'S NOT SO BAD

It may seem like a waste of time, but taking a break to do something that makes you laugh is worth it. A small study of 30 people from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore found that when people watched a funny movie (There's Something About Mary), the lining of their blood vessels expanded up to 50% more than when they watched a stressful movie (Saving Private Ryan). Here's why a hearty chuckle is so good for you: "Laughter activates blood vessels to release the chemical nitric oxide, which causes them to enlarge and can help reduce blood pressure," says coauthor Michael Miller, MD.

The harder you laugh, the bigger the benefits-deep belly laughs, not light chuckles, are more likely to trigger the healthy chemicals. And be sure to share that laugh with friends. Social laughter boosts levels of pain-relieving, feel-good endorphins, according to research from the University of Oxford. So watch a funny YouTube clip with your kids or call a friend and watch while on the phone together.

 

You take an over-the-counter sleep aid occasionally
WHY IT'S NOT SO BAD

Taking these pills to induce sleep every once in a while is OK. They can be especially useful if you have trouble sleeping due to nasal allergies or congestion, says Ronald Popper, MD, medical director of the Southern California Pulmonary and Sleep Disorders Medical Center. Why? Many OTC options (like Unisom SleepTabs) work because of a side effect of an antihistamine, a common active ingredient that also helps relieve allergies. But most sleep specialists don't recommend that you use them daily. All you're doing is taking advantage of the side effect (sleepiness) of antihistamines, which are intended for another use (reducing allergy symptoms). By contrast, a prescription sleep aid acts on the "sleep center" of your brain to induce sleep, says Dr. Popper.

If stuffed-up nasal passages are what's keeping you up at night, OTC sleep aids may be a good solution. Talk to your doctor or a sleep expert before you start taking anything-antihistamines can cause other side effects because they affect the whole body and the longer you take them, the less likely they are to make you sleepy because your body builds up tolerance to their effect fast.

Hairspray Callbacks

Tonight was phase 2 of the Hairspray auditions. They had me read for two parts: the owner of the hairspray company, and the father of the star of the show. Not bad for a rookie, probably more suitable for a bit part if I were to judge myself.

Still, I got a callback for tomorrow night at 8:00. Singing and acting (maybe dancing?) for the host of the teen music show, Corny Collins.

Then it hit me that, um, I don't, uh, know any of those songs.

Guess I'll be renting Hairspray after work tomorrow.

My Audition For Hairspray The Musical

A former choir friend of ours was working as house manager of the Community Players Theater the other night when we saw Blithe Spirit.

I stopped by to talk with her at intermission, and somehow it came up that the audition for the May showing of Hairspray was going to be tonight at 7:00.

"You should come!" she said.

That stirred me, lover of the stage that I am.

I slept on it Friday and Saturday night. I read the web site:

http://www.communityplayers.org/involve_audit.html

Experience not necessary.

Bring 16 bars of any song to sing. Bring your own music, accompanist to be provided. Stand on stage and be auditioned.

Also, learn a dance routine and perform it.

Naturally several items coursed through my mind.

My acting instruction consists of: (crickets)

My dance experience consists of: (sleeping crickets)

I have six students that I'm tutoring. Rehearsal would be every weeknight from 7:00-9:30.

I'll be on vacation for a week right near the beginning of rehearsals. That might be unacceptable.

If I'm selected.

If I'm talented enough. Would I be competing against veterans of the stage?
 
This was really short notice. It would certainly be reasonable enough to wait for a future show, with adequate time to prepare.

But there are always plenty of reasons to wait. This was an adventure that I wanted to try.

Worst case? I learn how the auditions work up close and personal. I learn what a really good audition looks like. I learn some basic dance moves. I meet some people. I prepare myself for that next, future show.

Plus, I just might make it.

Sixty-five people showed up for this first of three nights. Fortunately I was about the tenth one called, good and early so as to stop rehearsing endlessly in my head. I was glad that I'd chosen the more "rangy" of the two pieces I'd found in song books at home. And by God's hand, this musical's about the exact time period of my favorite music. When I finished there was (at least in my head) thunderous applause!

The dance steps were the most complicated ones in the musical - so that they could see our potential. We were supposed to perform in groups of four, but somehow I ended up in a group of two. And received more applause after thrashing and gyrating about in my work clothes for sixty seconds. I did all right...

Tomorrow is part two, script reading. Now that, I can do.

Tonight I'll sleep, and in the morning I'll go to work. I'll march into the day's challenges having already taken on the biggest risk I may face all week.

This is living. More to come. Wish me luck.

Blithe Sprit

The Kiwanis Club of Normal took in a play at the Community Players Theater in town.

Beforehand we had dinner at the Times Past Inn restaurant. Hearty homestyle cooking for all of your meat-and-potato needs.

Then it was off to the production of Blithe Spirit, a 1941 black comedy about the ghosts of marriages past.

The story's here.

Frankly, the first act was written uninspiringly, despite sound acting. Then it picks up a bit through the final six acts before ending in a confusing and somewhat unexplainable plot twist to tie everything off.

Still, cheers to the performers, directors, and all who donate their time to the cause of amateur local entertainment. I'll be back.

Gone

Dena offered three movies for us: Acts of Valor, The Vow, and Gone - the latter about a young woman who disappears at the hands of a killer while the sister desperately searches.

Being a Saturday night, I figured I'd pick the most morose-sounding one, so worst case scenario we could enjoy a full day of Sunday to recover from any residual sadness.

It's thick with the elements of a race against time. The sister claims to previously have been kidnapped by the same man, but due to personal tragedy in her life, the authorities suspect that she may be crazy. Meanwhile she believes that her sister will be killed by the end of the day, so must become a one-woman vigilante on a rescue mission.
Watch and see if she can do it alone... or die trying...

Next Time, How About You Hold The Camera

Fellowship Of Christian Athletes

Dena and I were invited to a banquet sponsored by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Local adult leaders hold morning "huddle groups" with students at most every high school, university, and junior high.

The banquet featured students making videotaped statements about their enjoyment of the experience.

J Leman, a former University of Illinois football player, told his life story. It included some tales of mysterious healing, and overcoming obstacles. Very moving.

Besides campus, FCA also reaches out through camps, coaches and community.

No matter your religion, it's heartening to see adults in action spending time mentoring youth in positive values.

The Financial History Of Daylight Savings Time

By Travers Korch of Bankrate.com:

 

Conceived by Benjamin Franklin and panned by Native American proverbs, daylight saving time, or DST, has been a constant topic of debate.

Nearly 100 years ago, it was created for practicality, but it has created astonishing confusion along the way. Implemented to save energy costs and be a boon to the economy, many argue it has been more of a detriment financially.

"From the very beginning, the basic goal of daylight saving was to move the hours of daylight to better match with the hours of human activity," says David Prerau, author of " Seize the Daylight" and widely recognized as the leading authority on the concept of DST.

While in Paris in 1784, Benjamin Franklin sarcastically noted in a letter that nature isn't accommodating to our modern schedules. Franklin understood the financial benefits of early daylight in the summer, provided we all still got to sleep in.
"If I had not been awakened so early in the morning," he wrote, "I should have slept six hours longer by the light of the sun, and in exchange have lived six hours the following night by candlelight; the latter being a much more expensive light than the former." Franklin went on to calculate a seasonal savings for Paris of roughly 128 million candlelight hours if people simply woke up earlier.
 

War in daylight
His suggestions were collectively laughed off by society until Brit William Willett lobbied the British government hard for daylight saving on behalf of the public's "health and happiness" -- and an annual energy savings of about 2.5 million British pounds. Even with the savings, it would take a world war for the British (and the U.S., among others) to begin "falsifying" clocks in 1916.

"People found there was a savings in energy, and that became the reason governments got interested in daylight saving," Prerau says. "They wanted to save energy for the war effort."
However, the cost savings didn't seem to add up, so the U.S. Congress repealed the act in 1919, before the war ended.

In 1919, Sidney M. Colgate -- of Colgate toothpaste -- testified to Congress against the repeal, arguing there was "no question" his plants saved significant energy costs starting the work day an hour later. But he couldn't provide very convincing evidence. The U.S. returned to "God's time," as it was called, to appease powerful farmer blocs who weren't about to lose production or get up at dark o'clock.

Time saving of a nation
It seems New York City was the only godless place in the country at the time. Shortly after the repeal, the city enacted a local ordinance to preserve daylight saving time. Large department stores believed they could sell more goods to people on their sunlit walks home from work. Wall Street also didn't like losing an hour of trading to those daylight savers in London. Major cities across the country began following New York's lead.
 

What time is it?
The problem was that each city decided their own unique start and end dates, creating no uniformity and ample inefficiencies.

"In the 1950s and '60s, it became very confusing," says Prerau.

Relative pandemonium might be more accurate. He cited one infamous 35-mile bus ride that, at the time, would roll through seven separate time zones. There was also an airline that received 4,000 calls per day with customers wanting to know the time differences in their destinations.

A Native American chief is known to have summarized his opinion of daylight saving that must have seemed awfully apt during the ensuing time-keeping chaos. "Only the government would believe you could cut a foot off the top of a blanket, sew it to the bottom, and have a longer blanket," he said.

It wouldn't be until 1966 that Congress created one six-month daylight-saving period for states to follow or not observe at all, effectively throwing a resewn time blanket over the country. Now, Hawaii and Arizona are the only states that don't observe the change.

Costs and savings

The next sweeping expansion of daylight saving and the effort to correlate cost savings was in 1973, when President Richard Nixon implemented year-round DST to offset the increase in energy prices from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, oil embargo. The Department of Transportation found the change in time and subsequent decline in energy consumption saved 3 million barrels of oil per month.

Michael Downing, author of "Spring Forward: The Annual Madness of Daylight Saving Time," is not convinced of the purported financial benefits of time change. In a piece for The New York Times, he not only pointed to studies that refute the supposed fuel savings in the mid-'70s. He also railed against the recent expansion of daylight saving in 2007 to eight months. He cited the increase in afternoon fuel consumption, international trade logistics and a $150 million-per-year cost to airlines coordinating with airports in Europe who didn't add on the additional four weeks as major financial consequences to the extra daylight.

Downing is not alone in thinking time change is a costly endeavor. A Rasmussen poll from November 2011 found that only 27 percent of Americans think daylight saving actually saves energy. The rest may just be grumpy about lost sleep and work on the Monday following the time change, which economist William Shughart estimated creates an annual opportunity cost for the nation of $1.7 billion.
 

Electricity spending time
According to a recent Department of Transportation study, national primary energy electricity consumption received an annual savings of 0.02 percent in 2007 due to daylight saving time. That is the approximate amount of electricity Tempe, Ariz., uses in a year.

Those modest findings are in contrast to a 2008 University of California study by economist Matthew Kotchen that measured increases in Indiana's electricity consumption of up to 4 percent during their first year of daylight saving in 2006. That translated to approximately $9 million in additional electricity bills and up to $5.5 million in additional pollution costs.

This is not to say there are no certain benefits to lighter evenings. Downing says the barbecue industry expected $150 million in profit for the three to four weeks of daylight saving added in 1986, while the golf industry anticipated $400 million more. Even 7-Eleven pushed for the extra light, tempted with $50 million in additional sales.
 

Rough night
But once the back nine is played and the grill is put away, you may end up with a bigger trade-off than a higher electric bill. Professor Till Roenneberg was part of a German study that observed daylight saving time can disrupt our circadian rhythm, putting our bodies out of their natural seasonal sleep cycle.

"We forget that there is a biological clock that is as old as living organisms -- a clock that cannot be fooled," Roenneberg told HealthDay News.

Several experts have suggested any health risks are more than offset by the additional activity sunlight brings.

The altered sleep cycle becomes harder to offset when it cuts into nationwide productivity. After the most recent expansion of daylight saving time, Shughart estimated that if everyone took an average of 10 minutes to adjust their clocks and watches, the cumulative effect on "opportunity cost" for the country would be $1.7 billion.
 

Always springing forward
So is daylight saving time, with all of its inconveniences, financial costs and benefits, here to stay? Nearly half of Americans (47 percent) in a 2010 Rasmussen poll would rather it not be, saying it's not worth the hassle.

"It's a continuing saga," says Prerau, adding that he thinks it is still a net financial benefit to the economy.

Downing sees a more ominous future for standard-time purists.

"Based on history, I'd say there is no chance we are ever going to stop messing with our clocks," he says. "If we ever do turn the clocks forward for the whole year, my best bet is that come March, many cities, counties and states will turn their clocks ahead and begin to double daylight saving."
Another hour of lost sleep in the spring? Somewhere, Benjamin Franklin is rolling over in his grave to hit snooze.