We Are Penn State, and We Are Proud — A Message to the Pride

10. November 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: family, football, giving back, hope, penn state, struggles, tragedy

IMG_0092Brothers, sisters, friends and family; We Are Penn State.

We are not defined by the actions or inactions of a few members of the faculty and staff of the university, no matter how ugly the traditional media, the blogosphere, or other outlets may paint us in this time of crisis.

If you are like me, the news thats come out of University Park over the past week has been disturbing, confusing, and frightening. The news horrifies us because it runs counter to everything we believe in about our schools traditions and our heroes.

Lets not forget that our heroes can still be honored even if theyve been dismissed by the Trustees. Whether you believe that Joe Paterno was rightfully or wrongfully dismissed, we all agree that he did more for the students and the university than any other person in the history of our institution. None of us can imagine Penn State without Joe and we will miss him.

Ive been shocked to see some of the comments in the twittersphere which have called for everything from not sending kids to Penn State, to employers rejecting resumes with Penn State on them. Im sure some people may in fact choose to take these actions. If so, this will be unfortunate.

Penn State is more than football. Penn State is more than Joe Paterno. And Penn State is damn sure more than the pedophile, Jerry Sandusky.

Penn State has produced some amazing people who have given touched our lives: Mark Parker (CEO of Nike), Steve McCurry (National Geographic Photographer) and Richard James (inventor of the Slinky) to name only a few.

Penn State helps mankind. Penn State students raise millions of dollars each year at THON to benefit the Four Diamonds Fund. THON is the largest student run philanthropy in the world!

Fellow Penn Staters, we have many reasons to be proud. Please dont give up. Please wear our colors and support our school in these trying times.

We Are Penn State.

Irene

28. August 2011 · Write a comment · Categories: daily life, good things, gratitude, health, hope, thoughts, weather

She was like most others, a little sexy, a little crazy and a whole lot of unpredictable. Irene could have been a real big mess for us. We were lucky, no trees fell on our house, no massive floods (though we live on high ground) and only the inconvenience of a power outage. And let me tell you it is an inconvenience at worst.

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Dad would have celebrated

02. May 2011 · 1 comment · Categories: america, dad, death, disgust, family, fatherhood, fear, frustration, gratitude, hope, incongruities, marriage, media, mortality, rants, struggles, television, thoughts, time, tragedy · Tags: ,

Papa Don's Little GirlDad would be celebrating today.

He was horrified to see his brethren die on that tragic day when the towers collapsed.  We talked in the days after the events of 9/11 about the job that the men of FDNY were doing.  I could hear the pain in his voice.

As a nation, we rallied around each other.  Many of us reacted in ways that we didn’t fully understand.  In retrospect everything seems different.  Ten years of war and a recession have changed my views.  Becoming a father has changed my views.  Meeting my wife changed my views.

I honestly don’t know how I feel about the death of Osama Bin Laden.  It’s almost meaningless to me.  There is an entire army of new recruits that has been formed over the past ten years.  And now to find out that he’s been “hiding” in a populated area?

I cannot celebrate.   The chest thumping is ugly.

I long for a day when the “threat level” is not orange.  What will a day that is “green” be like?  Will we ever see one?

When will it be safe to move on?

Not Quite a Pilgrims Progress…but Progress Nonetheless

01. April 2011 · 1 comment · Categories: cooking, cycling, exercise, fitness, food, health, hope, self, weight loss · Tags: , , , ,

Three and a half weeks ago, I took inventory of my goals for 2011 and realized that I was falling short on the most important one of the three.  I’d set out to lose 30 pounds in January and hadn’t changed a thing about my lifestyle that would get me on track.

I’ve been “on weight watchers” now for three and a half weeks.  I’ve had some ups and downs, but overall I’m down by 5.5 pounds.  That’s 18% of my goal, in just three weeks.Looking Down

I expected being “on weight watchers” to be difficult.  I’d done the program before about 10 years ago and it was frustrating.  I felt like I couldn’t eat any of the things that I wanted to eat.  As many people know, I love food.  I’m not just talking about a casual love affair with food, I’m talking about a full-bore passion for food.  Nothing makes me happier than to spend an afternoon cooking a huge meal for friends and then sharing it with them over a few beers and some wine.  I was worried that making changes to my lifestyle would put a damper on my cooking.

But it really hasn’t.

For one thing, the program has changed and there is less emphasis on fiber as the solution to all woes, less emphasis on processed sugar alternatives and more of an emphasis on eating the right amounts of all kinds of foods.  I can use olive oil, sugar, even butter.  I don’t have to deprive myself of the good things in life. I can have a real beer (not a watery light beer) with my meals and not feel guilty.

I even cooked chicken parmesan twice in these three weeks.  And that would have been out of the question on the old program.

Of course, I’m also way more active than I was ten years ago.  Not as active as I’d like to be, but I logged about 120 miles on the bike in March.  I’m keeping track with a great little app on my iPhone now called cyclemeter so next month I won’t be estimating my miles.

Ten Views of Myself

26. September 2010 · Write a comment · Categories: creativity, daily life, family, fatherhood, fear, hope, incongruities, information, rants, self, sidetracks, storytelling, struggles, thoughts, work, writing

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Ten views of myself:

  1. A Father
  2. A Writer
  3. An Artist
  4. Detail Oriented
  5. Strong
  6. A Survivor
  7. A Leader
  8. A Critical Thinker
  9. A Strategist
  10. Alive

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