A Great Ten Minutes, But...

I am a ridiculous James Bond fan.  As any James Bond fan will tell you, the first five minutes of the movie are often the best introductions.  In some introductions, Bond has to climb in the back of a horse trailer, then pilots a single man jet or he flies off in an astronaut-like jet pack as he makes a getaway from exercising his license to kill.  These are the hallmarks of the James Bond film series.  However, the latest installment of the Spiderman film series, The Amazing Spiderman 2, might push James Bond for the first five minutes of film action.

I was able to see the film early due to the generosity of Dwayne Harris who had supported the Oak Cliff Boys and Girls Club and was rewarding behavior that was sensitive to our natural resources by treating members of the club to an advance screening of the film.

While the movie had some of the usual non-turns and then wrapped itself in a predictable plot of non-twists, in terms of the first five minutes the action was interesting.  What followed was typical comic book action that follows what would be a script that quickly falls off into what would otherwise be a very average film with the normal non-plot twists and lack of character development.  I have not seen the first film and not sure what characters were previously developed and while the film is okay it was a little light on plot and character development.  Maybe I should have read the comic, but I will say this.  If you can use a film like this to motivate kids to be good stewards of their local natural resources, I say good job.

Saints And Sinners

Today I got to enjoy my younger son's First Communion at our parish today.  The day had special meaning because it was the same day that Pope John XXIII and Pope John Paul II were canonized, or given Sainthood.

It was Pope John Paul II who provided my pathway into the Church via the Anglican Use.  My son being welcomed into the Church as a full member on the same day the man who made it possible for me is canonized is obviously an important date.  The children who had also taken part in their first Confession the day prior had various fears I am sure being in front of the group, but were nonetheless ready or so it seemed.

Two things did mar my day though.

First, the email I received first in my Inbox yesterday was from none other than a Catholic book and jewelry company who wanted me to be able to buy new Saint/Pope John XXIII and Saint/Pope John Paul II items "celebrating their canonization" on Divine Mercy Sunday.  They had barely had a chance to be finished being canonized when your email must have been drafted.  Thankfully, all orders over $75 were eligible for free shipping because when I am celebrating a canonization, the most important thing is...free shipping.

Second, after First Communion, I enjoyed a mother complaining to another mother about her infant crying and ruining services.  I was utterly shocked that anyone would run off at the mouth about an toddler who wanted to be with his sister, possibly a major caregiver in his life, during a special day for her.  I am further shocked that this attack came moments after a Mass.  Did you not just get the message from the homily?

I seem to remember something about "love one another" in the Bible, but perhaps I am mistaken.  Perhaps I am forgetting my Matthew 19 as well, but I though it said something "but Jesus said, 'Let the children come to me, and do not prevent them; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.'

All in all a good day, but while I enjoyed the Saints, I could have done without the sinners.

Lupe's Mexican Kitchen

Good morning.

So where to have breakfast?  Well according to my friend and colleague Janet Taylor, Lupe's Family Kitchen is tops.  I am usually looking for places on Open Table, not from Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives, but the recommendation was from a colleague, so what can you do?

Well, you try it and are more than pleasantly surprised.  It is what it is and I arrived for breakfast so had a riduclously large plate of eggs, chorizo, and beans and rice.  No, the service here is not going to be exceptional, but this is a mom and pop place that operates as best it can in a tourist town.

Personally, I found the salsa a little watery for my taste.  Was that an issue of it hanging out from last night?  I hope not, but who knows?  The beans were excellent as was the rest of the entree.  Again, the service was okay and while the facility wasn't spectacular, the food made up.

Three stars and if you are in Ruidoso it is a cheap alternative.

Find them at 2927 Sudderth Drive, Ruidoso, New Mexico  88345.

Wendell's: A Reminder Casino Restaurants Are The Same Slight Of Hand As The Tables

My fault on this one.  Well, in part I blame Open Table too for telling me it was four plus stars.  I guess locals in New Mexico really have zero understanding of good food, but I should have known that a restaurant in a casino is the same as the rest of the building.  Lots of lights and pizzazz, but little substance.

I started with their Pacific Sea Cakes which are diver scallops sauteed with King Crab, shrimp, and served with a reasonable remoulade.

My entree though is where bad things started.  I ordered a rib eye, but got filet instead.  (This is the second time this has happened in or around me in a month.  What is going on folks?!?)  I know, I know...who complains about getting a filet, except that isn't what I ordered and part of the idea of going out to eat is to have someone else cook for you, what you want.  Crazy idea I know.  However, going with a colleague from a conference I was teaching at meant I wasn't sending this back and delaying the meal.

The service otherwise wasn't bad, but the food was okay at best - for what I got versus what I ordered - but this was a good recent reminder that if you aren't in Las Vegas with a real chef, you should skip casino based foodie/fine dining establishments.  They are over priced and the food is okay which means you are left paying ridiculous prices to be close to where you are already losing money.  No thanks.

Grace O'Malley's Irish Pub And Country Music

Hmm....so if you find yourself in the mountains of Ruidoso and have a hankering for something Irish, well you can always find your way to the schizophrenic Grace O'Malley's Irish Pub, for a Guinness.

I don't want to be harsh. but when you walk in you don't start at a traditional hostess stand, but in the gift shop.  I would forgive that, but you also don't walk in and find just a gift shop, but country music and when I say country music I mean Luke Bryan and Rascal Flatts and not Irish folk music or even The Corrs.  So you have lots of signage telling you that you have found the bliss that can only come from the Shamrock state and you hear country music and get a menu focussed more on Texas and chili burgers and quesadilla than Shepherd's Pie or corned beef.

I guess my complaint is if you are going to try the Irish Pub concept, do it.  This is just....schizophrenic.  I guess this is the local excuse to have the wait staff wear kilt like school girl skirts to attract business, but when you server is the same age as my mother, it does lose some of its appeal.

Not that my server was incapable.  She did very well.  The food was even okay and thebar staff would go an extra step or two, but it wasn't exactly what I was thinking when this place was recommended to me, so ...three stars and perhaps a bit of rounding to get that high.

Hopefully you find it more exciting than I did. Ms. O'Malley can be found at 2331 Sudderth Drive, Ruidoso, New Mexico 88345.

Open Your Heart...

Traveling this week so I had to cheat a little bit and go back to an old fashioned band I love, the Goo Goo Dolls.  I apologize for trying to wing it this week, but the Dolls are really never winging it. This week's selection is Let Love In from the CD of the same title.

Not the first one to come up on the YouTube, but one of my favorites.  The cool thing about the video is it gets past the notion that the song is only about an amorous relationship.  For me, it is about finding that ultimate love, Christ.

You're the only one I ever believed in
The answer that could never be found
The moment you decided to let love in
Now I'm banging on the door of an angel
The end of fear is where we begin
The moment we decided to let love in.

Maybe I am wrong, but the above chorus is really clear for me.  Crystal.

You're the only one I ever believed in.  [This sounds to me a lot like Jesus (hopefully.)]
The answer that could never be found. [Christ isn't discovered via a book or map, but through faith.]
The moment you decided to let love in
Now I'm banging on the door of an angel [I'm not sure this lyric fits withtypical connotation of our relationships with Christ, but isn't it like banging on a door, hoping for an answer when we finally get desperate enough to ask for help from Christ and his angels?]
The end of fear is where we begin
The moment we decided to let love in. [when we give up on fear and open the door to faith in Christ]

Perhaps it is unintentional, but this seems to be an invitation to reduce the load you are carrying, drop the fear you hold into a jar and throw it out with old milk.  Let love in and find better answers and peace.

Stay safe and enjoy your Friday Night tunes...

Major League

Maybe I am wrong, but for me you can not start the baseball season off without watching Major League.  I realize that this movie is a combination of the Land of Misfit Toys along with an adult Bad News Bears, but how else would you start your baseball season?

My involvement with Cleveland baseball is pretty limited.  I got to meet Bob Feller at a Richmond Braves kid's baseball clinic when he taught the art of pitching to a bunch of seven year olds who had no idea who he was or what we were doing.  (Disclaimer: my baseball ability starts and ends in the dugout.  My dad could play.  My son is extraordinary, but it skipped a generation I guess.)

In any case, it is an interesting film to watch to see a manager plucked right out of a tire shop management position and the team filled with players from prison and the Mexican League.

Who doesn't want to root for a guy trying to make his last bid in the majors?  Who doesn't want to root for the troubled kid who perhaps finally has his head on straight?  (By the way, does Charlie Sheen always end up in these roles or is it just me that life imitates art?)

In any case, it is hard for me to start my baseball season without a little Major League.  I think from hereon, I will try to bring you one baseball movie a month throughout the season for you to ponder.  Have a great day!

Are We Reaching Out?

So the question for today is are we reaching out to Christ as he has us?

Of all the apostles only Judas is not a Saint.  "Of course not" might be your reply, but ultimately, his sin in my opinion was less his betrayal of Christ, than his opportunity to return to Christ and seek forgiveness.  His sin, like ours, was not yielding to Christ, to being with him, but intentionally removing himself from Christ's circle

On the day in which Christians celebrate Christ's resurrection, I wonder how many of us reach back for Him who reaches out to us?  How many of us who lead lives find ourselves slipping away from Christ into our own needs?

Ultimately our needs might be the very ones that lead us to sin making us betray Christ as Judas did.  But do we seek the forgiveness of Christ through the Sacrament of Reconciliation?  Do we reach out for Christ as he reached out across the cross to us?

St. Peter who Christ founded his Holy Church, denied Christ three times before sunrise as Jesus said he would.  James, referred to as his brother, did not share in Christ's pain on the cross that day.  Even Thomas, after the resurrection, did not believe.  He doubted Christ's prediction of rising from the grave, but in all these cases, they found comfort by drawing close to other believers.  They did not wander on their own into some "self help" book that would get them over their feelings.  Instead, they stayed with the company of faithful, mourned their Earthly loss of Christ, and found a way back to their faith through Christ.

This is the lesson we should all hold onto for Easter and for everyday.

Suspending Prom Requests

I guess it might have been easier in my day or maybe it was just the lack of social media, but why would you get suspended for asking Miss America to prom?

According to a recent USA Today article, an eighteen year old got three days on in school suspension for asking Miss America...to prom.  What?

Let me go ahead and offend a giant swatch of people and say, why not?

First off, he attends school in York, Pennsylvania so I hate to have a bit of a bias, but how many girls are there in York, Pennsylvania you would even want to take out?  If the choices are local pickings or Miss America, I might be with the kid.

Two, according to the article, school officials at Central York High School caught wind of the possibility this young man might pop the question ahead of time.  If the question was going to be that disruptive...why did they let him ask any questions?  Seems like if you were worried about disruption, you wouldn't open the door to the mouse's cage for the cat.

Finally, the kid asks the question, Miss America laughs it off, and you suspend the kid.  Who is making the bigger deal out of the situation...the kid, or the school?  Central York High School is now in USA Today for disciplining their student, but if they had laughed it off, he would have no coverage, and no one would have known the better anything happened that day.

Is it really that disruptive for Miss America to be asked to prom?  Was it disruptive for students to cheer on one of their own who had the courage to do something most grown ups wouldn't do?  I am guessing

Given the problems in American education and discipline I am a little shocked this is the way they school decided to go, but why worry about kids bringing guns and knives to school when we can worry about whether or not they ask out Miss America?  Why worry about whether or not high school graduates can read their diplomas, the much more disruptive force in the American economy is whether or not a kid asks Miss America to prom?

I am wondering who needs an education on self control and discipline here.  For some reason, I don't think it is the eighteen year old asking Miss America to his prom.

April Tears Unforgotten, Courtesy GNR's November Rain

I would argue this song pays homage to my youth when I thought I would drop out of Fairfax High School and go join Guns N Roses to play guitar professionally.  Woops to the career plans.

Music always seems to heal or speak the right words at the right time...even if they are unrelated so this is a second Friday Night Music for my music followers.

It was Holy Week, three years ago when my son Joseph died unexpectedly.  The support system for my wife and I was noticeably lacking - particularly in my chosen profession and those regulators whose job it is to make sure that things work as they should.

It has been three years since then, but some days it is like yesterday.  When I think back I think I was the one screaming, not the guitar.  How far could my son and the system push those strings to make me cry out?  I guess they could bend just far enough to make the sound that Slash is able to produce here without breaking because here I am today.

Stronger?  Probably not.  Different perspective maybe, but not stronger.  Parents who survive their children do just that.  Survive.  They don't come out stronger.  They have no new grand perspective on life...they just survive.  Breathe in, breathe out, start a new day.

Today is a new day finding me back in Holy Week.  Miss you Joseph.  Your daddy never forgets.

Distance From Success

So this is a song about being away from the one or ones you love.

Working a rotating schedule has its benefits, like I don't have to call out sick to go to daytime baseball, but at the same time, it has its troubles too.  For instance, you work weekends and holidays so this weekend I am missing Easter with my little ones.  It means I miss baseball games where my girls are less interested in whether their brother is pitching a no hitter than can they make one another laugh with silly faces.

In any case, this week's Friday Night Music is courtesy of Brantley Gilbert and "More Than Miles."  Decent song about knowing what you want and going for it, but does it really make sense to you after all is said and done?

There is zero question in my mind at this point in my career that without someone next to you who shares the passion and gets what you are about there is about zero likelihood of success.  There are just too many factors affecting the person for success "to occur" without the support network around you.

When I teach in high schools I always start the conversation about succeeding in difficult circumstances with a discussion of family.  For me it is so foundational that I am not sure where else you would go.

Here is hoping that as you chase success, your life on the road there has time for those that matter most.  Balance is so key in this world and I hope you find it.

If You Like Your School Board, You Can Keep Your School Board

Do you remember the now famous words "You can keep your doctor if you like your doctor"?  How about "you have to pass the bill to find out what is in it?"  In 2010, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi told us the Affordable Care Act would be a good thing even though no one knew any specifics.

No, I am not here to argue the merits of the Affordable Care Act.  I will argue that the same lack of transparency has invaded the discussion to reform DallasISD.

I am told over and over I should sign a petition started by a group that thinks we need school reform. This new group would reform the Dallas "Independent" School System to a system managed by unelected School Board members.   I am ready for reform, but I am not ready for fixes that don't fix.  Are you?

A few problems exist here with Mayor Rawlings and his crony capitalism friends who are pushing reform.  At public meetings, no one from the Support Our Public Schools coalition can describe what a new governing structure would solve that our current school board can not.

For instance, do you support ending counseling in schools or vocational education programs?  If so, 

you should sign onto the petition.

Do you believe that low student to teacher ratios are a thing of the past? Maybe five year old children don't need individualized attention?  If you sign onto the SOPS petition, you can get higher ratios.  Maybe we can warehouse forty kindergarteners into a room per teacher until we warehouse them in prison.  That is a reform option if we move away from state standards.  That's right.  This group seems to think that state standards on student to teacher ratios is inappropriate.

I note with interest that this is called a home rule effort.  Home rule meaning no state standards, but not real home rule.

An option should this come to the ballot is the removal of elected school board members.  Has Crimea come to Dallas?  Where in the world are people crying out take away my ability to vote?  According to Rawlings and Co. only in Dallas.

Who out there thinks they don't need to elect their representative to the school board?  I know Mike Morath thinks not electing school board members is a good idea.  This is the same school board member who was invited to give a commencement address.  He then invited a group of the students toauthorize him to sit down and skip an address.  This type sophomoric behavior is exactly the problem with those promoting "education reform."

Morath had no suggestions for graduating seniors.  His SOPS colleagues have no suggestions on reforming DISD.  He wasn't trying to guide the students to success, just smile for the cameras like a Ken doll.

Instead he and Mayor Rawlings suggest voters are unnecessary for the selection of a school board.  Maybe they have a short memory, but how long ago was it this city and state were disenfranchising voters based on the color of their skin?

That's right.  Our collective history is not all that impressive when it comes to who gets to vote.  History repeats and now it appears a group of white, upper class folks in the nice part of town want to choose who gets to pick the school board.

Well this is one program for which I don't need to see a rerun.  The school reform effort will be better off when the SOPS supporters realize that most of Dallas does not want to turn back the clock.  We want a program that is about us and not them.  Then we can start a real discussion of school reform.

Boston Strong, Media Weak

As we near the one year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings the cycle of terrorism journalism which wants to cover the heroic efforts of those who overcame is in full swing.

Yet, for at least some, they can't get the message.

Adrianne Haslet-Davis who is a dancer and lost her right leg in the bombings last year was scheduled to appear on Meet the Press, but walked out of the Boston station after terms agreed to before the show were not followed.

She had simply asked that the names of the terrorists not be used on the broadcast.  On a personal note, having worked at both Meet the Press and in multiple political press shops, these types of terms for an interview happen all the time.

For some reason though David Gregory could not maintain that standard and instead wanted to drop the names of those who were involved with the bombings.  Given the issues he has going on with ratings which have cratered since he took over, I am not sure why he would want to alienate a terrorism victim, but given the lack of honest reporting done by NBC and the mainstream media about terrorism the past several years it is no surprise, but still disappointing.

Not The Smartest Cookie

It’s 2014 - nearly 13 years after 9/11.  What amazes me is that with all the civil rights problems we have a TSA we still have morons like Aldon Smith of the SanFrancisco 49ers who think it’s appropriate to joke around about having a bomb on his person.

That is the accusation against Mr. Smith, the linebacker with the 49ers, who this weekend was selected for secondary security screening by TSA chose to joke around about having some sort of explosive device on his person.

Having been subjected to secondary screening on a fairly regular basis, even when I’m out speaking to students about 9/11, I am embarrassed and disappointed that Mr. Smith would choose to go this direction, especially when you consider his recent issues with the law regarding weapons charges and being arrested for DUI.  I’m not clear on why he chose to go this direction but it must be a headache for Coach Harbaugh and the other staff of the 49ers were trying to win a championship to have a knucklehead in their midst who said is obviously not focused on where it should be  - the field.

While I have no idea of the criminal implications of his behavior, as other commentators have noted, he clearly has already been sentenced to a lifetime of stupidity.

EMS Dinosaurs

This morning a friend of mine told me he was headed over to a local college to do EMT testing and the his assignment was long backboard and spinal immobilization testing.

I found this funny because for years we’ve known that the routine immobilization of the spinal column by EMS has more dangers involved with it than positives in terms of preventing cervical spine injury.  It makes me wonder when the National Registry of EMTs will remove this testing station from their catalog of assessments?

While routine spinal mobilization was likely important 30 years ago when National Registry was formed, it has obviously fallen out of favor when you consider the NEXUS study and other data points that show in general we don’t need to be performing spinal mobilization.  Additionally, EMS generally considers this a low risk event because when we do spinally immobilize, we do it poorly.

It is interesting to me that we are teaching the EMS pops a skilled and belongs to the EMS dinosaurs.