Gold Medals, Complex Math and Disco Shoes

I don't know about you but here in Jersey I'm getting kind of tired of winter. It's those mid-February blues. While I enjoy the snow, there's been so much this year I'm definitely over it and ready for spring. However, having spent a lot of years in the area I'm well aware that we're about two months away from any signs of life and even further from that glorious riot of spring that takes place over a 2 or 3 week period in May.

I've also taken note that I've got to go out this weekend and buy more wood pellets for our pellet stove. Last fall I bought an entire pallet of them (50 bags) and we're down to the last few. But we won't need another complete pallet (I hope) and figure that another 25 bags should do the trick. We only use the wood pellet stove to heat the large addition off the back that serves as our great room. We spend most of our time in it. As a result we keep the heat in the rest of the house down around 65F all day and night; there's really little need to heat it much higher when we mostly just sleep there.

OK...so on with it. Here we go....

1. The Competitor - Sports
2. Mr. Muscle - Fitness and Health
3. Your Ride - Cars
4. Greenbacks - Career/Money/Finance
5. Toys - Gadgets (i.e. boys toys)
6. Tasty Licks - Music, Movies, Books and other Entertainment
7. Arguing - Politics
8. The Great Outdoors - hunting, camping, extreme sports
9. WWWD? (What Would Ward Do?...think about it, it'll come to you) - Family
10. Black Socks & Flip-Flops - Personal Appearance
11. Honeydew - Home Improvement/Tools
12. The Wide World - Travel/Vacation
13. Eye Candy

The Competitor - If you've been glued to the tube each night since the Winter Olympic Games have started like me, no doubt you've been alternately impressed, distressed and sometimes dumbfounded at what goes on at the Games and what is reported on. So far the feel-good story has to hands down be that of Alexandre Bilodeau, the young Canadian mogul skier who won the first Gold Medal by a Canadian on Canadian soil EVER when they have hosted either summer or winter games. Inspired by his brother with cerebral palsy, he has a fresh, wide-eyed wonderment at his new-found fame that is so refreshing and in all the interviews I've seen with him he seems like a genuinely nice kid who deserves all his success. But have no doubt - you don't win Olympic Gold without being a fierce competitor. He reached out and grabbed history when offered. His gold medal run was a complete gamble as he tore down that cobbled slope on the edge of out of control...but that's what it takes to be a champion...willing to lose it all in an effort to win. Several other mogul skiers tried the same on-the-edge, hair-on-fire approach, and but for the fickle whims of Lady Luck they might have been the Olympic Champion. But in pushing it a single flaming hair too far, they wiped out and off the podium. If you haven't seen his winning, ball-to-the-walls run, here it is.

At the other end of the spectrum comes the unfortunate story of the Japanese luger who was disqualified because the combined weight of her and her equipment were 1/4 lb overweight due to a miscalculation of the formula used for underweight athletes to carry additional weight. Not great for an athlete who puts in years of sacrifice to make it to the Games only to be DQ'd for 4 oz. However the blogger who reported on this story, Trey Kerby, set himself up for ridicule as he called the method used to determine the amount of weight a "somewhat complex formula". See for yourself just how complex this formula is...but if you're too lazy to click on through to it, I'll repeat it here: WOMEN: (165 lbs - body weight) x .75 ....ta da!  That's it. No differential equations, hell not even algebra, just straight up 4th grade math. Look I'll be willing to give Mr. Kerby some slack in that maybe arithmetic is not his favorite subject but how in God's name does he function in the adult world if he considers this to be a "somewhat complex formula"...either that or he thinks athletes all have rocks in their head and he's trying to cut this poor woman some slack. Regardless he's either an idiot or patronizing.

WWWD? - If you've never been actively involved in your community, there is no better time than now when our communities need us. Being an active participant in the town I live in is something I only learned to do as an adult through my brother-in-law and his family (long-time residents and small business owners in their hometown). This is something I never picked up from my parents as we moved often due to my father's military service and subsequent corporate career - however, as a Vietnam combat veteran he more than contributed to the benefit of our town, county, state and country. This is not to discourage our veterans from continuing to serve in their civilian life - we need them to share their sense of duty!

What I've found (and those that already volunteer in their community most likely will agree with) is that you get far more in return than the service you put out. There is the sense of satisfaction from giving of yourself and helping others. There is also the benefit of getting to know your neighbors and other community members, especially community leaders. When we lived in Florida I was a member of the Chamber of Commerce, Rotary Club, a Cub Scout Den Leader and as a result of the people I met and worked with, was invited to sit on the Board of our local YMCA. Through my active participation I felt like I was really LIVING in my town; I knew the mayor, town council members, and local business owners. I enjoyed trips to the store or a local event and running into someone I knew nearly every time I went out. While I may not have always agreed with some of our community leaders positions on issues, I at least had a better understanding of where they were coming from since I knew them on a first-name basis. This also provided me with the chance to express my views to them as part of a real discussion and not as just another voice lined up at the microphone at a town council meeting.

Since moving back to NJ, I've tried to pick up where I left off upon leaving Florida (in fact, active involvement in my community is one of the things that made moving away such a hard decision). So far I've again become a Cub Scout Den Leader and am a member of our church Building Committee. And already I've run into other members of both those groups out and about town - that really makes you feel like you are starting to belong when that happens. 

So I encourage you to not simply shut your front door behind you when getting home at night, only to shut out your community while at the same time inviting the rest of the world in via television and the Internet. "But," you say "what about time with my family?" Slow down cowboy - I didn't say you have to volunteer every evening or even once a week. And many volunteer roles are fantastic opportunities to bring your children along allowing you to spend quality time with them and to instill in them a sense of civic duty which has often been forgotten in today's suburban wasteland.

Black Socks & Flip-Flops - You can continue to call me a cheap bastard. Last week I picked up one of my pairs of dress shoes from the cobbler after having them resoled (for those of you not familiar with the archaic term "cobbler", I'm referring to a shoe repair shop).  I'm not so caught up in fashion that I have to have THIS year's style of shoes...thank God. Instead I buy a relatively good pair of shoes - around $150 or so - and wear them until they fall apart, having them resoled 2, 3 or even 4 times before the uppers can no longer take a new sole. At between $35 and $50 for a resoling,  it's definitely worth it compared to buying a new pair of shoes. Of course I could buy cheaper shoes to begin with but they usually don't last any longer than the soles, making any efforts at resoling pointless.  But can you imagine bringing these funky silver disco clodhoppers in for repair...?


So let's do the math: good shoes @ $150 + (3 resoling @ $50) = $300 vs. 4 pair of $75 shoes. Equal cost. However I'm guessing you'd probably go through at least 5 pair of $75 shoes in the same time and they are usually not as comfortable. And while they don't fit my wardrobe, I wouldn't mind seeing the woman who brings these boots into the repair shop....