If you can start the day without caffeine,
If you can start the day without pep pills,
If you can always be cheerful, ignoring aches and pains,
If you can resist complaining and boring people with your troubles,
If you can eat the same food every day and be grateful for it,
If you can understand when your loved ones are too busy to give you any time,
If you overlook it when those who love you take it out on you when, through no fault of your own, something goes wrong,
If you can resist treating a rich friend better than a poor one,
If you can face the world without lies and deceit,
If you can relax without liquor,
If you can honestly say that deep in your heart you have no prejudice against creed, sex, color, religion, national origin, preference or politics,
THEN you have almost reached the same level of development as your dog or cat.
Monday, November 30, 2009
I CAN'T DO WITHOUT COFFEE
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Morning Love
As I started to wake this morning,
in that half-alert twilight sleep,
I saw you in my mind's eye.
I leaned forward.
Taking your shoulders in my hands and pulling you toward me,
I kissed you gently on the lips
then whispered into your ear
thoughts that I have wanted you to know since we first met.
Not for long distance, or even across the room:
my lips to your ears.
lost in our love.
No past, no future; just our moment alone together.
Friday, October 30, 2009
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Caution... They Walk Among Us!
------------------------------
Some guy bought a new fridge for his house. To get rid of his old fridge, he put it in his front yard and hung a sign on it saying: 'Free to good home. You want it, you take it.' For three days the fridge sat there without even one person looking twice at it. He eventually decided that people were too un-trusting of this deal.
It looked too good to be true, so he changed the sign to read: 'Fridge for sale $50.'
The next day someone stole it!
***They walk amongst us!***
------------------------------
*One day I was walking down the beach with some friends when someone shouted....'Look at that dead bird!' Someone looked up at the sky and said...'where?'
***They walk among us!!***
------------------------------
While looking at a house, my brother asked the estate agent which direction was north because, he explained, he didn't want the sun waking him up every morning. She asked, 'Does the sun rise in the north?' When my brother explained that the sun rises in the east, and has for sometime, she shook her head and said, 'Oh, I don't keep up with that stuff'.
***They Walk Among Us!!***
------------------------------
My colleague and I were eating our lunch in our cafeteria, when we overheard one of the administrative assistants talking about the sunburn she got on her weekend drive to the beach.. She drove down in a convertible, but 'didn't think she'd get sunburned because the car was moving'.
***They Walk Among Us!!!!***
------------------------------
My sister has a lifesaving tool in her car it's designed to cut through a seat belt if she gets trapped She keeps it in the trunk.
***They Walk Among Us!!!!!***
------------------------------
I was hanging out with a friend when we saw a woman with a nose ring attached to an earring by a chain. My friend said, 'Wouldn't the chain rip out every time she turned her head?' I had to explain that a person's nose and ear remain the same distance apart no matter which way the head is turned...
***They Walk Among Us!!!!!!! ***
------------------------------
I couldn't find my luggage at the airport baggage area. So I went to the lost luggage office and told the woman there that my bags never showed up. She smiled and told me not to worry because she was a trained professional and I was in good hands. 'Now,' she asked me, 'Has your plane arrived yet?'...
***They Walk Among Us!!!!!!!!***
------------------------------
While working at a pizza parlor I observed a man ordering a small pizza to go. He appeared to be alone and the cook asked him if he would like it cut into 4 pieces or 6. He thought about it for some time before responding. 'Just cut it into 4 pieces; I don't think I'm hungry enough to eat 6 pieces.
***Yep, They Walk Among Us, too.!!!!!!!!
Sadly, not only do they walk among us, they also reproduce !!!!
Saturday, October 24, 2009
If you love football quotes.....You'll love this
Coaching Wisdom:
#1. At Georgia Southern, we don't cheat. That costs money and we don't have any." Erk Russell / Georgia Southern. '
#2. 'After you retire, there's only one big event left... And I ain't ready for that.' - Bobby Bowden / Florida State
#3. 'The man who complains about the way the ball bounces is likely to be the one who dropped it.' - Lou Holtz / Arkansas
#4. 'When you win, nothing hurts.' - Joe Namath / Alabama
#5. 'Motivation is simple.. You eliminate those who are not motivated.' - Lou Holtz / Arkansas
#6. 'If you want to walk the heavenly streets of gold, you gotta know the password, 'Roll, tide, roll!' - Bear Bryant / Alabama
#7. 'A school without football is in danger of deteriorating into a medieval study hall.' - Frank Leahy / Notre Dame
#8. 'There's nothing that cleanses your soul like getting the hell kicked out of you.' - Woody Hayes / Ohio State
#9. 'I don't expect to win enough games to be put on NCAA probation. I just want to win enough to warrant an investigation.' - Bob Devaney / Nebraska
#10. 'In Alabama , an atheist is someone who doesn't believe in Bear Bryant.' - Wally Butts / Georgia
#11. 'You can learn more character on the two-yard line than anywhere else in life.' - Paul Dietzel / LSU
#12. 'It's kind of hard to rally around a math class.' - Bear Bryant / Alabama
#13. When asked if Fayetteville was the end of the world. 'No, but you can see it from here.' - Lou Holtz / Arkansas ..
#14. 'I make my practices real hard because if a player is a quitter, I want him to quit in practice, not in a game.' - Bear Bryant / Alabama
#15. 'There's one sure way to stop us from scoring-give us the ball near the goal line.' - Matty Bell / SMU
#16. 'Lads, you're not to miss practice unless your parents died or you died.' - Frank Leahy / Notre Dame
#17. 'I never graduated from Iowa , but I was only there for two terms - Truman's and Eisenhower's.' - Alex Karras / Iowa
#18. 'My advice to defensive players: Take the shortest route to the ball and arrive in a bad humor.' - Bowden Wyatt / Tennessee
#19. 'I could have been a Rhodes Scholar, except for my grades.' - Duffy Daugherty / Michigan State
#20. 'Always remember... Goliath was a 40 point favorite over David.' - Shug Jordan / Auburn
#21. 'They cut us up like boarding house pie. And that's real small pieces.' - Darrell Royal / Texas
#22. 'Show me a good and gracious loser, and I'll show you a failure.' - Knute Rockne / Notre Dame
#23. 'They whipped us like a tied up goat.' - Spike Dykes / TexasTech
#24. 'I asked Darrell Royal, the coach of the Texas Longhorns, why he didn't recruit me and he said: 'Well, Walt, we took a look at you and you weren't any good.' - Walt Garrison / Oklahoma State
#25. 'Son, you've got a good engine, but your hands aren't on the steering wheel.' - Bobby Bowden / Florida State
#26. 'Football is not a contact sport - it is a collision sport. Dancing is a contact sport.' - Duffy Daugherty / Michigan State
#27. After USC lost 51-0 to Notre Dame, his postgame message to his team: 'All those who need showers, take them.' - John McKay / USC
#28. 'If lessons are learned in defeat, our team is getting a great education.' - Murray Warmath / Minnesota
#29. 'The only qualifications for a lineman are to be big and dumb. To be a back, you only have to be dumb.' - Knute Rockne / Notre Dame
#30. 'Oh, we played about like three tons of buzzard puke this afternoon.' - Spike Dykes / Texas Tech
#31. 'It isn't necessary to see a good tackle. You can hear it.' -Knute Rockne / Notre Dame
#32. 'We live one day at a time and scratch where it itches.' -Darrell Royal / Texas #33. 'Football is only a game. Spiritual things are eternal. Nevertheless, Beat Texas ' - Seen on a church sign in Arkansas prior to the 1969 game.
#34. 'We didn't tackle well today but we made up for it by not blocking.' - Wilson Matthews / Little Rock Central High School
#35. 'Three things can happen when you throw the ball, and two of them are bad.' - Darrell Royal / University of Texas
#36. 'I've found that prayers work best when you have big players.' - Knute Rockne / Notre Dame
#37. 'Gentlemen, it is better to have died as a small boy than to fumble this football.' - John Heisman
Thursday, October 8, 2009
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Who Needs Air? - shellartistree's posterous
Who Needs Air? - shellartistree's posterous
Posted using ShareThis
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Wednesday, September 9, 2009
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Proud Pirates on verge of record futility
Proud Pirates on verge of record futility
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Proud Pirates on verge of record futility
This season, big-time blowouts honored Forbes Field's opening in 1909 and the 30th reunion of the 1979 World Series-winning team. Next year, it's Bill Mazeroski and the 50th-year celebration of the Impossible Pirates who upset the mighty Yankees. In 2011, it's the 40th anniversary of Roberto Clemente's World Series coming-out party at age 36.
So much Pirates tradition. So many memories. So many stars.
Only now, so much losing.
No team in Major League Baseball or the NFL, NHL or NBA has endured 17 consecutive losing seasons -- not the Detroit Lions, not the Vancouver Canucks, not even the Los Angeles Clippers. Until the Pirates reached the mark last season, the only other team to suffer 16 in a row was the 1933-48 Philadelphia Phillies.
Where have you gone, Honus Wagner and Barry Bonds, Paul Waner, Pie Traynor and Willie Stargell? A proud franchise that won five World Series from 1909-79, five division titles from 1970-75 and put 13 players in the Hall of Fame is about to become the poster child for losing, the epitome of futility.
The Pirates don't have a magic number, they have a tragic number, and it's 17. With 79 defeats going into Friday night's play, they stand three losses from setting the record for consecutive losing seasons by a major American pro sports team.
No wonder they're so eager to live in the past.
"It hurts, it really hurts," said Jim Rooker, a Pirates player from 1973-80 and an announcer from 1981-93. "And I don't see any hope in sight. It's just not there. You can almost see another losing season (in 2010) and another and another."
In Pittsburgh, they've become -- as former Pirates pitcher Sean Burnett recently called them -- a laughingstock.
After the Steelers won the Super Bowl, the Penguins won the Stanley Cup and Pitt was the top-ranked team in college basketball this year, T-shirts were printed reading: "The City of Champions -- and the Pirates." A cigar shop advertises prices "lower than the Pirates' payroll."
It's not just that they've lost, but how the Pirates have lost. Only once since 1992 have they finished within four games of .500. They've lost 89 or more games 10 times, and are on pace to do it for an 11th.
As with most bad teams, a steady trickle of bad drafts, hires, trades and foolish signings led to a torrent of losing.
It began in 1991-92, when, instead of spending moderately to keep in-their-prime players such as Bonds and Bobby Bonilla, the Pirates chose to rebuild with prospects Kevin Young, Al Martin and Carlos Garcia. Bad move.
Owners lacking deep pockets sold to owners who could barely raise the cash to buy the team. In turn, they sold to owners with zero experience running a sports franchise. In 2003, Aramis Ramirez was given away in one of baseball's most one-sided trades of recent vintage because underfunded ownership exceeded baseball's debt-to-equity ratio.
"It's tough when you're in a small market," said former Pirates outfielder Mike Easler, a member of the '79 team. "You can't spend like the Yankees and Mets and Dodgers. You have to make the right decisions, and when you don't ..."
You become the Pirates.
Unlike the Steelers and Penguins, who develop players, keep them, and draft intelligently, the Pirates have looked overmatched on and off the field for years.
They wasted the No. 1 pick in the June 2002 draft on pitcher Bryan Bullington because he was affordable; he still hasn't won a game. They could have taken Prince Fielder or B.J. Upton.
They drafted John Van Benschoten, college baseball's leading home run hitter in 2001, and made him into a pitcher. A not very good one, either; his statistics for his first 20 starts were the worst in major league history.
Clemente, Stargell, Wagner? For the last 17 years, the Pirates' roster has been clogged with no-names and never-weres: Dennis Konuszewski and Matt Skrmetta, J.J. Furmaniak and J.J. Davis, Dave Wainhouse and Dave Davidson, Jonah Bayliss and Joe Boever, Brad Clontz and Brad Eldred, Josias Manzanillo, Ravelo Manzanillo and Franquelis Osoria.
Along the way, 328 players, six managers, four general managers (mostly Cam Bonifay and Dave Littlefield) and three owners had a hand in the Pirates losing 1,500 games -- their 82nd loss this season will be the 1,501st of the streak -- and finish an average of 22½ games behind the division winner.
Since the Pirates lost Game 7 of the 1992 NLCS in Atlanta (thanks, Sid Bream), the Yankees have played in six World Series. The Red Sox ended an 86-year run without winning the World Series, the White Sox an 88-year drought. Bonds hit 586 home runs, and retired. Greg Maddux won 260 games, and retired. There was an October without a World Series and a November with one.
To the Pirates, every April, May, June, July, August, September and October seem the same. Terrible.
"Even bad teams have good streaks, but they don't seem to have them," Rooker said. "I know people are waiting for signs of improvement, but I just don't see it. They just can't compete on a day-in, day-out basis with the better clubs. It's one step forward, two steps back every single year."
Pat Meares was signed to a $15 million contract despite a serious hand injury. Derek Bell signed for $10 million when nobody else was offering $1 million. Raul Mondesi hated the Pirates so much he quit them after two months, retired, then unretired when given a chance to play elsewhere. Singles hitter Jason Kendall got a $60 million deal, and the Pirates wound up paying nearly half of it for him to play elsewhere.
Even when they do it right, it turns out wrong. They opened much-praised PNC Park with its spectacular city backdrop in 2001, then squandered the largest season ticket base in team history by losing 100 games. Now they outdraw only the A's and Marlins, who play in football stadiums.
Nothing beats the view in PNC, except fans must watch a team that regularly loses 95 games.
"It felt like we were on the road," pitcher Paul Maholm said of a recent home game at which the cross-state Phillies had more fans than the Pirates.
The current strategy under owner Bob Nutting, team president Frank Coonelly and general manager Neal Huntington is to stockpile prospects by trading players of value: Jason Bay, Xavier Nady, Damaso Marte, Freddy Sanchez, Jack Wilson, Nate McLouth, Adam LaRoche, John Grabow and Njyer Morgan since last season alone. Only catcher Ryan Doumit remains from the 2008 opening day lineup.
"We know these trades were highly unpopular," Huntington said. "But this is how we're going to win, how we're going to build this franchise. ... We need to stop this cycle of losing."
It's not that the players readily accept the losing. LaRoche uttered an expletive upon learning of the first round of trades. Double-play partners Wilson and Sanchez were nearly in tears upon being dealt. But there simply haven't been enough good players to cover up all the flaws in scouting, development, acquisition and performance.
Huntington understands it's probably unrealistic to expect the Pirates to contend in 2010 or 2011. Should the run extend through 2012, it would reach an astounding 20 seasons.
"Jack Wilson was here nine years and he was losing the whole time," said outfielder Andrew McCutchen, who wasn't recalled until June but already is the team's best player. "This is my first taste of it, and it's not like I'm living with it. I'm living with it -- for now."
If McCutchen's Pirates stop the streak, maybe they will be known as the Impossible Pirates.
Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press
This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index
