The Mighty Oak

There's an old Greek proverb that says something to the extent that "From the Tiniest
Acorn can grow the Mightiest Oak..." This is often the way I see my children's futures...

I remember Dustin when he was little and learning to walk. He knew that if he could crawl across the floor to the end table by the couch, and then use that table to pull himself up, he'd be able to reach the cookie that Sherry had set out on a plate for him. To us, that seems kind of simple, but to him, it must have been a huge accomplishment. Sure, we saw the bigger picture, "Hey, he's up, he's standing and walking!" But the even bigger picture was that these were the first steps (literally) that would propel him into his future...

I admire Dustin for a lot of things... his sense of humor...(okay, I don't appreciate all of the things he finds funny, but we share laughs over plenty of other things...) His love of music...(we differ greatly on what we think is "good" music, but I admire his efforts to sway me into his way of thinking, even though they usually don't sway me very far), and I admire his musical ability.

Oh, I can sing a bit and drum a little, but I was never a great trumpet player or guitar player, and I'm not sure I really enjoyed it all that much. The fact that he's stuck with his Bass playing is a big deal for me and I'm proud of him.

Sherry is admirable in my book as well... Someone with a hearing loss as profound as hers would and should have every right to be angry and mean about it...(and I've met a few people like that in the past...) But she's not... oh sure, it gets her down from time to time, but she's come out of her shell in so many ways regarding her hearing that I'm constantly in awe of her.

The real "Mighty Oak" in our family (Not to say that the others aren't Mighty Oaks as well) is Jared. He is, in a lot of respects a "Tiny Acorn." He's usually one of the smallest kids in his class, and has almost always been the smallest kid on any sports team he's been involved with. But nothing ever seems to slow him down...

I've only seen him upset once over the fact that someone said he was too short to do something...in fact, it seems like he's been "built" to prove everyone wrong about their view of short athletes. I think it makes him more determined and more focused than a lot of kids his age.

My Mom and My Uncle, Ancel, are both short...and they were great at sports in their day. Ancel is even in the Missouri Softball Hall of Fame and played ball well into his 50's. I have a lot of memories of my Mom shooting baskets and playing ball with us when we were kids, and my Dad (who isn't short) always got out there with us too.

I was never a very good athlete. I played basketball for a long time and baseball for several years. I played football for two years and ran track for one season, and I might have had one or two "moments" that were memorable on my own, but most of the moments I celebrated had to do with the team winning, and not due to my accomplishments.

Jared, on the other hand, is becoming one of those kids who makes the moments happen.
After two seasons of basketball in which he scored over 100 points, and a couple of seasons playing on older teams where he only contributed a few points, but managed to intercept and rebound on plays the bigger guys couldn't get to...he has exhibited a talent far beyond anything I ever had. (He even got a Silver Medal at a Junior Olympics Basketball Competition this year). (Dustin excelled beyond my talents for that matter when his basketball team went to the finals every year and ended up in first or second place every time.)

Last year, Jared tried out for the Pepsi Pitch Hit & Run, and won first in the local competition, but lost in the regionals to a nice, talented kid named Blake.
This year, Jared placed first in the locals, first (out of 18 kids!) in the regionals and third in the finals in which he competed against the best kids in his age group from Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa.

During the final competition (in which he met up with his old "rival" Blake, who is now his buddy), he stumbled a bit on his pitching. (He threw no actual strikes, but got within inches on at least three pitches...in contrast to the four perfect strikes he threw at the regionals). To be fair, all of the kids were really nervous to be on the field at a Major League Ballpark and to be pitching in front of a crowd...and besides, it was the first event of the day.

The second event was hitting... no problem for Jared at all. He hit very well and looked like he could take that event. The third event was running, and Jared outran them all...he looked like a blur coming around the bases... When the scores from all of the events were tallied...Jared took Third Place. Blake was in a different age division this year and he took fourth for his efforts, although I would have placed him higher.

Throughout the morning all I heard was "He's so little, how did he get so good?" and "Gosh look at the tiny one run, he's fast!" and other things along that line...was I upset by it? Nope, not a bit... As I later explained to Jared, "They're not in awe of your size, they're in awe of your talent."

That night at the Royals/Giants game (which the Royals won!!!) Jared and the Pitch Hit and Run kids got to go down on the field and were presented on the big screen at the stadium and had their names announced. I wanted to laugh and cry at the same time... Because there on the screen, 90 feet tall...was the smallest player on the field... My tiny acorn was now a Mighty Oak.

I know someday he'll grow to be bigger, but right now he's the biggest ball player in all of Kansas City!

-David

Why Tim, Why?

Tim Russert died this past weekend and I'm kind of at a loss for words about it.
As someone who grew up around news, television and newscasters, I always have a certain affinity for people in that position.

Tim was a genuine person...an honest person who had a true love for his God, his family, his country and his fellow man. Being a political junkie and an all-around sports nut, I felt as if I knew him, or at least could relate to him.

During the 2000 and 2004 elections, it was Tim and Brokaw that I looked forward to hearing from most. He will be sorely missed this November...

Gone too soon, Tim...and we will miss you!

David

All this and Baseball too?

This week was one of the most interesting, stressful, fun, wacky and unpredictable weeks I've ever had...

First came the rains, and with it came the leaky roof. My roof is only 6 years old, but since the big storm (that wasn't a tornado and yet somehow managed to blow entire buildings away!) we've become a bit waterlogged.

Water in the bedroom ceiling, water in the light above the kitchen sink, and almost non-stop rain outside. So much rain in fact, that Jared has had two games canceled this week alone.

The one really good day we had weather-wise this week was YESTERDAY! As it just so happens, yesterday I won the biggest prize I've ever won in a radio contest on 980 KMBZ in Kansas City. WWW.KMBZ.COM

The day before I got a call that informed me that I was the winner of "Take your office to the "K" Day" ("K" is short for Kauffman Stadium, home of the Kansas City Royals). WWW.KCROYALS.COM

So I had about 24 hours to give away 50 tickets to an afternoon baseball game. About 30 people from the Library where I work said they'd go...so that left me with 20. I called around a few people and then I ended up giving away about 10 tickets to parents and kids on Jared's baseball team.

I then decided that I would hand out the rest for free in front of the stadium as people were walking up to buy tickets. (which garnered me some really interesting responses from people!) Two people practically begged me to take money for the tickets, but I stood firm! I got them free, they'd get them free too!

So then we go inside the stadium (co-worker, Michele and I) and get to our seats and meet up with KMBZ'S Nicole, and on-air personalities (and News People) E.J. and Ellen, who join us for the game. They could not have been nicer! Nicole then hands me a bag filled with coupons for free goodies at the game... so, not only have they paid for parking and tickets to get in, but now, all of my friends and co-workers get $13.00 worth of spending "money" to buy food and pop with. TOO COOL!
(I even gave coupons to the people we gave tickets too...and they tried again to pay me!!!)

I've got to say that it was a lot of fun going and being able to "give away" all of the cool stuff. I'd never have been able to do that sort of thing on my own. The game was great! We beat the RANGERS 6-5 and even had Navy Frogmen Parachute into the stadium before the game.

One of the kids from the ball team, who I'm not sure had ever been to a game, seemed like he had a good time along with his family members who came too. And guess what??? No rain!!!

It was a cool day, and all of us that got to play hooky from work and got to eat cool stadium food...(it actually was good!) and drink pop and watch baseball... We had a good time! So thanks to E.J. Ellen Nicole and the rest of the KMBZ staff who I sadly cannot remember their names!!!! But thank you anyway! We love you all!

And we got all of this and baseball too!

David

To borrow a line from Avril Lavigne...

Why does everything have to be so complicated?

I paid my taxes online and should have gotten my stimulus rebate in May...
But no,
Because I used TurboTax, I must now wait till the end of June.

I won 50 tickets to the Royals game this Thursday in a contest designed to
let you take your office to work...
But no,
Half of my office is working on a special project and can't go.

We lived through the storms that tore up our neighborhood last month and got through with what we thought was little damage...
But no,
Now we have water pouring through our kitchen ceiling when it rains.

Everything is starting to break down...
My Ulcer is coming back...
I need a vacation...
But with gas at nearly $4.00 per gallon, who can afford to drive anywhere?

I'm thinking primal scream therapy sounds pretty good right now...

David

Pitch Hit and Run 2008

Last year, Jared was seven and wanted to participate in Pitch Hit and Run which was sponsored by Pepsi and Major League Baseball. On the morning of the event it was rainy and wet and there weren't many people there. Jared pitched a couple of strikes, hit for about 80 feet and ran from second base to home in about 8 seconds. There weren't a lot of kids there that day and he ended up beating kids that were a lot older than he was at pitching and running.

When he got to the regionals they combined the seven-year-olds scores with those of the eight-year-olds, and needless to say, the eight-year-olds killed the seven-year-olds chances at advancing. (although to be fair, the kid that won was amazing!!!) Needless to say, Jared was disappointed, but wanted to try again the next year. The Mother of the boy who won told him that he was great and that he should try again because her Son had come back a second time and had won. (He later competed on the state level and came in third)

This year the local event had more people there and was far better organized, although it was held in mid April and the morning of the competition it was 45 degrees and very damp. We were all shaking and shivering and I couldn't convince Jared to put on a jacket to warm up before he pitched. That being said, his pitching was not-so-hot that day.

His first pitch went over the fence and his second wasn't much better. Finally, he threw a strike, which was enough to keep him in the competition. The next kid up to pitch was someone we actually knew, and he pitched a couple of strikes while Jared moved on to hitting.

Jared hit one for 102 feet which looked farther than several of the other kids, so my thought was "Good, maybe this will make up for the pitching!" He followed up with a running time that wasn't his best, but was still faster than several other competitors.

We didn't hear anything for a week or so after, so I thought maybe he was out of the running for the Regionals, but then one day an letter arrived from the parks department along with a ribbon for "Overall Champion" for his age group and a ribbon for "Best Batter." He was off to the Regionals!

On Sunday we made the 20 minute drive to the city park in Buckner, Mo. The park is nice, but not as new as the one in Pleasant Hill where Jared competed last year. The set-up was much better, as was the weather (although it got very warm as the day progressed.)

Jared got up to pitch and was competing against 16 other boys and girls in his age division. Judging from the size of the kids, I don't think there was a seven-year-old in the bunch. Several other kids had already pitched, and out of six tries, a couple of them had thrown three strikes a piece and another couple had thrown two strikes each. In order to stay in the competition, Jared would have to throw at least two strikes and then run like crazy and bat like a maniac!

Jared wound up and pitched the first ball...and missed the target. He grabbed another ball from the bucket... "5 more tries" I thought. He pitched it dead center for a perfect strike! Then he repeated the pitch three more times! He was now in the lead! He missed on his last throw, but it hardly mattered because only one other person in line would even throw three strikes after Jared walked off the mound.

During the running portion, numbers were shouted out like 9.5 and 10.36 and 8.8 seconds, which is the time it was taking some of the players to run from Second to Home Plate. Jared's time was 7.75 and again he was in the lead. WHEW!

Batting came next...by then some of the kids were hot and tired and you could tell it. For this event they combined the 7 and 8 year olds with the 9 and ten year olds, not to combine the score totals, but to speed up the process. While this was going on, the judges began to tally the scores.

One kid, who had pitched okay and had run rather slowly, belted one at 106 feet, which was 4 feet farther than Jared had hit at the locals. I knew this would be hard, because a lot of these kids hadn't hit from a Tee in quite a while. I could tell Jared was disappointed with his farthest hit of 77 feet and 7 inches. He had a look of frustration on his face as he left the field.

About twenty minutes after the last batter batted, a lady with a megaphone began to announce the winners. All the kids gathered near her and the prize table and all of the parents leaned forward in the bleachers.

They announced third place in Jared's age group... "PLEASE GET SECOND AT LEAST!" I shouted internally to no one imparticular. They announced second place... "Oh, please don't let him have gotten fourth or fifth" I pleaded in my head.
The lady announced "And first place in the seven and eight year old division is Jared Cox!" I yelled a hearty "All Right! Good Job Jared!" And a couple of parents nearby offered their congratulations.

In the next age division the first place winner was the boy from last year that had blown everyone away only to place third in state. I saw his Mom and told her congratulations and she said she remembered Jared from last year. She told him "See, I told you to come back...I knew you'd win!" His response was a huge grin.
I've been proud of Jared before and of his older Brother, Dustin too... But I was really proud that day because I knew how bad he wanted it and how hard he'd practiced to get there.

We found out that day that there was going to be one more regional in the area before we would know if Jared got to continue on to the state event. So now we have to wait till this coming weekend to see if his numbers hold.

If they don't, he says he wants to try again next year. I admire his hard work and his patience. He's still admiring his ribbons, his medal and his certificate!

David

Ah, the good old days

Everyone has a favorite TV Show from when they were a kid. I have several... Growing up with a Dad that worked at a TV station probably was the beginning of the end for me and started me off on the long road to TV Junkiehood.

As a child I spent many a minute, hour, day, month and year watching Television.
"Red Skelton," "Johnny Carson," "The Munsters," "Bewitched," "Green Acres," "Gomer Pyle," "Lucy," "Brady Bunch," "I Dream of Jeanie," "Hogan's Heroes," "The Partridge Family," "Star Trek," "Dark Shadows," "Beverly Hillbillies," "Petticoat Junction," "Six Million Dollar Man..."
I'm not sure there wasn't a show on television that I didn't watch.

One of the horrible trends of recent years has been the "re-imaging" of some of the classic old series by remaking them as series or as big budget movies. The list of remake flops is enormous. Anyone who wasted money or time on the likes of "Starsky and Hutch," "The Dukes of Hazzard," or "Miami Vice" knows exactly what I'm talking about.

In a couple of weeks "Get Smart" starts in theaters. When I was very, very young, there was nothing I loved more than "Get Smart." I was about three years old and whenever we saw a phone booth I would shout "There's a Get Smart!" Meaning the phone booth, and of course it took my folks months to figure out what the heck I was talking about.

Several years ago they tried to remake "Get Smart" a couple of times...once as the theatrical film "THE NUDE BOMB" which I rushed to see in theaters. I was in Junior High at the time and liked it a lot...of course, if I watched it now I might not be as enthusiastic about it, but at least it had Don Adams in it.

Then they brought Adams and Barbara Feldman back along with the revolting Andy Dick to do a new version in the 90's that lasted about a week I think. I saw one episode and grew nostalgic for the old series immediately.

The new movie has Steve Carell of the "OFFICE" TV Series (which I love), so I'm a bit hopeful although I heard that the "creators" of this version declined input from the original creators, Buck Henry and Mel Brooks. (WHICH IS AN OMINOUS SIGN!!!)

Sometimes you go back and watch the old shows and somehow they've maintained their rustic charm. "Green Acres" will always be one of my favorites, and it is still funny today as it ever was. "Gomer Pyle," on the other hand is nearly unwatchable. To think I rushed home from school to watch it every day makes me sad for all the time lost...
"The Munsters," although corny, still has a great cast and will make me laugh from time to time. (The new Wayans Brothers version has me very, very worried!)

I heard recently and had my fears confirmed on IMDB.COM that Will Farrell is doing a remake of "LAND OF THE LOST" which was a fave of mine as a kid. Will Farrell??? Come on????!!!! You've got to be kidding me???!!!! This is worse than when they announced Jim Carey would be playing Steve Austin in the "Six Million Dollar Man" remake! Who are these nitwits and where do they get these nutty ideas?

Tonight in honor of the demise of "Land of the Lost," Jared and I sat down and watched a DVD of old episodes of the classic Saturday Morning Series...and...
it was so cheesy you could make dip out of it, but still we sort of enjoyed it.
Sure, the girl who played Holly couldn't act, and Wesley Eure as Will, liked to overact to beat the band...then there were the zippered up the back, Sleestacks, who were played by college and professional basketball players and the claymation dinosaurs and puppet dinos too. And don't forget Cha-Ka, the little caveman who was always calling Holly "Hareee."

My only sixth degree of separation to the show is that I once saw Wesley Eure in person in Springfield, Mo. Not only was he the star of "Land of the Lost," but he played Mike Horton on "Days of our Lives," which made him popular with my Mom and Sisters, so of course we went to see him in person when he was in town.

Thanks to DVD, everyone's favorite shows are back, for better or for worse...

David

Goodbye old friend

Today's blog is a tribute to my good friend, Mel.
Mel has been a faithful employee of B&N for the past seven years and has been an inspiration to all of us. But now...she's decided it's time to give up the book store for a more "normal" life.

Funny, Honest and Hard-Working, Mel is one of the people who trained me when I came on board six years ago. I knew that no matter what, if Mel was working a shift with me, everything would be all right. There are only a handful of people I can say that about that I've EVER worked with.

Mel also rehabs animals. If there is an abandoned baby animal of just about any sort, you can usually find Mel taking care of it. I've watched her hand feed squirrels and possums hundreds of times...in fact, she even came out to our Scout troop to show the boys animals on several occasions, when Dustin was little and when Jared was first in Scouts.

One night, she even brought some animals over to our house. We spread a blanket out on the floor and fed nearly grown possums by hand in our living room. Our dog, Luke about went crazy later when we let him out for the night...he sniffed everything in the room!

Sherry and I were both lucky to have the chance to work with her, and even better, she has become a life-long family friend...

Mel, we love you and we'll miss seeing you, but we won't forget you!

Hope to see you soon!

David, Sherry and the Boys