From the Free Dictionary: Pride comes before a fall.
Something that you say which means if you are too confident about yourself, something bad will happen to show you that you are not as good as you think you are. Just because you did well in your exams doesn't mean you can stop working. Pride comes before a fall.
The above is a idiom.
I made a friendly wager with Big Orange Michael with his beloved Redskins versus my Cowboys.
I look like an idiot.
I just read Michael Lewis' article on "What Keeps Bill Parcells Awake at Night" published in the New York Times Sunday sports magazine here.
"Michael Lewis spends eight days with Bill Parcells of the Dallas Cowboys, who has developed a legendary reputation for turning losing teams into winners, and is the only coach in N.F.L. history to take four different teams to the playoffs."
Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
I got a great sense of the mind games and the motivational practices that get players to push themselves to excel and win (without getting chewed on especially by the likes of old school coach Bill Parcells). There's also the little techniques that a coach like Parcells spots in a player from watching hours of video such as standing slightly turned rather than being set and squared to the line of scrimmage. Not a good thing (the opposing reciever could get a half step on the cornerback and run right by him). And also trying to figure out if a player has lost his nerve and can no longer play under pressure in clutch situations. Like kicker Mike Vanderjagt, after spending 2.65 million as a free agent.
If you're a student of the game of football, or want to get a sense of what a week looks like preparing for a football game, then make time to read this article by Michael Lewis. You don't even have to like the Cowboys to enjoy the read. Good stuff from an excellent writer.
Michael writes: One of the strange things about professional football players is how little time they spend playing football. Their schedules begin at dawn, and their coaches don't have time to sleep. But the players spend more time sitting in meetings, lifting weights and taking showers than they do playing football. If you added it all up, they probably spend more time wrapping various body parts in surgical tape than they do playing the game. Wednesday and Thursday are the two days the Cowboys practice longest and hardest, but even these practices last just a few hours and only faintly resemble an actual football game. Football is the sport in which practice is least like the game. Because the risk of injury outweighs the reward of repetition, they don't hit each other and they seldom run all out. And it's never truly competitive; the players who aren't good enough to start are assigned to imitate the opposition for the benefit of the first-string offense or defense. The scrubs play the role of the Redskins so that the Cowboys' starting defense can pretend to stymie the Redskins' offense, and the Cowboys' starting offense can run up the score on the Redskins' defense. If the coaches didn't scream and yell so much, you'd never guess that any of it actually mattered.
Photo Hunt 27: Window(s)
Theme: Window(s) | Join the Photo Hunt | View Blogroll | Visit participants.
Cleaning Windows -
Oh, the smell of the bakery from across the street
Got in my nose
As we carried our ladders down the street
With the wrought-iron gate rows
I went home and listened to jimmie rodgers in my lunch-break
Bought five woodbines at the shop on the corner
And went straight back to work.
What's my line?
I'm happy cleaning windows
Take my time
I'll see you when my love grows
Baby don't let it slide
I'm a working man in my prime
Cleaning windows (number a hundred and thirty-six)
Van Morrison - Cleaning Windows at iTunes
I like this song by Van Morrison as he describes a person perfectly content going about his work life. People might say "I don't do windows", but he's looking beyond that as he likes ...blowing saxophone on the weekend, hearing leadbelly and blind lemon and reading christmas humphreys' book on zen...
Cleaning windows so that people can look out and daydream.
Photo taken in downtown Minneapolis, MN
xxx
I joined the Saturday Photo Scavenger Hunt hosted by Tn Chick. You too can play: Join the Photo Hunt There's a different theme every Saturday, and it's a lot of fun visiting the community of participants.
When I was traveling the internet visiting 100 Blogs in 100 Days, it was just last year on September 16 that I decided to stop in and take some culinary lessons at The Amateur Gourmet.
Its been a while since I've taken a gastronomy class or even learned something new since The Frugal Gourmet taught me to make a perfect omelet. And Emeril keeps screaming at me. Martha is doing something else. Rachel Ray is overperked on the Joker's smiley gas and Mrs. WonderDawg won't let me eat two slabs of ribs anymore, so grilling shows are out... (mmm Mothership BBQ)...
Anyway, you owe it to yourself to stop by The Amateur Gourmet to see what the hoopla is all about regarding Chutzpah, Truffles & Alain Ducasse
The word is out that Pastor Ted Haggard is surrounded by the makings of a less than glorious scandal.
Kat Coble has a well written posting and I really like the question Thomas McKenzie examines: "How Does It Happen?"
In my time with Promise Keepers, I interacted with a lot of pastors from all denomination flavors throughout my South Central territory and those pastors who were on the speaking team. From those who answer the call to serve as bi-vocational pastors in the inner city to the faithful of pastoring for 40 years to a small congregation of less than a 100 to the influential by their love for God, His Word and their Christlikeness, I've seen them all including a few scroundrels along the way. Pastors at large do have challenges and I spent a great deal of time helping to be a resource with Promise Keepers events, training materials to have strong men in the church that won't bother their pastors with their pettiness.
Thomas addresses some of the things that pastors go through, including the unmet expectations heaped upon by some in the pews.
A couple come to mind: when a influential leader in the church doesn't like a pastor preaching on sexual sin, he writes a letter to the elder board calling for his dismissal as Scripture exposes his sin. Rather than go to God and affected parties for forgiveness, he found it easier to get rid of the messenger.
Another example: woman blames pastor for not being able to reconcile a broken marriage... even though the woman committs the adultery... and on and on it goes.
So as for me, as a sinner saved by grace, I can't judge nor will I judge - but I can pray that Ted Haggard and especially his family get through this with much grace and mercy.
I'm grateful that my time with Promise Keepers taught me well to be a man after God's heart like David in the Psalms. Here's a guy in the Bible who broke 5 of the 10 commandments with his one act of sexual sin.
I'm thankful that I have a group of guys that hold me accountable and who aren't IMPRESSED with me. So men, here's some relevant questions that need to be asked:
- When things go badly, who do you talk to ?
- Who can you be totally honest with ?
- Who is your "sounding board" ?
- Who do you take advice from ?
- When you fall, who will stand by you ?
- Who do you face life's struggles with ?
- Who holds you accountable?
Whenever I feel particularly vulnerable to sexual temptation, I find it helpful to review what effects my action could have:
* Grieving the Lord who redeemed me.
* Dragging his sacred name into the mud.
* Destroying my example and credibility with my children, and nullifying both present and future efforts to teach them to obey God ("Why listen to a man who betrayed Mom and us?").
* If my blindness should continue or my wife be unable to forgive, perhaps losing my wife and my children forever.
If you haven't noticed, Vonage is running TV commercials touting the use of their Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) service.
"Vonage is a leading provider of broadband telephone services with over 2 million subscriber lines as of September 30, 2006. Our award-winning technology enables anyone to make and receive phone calls with a touch tone telephone almost anywhere a broadband Internet connection is available."
(View the Beauty & the Geek TV commercial)
Vonage uses the tagline of using their service as "a smart decision among many, many stupid decisions".
Frank Barnako's Internet Daily notes that "Vonage spent $254 for each new customer it signed up last quarter. The average revenue per customer was about $26."
Even in May of 2005, GigaOM wrote:Vonage is spending $21.829 million a month on Internet advertising alone, making it the second biggest money spender online. If you look at the number of customers they are adding - 15,000 a week or 60,000 a month, that makes it about $363 per customer in acquisition costs. Never mind that they are advertising like crazy on television and in the print media. If those figures are taken into account, then we could see final customer acquisition cost of around $400.
FCC explains what VOIP is
I wish somebody could explain to me how companies get by burning so much cash in order to dominate a market, either for an IPO or aquisition by another company. Where does profit enter in as a business non-negotiable?
Chances are that if you are a blogger, you might own a hodge podge of electronic gadgets, phones, cameras, PCs, blender and other stuff that use batteries.
I didn't know that women are now buying half of all consumer electronics and are more bent to be gadget freaks than guys are. That's cool in my book.
Well, here's your chance to be a Featured Gadgeteer of the Month over at The-Gadgeteer.com
Julie Strietelmeier has without question for a number of years done an excellent job of reviewing gadgets, Palm OS and Windows Mobile stuff, laptops, accessories and more. I always turn to The-Gadgeteer site to give me a base line of what to look for in a practical aspect and perpective for all things gadget related. You owe to yourself to bookmark their site www.the-gadgeteer.com if you have any interest in gadgets and even accessory related stuff like clothing and carrying bags.
It's always Christmas time at The-Gadgeteer as they have fun opening packages for all to see. Something that Comp-USA frowns upon.
Don't be shy... Yup, I was a Featured Gadgeteer back in August: Read my story here.
You too can be a Gadgeteer! Read other featured gadgeteer stories, and send in YOUR story / pictures for posting. Julie will even give you a Gadgeteer t-shirt free of charge after your story is posted. Pick a color. Any color shirt you want.
I'm honored to be associated with a great web site. Thanks very much Julie!
My son Gary on the way to Seattle snapped a picture in Montana of a buffalo by the side of the road.
They're pretty tasty too as I just got back from eating a bison burger at Ted's Montana Grill with my best friend Mark in town from Brazil.
They serve "naturally-raised bison, which is nutritious, lean, rich in iron and considered a healthy alternative to other meats. Bison contains less fat, cholesterol, and calories than beef or chicken."
However, one can over compensate the loss of the less fat, cholesterol, and calories with Swiss cheese, mushrooms & sour cream on the burger with a side order of onion rings, fries and two glasses of Yazoo beer.
Real man food - those Cowboys and Indians in the wild west days had it going on with a robust diet. We must have been in our element as we were talking smack about the Dallas Cowboys (my team) and the Washington Redskins (his team).
I'm Bloggkin' Pa Nub in all da Wong Munt at NaBloPoMo!
Yup, big hat tip and mega thanks to PishPosh, I've signed up to blog daily for the month of November.
NaBloPoMo is an alternative to November's NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month, the program wherein you crank out a novel in thirty days.
Some of us lack the imagination, stamina, and self-destructive impulses required to write a novel that quickly, but, by Grabthar's Hammer, we can update our blogs every day for a month!
I was like a nervous kid last night, eagerly awaiting the onslaught of kids that would pound on the front door awaiting the schawg filled bag of Halloween delight. It was slow going.
We met our new neighbors 8 houses down when she brought her two kids, so that was a good thing to welcome them into the neighborhood. And then we waited and waited... I kept getting up and looking outside for any signs of street life. Our street looked dark. Two houses to the left and one to the right with porch lights on. So finally in a bit of nervous energy, it was time to take the Halloween Tennessee Titan Thug-Boy out for some trick 'n' treating pranking.
The first house, my neighbor opened the door and tossed out three pieces of candy into his bucket, while missing one. "I'm sorry," she said "you'll have to pick that up!" After no response, "You're a quiet little fella!"
We had a big laugh over Thug-Boy and how creepy he was.
I went across the street, but no one was home. House was all lit up... false advertising.
So I picked up Thug-Boy and treked across 5 yards... thinking I need to hit the treadmill. These front yards are extra big for little feet.
The last house was awesome. I sat Thug-Boy down on the porch, rang the doorbell and stepped out of the line of sight. She opened the door with a big bowl of candy in her hands and at this house, it was self-serve buffet. "Go ahead, don't be shy..." Sound of crickets.
Needless to say, we had a huge laugh and got to visit for a bit. 
Incredible Boy wasn't sure of what Thug-Boy would do!
Total kids: 7 (including a NemesisBoy).
Pranking: 2 (Thug-Boy scored with some good chocolate!)
Houses rolled in the 'hood: 1 (somebody doesn't like a particular country music star. - I'll go over and see if she needs help.)
Onward to Thanksgiving!
