Heading north from San Diego to Long Beach to visit a great friend I find myself on the Amtrak train gazing out at the Southern California coastline. Unintentionally, I find that I am slowly transforming into this young child riding the train for the very first time. Many thoughts are racing in and out of my head as I reminisce over the past two weeks in which I played host to my six year old nephew in San Francisco, Ca. The lifetime of memories and experiences shared should forever serve as an inspirational launch pad.
Our first full day in the city and we were blessed with amazing weather so we decided to take a cruise around town. We went up and down the big huge hills where the cars have to park sideways; we traveled down Fillmore St. to a great view of the bay and that big red bridge, we took a trip to over to Lombard St. and after I shared with him that it was the most twisty street in the whole wide world I watched his eyes grow past enormous. Without thinking I told him about my crazy friend James that drove me up that same street going the wrong direction when I first moved to San Francisco. I say without thinking because of course he wanted us to make that same trip!!!It was painful for me to tell him that it wasn’t such a good idea and that it was very dangerous because I had so much fun doing it. Deep down I knew he would probably experience the same rush that I felt on my trip but I also weighed in the fact that if something went wrong San Diego would be a place that would be off limits to me as long as my mom is alive!
On our journey downtown while trying to explain what that meant we saw the big triangle shaped building that commands the attention of anyone staring at the San Francisco skyline. It wasn’t until the very next day when we went to the IMAX theater to see Monsters vs. Aliens in 3D did those landmarks really come into play. The film was created by the folks at Pixar in Emeryville just across the Bay and they used San Francisco as the back drop for the film. The experience was priceless, the little guy shouting out “whoa we’re in outer space!”,when the movie started and having monsters and aliens float right up to your face is very fun especially if you enjoy it natures way. And if you're keeping score at home, of course we had to go and see that big red bridge and the triangle shaped skyscraper after the movie.
The Exploratorium inside the Palace of Fine Arts is very cool and informative. Imagine all the lame ass science projects and reports you did in grade school being brought to life and presented in a hands on environment. Just like the movie I think I might have had more fun than the little dude! Our next fun outing was taking the Bart and the Muni trains to the Academy of Science. This place is like a museum and zoo mixed together. The weirdest and most interesting animals are housed there. Try explaining to a six year old why an albino alligator is white. The lack of green pigmentation and melanin mean absolutely nothing. The enormous fish in the aquarium downstairs was also cool. Somehow we missed the penguin enclosure but we spent a lot of time in the tropical water exhibit. It was full of sharks, manta rays, coral and colorful fish. I learned all about clown fish, Nemo and his friends courtesy of the little dude! That was very cool but what was even cooler was our stroll past the magic shop on 9th Ave just off Irving St. Luckily for the residents of San Francisco this store was closed for some odd reason. In the window was a display of poppers that he is all too familiar with. For those of you that attended private school or just had butt hole parents, poppers are these little white things that kids will kill for. They look like little pieces of wadded up paper and pop when you throw them at the ground, lots o’ fun. I actually still enjoy them myself from time to time. Sitting next to the poppers in the window was a display of stink bombs. I remember stink bombs from junior high school and man did those things clear out a classroom in a hurry. When I explained what they were and what they did you would have thought the little guy just saw Santa Claus climbing down the chimney on Christmas day. His devious smile was worth a billion bucks, and all I could think of was Dennis the Menace!!! Strangely part of me wanted those stink bombs as much as he did. GREAT thing the store was closed.
During the little guys visit we would stop by the lounge every other day or so to say hi to Mike. I had to explain why people leave money on the bar when they buy a drink but I still don’t think I made that clear? He earned a few dollars during his stay doing odd jobs and completing simple tasks. The homeless or addiction challenged people out on the streets begging for his hard earned dinero didn’t stand a chance! Try explaining to a six year old why it’s ok to hang out all day and hit people up for their hard earned dough, and when you do please help me understand as well!
Fourteen days is a long time for a single guy to play mom and dad in a single person’s city. Thank God for a few good friends, Uncle Mack, chocolate milk and cinnamon toast crunch. Without the before mentioned who knows what might have happened to me and the little guy? With kids, a simple trip to dinner is no longer an option. To the people sitting next to you, privacy aint happenin’. One night at dinner I could tell the couple sitting next to us was on a first or second date just by their body language. I felt bad because we were loud and his food was everywhere. Then I thought this might be the best gift ever because after the countless cocktails they knocked back maybe my little Tasmanian Devil inspired them to finish their night very carefully!
With every trip on the train I found myself apologizing to the person sitting across from us for being stepped on or being kicked over and over again. Ice Skating lasted all of ten minutes. I wasn’t down with taking a spill on the ice so I couldn’t be mad at the little guy for feeling the same way. “Pizza with salad stuff on it” is probably the worst invention ever. As funny as that sounded the first time I heard him say uuuuhhhh, I couldn’t help but agree. Hummus wasn’t happenin’. My world famous and very delicious eggs with ground up broccoli, onions and garlic wasn’t even worth considering, those went completely untouched. Plain eggs were prepared and they were devoured. The crust of all bread slices was left on his plate every time. Daily I juice and therefore I am, the kid wasn’t havin’ that. If anything other than oranges went into that juice machine and he was turned off and tuned out.
I often talk to my mom about the little guys habits and how “picky” he is. My opinion, he actually has it all figured out at an early age. He already lives by the law my friends and I aspire to live by, “things I’m doin’and things I ain't doin’!” All I can do for now is just admire the little dude for practicing this ideology decades before I learned to.
Let me start this letter by saying, "Thank you GOD!"
Over the past few weeks those of you that follow sports even a little bit have probably heard about the drama in Denver. The end of last the last football season marked the beginning of the end of Jay Cutlers stay in Denver and playing professional football for the Denver Broncos. After another disappointing season in Denver the Broncos decided to fire their head coach Mike Shannahan and bring on a young and not as experienced coach out of the New England Patriots organization, Josh McDaniels. McDaniels spent the past couple of years grooming and nurturing a young quarterback Matt Cassel who suprisingly led the Patriots to an 11-5 season after losing their starting quarterback early in the season to injury. When McDaniels became the head coach in Denver this off-season he did what most leaders would like to do, build his team with his players. Unfortunatley for McDaniels he was not successful in trading for Cassel into Denver and ultimately lost the faith and respect in then current starting quarterback Jay Cutler.
The past month or so has brought on many debates and opinions about Cutler and his sensitivity, his child like behavior and his needing to get over it. HUH??? Get over it? What does it say about the society that we live in when your new boss attempts to get rid of you because he feels he has someone that can accomplish the task at hand better than you can and the public criticizes you and calls you childish for saying, ok then I'm out.
I started this letter by thanking GOD, thanking him for sending us a public figure that is willing to say "F*CK YOU new boss! F*CK YOU, for trying to unsuccessfully trade me, F*CK YOU for asking me to come and work for you after you couldn't get who you really wanted. I, Jay Cutler am suppossed to pick up the phone and accept your meeting invitation, listen to your apology, then get in front of a camera and say everything is ok? I am Jay Cutler a Pro-Bowl, All Star Quarterback! I am one of the best in my profession and I am suppossed to be ok with someone trying to get rid of me? I'm sorry is for people that are sorry and always feels so empty to me. I'm sorry is almost like a pass to do whatever you want and then be let off the hook by easily saying I'm sorry. The current trend of American culture had me expecting to turn on the radio or telelvision last month to hear Jay Cutler reading a letter written by his publicist saying that he and McDaniels had resolved their issues and are looking forward to a great and productive season. I was so relieved to hear that he took a 100,000.00 hit for not showing up to VOLUNTARY workouts. Wait a minute, "I am not receiving my bonus because I missed a VOLUNTARY workout?" Maybe Jay's four years at Vanderbilt Universtiy meant nothing and he was never taught what the word VOLUNTARY means?
April 2nd 2009, Jay Cutler is traded to the Chicago Bears and his new life begins. Josh McDaniels you are no longer worthy to utilize Cutlers skill set and the people in Colorado have been steered to believing that Cutler is to blame. Again, ask yourself how you might feel if you busted your ass to become great at what you do, lose your coach / mentor only to have a new, young and inexperienced coach step in and try and fix something that wasn't broken to begin with. Keep in mind that Jay Cutler is a Pro Bowl All Star player.
The best of luck to you Jay Cutler, Manny Ramirez of the LA Dodgers and any other employee that makes a business tons of money only to be told to take it or leave it when Big Boss Pimp Nasty is finished with you!!! I THANK YOU for telling them to take it or leave it!!!
Questions - Are we ALL ok with just getting by? Are we OK with being shit on time and time again? When and where do you draw your line in the sand?
