What is wrong with people?

I had resigned to the fact years ago that there are sick people in this world, but some of the stories that have made the news over the past week, I can't help but shake my head. Maybe it is upbringing, maybe it is surroundings but some people are just crazy and you have to wonder what the hell is wrong with them.

The lady from Texas, who killed her 4 year old child, drove to New Hampshire and left his body by a road and then left. I'm sorry but if you hate being a parent that much you just need to give that child up for adoption. It's bad enough that she ruined that poor boys life by being his mom; she just had to go and end because she felt he was ruining hers. The worst part of that story is that she got a 45 year sentence. So the taxpayers will continue to pay for this lady and a little boy is buried. What the hell is wrong with people?

In Fall River this week, 20 people were left homeless and some have lost everything because of a fire to a three family home that damaged surrounding homes. It was ruled and arson and the police have a man in custody that may have set the fire. It has come out that the landlord of the house has been harassed by a neighbor and retaliation could have been sought out. The issue, a street parking spot. The last time I checked nobody owns the parking rights to a street. I could go down there and park my car and never come back, I have just as much a right to it than anyone else there. But the fact that someone was so angry that a public parking space was in dispute, they decided to set the man's house on fire. How can someone be that mad over anything to resort to such a heinous act? Luckily for this guy, nobody died. Unlike the story several years ago of a lady setting fire to her ex-girlfriend’s house and killing her two daughters.

People get mad and sometimes discussions get heated. But in the end you either let it go or walk away. I have never been one to resort to violence and I never got the lump heads that would go out every weekend to fight anybody in their way. I have decided that there is nothing in the world with the exception of a physical threat to my family that I would result to a physical confrontation. If someone is yelling at my wife and he tells me she was being a "bitch", I will need to confirm that accusation before I proceed. If she was, I will leave it to her fight that one on her own. What's right is right. What has ever been proven from exaggerated machismo? Nothing!

But for the woman in Texas and the man (or woman) in Fall River, please get help you have anger issues and you have thrown your lives away as a result of it, just like many people that have had serious anger management issues.

3D
Coming Right Atcha.

The Grand Inhibitor

As a resident of Worcester I truly like to see Worcester thrive. Unfortunately for us this city can get out of its own way. If it's not the mayor, it's the City Council, if it's not the City Council it's the state. It seems like it is a never ending, but the one constant that seems to get in the way of many things in this city is the Worcester Preservation Society. Talk about a group that inhibits progress.
Last week there were two separate stories of properties that the Preservation Society had been active in, Worcester State Hospital and the Our Lady of Fatima church. With regards to the Preservation Society, where were they four years ago when Martin Scorcese wanted to use the sight for his movie "Shutter Island" and the city and state both said no because it was slated to be knocked down by the time cameras would begin to roll. That would have brought business and some notoriety to the city, but the answer was no and Scorcese took his film to Plymouth and the we got to watch Leonardo DiCaprio on the sidelines during the NBA finals while the old Worcester State Hospital had been untouched. Now when it is time for the wrecking ball to come in, the Preservation Society wants the demolition to stop. Thanks for nothing, that building is beyond saving.

The Fatima one bugs me the most for a couple of reasons. The first was that the Worcester Diocese had a buyer for this property a couple of years ago; however, the buyer had to walk away because Preservation Worcester blocked the sale because the new owner either wanted to change the integrity of the building or ultimately raze the building. Let's face it; there is only so much you can with a vacant church. So when those options were no longer available to buyer he walked away. So now a Chinese congregation buys the church and the Preservationists are happy. That's wonderful, they don't have to pay taxes it on it either which the other buyer was more than willing to do. So the property went from one tax free entity to another and the preservationists are excited about it. I should have them pay my property tax and my excise tax to make up for the lack of funds we get because we can't do anything with an old building in the city.

I am excited about the City Square project because I am seeing things get knocked down. Nothing says progress than "out with the old and in with the new". If the Preservation Worcester wants to save the old mill buildings that used to be home to pre-labor law work conditions and the dehumanizing of children in the name of history then they need to purchase those buildings and turn them into museums. If they don't want to pony up the dough and still be able to dictate what is going to be done with those properties, I say "GO TO HELL". Who are they to tell anybody what to do with their property, it's bad enough that property owners have to deal with the bureaucracy that is known as the City of Worcester, they don't need a non-profit organization telling them what to do if they are not providing any incentive to do so.

So in short, my message to Preservation Worcester is; if you want to save all of these old buildings, then buy them. If not, get out of the way and let progress happen in Worcester.

3D
Coming Right Atcha

Hoops to Tebow...a 3D weekend

This was one of the rare weekends in which I didn't have a lot going on so my family and I planned to relax and go with the flow.  It is always good to do this because as a coach and a sports official the weekends are usually truncated because of what game I am coaching or officiating or what practice I am attending.  This weekend there was no such scheduling issues the world was our oyster.  It was very eye opening and yes, it was very relaxing.

Friday night I took some time and wanted to do some "me" time.  I did clear it with the "boss", after a discussion in which she felt I was being selfish by leaving her alone on a Friday night, she relented by saying, "I've been really tired, I will probably falling asleep early".  She is 6 months pregnant, I figured that would be the case.  I decided I was going to go up to the Holy Name vs. St. Peter-Marian boys’ basketball game.  I am glad I did.  It was one of the best high school basketball games I have seen in a long time.  The gym up on Granite St was packed to the gills.  I am glad I have keys to the building to let myself in the back way to avoid lines and possible issues about cutting lines.  The gym was absolutely electric with fans from both teams very excited about their teams as each team took significant leads and all came down to the last 10 seconds of the game.  One of my former players at the Friendly House Tyler Delorey drained a three with 7 seconds left to give Holy Name a three point lead and ultimately the win.  Both teams should have been proud and hold their heads up for the way they played.  It was a great night running into old friends and former players.  It was definitely what the doctor ordered.  I capped the night off with a drink with some officiating friends and then headed home and hung out with my wife for about an hour before we went to bed.  Great start to the weekend.

On Saturday I was up really early, like 4:00 am early.  Don't know why, but I was.  I turned on the TV and the movie "Brian's Song" was on.  That movie will be watched in my house no matter when and what channel it is on.  It just sucks me in and I can never let go.  Movies don't make me cry, but if there was one, "Brian's Song" would be it.  At about 5:30 my daughter came down stairs and then an hour later my wife came down and our day was starting.  We decide we were going to do stuff around the house in the morning and then go do something as a family in the afternoon.  After a busy morning of cleaning and running around doing errands we decided we would head out to the Natick Mall (I refuse to call the Natick Collection), and then grab dinner at The Cheesecake Factory.  It is amazing how stupid people get when in a mall garage or parking lot.  It is like the atmosphere that surrounds it is designed to suck common sense and courtesy out of people.  As my wife so eloquently put it "It breeds stupidity".  We didn't spend too much time in the lot getting a spot, but someone needs to alert Washington that the economy is not bad in Natick, that place was packed.

It's a good thing we didn't go there to truly shop it allowed me to people watch.  That place has become the most pretentious and trendy place on earth.  Two minutes into our mall walking I came across a "nightclub" couple.  They walked out of a store in front of us so we were directly behind them.  The guy has so much gel in his hair he may as well been on Jersey Shore.  He was not nearly bad as the girl though.  She was about 5'7" wearing heels and tight jeans.  She had a half-shirt tank top straight out of 1985.  This is the kicker though, she had more fat than a Big Mac and her love handles covered up the waist line on her jeans.  I am no looker but I am a truly a believer of knowing your limitations.  This girl does not follow that credo.  I kept saying "Oh my Lord!" over and over so my wife ducked into a store to avoid me embarrassing her.  I next saw an Asian man talking on his cell phone with a medical mask.  I felt like going up to him and telling him that the SARS epidemic was 10 years ago.  Going through the mall I realized I am either too old or too simple a human being to be in a place like that.  I am guessing it's the latter because most of the people I could not stand to look at were older than me. 

We didn't do much in the mall so we decided to just head to dinner.  There was a small wait at the restaurant, since it was gorgeous outside we waited outside.  Next to the restaurant was an "America Girl" doll store.  My wife was telling me how appreciative that our daughter was too young to want those because of how pricy they were.  I never knew, she told me to go check it out.  I went inside and saw that a doll and a small story that comes with it is $105 and the clothes probably cost more than what I was wearing.  At that point I was done with the Natick Mall.  We had dinner and my wife bought a pair shoes and we headed home.  We capped the night off by watching the movie "Bridesmaids".  I liked it but it was not as funny as I had been led to believe.  But overall a very entertaining movie.  It was a great Saturday and got to spend some great quality time with the family.

Sunday was a normal Sunday.  I woke up and went to church, as I am a church lector.  When I got home I did some laundry and cleaned up around the house with my daughter "helping" me.  My wife took my daughter to my parents for Sunday lunch.  I had to miss it this week as I had to head to our team practice as we have a game tonight.  After practice I went and picked up my wife and daughter from my parents house.  My brother and his family were still there so we hung and watched our kids get into trouble with each other, it is quite entertaining.  We closed the weekend by visiting my in-laws and watch the Denver vs. Pittsburgh playoff game.  As much as I want to hate Tim Tebow, I just can't.  He is such a great guy and a very inspirational human being.  However, I will be rooting for his demise this coming Saturday night in Foxboro.

As I sit here writing this while my wife and I watch "Country Strong" I realize how important weekends like this are.  I enjoy coaching and officiating so much and my wife has always told she would never stand in the way of me doing things that I love.  But with a second child coming in a few months something has to give, and a tough decision will need to be made. The one thing I do know is "la mia famiglia viene prima", that's Italian for "My Family comes first".  The decision won't be that tough though it just has to be which one is most helpful to me and my family.  Would I give up something or all things I love if it was the most helpful to my family?  You betcha, no doubt.

3D
Coming Right Atcha

First 3D Ramblings of 2012 - 1/6/12

The first Ramblings of the year. I have dug deep to find topics on this one. Some stories you may know and some you may not. So let's kick off the New Year.
Will you marry me? - A 25 year-old Vermont man proposed to his girlfriend over the holidays and she naturally said yes. However, the ring that he gave to her was stolen from Zales Jewelry, by him! C'mon man!! So now trust is a serious issue with this couple. I will bet that this guy serves his time and still marries this girl, because this is how dumb our world is. This clown should have sold the ring and then bought a new one. I am not supporting criminal activity, this guys is as dumb as a criminal as he will be a husband.

Will you not marry me? - Russell Brand and Katy Perry are getting a divorce. Knock me over with a feather. One of the reasons for the divorce was Brand wanted to have children and Perry didn't. Isn't that something they need to talk about BEFORE getting married? Celebrity divorces are almost as dumb as future husbands stealing engagement rings.

Harvard Professor Fired - So an Indian born Harvard professor was fired for an article he wrote in an Indian newspaper. He was fired because his views would have been found as Anti-Muslim and would incite riots. It was about 40 Harvard Professors that called for his firing. So it looks like Harvard only supports 1st Amendment rights when they are supporting Occupy Knuckleheads and anti-Christian debates. This professor is Indian, he has been anti-Muslim all his life and Hindus have been fighting Muslims for hundreds of years. Harvard professors should not comment on situations they don't simply understand. So basically they should keep their mouths shut.

TGIF? - Not in Samoa. The small Island has decided to skip Fridays to be able to conduct business with its two largest partners Australia and New Zealand. Why would you need to complete eliminate a day to cater to business partners in this era of Globalism? Traders and companies that do business with those two countries should adjust their schedules and hire personnel to work Sunday through Thursday. If it is a majority of the country, then guess what? Friday now starts your weekend. TGITh!

Hunting Accident - An off duty State Trooper accidentally shot a woman while hunting last week. I am struggling with this one. Luckily the woman was not killed and is expected to be ok. So it begs the question, who is truly at fault here? It's easy to blame the hunter because he did the shooting, but what was the woman doing there? She should have been familiar with the area that she was walking her dog as a hunting area. The hunter could have just been shooting at anything that moves. There seems something is missing from this story. But if everyone is ok, I guess we will chalk it up to a dumb mistake.

Christmas Music - Is it me or does everyone have a Christmas song? I'm sorry but if you caught a lucky break with one hit that doesn't mean you need to put out a Christmas album. I never heard a Christmas song from Dexy's Midnight Runners and hope I don't hear a version of "Little Drummer Boy" from the Dropkick Murphy's

Demi's New Role - It's good to see that Demi Moore is working again. She will be playing female activist Gloria Steinem in the movie about porn star Linda Lovelace. I am sure Steinem would have loved her role in Striptease

Library Police - Talk about using police for the wrong reasons. A Charlton Police Officer reluctantly went to a home in Charlton to collect late library fees from a 5 year old. The Library claims that was not the intent of the visit, but to get fees from her dad's tardy checkout. Does it really matter? The Library feels they are more important than the tax paying residents of Charlton and abusing the use of the local authorities. Next we will see them calling the Fire Department to put out a potential fire because someone is smoking too close to the library.

Black Box - The State Police released the Black Box data from Lt. Gov. Tim Murray's November accident. I thought the data would simply tell us that he was not speeding significantly and hit a patch of ice. Boy was I wrong. Not only was he speeding but he was going as fast as 108 mph, did not hit a patch of ice and state police officials say that he may have fallen asleep at the wheel. This story continues to set off 3D's stink meter. This does not pass the sniff test. This data goes against everything he claimed when the accident happen. He claimed he was an early riser, an early riser is up for the day, not just for a little while. He said he was assessing storm damage. That is really tough to do in the dark, even more difficult to do at 108 mph. I have not believed the Lt. Gov.'s story from day one and I truly haven't cared or given it much thought. But as the story continues to change and more lies continue to mount I want to know what was really going on now. If he had originally come out and said he was tending to a personal matter I would not care. But he is insulting the intelligence of every Massachusetts resident and is using his job as his scapegoat. Since he is an elected official and is claiming he was dealing with official business, I as a citizen want a truthful account of what happened. He owes that to us.

Great start - Lastly I want to give a shout out to my girls of the Holy Name basketball team. They have started the season 8-0 with impressive wins over defending District Champs Algonquin, Shrewsbury, Acton-Boxboro and last week beat defending Rhode Island State Champ The Prout School. Great job ladies. The boys have also started off strong with an 8-0 record with wins over East Boston, Rhode Island powers Barrington and North Kingstown and a win over rival St. John's. The boys take on St. Peter-Marian tonight up at Holy Name at 7:00p.m.

Until next time
3D
Coming Right Atcha

Facebook in Real Life

So over the past few years Facebook has taken over everyone's life. People feel the need to let everyone in their circle know exactly what they are thinking or doing, or not doing for that matter. It has become a staple in many people’s daily routines, and it is becoming very Orwellian. I have to admit I used to be caught up in what one of my friends called "an online trap". So who cares if it has become a way of life for people, I could think of worse things in the world people could be doing. I heard three separate stories regarding Facebook this week that make me realize that my friends on Facebook are either boring or normal. I am going to opt for normal.
The first story I heard was that a study by the law firm Divorce Online cited that one out of three divorces that cite unreasonable behaviors use Facebook as the cause. This is caused because couples claim that their spouses are flirting with their friends on the social networking site. So call me dumb or a Facebook novice but most married couples I know are at least friends with each other and can see what the other says. My wife and I don't even have our own accounts. I am going to guess that Facebook is not the problem there. In my personal opinion stupidity is the mitigating factor in these break-ups. First off if your marriage can't survive some comments on Facebook, my guess is there are much deeper issues than Facebook infidelity.

The second story I heard about Facebook was that a Seattle man created a page looking for a kidney. The page was sent out their friends and they sent it to their friends and so on and so on. This is the good thing about Facebook. Some find personal pleas annoying, but I don't. I figure if you can't ask your friends who can you ask. One of my wife's high school classmates has a little girl with Leukemia and they have been able to connect because other classmates arranged a fundraiser for her foundation, which is not to pay for her bills, but to re-decorate the children’s waiting area at UMass Memorial. They took to Facebook and scheduled some fundraisers to help the cause.

The last story I heard this week was about a Florida man getting dismissed from a jury because he sent a friend request to the defendant in the case. Once again I think that Facebook is the false victim in this story. The man was looking up people in the case on Facebook to see if he knew any of them. He then "accidentally" requested the friendship of the defendant. A similar case happened in England when a juror put a poll out on Facebook asking which way to vote in a child abduction and sexual assault case. That's a major problem and could possibly lead to the courts going to the extreme by banning cell phones and laptops in the courthouse and any case that lasts more than a day the jury will be sequestered.

I am not in tune to Facebook as much as I used to. I really go on to post the link for this blog (thanks everyone for reading by the way). Facebook has only changed its format and its design in the years that it has been online. The members of Facebook have abused its use. I have literally seen people self destruct on Facebook, having online heated arguments.  It is used for everything and people get connected whom otherwise would not be connected because they can hide behind a wall on the internet. It has been used in police investigations, court cases and has gotten kids in trouble in school for the things that have been said or pictures that have been posted. I still truly feel there is some privacy in this world and don't share my entire life on Facebook. However, I will continue my tradition in April when I will be updating the world on the birth of my second child.......on Twitter.

3D
Coming Right Atcha

All About Nothing

The Holiday season brings TV stations multitude of Christmas Marathon's.  Whether it was the Elf Marathon on USA, the Christmas Story on TBS or the Polar Express on AMC, you would see these movies at an alarming rate.  It got me thinking, is there a show or a movie that I could just sit down and watch over and over.  The answer is Seinfeld.  I know there are multiple episodes played back to back, but never for 24 hours straight.  They could dedicate a whole channel to Seinfeld and I would subscribe.

There has never been a show that created pop culture like Seinfeld.  Who would have thought a show about nothing would have lasted so long and created such a stir.  But if you truly think about it, the best stories in one’s life usually come about when something totally irrelevant was going on.  There have been many times when just sitting around with my friends we have made up words, called people by a specific feature that makes us remember them.  I used to literally run into a convenience store and quickly get what I went in for when I saw an elderly person go in because I knew they were there for Lottery and that purchase would simply just slow my entire day down.  That's why I relate to Seinfeld so much.

There have just been so many episodes and terminology that have come up in conversations and have been part of everyday culture.  For example, how many times have you been telling a story and to rush the story along said "Yadda, Yadda, Yadda" and made your point.  If there is someone that is so strict and militaristic you refer to them as the (Insert activity) Nazi.  If you don't want to give something to someone how many times have you said "No Soup for you!!!"  Or the ever popular shrinkage reference when you have come out of a pool or a cold shower.  I always say "giddy up" when I am on board with a plan or event.

But it is not just the vernacular that makes the show a reference point in conversations.  They are some pretty good episodes that were just flat out funny.  When my wife and I were getting married and picking out invitations I couldn't help myself but ask about the glue on the envelope.  Although that episode ended in death of a character, it is just one of those culture references that I speak about.  I can't look at Marble Rye bread without recounting the episode of when Jerry robbed his parent’s neighbor in Florida for the loaf of bread.  The Hamptons brought some laughs to show.  That is where the term "shrinkage" was born.  That was also the episode where the cast could not tell their friends that their baby was ugly, and when Kramer found a crate full of Lobsters.  A separate episode had George bringing the parents of his dead fiancée' out to his house in the Hamptons, even though they knew he did not have a house out there.

There are just so many things about Seinfeld that always pop in everyday conversations.  I did not like the movie "The English Patient" and laugh every time I watch that episode.  Every time I have large salad I can't help but point out that I had the "Big Salad" and every time I park in a garage I always make it a point to know where I parked so I don't spend the afternoon looking for my car.

It was a show that had its ups and downs when it was on but it has been definitely been more appreciated now that it has been gone.  A New Years Eve Marathon for Seinfeld is in order.  It could be wildly popular as all the other marathons that are on TV.  I believe it is time to give this show its due and dedicate a day to this show, maybe even two days.  I believe it is Marathon or even possibly sponge worthy