Fantasy Football

Ok folks, I just assembled my fantasy team this. My team consist mostly of Michigan players and Detroit Lions. In order to make my team complete I need to trade for Tom Brady and also need to get the Lions Defense. Both are obtainable, but it will be difficult.Last year I did the same thing and my team turned out ok, but this year is going to be a struggle. Whatever though...it is $10 I am for sure going to lose especially because people actually know the Lions will be good this year.

In the end I am just happy I am able to assemble a team based on two programs. How many Universities could produce a team like Michigan? Alabama, Texas, Georgia, USC, OSU, probably a few more that I am missing, but definitely proud to put this team together each year no matter how crappy my team might be! GO BLUE!!!

I have good luck!

The other day I was in a Chick-fil-A in Bluffton, S.C., and while I was eating an Amish family came into the restaurant. It was not the first time I have seen Amish people but it definitely was an experience. Whenever I encounter a situation like this I often try to find something funny about it that I can tweet about or post on FB. Immediately something came to my mind, but I did not pull the trigger because it probably isn't politically correct. However, since no one reads my blog I can post it here and maybe make a few people laugh (and also a few people probably shake their heads).

"Sticking out at a Chick-fil-A. #AmishProbz"

In the last month I have encountered a wide array of people in my travels, and the one fact of life that always bothers me is that there are so many things that are out of our control. To some extend our very nature as a person is not in our control. Take for example the Amish family. The kids that were born into the family really did not have any choice whatsoever about their lifestyle. That is the only thing they knew growing up, and now yes, they may have the option to change, but the Amish doctrine of life is ingrained so deep inside their memory that switching is incredibly difficult.

Millions of children are born everyday and the place they are born is probably the most important determining factor in their life. Not ambition, drive, or anything else. Grant it these things can make huge differences in the outcomes of people's lives later in life, but really so much is due to where you are born and the infrastructure that is put in place. This is why our infrastructure is so vital to the success of our world. If there is inequality in infrastructure you will inevitably see inequality in the society. 

In the fight to lower inequality we should try and make it a level playing field by providing equal access to infrastructure such as schools, hospitals, libraries, universities, etc. Instead of worrying about tax rates our politicians should be pouring money into education, which is the key to making this country a meritocracy. 

All of us are a direct product of our environments. My "success" is somewhat due to my work ethic, but really it is due to the fact I was born into a middle to upper middle class family that could afford great education for me. Things would be a lot different for me had I been raised in different circumstances. At this point all I can really do is be thankful and then try and find small ways to tighten the inequality I see in the world. Change is slow, but you must be persistent.

Augusta National

I'm sure many of you heard about Augusta National finally allowing women to be members of their club. It is a pretty historic day as Condi Rice and Darla Moore will soon get their green jackets and have access to play arguably the best course in the world. However I urge people to not get too worked up over it. The question that really needs to be asked is that should Augusta National be celebrated for doing something they should have done 50 years ago?

When I saw the news I was definitely happy for women golfers everywhere as this is a huge victory as they gain more access to restricted clubs across the country, but really it was not life altering. I was more like, "well ok, it was about time this happened." You look at the PR Augusta is getting for this and you also look at who they selected as members and it is hard to not think their are different motives behind this move.

Condi Rice is an amazing person with an amazing story to tell. She is basically like American royalty with all her connections to the White House over the years. Darla Moore is very rich and it begs the question. Will this trickle down to help the average female golfer? Only time will tell.

The other question I have is will the Women's Club Championship be stroke play or match play?

Wedding Streak Over!

Sorry it has been a long time since I posted. Unfortunately I have been working long and crazy hours at work the past week or two and I just haven't got a chance to get on here. Lots has happened since my last post.

Last weekend I was back in the Mitten state for a wedding with two of my friends from college. It was a great time and more importantly I am really happy for them both! The wedding was perfect and luckily I knew quite a few people there which made it more enjoyable. This was the first wedding that I had been to since my best friend got married two years. Work had got in the way of the last five weddings I was invited to and it really sucked not going to those as they were some of my really good friends. The good luck streak will only reach one though as I am going to miss my cousin's wedding in a few weeks. Pretty soon all my friends will stop getting married and I won't have any weddings to go to which will be a positive in my opinion.

For all of you that know me well I am definitely a social butterfly (with a love for sarcasm). Ok, so maybe the whole wedding, social thing is not my cup of tea, but I feel like the wedding I was at this weekend gave me a sense of insecurity and a sense of assurance at the same time. Contradictory right? Well I was definitely caught thinking, will my life turn out happy? Will I ever find someone to spend the rest of my life with? Insert other similar type questions, etc. As I was thinking about this, a few songs went by and I avoided the dance floor...YES! But then all these questions I had really made me come to the conclusion that the one thing I know about myself that has always been true my entire life is that - I am not like most other people. You can call it weird, awkward, socially inept, whatever but I am just different. I believe because of this my timeline for figuring out answers to questions above is extended out a little bit. Just for fun here are the Top 2 things people will never understand about me.

1. I don't like ANY type of dressing on food including salad. Been called a rabbit multiple times.
2. I cheer for MSU basketball to beat Michigan even though I went to school in Ann Arbor.

Top 5 Olympic Moments

1. Michael Phelps going out on top as the greatest Olympian of all-time
2. Watching a Saudi Arabian women run in the Women's 800m
3. 15 year old Ruta Meilutyte wins first swimming medal (gold) ever for Lithuania
4. Usain Bolt anchoring the 4X100 relay and breaking the World Record. The USA team finished with the 2nd fastest time ever.
5. Misty May and Kerri Walsh winning their 3rd straight Olympic Gold Medal

UPDATE: Kirani James winning the gold in the 400 would definitely be in my top 5. Such an inspiration to everyone back in his native Grenada.

Honorable Mention goes to watching people cry on the stand when there national anthem plays.

What are yours?

Greatness

Nike has done it again with a great ad campaign! Their "Greatness" ads have been inspiring and perfect given the timing of the London Games. Everyone hopes that they can find their inner greatness after watching all these terrific athletes. Good luck finding yours!

Good Ole Days

I miss the good ole days when I was in college and had time to do things that I enjoyed. Almost every morning when I lived on Greenwood I would stop by the Business School on my way to class and grab a copy of the WSJ. During my down time I could read the articles and I learned so much about the world. Nowadays I have barely any free time to read anything let alone the WSJ. It is pathetic!

I used to enjoy investing a lot and even as late as last year I was still actively learning things about the markets. Now I have no idea what's going on. The worst part is that I have money in the markets and it is just sitting there. Talk about poor money managing on my part.

It shouldn't be too hard to set aside 30-60 minutes a day to keep updated on how things are going. Then on my "weekends" I can spend a little more time doing some research on stocks/options to buy. Sounds like a plan, but as one of my favorite quotes says "the greatest distance is between said and done."

My Second Greatest Asset

Today I drove my Hilton Head Island, S.C. to Memphis, Tenn., and boy was it tough. 10 hours straight behind the wheel with nothing really to look at except the outskirts of Atlanta and downtown Birmingham. Along the way I think I heard the Top 40 at least three times. The best part of the trip was definitely finding a radio station that played a good combination of soft rock and current hits. It is the little things in life right!

Over the course of the trip my mind was jumping from thought to thought. Am I going to be able to stay awake? Who won the Olympic Gold medal in tennis? How am I going to get all my work done this week? What does the future hold etc, etc?

I believe my brain is my second biggest asset, next to my work ethic, but I wish I could just turn it off sometimes! My mind is shooting random thoughts (neurons) all over the place and it is creating chaos in my mind. I need to find a way to calm my thoughts and just relax. Meditation maybe? I have tried a little bit of that at night and it has seemed to help, but the clarity is short lived. Any one have any ideas on how to get a little peace of mind?

I SUCK at Golf

Today was brutal. I am so bad at golf now that it is embarrassing. Here is the state of my golf game.

Driving: Between OB, lost balls, and lateral water hazards I lost 2-3 balls off the tee.
Irons: Probably hit 6 greens...4 of those were good shots
Wedges: 3-4 chunked chips
Putting: Great on the front nine..3 three-putts on the back. I didn't make anything over 10 ft.

Also some other things to note. I didn't make any birdies. Hit 2 fairway bunker shots a combined 100 yards.

This is what happens when you don't practice at all, but that is not an excuse. My game has deteriorated so far since I stop playing regularly. I feel like my course management has improved vastly but I am pathetic from 100 yards and in and that is what really counts. I haven't sniffed par in 2-3 years.

I guess all I can do is start practicing more because that is the only thing that will make it change. It is a tough journey ahead of me!

Thank You Mrs. Reid

Most of my friends and coworkers know that I like...no enjoy to correct people's grammar. All of this is due to one of the best teachers I ever had...Mrs. Reid. She drilled grammar rules into our brains and made us memorize all the prepositions and numerous other things. The worst part though...all the sentence diagrams. I am really grateful to her for preparing me for higher level writing. By no means am I perfect, but a large part of my job is writing blogs and press releases. All the hard lessons I learned in 7th or 8th grade (I can't remember...it was a long time ago) have really paid off. It is too bad all students don't get the opportunity I had.

Today at work I received an email application for a job. The email was unfriendly, short, and I guess to the point. After reading the two sentences I was telling myself, his resume BETTER be really good if he is going to write such a crappy email. Well, I opened it up and found one of the funniest things I have ever seen on a resume. For one of his skills he listed "Proof Read Documents." Apparently he forgot to proofread his resume!

Funny how something so small can make your day!

Making the Mission Statement a Reality

Today I witnessed something really awesome. Usually a company mission statement is very vague and often does not turn into reality. My employers mission is to "make a positive and transformational impact on our students' lives." Today I saw proof of that transformation in a student's life. At lunch there was a student that was not feeling well and had a hard time expressing it as she did not speak much English. In situations like this we typically rely on a translator usually another student that has command of both English and the other language. Well, this time the translator was a student that 12 months earlier had an extremely difficult time holding conversations in English. She did an outstanding job and it is amazing to see how far her English skills have come since I first met her.

Many people struggle with finding a passion for their job. Luckily I have been able to find out the one thing that excites me about my job. Helping kids transform their lives is the main reason I go to work everyday. Although this experience I witnessed today probably had little or nothing to do with me, it is still good to see the strides juniors can make with a little help along the way!

This story reminded me of the student speaker at my graduation from the University of Michigan in 2009. He came to the United States barely speaking any English and after his time at school, his first job was teaching English in China. It was a remarkable story that made me proud to be a Wolverine. When I heard it, I got goosebumps! BTW I love getting goosebumps and being inspired by others. I hope one day people will be inspired by something I do. That is one of my many goals.

GO BLUE!

Things I Learned at Work Today

• Multi-tasking is extremely difficult if not impossible
• Take notes so you don't forget things
• Don't skip lunch...it makes you cranky
• Not watching the Olympics live sucks
• The 9-5 thing does not really apply to me
• Hotel prices in Temecula, Calif., have gone up $60 since last year
• Each day is going to bring about new challenges and opportunities

Here's to having a great day tomorrow!