Traditions

A tradition is 1 a : an inherited, established, or customary pattern of thought, action, or behavior.

I love traditions. I used to think I loved individual things that kept on repeating and I would get all excited when they were coming up. Then I realized that I simply loved the fact that I had these things to look forward to, traditions. I've come up with a set of rules that I categorize traditions with, because the last thing I want is someone saying they have a tradition when it's not.

• A tradition to me is something that is done in an even amount of time spaced out, with a minimum of a year in between. This means the un-named tradition has to be annually or every two years, etc..
• A tradition has to be something that can happen each time.....don't be a tradition poser and say that you have a tradition such as watching the buckeyes win a national championship. That is out of your control, therefore it can't be a tradition.
• A tradition can't be forced. It has to happen naturally. You can't be in the planning stage and someone says...."You know what richard...we should make this a tradition.." No, no, no. A tradition is something that you retrospectively look back on and can use as an excuse to your spouse by saying "Sweetie, I have to....it's a TRADITION".
• It has to be positive. A tradition can't be a negative thing. You can't have a tradition where you get together with buddies and re-enact the time your buddy got the nickname iron nuts.
• It can't be a national tradition. You can't say "We are eating turkey on thanksgiving".

I have a few traditions that I want to share with you. If you have a tradition I would love for you to share it with me on the comment section. I want to bask in your tradition rich lifestyle.

Findlay Four Golf Outing- this is a group of 4 guys that went to college together and get together at least once a year to play in a golf outing. We used to play poker on a regular basis, but we have been spread out. This tradition started in Tiffin when we played in the hall of fame outing and has been moved around over the years. We missed one year, which put my tradition in jeopardy, however, due to a tradition clause....a one year absence is ok, only for a birth or a death. A birth happened last year.

We had many traditions in high school. Every thursday night before our games on friday we met on the 50 yard line at 10:00 p.m. We talked about the game tomorrow and what it would be like to meet here in the playoffs. This tradition came from my brothers previous tradition of meeting his friends at the press box.

I had a friend that would mark a cross on the back of my helmet before each game. We painted our helmets so the paint was still fresh. This came from me being a scared to death sophomore getting ready to play my first game. He asked what I was scared of...I said getting my head ripped off. So he put a cross on my head. It stuck for the next 31 games.

I have an immense respect for traditions. I am always looking for more. I have many others, but I want to see if the readers of this can pick up on any that include them. Until then, build a tradition. Find something you enjoy and do it with people you enjoy...make it stick, don't force it, just see if it happens.

Hitler reacts to Lebron

The Scam

My parents gave me this blue imac for my birthday one year. It was the cutting edge computer, and I was very fortunate to have it to take to college. Look at it. It was a blueberry ball of internet surfing joy. I completed many a term papers on this machine. I stayed in touch with high school friends, burned CD's, and avoided school work. But....this isn't what makes this little machine the tool for the biggest scam I've ever seen.

My college roommate was obsessed with working out and protein. He loved protein like snoop loves the weed. He was always ordering protein shakes, protein bars, and other supplementals. He poured a ton of money into it. He didn't have a computer, so he had to do his ordering on my blueberry beast. One afternoon he was doing his usual ordering when he got the "wheel" of death on a mac. This meant the page wouldn't load, so he hit back and tried it again. The wheel again. So, he hit back, did it again. Finally, the inter-web let him thru and to his amazement, his shopping cart had 4 sets of protein shakes for the cost of 1.

A few days later the shakes arrived and his bill was for only one. This started his mind to spin. He isn't the most school driven guy (or at all) but he loves a good scam. Turns out this little imac that could was a scam machine. As long as he hit the back button during the spinning wheel anytime he clicked "add" it was free. I know what you're thinking, no way. It's true. I watched him. He would start small with just a couple extra....then he really got sucked into the fever and was ordering by the bulk. Our house soon became a GNC, and he ran it that way. He would sell the "goods" at dirt cheap, make a killing, and order more. We were all dumbfounded, even him. We were blown away everytime it worked. We kept waiting for it to stop working, but it never did.

I can't remember how it stopped, or why it stopped, but eventually he stopped doing it. Upon graduation, he offered me money for the blue machine.....I hope somewhere he built a temple to it with all the empty protein shake bottles.

Top 5

So Lins and I just celebrated year two of being married, so I thought I would countdown the top 5 things that happened to us this year that affected our marriage in a positive way.

5) We took a trip to Florida over our spring break. It was a last minute decision that we labeled as our "babymoon". I will say this for Florida. I won't ever stay on the beach we went to again. I have a new theory. I won't stay on a beach anymore unless it's in a rented house that is either on the beach, or a block away. I don't do the condo's very well. I hate the elevators, the screaming half dressed kids, and the yucky sand/water mix that builds up at the doorways.

4) Lins got a job teaching in the same district. Not even the same district, the same building. Not even the same building, but the same grade level and kids. Many a car rides in the morning consisted of lins wanting to talk, me wanting to ride in silence. We grew.

3) We took a trip to the Windy City with the Martins to visit the Tomaszewski's. I wish I could divulge all the conversations that were had, but I simply can't. It was a good trip highlighted by Max's antics, Martin's attempt to sneak into Wrigley Field and quickly getting tossed, the amazing pretzel sandwich I had, the boat tour we took that included a DEEP dish pizza and a case of beer. We came back from that trip appreciating each other even more than we already did.

2) We also took a trip to NYC at Christmas time. This has been a trip we have been talking about since we met. We both wanted to see New York at Christmas time so we said "screw it lets do it". So we did. We booked our flight and hotel, staying right in the heart of it all. We go to sleep ready to leave in the a.m. and of course one of the biggest snow storms of the decade hits the New York area. All flights cancelled. I spend the next 4 hours on hold listening to some fantastic music until carol comes on and helps us get to NYC. We lost a day, but it was so worth it. We took a carriage ride through a snow slammed central park, went to see the Christmas spectacular, (which was spectacular), walked all over the great city, had dinner with newly engaged friends, and had the christmas I always wanted on speed.

1) Then of course there is the Mck, the Kin, the MDizzle. I can't say how much she has changed our life and relationship. What used to be a life about your needs, your partner needs, and the daily goals you set for yourself quickly become what are her needs, goals, etc....... Your needs and goals are put on hold for the next 25 years. And you accept it with open arms. I could write for hours, if you want more about her go here and check her out. McKinley Marie Wise.

In conclusion, I believe I have the best wife, the most understanding wife, and best mother. I hate the fact that I stayed at Findlay and didn't transfer to play football, but it brought me Lindsey. I would go through the hell of Findlay football again if I knew it brought me her in the end. The five things that happened to us this year made us grow as a couple and we are stronger, I love her more than I did the year before, and I didn't think that was possible.

The Ego King

I kept trying to write a blog about Lebron. I couldn't do it. So I made a short video. Listen to the words of the song, they are perfect.

Sense of Humor.

God has a great sense of humor. He doesn't tell knock knock jokes or my all time favorites, the "snoop dogg jokes". What he does do is use ironical humor. Last night as I bounced my daughter on the exercise ball trying to get her to sleep I found his ironical humor to be very clear. You see there are many times that God has to rock or bounce us to get us out of a jam. A baby cries to us when they need us, just like we cry to the Lord when we need him. Sometimes we cry far too much or at the wrong times or for the wrong reasons. God just continues to bounce us. He could easily throw us across the room, ignore us, or drop a 100 lb bag of jello pudding pops on our heads....but he doesn't. He continues to bounce us, rock us, soothe us.

As I'm bouncing my daughter and she won't stop crying, I could throw her, ignore her, and yes even throw some jello pudding pops at her....but I don't. I continue to bounce her, rock her, and soothe her.

God is cracking up at me as I bounce like a car piston. It's almost like babies are God's way of saying "SEE......STUPID". He cracks up as Mckin' cries and cries because it's payback for all those times I laid in bed and cried up to my heavenly father. No matter the frustration I have for McKinley I'm always there. I might take a step away to clear my head to avoid any pudding pop target practice, but I always come back. God may step away from us, but it's not what we think. It's not that he isn't there, it's that he's challenging us, testing us, and allowing us to grow. We let a baby cry so they teach themselves to put themselves to sleep. God let's us cry to grow also and to teach ourselves how to handle adversity. No matter how lost we feel or alone we feel at times, God has a monitor on all of us and is quietly watching, seeing if we can grow on our own. If it ever gets out of control, he will swoop in and scoop us up before too much harm is done.