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.