Character

Back in September I was asked to give a speech at my high school that centered around making college related decisions. One central theme in the speech was character.

The C-Dub mission statement reads:

“[C-Dub] provides a rigorous liberal arts program guided by an ethos of excellence and compassion. Within a diverse learning community, we foster self-reliance, integrity, social responsibility, and humor, empowering our students to achieve their personal best in mind, body, and spirit.”

Excellence.

Compassion.

Self-reliance.

Integrity.

Social responsibility.

Humor.

When I read these words, what comes to mind is character. C-Dub’s mission is to build character.

What is character?

Well, according to H. Jackson Brown, Jr.:

“Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.”

So what does that mean?

Throughout high school C-Dub provides significant character educators. Between parents, coaches, and teachers, there is almost always someone looking, whether the students know it or not. When help is needed, or questionable decisions are made, these character educators are able to step in to provide guidance.

In a sense, character educators are like training wheels or a safety net for when a student loses their balance. Not only that, but they provide a helping hand to get someone back on their feet and moving again should they fall. It is through this process that C-Dub creates an environment that fosters character development.

How does this relate to college decisions?

In college the training wheels come off. 95% of a college student’s time will be spent with no one but their peers looking. In a sense, it’s huge open book/take home test that everyone has to take. Sure, a student can ask for another students help, except that each person is different and has their own test of character to take. On top of that, since every test is unique, the answers cannot be found in the back of any book.

Above everything else, I believe that C-Dub prepares students to deal with tests of character. In other words, C-Dub teaches students; excellence, compassion, self-reliance, integrity, social responsibility, and humor; for those times when no one is looking.

Why am I just now writing about this?

The short answer is because I’m sitting at home right now without cable or internet due to the current weather conditions in Washington and I figure that I mind as well write something in Word to post later…

The long answer…

I found myself thinking about what I had said in my speech a few months back when I was working out today. Specifically, in regards to the quote:

“Our character is what we do when we think no one is looking.”

On most days, I work out alone. And by that I mean completely alone, with no one else around. While I like this for many reasons, one specific reason is that I am able to try new things and look like a complete idiot with no one watching… at least that’s what I’ve been telling myself.

When I think about it more, I believe that it comes down to two things. Failure and weakness. I, like many people, don’t try new things often for the reason that I am scared to fail or look weak in the presence of others. In regards to character, this raises the question:

Is character what we do when someone is looking?

To answer my own question, I don’t think it is. I think the answer in this case is that character is not being afraid of what other people might think should one fail or show weakness. In doing so, one is able to show character by not fearing judgment, and not being affected by the fact that someone may be watching.

I’m rambling…

To bring this full circle, I enjoy coaching at C-Dub. Be it the middle school baseball team, or helping out with off-season weightlifting for the football team. My coaching philosophy is to encourage the development of excellence, compassion, self-reliance, integrity, social responsibility (teamwork) and humor.

I hope to create an environment where failure and weakness are not only accepted, but welcomed, as they both play an important part in the development of character and athleticism.

To steal a line from Kanye:

“That that don’t kill me, can only make me stronger.”

One last thing…

Character development doesn’t end, and for that matter, nor does the open book test on it. For all the character I hope to develop in the students I coach, I will probably learn equally as much, if not more about my own. For that, I am thankful.

By the way... is anyone reading this?

-dunkie

Dear Great Pumpkin,

- I didn’t make the 40 laps around CWA needed to run a marathon on Saturday. In short…

• After 28 laps my thighs cramped up.
• After 32 laps my joints couldn’t take the pressure from running on concrete anymore.
• After 34 laps my walking was reduced to a pathetic waddle.
• After 36 laps my body called it quits.

In total, I made it 23.5 miles before my body decided to stand up for itself and tell my brain to shut up.

While most of my body has returned to working order, I think I have a stress fracture in my right foot. Either way, I think it’s safe to say that I won’t be running on cement anytime soon.

Note: I should probably add a blog label for all the posts that involve me doing something stupid... ugh.

The last thing that I will say about trying to run a marathon is that my biggest regret isn’t that I wasn’t able to finish. It’s that I made the poor choice to wear cotton boxer briefs instead of spandex.

- I really enjoyed The Simpsons Halloween parody of It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Come to think of it, I think I enjoy almost all things Peanuts related.

- Last Friday I went to watch the CWA Football Team take on the Life Christian Eagles. Long story short, the CWA Tarriers scored on a 4th and goal play from around the 3 yard line (with seconds left in the game) to give them the victory, 39-35.

My favorite part of the whole ending occurred during the timeout prior to the ensuing Tarrier TD. From the Life Christian huddle I heard one of the players yell:

“Just like last year, guys!” (Last year being the year that Life Christian stopped the Tarriers on a 4th and goal play from the 1 yard line to seal the win.)

Needless to say, those words would probably be burning a hole in my head if the Eagles had made the stop. Thankfully, they didn’t, and CWA came away with the victory. GO TARRIERS.

- I’m still uncertain on who I will vote for in the 2008 Presidential Election… which is today. Here is what I am certain of:

I, Dunkie, will support the next President of the United States of America, regardless of which nominee wins, until such time that he gives me a legitimate reason to lose all faith in his ability to make intelligent decisions that impact my life and the people I care about.

That’s about as far as I will go into politics here…

- My body is adjusting well to adding a Crossfit workout session in the morning. I think this is mostly due to the fact that I don't actually have to wake up an hour earlier due to daylight savings working in my favor.

- Safeway has extended their sale on Stompin’ Steakhouse Chili through the 11th. Exciting.

- Lastly, in honor of the Presidential Election and The Great Pumpkin, I leave you with this quote:

"I've learned there are three things you don't discuss with people: religion, politics and the Great Pumpkin." -Linus van Pelt, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

-dunkie

They took the bar...

Last Friday marked the 3 year revocation anniversary of the Phi Sigma Tau Fraternity Charter by the University of Redlands. In the immortal words of Bluto,

"They took the bar. The whole ****ing bar." -Animal House

To commemorate this depressing day I had fully intended to revisit the events leading up to our extinction in the form of a blog tribute.

Sadly, when I attempted to access my Redlands.edu e-mail address to find some saved photos and reinstatement petition letters to use in my blog, I found that my e-mail had befallen the same fate as my fraternity. The University of Redlands had shut it down and it was no longer active. Attempts to revive my poor e-mail address were met with this reply:

Jeff,

There was a short time after the accounts were deactivated that we were able to reactivate them. However that time has expired and we are now unable to reactivate.

-Bruce E********

Work Order No.: 24685

To me, this is almost more depressing than losing the fraternity charter. At least with the fraternity I still have things such as my pledge book, fraternity letters, and random relics that were passed down to me by my big brother to hold onto. Not to mention the friends, brothers and lifelong lessons I learned while being in a fraternity. But as for my e-mail address, there is really no other way to describe this loss than straight up heartbreaking.

My Toshiba laptop that I had throughout college succumbed to the blue screen of death years ago, and with it went a treasure trove of college term papers and photos. While I took this loss pretty hard, I never had a printer in my room and would always e-mail papers to myself and print them out in the Fletcher-Jones Computer Center. Therefore, my Redlands.edu e-mail had essentially become a backup of every paper I ever wrote in college, as well as many other gems.

In order to commemorate the loss of my Redlands.edu e-mail, I’d like to read off a list of things that perished along with it, and say a few parting words about some of them.

Random Papers: From Government 101, to Comparative Literature, I will no longer be able to revisit countless papers from my four year tenure at the University of Redlands. While I probably wouldn’t even want claim to have written half of these papers, it would still be nice to be able to look back on how my writing style has developed/regressed over the years.

My Senior Capstone Paper: I spent countless hours throughout my senior year on this paper… ok, that’s kind of a lie. I wrote the paper in about a week at the end of my first semester, and never turned in a rough draft which was 30% of my grade. As a result I failed the course and had to repeat my capstone class second semester and revise the paper. I think the second time around I spent about one night editing the paper and ended up with a B+ in the class. Thanks Professor Pedace!

Viagra offers: I’m pretty sure I had over a thousand offers for Viagra sitting in my spam box. Luckily, I have about 366 of the same offers in my work spam box to browse through should I ever feel the need to reminisce.

Pledging photos: Granted that it may be in the best interest of my pledge class that these pictures have been lost forever due to their somewhat compromising nature; these were always good for a few laughs and will be greatly missed. Breakdown!

Phi Tau Petition Letter: This may be The Heart of the Ocean of my lost e-mail collection (wow… that’s two Titanic references on my blog now). After losing the fraternity charter for the second (and final) time during my four year tenure at the University of Redlands, I wrote this letter as President of the Fraternity in an attempt to regain our charter. Included with it was a petition that contained signatures from over 500 students that had been collected in support of the letter.

It is definitely one of more memorable things that I ever wrote in college and while it ended up being a failure (as is evident by the fact that the Phi Sigma Tau Fraternity is not recognized as an active fraternity at the University of Redlands), I am still proud of the attempt and the contents of the letter.

As for The Heart of the Ocean reference, there is a small chance that I saved a paper copy of these somewhere in one of the fraternity notebooks that I have packed away at my parents house. I’ll keep my fingers crossed…

Silly e-mails from Mom: My mom used to forward me silly e-mails that pretty much feel into the category of spam. Usually these consisted of some goofy animation bouncing up and down on my screen. While these were always somewhat annoying, they were usually good a small chuckle. Luckily, much like the Viagra adds, she still sends these kinds of e-mails to my work e-mail… and I totally just talked about my mom and Viagra in the same sentence. I am going to go shoot myself right now.

PokerRoom.com Account: I used to work in The Fletcher-Jones Computer Center as part of my work study. Basically, I would sit there for 5-10 hours a week doing homework, playing online poker, and occasionally answering a question about how to print something.

My pokerroom.com account still has about $20 on it, but since I can’t remember the login or password, and I can’t request that they send me a new password since my account was linked to my Redlands.edu e-mail, I’m pretty much up the creek on this one. RIP Andrew Jackson…

Facebook: While I haven’t yet lost my Facebook account, it is certainly tied to my Redlands.edu e-mail. Will this cause my Facebook account to eventually go inactive? Only time will tell…

In retrospect, assuming that I can locate the paper copy of the PST petition letter and my Facebook account doesn’t decide to vanish, losing my Redlands.edu email isn’t so bad. Maybe it just pisses me off that a private University with a $100 million dollar endowment can afford to send me requests for donations every month, yet decides that it is much too expensive to keep my poor e-mail active.

On second thought, that’s exactly what it is. F-U Redlands. You can take your Och Tamale and shove it up your Gazump. Until I get my e-mail and/or fraternity charter back I am officially going to boycott sending you any of the donations that I wasn’t planning on making in the first place. Take that Redlands, Rah, Rah, Redlands!

-dunkie

Just another day by the pool...

The University of Redlands, a private liberal arts and sciences university located in the beauty of sunny suburban Redlands, has a total enrollment of roughly 4,500 students (graduate and undergraduate). According to the U of R website, the operating budget for University exceeds $100 million annually.

Imagine that you are in charge of that $100 million. Aside from creating a budget, your responsibilities include a) putting the money in a safe spot and b) making sure the Universities bills are paid on time (i.e. salaries, utilities, taxes, ect...)

After looking at all of your options, you decide that storing this money at a bank would be much more secure than stacking $100 bills in your office safe. Responsibility a), check!

As for your second task, well that is easy. The bank you chose also has automatic bill pay. Man, this job is a cinch. Responsibility b), check!

Being the smart individual that you are, you know that the $100 million that you put in the bank is earning interest. Let's say that interest rate is set at 4%. Using your superior math skills, you calculate that you are making $4 million in interest every year. Sweet! They should really pay you more for this job...

One day, you find yourself bored at work and decide to take a break from Facebooking your BFF. You update your status to "...is stackin' chedda" and start looking into how you can earn more than 4% on the $100 million you are responsible for, while still upholding your two responsibilities (i.e. keeping the money safe, and keeping it liquid).

First, you think about investing it all in Google. After all, everyone uses Google and they are growing much faster than 4% a year... maybe even 10, or 20%! Thinking back on those economic classes you took your freshman year, you vaguely recall that the "promise" of higher return is the always the result of taking more risk. Smartly, you decide that risking the $100 million dollars that is needed to keep the University running would probably get you fired, and you certainly don't want to have to find a job where you wouldn't be able to Facebook all day. Scratch that idea.

Next, you think about buying some bonds. Bonds are currently earning 5% and are AAA rated, so they are pretty safe. Sadly, after doing some Wikipedia research, you realize that bonds aren't very liquid and you wouldn't have access to the cash you need to keep the University doors open. Damn... there goes your plan to spend that additional million dollars on an Olympic high dive platform for the pool.

While pondering what option to consider next, you get a phone call from your banker/former college roommate...

"Hey, I saw your Facebook status and hear you are looking to earn a slightly higher return on all that cash you have sitting here, while still keeping it safe and liquid. I have the perfect solution for you, it's called The Short Term Fund."

"Sweet. How does that work?"

"Basically, it's a fund that is made up of 80% commercial paper and 20% of this other stuff that will help earn a slightly higher return. It is just like cash and is very liquid. You just have to call me up and I can sell whatever amount you need from the fund and have the money to you the next day. All that and you earn a 4.5% return on it."

"Oh, so it's just like a money market fund?"

"Yeah, something like that..."

"Sweet! Let's move all $100 million over into The Short Term Fund. I'll give you a call every month or so and you can transfer the cash over that the University needs to pay salaries and stuff."

"Ok. Talk to you then. Holler at playa!"

"Peace out, cub scout."

Man, you think to yourself, you are indeed a genius. No wonder the University hired you. You just banked an additional $500,000 for the University.

Feeling like you are on top of the world, you decide to skip out of work early and go hang by the University of Redlands outdoor pool. Obviously, you are there to enjoy the sun after a hard day's work, and not scope out all of the hot freshmen co-eds... err students. Putting on your shades, you start to draw up plans in your head for a new $500,000 outdoor hot tub, and wonder how many co-eds could fit in such a facility at one time, as you drift off to sleep in the warm so-cal sun...

A month goes by and it is time to pay bills. Leaning back in your chair, you press the speed dial button for your banker and wait for him to pick up...

"Uhhh... hello?"

"Hey, I need you to free up $10 millie from The Short Term Fund so I can pay these bills.

"Umm... I can't exactly do that... the fund has been frozen."

"FROZEN?!?! WTF DOES THAT MEAN YOU @!$#%^"

"It turns out that the other 20% of the fund was invested in mortgage backed securities, and when people found that out, they started selling out of the fund. Since we didn't want the fund to close we had to freeze the fund. Don't worry, the University will get their money back, but it might take a while..."

"What the hell are we supposed to do until then? The University needs that cash now to pay their bills."

"Umm... well YOU might want to start looking for another job..."

"Go F*** yourself."

"Haha ok... we still on for the pool this afternoon?

"Yeah, but you better bring the booze."

Back to reality... Over 1,000 colleges and private schools are currently dealing with this sort of problem due to a freeze on over $9.3 billion that is held in The Short Term Fund (which is managed by CommonFund, for which Wachovia served as trustee). This is one of the many ways in which the crisis in the US economy is starting to trickle down to the point where it effects more than just the people that are directly involved. The bailout package would remove the mortgage backed securities from the market, and eliminate the underlying issue that causes problems such as this. In the words of Forest Gump...

"That's all I have to say about that."

Ok, I lied... one more thing I need to mention. I don't know if the University of Redlands actually uses this fund, and I was unable to find a list of which Universities do. Also, for sake of understanding, this example has been simplified to some degree. Obviously, the University of Redlands pool has more than just freshmen hotties hanging out there...

-dunkie

Back in the High Life Again

It only took him 11 years, but Junior is back playing in October. Thanks in part to a Jim Thome home run and this play by The Kid, the Chicago White Sox defeated the Minnesota Twins, 1-0, in a single game playoff to determine the 2008 AL Central Champion. 

The White Sox will now move on to face the Tampa Bay Rays in the AL Divisional Series Playoffs.

Is it too early to hope for a Crosstown Classic... a Expressway Series... a Windy City Showdown... White Sox vs. Cubs... The Kid vs. Sweet Lou...? Ehh, maybe it's just a little too soon to be punching that ticket. Still, as Andy Dufresne once wrote in a letter to his friend Red,

"Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things..." -The Shawshank Redemption

So maybe I'll just cross my fingers and hope for the best anyways.  As for you Kid, you just keep playing your heart out and always remember, REFUSE TO LOSE...

-dunkie

Sports: The Business of Caring

There are many types of Sports Fans in this world, each of which have their own unique way of enjoying sports. While some of these fan types have less "fan integrity" than others, there is one factor that every fan is able relate to; whether you are a die-hard fanatic, a bandwagon jumper, a homer, an alumnus, or even just a casual fan. That one factor, as Roger Angell put so eloquently in his book Five Seasons, is "the business of caring."

"It is foolish and childish, on the face of it, to affiliate ourselves with anything so insignificant and patently contrived and commercially exploitive as a professional sports team, and the amused superiority and icy scorn that the non-fan directs at the sports nut (I know this look -- I know it by heart) is understandable and almost unanswerable. Almost. What is left out of this calculation, it seems to me, is the business of caring -- caring deeply and passionately, really caring -- which is a capacity or an emotion that has almost gone out of our lives. And so it seems possible that we have come to a time when it no longer matters so much what the caring is about, how frail or foolish is the object of that concern, as long as the feeling itself can be saved. Naivete -- the infantile and ignoble joy that sends a grown man or woman to dancing and shouting with joy in the middle of the night over the haphazardous flight of a distant ball -- seems a small price to pay for such a gift."

For some, the business of caring will encompass a lifetime, tracing back to a youthful memory such as a first trip to the ballpark. Others may only find themselves in caring for short periods of time, be it for the two hours of tailgating leading up to a big sporting event, or the last two minutes of a close playoff game.

Some of us may care because our pride demands it, while others care simply because they were given a free ticket to a game. It may be the case that the only reason a person cares is because for some unfathomable reason that they will never understand, the emotional well being of a loved one rests solely on the outcome of the next play, and for that reason and that reason only, they give care.

In the end, it matters not who or why we even care. What matters most is that for some moment in time, no matter "how frail or foolish" it was, we took a second and cared about something.

-dunkie

Refuse to Lose

Tonight, if only for one night, the Seattle Mariners fought off the best team in Major League Baseball, the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, coming back from a 6-2 deficit in the 6th inning to win the game with a final score of 9-6.

In doing so, the Mariners not only ended a 12 game losing streak, but also prevented themselves from becoming the first 100 loss team since the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and Kansas City Royals both "accomplished" this feat in 2006.

With five games to go in the season in is more likely than not that the Mariners will eventually reach the 100 game mark. But for at least one night, the Mariners showed that they still have a little SODO MOJO left in their gas tank. And for this Seattle Fan, that is all the fuel needed.

"Right now, the Mariners looking for the tie. They would take a fly ball; they would love a base hit into the gap and they could win it with Junior's speed. The stretch and the 0-1 pitch on the way to Edgar Martinez; swung on and lined down the left field line for a base hit! Here comes Joey! Here is Junior to third base, they're going to wave him in! The throw to the plate will be... LATE! The Mariners are going to play for the American League Championship! I don't believe it! It just continues! My oh My!" -Dave Niehaus, "The Double" - Game 5 of the 1995 ALDS

Okay... so maybe I needed a little more than just one late inning comeback win to make me feel better after this terrible season and horrific year in Seattle sports. Can you blame me? REFUSE TO LOSE.

-dunkie

We've Hit Rock Bottom

The Mariners have the worst record in baseball.
The Seahawks are 0-1.

The Huskies are 0-2.

The Sonics are... no longer with us.

The Storm is... a WNBA team.

(AP Photo: May 26, 1995. Ken Griffey Jr. breaks his left wrist crashing into the Kingdome wall while making a game-saving catch.)

Simply put, it doesn't get any worse than this for the Seattle Sports Fan. You can argue that a season-ending injury to one of Seattle's star players would make things worse, but don't kid yourself...

There is nothing beyond last place.
Zero wins divided by any number of losses...
...still equates to a 0.00 winning percentage.
Our one legitimate championship is gone.
The Storm is... still a WNBA team.

I think Lloyd Dobler said it best in the Seattle based 80's classic Say Anything.

"You probably got it all figured out, Corey. If you start out depressed everything's kind of a pleasant surprise."

Things may not fair any better in the foreseeable future for the Seattle Sports Fan, but on the bright side, things can't get any worse than they already are. I for one will continue to be depressed by the current state of Seattle sports and maybe, just maybe, the next time I turn on ESPN I might find myself being pleasantly surprised...

-dunkie

What's this all about?

I think I'll borrow a line from one of my favorite movies as inspiration for my blog and see how far that takes me...

"...Follow your heart kid, and you'll never go wrong." -The Sandlot

So pretty much, I'll be blogging on whatever I feel like.

I hope that reading my blog will be somewhat thought provoking and that what will inevitably become my incoherent ramblings won't cause your head to explode.

-dunkie