A Note About....

What I can’t accept, The War on Bambi, What Makes Home…Home, And 2012

What I can’t Accept

As many of you know I have been working on a project in the middle of Alabama -on and off- for the last Six months. As many of you don’t know:

1.       I live in a rental house provided by my work

2.       I work with a nun

3.      I live by myself

4.      I live in the middle of nowhere when I am down working on the project

5.       I don’t have television

6.      My internet is minimal at best.

The first five I can take:

1.      I like living in a house with free rent. Who doesn’t?

2.      A lot of people ask me about this and my answer is…working with a nun is very rewarding! She is not only the kindhearted person that you would expect but smarter than anyone else I have worked with in the journalism business. It’s also nice to know that your boss prays for you on a regular basis. Usually my bosses just complained to me about stuff!! The only rule is you can’t swear in front of her.

3.      Living alone can be tough but the nice thing is I don’t have to worry about someone else’s mess.

4.      This one is hard but I deal with it. If anything it can be quiet and you get a good view of the stars.

5.      Not having a television is very hard, but I use my time more wisely and when I want to catch a game I go to a restaurant.

The sixth one (internet) however I cannot accept. I bought a Verizon wireless card and it works well everywhere except where I live. In addition at my office internet comes and goes. It is amazing as a culture how reliant we are on internet and as a person how much I use it. Whether I am on Facebook, writing emails, or just checking the news, not having the internet is more unsettling than just about anything!!

That is one reason I have not been able to blog regularly…because the internet is not as reliable as it could be. But don’t worry I will keep up this blog.

What Makes Home…Home

Last weekend I visited my old college campus…the University of Dayton, for my fraternity initiation (graduated in 2006). I still have one friend who is still there; she is a 2^nd year law student.

In addition I have come back over the years and met some younger guys in my fraternity, but the people I knew and went to school with like me are long gone. The campus is not the same and never will be.

Anyway Friday I visited the one girl I still knew, and after I dropped her off that evening, I realized that I had no where to stay that evening. Realizing this I decided that I would get a hotel room....when a thought crept into my mind….I could call my old psychology professor Father Tedesco. He lives on campus in a building with other Marianists (the Catholic Order that found the University of Dayton). In that building they have guest rooms for visitors.

The one problem is I hadn’t told him I was coming into town and it was 11:00 at night, but I figured I would give it a shot. So I called his cell phone, and sure enough after two rings, I heard a familiar voice on the other end.

After saying hello I told him of my situation and he said…I’ll have a room ready for you. No other college could something like this have happened. It really felt like I was home when I saw him and the other priests I knew while going to school. It proves once again that people make a home what it is.

The War on Bambi

I read an article in the economist the other day about deer population in this country being completely out of control. In some areas the cases are so severe that professional sharpshooters are hired to come in and take out 100 deer at a time. Could you imagine if that was your profession? What would your resume look like?

Resume: Joe Assassin:

-Able to take out high volumes of deer in a short period of time

- Experience in handling high-powered-rifles at long range

- Work well with other deer assassins

 PETA has got to be losing its mind over this. Here is the article:

http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=14849852&fsrc=rss

2012-2/4 Stars

If you’re looking to laugh during a movie……you’re not supposed to…..go see 2012 with John Cusack. The movie is entertaining as the entire world is destroyed (the entire destruction…I still don’t get its origin…something to do with the sun), the melodrama is fantastically over the top, Woody Harrelson shines as a psychotic Yellowstone park-goer and Danny Glover is the President.

But without a doubt the most entertaining part of the movie is how John Cusack, and family, barely out-run each incoming disaster….by car, RV, Plane and in any way you can think of.

I feel bad when I laugh during a movie, which said intent, is to keep you on the edge of your seat, but this movie was just too ridiculous not to laugh. The movie will keep you entertained as its saving grace.....is the story moves so fast that you are able to stick with it.

I recommend seeing it at some point, but go with the mindset that you’re not about to see Citizen Kane.

A Note About...Where I have been, Humility and Not being able to run

All of my fans have been asking me, "Where have you been? Why haven't you posted anything in a few days?"
My answer..."Are you completely out of your mind!! Who even cares?".........Just kidding.
The actual answer is.....I have been hard at work on the multimedia project I have been working on since the beginning of this summer. I am back in Chicago quite a bit, and I have had a chance to travel with the job, but as for right now I am stuck in the middle of Alabama until next weekend.

I am literally in the middle of nowhere. Luckily there is a grocery store, a movie theater, a gym I go workout at and I even found a Chicago-style hot dog stand nearby. Go figure.
The nice thing about being down here right now is I don't have to think about how bad the Bears are. In addition I have had every opportunity to work hard on my current project which is why I haven't posted anything in a few days. It is amazing how much more rewarding our lives are when we are productive during the day. I have really found that to be true. Maybe I should actually work hard once in a while?

Humility
I found out the other day, that someone I work with closely down here,  was a National Champion Gymnast. She wears the championship ring on her finger. First off I can't say I have met many National Champions, but if I have, I have never met one so humble as this girl. She was one of the top six gymnasts at a SEC school that won the National Championship, and in the months I have known her, she never mentioned it to me once!! I will tell you if I was a National Champion I would probably have it in my email signature. I mean seriously wining a National Championship at a Division One level is an incredible accomplishment.
What a great lesson in humility!!

Not Being Able to Run
The past month has been very hard for me. Why?
Because for the last month I have been unable to run. Since the Chicago Marathon on October 11th, I have been laid up with my knee injuries, and it is the longest I have gone without running for years. I really miss it and I can't wait until I can do it again. Currently I am in psychical therapy, and after a doctor visit in a week, I am hoping I get the okay to get out there again. It is amazing how much you really miss something when you can't do it.
With all this being said.....some might ask why do you like running so much?
One word....freedom. It is a freedom to really get out there and expend everything within myself. I don't do drugs, I don't drink alcohol....I run.

A Note About....Music in the Rough

I purchase lots of music. Those who know me have seen my music library, and those that see it know, it ranges of every genre known to man. I simply can't get enough music and buy it on I-tunes on a weekly basis. However occasionally I have buyers remorse after I buy certain songs. When I listen to the 30-second preview it sounds great but then I buy it and realize I don't really like the song that much.

A Note About….Walking During Work

A Note About...The Price of Beauty

Beauty always has a price tag.

 Whether it is making ourselves beautiful, an apartment with the view of the lake, designer furniture or priceless art; what we portray as beauty often hits our wallets to obtain. This is no exception when it comes to Music. There is a great difference between the street musician and the world-class violinist. People would be willing to pay thousands to see the latter, and might throw a quarter into the hat of the former.

The question is would you actually notice a world-class musician (beauty) if you were walking on your way to work? This was tested, in a brilliant way, by a columnist from the Washington Post and a world class musician several years ago. Perhaps you may have heard of this article, it got alot of attention?

Wearing a baseball cap and street clothes, Joshua Bell, one of the top violinists in the world (his violin costs more than your house) played incognito at a metro stop in Washington, DC. The experiment looked to see if people would notice one of the best musicians in the world playing for free at a Metro Stop?

The Post Article and Video Clip:

http://www.videosift.com/video/World-Class-Musician-Goes-Ignored-in-Subway
Video of Joshua Bell's performance

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401721.html
Joshua Bell Experiment

The article is a long one so here are some excerpts:

"A onetime child prodigy, at 39 Joshua Bell has arrived as an internationally acclaimed virtuoso. Three days before he appeared at the Metro station, Bell had filled the house at Boston's stately Symphony Hall, where merely pretty good seats went for $100. Two weeks later, at the Music Center at Strathmore, in North Bethesda, he would play to a standing-room-only audience so respectful of his artistry that they stifled their coughs until the silence between movements. But on that Friday in January, Joshua Bell was just another mendicant, competing for the attention of busy people on their way to work."

"Things never got much better. In the three-quarters of an hour that Joshua Bell played, seven people stopped what they were doing to hang around and take in the performance, at least for a minute. Twenty-seven gave money, most of them on the run -- for a total of $32 and change. That leaves the 1,070 people who hurried by, oblivious, many only three feet away, few even turning to look."

The Result

He made $32 and seven people stopped? Wow. That is the only word I can think of. What would you do? Would you notice Mr. Bell? I will be honest, I would fly by Joshua Bell, especially if I were on my way to work listening to my i-pod. I'd probably throw in some change simply because I didn't want to carry it in my pocket.

What does this say about our culture? Is beauty relative? I believe what to take from this experiment is real beauty can sometimes be disguised and be something that seems ordinary. We must not allow beauty to be portrayed for us by others. We must be individualistic and have a mind of our own when it comes to beauty. Most of all how much it costs should not determine how beautiful it really is.

The lesson of Joe and Charles Foster Kane

Another story I heard can help us understand how we miss beauty.

A guy I know in AA (we will call him Joe) when he first got sober twenty years ago was talking to his sponsor Frank as they walked along a beach on a gorgeous day in Florida. For thirty minutes all Joe did (like most new recovering alcoholics do) was smoke cigarettes and talk about his problems. For thirty minutes he literally didn't stop talking about his wife, his job, his kids and every problem he could think of. Finally Frank turned to Joe and said,
 
"Joe stop and shutup! Look around you. Have you noticed how beautiful of a day this is? How gorgeous the reflection of the sun is glistening off the Blue Ocean?"

Like Joe we need to really open our eyes and notice it sometimes. Beauty often can be noticed by our state of mind.

A final example is "Rosebud" in Citizen Kane (spoiler alert). Charles Foster Kane the character in the movie has everything someone could want yet his dying words ("Rosebud") are a call for his childhood sled.

For Mr. Kane, one man's trash is another man' treasure.
I'll add something to that: what one man puts a price tag on the other says this is not for sale.

A Note About....Batting 1.000….Rejection and Failure

Perfection

So often I look to bat 1.000 (meaning 100 percent) in everything I do.  Meaning never to fail and obtain complete perfection.

Uh this is kind of a problem.

The problem is I make a lot of mistakes. I would say I make probably about 20 a day, but who is counting. Even writing this blog I have made a few factual mistakes since I don’t actually check facts on anything I type. Perhaps that is the worst part of this whole predicament. Not only do I make mistakes…but I don’t  take the necessary steps to avoid them.

The Major League Average Rule

Millions of people play baseball but a miniscule amount ever make it to the major leagues. Now think about this. Of all the players who make it to the big leagues how many everyday players do you think hit .300 (meaning 30 percent of the time) or above?

40

There are walks and other ways to get on base…but in actually achieving the objective of hitting the ball ….only 40 of the best baseball players in the world can do it 30 percent of the time. The greatest season ever in major league history? Rogers Hornsby only hit 42.4% of the time. The greatest career hitter Ty Cobb only hit 36.6% of the time.

What does this teach us about rejection and failure? That maybe trying to hit 100% of the time might not happen or even 50 percent of the time is unrealistic. This is something to remember on a daily basis. When you mess up don’t beat yourself up for it. You still could be a league leader!!

 Is rejection really that bad?

I mean is it really?  

Situation:  You interview for a job and you don’t get it.

I have done this a dozen times. I get my hopes up for a job after an interview that I think goes well, and then I end up not getting the job. You feel rejection and think you’ll never be good enough blah blah blah.

End Result: You continue to send out your resume.

Situation:  You ask a girl out….she says no. What happens?

She may tell her friends about it. She says he’s not my type……and???  

End Result: You ask another girl out. Oh my God how will life go on?  Call the National Guard.

Situation: You aren’t invited to a wedding

We have all been here. There is some event and you missed it. You think it’s because no one likes you and you’re not fun.

One example of this is I have a friend who freaks out when he doesn’t get invited to weddings. He takes it personally and vows nothing short of revenge against those who have wronged him. Have you actually ever tried to form a wedding list? You need to include 40 aunts and cousins you didn’t even know existed and so eventually someone is going to get left out.

End Result: Get over it.

If you overcome rejection and failure...then what is possible?

Everything. Use this Michael Jordan commercial as an example.  After watching it you too can be the greatest athlete to live...but I guarantee you won't bat .1000

A Note About...Out-Running Disasters and Burning Library CD's

A Note About....Grandparents, Hearing Aids and Glasses

My grandfather, Joseph Rivelli, recently had to be moved from his assisted living home, to a full-time nursing care facility. He has suffered from emphysema for the past ten years and has Louis-Body-Dementia with Parkinson’s. It has been particular hard on my grandma since she is in good shape because now, for the first time since WWII, the two must live apart. Grandma Eileen Rivelli is doing her best and luckily she still has had enough time lately to boss my grandpa around. 

Background

My grandfather is the oldest boy of 12 children. He served in the Pacific during World War II. He actually saw a significant amount of action while serving in the Philippines as an artillery army sergeant, and nearly died in a military hospital.He could have received some medals, including a purple heart, but said he didn’t want any of that stuff. Or at least that is how he put it. When he returned to the states, he started Dennis Men’s Fine Clothing store, with his brother, in Skokie, IL.

He married my grandmother before the war (68 years of marriage in 2009), and together they raised four kids, including my father. My grandmother played the church organ at her church and other area churches for more than 50 years. When my grandpa retired in the 90’s, he always insisted on accompanying her to church. Unless it was a protestant church, then he would wait and pray in the car. He said he could do better praying in the car than sitting in the protestant church. I always found this funny.

He was no slouch when it came to praying. For fifteen years straight he prayed between 2-5 hours a day with catholic devotional readings. I tried to do his regimen once and I made it about 10 minutes!!!

I could go on but you get the idea, that these two people are very special, and really remind us of what America was.

Confusion

With my grandpa in his current state I really wanted to make an effort to see him as much as possible. So today I made the short drive over to his new facility. My grandma has been at his side along with my aunts and dad. However, today to my surprise, when I walked into the room my grandpa was alone sleeping in the bed. Not wanting to wake him, but also not wanting to leave him, I sat down quietly in the corner. I was planning on reading a book when he woke up.

Since he refuses to wear glasses, he couldn’t see me, so he asked, “ Who is that.” I responded that it was his grandson David.

Since he refuses to wear hearing aids he said, “Who?” I responded it was his grandson David.

And since he has dementia and was just waking up he probably wondered if it was really David in the room. So again he asked, “ David is that you?” I told him it was David and I was in town to see him. He was still a little out of sorts, but once we started talking, everything seemed all right.

The Red Light

The problem with dementia is there are triggers or things that can set it off. Another way of putting it,…is a person can have a normal conversation for five minutes, then suddenly drift off into some type of hallucination. Not the lets take drugs kind, but perhaps they think of an event that recently happened, and perceive it as happening now.

One example of this is my grandfather is attached to a safe alarm. When it is taken off a loud noise goes off and a red light turns on.  I am sure this has happened accidentally in the last few weeks.

So every five minutes while I was in the room he kept saying don’t touch that red light. In his mind he was still seeing that light that goes off on his safe alarm when there was really nothing.But the most incredible part of it is he would snap out of it so quickly, and be able to have a normal conversation, if you mentioned something familiar.

Joe the Salesman

What I tried to do was distract him from the red light and ask him questions. He had a statue of the great Catholic Saint Padre Pio so I would ask him, what he thought about Padre Pio. Then a big smile would come across his face and he would talk about how tough St Pio was.

When he would begin talking about the red light again I asked him if he was thinking of getting a girlfriend. He would not need a hearing aid for that question. He would laugh and say probably not in the near future.

 Perhaps the highlight of the trip though was when I asked him what my coat size was. Since he sold suits for 30+ years he knows a thing about sizing a guy up…literally.

As soon as the words came out of my mouth he went from talking about the red light to Joe the salesman!! He told me to stand up…eyeballed me. Told me to put my hands to my side and then nailed it. I couldn’t help but laugh at the wise old man. Some people might see a crazy guy, who sees a light, but what they wouldn’t know was he could tell you what suit coat size you had just by looking at you…even without glasses!!

Then he asked how tall I was and I told him six foot eight. He said, “ My God I have created a monster!” He laughed and I cried. Just kidding I laughed too.

The Little Marriage That Could

A man came into serve my grandpa dinner but didn’t really give me directions on how to help my grandpa. Realizing my grandpa was very frail I figured eating might be a challenge for him, and by the way the table was positioned, it looked like I might be in trouble. I thought about calling a staff member for help, when just in the nick of time, my grandma came in from her own dinner and took control of the situation. It was Rivelli organized chaos at its best.

She was running around frantically trying to make sure he got what he needed. She took him to get washed up before the meal. Cut up the food and pretty much did everything for him, but eat it. As I looked at her helping him a thought came to my mind…how amazing is this, and man, do I have a lot to learn in life.

Because for my grandparents there will be no statues built, a goggle search will never turn up either of their names and they have never made enough money to go on an expensive European Vacation.

But you know what they did do? They have stayed together for 68 years, they have found a way to love another person more than themselves and they did it all without hearing aids and glasses.
 
Well my grandma has glasses, but both will never get hearing aids!!!

A Note About...The Course of History

I had an interesting discussion with a friend about events in history so dramatic…..that if they were changed…. would seriously alter history as we know it. Here are a few examples.

Note: Most of these events happened in the 18^th century or after. Also most are linked to America but this is my blog and I pick what I write about. Feel free to donate a few of your own all you history majors.

Nixon wins the 1960 election: The 1960 election was extremely close. Without Nixon’s brutal debate appearance and without the help of dead registered voters in the Chicago Greater area….Kennedy doesn’t get elected and never gets assassinated. We never have Castro or the Cuban Missile Crisis. We probably would have had Vietnam but that too would have been different. Also don’t forget Water Gate.

Adolf Hitler is killed in WWI: Hitler almost died while fighting in WWI. In fact he was gassed pretty badly. A fellow soldier saved his life and Hitler survived. What if Hitler didn’t live through the war? I don’t even need to say what could have changed in our history.

Judas Iscariot repents: Like Peter he betrayed Christ but unlike Peter he wallowed in his own self pity and hung himself. Imagine if he had gone to the foot of the cross and repented for the whole thing. He would be the greatest saint in the Catholic Church. Children, churches, towns and schools would be named after him. Instead in scripture it says “It would have been better had he never been born”and his named is linked with the lowest of the low.

George W. Bush becomes Commissioner of Baseball in 1994:  Bush owned the Texas Rangers and many within baseball circles said he was pretty much the top choice for the spot. Instead baseball got Bud Selig and Texas got the W in the Governor’s Mansion. I wonder if a republican would have defeated Gore in 2000? Not to mention a change in our foreign policy and the national debt. However Keith Olbermann would have nothing to complain about and Michael Moore would have to find a new villain.

John Paul II doesn’t make it in time for the 1978 Papal election: The story has become legend. In 1978 the then Cardinal Karol Józef Wojtyła was on retreat in Northern Italy. Pretty much cut off from the world he was immediately called to Rome for the election of a new pontiff (upon the death of Pope Paul VI). Well no one could get a hold of Wojtyła. When they finally did get Wojtyla word, he realized he had to rush to Rome, but didn’t have transportation to make the long journey.

The dilemma for Wojtyla is that once the Sistine Chapel doors close (where the College of Cardinals vote) no one comes in and out until a pope is elected. So if the doors closed before Wojtyla got there he was out of luck. With the help of the locals he got a tour bus driver to get him to Rome. He arrived and literally ran through the doors minutes before they closed. Had he not made it in time we never would have had Pope John Paul II. Without John Paul II the world never has one of the most influential spiritual leaders in world history.

Truman doesn’t drop the bombs on Japan: The US mounts a full scale invasion on Japan. It would have taken years to probably defeat Japan. It also would have cost thousands of American lives. But at the same time it would have eliminated the most destructive attack (by humans on humans) in world history.

Roe v. Wade: This landmark decision legalized abortion and changed the way our legal system approaches the issue. The one thing pro-life and pro-choice advocates agree on is it all comes down to this decision. More than 40-million legalized abortions have been conducted since this act. Pro-Choice advocates argue this saved millions of women’s lives because they had safe abortions and Pro-life advocates argue that this signed the death certificate of the unborn. This decision continues to be almost living history as it is the cornerstone of the abortion debate.

Lincoln lets the South Succeed: Constitutionally Jefferson Davis and the south were not exactly wrong in what they did. Had the south succeeded, we avoid the bloodiest conflict In American history. The north would have prospered with the industry that it had and the south most likely would have joined back with the north realizing the fiscal strength it could have with the relationship. Many historians not only argue this but even say that slavery most likely would have taken care of itself as industrial methods in our country changed.

Napoleon doesn’t invade Russia: Had he not, had Napoleon syndrome, he may have realized how bad of an idea attacking Russia was. The Russian’s strategy of fall back, and let the winter take care of the rest, worked to perfection. Napoleon’s army never survived the assault.

Hitler avoids the two front war: Like Napoleon, Hitler’s greatest mistake (strategy wise), was attacking Russia. The German Army resources became depleted due to massive causalities and were weakened as the Allies Advanced. Had Hitler not attacked Russia he could have brokered a deal with Stalin (who was just as bad of a person) and could have concentrated all the efforts against the allies. Had this happened we might all be speaking German and my Jewish friends would be hiding out in my basement.

Final Pictures of Jackson, Wyoming

           

Click here to download:

Final_Pictures_of_Jackson_Wyom.zip (14930 KB)