A New Day!

Growing up playing and watching sports Sunday is going be a new day. Of course, sports today are different like so many other things than when I was growing up.  It is more commercial now, and media hype, along with many more games.

Why Sunday will be a new day is that my beloved Seattle Seahawks are playing in the Super Bowl. It is only the second time the Seahawks are in the Super Bowl. The last time was 2006, and in that case it was new. The Seahawks lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers in what most would say was a poor officiated game though the players believed they still should have won.  What makes this year’s addition of the Seahawks special is that most people expected them to be in the Super Bowl, or it would have been quite disappointing.

I expect most people in the northwest will be watching the game; even those that normally don’t watch football. It is a big event in this part. The last time Seattle won a major professional championship was 1978 by the Seattle Supersonics.  At that time the Supersonics had a young team so many thought they would play in a few more championships but they never did. The moral of the story you have to win when you can. You never know if the opportunity will ever come again.

What I really like about the Seahawks, and I believe most people in the northwest is that the team’s personality in whole is toward a chip on their shoulders.  I believe the people of the northwest in a whole have the same personality.  This is the reason the fans love the Seahawks so much. Of course, winning doesn’t hurt either. I believe most people in the northwest especially the natives feel disrespected by the rest of the country; the raining weather and being so far away from the rest of the country. Whether the Seahawks win or lose on Sunday they will have the respect. In our minds they are champions. Go Hawks!

Being Better

It is said that so many are writing blogs that there are so many more in media which is true; however, I want to  continue becoming a better writer and person in the same way my reader becomes a  better person. I want this post be better than my last post and the next post better than this one.

They say the two quarterbacks in the Super Bowl, Peyton Manning of Denver, and Russell Wilson of Seattle work harder than anyone. They both spend a lot of time watching video, both of the opposition and of themselves. They both believe in continue becoming better and better at their craft. I am sure they are both looking at video right now; same thing with you and me working at being better people.

Looking at the world today I see people needing hope, and I look at us making a difference.

Today so much said what is bad is now good, and good is now bad. If you stand up for what is good people think you are speaking judgment against them which is far from the truth. If you really care for others you must let them know they are in error. I would call it tough love.

Love is still the great gift we have; important to share it. This is especially true in small ways.

I believe a lot of people have forgotten about love. Always time to remind them.

Bitterness can drive you crazy. Hope deferred makes the heart sick.

I am an ordinary man who wants to be a great man. Not by words but action.

Travel

 

I want to get on a jet plane; I have the time but not the money to travel so what do I do?  Easy would be to win the lottery, however, the odds against that so I am brainstorming.

You don’t have the time but you have the money well you can support my adventure.  Each time I write on my blog about the trip your name will be mentioned. Ok you have the time and the money but you don’t have anyone to accompany you. I can do that as well as long you pay expenses.  Ok you have time, money, and companionship but you don’t have someone to watch home.  I can do that too; as long as your home is not in Washington State.  I will mention your adventure as well as my time in your town.

Other ideas I could get a job with an airline where I can go wherever they fly and write about those places in their travel magazine or website. Of course there are travel sites I could look to write for as well. One I never thought before, but I heard someone mention the travel channel. Several months ago I thought being a tour guide; however, there are not so many of those jobs around but still on my mind.

Besides getting on a jet plane would travel by train. I haven’t seen a lot of the United States so I think it would be cool going town to town. Since I enjoy walking I would walk around the town; find the local hot spot and get stories from the locals. Depending on the town may have to stay a few days to get the full feeling. I could be known as Herb the train traveler.

Now time to investigate since there are so many possibilities.

I will let you know what happens, and of course if you want the first idea and help me than I am a happy camper.

January 29 is my brother Jack’s birthday so I want to wish him right here a Happy Birthday.  

Persevere

I am thinking about my niece Leslie, and her husband Daniel who live in Minnesota. They are having the coldest weather right now in 30 years. Daniel is a Minnesota native, and Leslie lived there as a little girl, and then with Daniel moved back a couple years ago or so. They are used to the cold weather to some degree; however, I am sure they feel very uncomfortable because of the change of temperatures.  So each day they are living in perseverance; making sure they can make it another day. I am sure some days are better than others.  It is the same thing with the changes we have decided to make in our lives for 2014. I am sure some of you are looking to lose weight, exercise more, spend more time with family, or just the change of way of thinking. Because of change things are not the same, and we must persevere to be sure we stay on the same track. It is like we are running a marathon, and we want to be sure we finish the race. Likely we will have obstacles along the way as well, but how we handle those obstacles will decide on finishing the race. Another thing even if we are not making life changes obstacles occur anyway because of life in itself. No matter how hard we try there are always life challenges: usually they happen without us doing anything at all. Just before Christmas I came down with the bad cough; of course, I didn’t want it to happen but it did. I took cough medicine which didn’t do me any good at all. Three years ago I had a similar situation where I had a cough, and felt tired for about three months. I was given different medicines which didn’t do me any good. After getting my blood checked found that I was anemic, took iron pills which cleared it all up.  So this time I figured it could be the same thing so I started taking iron pills again, however, it didn’t work. Went back to the doctor, and he told me it was a problem with my breathing which is the reason for my coughing. He gave me correct medicine and now I am about 100 percent well. Of course, like all of us I don’t know what will come up next but I will fight every inch to keep on going. So keep on persevering whatever is happening in your life. I am backing you up 100 per cent.

social media

When it comes to social media I am very much for it. Of course I am sure most of you are to since you are reading my blog. Also, most of you are likely on facebook with me as well.  I am on twitter as well as facebook.  You can reach me @loveableherb I don’t do a lot of twitting myself; I take advantage of seeing others. I only follow a couple people that I know personally; the rest are known people in the northwest area, primarily sport writers, and the news. What is great about it is that I find sport and news stories a lot faster than trying to look them up myself.  Of course, the negative side of twitter if you do follow personal friends you can get a lot of silly things just like on facebook. On both facebook, and twitter I basically scroll past that I am not interested in, or what some people say.  I think some people put on personal information which can be dangerous, for example their phone number.  Facebook does have the option of sending messages to your friends, so I recommend doing it instead when you want to write to an individual. Currently I would say that about 30% of my friends are on facebook on a regular basis; it would be nice to hear more from the other 70% but I understand the situation; I don’t post a lot myself, I do more comments and likes. The same thing with twitter as well; what I like is able to see pictures of little ones, trips, and those from a long time ago. It is good to be parts of groups as well so can see them separately. Another one to use is instantgram which is like twitter but uses for pictures. I am not a member but I know a lot of people who are now using it.

So take advantage of social media but use it in a positive manner. I enjoy seeing everyone I do see.  Use the share feature as well but don’t overdo it.  Keep the pictures coming as well! Let me know if I can improve my way of using the social media as well.

Becoming a Champion

To be a champion it starts out that you must become a champion.  Most of us are not born into families where we are breaded into such a manner.  What I mean is that there are a few like say Prince William was born into royalty so was trained in a manner how he should act, and others are encouraged greatly by their parents and others around them.  A lot of us are told we can’t do this or that, or we are not tall enough, or pretty enough, or handsome enough.   I was lucky at home I generally encouraged by parents, however, at school by other students, or teachers I was told otherwise.  So I have had to get my mind changed that I am a person that has things to offer.

Monday Jan 20 I listened to Seahawk coach Pete Carroll’s press conference.  He mentioned that a couple years ago (second year with Seahawks) that the players had an edge to them. Most of them had something to prove, and to use that as motivation. Later he called it grit. So I could say using motivation in place of change as well. Another word could be competitive; I should say whatever works. I believe there is something in each of us to be more than we already are, however, are we willing to pay the cost. 

At the beginning of the Seahawk-49ers game Seahawk Quarterback Russell Wilson fumbled the ball, and the 49ers recovered the ball.  My thought is here we go; such important game and he fumbles the ball.  The defense came out and stopped the 49ers only giving a field goal.  The offense continues to struggle for most of the game, however, made the important plays in the fourth quarter to help win the game.  I realized that it is not how our lives started out, but how will it end.  Will we take difficult situations, and turn them into being positive. Being a champion is being an over comer.  Others will see by our actions, and not by our words.

Being Champions

For those of us that are Seattle Seahawks it was a really good weekend; they beat the San Francisco 49ers yesterday 23-17, and now on to the Super Bowl to play the Denver Broncos.  I know some of you may root for other teams, don’t care about football, or any other sport; however, I know everyone has something they are interested in, and passionate  about whether they are books, movies, or etc.  So we root for something beyond ourselves.  I have been a sports fan for as long as I remember; I am not sure why, and I am sure most of us don’t know the exact answer; it is ok that is that way. It could be for entertainment, or the competition juices within me. The reason I am saying this is that we can all learn something from the Seahawks these coming weeks; I will go through this I believe in more than one writing.

First of all we are all part of a team.  I have written about purposes, and making changes this year to help fulfill the purposes. So the team we first belong to is ourselves; we are made up of many parts that work together, and that is what a team must do.  If one of the parts isn’t working right than we feel sick, and must take something to correct it. For example, my cousin Mike Shaw had a skiing accident a week before Christmas in which he had surgery on his neck, and now he is going through rehab to get all his parts working together again.  Of course, if some part totally shuts down unfortunately we die.  Also, we are all given talents as well to work together as well. Another team we are part of is our family, and friends. I consider everyone who reads my blog is part of the team whether we don’t know each other very well or not.  Each one of us plays an important part no matter how large or small.

Right now I am going to leave it at this; however, I want you think about your teams, and how you are part of team that is made to be a champion. I know not everyone has that mentality; in fact, I would say I deal with it every day both negative, and positive. I want all of us to have a positive mentality. I think of the song by Queen “We are the Champions”.  I have more points which I will bring up in more writings. Spend now the time thinking how you are part of a team.  I think this is really exciting.

 

My nephew Ken

Hello Everyone I hope you have had a wonderful weekend. This is my second try because when I began the electricity decided to go out for few minutes. I decided to write about my nephew Ken, to honor him, since tomorrow is his birthday. He is my sister Barb’s eldest, and my oldest among nephews and niece. He is five years older than his younger brother Connor.  They are much different; however, they complement each other very much.

Ken lives in Quebec and works as an IT for a national telephone company.  They do keep him busy quite a bit of the time; however, he does enjoy the work most of the time.  He reminds me a lot of my older brother Dick, who passed away, and I wrote about before.  He says that he learned a lot from Dick, and wanted to pattern his life after.  I would say he could not have chosen a better person to do so.  His family moved to Quebec from Port Moody, British Columbia when he was nine or ten. So I was able to see more of him when he was very young especially at Christmas time, and other holidays. He and Connor would see a lot of Dick in Quebec since Dick lived in New York City until his death.

So I remember Ken a lot as I say when he was young beginning with being a baby. Of course, like most babies he was quite cute. When he was almost two years old the family went shopping at the Tacoma Mall for Christmas. We each took turns looking after Ken while everyone else shopped. He found a pay phone at the mall which he talked on for several hours. No one was on the end of the call, but Ken was on a long conversation. I am not sure who his imaginary friend was but he certainly was having a great time.  When he was three years old his father Bob took him into an electronics store and the employee helping him promised the place was child proof.  Well Ken within five minutes had everything going; so much for child proof.  Living in Quebec Ken is bi-lingual speaking fluent French as well; he uses it quite a bit with his job as well.  It has been quite a while since I have been to Quebec; however, I hope to be able to travel there within the next couple years as well.  Another thing Ken loves is puns. I believe it is a family trait. I certainly enjoy puns with the best, and can’t wait the day to use one.  My mother’s father had quite a sense of humor, and enjoyed puns as well.  There are a number of family members who enjoy puns so I would say it has been going on my mother’s side of the family at least for several centuries I expect.  Outside of work, Ken has recently started exercising at a local health club, and is doing quite well.  Ken is single, and I am sure many friends along with family, are rooting him on to find a special lady friend. I will leave it at that.  I am proud to call him my nephew along with the rest of them. He has turned into quite a fine young man. So to honor him Happy Birthday Ken! Everyone have a great weekend!

Hump Day

Hello it is amazing that it is already hump day. It reminds me of the Geico commercials with the Camel.  Also, I like the commercials with the Pig as well.  Right now the best commercials on TV are with animals.  The AFLAC commercials are always funny as well.  It seems to me the commercials with humans are mostly so stupid that you would have to pay me lot money to do them to overcome any embarrassment from friends.  My favorite animal on TV is still Flipper with Mr. Ed, the horse of course coming in second.

I hope everything is going well with everyone concerning your purposes and changes.  I just want to remind you that it does take some time since we have brains where the programming has to change. We have gone many years thinking one way or possibly more so it will take some time.  I know for me it will take a lot of meditation of good thoughts to turn things around.  I find it is important to become a part of a team as well.  Either your best friend or several friends meeting once a week or every other week; I believe it is important to have encouragement.  They don’t necessarily have to be working on the same changes either.  I believe even if you are not involved in making changes it still would be good to be part of a group to give your input and support.  I would call that part of your purpose in life.

Since it has only been a few days I haven’t done much laughing or singing as of yet. Today when I go out I will start doing it. I believe it will help make more of a positive attitude in my life.  Usually when I drive I listen to the radio, however, today I will not turn the radio on at all. This reminds me the times when my brother Jack visit with his family and we would drive up to Mt. Rainier his whole family would start out in song. Each one of them would have their own part even Danny the youngest. The first time Danny was very young, I believe he was around four years of age.  I figured it must have been how the Jackson’s and Osmond’s started out before becoming famous.

The weather here in Gig Harbor has had a lot more rain this week; probably as much as the whole month of December. As I said before the mountains need the snow which they have more of, and now the skiing resorts are open. It is really too bad it can’t only snow in the mountains.

This coming Sunday is the big game between the Seahawks and the 49ers, and the winner goes to the Super Bowl.  I really don’t have much against the 49ers, they are a very good team, but I hope the Seahawks beat them by a large score. I am so tired of the national media who think the 49ers are the best.  Hopefully, in the Super Bowl they will get their due respect. I remember in 2005 when the Seahawks were in the Super Bowl against the Pittsburgh Steelers the media was so much in favor of the Steelers. Of course they won, and did not help with the poor calls in the game.  If the Seahawks win it all 2005 will all be forgotten. So Go Seahawks!

Enjoy the rest of your week, and many blessings along with much joy.

It's Monday

I hope everyone had a good weekend.  Now it is back to being Monday.  What I am going to write about someone will say Herb it is Monday and why are you writing about it. Monday is the reason to write about it or we could have a long week.

I decided to write about laughter.  If you are an NFL football fan rooting for the Seahawks, 49ers, Patriots, and Broncos you are likely laughing for at least another week unless you take your football very seriously.

I did a little research, and found that babies laugh 200 to 300 times a day while adults laugh between 15 and 20 times a day. The so –called experts say it has to do with the brain; I think we need to loosen up and laugh a lot more. Other words we need not take life so seriously.  Maybe we need to do more rooting during the week. It doesn’t have to do with a sport necessarily, but something that we enjoy doing, or maybe the children. It is amazing how parents take something their kids are doing really seriously as well.  Whether it is little league, or ballet; we need to enjoy things more.  Maybe one thing we can do is when coming home from work when in traffic instead of road rage scream at the top of our lungs, or laugh out loud even if there is nothing to laugh about. Of course, we can make up our own jokes, or remember some from the past. The so-called experts say laughing releases stress and how many of us go through that on a regular day.

Another thing would be for us to sing. I was told by my mother that I did a lot of singing when I was a child. Other than singing in church I don’t do a lot of singing. Maybe we can combine both singing and laughing. If we do it in the car people will just think we are crazy which they probably already think anyway. Even if you sing out of tune no one else will know.

Since I have been writing about change and purpose it is important we are happy as well. If the so-called experts say it has to do with our brains than we should ask for a new brain or expand our current brain. Something to think about; Ha-ha!

It's Friday!

I woke up this morning, and a word came to my mind “regret”; my computer started playing Kenny Roger’s “The Gambler”.  I realized that our minds are like computers where they are programmed.  I find it would likely be easy, and have a negative day by thinking about regret and the gambler all day long.  I decided that I am not going the easy way because I want to have a really good day.  How are we going to decide our day? Is our minds programmed one way, or does it go depending how the day goes.  I want my mind to go only one way, and that is positive.  The other day I was thinking how important to spend the day meditating on a word or a sentence. If we meditate all day the better; for example, the word came up with is greatness, and the sentence is I shall overcome.   Than my computer started playing the next song “Amazing Grace “; my mind said “yes”.  I thought today is going to be a great day as long as I don’t go back to when I woke up.  Another song came on Jim Croce “You don’t mess around with Jim”. So now I can say nobody better try messing with me today; if you try I will speak kindness.  Regardless what has been going on this week going into the weekend meditate on something great not just good. We will live in a better place. I could go on from here but I am thinking it is time to start the weekend in good measure. Be Blessed and much love to you.

My sister Barb Gallagher

 I decided to write about my sister Barb.  Today is her birthday so I figured it would be a very good time to do so.  She is eight and half years older than I am; she is only half sister which really doesn’t change things for me. She had another father and we have the same mother.  I am not going to say anything more about that part of her life because it is her story to tell not mine.

Barb is very special to me, and I want her to know because like many of us including myself she needs to know how fantastic a person she is. With our age difference I mainly known her as an adult. I only remember a few things during her teenage years as well her college years.  She is a big part of my life, and when I was four years old I was cooking eggs on the stove and my pajamas caught on fire.   She was in the same room, and yelled out to our mother who came and smothered my pajamas; than my dad than drove as fast as he could from our home in Gig Harbor to Mary Bridge Children’s Hospital in Tacoma.  I spent about six weeks in the hospital.  I have a burnt scar on my chest, and under my right arm pit, however if Barb had not acted so quickly I may have had scar spread further possibly to my face, or I may have died as well.  Whenever our mother ever brings it up I can see on Barb’s face as though it happened yesterday. Something’s stay with you as long as you live. Personally I don’t remember it happening at all which I am told is a very good thing.

Barb grew up going to Peninsula Schools until 11^th grade where she transferred to Anne Wright School which at the time was an all girl’s school. After graduating from Anne Wright she went to college at University Oregon. Our family visited her there several times while our dad was involved in sailboat races.  After graduation her plan was to get her master’s degree at University of Puget Sound in Tacoma Washington where she met her husband Bob Gallagher. She never did finish her master’s degree.  They got married during my senior year in high school.  After living in Gig Harbor and Tacoma they moved to Port Moody, British Columbia which is near to Vancouver.  They had both son’s Ken and Connor while living in Port Moody.  Also want to wish Connor a happy birthday which is tomorrow.  I believe Connor was four years old when Bob took a job in Ottawa Ontario and they moved to a suburb in Quebec where they have lived ever since. This time of the year is really cold, and they have lots of snow unlike Gig Harbor.

Barb went back to work after Connor entered school. It was not the plan; however, Bob came down with health issues and to be sure of steady income she went to work. .  She has now worked herself into being a senior paralegal in a law firm that specializes in patents and trademarks.  Barb and Bob had a pretty good life together though health issues made it hard at times, and he died three and half years ago.  She has both Ken and Connor still very close by and still really enjoys her job. Also, she has a good social life which includes doing volunteer work. She loves Quebec and plans to continue living there after she retires in two or three years.

Again she is a very special person, and I am proud to call her my sister; Happy Birthday Barb and Connor.

 

movie review

I figure I won’t do this very often write about a movie, however, I went and saw Saving Mr. Banks on Jan 4. I wasn’t really sure what I was going to see other than Tom Hanks and Emma Thompson were in the movie, and had something to do with Mary Poppins.  At least for me I found it to a very good movie, entertaining and well balanced.  What I mean by being well balanced is that there was nothing too much in any area.  The story was about P.L. Travers the author of Mary Poppins, and Walt Disney; he was trying to get the movie rights and she was being difficult. The time period was 1961, however, there was flash backs to when she was a child, and her relationship with her father. I am trying to be careful here because I don’t want to give away the whole movie. There were scenes showing the progress of making the movie of Mary Poppins with the song writers playing some of the music. This is what I mean by well balanced is that they didn’t spend too much time either the past or present, or performing the music. I think the movie was good for those of us that grew up in the 60s. For me Mary Poppins was the very first movie I went to see in the theatre. My parents were not really into movies especially my dad so my sister took my brothers and I to the theatre. So Saving Mr. Banks gave me more meaning and understanding of Mary Poppins. I am sure others would enjoy the movie as well but I just think it means more for us in the 60s.

I have been writing mostly about family and P.L. Travers is spending time thinking so much of her childhood. I now can understand when times are difficult for children it would be very easy for children to create their own fantasy world, and this is how she came writing about Mary Poppins. I find that each of us have found different ways to handle things while we were children. I know that none of us had a perfect childhood; even those of us that came from more normal homes. I would spend time crying before falling to sleep, and I am sure everyone had their own way of coping.  Some people have been able to overcome their childhood while others still live in the past. It is very important that we each deal with the circumstances, and move on. Living in the present, and looking forward to the future is very important. I don’t really believe in going to a professional, however, I know there are those who need to do so.

Now the holidays are over, everyone is now going back to their normal lives; if there is really such a thing.

Until next time much love to you.

3 days in

Now we in three days of 2014 how are things going? So far as the changes I am trying to make I haven’t seen much difference of yet, however, it will take some time; also, looking into additional changes and challenges as well.

The weather here in the Gig Harbor Washington area has continued to been very mild unlike the east coast.   In December we had our second lowest total rainfall in about hundred years. We had some foggy days along with some days falling into the 20s but little rain.  At least through the weekend little rain is expected.  It has caused problems of little snow in the mountains so unable to ski, I am not a skier but there are those that do love skiing, and doesn’t help employment at the ski resorts either.

I have been watching some College Football Bowl games, and really enjoy the ones that were upsets like Oklahoma over Alabama. I think there are too many bowl games. There are some that must have been new because I never   heard of them before. Some of the names were funny as well     

The NFL playoffs start this weekend; the Seattle Seahawks have the weekend off because they have the best record in their conference.  I may watch some of the playoff games; however, there are too many games on these days.

My cousin Mike Shaw who was injured in a skiing accident the week before   Christmas in Colorado is now back in Vancouver, British Columbia where he is going through rehab. What is great is that he has a great attitude and faith that he is going to fully recovery. He had surgery on his neck on December 17.  The rest of the family is doing quite well, and we all look forward to his full recovery.  I will keep you up to date on how his rehab is going.

Everyone have a great weekend. Look forward to write more next week.                                       

it's 2014

Hello 2014; I can’t believe you are here. Of course I say that every year. I remember when I was in high school how far off 2000 seemed to be.  If you have a child born in 2000 than they are almost ready to enter high school; how unbelievable.

I think so much about purposes I want to accomplish in 2014 and beyond, however, I realize how important changes need to occur as well. Right now I have thought about three of them, however, if more come to my mind I will write about them as well in the future.  The first one is to talk less and listen more.   Growing up my insecurities made me think that I had to talk as much as possible, and maybe people will like me as well. Now I realize that I can learn from others by listening to them as well. I believe we all have a short coming in this area. I am not saying that everyone talks too much; there are those who need to talk more as well.  Whether we believe it or not, we have something others need to hear.

Number two is as important as number one. Actually all three have the same importance.  We all need to smile a lot more than we do. I find most women attracted to smile a lot.  I not only think they are prettier, but have a better personality, and friendlier.

Number three is to show others more attention.  I do a lot of walking around Gig Harbor, and I find most of them that I see on a regular basis say hello back to me, and acknowledge me as well; however, there are others that do not, and seem to be in their own world.  I am not here to judge because I am not sure what is happening in their lives.  I do not need everyone to like me, but I feel more the better.  I feel if someone does not acknowledge me something must be wrong with me.  I have to continue to battle those thoughts in my mind especially if I want to have my purposes accomplished.

I hope this will help you out as well. God says to love one another, and these should help us to accomplish it as well. Have a great and Happy New Year.