Chasing Ghosts

Folks, stop me now...I'm getting obsessed. We have yet another movie about the glory days of 80's video game competition, arcades, and some of the biggest nerds of our time. Seeing these places and reading about the "good ol days" is really taking me back in time. I've been playing a LOT of MAME lately, and I'm REALLY wanting an arcade cabinet in my house. It doesn't make it any easier either when my boys are helping fuel that fire. There's a guy down the street from me that has an old 'Joust' machine sitting outside of his garage, and I'm half tempted to go over and ask him if he's looking to get rid of it. Craigslist has a Donkey Kong Junior machine here in Boise for like 200 bucks, and the guy claims that it's fully playable. I'm really scared what may happen if I'm to buy a house with a large basement. The gameroom possibilities are endless! Anyway, another 80's video game flick is coming soon...oh the life of us geeks that could actually get chicks because we rocked an Asteroids machine! I remember the first time Kim watched me play Donkey Kong...she was putty in my hands after that. ;)

Cheers!

The King of Kong

It's finally here...The King of Kong...a movie that will be the APB to all video game nerds of the 80's...and yes I'm proud to say that I was one of them! I took my game playing to a whole new level...I had to win, and I would spend as many quarters as I needed to in order to accomplish the goal. I could beat pretty much any of my arcade junkie pals. Competition in it's rawest form! I was, and still am a Donkey Kong freak! I probably could retire today if I had all of the quarters back that I dropped into that friggin machine. I had it on Atari 2600 and ColecoVision, but they never held a candle to playing the authentic arcade version.

Watch the preview...these are the hardcore competitors that reached levels that I couldn't even imagine! Ok so I'm a nerd, deal with it!

Cheers!

School starting again...or is it life?

But NOT for me! I already did my time in academic prison...geez how many years was it again? Way too many it seems, and for those of you that are doctors, you REALLY ARE special people, and you deserve the big sweet dollars that you earn. Especially proctologists...how does one decide to specialize in constipation issues, rectums,
hemorrhoids, and an environment that's always going to smell like crap? Forget helping people with their problems, it's ALL money there...it has to be!

I'm a Marketing guy, and if memory serves, many of us in my graduating class seemed to resemble the famous photo to the left of Mr. Belushi just a few months prior to graduation...we were so fried!

You become almost institutionalized, like a prisoner...it's hard to imagine a life without sitting in a classroom and spending a huge portion of your time outside of college writing papers, working on projects, or cramming for finals. Free time to do what I want??? What will that be like? Oh it's called a full time job? What do you mean I have to work a 40+ hour work week and apply everything I learned in school? Oh it's called life...did I forget to take that class?

Even though I'm in the working world and out of the school life, you're never REALLY completely out of it. Life is one big school. I've reached some major milestones some areas but am still miserably failing in others. I figure I'm holding a cumulative 'C' in my book. As long as I'm aware and working towards improving in my areas of weakness, that's what matters today.

Anyway, back to school...and speaking of which, those "Back to School" ads on TV still seem to build up a slight case of the runs. I guess certain triggers that messed with my nervous system years ago will never go away. Just remembering everything that I went through from grades K-12, not to mention the other 5 of college to get that little piece of paper, was certainly enough for me. My boys are still so fresh and eager get to school...make it last fellas! You know, the excitement of riding the bus, snack time, recess, the newness and uncertain feelings of girls chasing you, and the kid that cuts a loud one in the back of the classroom...all happy times.


Then Junior High and High School...not that it was all bad, but you remember, peer pressures, zits, showering with the guys (I was the late bloomer, so that SUCKED), being tired all the time, your heart being broken by the girl of your dreams, fitting in, and the guy that cuts a loud one in the back of the classroom...we've all been there.

We all live and learn, some go to college, some don't, and that's ok...it's all about balance, and what works best for each of us. The world's
competitive, we all know that. I know corporate executives that make insane amounts of money and have achieved numerous educational milestones, and I know guys that make sandwiches and barely made it through high school. Both types go home and find their own definition of happiness and satisfaction. Some are street smart, some are
book smart, and some of us fall somewhere in the middle. Whatever makes your life happy is what you need to pursue...bottom line.

Cheers!

Bring the boys back home...

For those of you that have kids...you understand the need for the occasional break. Don't get me wrong, I love my kids more than life itself, but when they've been out of school long enough for the summer break, and the fun meter has reached it's max, they start to get bored, and consequently get into mischief, which turns into trouble.



You know what I mean... "Mom!! Dad!! Ethan called me an weirdo!"...ten seconds later..."Mom!! Dad!! Ryan won't stop hitting me!!"...ten seconds later...*SLAM* *SMACK* the fight's on, then someone ends up crying, then mom and/or dad have break up the brawl, then someone gets grounded or put to bed early...we've all been there, and if you haven't...get yourself some kids and try it on for size. It's a LOT of work, but the reward is something that words cannot describe.

Our boys Ethan and Ryan have spent a ton of time with their 6 grandparents this summer, and this week my folks took them up to the mountains. The silence in our house is almost deafening...so nice, but yet so empty. It's strange to come home and have the house perfectly spotless with no messes to clean up, no fights to break up, etc...again, we'll get into my OCD discussion at a later date. When they leave, Kim and I have made it a ritual to hit a few dinner and movie outings, because we're so excited to be able to go to "grownup" restaurants and flicks for a change instead of the crappy playland food and Disney...not that I dislike the latter by any means...sometimes it's just time for a change of pace to realize that yes, we are adults.

After a couple of days though, we find that most of our conversations revolve around how much we miss the boys, and how we can't wait for them to get home. When they're not home, I start to realize that they aren't going to be at home forever, and I start worrying about the number of years they have left before they leave home, if I've been a good parent, am I doing everything that I can for them, am I preparing them for success, am I reading to them enough, am I building their self confidence, am I supportive in everything that they do, am I a good role model for them...the list goes on and on. I think about what I would do if something happened to them...an accident of some sort...what would I do, and would I ever recover, do I have any regrets? Wasn't that a bucket-o-sunshine to read? Sorry about that, but I think my previous posting planted that seed. See what I mean? You can't wait to have some mommy and daddy time, but it's only a matter of hours until you're dying to get them back!



Just like any other addiction, your kids will pull you down that road too...you'll realize it when they're not around. ;)

Cheers!

River Wild...well sort of...

So I'm not the most outdoorsy guy in the world. I have a web page and like video games...that right there should tell you that I'm not cut out for the next episode of "Survivor." Don't get me wrong, I don't mind being in the great outdoors, but it usually has to be on my terms...meaning, perfect temperature, I have absolutely nothing else on my agenda, and the event has to be well planned out with some structure and activities...I'm OCD like that, but that's another story for another day.

Anyway, over last year, Kim and I decided to try out luck at the world of river rafting. Nothing too wild and crazy, just a little summer activity for Ethan (8 years old) and Ryan (5 years old) to get into with us. Kim and I went down the Payette river with my dad, sister, and brother-in-law a few years ago, and we all had an absolute blast. It's pretty rough in spots and we managed to get plenty wet, but it's not something I would take my kids on at their current ages.

Anyway, last year we bought our gear and took a few runs down the Boise river, which for the record is probably the easiest river to navigate and for the most part is waist to shin high in depth...not much rougher than a mill pond, Below is the roughest part of the entire ride...nothing terrifying by any means:



Anyway, a couple of weeks ago we decide to take a quick run down the Boise, and little did we know...it was gonna get wild. I had my shoes off and my swimming suit drawstring not done up...no big deal...it's the Boise River right? Well, under the Broadway bridge there's a sign that informs rafters to keep right since there's a set of rapids that could pull you into the brush...not a good thing with a raft. I'm looking around and as we make the turn to head into the first swell, another raft to our right picked up speed and all of a sudden we t-boned the side of it flipping our raft completely over backwards. Keep in mind, this water comes out of the bottom of Lucky Peak reservoir further up the river and felt like absolute ice when we went in. Unfortunately for all of us, this was a deep part of the river and the rapids were sweeping us all away. When I came to my senses and realized that this was not going to be cool, I immediately grabbed onto Ryan and had to hold onto someone else's tube. Ethan on the other hand was about 20 yards away from me and terrified as he floated further and further away from me screaming for me to come get him. Oh yeah, thank freakin goodness the kids had life jackets on!!! I saw Kim, but she eventually disappeard down the river.

As I'm trying to get my sons gathered up and calmed down, I'm still in some very swift water and I noticed that I'm feeling a little more 'natural' than normal downstairs and suddenly realized that my swimming suit, you know, the suit that I had mentioned was NOT cinched up?...was down around my ankles. I became quite the contortionist in freezing cold water while holding onto my kids, and getting banged up in the rocks...but come hell or high water, I was NOT going to wind up on the shore suitless, even though I would have impressed the masses. ;)

With the help of other VERY concerned rafters, many came to our aid and finally the boys and I made it to the shore, and we finally met up with Kim. Other than a few bruises and damage to one of my toes everthing turned out ok...well, other than the future therapy my boys will probably need to get them back on the river...heh heh!

It's somewhat embarrassing to say that all of this 'drama' went down on the Boise River, but you never know what can happen in the water. I'm so thankful that my kids had their lifejackets on, otherwise I could have been in the horrible situation of "which child do I go after first?" How does someone make that choice? Life can change in the blink of an eye...you never know when your clock is gonna get punched...it was a nice wakeup call.

More than anything, I'm just glad Boise didn't open the newspaper and see a naked man holding his terrified boys after a rafting accident on the EASIEST river in Idaho!

Cheers!

And so it begins...

So I'm Jason, you know, the guy that owns and designed the website Anything Goes Hockey Fights (http://www.hockeyfighters.com/) ...yeah that guy. I've never played hockey in my life, nor have I ever been known as a person that fights. The closest I've ever been to being a hockey player is firing up my XBOX360 and living the experience through a video game. I'm not even a person that likes violence...well, except on the ice to a degree, and what I mean is, if someone gets injured...I don't like that. Was I throttled a lot as a kid? Not that I can recall. I just like a good toe to toe, where a couple of guys defend their territory with the fists, and then skate to the penalty box for 5 minutes...not sure why, I just do.

Below is a great video of my #1 hockey hero, Bob Probert and his biggest rival of all time, Tie Domi. For those that aren't familiar with hockey pugilism, many people think that these guys flat out hate one another...not always the case. There is a certain code of respect that most of these guys live by as seen below:



As you can see, sometimes theres a reason to fight in a hockey game...plain and simple, and I'll always be an advocate for fighting in hockey. I don't like street fights or bar fights, and I REALLY have a problem with people that bully the inferior to the point of physical harm. I'll never understand why people wind up that way. Probably because they were smacked around as kids or they've bottled up a lot of frustration that they never resolved and that's how their aggression is let out. At any rate, I'm a really nice guy, and I hope to see a few familiar bloggers and forum buds from AGHF.

Cheers!