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The Three Good Things Thread

Niagara Falls is one of the most 'touristy' destinations ever, but even that cannot diminish the incredible beauty of the place. It really is amazing!
It turned out to be Patrick's favorite part of the trip...and because we were limited in time, I almost didn't go. You are absolutely correct in your assertion about tourist trap, but I challenge you to visit Wall Drug one time. Haha! Talk about a roadside attraction, tourist trap!

Was hoping to go through Ontario to Detroit, but they wouldn't let us...essential border crossing only. So we went south around Lake Erie. We lost even more time going this route. All told it was about 10 hours out of the way.

Anyway...

We made it home safe.

Patrick had an awesome time! And while Niagara Falls was his favorite, South Dakota was the most exciting state overall.

I missed the rest of my family and was greatly very warmly upon our return home!
 

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Sounds awesome and of course the photos are amazing!
 
we hit Wall Drug several times on our trip across to Ohio. That place is absolutely amazing.

"home of the $.25 cup of coffee (veterans drink for free)"
 
That coffee was terrible! I hate hot water being passed as coffee.

:ROFLMAO:
 
My kids are home for the next 2 weeks before school starts. My wife and I are both working full time from home so we "ask" them to entertain themselves while we work. Its really not fair and we have to stop A LOT. But, I've been taking them to the local park after we get off work for a couple hours to get out some energy and have some fun. It's always the same thing.

"Dad, lets play tag" OK "You're it" now I'm chasing a 6 year old who's dad might be Ussain Bolt, and a kid who will get tagged and say "you're still it!". But, it never fails...by the end of the time there we have randomly recruited several other kids and we have a huge game of tag going. I get thanked by parents every time, too. "Thank you for running them" "They're going to sleep so well tonight. thank you!" But, last night was the best. We had 12 kids and 3 dad's playing this giant game of tag.

This girl looks at me as I am sweating through my t-shirt and says

"Are you OK?" Yeah
"Do you need a break?" Nah
"My grandpa was like this and fell over and hurt himself." What?
"You're in your 50s, right?" WHAT?!!

Still...a great time. My kids are passed out before 9, my beer is cold, and every joint in my body is popping like rice krispies....but, to be "that dad" that starts games an actually plays with them is priceless to me.
 
Stephen is finishing his first week of football games and we are 2-0. They have a 2 touchdown limit per kid each game and Stephen reaches it every game. They also call out their players to try and block him because he is so quick to the backfield (running from 5 yards away) he's snatching flags before they can even get a play off.

School started yesterday hybrid style. M-W for our kids first 2 weeks. It was very sad to see both my boys get on the bus and ride off. It is literally happening too fast for me now. They are school aged now. But, I love it also.

I have a second coach in with me now. Coaching 7 kids aged 5-7 is just crazy in itself. I told him "think of us like the 85 Bears. You can be Ditka, I'll be Buddy Ryan" I am on video yelling "DONT GIVE UP ONE YARD!" and forearm smashing one of my kids when he got a flag. The parents are all laughing and told me their kids think I'm funny. That is really all I care about, but if we are going to play, we are going to play to have fun/be safe/and win!
 
Home schooling is great!

We do not have to worry about what hidden agendas the teachers are pushing. We keep politics out of things right now since they are so young.

Their learning pace is rather upbeat and they seem to be absorbing it well. They have their mom teaching them and they seem to really like that. Of course I am helping with certain subjects, but she is bearing the majority of the responsibility. Good thing her mom was a teacher, it helps.

And for science class we took a field trip to the National Aquarium, and for PE we took a hike to some waterfalls...which is another positive since my achilles and weight loss are coming along well.
 

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My 21 year old is living in Idaho with his gf and has been on his own for a while now.

My 18 year old is in culinary school and is kinda on his own now. Future chef in the making where I’m gonna eat for free.

My 17 year old daughter is in her senior year of hs, granted it’s homeschooling as of now but still.

When your kids go off to school it’s both a little sad & proud moments all the same.
 
Had a pretty darn good interview today, went much smoother than I thought it would.

Our area’s forecast is calling for 1-3” of snow on Saturday which means ICE FISHING is soon!

In-law’s came over and played cards with the wife and I for like 3 hours, was a pretty fun night with family
 
Both boys had their flu shots and didn't even flinch. Pretty damn impressive for 6 and 5 years old.

The person who had been stealing work from me and got the job I applied for was let go and I am now the manager of 2 different IT teams.

friends from California are coming to spend Thanksgiving with us. We are REALLY excited to see them.
 
Congrats on the promotion Mike, hopefully it has a nice pay increase to go along with it
 
For yesterday

My niece just finished basic training and her tech school for the ARMY and finally arrived home.

Picked up my son from college so he can come back and vote for the 1st time.

Saw my 1st timber wolf yesterday about 1/2 mile from my house. They’re pretty good size up here. Thought it was a deer until I got closer and saw the bushy tail
 
Been hard for me to find anything positive with the way the country is just at each other's throats, but last night I did it. I stopped paying attention to that shit.

I deleted Instagram. I have no need to see or care what some celebrity thinks, and their lives are nothing like mine. I already feel better.

My son reads now. He actually reads books. He has to sound out some words, but he can read. It is one of those milestones as parents that is another game changer. I don't have to read to him what is on the screen of his video games, he helps his brother....but, the other night he started trying to read subtitles off the movie we were watching...I just about cried.

He has wrestling starting up on Monday. We had a huge Zoom meeting last night with all the coaches and parents. at the end the head of it all said, "any questions?" and I said "Hey, Jim. Just one. Do you have a donation basket or something where I can pay your coaches to kick my sons ass extra?" They all started laughing and every coach said they were excited to have my son back.

Yesterday was Veteran's Day. Normally I don't do anything special or even like to be thanked for my service. The military did more for me than I could ever do for it. But, my son had homework "do you know a Vet?" so, my son and I sat down and went through my old trunk of pictures of all I did. He was always too young and not interested. But, I let him take pictures of me on carriers, on top of jets, with my company, and he was stunned. but, the craziest part to me was that my friends son made me a card. it had a flag on it and inside said "Happy Veteran's Day, Mr C***k" and another friends kid took a pic holding a flag and a sign he made "thank you for your service, Mr Mike". I fucking LOVE small town living.
 
2020 Has been a tough year. Let's face it. But really glad to not get the virus. And really praying for those that lost loved ones as well as those who have recovered from it

But really trying to stay positive. And trying to rely upon my faith. As trying to be more and more patient with the virus to end and a vaccine for the world.

As been trying to spend more time with my parents as they are getting older. And knowing they will rely on us but they are still healthy and in the being curious and interested about everything. Married for 51 years and counting

Trying to help my mental health not just physical, as working out and trying to eat more veggies a week.
 
New job is pretty fun, when I’m not shuttling doctors or patients around I’m a door screener. Had a 95 year old WW2 vet notice my veteran lanyard and he thanked me. Made my day

Just ate another ghost pepper cheese/chicken sandwich and it’s easily my all time favorite. F’n amazing!

Lucky enough to bag a deer on Sunday and was able to give some burger to an extremely appreciative coworker.
 
Got the kids in jiu-jitsu and they love it! My daughter is just excited to be out of the house, but my son is truly loving the experience. Not sure if she will stick with it, but Patrick is all in!

My wife was asked to create a song for a non-profit that a friend has developed, and to perform at the gala fundraiser in Palm Beach in January. While the opportunity to work on a project like that is amazing for her, she got to work with a heavy hitter in the music industry, this could be an extremely lucrative endeavor for her! I hope she gets the recognition she deserves! She's awesome!

Mom is half way through her radiation and the doctors are feeling good about her treatment. But she is a fraction of the woman I know. If she weighs more than 95 pounds I would be surprised, but she is ready to cook T-Day dinner! She won't let COVID keep her from it, either. To be honest, I think she'd rather have COVID than not be able to cook for us on Thanksgiving what could end up being her very last time. I'm not going to tell her no.
 
wake up at 0430
leave the house at 0500
2 hour drive to the tournament
get there and Stephen is a puddle of tears. Hes nervous, hes scared, he doesnt want to fail.
He needs to get out of the truck and puke. Which he does.
gets back in and I console him. I tell him failure is a part of life, I will love him regardless of the outrcome.

Then I give him the option to quit. To back out and go home with no repercussion from me regarding it.

He says "daddy, I am just nervous. I'm a wrestler!"

First match - 10 seconds. W by pin
Second match - 50 seconds. W by pin
Third match - 10 seconds. W by pin.

4 hours in the truck and 70 seconds of wrestling. The kid is a natural and a beast. His coaches say he is the strongest in the class and one of them made a joke "Stephen, have you ever heard of the second round?". During these tournaments I am his coach again. He looks at me, he listens, and he gets so pumped when he gets a pin. I hold all happiness back until we are well off the mat, but inside I am fist pumping and screaming like his biggest cheerleader!
 
I run a helpdesk team of 8 people in India. I took over in beginning of 2019 and they were horrible. They didn't do their jobs right, they were unmotivated, and the first contact resolution was around 50%.

I talked to them. 6 women and 2 men. I listened to them. As they spoke to me I started hearing "we are spoken to poorly" "We only do the things nobody else wants to do" "we are never included"

So, I started standing up for them. Talk to my people poorly and I talk to you and your manager about professionalism. They noticed it and started improving. We now sit at 96% FCR.

Today they asked me if they could request some of them to have NYE off. They were very nervous to ask for a few of them to get it. I was able to get the entire team off and told my Director that I would cover for them for a day.

Its funny how simple things like that can change an entire team's attitude and performance around.
 
1. Miss SO won Presidents and Platinum club at her job, which under normal circumstances would mean a week in Hawaii - stupid covid - it's her first time being recognized at a high level in her career, makes me feel great since over the years she's watched me collect more accolades than I probably deserve and quite frankly she works a helluva lot harder than I do
2. The company I work for provides lines of credit to small businesses (specialty segment so not anyone can walk in and apply) and I watched 23 clients of mine have to shut their doors because of covid. Yesterday while conducting reviews of who to pursue legally(some just essentially stole money, covid wasn't the cause it just exposed them) I had 18 I referred back to my corporate office for "debt forgiveness." Under normal circumstances I'd be lucky to get 2 approved, all 18 were approved, those were good people and I'm glad that part of our company mantra is "conscious captialism".
3. I'm alive
 
Presidents & Platinum Club?

Sounds like Dwayne might have been there Sunday night.

(Sorry SO) 😉
 

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As we enjoy today's conversations, let's remember our dear friends 'Docsandy', Sandy Zier-Teitler, and 'Posse Lover', Michael Huffman, who would dearly love to be here with us today! We love and miss you guys ❤

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