Boldly promising a blog by the end of the weekend today… Forces me to sit myself before my laptop now in an effort to begin the search for coherent thoughts that can be linked together… Lately the pace I’ve been trying to maintain has blocked much of that effort…
Constantly working the email lines to try to keep my calendar filled, obviously keeps me on the road when I’m successful… When I am home I’m trying to keep up with yard work and other chores that have been “piling up”…
There have been lots of fleeting thoughts zinging through the empty space between my ears… They usually appear while I’m doing 70mph… I’ve even managed to add a few new jokes to some of bits…
But am I having enough coherent thoughts to link together into a blog??? Granted sometimes I’m tired and maybe a little road weary… It’s easy then to say… “Well, I’ll write it later”… But when you’re packing up the car every morning during a string of one-nighter’s… Sometimes later doesn’t come…
This weekend I’m in Warwick, Rhode Island for Comedy Zone… Friday and Saturday three shows… I won’t have to pack the car again until Sunday… It’s my first time performing in Rhode Island and my first time working for Comedy Zone… So though I’ll need a nap shortly before getting ready I thought I’d at least start a blog… Maybe it’ll be a “to be continued” weekend project???
Stopping in Schenectady, NY Wednesday night for a Comic Syndrome open mic at The Union Inn on my way to Rhode Island it was good to see some familiar faces…
The place was full and though most of the patrons weren’t there initially to see comedy… They paid surprisingly good attention to most of the show… It turned out to be a fun evening… One I certainly needed…
I titled this “Life Lessons from the Road” because spending a lot of time alone in my car lately has given me time to reflect on a lot of things… Sometimes the hardest lessons are the ones we learn about ourselves…
Especially during times of stress… Sometimes the stress may be only coming from inside us… Sometimes it’s outside forces and other pressures… Sometimes it’s a combination… How we respond to it will determine what we learn from it…
Long hours alone in the car eventually leave no where to hide from our thoughts… Honest reflection makes things painfully honest where a tune up is needed… It usually ain’t “the other guy” who needs it…
The Bible says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so he is.” I’m paraphrasing, but sometimes we need to remember to think about what is really important… Forgetting that sometimes opens the door to a lot of extra stress we don’t need… There’s enough out there already… And this is enough blog already…
Actually the path I was going to take this thought just detoured out of my head… So it must mean it is time for a pre-game nap, some exercise, a shave & shower… And its SHOWTIME!!!
I’ll be back later… Ya’ll come back later, too…
Friday, September 25, 2009
Saturday, September 12, 2009
The Wayne County Scream Your Head Off News!!!
Pultneyville – We interrupt your regularly scheduled day with this breaking news!!!
Emergency workers responding in Pultneyville today found themselves part of a grizzly scene… According to the lone survivor of the event… Five adults, three dogs and a cat were eaten alive by a two inch, crazed field mouse… The mouse is still on the loose and considered to be dangerous… Please exercise caution and be sure to scream loudly, if you happen to sight the renegade mouse…
The lone survivor of this horrific event… A Long Island woman named Alice, who saved herself by jumping onto a kitchen counter… Unable to reach the phone to call 911… She summoned emergency workers to her home by emitting the most blood-curdling scream heard in the history of Wayne County emergency services…
Taking a page from the fishermen at the nearby marina describing the fish that got away… The Long Island woman described the mouse as ten feet long, with glistening white teeth… “The better to eat you with, my dear”, she claimed the mouse had told her…
While not directly involved in the attack Alice’s husband suffered a mild heart attack upon hearing her screams… But is now resting comfortably behind a sound proof door…
Now back to the war in Afghanistan…
Emergency workers responding in Pultneyville today found themselves part of a grizzly scene… According to the lone survivor of the event… Five adults, three dogs and a cat were eaten alive by a two inch, crazed field mouse… The mouse is still on the loose and considered to be dangerous… Please exercise caution and be sure to scream loudly, if you happen to sight the renegade mouse…
The lone survivor of this horrific event… A Long Island woman named Alice, who saved herself by jumping onto a kitchen counter… Unable to reach the phone to call 911… She summoned emergency workers to her home by emitting the most blood-curdling scream heard in the history of Wayne County emergency services…
Taking a page from the fishermen at the nearby marina describing the fish that got away… The Long Island woman described the mouse as ten feet long, with glistening white teeth… “The better to eat you with, my dear”, she claimed the mouse had told her…
While not directly involved in the attack Alice’s husband suffered a mild heart attack upon hearing her screams… But is now resting comfortably behind a sound proof door…
Now back to the war in Afghanistan…
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Laughing with the Fishes
Slightly disappointed at the postponement to record my first full length DVD "Expecting Criticality @ Anytime"... The holiday weekend and the Ginna Station refueling outage making a significant dent in the prospective attendance... I spent last weekend celebrating the birth of another grandchild and enjoying some more of our late arriving summer weather... And look forward to rescheduling that show as soon as possible.
Reviewing and rehearsing material for the Sunday September 6th “Night of Stars” show out on my deck today, speaking against the gentle waves of Lake Ontario, I was reminded of Demosthenes (384-322B.C.), the famous Greek orator.
He had placed pebbles in his mouth and while standing on the cliffs of the Grecian seashore, practiced his oratory skills against the pounding waves of the Mediterranean Sea.
While I didn’t have any pebbles this morning, the bowl of Quaker Oatmeal Squares I’m sure proved to be a healthier cereal choice.
Rather than dying in prison or at the hands of his political enemies, Demosthene ended his life with suicide by poison in 322 B.C. asking his pursuers to let his body swim with the fishes rather than burying him.
Sunday’s show is almost sold out and I’m excited about the opportunity to be a part of this star-studded performance…
Obama’s Brown Shirts aren’t here to carry me away yet, so I’m not planning suicide…
But rehearing against the waves of Lake Ontario this morning was like fishing with dynamite… I was killing ‘em!!!
Reviewing and rehearsing material for the Sunday September 6th “Night of Stars” show out on my deck today, speaking against the gentle waves of Lake Ontario, I was reminded of Demosthenes (384-322B.C.), the famous Greek orator.
He had placed pebbles in his mouth and while standing on the cliffs of the Grecian seashore, practiced his oratory skills against the pounding waves of the Mediterranean Sea.
While I didn’t have any pebbles this morning, the bowl of Quaker Oatmeal Squares I’m sure proved to be a healthier cereal choice.
Rather than dying in prison or at the hands of his political enemies, Demosthene ended his life with suicide by poison in 322 B.C. asking his pursuers to let his body swim with the fishes rather than burying him.
Sunday’s show is almost sold out and I’m excited about the opportunity to be a part of this star-studded performance…
Obama’s Brown Shirts aren’t here to carry me away yet, so I’m not planning suicide…
But rehearing against the waves of Lake Ontario this morning was like fishing with dynamite… I was killing ‘em!!!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
I'm NOT a number!!!
Well, folks we’re winding down the summer and planning on ending it with a bang…
This Friday night at 9pm, I’m in Redfield, NY at The Reservoir Inn with Tom Myers, Ron Bender and Eric Kirkland…
Thursday, August 27th at 930pm I’ll be appearing at Chet Wild’s Comedy Showcase at The Comedy Club in Webster, NY… A comedy extravaganza of 15 comics including the return of Mike “The Pickle” Dambra to the Rochester comedy scene… Welcome home, Mike!!!
Then Saturday, August 29th at 9pm, I’ll be in North Rose, NY at Waypoint with Mike Burns and Cal Verduchi…
These shows promise to be a great time and outstanding lead-in for the Steve “The Nuclear Guy” Expecting Criticality @ Anytime DVD Bash… Sunday, September 6th 730pm at The Comedy Club in Webster, NY…
We’ll be producing my first full length DVD… We’re planning on a three-camera shoot, with plenty of audience reaction shots… So come on out and be a part of it… With Host Dan Maslyn plus Special Guests Tizo Maduro and Tim Shea… This show is sure to be a Nuclear Holocaust of Laughter…
I know my recent posts have been nothing more than a regurgitating of my upcoming calendar… I admit the grind of the road had stifled some of my creative juices for coming up with anything new… Instead the times I might have had to write I was content to mindlessly surf the Internet…
But I’m learning to take inspiration from where ever I can find it…
Yesterday, I got some… Though not necessarily positive inspiration, I will say considering the source, it’s not surprising it’s of the negative variety… There’s just always going to be people who just take themselves a little too seriously… Luckily, for the rest of the world… God created comedians to make fun of these miserable bags of wind…
But for now I’ll digress to set the stage for you…
When first discussing a date for my DVD Bash, I picked September 6th since it was to be the day after my 35th High School Reunion… Many of my high school classmates would be returning to the Rochester area for the Labor Day Holiday Weekend to attend the reunion and hopefully the DVD Bash as well…
Creating an event on Classmates.com I began promoting the show right along side the upcoming reunion… I also sent emails to those classmates I had an active email address for…
A few weeks ago, while touring the Midwest… I received a mass email from the reunion organizers that due to poor response the reunion had been cancelled… At the time I postulated that since it was our 35th reunion maybe too many of us were already dead… Some I think have never learned to live…
A few days ago another mass email arrived stating that some classmates were organizing an un-official reunion for the same night Saturday, September 5th at a local establishment in Greece, NY… Great!!! I replied I would plan on attending, also forwarding to all recipients a reminder about my DVD Bash the following day…
This included an email address specifically set up for classmates to connect with each other… Per the email contained below explaining that to me…
“Please do not send any more such emails to this address. It was not set up to provide support for your side line, it was designed so classmates had a central place to maintain connection with.“
John C.
Well, as I stated earlier God created comedians to make fun of miserable bags of wind who have never learned to live… So let me remind you, John that… One, I am/was a classmate… Two, I was making a connection… Three, sideline is one word… Sister Mary Miserable must have missed your knuckles with her ruler the day we learned to spell that word… Three, it’s not a sideline… It’s how I make my living… I’ve been on tour all over the country… While you’ve been in Rochester obviously feeling bitter and rotten…
I’m not a doctor… I’m not the President, so I don’t play one on TV… But they say laughter is the best medicine and personally you sound like someone who could use a good laugh…
I spent more than 20 years working at a career I came to despise… Until finally realizing I could waste a whole lifetime trying to be what I thought was expected of me, but I’d never be free…
A new sense of freedom came banging on my door that day… From deep down inside me… From somewhere in my past… A dream reached out and grabbed my completely and I knew what meant… I was happy to find out, even though late… I wasn’t just a number…
Life is bright in front, now… The dark is behind… Livin’ for the now that’s between the bridges and the signs… There’s still a long way to go… But while others dream and wish… This everything I officially need to know… Am I happy??? You bet I am!!!
When was the last time you saw a smile??? There’s a scream on every silent face wanting to be free… I bring a smile to those faces each and every day!!!
So don’t tell me what I do is wrong… Don’t preach ‘cuz you don’t know… ‘Cuz I was left without a chance such a short time ago… And anything is better than being battered and bruised…
So revel in your Catholic guilt… It won’t buy you heaven while making your life a hell…
God has given me my dream and told me to follow Him where the ice is so thin… So I’m not slowing down… ‘Cuz every second counts…
Have a great day… Every one of mine are wonderful, I wish the same for everybody!!! It’s never too late to learn to live and even miserable bags of wind need love, too…
Love,
Steve
This Friday night at 9pm, I’m in Redfield, NY at The Reservoir Inn with Tom Myers, Ron Bender and Eric Kirkland…
Thursday, August 27th at 930pm I’ll be appearing at Chet Wild’s Comedy Showcase at The Comedy Club in Webster, NY… A comedy extravaganza of 15 comics including the return of Mike “The Pickle” Dambra to the Rochester comedy scene… Welcome home, Mike!!!
Then Saturday, August 29th at 9pm, I’ll be in North Rose, NY at Waypoint with Mike Burns and Cal Verduchi…
These shows promise to be a great time and outstanding lead-in for the Steve “The Nuclear Guy” Expecting Criticality @ Anytime DVD Bash… Sunday, September 6th 730pm at The Comedy Club in Webster, NY…
We’ll be producing my first full length DVD… We’re planning on a three-camera shoot, with plenty of audience reaction shots… So come on out and be a part of it… With Host Dan Maslyn plus Special Guests Tizo Maduro and Tim Shea… This show is sure to be a Nuclear Holocaust of Laughter…
I know my recent posts have been nothing more than a regurgitating of my upcoming calendar… I admit the grind of the road had stifled some of my creative juices for coming up with anything new… Instead the times I might have had to write I was content to mindlessly surf the Internet…
But I’m learning to take inspiration from where ever I can find it…
Yesterday, I got some… Though not necessarily positive inspiration, I will say considering the source, it’s not surprising it’s of the negative variety… There’s just always going to be people who just take themselves a little too seriously… Luckily, for the rest of the world… God created comedians to make fun of these miserable bags of wind…
But for now I’ll digress to set the stage for you…
When first discussing a date for my DVD Bash, I picked September 6th since it was to be the day after my 35th High School Reunion… Many of my high school classmates would be returning to the Rochester area for the Labor Day Holiday Weekend to attend the reunion and hopefully the DVD Bash as well…
Creating an event on Classmates.com I began promoting the show right along side the upcoming reunion… I also sent emails to those classmates I had an active email address for…
A few weeks ago, while touring the Midwest… I received a mass email from the reunion organizers that due to poor response the reunion had been cancelled… At the time I postulated that since it was our 35th reunion maybe too many of us were already dead… Some I think have never learned to live…
A few days ago another mass email arrived stating that some classmates were organizing an un-official reunion for the same night Saturday, September 5th at a local establishment in Greece, NY… Great!!! I replied I would plan on attending, also forwarding to all recipients a reminder about my DVD Bash the following day…
This included an email address specifically set up for classmates to connect with each other… Per the email contained below explaining that to me…
“Please do not send any more such emails to this address. It was not set up to provide support for your side line, it was designed so classmates had a central place to maintain connection with.“
John C.
Well, as I stated earlier God created comedians to make fun of miserable bags of wind who have never learned to live… So let me remind you, John that… One, I am/was a classmate… Two, I was making a connection… Three, sideline is one word… Sister Mary Miserable must have missed your knuckles with her ruler the day we learned to spell that word… Three, it’s not a sideline… It’s how I make my living… I’ve been on tour all over the country… While you’ve been in Rochester obviously feeling bitter and rotten…
I’m not a doctor… I’m not the President, so I don’t play one on TV… But they say laughter is the best medicine and personally you sound like someone who could use a good laugh…
I spent more than 20 years working at a career I came to despise… Until finally realizing I could waste a whole lifetime trying to be what I thought was expected of me, but I’d never be free…
A new sense of freedom came banging on my door that day… From deep down inside me… From somewhere in my past… A dream reached out and grabbed my completely and I knew what meant… I was happy to find out, even though late… I wasn’t just a number…
Life is bright in front, now… The dark is behind… Livin’ for the now that’s between the bridges and the signs… There’s still a long way to go… But while others dream and wish… This everything I officially need to know… Am I happy??? You bet I am!!!
When was the last time you saw a smile??? There’s a scream on every silent face wanting to be free… I bring a smile to those faces each and every day!!!
So don’t tell me what I do is wrong… Don’t preach ‘cuz you don’t know… ‘Cuz I was left without a chance such a short time ago… And anything is better than being battered and bruised…
So revel in your Catholic guilt… It won’t buy you heaven while making your life a hell…
God has given me my dream and told me to follow Him where the ice is so thin… So I’m not slowing down… ‘Cuz every second counts…
Have a great day… Every one of mine are wonderful, I wish the same for everybody!!! It’s never too late to learn to live and even miserable bags of wind need love, too…
Love,
Steve
Friday, August 7, 2009
Road Blog
Ok, I’m going to try and get this written… It’s late and my eyes aren’t working too well… But I’ll try… I don’t even have a title for it yet and that’s usually what comes to me first…
Did the first night of an almost two week run of shows across the Midwest last night… After a 10and a half hour drive across western NY and the province of Ontario…I made it to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan… It’s funny what kind of things pop into your mind while you’re alone in the car for all that time…
Things came popping in and then out of my mouth while I was on stage that and it felt like damn that’s the way it’s supposed to happen… Luckily I was carrying a pen and paper… And quickly wrote them down when I got off stage…
I’m glad I’m not Amish… I spent ten and a half hours in the car to get here yesterday… I certainly don’t want to have to ever spend ten and a half hours in a buggy staring at a horse’s ass the whole way…
Yes, that’s the same thing my ex-wife said about being in the car with me…
Did the second show of this run tonight in Sault Ste. Marie… I’m pretty far north… Saw lots of signs that said, “Bridge may be icy.” No, shit!!! We know the roads are icy this far north in the wintertime… Despite the warnings of the global warming alarmists… I’m convinced they put those signs up to warn drivers about the chance of ice up here the rest of the year!!!
Okay, I’m not going to tell you all my new jokes… Come see a show!!!
Friday night is a travel night and I’m looking forward to my stop in Green Bay to see my sister in-law… My wife just visited last month… We’ll teach her to skip the family picnic again!!!
Well, I’m sitting on her front porch locked out of the house… She’s still at work… It’s raining but it’s a covered porch and comfortable… I’ll give her some shit about later… She was my favorite sister in-law after all…
Saturday night I’ll be in Milwaukee for two shows and I’m looking forward to meeting some other Natarelli’s… Contacted on facebook by someone with the same last name, we can’t figure out if we’re related… I don’t think so… But they are coming to the early show Saturday night… That’s kind of cool…
I’m working with a comic who grew up in Milwaukee, but who lives in Las Vegas now… Kathleen Dunbar… Very funny lady and she’s also picked us up another show for Sunday evening in southern Wisconsin with a comic friend of hers who books a room there… He asked her if she could bring a feature and I just happen to be open… Got to like it when that happens!!!
Still waiting to hear if I will get a spot on the Monday Zanies Showcase in Chicago…
Next Wednesday and Thursday I’ll be at Bogey’s in Cleveland for the Pro/Am night Wednesday and a guest spot Thursday… Couldn’t drive home through Cleveland without a stop there… If all goes well, it’ll mean real work there…
There are two up coming local shows in August… Friday the 21st at The Reservoir Inn in Redfield with Tom Myers, Ron Bender (both coming up from the Baltimore area) and Eric Kirkland coming in from Ohio… And Saturday the 29th at Waypoint Fine Food and Dining in North Rose with Syracuse’s own Mike Burns and New Jersey’s Cal Verduchi…
The summer will be wrapped up with a bang Labor Day weekend… I won’t be attending the second show at Jericho Joe’s Roadhouse in Chateaugay, NY… But I’ve booked them a kick ass show with Feature Mike “Mack” McKenna and Headliner Rick Carino, both from Connecticut… They are bringing along Sean Moran to act as MC and a bunch of their friends for the show…
I had hoped to be attending my 35th HS Reunion the following day, but that’s been cancelled… I hope it doesn’t mean too many of us are already dead…
Sunday September 6th I’ll be taping my first full length DVD “Expecting Criticality at Anytime” at The Comedy Club in Webster, NY… With MC Dan Maslyn, Ralph Teeta had originally been planning on being a part of this show, but a schedule change finds him replaced by Tizo Maduro and one other comic to fill in time and invite many friends before I headline the show.
The following Sunday I’ll be hosting a benefit for AIDS Rochester at The Comedy Club with Headliner and Bette Midler impersonator Donna Maxon, Cher impersonator Steven Andrade and Samantha Vega as Tina Turner… A good cause and a really interesting and fun evening it should be…
Sitting back reading this though I am left feeling I could have just posted my calendar…
Sorry it’s not more creative… Needless to say we’ve been busy… This years LUAU was another great success and Eileen and I have just celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary… Taking advantage of a cancellation that weekend we took in the Bob Nelson show at The Comedy Club… Reliving what turned out to be our first date at the old Comix Café… It was a night of good, hard and clean belly laughs… Bob is truly an amazing performer.
It was great to see family and friends turn out for the LUAU especially some of the smiling faces I’ve missed from the R. E. Ginna Nuclear power plant… Mary and Sean visiting from NYC and another sister in-law visiting from California…
Thanks to everyone who showed up to help make it a success…A special kudos to Ralph Tetta for his marathon man driving prowess to make it back into town on time to get him and his family out to the party… You can check his blog for that story…
Okay, my battery is almost dead as I still sit on the front porch apparently stealing a wireless signal from somewhere… So I better get this posted…
See ya!!!
Did the first night of an almost two week run of shows across the Midwest last night… After a 10and a half hour drive across western NY and the province of Ontario…I made it to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan… It’s funny what kind of things pop into your mind while you’re alone in the car for all that time…
Things came popping in and then out of my mouth while I was on stage that and it felt like damn that’s the way it’s supposed to happen… Luckily I was carrying a pen and paper… And quickly wrote them down when I got off stage…
I’m glad I’m not Amish… I spent ten and a half hours in the car to get here yesterday… I certainly don’t want to have to ever spend ten and a half hours in a buggy staring at a horse’s ass the whole way…
Yes, that’s the same thing my ex-wife said about being in the car with me…
Did the second show of this run tonight in Sault Ste. Marie… I’m pretty far north… Saw lots of signs that said, “Bridge may be icy.” No, shit!!! We know the roads are icy this far north in the wintertime… Despite the warnings of the global warming alarmists… I’m convinced they put those signs up to warn drivers about the chance of ice up here the rest of the year!!!
Okay, I’m not going to tell you all my new jokes… Come see a show!!!
Friday night is a travel night and I’m looking forward to my stop in Green Bay to see my sister in-law… My wife just visited last month… We’ll teach her to skip the family picnic again!!!
Well, I’m sitting on her front porch locked out of the house… She’s still at work… It’s raining but it’s a covered porch and comfortable… I’ll give her some shit about later… She was my favorite sister in-law after all…
Saturday night I’ll be in Milwaukee for two shows and I’m looking forward to meeting some other Natarelli’s… Contacted on facebook by someone with the same last name, we can’t figure out if we’re related… I don’t think so… But they are coming to the early show Saturday night… That’s kind of cool…
I’m working with a comic who grew up in Milwaukee, but who lives in Las Vegas now… Kathleen Dunbar… Very funny lady and she’s also picked us up another show for Sunday evening in southern Wisconsin with a comic friend of hers who books a room there… He asked her if she could bring a feature and I just happen to be open… Got to like it when that happens!!!
Still waiting to hear if I will get a spot on the Monday Zanies Showcase in Chicago…
Next Wednesday and Thursday I’ll be at Bogey’s in Cleveland for the Pro/Am night Wednesday and a guest spot Thursday… Couldn’t drive home through Cleveland without a stop there… If all goes well, it’ll mean real work there…
There are two up coming local shows in August… Friday the 21st at The Reservoir Inn in Redfield with Tom Myers, Ron Bender (both coming up from the Baltimore area) and Eric Kirkland coming in from Ohio… And Saturday the 29th at Waypoint Fine Food and Dining in North Rose with Syracuse’s own Mike Burns and New Jersey’s Cal Verduchi…
The summer will be wrapped up with a bang Labor Day weekend… I won’t be attending the second show at Jericho Joe’s Roadhouse in Chateaugay, NY… But I’ve booked them a kick ass show with Feature Mike “Mack” McKenna and Headliner Rick Carino, both from Connecticut… They are bringing along Sean Moran to act as MC and a bunch of their friends for the show…
I had hoped to be attending my 35th HS Reunion the following day, but that’s been cancelled… I hope it doesn’t mean too many of us are already dead…
Sunday September 6th I’ll be taping my first full length DVD “Expecting Criticality at Anytime” at The Comedy Club in Webster, NY… With MC Dan Maslyn, Ralph Teeta had originally been planning on being a part of this show, but a schedule change finds him replaced by Tizo Maduro and one other comic to fill in time and invite many friends before I headline the show.
The following Sunday I’ll be hosting a benefit for AIDS Rochester at The Comedy Club with Headliner and Bette Midler impersonator Donna Maxon, Cher impersonator Steven Andrade and Samantha Vega as Tina Turner… A good cause and a really interesting and fun evening it should be…
Sitting back reading this though I am left feeling I could have just posted my calendar…
Sorry it’s not more creative… Needless to say we’ve been busy… This years LUAU was another great success and Eileen and I have just celebrated our fourth wedding anniversary… Taking advantage of a cancellation that weekend we took in the Bob Nelson show at The Comedy Club… Reliving what turned out to be our first date at the old Comix Café… It was a night of good, hard and clean belly laughs… Bob is truly an amazing performer.
It was great to see family and friends turn out for the LUAU especially some of the smiling faces I’ve missed from the R. E. Ginna Nuclear power plant… Mary and Sean visiting from NYC and another sister in-law visiting from California…
Thanks to everyone who showed up to help make it a success…A special kudos to Ralph Tetta for his marathon man driving prowess to make it back into town on time to get him and his family out to the party… You can check his blog for that story…
Okay, my battery is almost dead as I still sit on the front porch apparently stealing a wireless signal from somewhere… So I better get this posted…
See ya!!!
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
One Day on the Farm...
One spring day as a farmer was loading his prize ewe into the back of his truck, his young son asked him what he intended to do. Recognizing this as an opportunity for one of life's lessons, the farmer explained, "Well, Jimmy, the farmer down the road has a prize ram. So I'm taking the ewe there to get it served." Still too young to fully understand, Jimmy said,"OK dad, thanks."
A few days later the farmer was loading a cow into the back of the truck, when little Jimmy happened by again. "Where you taking the cow dad?" asked Jimmy. "The farmer down the road has a prize bull, so I'm taking the cow there to be served."
Again this satisfied Jimmy's curiosity and he happily ran off to shoot porcupines.
Once again a few days later while the farmer was loading his sow into the truck, Jimmy asked again. "Where ya goin' now, dad?" He answered, "The farmer across town has a prize boar and I'm taking the sow to be served."
Finally Jimmy asked "What's that all mean, dad?" So the farmer sat down in the barnyard and explained all the facts of life to little Jimmy. When he finished, he asked, "So now do you have anymore questions."
To which little Jimmy replied, "So when a politician says, "Send me to Washington to serve you." Now I know what he really means!!!"
A few days later the farmer was loading a cow into the back of the truck, when little Jimmy happened by again. "Where you taking the cow dad?" asked Jimmy. "The farmer down the road has a prize bull, so I'm taking the cow there to be served."
Again this satisfied Jimmy's curiosity and he happily ran off to shoot porcupines.
Once again a few days later while the farmer was loading his sow into the truck, Jimmy asked again. "Where ya goin' now, dad?" He answered, "The farmer across town has a prize boar and I'm taking the sow to be served."
Finally Jimmy asked "What's that all mean, dad?" So the farmer sat down in the barnyard and explained all the facts of life to little Jimmy. When he finished, he asked, "So now do you have anymore questions."
To which little Jimmy replied, "So when a politician says, "Send me to Washington to serve you." Now I know what he really means!!!"
Thursday, July 16, 2009
Sensitive Mentoring
Another Oldie, but Goodie... I had forgotten I wrote... Finding a link to www.togetherweserved.com on facebook the other day... I signed up and posted a profile with service dates and locations, etc... Today I received this email... It was a nice surprise.
Steve
I was one of your students in 1985 ... I was thrown out of checkouts, run time, and interviews with you more than once or twice. But you never gave up on me ... THANK YOU!
MCPO(Ret)
I removed the name, for those that don't know the designation is Master Chief Petty Officer (Retired)... He did 22years...
He's not the subject of this story, but it probably occured during the same time frame...
Nostalgia, sometimes it's funny when it strikes. Since everyone I work with on a fairly regular basis has the same ex-Navy background, there are many of us who also shared duty stations together. So the stories are very regularly preceded with " Do you remember when…?".
Having been at this job now for more than 18 years, one accumulates a good deal of what is known as "tribal knowledge". It's the knowledge of experience and a lot of it's been learned the "hard way".
Part of an aging work force, we are now being asked to train some new employees. Fresh out of a six year hitch in the Navy, they're in their fuzzy faced mid-twenties. Young enough to be sons to some of us who have been here for a while. But I think that sounds better than saying, some of us are old enough to be their dad.
Corporate buzz words also being a big thing these days, "training" has been replaced with "coaching". Reflecting better the "kinder & gentler" training model that is used these days. "Coddling" might sometimes be a better description, though that may betray the dry and crusty sea salt that still flavors my way of doing things.
I spent some time coaching this evening within ear shot of another almost as old, "old salt". Dave sat mesmerized as he listened me to coach a new member of the operations department. As I glanced up at him silently taking it all in, I knew what he was thinking. A smile crossed both our faces as he said to the new operator, "I remember when Steve coached me. He wasn't this nice, then."
Laughing, he shared the now more than 20 year old story. We were both still in the Navy, I had spent four years aboard a submarine in San Diego and had returned to the Nuclear Power Training Unit in Ballston Spa, NY as an instructor. Dave was one of my students, 19 years old and full of himself.
Coming to see me one day to discuss the operation of a shipboard steam system, I started by asking him to draw a working diagram of the system. Moving on to various components and their respective functions and finally to their location in the plant. We would have gone on past that, but this is where Dave needed some "coaching".
Where's valve AS-12? I asked.
"Right here, I labeled it", Dave answered confidently.
"No shit. Where is it in the plant?"
"I don't need to know that", Dave answered defiantly.
"Don't tell me what you need to know and what you don't!"
"But it's not in my qual standard, I don't need to know that", Dave added somewhat defensively.
"My f-in' signature isn't in there yet, either and it won't be until you come back here with the g-ddamn answers! Now get the hell out of here and find them. I have to go back to sea when I leave here and some moron like you isn't going to get me killed, when I get there!"
Twenty some years later, we laugh now remembering the hail of chalk and erasers that chased him from the room.
"You're getting too old for this, Steve".
Almost a month and a half into these 12hour midnight shifts, all I could do was agree. "I know am, Dave. I know. Now shut the f-up!" I said as we laughed. "You'll make the kid think I was being easy on him."
Steve
I was one of your students in 1985 ... I was thrown out of checkouts, run time, and interviews with you more than once or twice. But you never gave up on me ... THANK YOU!
MCPO(Ret)
I removed the name, for those that don't know the designation is Master Chief Petty Officer (Retired)... He did 22years...
He's not the subject of this story, but it probably occured during the same time frame...
Nostalgia, sometimes it's funny when it strikes. Since everyone I work with on a fairly regular basis has the same ex-Navy background, there are many of us who also shared duty stations together. So the stories are very regularly preceded with " Do you remember when…?".
Having been at this job now for more than 18 years, one accumulates a good deal of what is known as "tribal knowledge". It's the knowledge of experience and a lot of it's been learned the "hard way".
Part of an aging work force, we are now being asked to train some new employees. Fresh out of a six year hitch in the Navy, they're in their fuzzy faced mid-twenties. Young enough to be sons to some of us who have been here for a while. But I think that sounds better than saying, some of us are old enough to be their dad.
Corporate buzz words also being a big thing these days, "training" has been replaced with "coaching". Reflecting better the "kinder & gentler" training model that is used these days. "Coddling" might sometimes be a better description, though that may betray the dry and crusty sea salt that still flavors my way of doing things.
I spent some time coaching this evening within ear shot of another almost as old, "old salt". Dave sat mesmerized as he listened me to coach a new member of the operations department. As I glanced up at him silently taking it all in, I knew what he was thinking. A smile crossed both our faces as he said to the new operator, "I remember when Steve coached me. He wasn't this nice, then."
Laughing, he shared the now more than 20 year old story. We were both still in the Navy, I had spent four years aboard a submarine in San Diego and had returned to the Nuclear Power Training Unit in Ballston Spa, NY as an instructor. Dave was one of my students, 19 years old and full of himself.
Coming to see me one day to discuss the operation of a shipboard steam system, I started by asking him to draw a working diagram of the system. Moving on to various components and their respective functions and finally to their location in the plant. We would have gone on past that, but this is where Dave needed some "coaching".
Where's valve AS-12? I asked.
"Right here, I labeled it", Dave answered confidently.
"No shit. Where is it in the plant?"
"I don't need to know that", Dave answered defiantly.
"Don't tell me what you need to know and what you don't!"
"But it's not in my qual standard, I don't need to know that", Dave added somewhat defensively.
"My f-in' signature isn't in there yet, either and it won't be until you come back here with the g-ddamn answers! Now get the hell out of here and find them. I have to go back to sea when I leave here and some moron like you isn't going to get me killed, when I get there!"
Twenty some years later, we laugh now remembering the hail of chalk and erasers that chased him from the room.
"You're getting too old for this, Steve".
Almost a month and a half into these 12hour midnight shifts, all I could do was agree. "I know am, Dave. I know. Now shut the f-up!" I said as we laughed. "You'll make the kid think I was being easy on him."
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