A Dress Code Even a Bowling Shirt Would Fail

If any of my kids ever got in trouble at school over policy that I disagreed with, I would hope I would stand up for them. My ex-wife once got into a heated argument with a school official for defending our son for pushing a kid in the snow - a kid who had been picking on our daughter, if I recall correctly. She showed more gall than I would have, but I doubt either of us would go anywhere near where the parent in this story did: http://www.kcra.com/news/29018987/detail.html

From the article, the parent, Pami Gibbs, was "accused of making references to ethnicity during the attack on Fillmore Elementary Principal Evangelina Ramos. Gibbs is white, and Ramos is a Latina.

"Assistant Superintendent Dan Wright said Gibbs became upset Monday morning when Ramos said the 29-year-old woman's son couldn't wear a T-shirt with skulls on it. According to witnesses, Gibbs suddenly began punching Ramos in the face."

Racial slurs, nope. Punches, nope. But is it a silly rule? You betcha (in my best Minnesota Nice), at least if it's one of those "zero tolerance" rules.

I haven't read Minnesota School District 196's bylaws yet, but when my son enters Kindergarten a week from today, I'm not sure I'll be dressing him up in the bowling shirt (yes, bowling shirt) I bought him in Reno this past May.

Here he is yesterday, proudly wearing it. Destined to become a hoodlum, no?













You know, now that I think of it, I wouldn't put it past either my ex- or current wife for doing what that one parent allegedly did, depending on the circumstances.

Bully for me

Bullies and bullying are more at the center of our society's conscience than I can ever remember. I read a very interesting bulletin board discussion the other day on the topic. What was fascinating to me was the variety of stories the posters shared of them being bullied.

I found several other things interesting, such as the differences in their stories and my own experiences. I was an easy target, and got treated meanly by many people. I wouldn't wish some of that on anyone, except for three people perhaps; the only three whom I really consider to be bullies of mine in my younger years (two from Junior High, one actually from when I was 18). Oh, there were plenty of mean things done by many, and some real jerks whom I won't soon forget. But nothing like these three, even if they really don't deserve my ire today.

I found it interesting how many posters to the thread knew the whereabouts, and in many cases, the stories of the demise of their personal bullies. It almost made me wonder if they weren't making up the stories to create their own happy endings. I have no idea what happened to my bullies. None are on Facebook, as far as I can tell. One still lives in the Twin Cities I think.

Of all the meanness I experienced, I harbor almost no resentment to the majority of the individuals who caused it. There are only these three exceptions. It goes against so much of what I stand for, but if I met any of them today, and I had at least a couple of beers in me, I might just pick a fight.

No, I wouldn't. But I might try to intimidate just to see how they'd react. They'd either show a newly found respect, seeing how I'd grown up physically and am no longer at a disadvantage, or they'd throw the first punch. I don't know how I'd respond to the latter, being that I wouldn't want to lose a job (or a lawsuit) over a grudge fight. Perhaps I'd pull a Felix Unger and say, "Look, let's settle this like gentleman. Let's meet at a boxing gym, and spar three rounds; may the better man win." Yeah, that's what I'd probably do...seriously. (Remember that Odd Couple episode?)

All that said, the picking on even these bullies gave me paled in comparison to some of the stories I read on that bulletin board. Perhaps I should consider myself lucky that I grew up in a relatively tame environment. Perhaps not, if it's the bullying that contributed some to what I am today.

Bruce Springsteen once said (paraphrasing from memory), "The first time I could even stand looking at myself was when I held a guitar." I can relate a little, only mine is after I started putting on a little muscle tone. I have no doubt the bullying had something to do with that, and while I currently have a spare tire to take care of after I hit a few lifting goals, I know that will always be somewhat true.

As long as I am physically able, I will be hitting the iron, even though the bullies become even further away in my past.

Snide Remarks a la Reader's Digest

Good heavens, it's been a while since I've posted. There are so many things about which I could write a complete post, some on subject matters about which I have previously written, and others not, but knowing that I probably won't get around to writing about every one of them, I'll "bulletize" as we like to say excessively in the corporate world.

• My trek to a 315-lb. bench press is still on schedule, as on my most recent workout last Friday, I did 12 reps of 225 lbs., which according to at least one of many sources, equates to a maximum one-rep press of 312 (http://www.muscleandstrength.com/tools/bench-press-calculator.html).


• I am now able to close the 150# hand gripper with either hand (I'm not sure if I said I could do this before; if I did, I was lying).


• Michelle Bachmann is as guano crazy as ever.


• I haven't been too rough on umpires this year (it gets old), but I saw a horrible balls-and-strikes umpire at the Little League World Series qualifying game between Northern and Southern California the other day. I would be surprised if you couldn't find him on YouTube by now.


• I once learned, I think, that you are not supposed to put a period at the end of a bulleted thought. Well, sometimes your bulleted thought needs more than one sentence, and thus really should have the second sentence end with one. So for the sake of consistency, I use periods, unless every one of my bullet points is merely a phrase, and not a complete sentence.


• With my wife, today I finalized my first-ever new car purchase, a 2011 Honda Odyssey EX-L. I'm a "Get me from Point A to Point B" kind of guy when it comes to cars, so this was out of character for me. But the .9% financing, plus the fact that my wife got a nice raise with her new job, made for only a slightly ill stomach on my ride home. I'll be much more at ease after the 60 months are up.


• My wife's new job is at Thomson Reuters, where we met, and where she left to pursue her dream job in Radiology. That makes two of us who left T-R to pursue dream jobs in a field that starts with "Radio," only to return to the perceived security at 610 Opperman Drive.


• More than ever, I'm getting bitter about not having stuck it out in Radio. Hearing 75% of the announcers involved in Minnesota Twins broadcasts does nothing to cure my bitterness. Being involved in Twins broadcasts was my dream job of all dream jobs.


• I'm pretty proud of my oldest son for passing his driver's test on the first try. That's one thing he can always say he did better than his old man.


• Pretty cool reaction tonight by the Detroit Tigers' fans after Jim Thome's 600th career home run.


• See, that last bullet was not a complete sentence, and thus probably did not need a period, but for all of these other complete sentences.