Power of Words

I received an e-mail this morning with a video from Cannes about the power of words. This video won the NFB Online Competition, Cannes 2008. The name of this video is "Historia de un Letrero (The Story of a Sign)" by Alonso Alvarez Barreda. The web site describes the film like this "With a stroke of the pen, a stranger transforms the afternoon for another man." I would describe this as, "when someone is in need, do not do the easy task, but imagine the bigger picture and how it can affect the turnout of the day."

There are days where you feel like everything is going wrong or not so well. Think of the situation through the eyes of another and see how you can turn the day around. There are also times when you see someone in need, do not do the simple task that that many of us do, but think of another way to help the person. These other tasks could be as simple as dropping some pocket change into a person's bucket, but will just take a little more time to envision and implement.

God gives us options, which we sometimes choose the wrong one. He gives us the choice of direction, and everyone has chosen at least one wrong route. I am one of these people who have gone the wrong direction at times, but it made me a stronger person. The choices I have made helped me grow into the person I am today. There have been people along the way that have helped me change my sign, and in turn, have helped me change my life. Those people have done more for me then they probably think they have. They are not all friends, although, my true friends have stood next to me through it all. They are not all family, even though my family has loved me no matter what. There is one person that isn’t even an acquaintance and I didn’t even know their name, but they took the time to change my sign and in turn change my life. Thank you to all who have stood next to me and who have loved me. You have all changed my life and helped me straighten things out.

It is weird how one short film can make a person think of all this, however, I am glad it happened today. Let me know what your thoughts are on this film and how it made you feel.

Colorado Rockies and 2008

So, at the beginning of the season, everyone was excited to buy Rockies tickets. Pumped up as for the first time in Colorado, we had a baseball team who were coming back to play a season known as the National League Champions. The first week of baseball was quite the show: Opening Day, presentation of the rings, presentation of the pennant, all the giveaways (shirts, hats, posters, etc.), all the people, etc. The atmosphere was amazing, however, no where close to last years playoffs, but what can you expect.

That said, unless you live under a rock or in a hole, you know exactly how the year is going. Either hear say from a conversation you over heard or one of those awkward quick conversations that happen at a bus stop, in line at the grocery store, in the elevator, etc. You might have read about it, in the news paper, Sports Illustrated, online somewhere. You might have heard about what has been happening on the radio or on television. Or, if you are like myself and all of my friends, you have a large grasp on what is going on and also questioning the decisions of the leadership in the Rockies organization. We have been losing...a lot! I wonder if they are having a problem with "jammed eyelids", lack of a "Live rooster because Jose's glove is cursed" or possibly, no one knows "what to buy Millie or Jimmy for their wedding present." I don't know what it is but it needs to change.

We were swept by the Phillies and out scored 33-10 in three games (with thew first game ending at 20-5). The Cubs just swept the four-game set and now hold the best record in the National League. Our starting pitching has not been the greatest, our relievers cannot hold onto a lead, and where are the bats. I don't understand what the problem is "This is a simple game: You throw the ball, you hit the ball, you catch the ball." (Bull Durham). For a team who plays in Colorado and the "thin air" (which I will admit, I am the last person to say we have great hitters because of the "thin air" - mostly because in high school I only hit 7 home runs in this so called "thin air") it is hard to understand how the bats are so silent, especially at Coors Field.

We now have a lot of Triple-A players starting for us because of injuries, and I wasn't expecting to see a lot of these names until September when the roster expands for the playoff run. I think Hurdle needs to give a speech to these guys.

Now I am not saying that I don't think we can pull out of this. I am not saying I am going to stop believing and am no longer going to watch the games. What I want to know is, with everyone buying tickets at the beginning of the year and excited for Rockies-Mania, where did you all go? My group has 10 tickets for every Tuesday game throughout the season. We have not missed a game yet and I doubt anyone will. We were at Opening Day and the Sunday game after. We attended the Twins Saturday and Sunday games. Out of our group, there has not been an empty seat, however, every game we go to, we keep seeing more and more empty seats in the stadium. If you are not a Rockies fan, I understand you only buy tickets for your team when they come to town. If you are not a baseball fan, why did you buy tickets in the first place? If you bought tickets, why are you not going to the game? If you want to waste money, I will make a special bank account for you to deposit it into so my friends and I can use it to buy more tickets because we are true fans of the game.

The Rocky Mountain News has "Win, Lose or Drew" in the front of the Sports page everyday. And just the other day was the perfect explanation of the fans this season.



We all know that Colorado has the largest population of "Fair Weather Fans" that have no loyalty to the professional teams in Colorado. The Rockies have 4 months and over 100 games left to play. If you seriously think it is impossible for them to get back into this thing, then keep staying home.

However, I have a couple of quotes that fit in this situation right now:

For all the Rockies players out there, here is one from the Bad News Bears - "Listen, Lupus, you didn't come into this life just to sit around on a dugout bench, did ya? Now get your ass out there and do the best you can."

As for all of you fans of the game, you will enjoy this and I believe this to be true. Lou Brown from Major League - "Ya know, when I first got to camp I figured this team had no chance. I was just hopin' we'd win enough that I could stay on and really start to build something here. But there's a lotta talent on this club, Charlie. The veterans are starting to play back to form and the rookies are developing faster than I thought. There's two or three potential all-stars in there. I think we're a first division team right now."

So that said, lets support the team and see if we can turn this one around!

Join the golf tournament

The Frank Edmonson Foundation proudly invites you to the Fifth Annual Frank Edmonson Scholarship Fund Golf Tournament.

Proceeds from the tournament and other fundraising efforts of the foundation support the Frank Edmonson Scholarship for Sound Engineering at Metropolitan State College of Denver.

When: Saturday, July 12th, 8:00 a.m., shotgun start
Where: West Woods Golf Course in Arvada, Colorado (http://www.westwoodsgolf.com)

Please contact me for an entry form: Augie Maestas, augie.maestas@gmail.com I have the form as a PDF that I can send you.

Join us as a golfer at the tournament, no matter what your handicap/skill level; there is room for everyone. Tournament fees this year remain at $100. We are continuing our popular silent auction at the post-tournament party, to raise additional funds for the scholarship.

A couple of additional twists this year:
Frank loved Hawaiian shirts so we will be having a "Best Hawaiian Shirt Contest" with the best shirt being awarded a prize.

Other ways to help:
Sponsor a hole: Sponsorships are available for $100. Hole sponsors will be recognized on a tee box, as well as on all printed materials.

Donate an item to the silent auction: All donations are tax deductible, and an in-kind gift receipt will be provided.

Make a monetary donation: All donations are tax deductible, and a donation receipt will be provided.

We continue to award the scholarship each year in Frank's name to deserving music students. Thanks to you we have increased the annual award each of the last three years and will continue to do so as the endowment grows! We are well on our way to being able to proved a full tuition scholarship.

Frank’s life was dedicated to helping people. Through the foundation and with your support, he continues to help people.

Thank you for your support of this fine cause!

Web: http://www.frankedmonson.org/bio.shtml

Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

So I was sitting around the lunch/meeting/production/etc. table in our office eating my pizza with some co-workers shooting the breeze. You know what I am talking about, normal lunch time conversation with subjects such as: what did you do over the weekend, what are your plans this week, what are you eating, did you hear on the news..., etc. (I obviously love using .etc, which shows I am lazy and don't want to keep writing a list of things for you or it could show you that I know your time is valuable and I don't want to waste it by having you read a list of nothing because you already get the point). During the conversation (which is mostly based on the Mormon group that had been raided in Texas a couple weeks ago) about what we heard in the news, someone says "Hey, have you heard of the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster (FSM)?" After the shock, laughter and brainstorming of other portions of the religion that we think there might be - we get serious and he actually tells us a little about it. He gives me the web site (http://www.venganza.org/), which of course I have to peruse to see what the hell is going on. There is a whole web site on what the religion is all about. You can purchase the FSM bible through Amazon in paperback or hardback. This may not be a serious thing, however, it has my attention and I am going to waste the rest of the day on this web site laughing my butt off. You should too!!

Enjoy the photos also and have a great day!

Perfect Game

So I went to go watch my nephew’s Little League game. He is a 3 bag and a pitcher, and yesterday he was on the bump. I was sitting there more worried about his batting because he is a big kid (5′6″, 160) and should be dropping bombs on those 215′ fields. Half way through the game I realized that the other team has not had a hit the whole game. Then I started thinking harder, which those of you who know me is a site to see as it hurts my head to think, and I realized that there had not been a base runner either. I didn’t say anything, as you all know that would mess it all up, and just kept watching the game. After the game I went to the score keeper and asked to see the book…and sure enough, my nephew, Mathew Gordan Maestas, had thrown his first (and I am sure not his last) PERFECT game!

I love baseball!

And Flick, God was definitely watching baseball last night!

Work

So here i am, sitting at work listening to people complain about everything they have to do today, and I am writing a blog! Awesome right, I think so, even though I have quite a bit on my plate to do.

I just finished reading my sister's blog about my nephew picking a fight with a bigger and old kid, then getting beat up. This reminds me of a story back in kindergarten as well as when I was in 2nd grade. 1st kindergarten, so I remember being at recess and some older kids were picking on someone from my class. I don't remember saying anything just watching and the older kids turned and headed toward me. Said it was nice of me to stick up for my friend (which he was not my friend and I beat this kid up until the 5th grade because of this story) and punched me in the face. End of story, I cried all the way back to class.

In 2nd grade, another 5th grader decided to pick on me. He was yelling at me and pushing me. I tried to hit him, but as soon as I turned around, there was a fist in my face. None the less he jumped on me and kept hitting me. When he was done I walked home with a bleeding nose. Mom asked me what happened when I got home and I told her I was running home and tripped on the front porch step, hit my face against the screen door. She never knew about the fight.

Thanks for reading my stories of getting beat up! now on to the real news -

So Mexico is 63 days away. Very excited and cannot wait to get the hell out of here. There have been some moments of greatness from the Rockies, however, they are struggling to get started this season. The great thing about baseball is, there is always tomorrow...until Sept. So even though the beginning of the season is a struggle, we have more to think about with the way the Avalanche are playing. Can you believe how great of a series this has been for the Ave's? First three games ended with a score of 3-2 and all three games went into Overtime! Awesome, then last nights game was fantastic with the Ave's taking a 5-0 lead into the 3rd period and then all the fights (speaking of fights from above) WOW. So they play again on Thursday and I am very excited to see how the teams react after how aggressive the 3rd period was last night.

So I am done for the day, I bid you all ado until the next time!

Spring + Baseball = Awesome

Baseball season is finally here in 7 days. This has been a shorter off-season because the great "Rockies Run of 2007" took the fans into late October. The Rockies have finally decided on the rotation: Francis, Cook, Jimenez, Morales and Redman. They have also decided who will start the season at 2nd Base: Jayson Nix.

After talking to the Morning Baseball Chatter group (which I made the name up this morning but we have been doing this for quite some time now) we only have one problem..."Who is going to be Taveras' back-up in Center Field?" Can you believe it? After all these years of saying "This is our year" and thinking "What are we going to look like at the All-Star break" knowing very well that we will be out of the playoff running in August; we actually can say "This is our year" and mean it.

Years before during Spring Training and all the way to June, we were still trying to figure out who all these new young players are and how to say names like Tulowitzki and Yorvit Torrealba. This year we know who the starting line-up is, we know who is in the rotation and bullpen, heck...we know the songs played when they come to bat not only for the starting line-up, but for Spilly too!! All year, even at different sporting events, when we hear the "Let's Go" chant, we say "TULO". I get excited for baseball every year, but with more friends to talk to about baseball and with how the Rockies ended last season, I feel like I am more excited this year then any year before.

More to come as I have tickets to 14 games starting on the best day of the year, Rockies Home Opener on April 4th!!