Happy New Year!!

Happy Freakin’ New Year!

I hope for all of you that 2008 is a great year and brings you all the “righteous desires of your heart”.

In the coming year, if you read or visit my blog please leave a comment. If nothing else your name and where you’re from. I see a lot of unknown hits and would like to know if it’s someone other than my family. Tell me if something made you laugh, made you mad, made you cry or made you simply say, “What an idiot this guy is!”

I know this is lame but I feel I need to put my new year’s resolutions in writing. I know each of us want to improve in some area of our life or accomplish something bigger or better this year. I know mine are so massive I don’t even know where to start. The key is starting, so writing them down is a start.

I am of the age and the wisdom that I understand accomplishing these things isn’t rocket science. It’s not about being lucky or smarter than everyone else. It’s simply discipline and setting short and long term goals. It’s really about discipline, belief in myself, and faith. I need to increase all three of these traits this year. Those perhaps, are the real resolutions. Everything else will happen as a result of an increase there. Here’s the list:


This is the most lame of all … DIET! LOSE WEIGHT! – I managed to drop 50lbs last year from June to Oct. Then managed to put 15 back on. Maybe I am an idiot! But I proved I could do it. The goal is 100 lbs from where I am today. Yesterday was the last undisciplined day. At east today I have taken my magic pill, had my breakfast drink and have consumed another 20 oz of water and it’s only 10AM. I’ve already had to pee 3 times. It must be working.

BE HAPPY! I realize no one can make me unhappy. I have to decide to be unhappy/happy myself. So I will decide to be contagiously happy.

WRITE. Finish my book. Make a daily writing commitment.

READ. Read the Scriptures daily and constantly be involved in a good book.

TAKE TWO NICE VACATIONS! I want to go on a cruise this year and I want to take a road trip to church history sites. A long weekend or two in California or Vegas is in order too!

WORK SMARTER. The hours I worked last year were outrageous, that needs to change significantly.

The biggest goal I have this year is to let Marian quit her job and buy her a new car. I know this is a simple function of accomplishing the "discipline, belief and faith" issue.

That’s it! I’m going to try and adopt Presidents Hinckley’s watchword and motto:

“Do the very best you can”

That's all any of us can do.

Led Zeppelin ROCKS!

For anyone who grew up as a teenager in the 60's Rock and Roll is a vital part of that experience and memory. We remember the British invasion of the Beatles, Stones, Turtles - easy listening rock with a catchy melody and cute romantic lyrics, albeit the Stones pushed the envelope of acceptable earthiness of the times. The protest rock; Dylan, Donovan, Baez. Then the evolution of drug- culture rock; Buffalo Springfield, The Byrds, Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, The Grateful Dead. But there is one rock band that really gets me. The one whose music stirs the dark side of my soul like no other; LED ZEPPELIN. I don't know the names of all the Zeppelin songs. I am not a groupie and frankly don't own any of their albums, 8 tracks, cassettes or CD's. I don't have an old Zeppelin poster from the wall of my teenage room rolled up in the trunk in the garage. All I have is the memory of the songs, the places and feelings their music evokes in me. I guess at my age I should be writing about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the inspiration of the church hymns. Sorry! One of my daughters told me she enjoys reading my blogs simply because it gives her a glimpse of how the real Rick Black thinks and ticks. Not "Dad". Zeppelin makes Rick Black tick. Zeppelin is the music of choice for an adrenaline rush, the war cry to that "get me off my ass and do something" feeling. If you let it, some of Zeppelins music can pull you down to the depths of sadness and depression with it's slow, woeful, bluesy drone. Mostly it makes me want to run and speed and conquer!

I had the opportunity to see Page and Plant in concert a few years ago. I took my 4 oldest children. I don't think my kids appreciated what they were seeing. Page and Plant played a couple of the Zeppelin songs. We were down close to the right side of the stage and could see their faces and expressions. They are old men. They have complexions of rock stars with a lot of hard miles, they are not my hero's. But at one point Jimmy Page looked me right in the eye and smiled. It was so cool! Jimmy Page is is the God of Guitarists. No one can do what Jimmy does.

Last night Zeppelin played a benefit concert in London at the 02 Arena. In reading the commentaries it appears they still have the magic. I am sure the critics will take occasion to rip them for their age and diminishing vocal range and passion of youth. It won't be a critic from my age. A younger critic simply won't get it. What Zeppelin really is to people. It's not whether Plant can wail like he did in his twenties and thirties. It's not whether Page can hit all the notes in his signature riffs. It's not whether Jason Bonham has that unique rhythmic genetic link to his late father John. This is LED ZEPPELIN. One of the greatest rock bands EVER!

You Just Gotta Speak Up!

(Turn on your sound)

The Ten Commandments of Baseball

I am reading a book called Riding With the Blue Moth. It is a true story about a man who rides a bike across the country as a way of dealing with the tragic death of his son. The author is Bill Hancock whose job it is to set up the NCAA basketball tournament every year. He has a lot of sports quotes throughout the book. Last night I was reading and he used a quote from Joe McCarthy’s “Ten Commandments of Baseball”. I played a lot of baseball and never heard of the “Ten Commandments of Baseball”; so I Googled it. I was glad I did. It is pure conventional, homespun wisdom. But if you read between the lines it is about what we should all do in our daily lives. I particularly like commandment #2 and am personally working on that one. If I can make my life as simple as playing baseball I can really improve things. Because I love baseball!

Ten Commandments for Success in Baseball

by Joe McCarthy (1949)

1.Nobody ever became a ballplayer by walking after a ball.

2.You will never become a .300 hitter unless you take the bat off your shoulder.
3.An outfielder who throws in back of a runner is locking the barn after the horse is stolen.
4.Keep your head up and you may not have to keep it down.
5.When you start to slide, slide. He who changes his mind may have to change a good leg for a bad one.
6.Do not alibi on bad hops. Anybody can field the good ones.
7.Always run them out. You never can tell.
8.Do not quit.
9.Do not fight too much with the umpires. You cannot expect them to be as perfect as you are.
10.A pitcher who hasn't control hasn't anything.

I figure there should be an Eleventh one, so I will add it:

11. Always wear a cup!

Have a good day. Adjust your cup. Pull on the bill of your hat. Spit in your glove, smack it few times with your fist and PLAY BALL!

A Few Special Reasons for Thanksgiving This Year...

This wonderful family. This was taken in October on our recent trip to San Diego. Shortly after my pratfall in the tide pools. (See Falling is Always Funny blog)

From left to right. Hilary, Cecily, Bryan, Jill (Bryan's friend) Natalie, Marian and Keegan. Missing are; Chris & Jacey and Bruce (their dog!), Emily and Brandon, and of course Calvin our stupid gay cat and Pele our black lab. One of these days next spring when Brandon returns from Samoa we will get one of the whole group. It's been awhile.

This wonderful wife Marian. Who continues to exercise great patience and forgiveness with me. (OK - so it was taken a few years ago - she hasn't change that much to me)

This wonderful son Brandon. Serving an LDS mission in Samoa.

This wonderful son Chris. That landed an unbelievably awesome "180" on more than just this snowboard!

This wonderful daughter Cecily. Who was recently in the hospital dealing with a blood clot.

And of course... Bruce! Who is always glad to see us.

Falling is Always Funny

Nothing makes me laugh harder than to witness people falling down. The only thing funnier is when Marian sees it and I get to watch her uncontrollable laughter.

For our trip to San Diego I needed some new flips flops and waited to get some in Southern California figuring I would have a better selection. WRONG! All sold-out and not a thing I liked on the shelves. I ended up buying some slip-on sailing style shoe's. The idea was to just get something I didn't care about getting wet, sandy or muddy. These had those cool non-slip soles. I was so proud of them and modeled them in the hotel room before going to the beach making everyone tell me how good they looked. I was concerned they made me look like a middle-aged tourist. My family managed to prop up my insecurity and stroke my ego. About 2 hours later I managed to destroy it.

Natalie, my oldest daughter, and I were walking along the rocks at the tide pools in La Jolla. We were talking, I'm sure, of something of global importance and lagging behind the rest of the family. (Good thing) I had my hands in my shorts pockets and was walking slowly along stepping over small crevices in the rocks and avoiding the clear pools of water in the small hollows. I noticed the rocks were wet where I was walking and had full confidence in my brand new non-slip sailing shoes. WRONG! - Second mistake of the day. It's funny how quick you go down when you hit a patch of green algae on wet rocks.

I have been blessed with above average athletic ability and lightning quick reflexes; albeit a 54 year old reflex at this writing. In a nano-second I went into what appeared to be the old high school football "whistle drill". At the sound of the whistle you hit the ground on your stomach and bounce up running until the next whistle. It wasn't quite that smooth. Yes, I started to go down hard, face first. I don't know how I managed to get my hands out of my pockets in time to catch myself and avoid french-kissing some barnacles. I must have looked like I was doing semaphore at warp speed. Now on all fours I was trying to avoid the inevitable face plant and smearing algae all over myself. Actually, like all egotist athletes I was trying to make it look natural and come out of it as if it were an advanced Olympic floor-tumbling exercise. No such luck. I was slipping and sliding like a deer on ice. You couldn't tell if I was trying to finger paint on all-fours or imitating a drunk spider doing push-ups! I finally managed to create friction with two of my limbs and develop some traction. I saved it! No face plant. I slowly worked my way to my feet, stood tall and acted as if I had planned it that way.

Natalie is her mother's daughter. Raucous laughter echoed off the rocks of the nearby cliffs. She had just witnessed the $100,000 winner of America's Funniest Home Video's. Bummer -no video camera present. I am sure I made the old people at the picnic tables above laugh too. They probably come there every day and sit there just waiting for some gringo like me to hit that patch of algae and go down like a flopping tuna on a sport fishing boat. I was no worse for wear and had managed to not tear any muscles or clothing in the process. Best of all, my ego was still intact, despite my daughters guffaws. I'm just glad the whole family didn't witness it. I would have been the topic of conversation, imitation and laughter the whole weekend. Just a private show for you Natalie!

Editors Note

I have realized that I get a little too serious in my blogs. I figured since the thing that got me started writing was my sense of humor that I should be a little more light-hearted about this and not editorialize so much. So for the next while I will attempt to make myself laugh. It doesn't really matter whether it's funny to you. After all, this is my Blog!