A Long Time Gone

Bet you thought I had passed away or something. Given that virtually no one ever reads or chooses to comment on some of my previous posts, I suppose that I had convinced myself that I, in fact, was just writing to myself.

But..... I then did a little analysis and remembered the reason for beginning this blog in the first place. Now.... I am back... and hopefully I will be more self disciplined.

It is now March, the weather has begun to turn. Yesterday was a pretty nice spring day. I took in two district final basketball games. I also spent some money on tools and a toolbox for son #2.

I have historically felt a great deal of pressure during the month of March. Whether it was the pressure to extend basketball season created by the win or your done tournament, or the pressure of starting the baseball season. Sometimes there have been serious financial pressures in March. Or the looming concern over "tax time".......

None the less..... this year, for some reason I feel less pressure. I always worry that I am missing something or just being naive.

I bought a digital voice recorder. It is a pretty good one.... an Olympus VN-3100PC. It has a lot of features. Most I will try to use, and some others.... well... I am not sure yet how they will help me.

I bought this device for a couple of reasons. I have noticed lately that I have had trouble hanging on to conversations with people who ask me for something. Given my job as athletic director and teacher, people constantly need my help with some matter. My goal has always been to facilitate people's success, and lately I have felt like I have been dropping the ball because I can't remember specific requests very well.

I would venture that I have between 10 and 20 "requests" for something during a given day. At first I was writing them down. Then... I tried to take my principal's advice and ask the requestor to "send" me an email to help me remember. His philosophy is, if they take the time to remind you, and take some responsibility, then it must be something really important enough to attend to. I don't like that. I prefer to be proactive and show people that I care about them and their requests. I like to think it builds a relationship and shows respect for the requestor.

Now.... after all that rambling, I have watched my assistant principal make use of his voice recorder. At first I have to admit to thinking it was kind of hokey.... but... after listening to him tell me that he "drops the ball" less often, I thought..... "Why not give it a try".

First of all my wife looked at me sort of oddly. Son #2 said that it was "stupid" and it does nothing to "help" my memory. But... after being super self conscious about talking to a machine in front of others, I have begun to use it.

I started off with the world famous aviator statement, and then decided to check out some of the other features like the one where you can set it to record at a given time. I fooled around with it and set it for 2:50 a.m. to record for ten minutes. My goal was to see if there is any truth to this vicious rumor that I snore.

I woke up about 6 a.m. or so... and of course checked the recorder to see if it worked.... and discovered that it had. So.... I pushed the play button and the recording began..... what I heard was a little surprising...... very heavy breathing.... not snoring... just someone who obviously sleeps with his mouth open.

Now I am not foolish enough to believe that a single random sample is enough to make or break the claim that I am a snorer.... but.... early evidence seems to suggest.... I am just a heavy breather.....

Enough..... of that...

Is this recorder thing a bigger symptom of a fear of losing my memory? Maybe.....

Maybe that is what the title references in being a "long time gone". Maybe... it is reference to me...... not being here....

At any rate....

Keep a smile on.... and look for me to be better at blogging here on the island. I promise to improve my performance.