Odds, Ends and Other Stuff

Decided to take a night off from writing the story. We started watching The Contender which is a reality television show about boxers who are trying to make a name for themselves.

I am really into it, real people doing something that takes a lot of guts and heart. It doesn't hurt that I have done some boxing myself. Love the workout, but I don't like getting hit. I am not a good person to spar with because I have this funny knack of taking it personally when you hit me.

Truth be told I am more of a slugger than a boxer. I like to go toe-to-toe and look for that knockout punch. But as I mentioned I am not real interested in getting hit, too much potential for serious injury.

My son loves to wrestle with me and I have to say that I love it too. I watch him and remember what it was like to be four. He gets frustrated because he cannot beat me and I try hard not to be too rough on him. When I was his age my father and I also wrestled. I would refuse to give up and many times ended up in tears.

This is not something that I want my son to experience, but the apple doesn't fall far from the tree and I often find myself dealing with close to 40 pounds of terror. The lad is as stubborn as myself, if not moreso. Thus far I have managed to prevent any sort of murder or mayhem, but it is not going to last for long as the size difference is such that even when I try to be gentle I end up being rougher than I intend to be.

One of the guys I play ball with at the gym tried wrestling with me last week. He weighs 160 pounds and I am still over 200. And he like my son refused to give up. But the advantage of dealing with a 30 year-old man is that I don't have to be so gentle. So last week I managed to hang him on a hook. The week before I pinned him in about two minutes. Now his ego is bruised so he is insistent on trying to find a way to even the score, but wants to do it by wrestling. Are all of us men this dumb?

Please tell me that my ego will not push me into engaging in such stupidity. Ok, I'll answer the question. The answer is yes, I would do the same thing. But then again I always have a plan.

Speaking of plans my family laughs because I have a plan for fighting almost any animal you can imagine, gorilla, lion, tiger, shark, crocodile etc. Not sure when or how this started, but for years I have had a plan for dealing with these creatures. The hardest part is making sure that they adhere to the plan.

Flipping back to the gym and the male ego next week I am going to engage in another foolish pissing contest with a couple of the 20 somethings. There are a few who have challenged me to engage them in feats of strength, including the guy who thinks that it is funny to call me Rabbi Jack.

Even at 35 I still can get caught up in these juvenile outbursts, but it is part of what keeps me young. The best part of this is that they haven't figured out that the reason I keep winning these bets is that I don't bite off more than I can chew.

Speaking of being 35, I got another reminder that I am not 20 anymore. I looked in the mirror and noticed that there are some lines developing on my face. Not real deep, but enough that I notice it. Not only that but some of the older guys at the gym figured me for early 40's. I told one of them that I was 46 and he was very impressed, thought that I looked great for my age. Have to remember to say 46 and not 26 or I could get the opposite response.

Work has been very hectic and very busy. It is a good thing, but it is rough because I constantly feel like I am racing to keep up. I am banging out proposals left right and center. As a salesman this is good because it means that people are buying, but it can be frustrating.

I am so busy that I cannot put as much detail and attention into the proposals as I would like. It makes them more of a gamble, there is a greater chance that my prospects may not buy into the ideas I am selling. But I can't afford not to get as many of these out there as I can. It always is a numbers game, the more doors that you knock on the greater the likelihood of getting a sale.

One day I may blog about sales and what it really takes. Many people have misconceptions about sales and salespeople as a career. They think of the stereotypical used car salesman as being representative of us all. It is not true and the reality is that everyone is a salesperson. We are always selling ourselves and our ideas to the people around us.

Lot more to be said on the topic, but I have to save that for a different time. Now is time for the pillow on my bed to sell me to sleep.

Lailah tov.

No comments:

Not Quite Abandoned

I didn't think it had been as many months away from here as it has clearly been. I was certain I had updated this place in December and ...