It was a sad news article for me today. Blackberry has decided to stop producing it’s own phones. No that doesn’t mean that Blackberry ceases to exist. Nothing will derail the Apple train now but back in the early 2000’s Blackberry was the bomb. Those were the days with the smooth click of the track wheel, the distinctive sound of the email transfer and the soft touch of the QWERTY keyboard. My 5000 series Blackberry was my first electronics love.

Think back to those days. Before the billion apps dominated our minds. Before we cared about web access. Before we cared about plus sized screens. Before we knew better. It was so simple and then it was gone. Run over on the super-highway of  technology and mocked as quickly as it was revered by phone snobs. It makes no sense to me when I reflect on it.

When I upgraded to the Blackberry Bold, I thought it couldn’t be any better. Sleeker look and feel with the centre track button. Sometimes I pull the carcass of that phone out of my cupboard just to feel her touch again. Now my kids laugh at what she looks like, but not me. To me she was a golden goddess of information.

Soon enough it will vanish altogether. The newer Blackberry’s look more like the hollow feeling iPhone anyway. The soul of the phone was ripped out of my hands, many moons ago. I hope that as they outsource the hardware, that somewhere in the outsource world, a young engineer listens to an old phone fogey like me and remembers that what’s old is new again. I can hear the click, click, click of that track wheel coming down the tracks again one day.

Marco

Ever have one of those days? How about when one of those days turns into one of those nights? Everything seemed to go wrong last night. Mary was out at a work function and I am coming back from out of town. In a matter of 30 minutes I am dealing with a crisis from both of my boys and I know my night has gone sideways.

Nic has had a big week. He has received his license, bought a car and driven to school for the first time alone and got his first part-time job. He is the man! That is until he is coming home from his big day and  he has three slashes in the side wall of his tire. Who else should get that call? His first reaction is to try and pump the tire so I now know that being a mechanic is not in his future. Second is to call me. I am 60 minutes from getting home so Mary helps him by calling AMA and he is in a hard wait. Then I get the call from Cam…

Cam has a slightly more interesting story that only a man could love. He has decided to break the news to me that the basement toilet is broken. His logic is that it’s a fluke and unbelievable while I am thinking I see the unbelievable everyday with these kids. He tells me he was holding a cutting board in his one hand loaded with brie cheese, crackers and a glass of milk. No big deal except with the other hand he is taking a leak in the bathroom. Makes total sense to me… As he is finishing his business, he drops the glass of milk into the toilet. In a normal world the glass shatters and life moves on. Not in my world. The glass projectiles right through the side wall of the toilet leaving a huge hole in the throne. After 4 hours of Cam trying to Gorilla glue, duct tape and stick a towel in the hole (like we would never have seen it), he calls. Now I am stopping to buy a crapper along the way.

The end result is 90 minutes at Canadian Tire, another 90 minutes to change a toilet and $900 later the night is shot. I’m sure there are worse things that could happen to a guy but this was a strange one. What can Thursday bring.

Marco

It was a terrible day in sports. For sure I am unhappy that my beloved Pittsburgh Steelers lost their game badly today but that was nothing compared to the loss that the world took today. There are few times where the on field loss hurts less than usual. Today the losses were compounded by the death that cast it’s pall over sports.

The tragic death of Jose Fernandez of the Miami Marlins woke me up this morning when my phone exploded. The sites and emotion that came from South Florida were as gripping as it was surreal. He was a bright light amongst a group of self centred, egotistical baseball players. A great player, who by many accounts, was on a track for Hall of Fame accolades but also one who shed his positive and boyish outlook on what is essentially a kids game. The sports world lost a future great, in my eyes.

Then tonight, the world lost a true titan of not only golf but of the sports pantheon, Arnold Palmer. If I could pick my Mount Rushmore of all-time golf greats he would be right at the top of the mountain along with Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Bobby Jones. He was a great golfer and an even better person in society. He was a literal ambassador to golfers around the world and he would be on a short list of faces that people across the globe could pick out of a crowd. All of this because he was a genuine and positive leader amongst all men.

Where does this leave us today. The sports world continues to revolve. Baseball pennant races are on fire, NFL games continue to draw billions of eyes and the World Cup of Hockey has captivated all hockey enthusiasts. Tomorrow, the world will wake up and do it all over again and we will continue to be gripped by the drama. For tonight, take a moment and reflect on the great things about sport and remember that sport is only great because of great people. All professional athletes are all gifted and special in their own way but there are those that take things to another level, on and off the playing surface. Today, we are poorer for losing these greats and the world should thank them for the gifts they have brought us.

Marco

Another Thursday night is upon us where Mary and I are heading in opposite directions. As I roll into the driveway after work, I have barely enough time to give Mary a kiss hello while she is trying to get her son out the door to hockey practice. Wouldn’t be so bad except by the time she gets back, I will have my son at basketball practice until late enough that we will likely talk again tomorrow morning. What are we doing all of this for again? That’s right… it’s for the boys. It’s their sports and it’s the stuff that will make them good men one day. But at what cost?

I am the bigger issue here for sure. I have coached my son’s sports for 10 years and it has been my ability to stay in touch with the boys through thick and thin. I have dutifully taken my kids 2-5 nights a week to their sports and never batted an eye. Under the cloak of “it’s for the boys” anything goes I guess. It does take its toll on the boys and their social and school lives. We spend many an evening trying to get these boys to unwind from sports while plying them with homework. They sometimes complain about missing their friends and often tell us they are too tired for school the next day but it’s all part of the life mission to turn sports into their moral fabric.

From the family point of view, nothing bonds a family together like cheering for a child at a sporting event. The thrill of victory and agony of defeat makes families stick together and go back wanting for more. All of the work and suffering is worth it, win or lose in those moments. But what about the time spent apart, with the family fractured over soccer, hockey, basketball etc. Hard to say it’s worth it. I run across the occasional family who have decided that keeping the kids clear from activities of any kind, is the smart path. What the kids lose in the life experiences is what the entire family gains in sanity. I think the approach may have some merit. Many times I have longed for the simplicity of the casual evening but I think it is dictated by your kids more than the parents. Some kids simply NEED to be active. Forcing them to sit and watch a movie and pay attention is more painful then hauling them to practice. Kids NEED activity and sports is a great way to burn that energy.

I am a sports guy and I will likely always defer towards that direction. I think the social, leadership and confidence that kids gain from a team sport supersede the damage it provides a family. Easier said than done tonight when all I want to do it hit the couch with Mary….

Marco

When Mary and I discussed the prospect of moving in together I never knew that it would come with conditions. Often the conditions are complicated and serious in nature. Marriage, more kids, a new house, moving cities are of the “we better sit down and discuss this” variety. Not me. My Mary had a simple request. She wanted two dogs.

Seems easy on the surface. Go select a couple of pooches, buy some food, beds and toys and welcome them to the family. Even for a non-dog guy like me, I could make that happen, right?

They are cute and they are destructive. They cuddle and they bite your ankle. They shock you with their compassion and then they take a whizz on your foot. They are complicated and no one really wants to deal with their complications. The kids always say, “I will look after them, walk them, clean up after them”. Blah, blah, blah. Now I am not claiming to be the family resource for the pups. I am simply a help to Mary’s passion to making sure the dogs are loved but it really needs to be a team effort.

We have a plan, the kids will be with us for 12-13 years and so will these pups. After that, Mary and I ride off into the retirement sunset together. Maybe dogs will be a long term part of my life for the long haul after that too.

Marco

My two teenage boys both drive and they share the same car. This is a major pushing point in this house as they have to schedule a plan to share. This is impossible

In my day, there was no car when you earned your licence. You begged and pleaded with your parents daily to see if they would let you drive the car. The idea of taking the car to school was a non-starter and you were lucky to cruise the streets on a Friday night in your family mini van. God forbid you had another sibling also driving as you might never feel the fine Corinthian velvet of your dad’s car.

In today’s world, kids want a car, now. Although there is a vast after-market of used beaters rolling around the city, it’s the cost of the operation of the vehicle that sinks most kids (and therefore their parents) before they get off the driveway. Teens have no perspective of the cost of running these beaters across the city, let alone the safety of doing so. My boys are learning the hard way.

My kids were lucky to have a car left for them from my divorce. We never planned on them both driving at the same time, let alone the same vehicle. I forced my oldest son to get his own insurance set up before he was 18. This left me exempt from his rash of speeding and parking tickets in those early days and my second oldest is headed for the same expensive fate. Now we are trying to manage the “division” of the vehicle by selling it and dividing the proceeds into 2 beaters. When I wanted a car as a youth, I was completely on my own to source the car, pay for it and make it run. Today the internet has streamlined this process and makes the dream of that 15 year old sports car, a reality. The chess game of selling one car to buy two is yet to come but will be the next evolution of their driving life.

Stay tuned for the continuation of the saga.