A 'lil HooHaa

Messing with the blogging world since 2005

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30 Days of Writing: Hanging out in the cemetery (16/30)

Cemeteries — especially old ones — can be amazing places for research, photography or other reasons. And all the while, you can pay respects to those who went before us.

This post is written in conjunction with the 30 Days of Writing, a blog challenge devised by Nicky and Mike at “We Work For Cheese.” I’ll be participating throughout the month of June. If interested, you can see my post with the details of the challenge. 

Please note that some of these posts will be serious, some will be normal, and some will be an attempt at humor. This one is a little of everything! 

Cemeteries.

Many look at cemeteries as a sad place. One where many people who have passed through life are buried.

Did you know, back when, cemeteries were places of celebration? People would picnic in cemeteries and town events would be held there. And it’s how it should be. When you go to a cemetery, you can celebrate those who have already left us. Sure, it can be sad. But it can also be a good place — one where you remember the good times.

I was brought to this old cemetery through geocaching. It was an overgrown cemetery with some historical people and I never would have found it without the game.

But man cemeteries seemed to be long forgotten. The ones that aren’t active anymore and have the old and amazing tombstones. Hundreds of years have passed for some of these cemeteries and, unless they were famous, there are many people buried throughout the world who likely have nobody who visits their graves anymore.

I have a lot of hobbies in which I participate. One of them is based around cemeteries, the other sometimes involves cemeteries.

The first is with the website Find A Grave.

Many people use this site to help with research about family or whatever else. The site has a large database of cemeteries and photos. What I do, is when local cemeteries get requests for photos of graves, I like to try and get out and go get them for the people seeking the photos. It’s actually been a little while since I’ve done it as my other hobbies have distracted from this one.

But, I love this one because when you’re searching for the headstones, you can learn about things. You can see the stones and different aspects of the burial grounds.

My other hobby in which cemeteries sometimes appear is geocaching.

For those who don’t know, geocaching is a technology-based treasure hunt, using a GPS.

From Geocaching.com:

Geocaching is a real-world, outdoor treasure hunting game using GPS-enabled devices. Participants navigate to a specific set of GPS coordinates and then attempt to find the geocache (container) hidden at that location.

Geocachers will hide caches all over. In fact, there are nearly 1,800,000 active caches placed around the world. And there are more than 5 million geocachers playing the game.

But, back to cemeteries.

Cachers like to find old cemeteries and hide caches near them. Often, geocachers will do research about these long-forgotten cemeteries and take you there for a certain reason. Maybe because there’s people buried there who fought in the Revolutionary War. Or a famous athlete is buried there. Or someone else. I’ve learned a lot in cemeteries through geocaching and for that, I’m thankful.

Arlington National Cemetery is a place where you can lose yourself in the history and be moved by everything this cemetery stands for.

Finally, cemeteries can be some of the most powerful places to visit.

Take for example Arlington National Cemetery.

I don’t know how many of you have visited there, but during a trip to visit friends in Washington D.C. last year, I spent a combined six or so hours in Arlington National spaced out over two days. From the changing of the guard to staring at all the headstones, it was one of the moving things I’ve ever seen. To know how many of these people have given their life for the United States is something that, for those of us who are Americans, should be thankful for.

Cemeteries, though places where people are buried when life on Earth ends, are not places to be afraid of, rather places to remember and honor those who have gone.

Take a walk through a local old cemetery and look at the headstones. Even if it’s people you might not know, be related to or know anything about, you can still pay respects or at least look around and know that you might be one of the only people to see these names over a given time.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Foto Friday/30 Days of Writing: First place (15/30)

This post is written in conjunction with the 30 Days of Writing, a blog challenge devised by Nicky and Mike at “We Work For Cheese.” I’ll be participating throughout the month of June. If interested, you can see my post with the details of the challenge. 

Please note that some of these posts will be serious, some will be normal, and some will be an attempt at humor. This one is a little of everything! 

First place.

For those who compete, whether it be in sports or something else, first place is obviously the ultimate goal.

I’m a softball nut. I’ve been playing for nearly two decades and have run a team that entire time. I was still in high school when we started things, so needless to say, we weren’t the best.

Our first Oneonta championship -- 2010.

See, softball and baseball are two different worlds and it sometimes takes time to learn the difference. The swing, the ball and everything else.

We had some tough years early. Soon, however, we became a more powerful team. A contender each year. Our first title should have come in the mid-1990s, but we found a way to give it away each year.

Finally, we won the coveted Brookside championship in 2001. The Brookside title was our local league, one many of us had grown up around. The championship trophy was wood-based with a removable pewter bowl — much like the idea of the Stanley Cup.

That league, unfortunately, soon folded.

We moved to another area league and stayed strong. We made the final several times, but fell each time. We broke through in 2010 and won our first title there. We repeated in 2011.

First place is a great thing. That is for sure.

But the journey getting there and seeing what you can do is so much more of the game.

During my lifetime, I haven’t been on many winning teams. In little league, I won the first year I played and the last year I played. But our “little league” wasn’t a sanctioned league. It was basically pee-wee baseball. I still have those championship plaques though. (My father was one of the coaches on the first one — kind of funny as even he would have told you that he didn’t know much about baseball to coach it!)

In high school, I played soccer and baseball. Neither team was that good. Though the baseball team didn’t suck, we were just in a league full of awesome teams. Soccer was a new sport to our school when I played, so it was the learning experience.

Then there was softball.

Championships are often taken for granted. So when we have good teams, I like to try and do some photos with them throughout the year. Action shots, candids — whatever. The idea is that if we do win a championship, it’s nice to have some other shots from the season.

Though we strive to win, the reality is this game goes beyond wins and losses. We’re all friends who love to play and love to compete. And, in the end, we don’t get paid for it. We play it because we love to. And, on another note, it’s a good way to get out and get some exercise.

A couple of images from our 2010 championship season:

The big guy pitching.

Big swing.

End of an inning.

 

Ready to go!

To the victor go the spoils -- one of our player's wives made these for the team party. Yum!

In 2011, I didn’t take as many photos. It’s not always easy to worry about photos when you are playing and such. Even when I am playing as the designated hitter, I don’t always think to take the camera out (despite, often, me bringing it to the bench).

Our season this year has started off slow. We’re definitely getting a little older and it shows. The younger teams are starting to have their feel of things. Right now, we’re mid-pack.

Will we win the coveted third straight championship this year? Who knows. We have a lot of work to do if so. But, if we don’t, we’ll have a good run, either way. We usually play well come playoffs.

First place, after all, is the ultimate goal. Only time will tell if we keep up our run.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

30 Days of Writing: Excess (7/30)

This post is written in conjunction with the 30 Days of Writing, a blog challenge devised by Nicky and Mike at “We Work For Cheese.” I’ll be participating throughout the month of June. If interested, you can see my post with the details of the challenge. 

Please note that some of these posts will be serious, some will be normal, and some will be an attempt at humor. This one has a little of everything. 

Maybe it’s because I used to work in the traditional media…

… by that I mean newspapers.

But it seems, all of a sudden, that the world is in excess of newspaper/media terms. Any blogger out there uses these terms extremely loosely and in excess.

Let’s take, for example, the word breaking.

I follow many Twitter accounts. These accounts range from everyday people, bloggers, minor and major league baseball teams, pro wrestling sites, foodie people and many more.

It’s rare, however, that I can go through a day without seeing the word “breaking” in capital letters at the beginning of a tweet. Of course, this tweet leads me to the website which then has breaking news about something.

Here’s the problem — it’s not breaking news.

The news business is extremely competitive. Especially now, when the Internet keeps booming and there are so many online people trying to break things.

I respect this. I really do. Especially as somebody who has worked in the media and as somebody who battled to break actual news. But to see it used so loosely and in excess is maddening.

For example, when a website gets a text message from a major organization or company — one that is blasted to many people, both media, fans and whoever else — and then puts said text on the website without any additional details besides what is in the text — it’s NOT breaking news.

Breaking news means just that — you broke the news. Or, you are at least adding to some breaking news.

That a minor league game got rained out a few days ago has been re-scheduled for a doubleheader down the line is not breaking news. It’s something that you are telling fans.

Breaking news is something that many people will want to see or know about. A re-scheduled game is news of sorts, but not some “holy crap, that’s breaking news!”

The word is used in total excess.

It’s that way with many other journalism terms.

A press conference being called a presser is becoming a term used in total excess as well. The terms such as “lede” and “graph” and things like that are littered all over, too.

I didn’t like a lot of these terms when I worked in journalism. I especially can’t stand them now when people use them so loosely and in excess on their blogs and websites. Just because you use the terms doesn’t necessarily make you some sort of news entity, especially when the content is then littered with errors.

I’m all for citizen journalism. And I’m all for news sites and blogs. After all, I find them helpful and good to read. But breaking news in the news industry is a big deal. Let’s not use those terms in total excess — and save the rest of us from having to roll our eyes and have a deep sigh.

Or reach our breaking point.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

30 Days of Writing: Spiders (5/30)

This post is written in conjunction with the 30 Days of Writing, a blog challenge devised by Nicky and Mike at “We Work For Cheese.” I’ll be participating throughout the month of June. If interested, you can see my post with the details of the challenge. 

Please note that some of these posts will be serious, some will be normal, and some will be an attempt at humor. This one is on the fun side. 

When I was in high school, the movie Arachnophobia came out.

Being most of us didn’t have any wheels, heading to the next town over to catch this flick wasn’t going to happen. But, a few months after it was released, it left the main theaters and it ended up at our local college.

So, a few of us went up to watch.

Being silly people, we sat in he front row. Staring up at the screen for this movie was quite entertaining, actually. Hearing college-aged girls screech during parts of the movie was pretty funny.

Overall, I laughed.

Now I’m not afraid of spiders, but they annoy the ever living hell out of me.

Their stupid webs and and the way they creep around. All right, I get it — you can be sneaky. Now go the hell away.

I think that’s why I don’t buy any of the myths associated with spiders. You know, like the one about “Daddy Long Legs” spiders. You know — they are the most poisonous spider or some crap like that.

Yeah, that was debunked.

Then there’s some wise tale we used to hear as kids about killing said daddy long legs — basically, if you whacked one, you’d get bad luck.

C’mon, people.

My favorite is that idiotic children’s jingle about an itsy bitsy spider.

The itsy bitsy spider crawled up the water spout.
Down came the rain, and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain,
And the itsy bitsy spider went up the spout again.

Really?

Who in the name of holy hell is going to blame that damn story?

Seriously.

If a stupid spider was waltzing up a water spout and the rain came down and washed that sucker away, I’m thinking the spider coroner should be called in to declare that sucker dead.

And if not, someone get the spider shrink in because that spider needs to be looked at. Who would be dumb enough to climb back up the same spout if you just got washed away — and survived?

Hello?

I know there are several times I’ve seen spiders in situations where flowing water came into play. I can assure you of this — the spider never won. And I doubt it won in this jingle, either.

So it’s time for parents to fess up and start telling their kids the truth about this stupid spider.

Here’s my version:

The itsy bitsy spider crawled up the water spout.
Down came the rain, and washed the spider out.
Out came the sun, and dried up all the rain,
And the itsy bitsy spider was in a crap load of pain. 

That damn spider is lucky I didn’t kill it off. Stay away from the spout and live, you dumb spider.

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!

Notes from my noodle: March 21 edition

OK, this doubling up on blogs is tough!

Before I know it, I have one post elsewhere and then a neglect here. This is my apology to the friends of  A ‘lil HooHaa. As I get everything built up over at the disc golf blog I’ve created, I have made this one almost second in comparison.

It won’t always be that way.

But I have been working on getting that other site running and moving. Starting a new blog for a niche such as disc golf takes some patience because you have to line things up, get topics and ideas and line up a few extra writers.

We’ve done much of that thus far, but we have a long way to go.

And for neglecting here a little, my apologies. It won’t be a full-time neglect, I can assure you.

I’ve had some version of A ‘lil HooHaa since July of 2005 and I don’t plan on having it end here. Not because of another blog, anyway.

So fear not, I’m here. And I plan on being so for a long time. I just might miss here and there because of some other commitments. It’s my hope to build up a queue of stories, too, that I can post as needed.

But I have some other things in my noodle at this time, too.

While you are at it, however, if you like or are interested in disc golf — check out the new blog at RattlingChains.com.

***

I read a story today that talked about potential employers asking people during an interview for their Facebook password.

Seriously.

This person, apparently, has their Facebook stuff set to private (which is a smart thing. I do the same. Privacy, folks, is an important thing). During the interview, the interviewer turned and looked up said person and asked for his password to be able to look at his Facebook.

Say what? Talk about an invasion of privacy!

This gentleman promptly refused and withdrew himself from consideration for the position.

Look, I don’t use my Facebook to badmouth any employee — past, present or future. I don’t do it on the blog. I don’t do it. Why? Because burning bridges isn’t a smart thing to do. Especially in a public forum. No matter how something ended, whether bitter or not, there’s always something good to take away from the experience. It also gives you something to work for in the future, maybe as an improvement or something else.

Not to mention it’s public. Why would you want to blast someone where potential future employers would see it.

That still doesn’t give someone a right to ask me for my personal passwords and such to snoop around my Facebook, see my friends and all that. I have personal things on my Facebook — nothing major, but family things etc., — and the reason I keep things private is because I don’t want people to see these things. Well, outside my small group of Facebook friends.

Could you imagine being asked to fork over this stuff at an interview?

The story also notes that the city of Bozeman, Montana, until recently, asked for passwords and accounts for things like Facebook AND your e-mail!

I really would like to move on in my employment hunt. But if things like this are a requirement, is it worth working for a company like that? I’ve always liked to separate work and private life. I’m not going to let a potential employer — or anyone else for that matter — rifle through my personal e-mail.

Not a chance.

I realize it’s a buyers market out there for people looking for work, but that doesn’t give someone the right to play big brother to me. If someone wanted to see my Facebook, I have nothing to hide. I’d gladly show it. With me in control of things. There’s no need to surf my friends and such. You want to see my posts? Fine. Photos? Sure.

But e-mail? Never. There’s private things between friends and family and me. I’m not letting someone know every bit about my life. Unless said interviewer is willing to part with all their private info, I’m not doing it, either. That’s just wrong and a total invasion of privacy.

Has anyone had this happen to them? How did you react?

***

I don’t know about where you are, but the weather we are getting in my area is insane.

At one point when I was out and about today, it was 78.

In March.

In Upstate New York.

That’s just crazy. To think area high schools might get to play baseball and softball this year before April comes is even more crazy. I realize March games are usually on the schedule, but it’s rare for them to actually be played.

This years might prove it different.

Some cooler weather is coming in the coming week or so as things are supposed to dip into the 50s — which is my kind of weather. I’m hoping to get out and do a few things as well to break up the job hunt a little. Hopefully I’ll be employed soon enough, so then when getting out of work, I’ll appreciate the weather a bit more!

But high 70s in March. I can’t believe it!

***

I’ve been working on a story that will be partially on this blog sometime in April.

But the story, which involved professional wrestling, is really captivating and I think I can make it more in-depth and more detailed. Far more than for a blog because of it’s possible size.

So I’m looking to maybe try and get an Amazon Kindle Single.

The Singles are really nice reading. They range from 5,000-30,000 words and are quite in-depth reports or short fiction. The story I am working on, which I obviously won’t want to give away ahead of time, is compelling. I thought it was going to be pro wrestling and it goes way beyond that. I think it’s going to be some really good reading.

And, remember, to read a Kindle single, you won’t necessarily need to own a Kindle. You can get the free app to read things on smart phones, computers, iPads etc. They usually range in price from $1-$4. But the acceptance rate is different. They need to approve it, which I think is great because it makes you really write some of your best.

I’m hoping, when all is said and done, they’ll like my piece and want it as a Single.

And hopefully, people will buy it. I know most of what I do out here is free, but I assure you if it gets accepted, it’s one heck of a story. Plus, you’ll be helping an unemployed dude make a few cents!

More on this as it gets closer.

***

In closing, I’m going to get more on track here. Stick with me. I won’t be giving this up. I just need to get things on schedule on the other blog and get some things in my life taken care of. So I may miss a day or two here, but understand that I won’t be going anywhere. I love this blog. I really do. And I plan on doing it for a long time.

And please consider giving to my Relay for Life fundraising attempt. Remember, you can win a homemade quilted scarf. Details in my tag below!

Fundraiser: I am, again, trying to raise money for the Relay For Life. If you donate to me — even a small amount — you will be entered to win a super-sweet quilted scarf. Click here for all the information!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog [at] gmail.com. Also, please “Like” HooHaa Blog on Facebook!