Monday, December 26, 2011

My Dad and Why I'm Shaving Every Day

My father's death hasn't hit me fully yet, it has been such a whirlwind since December 17th dealing with the funeral plans, helping my mom, and trying to get everything done. I'm sure I will write many things about my dad over time, so I can look back and remember.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Taking The Big Kid

I'm going to brag about my son, Owen, and I apologize in advance. I think it's natural to praise the things that we find remarkable, and I find Owen to be remarkable. He is remarkable for something that I have nothing to do with. We share many traits--left handed, good at math, creative--but he also has a fierce determination that is unusual for an eight-year old. It's a self-assuredness that I don't have. My hope is to merely focus it, and keep it from moving to cockiness and over-competitiveness, but no matter what he does, it should serve him well through life.

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Coming Back From the Haze

I'm tired. I don't know when I will be less tired though, so I might as well get back to writing here. I haven't written anything since the days right before the birth of our son, Jameson, in June. Sleep-deprived nights have given way to busy days. However, I have had two of you actually ask that I write again. It's therapeutic for me, plus, my biggest fan doesn't like to read what I say about football, but wants me to write here. So to expand my audience, I will try to occasionally add a post here and there.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Jameson

Okay, so, sometime between now and sometime Tuesday, when the induction is scheduled if it hasn't happened by then, our fourth child, Jameson Carter Lisk, will be joining our household. (and yes, this time, I promise we are done). It would be a more daunting task if he didn't have the best possible big brother and two great sisters waiting for him.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

A Hot Dog!

Less than a month ago, I talked about the power of a hot dog in helping to work with my son on fielding. We promised a hot dog to any boy that caught a batted ball in the air. Well, I am proud to report that Owen got his hot dog yesterday, pulling off a minor miracle and being the first on the team to actually record an out by making a catch in the air.

Saturday, June 4, 2011

What I've Been Reading

I like to follow several blogs, and often they like to include summaries and book reviews of what they have been reading lately, including Tom Gower at Residual Prolixity and Chris at Smart Football. I too spend a fair amount of my time reading so I thought I would give a review of some of the things I have been finished lately.

Monday, May 30, 2011

Unfinished Highways

You know what's really painful? To read something you wrote 15 years earlier. I find it painful to read things I wrote a week ago, always thinking of things that I could have said better. But 15 years ago, coming from someone you know intimately, but who has changed over time, it is difficult. In some ways, though, reading fiction from someone gives the most honesty, even if you didn't know it at the time.

Monday, May 23, 2011

Hold Me Like a Baby

Your name is Dad. That's what my son told me recently. "What else would my name be?" Daddy. But when you come to school, your name is Dad. If you wanted to know when you become Dad-hold-the-D-Y, well, it looks like my sampling data suggests somewhere in the first grade.

Friday, May 20, 2011

Sporting Kansas City's Rough Start A Lesson In Value of Home

Earlier this week, I heard some speculation on the radio about whether Peter Vermes would even make it to June as the coach of Sporting Kansas City. The team is off to a rough start, at 1-5-1 in their first 7 games, and currently has the fewest total points in the MLS. I'm here to tell you that they are probably closer to an average MLS team, that they might want to wait before making any judgments, and that I expect them to be in contention for one of the playoff spots by season's end.

Monday, May 16, 2011

Wallet of Voodoo

This post was inspired by a tweet from my fellow writer Stephen Douglas talking about how he left his wallet sitting in a puddle in the driveway for 3.5 hours. My thought: that's called a typical Tuesday for me. I mean, that might merit honorable mention on my all-time wallet stories, but that's about it. It's not cause for concern for me til it gets to 3.5 days. Until then, it's like a cat who stayed out too long. It will come back on its own timetable, and looking too hard does no good. If it loves you, it will return. That, or its dead in a gutter somewhere.

Paperless Trail

Paper has been the bane of my existence for as long as I can remember. If something paper is in my hand, there is a good chance it will be lost in less time than it took Chad Ocho Cinco to fall off a bull. I would have probably had straight A's in school if it wasn't for paper--constantly lost, misplaced, buried under a sandwich in the locker, enticing me to doodle instead of take notes paper.

Friday, May 13, 2011

My Golfing Grandpa

My golfing grandpa turned 92 yesterday. I had a fishing grandpa and a golfing grandpa growing up. The fishing grandpa has been gone for a few years now, along with my grandmothers, and so my golfing grandpa is the last of a hearty generation--that Greatest Generation from Tom Brokaw's book--in my life.

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Useless Trivia

I remember going to a Casa Bonita in Denver in early June of 1984, a place that had a cliff diver and lots of fountains and, more importantly for our story, a television that was showing a Lakers-Celtics NBA Finals game. I remember watching part of that game in the bar area while we were waiting for a table. And as sad as it is to me, I'm beginning to think that catching a part of that game on the TV as a 10-year old is my totem--something that allows me to tie back and recognize my reality, why I remember that musty smell and walking around the upper level and looking for that cliffdiver.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Catching On, and the Power of a Hot Dog

You know what's amazing about kids, the thing that makes all that other frustrating stuff worth it? It's those moments of discovery and development that occur every day over and over, those amazing moments watching your little bundles of genetic material take off and soar.

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Well, Let's Try This (and sorry about the title)

Yeah, it's a poor pun, so sorry about the blog title, and I hope that it at least induces a few Bob Seger air guitar sessions for you. It was that or Lisk-ellaneous. It's late and my creative juices are zapped.

What am I going to do here? Little stuff that might not be worthy of a full post at the Big Lead or pro-football-reference that may relate to sports, probably a lot of stories about life and the family that hopefully have some relevance to something, and probably a few funny or sad stories about what my wife has to put up with in regard to my Attention-Deficit like behaviors.