Enough thought, time for action

I am in. The ways in which young leaders can help shape an amazing future for HRM are many. The reasons to run again centre around RESPECT. Respect will cover some main themes:
Diversity
Teacher/Student/ Family relationships
The environment
The future of the students, teaching them to live and work in the community, not just learn from textbooks
For the hard work of teachers and administrators and staff to make the system better
New ideas, leadership development positive reinforcement
Generational differences
Other students

I am working out campaign themes right now and getting ready for a fun 3 months of campaigning. Love to hear from you.

One more day in the thought process

I have had lots of time to think about running for school board. There are many pluses and minuses to running. I actually broke down by hour my week and if I can keep the board time down to 4 hours per week, then this is a manageable commitment. Of course, this is based on winning.

Here are some of the key issues I think would need to be addressed within the new board agenda: Bullying/ school violence, RESPECT for kids and teachers, diversity, greening of the economy, empowering family and teachers, technology, generational changes in learning and personality (attitudes), ways of learning and how students get ready for the job market and careers.

The biggest issue arises around time. If there is a commitment to educate people as to the what the school board's mandate is, then this is very manageable. I know I can make a big difference in the city and this seems like a great position to help influence the city and its' direction. I will make a decision today.

Halifax School Board- running?

It has been a few weeks since I have been on. Since I have been on, I have almost finalized my decision to run for the HRM School Board. I have been very impressed with staff at the Board and the current Board- Howard Windsor- seems to be an amazing leader. There are some key traits that he brings to his role that I see could translate into a new board. Decisive, broad thinking, energetic, intelligent and forthright will be key elements in the new board.

Halifax is screaming for new leaders and I feel that I can bring a lot to the table to help the School board grow. Some of my key elements I bring to this role will be strength, strategy background, negotiation, marketing and relationship development. The board needs leaders and there are reasons pro and con for running. If I make a final decision soon, it is going to be a fun ride.

Euro Final

This was a sight I was excited to see. After screwing England, and now working on ManU, it was great to see Portugal go out. I can't stand Ronaldo as an athlete, although I respect his talent immensely. Me first players don't lose all the time but they should!

My predictions for round two were way off. With the exception of Spain over Italy in penalties which I predicted, my picks went downhill. I was surprised at the Holland result, but they have been chronic underachievers for years. So my Spain v Holland matchup spectacular could never have happened. But the German team have been surprising with their attacking flair. Schweinstieger, Podolski and Klose have been working very well together. Two suspect defences in the Final may make for a better than expected final.

My prediction will have to be Germany to win. I can't see Spain shutting down their counterattack and Iniesta has been very disappointing. However, Torres could be the wild card if Spain can play to his strengths of attacking at pace. Germany is better equipped mentally for the occassion and I would expect a 3-2 or 2-1 game in their favour. PS, I would have predicted both semifinals correct if anyone was counting.

Euro 2008

Never one to toot my own horn.. I just want to draw attention to my picks for the Euro quarterfinals. 100% accuracy guaranteed, including my darkhorses the Russians and the surprise Turks who upset the Czechs in an amazing game. I usually can't get one game correct. The odds must have been ridiculous. Here are my picks for the next round:
Portugal in overtime against Germany. Should be fun watching them mass defend Ronaldo.
Holland over Russia 2-1.
Croats over turks in what will be a discipline free game.
Lastly, Spain over Italy in penalties..

Everton Complete Successful Year

A huge victory for Everton FC yesterday with a win over listless Newcastle. Minus Martins and Viduka, this Newcastle team was a shadow of their squad from even last week. Owen was mediocre and EFC showed another great example of what a good squad they can be. There are some changes that need to be made and hopefully 2-3 young players will establish themselves next year. That being said, 5th place and UEFA Cup is a big accomplishment for this squad, especially with how they have missed Cahill and Arteta this year.

Yakubu can be a great striker in this league, but he will need to prove that he can go day in and day out for the Blues to be successful. There is a great base to develop in this team, but there will need to be some cash spent to make the next leap. Everton needs 1-2 bona fide superstars to prove that they can be in the Top 4 and Champion's League. EFC need Cahill to play the system they played for a lot of the year, but they also need other options to break down teams on the wings. Right now there is no player like Ronaldo who is confident enough to beat players all day long. This is going to be an interesting offseason for Moyes.

Everton Season Drawing to Close

The last few weeks have been hectic in the football calendar. Everton have been producing poor form over the last few weeks. Coupled with some key injuries, the squad has shown its lack of depth. All the games have been competitive but we have lacked that killer instinct from the first six months of the season. Arteta and Ossie have been sorely missed while Aj's injury piled on the problem.

As I have noted previously, there is a need for more good squad players. We can't compete to win against the big clubs yet and results recently have put us needed a result in the last match. While I am totally confident this will happen, it would have been a lot better for many Evertonian's hearts to wrap this up a while ago. I said that Aston Villa were the squad to watch and they are definitely up and coming if they can lock down some good squad players. Similar to Everton in this regard and I think it will be the same teams locked in battle for these spots next year, depending on how loose owners are this summer.

Man Utd has been impressive as has Chelsea and these upcoming two games are ones to relish. I am looking forward to the next couple of weeks and watching a exciting final from Russia.

Another win for VP Common Sense

So one of my writing heroes is Bill Simmons, the Sports Guy. I absolutely look forward to his articles on sports every week and enjoying Celtics and Patriots commentary with a "homer" view. His

VP of Common sense stories are hilarious and I believe that we need to incorporate this position into our City. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/simmons/index. His VP would look at all sports decisions, trades, punishments and make sure they make sense to everyone.

If we had this, we would have stopped dumping polluted water into our harbour, knowing it would eventually have to be cleaned up. We would have worked with the school board as soon as things looked like they may go pear shaped. We would not release transit plans to the public before they were confirmed. HRM would have implemented better transit years ago preparing for the growth of downtown and created bike paths, more reward for carpooling and better buslines. Lastly, we would not have even opened the Cat Bylaw question. Thanks to that one neighbour who had 47 cats running around her property and prompted this ridiculous waste of time.

I am happy to declare for VP Common Sense and take all the huge wages along with it.

Transit Trouble

I have written before about lack of vision and how it can be resolved. Why is there now a new five year plan? It is crazy that HRM councillors can be planning for certain things and then do another reverse. Why wasn't this worked on five years ago. At work, if I reversed on a project after 1 year, I would have to answer some serious questions about my research and decision making. Peter, check out my transit plan:
Get the new garage built for Halifax to stop deadheading
Express buses: Spryfield/ Herring Cove
Clayton Park
Preston
Eastern Passage
Musquodoboit
Hubbards

Bus Lanes
Bike Lanes
Extra ferry to go faster and transport more people
No Buses on Spring Garden

Everton trouble?

Here is your player of the season. The more it is examined, it is really up between Lescott and Howard. He only allowed 1-2 cheesy goals this year. Lescott scored 9 this year. Lescott was a beast coming out of the back and Howard kept us in so many games this year. Yak scored, but not always against the Big clubs and in UEFA. Arteta missed a lot of time. If we can secure a draw Thursday, then I would say we are in the clear for 5th place. Portsmouth is trouble though, the Blues need to win out after Chelsea or at least secure 7 points in the last four games for 5th. All hope for overtaking Liverpool is gone as they seem to be peaking in time for Champion's League. Chelsea might be in trouble next week.

Depth of squad killed us with no Ossie or Artie.. Need those players fit and we need more depth. 3-4 players in the transfer window and making sure we are healthy for next season are key.

Another Liverpool escape

The only thing to say is, how is the "foul" on Babel a penalty and the "foul" by Kuyt not. Garbage officiating the last two weeks. My lack of love for Liverpool grows by the week.

Blues scrape through

Everton did not give a great account of themselves last weekend. With a few more bodies back, including the vital AJ and Anichebe they managed to scrape out a tough win over Derby. That brings back to discussions on how good the Toffees are. Really, are they a top five team? Yes. Has this season worn on them due to lack of squad depth? Yes. The club needs to add a couple quality players for next year including a dominant central midfielder and a couple wingers. Yobo was crazy in that game, just bad decision making all game long and as a club they still need to get faster and get the ball down.

The annoying thing is they do it in spells, usually with Pienaar on the field and the Blues miss him more than I first believed. There has got to be better options. A great finish by Ossie after Fernandes finally showed some class that he did last year. It is hard to break into the Top 4, but even those teams have some off games against lesser known opponents.

Rumours started about Arteta leaving. I don't think he will go, but would understand. Moyes the the club do everything to bow down to him, but he is not getting his look in with the National Team. if you look down the lineup, Xavi, Inesta, Albiol, Fabregas, Joaquin, Alonso and Senna, that is some very talented players in front of him. Could he add something to that kind of team, for sure! But if Everton doesn't play that Spanish style in midfield, it is hard to see how he will be noticed. Here's hoping he gets a look in. Would love to see him in a (Spanish) English shirt.!

http://www.caughtoffside.com/tags/premier-league/everton

Everton disaster

Another tough game for the lads. When you line up with Nev and Cars centrally, you know that there is not a lot of attacking intent. The Yak was out of sorts and overall we got dominated in the first half. Gerrard, Lucas and Babel should have put them up 3-0 easy in the first half. As Arteta slipped inside, better possession occurred in the second half, but really we never threatened the penalty areas except an Osman header just wide. If Gerrard had played like this for England, they would be amazing.

I am pretty upset that we showed not enough drive and had no subs to use. Baines did well when he came on, but Hibbert is nicht so gut! He has to be on the bench. I know we need to build a squad, but I would rather have Lescott right and Baines or Valente on the left to give us better balance. Everton needs a couple good results against the Brummies and Derby to lock in a fourth spot and Euro football next year. I just don't know how we can accomplish this without a second striker. Get better soon AJ!

Anxious for Everton

So scared right now. I have that feeling like before the SuperBowl this year. A little confident, but more than a little scared. This derby, while I don't think will define our season is key. Although we are firmly established as a top 6 team, there is a pressing need to get into top 4 and challenge Europe. Portsmouth is doing well and making a late run at it while Villa and Blackburn have really fallen off. I still feel we are not going to have the legs to do that this year but a good result tomorrow against the Pool is key. The loss of Tim Cahill is key because noone in the Premier League plays that late running midfielder as well as he does. Tomorrow's lineup should look like this:
Howard- Lescott, Yobo, Jags, Neville- Carsley, Ossie, Fernandes, Arteta, Pienaar- Yak. looks good to me, but I see this being a very tight game throughout the match and hopefully AJ comes in late to shake it up for us. The only wrinkle is that if Pienaar can't go that Victor starts up high with Yak and we really push from the get go. GO BLUES!

Premier League Title Race

We were treated to two amazing games on Sunday. In the first, typical Liverpool showing no attacking invention except two shots by Alonso and Gerrard. Rooney was a force in this game and skinned Caragher repeatedly. Rooney should have had a penalty and really if not for a couple key (bizarre) saves by Reina, this game could have been done before the red card. Mascherano and these other players know that is a ref says enough, it is the same in any language. On the replay, the card looks harsh, but who knows what was said to ref Bennett before that moment. He could have already been on his last warning. I am the last person who wants referees to get away without criticism, but imagine being surrounded at your job, berated and sworn at until you had to do something to relieve the tension. As mentioned in a previous post, I felt Cole should have been sent off last week and he continues this week with his shenanigans. The refs need to be FOR the players, but the players need to understand they get assessed as well. if this is not working, then we need more past players to pick up the whistle and help. ManU then tore a strip off of Liverpool which was very enjoyable to watch as a whole, but will fire up the Reds for our big Derby next weekend.

In the big Chelsea win, Drogba was amazing after a lackluster first half and the introduction of Anelka and Belletti changed the game. Essien is a totally different player in the middle and I think the Lampard was the worst player for Chelsea on the pitch while Terry and Drogba were immense. Essien, Ballack, Cole and SWP or Malouda would allow for Anelka and Drogba to pair up, which could be a very scary combination with pace and power. Applause for the The Grinch (Grant) who pulls off a big win. It looks like Chelsea should now hold onto second with Arsenal, Liverpool, Everton rounding out the top 5.

Everton Player Breakdown

Always wanted to run through Everton's lineup and have my say on the season and upcoming and what they should do with players.

Stars
Arteta- So glad they resigned him. The creativity on the right and ability to draw FK is amazing. Has not scored near enough this year and would like to see him more forward and less defending.
Lescott- What a player, scores, defends, gets forward, how is he not past Ashley Cole on the England depth Chart, see next blog.
Cahill- Adds another dimension to the team, passion and has amazing springs. If we continue 4-4-1-1 that is his spot and hopefully we will convert Vaughan to a winger for playing time.
Yak-I add him here because of what he could be and that is a devastating striker. He has great control, good 1v1 and is an above average passer of the ball. He has a great partnership with Pienaar especially and brings all players into the game. His shooting is subpar for a top striker, but he finishes breakaways and in the box. I feel like AJ could play there, but not if we are playing to feet, then he becomes waste. With more consistency, he can be even better, but he is still a stud.
When any of these four players are out, plus Carsley, we struggle.

Top Players
Yobo- So solid, only remember two big mistakes this year.
Howard- breakthrough year for him, been very consistent and except for the Arsenal thrashing he has been great and made timely saves. No more lobs like last year.
AJ-Can perform at this level as he showed last year. A full year with Yak would be good and with these four strikers we can have impact in all competitions.
Jagielka- Solid defender and could see him being a backup for England. His timing has been superd through the second half of the year.

Going to break through
Anichebe/ Vaughan- Love both these players and could be a combo for the future but I am sure one will get raided by a big club and then break down ala Frannie Jeffers.
Leighton Baines- He is a strong player defending and above average going forward, he was in the England Squad.

Squad
Pienaar- Great one touch player but does a lot of careless thing such as tackle backwards. Worth signing for $3.5 million.
Carsley- Seem to lose our shape without him. This has been his best year, but he is still prone to some gaffes. He has gotten much better on the ball this year, probably a good run in the squad has done him well.
Neville-Long had I hated him, but he is a top pro (read average player that says the right things and trains hard) plays hard for the squad and I think should be starting right back.
Hibbert- I guess we need a third choice right back, but I would feel better without him, love to see a big signing there.
Valente- Good backup leftback, get forward well.
Ossie-Love his guile and creativity, fits in well with this squad, but not a star midfielder iun this league.
Fernandes- Gotta keep him for depth. I think from what I have seen he can make a mark.
Wessels- Seems like a god quality backup and squad keeper. Be interesting to see when the young lads come up.

?
Rodwell- No idea yet.
Anthony Gardner- squad defender
Young players- I have not seen anything of the lads this year and hope we have some quality coming through in the midfield.

Need to add: Right back, Class CM, LW- unless these players are coming through the ranks. Lets give them a run.

Need to go
Gravesen- I like him as a player, but we need someone else
Vandermeyde- Time to get $500,000 for him in Spain

Aston Villa v Everton

New Interesting Soccer blog
http://www.caughtoffside.com/tags/premier-league/everton

Sigma Chi Capital Campaigns

Searching through some capital campaigns I found a great deal of excellent material. While we have decided to not go with a company, Tony and I will be running the campaign. We are very excited and I think the brothers are happier seeing some money go to people who are very committed to the cause. Here are a couple of great Sig sites. I found tonnes more, but this was our starting block:

http://www.stanfordsigs.com/CapitalCampaign.htm
http://www.bradleysig.org/publications/campaign/Campaign%20Brochure.pdf

If you know of any great ones from any chapter or other organization pass them on as we are looking for great material to use for the chapter. Overall, if we can pay off short term debt, the mortgage and do $80,000 worth of repairs to the house, I would be ecstatic. Even better would be to build a renewable scholarship fund, leadership training funds, reduce the cost of living in the house as a recruitment tool and create future capital funds, that would be amazing.

The Fraternity does so much for so many people these days with friendships, learning, networking, business, job searches, community involvement and leadership development, it is a shame to lose good people who have not seen that side of the chapter. Also, it is key that older alumni get a sense of what they had when they were in school and get back to the chapter. It is amazing how it revitalizes you and brings back the spirit of youth. Here's to Great Success!

Everton in tough for fourth

A week without watching my Blues was tough. Recorded and watched a bit of the Sunderland match where we looked clever at times, but other times not so hot. Lucky break for the AJ goal to count. In the end we would take that result with our injuries. The loss to Fiorentina sounded heartbreaking and again finishing and 1-2 small mistakes could end up costing us fourth and a later trip in UEFA and other cup competitions this year. Yak missing a pen is not surprising but I figured Jags would power one in. Oh well, another lesson learned.

The Fulham game is inexcusable. Moyes will say we were tired and praise the team, but I want to see Rodwell get some time and maybe our young strikers coming up could do a job. Maybe even a VanderMeyde return- just kidding. We must have more class coming through to supplement the lads when we are injured. Yes, it is tough losing bodies and playing through three games in just over a week, but the top clubs are there. Everton can't be there until we get a new stadium and new investment. Thank God for Kenwright, but we also need more money to supplement our great squad. Where is that extra touch of class that helps us polish off Fulham. With a full squad there is plenty of invention, but we need a couple more bodies especially in the midfield.

We need to push hard these last few games and lock down 4th/ 5th and get Liverpool out of where they don't belong. With all that cash, they should lock down fourth easily, so looking forward to the Derby!

So much Vegas

Here are the highlights:

Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill. This was amazing. Had one big meal out in Vegas and LOVED it. Had the Mahi Mahi, shared the banana/creme/ gelato dessert and a pulled pork quaesadilla with avocado. I can't describe how good it was, but it was up there with my favorite meals of all time from: Bish, Hamachi House, DeMarizios and other fine establishments that ruled. Richard was a great server.

http://www.harrahs.com/casinos/caesars-palace/restaurants-dining/mesa-grill-detail.html

Golf with Tony at the Wild Horse.

Learning how to play craps at Sunset Station. I actually enjoyed this game as much as roulette and it could take over. http://www.sunsetstation.com/hotel/. The staff were amazing and a lot of fun. They spent time learning us the game so we could have a blast. I broke even at Sunset and lost at the Golden Nugget and Excalibur. Damn you Shad!

Golden Nugget- upgraded us to a huge suite.. So awesome! Check this blog on it. http://www.vegas4visitors.com/hotels/detail/goldennugget.htm. Definitely the best hotel on Fremont St.

Spending quality time with the wife walking around and just hanging out in Vegas.

Hoover Dam and Red Rocks Canyon were great. If you go on one day trip, hit these two places up. http://www.redrockcanyonlv.org/

Lillies at the Nugget
MGM Grand to walk around
Little restaurant in back of Mandalay Bay

IHOP in Henderson and our super waitress, Michelle. You rock!

Didn't enjoy- Most arcades on Fremont St not including the Nugget.
Stay away from the Paradise Buffet at Sam Boyd's - gross
Crazy people selling time shares on the street

Vegas

More details to follow but great first few days here. Upgraded to a huge suite at the golden nugget and really enjoyed the shark tank, swim, sushi and great customer service. I am sure there are some great blogs out there on this, but don't have time to swing it now.

Have a great house in Henderson, 15 mins to strip, fun housemates and enjoyed a great meal at the Memphis BBQ- thanks to Jen's mom for that free Vegas book. Then this morning it was back to the strip, Nugget for some gambling, everyone lost, ate at the Main street buffet. Great amount of food for $12 but everyone has been visiting the bathroom non-stop since then. Great day!

Sorry for missing church today, but I am sure the drinking and gambling made up for it.

Everton Loss

First game I have not been able to watch in a while. Followed it on soccernet and it read like we got slaughtered and weren't able to do anything. By all accounts Fiorentina is a class team, but we should be able to hang with the mid-range teams. It was unfortunate and while I like the fact moyes went for the away goal, it might have been better earlier to try and swing the game at half or not at all and try for the win at home. I think that second goal is going to bite us in the ass.

Not one to doubt Moyes but if I had a class team I would go at Osman/Hibbert all day. Hibbert is decent against English players who he can body off, but we can't attack down his side at all. Would have loved to seen some invention with Nev at right back or moving Lescott over to stem the tide and starting Baines. Sounds like Howard stood on his head! Anyway, all out attack next week so would expect Hibbo on the bench, Arteta to start and 2 up front.. who knows.. maybe a 4-3-3 would work if we want to start Anichebe or Vaughan as well.. But probably put Nev in the back, midfield of Cars/Ossie/Arteta/ Pienaar/Cahill and Yak up top for the first half and hope for a goal.. Good luck, let's rebound with a 3-0 win over Sunderland..

Everton Win

What a great win for the Blues. After starting hot with Yakubu, Everton showed that they can match passing with some of the top teams with great buildup including Pienaar, Osman, Yak and Cahill. The African connection has been great together and they really showed an ability to open up one of the leagues better defences. Pienaar is a must to resign for next year as he has developed into a very solid left winger. His defensive ability is weak for Premier League standards as was seen on the goal by Pompey, but with Lescott or Baines behind him, they should be able to take up the slack. Everton always look a better squad with 2 strikers to stretch the backlines. We look very comfortable in the 4-5-1 but against Liverpool and Fiorentina coming up there is going to be a need to play with 2 I think to make that relatively weak backline work on the day. Skrtel has been a good addition for the Reds but I think Yak on his day will do well.

The addition of AJ into the mix proved the decisive coaching move of the day. http://www.evertonfc.com/news/archive/pompey-reaction.html Andrew Johnson has always scared defenders by running at them with pace and causes the lines to backoff Yakubu opening space for him and Cahill. Cahill's goal was class starting with the ball in from AJ to Yak, then Yak to Pienaar who made the space and clipped a beauty to Cahill who gave some props to his brother who just got put in jail. How can you play that well after that??

As usual, the backline was great. Hibbert continues to surprise even though going forward he is weak, but in the last two games has shutdown Elano and Krancjar effectively. Yobo.Jags has been immense and Lescott can play anywhere across that backline, he was solid again. Neville and Carsley have been solid all year and been a consistent base to build upon. I get worried that there is not a lot of depth centrally even with Fernandes and feel that unless we bring another player through the ranks, the Blues will have to splurge for a central player. I hope that we continue to "chivy" other teams but keep trying to play attractive football, this has been my favorite season of Everton in ages. Keep it going Blues.. 4th place and UEFA Semis as the goal!