543 Magazine

Category: Family Life

  • REVIEW: Trivia Crack

    REVIEW: Trivia Crack

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    First of all, I have no knowledge of what is cool and what is trendy. It’s important to establish that. In fact, I’m not really sure what a current craze would even look like if I stumbled across it. I don’t have my finger on the pulse of the viral or progressive and I am not aware of what is cutting edge. Actually, the only way I would even have any involvement on trend spotting is that when something is pretty much played out, when it’s already becoming un-cool, that exactly when I’ll first hear about it — Marketing experts call this The Everett Point and they track it on progression and sales curves. It’s also a good way to know when to dump stock.

    But one of the advantages of living with teenaged sons is that if you pay attention, if you look around, you can actually have a front row seat to the relatively new — if only by osmosis but that still counts. And this is one of those times.

    So here it is.

    There is an app called Trivia Crack, that — at the time of this writing — is officially the single most popular app in the country — and we are following Latin America where it is even more widely popular.

    How it works is, you load this app on your phone and then you play against your friends on general trivia questions— you can choose random opponents as well but that takes out the fun of texting those you are playing against and taunting them. You spin the wheel which determines what category question you need to answer; art, science, history, geography, entertainment or sports. You are asked a question and you have a time limit — which is several seconds shy of how long it would take you to Google it. If you answer correctly, then you get another question and another and your opponent has to wait their turn until you get an answer wrong; sitting and watching the screen, hoping you’ll lose so they can get back in the game and save their dignity.

    You need to collect the characters that correspond to each one of the categories that are determined by the wheel and you can steal characters from your person your playing if you challenge them. There are Power-Ups that will help you along with ways to eliminate options of any of the tough 90,000 questions that are constantly updated.

    Now the game itself is pretty fun but that’s not the interesting part about it.

    By definition, because you are playing a real life person, Trivia Crack falls in the category of a social game; meaning that you are competing with a living, breathing people somewhere else. But that title is somewhat misleading because some of the most  anti-social activities can be done with social games — if you are holed up in a room for a weekend playing an interactive game with someone online, this is not exactly a social activity.

    But Trivia Crack is different. First of all it’s very difficult to play the game alone. Meaning you will most likely need help, advice, direction on at least some of the areas that you’re not familiar with. So if you are playing the game in a room with people — even in a room with complete strangers — you can’t help but call out for help. Quick, what Hockey team won the most championships? And someone will answer you.

    Here’s an example. We were playing the game in our living room the other night;  four different games going with four different people that we knew and all of us helping each other win — and we make the ultimate team; Alex is an encyclopedia of sports knowledge, Debbie has a medical and science background Nick is great with pop culture and I have all the weird stuff. So we’re at home playing as a group.

    Now a friend of ours, who is just one of those games going, was in a car with another group of other friends coming back from a trip. They are all screaming out answers to help Dave; helping him play and we are all at home were helping my wife. And — here comes the best part — while they stopped at a restaurant to eat, Dave shouted out a question to Jeff who was ahead of him and a random person heard it and answered — therefore involving even more people.

    Trivia Crack as far as a game is great, but it does what Angry Birds and Candy Crush could never do. It actually gets real people talking to each other in order to play.

  • Finding Sergio

    Finding Sergio

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    Throughout your life, there will be activities that fall into specific categories. For example, there are those things that you choose to do — you choose to go to work and you choose to pay your bills. These are your choices — you have power to do them or to not do them. You are in control.

    Then there are those things that you get to do. Because you have chosen to keep working, you get to buy yourself a motorcycle. These are the direct benefits of the choice; the harvest of the decision — because of the choice, you receive the get.

    And then there is the third — and the rarest category — which are those things that you are given to do. These are those tasks where you are called, where the tumblers click just right and you are allowed to play a role in something incredible and special.

    It’s the right place and the right time, position. It’s when God has set everything in motion and you have the keys and the passcode and for however long it lasts you are given the chance to play a roll. You don’t deserve it, but you get to.

    Six years ago, I got the call that started my given. And for every single second of those last six years, I have been grateful for it.

    “Hello?”

    “Hey, is this — Everett?”

    “Yeah.”

    “Hey, this is —. This is Dave.”

    “Oh, hey Dave.” — Dave? Dave who?

    “Umm, I know this is going to sound — weird, but —. But I have this strange, this — Wow, — idea I wanted to run past you.”

    And the given began.

    The next day I was standing in our church sanctuary.

    “So what do you think?”

    The end of the sanctuary just — well, it ended. There was this — this, step in the back but then a wall. It was just a big room.

    “Well a —. A stage would be —. Well probably need a stage first.”

    And within a week — within four days actually — lumber was purchased and delivered and a handful of volunteers were building a fifty foot stage.

    See, the challenge with most church Christmas plays is that the bar has been set so low that it’s difficult to raise — which sounds somewhat strange but it’s not. Because there is a hundred year tradition of kids standing in there bathrobes and pretending to be Joseph or a Wiseman and no matter if they remember their lines, if they forgot the bathrobe, or if they think it would be funny to burp the alphabet just then, the play will be a success. Because it’s just for the church. It’s not all that important and there isn’t a lot of skin in the game.

    Dave’s idea was different.

    What if you took the church Christmas play to an off Broadway level? What if you had a solid message but delivered it in an entertaining way?  What if you had an original, tightly written script that could only be seen by you? What if you had music and choreography at a professional level? What if you had a budget that would allow you to get the right lights, costumes, sound equipment and props? Would if you found the best set designer — one that believed in what you do and helped guide you? What if you created an original musical where if people stepped foot in a church once a year, this would be it because it would be hard to stay away? And most importantly, what if you found a hundred people who were willing to volunteer countless hours and take the level of excellence that we give to everything else in their lives to sing, dance, act, carry props, operate lights and work at the absolute highest level they can, through months of the rehearsals and put on four shows each December?

    Oh, well then you would have — this. This amazing thing that we get to do each year.

    See, there was a young musical director who had this crazy idea and I was honored to be the person he called — which as a writer is actually a pretty sweet deal because writing is a very lonely gig. You write, you write, you edit and you write and then a long time later you’re read — just a little. But each year I get to make up characters and words. Then I watch my words be said by others. Then I help work those others to become those characters. Then I stop thinking of them as my words and they become the characters words. Then I get to spend time with those characters.

    It’s ironic that the writing that I’m the most proud of is that which I give away — but as I think about it, guess that’s true for just about everything.

    We didn’t have a stage. A script, a cast, a set. We didn’t have performers, a crew or props. What we did have was a blank sheet of paper and an idea and no rules — the same thing we start each new year with. And it has become this miraculous thing that logically shouldn’t happen —- none of this should work each year, we don’t know what we’re doing. But it does. Every year over a hundred volunteers create an original show that can’t be seen anywhere else at a level you won’t see within a hundred miles — that is absolutely free to attend. This year’s is called Finding Sergio.

    Since the inception of 543skills.com we’ve never posted an invitation before. To anything. So here is the first. If you’re a few hours from Dover, Delaware on the weekend of December 12th, 2014, I am inviting you to see an amazing event, absolutely free of charge,  that shows what a bunch of people who love God can do. Finding Sergio. And if you’re not in that area, if you send us an email here I’ll make sure you get the link for the video when it’s online.

    Christmas is full of suggestions to get involved, to help, to find the true meaning and all of this is important and all of it is true. But the given, is more than just volunteering or donating. It’s more personal and it’s bigger. It’s the crazy idea. The insane one that will bring you no personal wealth or glory but is something that should be done or needs to.

    In your life you will be given something to do — probably more than once. It will seem small or it will seem ridiculous and you’ll be right both times.

    Enjoy it.

    And Merry Christmas.

  • 10 things we hated as boys but love as men

    10 things we hated as boys but love as men

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    In the long, warm Saturday’s of childhood, life remains a straightforward and clear endeavor. We have our friends. We have our family and we have the great big world; that incredible event that was put into motion simply to run through, climb over and dream about.

    Then — and don’t ask me how this happens — a few Saturdays go by and then a few more. Then they come in by the dozen. And as they flip by, one-by one, we awaken to discover that we are now shaving, paying car insurance and there are other humans that have our last name.

    Wow. Weird.

    And even though there are many, many boyhood ideals that are worth keeping and preserving — honor, trust, dignity, faith — there are also areas that we never get to appreciate until we are older.

    Here are the top ten.

    10. Rarer meats.

    Remember when we liked our hamburgers the same way we did our marshmallows over a fire? — charred to perfection? Then, over time, we came to appreciate all that moisture and flavor that is kept in the red parts. A rare piece of prime rib is something we will be excited for on New Years Eve but would have us gagging only a few years before.

     

     

     

    9. Naps.

    Naps are God’s way of telling us that he loves us. As kids we avoided naps; thinking that some amazing things would occur that we would miss. Then, as adults we found out that there is a way to reset the day. It’s this magical doorway that we get to walk through every now and then.

     

     

     

    8. Spicy foods.

    As kids, spicy means pain. Period. As adults spicy is not only the bragging rights to the macho, but it actually contains dopamine — the main ingredient in herion. As a kid, even pepper will have is crying. As an adult, we’ll put Red Hot on our cereal.

     

     

     

    7. The party going on, without us.

    Men, are pack animals. And the majority of our young lives — and our young-adult lives — are dictated by the extremely strong drive to be at every gathering, every time, no matter what — it’s as strong as the one that drives the salmon up river. If there is a party — any kind of party, anywhere, any time — we will be there because we couldn’t stand knowing there is fun going on without us. Then, one day, the world doesn’t revolve around us and we’re okay with that. That drive is reduced and we get to go only if we want to. Which is so much better.

     

     

    6. Coffee.

    Coffee is a gray area because it’s like booze in that it’s difficult to know if people actually enjoy the taste of it, or they just enjoy the feeling from drinking it. I’m not sure. But zillions of people drink coffee and as a kid we wouldn’t touch the stuff. Even if you poured in a pound of white sugar and added a few dozen Mars bars. No way.

     

     

     

    5. Being alone.

    What was once feared is now coveted. The boyhood idea of being alone means you were unloved, uncared for and unprotected. It was punishment. The adult version means that you are unplugged, unencumbered and free. We can do what we want with no one dictating or requesting. This amount of time, this space, is completely ours.

     

     

     

    4. Cooking.

    The act of cooking actually fits very well into our male frame of mind. It has structure, rules — the ones you can break and the ones you can’t — and involves building and constructing something. As kids we enjoyed that there were a tram of large humans that would no our bidding. As men it’s nice to not only be creative in the kitchen, but to serve others.

     

     

     

    3. Haircuts.

    Why did we hate these as kids? We would scream and yell as if they were removing bone-marrow not cutting hair? — but we took that lollipop at the end, didn’t we? Sell outs. And then one day we not only didn’t mind getting our haircut but we actually enjoyed the experience — the social aspect of it, the people watching and the ability to walk out with a new look.

     

     

     

    2. Girls.

    It’s ironic that the opposite-sex moves from the category of creepy and useless, to dangerous and fearful. One day we cant stand them and the next we are petrified of them. Then we pass though that whole dating and marriage thing and find ourselves having more and more women friends — who are the ones we seek when looking for guidance advice and empathy.

     

     

    1. Being wrong.

    For most of our boyhood and young adult life, there is this embedded need to be found right. We will research, Google, debate and interview if it means that we can be justified and found to be correct — preferably stated as such, preferably aloud in front of others.  Then — one day — the credit for being right appears a bit hollow. In fact, when it comes to being right or being kind, our older self will choose kind.

     

  • The Country Club

    The Country Club

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    “There you go, sir.”

    It wasn’t the sir that she used.  People call me sir, all the time. Casually without affection; in fact they call every male, sir —- from McDonalds to Starbucks. Thank you, sir. Here’s your change, sir. clubHave a good day, sir.

    It wasn’t the sir — not at all, I don’t even hear that any longer — it was that after saying it, she waited for my answer. She just stood there and waited.

    The bar was busy but not the way a commercial bar would have been. It was busy like a Country Club bar is — which is exactly what it was. There weren’t people leaning over the wooden top, waving paper money in order to get a Budweiser longneck and get back to the pool table. No. These were Country Club people. Successful people — and Southern, Country Club, successful people — so it was different. It was patient and elegant and relaxed.

    And hey, I’m not a total buffoon when it coms to this stuff. I’ve been to some elite places in my life — five star restaurants, exclusive resorts, yacht clubs, executive ranches, mountain retreats, Country Clubs  — none of which I did — or could have — paid for myself, of course. That’s not the point. But all of them work venues. All business trips. I’ve gone a lot of places. But not on my own.

    And I’m grateful to have had the opportunity to see the places I have but it means that I’ve been there and my family has not. In fact, outside of our one and only trip to Key West when we were first married, twenty-two years ago, my wife and I have never been on a flight together. Ever. I have not been on one with the kids either — oh, we’ve taken countless car trips, too many to count, but never a flight.

    I’ve been to Iceland, San Francisco, Luxembourg, all through Canada, the Bahamas, Las Vegas, 39 of the lower 48 States. All for business. All without my family.

    “Can I get you anything else, sir?”

    And that was the question. And that’s when she waited for my answer.

    There were a few of us there that night that were not club members; we had all came to the office for a few days of meetings and one of the owners of our company, Paul, wanted to take us all out to dinner. Just something casual. Just a quick meal at the club.

    Now it’s important to note that there is nothing pompous or arrogant about Paul — there usually aren’t about self-made men. He is kind person who became very successful through hard work and smart, solid business decisions and I have nothing but respect for him. But there is always a mental switch that gets flipped — whether by ego or fear —  when you step into another man’s life and look around. Especially when it’s a successful one. The yardstick is out and the self-examination has begun.

    Chris — Paul’s son — was sitting at the bar laughing. Chris is one of the Directors of the company and no, he was not given that position by birthright but earned every aspect of it. He’s young — somewhere in the late twenties to early thirties area — sharp, hardworking and grew up coming to this very Country Club. Chris was reluctant to come to dinner tonight because he has a complete day of presentations to orchestrate for tomorrow and then he is taking Friday off to fly to Miami with a young lady for the weekend — just shooting down to Miami for a few days. The same way that I would just shoot over to Wal-Mart or maybe, on a whim, jet to the park with Alex and pitch some horseshoes.

    Will my son’s, Nick and Alex, ever sit at a Country Club like this and wonder if they have time to get back to their condo on the James River and get packed before a quick weekend away in the sun? At lunch will they compare who the best fly fishing guides in Mexico are and why Oktoberfest in Munich is so much better than the one in Belgium?

    Probably not. That life is as foreign to them as it is to me. But what disadvantages do they have because of that? How many steps back on the game board have I started them out with, because I haven’t provided that? If I had worked harder? If I was smarter? Could I have gotten them here? Could I have gotten us here? And how much happier would we all be?

    But then —? Would I want this for them or would I want it for the ego of providing it for them?

    And this — this type of thinking — is exactly what happens when you start to compare lives. We feel successful when we learn a High School rival hasn’t worked in three years, but we feel lazy when another one just sold his company to Google.

    So when is it okay? — as a father, as a husband, as a man —  when is the right time to take enjoyment in what we’ve provided for our families and say, yeah, that was enough? — not to be complacent but to be grateful? Not to label or measure a life by points but to shrug off the ego and just — and just enjoy it?

    Is this something you do only when you are 81 years old? Is it lazy to do it at 51?

    “Can I get you anything else, sir?”

    And although there were other customers at the bar she needed to get to, she just stood there. Smiling at me and waiting. She would not go away. She would not release me if there was anything else I needed. The others could wait. If I wanted a guitar string or a car battery or the lyrics to a Beetles song, she would leave and get it for me before moving on to the next customer.

    She just waited.

    “Well,” I said, smiling. “I’ll let you know.”

  • No knead bread

    No knead bread

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    In November 2006, New York Times food columnist Mark Bittman wrote an article for his Sunday feature—it was just an interview with a baker who came up with a new method to bake bread, no big deal. Except that this baker claimed he had not only developed a manner of making absolutely amazing bread at home without the headaches of kneading and working the dough, but that his process was so easy, a four-year-old could do it.

    Wait.

    Why would a commercial baker develop a way to make his product at home? This seemed a little self-defeating. But this baker—his name was Jim Lahey—stated that his goal was for anyone to be able to create bakery-quality bread—you know, that bread with the hard crust and the rich center, not the squishy store-bought stuff—as often as they wanted.

    So, Mark Bittman met with Lahey and the two baked this new bread together. Bittman wrote the piece and that article launched an entire bread-making movement. There were videos, additional articles, online pieces, cookbooks—all about this new method of baking bread easily.
    Now, baking bread had always been a daunting and intimidating task, one only taken on by the serious home baker. It was time-consuming, required a lot of attention, and was easy to mess up—which is why homemade bread has always been so revered.

    The traditional process of baking bread requires dissolving yeast and sugar in water, then adding in lard, salt, and flour. Then the kneading starts. After that, the bread has to rise for an hour. Then you punch the dough and allow it to deflate and sit for another hour. Then you bake.

    Then, in the 1990s, bread machines came along. These things were great. Now there was a machine where you could load in all the ingredients and allow the device to do all the kneading, punching, waiting, and cooking. You just loaded it up, pressed a few buttons, and walked away. But the bread was still the soft, squishy store-bought kind—a much fresher, preservative-free version of it, but still not that artisan, bakery-style bread we all love.

    Then came Jim Lahey’s method, where we can not only make the most amazing artisan bread ever, but it is so incredibly easy that—yes, a four-year-old can do it.
    It’s cheap—an average loaf will cost you about thirty cents to make—incredibly crispy, tasty, and easy to do.

    What Jim Lahey came up with was a way to allow time to do all the work—up to twenty-four hours. It takes a minute to mix the bread, uses only a quarter teaspoon of yeast (most recipes call for a full teaspoon or more), and allows the yeast to ferment very slowly. The dough is so sticky that you couldn’t knead it even if you wanted to, which is good because you just leave it alone and let it do its thing.

    His method creates a great cracking crust and flavor and is the kind of bread that you get from professionals’ steam-injected ovens. And it does this by allowing the pot you cook it in to act as a steam oven and get the same results. Over the past year, I’ve made dozens of loaves of this bread and with a few tweaks, it’s pretty bullet proof.

    So how do you make no-knead bread? It’s pretty easy.

    First, you will need:

    1¾ cup of warm water
    3 cups of flour
    1 teaspoon of salt
    ¼ teaspoon of yeast

    In a large bowl combine flour, yeast, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients, then add your water. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit. Jim Lahey’s recipe calls for between eighteen and twenty-four hours, but I would say eight hours is a minimum. I make a batch up at night and we have it for breakfast the next day. I also use a Sharpie and write on the plastic wrap the time that I started it, so I don’t forget. If you like a larger loaf and less dense bread, wait longer, toward the twenty-four-hour time frame.

    Place flour over a cutting board and place the dough on it. Fold it into a ball—don’t knead it or work it; just fold it—place back in the bowl and cover back with plastic wrap for thirty minutes.
    HINT: What I do here is, while the dough is on the cutting board, I wash out the bowl, dry it, and place a layer of olive oil on the bottom. Then when the dough goes back in the bowl, I’ll add a little olive oil on the top. This will add flavor and allow the bread to easily slip into the pan when you cook it.

    Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and place a Dutch oven, casserole dish, or anything that has a heavy cover and seals, into the oven to preheat—empty—for ten minutes. You want the pan to be hot when you start.

    Place the bread inside the Dutch oven. I used to cut vent holes on the top of the loaf, but found that they don’t do much and the look of the bread is nicer without them. Cook for thirty minutes.
    Remove the lid and cook for an additional five minutes or so to get the top get crusty.
    It’s tempting to cut it right out of the oven, but you get a better result if you let it cool for ten minutes or so.

    Now, I might add that with this recipe is everything depends on the Dutch oven or pot that you use to cook it in. With mine, I can’t get the crust extremely crusty, without burning the bottom of the bread, so I settle for a medium crust. I’ve seen others do it where they can cook and extra five minutes or so and get it crusty all over. You can try adding parchment paper to the bottom of the pot; that will give you some additional cooking time.

    And that’s it. No-knead bread. Fast, easy, fun, and costs probably around thirty cents a loaf. Obviously, there are no preservatives in it like there are with store-bought bread, so it won’t stay fresh for more than a week or so, but you won’t have to worry about it. This bread goes fast. We’ve never had a loaf make it to three days.

    Two days is our record—two days, five hours, and sixteen minutes.

  • Facebook

    Facebook

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    Facebook is ten years old this year. Can you believe it? Which means that for a solid decade we’ve been able to digitally connect with friends, co-workers and family, whether they were a few blocks away or around the world — instantaneously. Just like that. We can now share events, tragedies, laugh at jokes and keep connected — all the time; not just through yearly Christmas Cards or the occasionally phone call. We can watch children grow up, share videos of events and rally around when needed. All the time and everywhere — from our laptops to our phones. We are always connected to them.

    And because we are so accustomed to Facebook it’s difficult to remember a time before it. When if you wanted to reconnect with someone you would Google their name and hope to find an email address — which you never could and it actually just lead to bit of digital stalking; looking in but not able to knock at the door. But not now. A quick Facebook search and not only can you often find the person you are looking for, but by the very act that they are on Facebook states they are willing to consider reconnecting with you.

    Today, by the stroke of a keyboard, decades can disappear and within seconds not only can we be joined back to the people we remember so clearly even though so many years have passed, but they are brought into our current life and become part of the day to day Facebook feed. Facebook has made the world small and accessible.

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    Now, I am celebrating my own personal anniversary with Facebook. Three months. I have been a part of Facebook for one quarter now and I have to admit, I like it and I see value in it — even though I did not go willingly. When we were ready to launch 543skills I was told — in a very nice way — to get over it and get on Facebook. It was necessary to coordinate the site with social media which meant getting a personal Facebook page and then one for the site. So I did. But the reality is I think I was ready.

    In part, the delay might have been because I actually felt special because I shunned Facebook. And possibly I was waiting for Mark Zuckerburg to call me and ask if there was anything he ever did to offend me. I would even grandstand a little on how I didn’t get involved in such things. But there were two other parts. The second was that I thought Facebook was a lot more intrusive than it really is. It’s not. You can open the door as wide or as shallow as you want to. But the second reason was —.

    Well, here’s an example.

    There is a company called Publish America. I am not going to say anything about this company; instead let’s play a game. Take the next three minutes — that’s all you’ll need, three minutes — and do a Google search of this company; Publish America. Then come back.

    Go.

    Okay, in those three minutes you have seen many things. In fact, within seconds of your search, on the very first Google page, you will see the words, complaints, lawsuits, beware, as well as the F-Rating from The Better Business Bureau — and this is thirty seconds into your allotted three minutes of time. In fact, on that same first page you will see that this company has changed their name in order to keep operating and put some distance between the lawsuits and image of the old company.

    Now with all of that. Here is the question. In the three minutes of your Google search, if someone were considering signing an agreement with this company, what would you advise them?

    Correct. So why does Publish America continue to get customers? Why do would-be authors sign up with them — every day?

    Great question.

    So here is what Publish America is about. If you want to get published, you send your manuscript into Publish America and they accept it — they say they reject many, but that’s not true (Google; Atlanta Nights and see what I mean). So they accept your book, give you one dollar as an advance and voila, you are a published author.

    So, you tell all your family and friends that you are now published and of course they want to read your book — which Publish America will gladly sell them for thirty dollars. In fact Publish America will sell anyone your soft cover book for thirty dollars — because it’s Print-on-Demand — except bookstores, who won’t touch your book because it’s not edited, its error ridden, because Publish America is not a legitimate publisher, because the price is ridiculously high and because you cannot return them. Oh yeah, once you sign the contract, Publish America now owns your book and they can keep it for seven years — unless you wish to buy it back. The business model is that Publish America markets books to its authors. Period.

    When I first heard about this company I thought it was sickening; taking the dreams of people and stealing it. But if you go on the Publish America website and look at the videos of the Writers Conferences they do, you will see something different. You will see — ego. That’s it. People who want to be read not because they think they have something to say, but because they think what they have to say is more important than what anyone else has to say. They don’t want to go through the work of being a writer, they just want the title.

    And this is what I thought Facebook was. People who didn’t want to go through the work of being a friend, they just wanted the title.

    I was wrong.

    Do people abuse Facebook? Absolutely. There are those who now don’t need to be a friend in order to have a friend. Facebook becomes a substitute, a cheat. Yup. And there are those whose Facebook lives are far more glamorous than their ones in reality. But for every one of them, there are dozens of just plain people. Folks connecting and laughing and celebrating and supporting.

    So sorry, Facebook. I was wrong.

  • The Files

    The Files

     

    memo

    When we are born, when we first take delivery of our body, there is some set up and installation time required for the main component; the brain. And this takes a little while to completely go through. So since nothing interesting can happen until the brain is fully functional, for the first three years of life — as our brain goes through this construction and set up phase — we remain in in a state of LOADING. During this period, software is installing, hardware is being assembled, code is being added in and miles and miles of connections and cables are being strung. It’s a capital project and after several years we are ready for some trial runs as we first put our brain through its paces.

    This is why any long term memories we have begin at around age three because before this, our brain is unable to store and record. But from that point on, we are given the keys to our mind and we start to determine who we are and who are the people around us. What will we believe? Who will we trust? What’s important and what is our place in the universe?

    So we are an adult at 18, we can drink at 21, we can drive at 16, but we are responsible for our own thoughts at around age three.

    Now when we first start using this brand new brain of ours, it begins in vacuum-cleaner-mode as we suck up all information on everything around us. Everything. Pure data. Pure experience. All is recorded.

    Then, after a few years of doing this, there is sufficient enough information to begin to sort it all. So the first category we create is, THINGS THAT ARE SAFE and the other is for THINGS THAT ARE SCARY. And everything new goes in one of these two boxes. Then once those files are established, old data is pulled out and resorted; the chair is safe, but the cat hissed at us once so he now goes in the scary box. And for years the world is divided into two parts. The safe and the frightening.  Safe is good. Scary is bad.

    Then we add new files: what tastes good and what does not. What is easy and what is hard. What gets us attention and what gets us ignored. And file after file after file is filled. And we call this personality; how we react to things, what we avoid and what we gravitate to.

    This is what people remember about us. This is the footprint we leave in a crowd.

    Okay, so here’s the scenario.

    You are now an adult, with your seasoned, battle tested brain. And for this illustration let’s put you in prison — sorry, you’ve lead a very troubled life. So you’re in prison, but because you are an extremely smart convict, one day you escape. You get out of your cell, you get outside the pod and then you get out of the building. You make it over the wall and into the woods. Now, because you are a very detailed person you manage to ditch the orange prison jumpsuit and get into some street clothes. You get a little cash and are a few hundred miles away before the guards even know you’re gone.

    Like I said, you are very, very smart.

    Now, because you are a disciplined person, once you are free you do not make contact with your sister in Albany or your childhood friend in Tulsa and you don’t even go to father’s funeral six months later. You cut all ties with his past at places where they may be looking for you. You get a new identity, a new life and a new job.

    So, here is the question. Will you get caught?

    Answer: Yes.

    Why? Because without even realizing it, you will begin operating according to those old files and if the police are looking for you they will find you. And when they do, you will be making a living as a mechanic, like you did before. And you will be on a dart league, like you were before. And you will be a member of the Moose Club and you will order rose bulbs from a catalog and drink Mountain Dew and follow the New York Giants. All like you did before. And even though your name is now Kevin Loomis, you are the same person as before and if the police follow your profile they will find you and they will drag your sorry backside back to A-block.

    Why? Because as disciplined as you are you never changed your profile. You operated only according to the old files.

    Now, is this programming our personality? Well if it is then you need to alter it or you’re going back to prison. But what if this personality is stopping us from taking better care of our families or making more money? What if it’s stopping us from obtaining a more personal relationship with God or being just plain being happier? After all, this personality of ours didn’t come in a box. We built it with the brain we were given. It was whittled and formed by each experience and fear and belief and desire. A trillion tiny thoughts, a million tiny events chipped away and made us, us.

    We take the same route home from work. We sit in the same seats during lunch. We go to the same garage when our car doesn’t work and we order the same pizza on Saturday night. Is that our personality? Is that what makes us, us? Pizza and car repair?

    So what’s the moral of all this?

    It’s this.

    You are not what you drive or what you eat or the team you root for. You are not even how you have chosen to act for the last thirty or seventy years. The real you — and you may not even know who that really is yet — is much, much more.

    And it’s your job to find out who that is. And then once you know, dump the files you don’t like or need.

    And fill new ones.

  • Managing found-money

    Managing found-money

    found

    So here’s the scenario. You decide to play the lottery. You choose your numbers, pay your dollar and stick the ticket in your pocket. The next day, just for fun, you check the winning numbers and —-. Guess what? You won! A perfect match. Yes! You jump up and down, you check the numbers again and — yes! You won. So you race to the nearest lottery office — trying not to kill yourself or anyone else along the way — and run in with the winning ticket.

    You are escorted into the lottery offices. They verify the ticket and confirm that there was only one winning lottery ticket sold, which means that the entire lottery — let’s go with, twenty-five million dollars — is all yours. Every penny of it. Congratulations.

    So you are lead to a room and you try to control your heart rate as a photographer takes the standard lottery winner photographs: the ones with you smiling and holding your huge cardboard check that has your name, then a dollar sign followed by a 25 and six zeros. The caption under the photograph will read: John Q. Public, our latest 25 million dollar lottery winner.

    Then there are the interviews with the lottery people asking the normal lottery questions: What will you do with your twenty-five million dollars? How does it feel to now be worth twenty-five million dollars? Did you ever dream you would someday win twenty-five million dollars?

    And by the next day, the world will read about everything that you’re planning to do with your brand-new 25 million dollar pot. They will read that you are going to buy a new house for your sister and have one built for your mom. How you are going to pay your niece’s tuition to medical school and give a lot of the money to charity.

    And after the photographs are taken and the interviews are over, you move on to the good part. The best part. The time when they give you all that money. When they give you all that cash; your twenty-five million dollars!

    You fill out more paperwork and are escorted down the hall to a large conference room where your check is waiting. You sit while a smiling lottery man slides the check across a polished conference table. Your flip the check over to see your name and a check for — $834,000.

    You look up at the lottery man.

    “What’s this?” you ask.

    “That? Why, that’s your lottery check, sir.”

    “But,” You say confused. “I won twenty-five million dollars.”

    But the lottery man is ready for this. The lottery man has dealt with this confusion before.

    “Sir,” he says patiently. “You opted for the lottery payment option when you purchased the ticket. Which means that you will receive twenty-five million dollars over a twenty-year period. Which means that we have put twelve and a half million dollars in an annuity for you, which over the course of twenty years will double and will equal twenty-five million dollars. We have taken the taxes out for you and you will receive a check for this amount, on this same date, every year, for the next nineteen years. Congratulations.”

    You stand there and look at your check. Well, you have to admit, $834,000 is still a lot of money. A lot of money! More money than you have ever had at one time before and besides, you will receive a check like this for nineteen more years and by the end of it you will be worth — twenty-five million dollars!

    So you grab the check and head out of the office happy and excited.

    And soon the world will see you with that big paper check. The world will know that you won twenty-five million dollars. And soon you will start to believe that you do have twenty-five million dollars, or at least you soon will have that much. And suddenly your house is too small for a multimillionaire like yourself. Your car is too drab, your vacations too plain. Someone of your wealth needs to live a little. To share a little; to pay back the family and friends who were with you back before you weren’t so rich. And remember, you did promise to pay for your niece’s college and to build your mother a house. And those preapproved credit cards that are clogging up your mailbox can be put to use. It’s okay to charge a few things. Hey, it’s not like you don’t have the money, right? You’re rich now.

    And let’s not forget those friends and family. Friends and family that now feel—no, now believe—that they are entitled to a part of that twenty-five million. You don’t want to seem greedy. You don’t want to disappoint them.

    And then — four months before the next $834,000 check is set to be cut — you notice that things are getting a little financially tight. Hey, you quit your job months ago, remember? And the minimums on those credit cards are pretty high and then there’s the taxes on the three houses you now own and Suzie’s next tuition payment is due. But hey, you’ll weather the storm, right? Borrow a little to bridge the four months until your next check comes in. It’s okay. You’re a millionaire. It’s not like you don’t have the money. It’s not like you’re not rich.

    But here’s the rub. You’re not rich. You don’t have the money. You’re not even a millionaire. You’re an eight hundred thirty-four thousandaire. You’re the same as that executive who earns that same amount every year, only he has one advantage over you. He knows he’s not rich. The world knows he’s not rich. But you have been lied to and now believe that you are rich. You and your family and your friends and the strangers at restaurants who think that asking you to pick up their dinner tab is normal because you got so lucky with the lottery and all—everyone believes you are rich.

    Evelyn Adams, who not only won the New Jersey lottery but won it twice for 5.5 million, now lives in a trailer.

    Suzanne Mullins won 4 million and is now broke and in debt. Abraham Shakespeare won 30 million and was murdered. Michael Carroll won 14 million and spent it on call girls. ‪Jack Whittaker won 314 million, was robbed, had a murder attempt against him and ended up bankrupt. Billie Bob Harrell won 31 million, was broke in less than two years and committed suicide. And you can go on and on and on.

    The National Endowment for Financial Education estimates that 70 percent of people who suddenly receive a large sum of money, will lose it within two years.

    And that’s the depressing news. The good news is that at some time in your life — through hard work, good timing or simple dumb luck — you will experience at least one  financial windfall. Maybe not a lottery win, but a windfall.

    As you are moving along in life, as the pace is steady and calm, pow, an unexpected lever will be turned and money will fall into your lap. This could be through an inheritance, your industry could be poised on a temporary position in the market, you could be the beneficiary of a life insurance policy or a law suit, whatever. It’s an absolute certainty that at some unknown time an unforeseen spike will occur and you will be sitting on an unexpected fat check.

    And depending on your station in life, this could be for a few thousand dollars or one of those with many zeros. But it is a certainty that at least once, you will experience found money.

    Now the bad news is that because this money occurs quickly, because found money has a different value in our psyche than earned income, because of the emotions attached and because of the pressure put on you from others, you will make a lot of mistakes. Many, many, many, mistakes. And it’s of very higher probability — 70% — that you will blow that money. In fact, it’s entirely possible that when the money is gone you could be financially worse off than before you received it.

    The main reason for this is that we believe that that money can solve most of our problems. If we just had more money, the troubles would be over and when that money comes in suddenly it’s easy to ignore other issues.

    RULES FOR FOUND MONEY

    1. Don’t do anything for one year. Money is a very emotional entity and it’s extremely difficult to make clear decisions when there is so much excitement involved. So don’t do anything with it for a year — one solid year. Stick the money in a savings account, hide the bank book and let it sit for twelve months. Now, the only exception to this is paying off some debt but even that is questionable. You need to allow time pass to think — and this will give you an out later on when you need it because …

    2. Your friends and family are not financial advisors. You are going to need some sound advice, absolutely, and that means professionals. Depending on the amount of money you receive will determine how many of your friends and family are willing to help you make decisions. And because you trust them as people you can trust them with your money, right? No. You need to have advice from professionals who have no emotional ties to you. And — if family and friends put apply pressure on you for loans, you can state that the money is all locked up and you can’t do anything with it for a year. And then give them your advisors name to contact.

    3. Don’t buy a house. Yeah, we covered this in the first area, but I’ll say it again. Don’t do anything for a year. People who come into a windfall will typically buy a new house quickly. And you really don’t want to do that before taking the time to think about the consequences — and then there is everything that comes with a new house; taxes, fees, decorators, furniture, taxes, insurance, even utility costs are greater. So don’t do it.

    4. No loans. And don’t be so quick to make new friends. Once you make money, everyone will approach you about new investments, ways to triple that money quickly, or sad stories of funds needed quickly.

    5. Stay healthy. Since money is so important to us — especially to those who didn’t have it before — we tend to think it can fix anything. Many people that come into money neglect their health. You need to stay healthy and strong.

    6. Keep moving on. As much as possible keep your life as close to it was before the windfall. Stay the course, keep plodding ahead and keep moving forward.

  • Riley the Dog

    Riley the Dog

    dog

    There are a few things in my household that I have complete veto power over — not many, but there are a handful. For example, when my wife and children wanted pets, I said no. I felt bad about it, but the answer was no. I did not want us to be one of those pet-houses.

    Now, don’t get me wrong, pets are great; cute, fun, entertaining — I get it. But having animals means being tied down; constantly running home and feeding them, or letting them out or exercising them. I wanted us to be able to travel and move around freely without having to be animal caretakers.

    So I said no. No pets.

    And to their credit, my family reacted in a way that made me proud. There were no complaints from Debbie and no tears from the kids. They took it extremely well.

    And one morning — this would have been about three years later — I was feeding the cats when Debbie and the kids said that they wanted a dog.

    What? A dog? No absolutely not. No dogs.

    And they took it well.

    Then then, about three years later, they asked for another dog? Absolutely not. We already had a dog.

    But they said a new dog would be a companion to Abby, our Golden Retriever. And, they added that a second dog is not much more work than a first dog. And once again, I pulled out that veto power and said no. Sorry, but no. We would not be a house with two dogs — who has two dogs anyway? That’s like having two swimming pools or two basements. Why would you have more than one?

    And five years later, after Murphy died, we were back to only one dog, so…

    Well, you get the picture.

    We got Riley about six months ago.

    Now the difference between Riley and the other dogs we’ve had — two Golden Retrievers and a Basset Hound — is that Riley is a mixed breed dog.

    After having had three purebreds, I have realized that all breeds are bred to do something — to hunt, to point, to herd, to show, to…something. And that DNA is telling them to herd, to protect, to point — first. Then, if they have some free time, they can be a pet.

    Now, many breeds make excellent pets — it says so right in the book — but some are first and foremost bred to do something else.

    Not that purebred dogs aren’t great. They are. But I prefer my mutt.

    When you take out that breeding — rip out the generations of DNA that force a dog to react a certain way or be on the lookout for a specific action, and strip the dog down to its basic structure — you let the dog just be a dog.

    And when you get to be just a dog, you have the opportunity to see the world through a regular ol’ dog’s eyes. And frankly, they have it all figured out. Riley has it all figured out.

    So here is what Riley has to tell you about life.

    1. Where you are, is the place to be.

    Riley doesn’t wonder if there is something better upstairs or around the corner. All he knows is that right here, right now, is where it’s at. This is the center of the universe and where he’s happy and grateful. He doesn’t regret or second guess. This moment, this time, is the best time that there is, or will ever be.

    2. All memories are good memories.

    Riley doesn’t mentally file away the times you bumped his nose when walking past him in the middle of the kitchen. He forgot how Abby got three more dog biscuits than he did and he has no clue that you could have walked him an hour earlier on Sunday but chose not to. Riley doesn’t know how to keep memories like this or what to do with them even if he did. He doesn’t understand what envy or jealousy or bitterness is and if he did, he would abandon it. It would bore him.

     3. As great as life is, there is always room for new people.

    Riley loves the people around him and is content with just them, forever. But when a new person enters his life he reacts as if it was the first person he ever met. Riley doesn’t treat his tenth friend less than his first friend. Everyone who enters his world is amazing, valuable, and worth getting to know. And he does not respond to people based on how they respond to him. He doesn’t care. He focuses on them, regardless of what they think about him.

    That’s what Riley wanted me to tell you.

  • The truth about self-discipline

    The truth about self-discipline

     

    red

    Okay, let’s say you have a goal you want to achieve and for the sake of the example let’s make it a weight and fitness goal. You want to lose twenty pounds. So in order to do this you put together a plan to achieve your goal; you create a fitness schedule, develop a nutritional diet, get a training partner, fill your Facebook and Twitter pages with you can do it re-posts and hit the ground running. Pow, slam, bang. You’re off.

    Now, a few weeks go by and you’ve lost some weight, you feel good, you’re gaining momentum until — until. Until that first big craving hits. And when this craving shows up — strong, determined and bloodthirsty — things start to go bad.

    The craving slithers on the scene and his desires are clear. He hates you. And he wants to destroy you and in order to do that he is going to make you eat that entire family size chicken and gravy, bucket meal. Now, you want to stop the craving, because the last thing in the world you want to do is to have to eat that entire bucket of crispy goodness.

    So the fight begins and the first punch is thrown.

    Over the next few minutes you slug it out with your craving — he gains a little, then you, then him again — until a winner is declared. And either the craving slumps away, happy and fat; leaving you crying with gravy on your shirt. Or you win and the craving leaves, bumping your shoulder and telling you that he’ll be back — loser.

    And this is how we see the path of self-discipline. As a fight. A fight between us and that powerful force out there who wants to hurt us, humiliate us and control us. So the only choice is that this force has to be defeated, beaten and destroyed.

    Right?

    No.

    And here’s why. Is there a force that wants us to eat that food?

    Yes. Yes there is.

    Does it hate us?

    No. It’s trying to keep us safe and happy — actually that’s what its job is.

    Okay, so who put it there?

    We did.

    That force — that strong and destructive entity that can only be defeated by our grit and grace — is not a force at all. It’s a little piece of software — let’s call it wetware — that is clicking along doing what we told it to do. We set it. We programmed it and then we left and forgot it and when it showed back up we tried to fight it — forgetting that we had all the passwords.

    Here’s a real life parallel. There are three ladies that work at a barbershop near our home and one of these ladies smokes. She has smoked for years and has she tried quitting several times. And one particular time that she was trying to quit, her entire personality changed. I mean, this sweet and kind woman was now short tempered and actually cruel. Mean. Her personality altered so much, that those around her just wanted their friend to come back. They no longer cared about her smoking. In fact, customers began coming in with packs of cigarettes for her — they actually did, buying cigarettes for the first time in their lives to give to her.

    The same people — the very same ones — that for years had begged her to quit smoking, were now the very ones who wanted her to smoke the most.

    “Just smoke one,” they’d say, through frightened and concerned smiles.  “Just smoke one and everything will be okay.”

    And it was okay. She smoked and went back to herself. The person they loved came back.

    Don’t let me get stressed, we tell the wetware.

    Okay. And the wetware searches to make that happen and locks it in. Chicken bucket. And the higher the stress is — even if the very stress is about ‘not eating the chicken bucket — the more the program will try to get you to eat it so you’re not stressed.

    So here is the good news. That force, that all powerful force that you think you have to fight — is actually on your side. As powerful as you think he is, he can be even more powerful helping you — since that’s all he wants anyway. It’s all he’s ever wanted.

    He doesn’t care if you smoke, he just wants you happy. He doesn’t care if you are overweight, he just wants you happy.

    But what if he can help you do both?

    Now here is where things get a little touchee-feellee for a while. So, how do we do this? How do we reprogram the wetware?

    By talking to it.

    I know, it sounds weird, but that is when the programming occurs. And how it occurs. And the best time to talk to it is when one of these cravings are are turned on — when the wetware is active.

    Just start asking it, why do you want me to have this? What will I get out of this?  And the big one — what are you afraid of, for me?

    And don’t be surprised if it’s the last query that gets you the answer. Fear — what are you afraid of, for me?

    And that’s it. That’s really all there is to it. When that ‘craving’, that desire, that urge to avoid, comes around, simply talk to it. That’s the only way to lift up the lid and look right into the actual programming code; to see what is driving that piece of wetware.

    Why do you want me to do this?

    What am I afraid of?

    What am I trying to avoid by doing this?

    And you’ll get your answer.

    That’s the secret.

     

  • The Fifty-Year-Old You

    The Fifty-Year-Old You

    shutterstock_121370143

    Medifast has come up with an advertising campaign that is not only very creative, but extremely powerful. In these campaigns a person is filmed at the beginning of their fitness plan, having a conversation with someone in a chair next to them — only there is no one in that chair. They are speaking as if they are talking to a new version of themselves, 12 weeks into the program. Then, at the end of the 12 weeks, the same individual comes back and is filmed talking to the other empty chair, as if having a conversation with themselves from 12 weeks ago. Through some video magic these two films are edited into a seamless conversation.

    We see the old version —- beaten, discouraged, and afraid — being encouraged by the new version who is strong, fit, and confident. Of course the new individual is not afraid of anything, because the new one knows what will happen. The new you holds all the secrets.

    Today, I have done the same thing for you — the you of today. I’ve gone into the future and found you at 50 years old. We have spoken and I have brought him here and he wants to tell you a few things. He wants to talk to his 20-year-old, 30-year-old, and 40-year-old self, to not only let him know what to expect but to give him his insights and cheats for the next few decades.

    So here are the five things the 50-year-old you wants you to know.

    #1. You look good.  

    Yes, there will come a point, ten, twenty, or thirty years from now, when you will look at a picture of yourself at this current point in time — it could even be a picture that is taken at this very moment — and that new you is going to smile and think, Wow, I wasn’t bad looking back then.

    Today is the best you will look. Now this might sound like bad news, but it’s not. It does not mean that your appearance will degrade from now on. It means that you won’t appreciate your appearance until it does.

    [amazon asin=B00166DR9S&template=iframe image][amazon asin=B00LDB7Y72&template=iframe image][amazon asin=B00A48G0D4&template=iframe image][amazon asin=1580085520&template=iframe image]

    And that’s the clincher. There will never, ever, be a time when the exact amount you appreciate how you look meets the exact way you look. It just doesn’t happen. Because by the time you do appreciate it, time has moved on and you’re looking back at a photograph and wishing you looked like that now.

    Here is the paradox: If the 30-year-old you was looking at a photograph of the 20-year-old you, he would wish he looked like that now. And if you took a picture of that you looking at that picture, the 40-year-old you would look at the 30-year-old you and wish the same thing — while the 30-year-old you was wishing it on the 20-year-old you in the photograph.

    Which means that someday you will want to look like exactly the way you do right now. Learn to appreciate it.

     #2. Most of the time, you’re kind of a jerk.

    Although your physical appearance is just fine the way it is, your view of life kind of sucks. As a man in your 20s, 30s, and even 40s, your skin is far too thin and your self-involvement levels are way too high. So much that if you and the 50-year-old version of you were talking at a party, the older version would politely excuse himself and find someone more interesting to be around.

    Insecurity runs deep in men and when you mix that with our need for acceptance, the end result is a highly internalized, afraid, and somewhat shallow individual.

    What the evidence? The 50-year-old version of yourself never takes a selfie. Never. Whereas the 20, 30, and 40-year-old version may have dozens of them scattered across social networks.

    Now mix this self-involvement along with another trait the younger version of you has: the need to be right. The younger version of you not only needs to be right, but he needs to prove to those people around him that he’s right — no matter what.

    Although you may build houses for the poor and read to the blind on your free time, your 20, 30, and even 40-year-old attitude needs a little tweaking. Eventually, your confidence will increase and you’ll settle into a solid view of the world, but until then, relax, take the focus off yourself and think.

    #3. Money is better than stuff.

    Now this may seem like a somewhat cold view of life, but it’s actually the opposite. The 50-year-old you knows that money — meaning the actual currency that you’ve earned and built up — is far better than the things you can buy with that currency.

    Yes, there will be a day when you are looking at that photo album and you’ll miss that car you had when you were 20 or that motorcycle you biked to Maine on. But in reality you’re not missing the tangible car, you’re missing the places you went in it — you’re missing the friends that rode with you to Maine.

    As cold and non-poetic as it sounds, the 50-year-old you know that there is confidence to be had in working hard and having a nest egg — actual currency saved — rather than a box full of toys.

    40% of everything you buy will be gone in a year.

    90% will be gone in four, so the total amount you paid for 100% of your stuff has to be amortized across 10% of it.

    Oh, and this doesn’t even include your cell phone and all the electronic gadgets because our constant need to upgrade makes these rentals more than purchases; we simply don’t keep them long enough.

    #4. That same extended family you avoided when you were in your 20s, is the same one you’ll be helping to keep together in your 50s.

    As the focus comes off of you, it goes on to others. The 20-year-old version of you will come up with every excuse to miss the family reunion. In your 30s you will tolerate these get-togethers. In your 40s you will look forward to them, and in your 50s you will be organizing them.

    That same internalized pride we had in our 20s is spread out once we hit 50. We become less proud of us and more proud of those that contributed to us.

    #5. Being 50 is something to look forward to, not fear.

    The 50-year-old version of you is happy, excited, hard-working and confident, and by the time you hit 50 you are just hitting your stride and looking forward to each day and each challenge. The 50-year-old you has a view of life that is clear and accurate and he knows what’s important and what is not. The 50-year-old you laughs more and worries less.

    And he can’t wait to meet you.

  • REVIEW: Namco Plug-Play TV Games

    REVIEW: Namco Plug-Play TV Games

    namco

    I am not a gamer.

    I don’t own an X-Box or a PlayStation — even though as a father I’ve paid for several of these over the years — and I have probably logged in less than five lifetime hours on Halo or Call of Duty when my kids have asked me to play — I spend most of my time in corners trying to get my character to turn around and sober up.

    But having been a college student in the early 1980’s, I have spent more than my fair share of hours in dark arcades; dumping quarter after quarter of my Guaranteed Student Loan into various Tron, Xevious and Pitfall games — swearing that this will be the last one and then I’d do my laundry and try to locate where the library.

    I have good memories of these days— usually with a group of people thinking we would be eighteen forever and the world was ours — if we ever got out of the arcade and did any real work. Which we would, right after this game.

    One of my favorite arcade games was one called Dig Dug. I’m not really sure why I liked Dig Dug so much or what it really was about; as the object was to guide a man in a space suit underground to either avoid orange creatures with scuba masks and fire-breathing dragons, or destroy them with a bicycle pump — hey, I’m not saying it’s literature I’m just saying it was fun. So when my kids got one of the Plug-N-Play games as a gift a several years ago — have you ever seen these? They are not a counsel but a square box with a few buttons and a joystick that you just plug into the TV and go — I was excited to see that it had Dig Dug on it.

    We played this game for hours and for the first — and only time — I was the Big Kahuna of video games in our house — smoking them at every turn.

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    Then the game broke and the party was over and I went back to my status as game outsider.

    About a month ago I told my wife that I wanted to see if we could find another one of these Plug-N-Play games — for the comradery with my kids of course, I have better things to do — and she found one on e-bay and bought it.

    The unit she bought was by Namco and was called Plug-Play TV Games.

    Now, the great thing about these classic arcade games is that they follow a specific pattern. If you memorize the pattern on Level 1 and react the same way every time, the game will react the same way as well. Every time. So once you mastered that level you would move to level 2 and keep going.

    This game had none of that — which I know exists because the other unit we had reacted as the old game did. Here, each level was random, responding differently every time which meant there was no way to build up skill and move up levels. It was simple luck that may, or may not, allow you to survive. There was absolutely no way to develop any skill in the game.

    Also, the timing was delayed so if you tried to lure an orange guy or a dragon into a corner as you could on the arcade game, this game would simply eat you. But the absolute worse thing about it was in the design of the box itself. The RESET button is on the upper left of the box and is not recessed. So when you gripped the box tightly to fire or move, you often hit the reset button with your hand — usually right in the middle of a game — and the screen would go black and start over.

    I know, I know. It’s just a toy. But there are some of these Plug-N-Play games that react like the old ones did and are pretty fun to play. Not just so you can relive the glory days but because you can get to levels that your wallet wouldn’t allow in the 1980’s — you can go back and remove the limits our finances dictated back then. And we can finally have closure.

    Unfortunately this game is not one of them.