Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category

Cool video of Matt and his travels.   This reminds me of the Shabby Blue that had over 500 people at a Taiwan night club swaying back and fourth.   Or the time I taught the Shabby Blue to a group at a night club in Quezaltenango, Guatemala.   It also reminds me of the dancing I did at the Barwinkles with my EMBA Cohort.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlfKdbWwruY&eurl=http://www.wherethehellismatt.com/index.shtml?fbid=erWuN7trqqM&feature=player_embedded]

[The following explanation of cricket has been used since the 1970s, to explain cricket

to Americans who had never seen a cricket match.
First developed in Seattle, it has been used throughout the USA.
Try it on your American friends...
if they understand baseball, they should be able to follow cricket with this handy guide!]

• There are TWO teams, with eleven players each (instead of nine as in baseball).
• Instead of four bases, there are only two; in the middle of the field, sixty-six feet apart…
  all running is between the two bases… the ball can be hit in front, OR behind… or, in ANY direction.
• Instead of rotating batting for nine innings each, EACH team does all its batting in a SINGLE inning .
• The team scoring more runs wins the game.

[NOTE: Unlike baseball, where a pitcher rests every 10 or so pitches when the BATTING rotates, cricket pitchers rest every 6 pitches as their PITCHING rotates.]

• The fielding team works with TWO pitchers at the same time.
• The first pitcher throws from one base to the other.
  After six throws, the catcher moves around behind the first pitcher’s base, pitcher #2 takes over.
  He makes six throws in the opposite direction (i.e. towards the starting pitcher’s base).
• The two pitchers keep alternating like this, until one or both of them are relieved.

* [[ IMPORTANT: Each six-pitch set is called an "over", and pitchers are called "bowlers" in cricket. So, to say "Doe bowled seven overs", is saying Doe threw42 pitches, in (alternating) sets of six. ]]

• The MAJOR DIFFERENCE from baseball is that batters can hit in ANY direction.
• Also, THE BATTER CAN RUN WHEN HE CHOOSES TO,
  NOT every time he hits the ball, as in baseball.
  He is safe as long as he protects his wickets WITH HIS BAT (NOT his feet or hands)
  and makes no other errors.
• As long as the batter can protect his base, he is free to keep batting, and scoring, as long as he can!
• The batter (or “batsman”) is OUT only if
  : any of the three sticks marking his base (called “wickets”) are hit by the pitcher
  –he is “bowled” (like being struck out, except that once is enough).
• OR, if: the ball is hit into a fielder’s hand without touching the ground, he is “caught” (like baseball’s pop fly).
• OR, if: he is running between the bases, and a fielder can touch the base he is running to,
  before the runner crosses the “safe line” in front of the wickets, he is “run out”
  (like a tag, except in cricket you tag the base, not the runner).So: A cricket batter could be out on the first pitch, BUT would go on batting until someone puts him “out”;
  Some batters can stay on base for hours, scoring 50, 100 runs or more!

• A batter (or “batsman”) can score in cricket by hitting the ball, deciding to run, then running safely between the two bases.
• Once across (from one base, to the opposite one) is a “single”, scoring 1 run.
• there and back is a “double”, scoring 2 runs.
• three times back and forth is a “triple”, scoring 3 runs.
• A hit that reaches the fence scores four runs.
• and a hit that flies over the fence is a sixer, scoring 6 runs.

• Before the game starts, the opposing captains toss a coin, to decide who is to bat first… or second.
• The game begins.
  TWO batters are sent in, one for each base (they are called “batsmen” in cricket).
  (I.e. the bases are “loaded” to start a team’s batting, and have to stay that way.)
• As one batter is put out, the next person in the batting order goes in.
  In the USA, each team is allowed 10 outs OR a maximum number of overs….say 40 overs ( i.e. 240 pitches)… to bat.
• The inning is finished
  EITHER when 10 outs have occurred ( i.e. 1 man is left on base, out of the 11 in the team),
  OR when the 40-over limit has been reached.
• After one team finishes batting, there is a tea (actually, sandwiches, beer and pop) break.
• Now the team which has been fielding gets its chance to bat.
• Say the team batting first scored 120 runs. If the team batting second scores only 100 runs in its 40 overs, it has lost by 20 runs.BUT.. if it reaches 121 runs for (say)only 6 outs within its allowed 40 overs, it wins by 4 “wickets”
  ( meaning, the number of outs it had left when it passed the first team’s score).

• In the USA, a typical cricket game takes about as long as a weekend baseball double-header.
• In fact, this is a useful way of looking at cricket if you understand baseball:
  Each team’s batting takes about as long, and has as many things happen, as a complete baseball game.
• A typical cricket game in the USA might take 5 to 6 hours. This could consist of 4 to 5 hours of actual play,
  and the rest of the time for lunch, tea, refreshment breaks and other pauses.
• This is about average. There CAN be low-scoring games that are over in 2 or 3 hours…
• On the other hand, if both teams score 200 to 300 runs each, these VERY high-scoring games last seven hours… or more.It all depends—on the day, the teams, the mood and the playing conditions.

FOR FURTHER READING

So far, we have explained cricket using mostly baseball terminology. If you want to learn the language that cricketers really use, click on A List of Technical Cricket Terms to see how they talk about cricket !For a look at the equipment used in cricket, click on A First Look at Cricket Equipment.

If you now understand the basic rules, Click on Beyond the Basics: A Look at Cricket Strategy to learn more about how the game is played.

This information was found at http://members.tripod.com/~sccwa/crick.html.   Thanks Amit for the resource, looking forward to Cricket one of these Friday nights.

In college, I stepped out on the skinny branches to go on an educational program called Semester at Sea. At this point, I had never traveled any further than Winsor, Canada or Nogales, Mexico. Being that I was from Fort Wayne, Indiana, the world was huge and scary to me. So the world to me was something I wanted to get to know and I challenged myself to greatest adventure and period of personal growth. I enrolled not knowing a single person that had attended Semester at Sea. So I began a learning experience that not a single day goes by where I am not blessed from the adventure, experience, education, and open mind that this program created for me. So check out the Semester at Sea Video and enjoy. Enroll if you can or enroll someone. You will change their life forever. This is the type of education you just cannot buy or understand until completion.

Semester at Sea started in the Bahama’s, then went to Venezuela, Brazil, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania, India, Vietnam, Hong Kong, Macau, China, Taiwan, Japan and returned to Seattle. The program is just over 100 days and when at Sea you have classes from Professors and world leaders such as Desmond Tatu. In port, there are iteniaries that included meeting Nelson Mandela, visiting companies, learning languages, seeing the Great Wall, the Taj Mahal, going on an African Safari, climbing Mountains, University exchanges, putting on a Circus, and many other unique cultural experiences that took you far beyond your comfort zone. To the point, you became comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Nonetheless, other programs that I have participated in that have been intense and valuable are Landmark Forum, European Business Seminar, Casa de Espanol in Guatemala, PSI Seminars Men’s Leadership and Rapport Leadership International Master Graduate Program. All have created the experience I have to be successful every day. How cool is that?

This weekend was increbible.

Mix nightlife, restaurants, snow, skiing, mountains, snowmobiles, spas, whirlpools and a few intelligent people – you got a good mix. Can we go back?

Here is a brief history of my formal education, cool places, experiences, and adventures:

Semester at Sea
<!–Indiana University
Indiana Tech –!>