Lighten up VA. He was joshing you, and you got all prickly. He doesn't joke with people that he doesn't respect -- it was a compliment!

I are a enjineer to. Langwich skills are very overated if yuo ask me, no reeson why an enjinere would ever need to <s>komu</s> <s>cummu</s> <s>comun</s> talk good.

I aresn't an enjenier...eye be just a teechur, but eye thinks eye kan cumunikate real gud two...maibe REFVA kneeds two moov bak to that uther bord an stai ther...

Back to the original post: moving up, as Chuck said, will definitely improve your officiating ability...however, one point to consider is the difficulty (at times) moving back and forth between different philosophies of calling the game. Things that are "let go" in the NCAA game are supposed to be called in HS games consistently...I have never found it to be that big of a problem, but I know several close friends who stopped doing HS games because they couldn't - or wouldn't may be a better word - remember the distinctions between the two games!

REFVA -- even if you didnt mention you were an enjunir I could have figured that out by your lack of a sense of humor...cuz I thought the reference to Ron Jeremy was very poignant and funny.

Stagnet -- good one Chuck. This was an offshoot (mind the pun) of Dragnet, that wonderful po-leece drama.

Point well taken! Sorry for my actions..

Whoa there, Tiny Tim, I disagree completely with that.

I worked in several different engineering disciplines over the years, including industrial, plant, design and process. Let me assure you that writing and spelling are as important to your job as anything else that might be involved, and usually more so. If you make a mistake in a contract proposal due to bad/wrong writing/spelling, it could cost your company thousands/millions of dollars. And your secretary sureasheck isn't always going to catch all of the missing nuances of your mistakes either.

Engineers are known to be as anal as hell when it comes to writing or spelling, as they relate to their job.

JMO obviously.:)

No, that was Ron Jeremy.

What happened to Mr Potato Head?

You are correct, but we have tools available to us such as spell check, Thesaurus and other such tools. When we deliver contracts we have people double check and triple check. I come to this board to enhance my knowledge as a referee and should feel comfortable to express my thoughts; I should feel comfortable to post my thoughts and not get berated or corrected for my spelling. I want to learn and hopefully add to the posting.

I want to be part of the group and not be an outsider. I also would like to be corrected for refereeing abilities. I just want to feel comfortable to express without being judged. Some of posting at times doesn’t even make sense; you don't see me poking fun at them. IMO

I guess I need to be less serious.

1) Yup, and that's exactly why I said writing and spelling sureasheck <b>is</b> important.

2) You weren't being judged. And a lot of us have poked fun at others here because of spelling/grammar mistakes. I've been on both ends of that one too. Nobody means anything by it, and nobody is really that serious about it either. If we can't have a little fun with each other, then who can we have fun with?

JMO.

You're missing the point. You don't need to be serious all the time, you don't need to never be serious. You just need to know when to be serious and when not to. When Chuck made a comment about "stagnet" he wasn't insulting or judging you. He just thought that the incidental misspelling brought up a funny image in his mind, and he was sharing that. It had zero to do with your reffing. If you want to be a part of the in-group, you have to recognize when you're being included. Your apology for "your actions" is a good start. Now continue from there, by seeing the humor in the misspelling of stagnet, acknowledging that and moving on.

And by the way, I completely agree with what you said on the actual topic of this thread.

"I think everyone should always think that they can improve, otherwise you remain stagnant. " And I expect Chuck, Dan, JR, and everyone else on here would agree, too. Otherwise they'd have disagreed with the content, and not just joshed you about one little typo.

Understood, And Yes I didn't understand his comment and took it personally. Sorry to all.

I accept when I am tooottaaally wrong!

Okay, well forget the whole "insider" thing, then, because we're all a bunch of #$%&*(*&%$# who can\'t handle it when we get corrected about anything. At least, according to a few coaches and several parents I could name....

Thanks for the opinions and humorous discourse.
I am not worried about the logistics. There are two NAIA conferences nearby and a junior college conference close by. The officials that I have worked with have suggested my name to the conference assignors. I guess it is time to pursue this at least for my improvement.

I forgot to ad that I am an engineer as well.