Show me a Sign?

Early this morning I arose before Mr. Sun pulled back his covers and yawned. I had heard rumors that three of the planets were congregating and meeting on the eastern horizon for some pre- breakfast Einstein Bagels and chocolate milk.

I don’t know what kinda click these three were trying to form or why the other planets were excluded. Let’s see if a bit of deductive reasoning can help us out here.

The three planets are Mercury, Mars and Jupiter. What brings them together?

First of all, anyone is fool to not include Jupiter…Hello….he’s like the biggest, baddest of the bunch and could swallow any of the others whole. Besides, who can compete with such an awe-some beauty spot?

That brings us to Mars…the warrior. He’s small, but feisty like a Tasmanian devil. Could serve as an enforcer to Jupiter’s policies. Besides, they’re practically neighbors.

Mercury is the biggest mystery. Size wise, he’s hardly a blip on the radar. But he’s quick and sneaky. Reconnaissance. Jupiter needs an informer.

So now we have a reason or two as to why these three were huddled, calling the next play. So why weren’t the rest a part of the action?

Venus-There is beauty and Jupiter could use a woman at his side, but Venus is kinda like that black widow…seductive and treacherous…. Like a Venus Fly Trap. They were smart to leave her out.

Earth- who wants to deal with her and all her issues? Wars, famine, politics, Britney Spears….?
If ever there was a “one of these kids is not like the other, one of these kids is doing his own thing….”

Saturn- Sources tell, that Saturn and Jupiter used to be the bestest buds until it was discovered that Jupiter had rings too and the novelty associated with Saturn wore off. Since then, Saturn has been feeling a bit snubbed and rightly so, but who am I to tell Jupiter that Saturn is still a cool planet.

Uranus- The guy is always sleeping, maybe if he ever woke up to check his email, he might see the invitation to the party.

Neptune- With his “great dark spot” trying to be like Jupiter, sorta has an Incredi-boy to Mr. Incredible relationship. I’m sure Jupiter signed every piece of scrap paper that was shoved his way. Who cares if Neptune is his number one fan. Word to the Jupiter, watch your back for a “Syndrome”.

Pluto- Pluto was basically kicked out of the planet club. Who wants to be associated with a nobody?…even though I still love you Pluto. You’ll always be a planet in my heart.

Anyway, so there I was in the cold pre-dawn morning, looking at these three and wondering to myself, where does this leave me? Is it a sign? Are good things headed my way or, should I take cover and build my bomb bunker?

btw, It wasn't as cool as I thought it was going to be, so if you missed out, you really did not miss out.

Pick your Poison or Chose Your Own Blogging Adventure

The Importance of Wearing a Helmet?

Last night My wiffy and I were on a date and as part of our date we found
ourselves browsing the aisles of Toys-R-Us, looking for prospective presents for
our chillins.  Lo and behold we saw a picture of a kid bouncing on a
pogo-stick, wearing a helmet. Can anyone cite for me an instance of a child
injuring their head while playing on a pogo-stick? Should they wear helmets
while playing jump rope and hop scotch as well? For extra precaution, let's put
them on their heads while they play tag and hide-n-seek, taking a bath and
eating at the table [that chair is kind of a high place to fall from].

Or if you do not want to discuss safety and helmets...

Lubbock Sky

YeeeeeeHaaaaaaahhhh!!!! and WeeeeeeeDoggiiieeeeee!!!!

It snowed last night. That is a major event in these here parts. It wasn’t a ton of snow, but it was a couple of inches of pure powder, on a bed of hail and frozen rain. The wind has created some cool snow drifts…almost had six inches piled up against my front door. I actually had to use our snow shovel that we brought with us from Utah. Because there are not any snow plows for 300 miles, the roads were extremely treacherous this morning. What is normally a 15 minute commute turned out to be a 40 minute commute. Fortunately, most of my students waited around for me. Because temperatures are actually supposed to stay cold, the snow should be around for a couple of days versus a couple of hours. It’s too bad that it is not wet enough to make a snowman.

Time Speeds Up

Let us rewind to just a couple of days ago. The sun was bright, temperatures were warming up to the mid 60's and the young men were all color coordinated in red, ready to serve the Elders Quorum their first loss in the annual Turkey Bowl. Now these boys had been fixin for some time to dethrone those endowed with more strength and wisdom. They had even been meetin and practicing all week for the big game...even had their own play book.

The Mighty Goliaths were up 28-0 at the half and the young David's were scratching their heads and whimpering.

Now enters the whole "time" factor of the story. A 10 minute half time is nowhere near enough time for the older Goliaths to recuperate. We bravely suited up in our armor again, determined to finally put David and Co. to rest [the refs/High Priests had declared that any 35 point lead would end the game]. Let me add quickly that the youngins had suffered two minor injuries whereas we had encountered none. Our egos were in good shape.

Somehow, the strapping young lads started pulling a rabbit out of the hat in the form of two missionaries that were playing for them [to help even out the teams] These two Elders must have been quickened by the spirit cause there was no way to cover them down field. The score quickly became less and less lopsided. We continued to score but not at the same speed/rate as the young men and their newfound polished shafts, hidden in the quiver of the Lord.

All we had to do was hold out till 11:30. 11:15, the youngsters tied the game at 35. In a last ditched effort, we made our final drive and our quarterback threw for the 3rd interception of the game. With 5 minutes left on the clock, the YM could smell blood in the water. With humble pie ready to serve, both sides reluctantly swallowed at least one bite, four downs later as the tie stood its ground.

To end this tale, I must say that there is something about getting older that makes the ground seem further away and not nearly as soft as I recall from my younger days. Every fiber of my being aches like I had spent the day at the gym being trained by Gov. Arnold himself. Please do not sign me up for the hoeing contest with any prophets from this dispensation.

 

 

Dinner with a Friend

It took a few days for the media to quite down a bit after the most recent Bobby Knight incident. As such, I got my good pal Bobby to really open up last night as we shared some smoked briquette at his place. Can I just tell you, my kids totally adore “uncle Bobby”. Maybe it has something to do with the indoor pool, game room and the bottomless freezer of ice-cream. Who ever said, can’t buy me love? But I digress.

Our conversation went something like this:

LH: Bobby, you gotta stop finding ways to attract the media attention like stink on a monkey [unless it’s good news, like the time you donated your first two years salary to the Athletic program at Tech].

BK: I know. But it’s not like I intend for these things to happen. I’m very passionate about the game and get caught up in the moment. It’s like being moved upon by the spirit.

LH: Throwing chairs is kinda extreme.

BK: That was ages ago and my hands were sweaty.

LH: I seem to recall a head-but incident with one of your players a few years ago as well.

BK: Again, that was over and wrongly publicized. I was angry but not violent. I was walking over to have a few words with him when my contact fell out and for that brief second, I was blinded and stumbled, which caused our heads to collide.

LH: Why didn’t you explain that in the post game interview?

BK: Don’t you think I would have tried if I thought they would believe me? They were still riled up over the chair incident. Can’t these folks just let things go? Is anyone still complaining about Clinton and Monica?

LH: So, what really happened the other night? Some say you slapped him. To me it looked like a
old man with lightning fast reflexes getting a young punk to look him in the eye…

BK: You calling me old?

LH: Simmer down there friend. No, I don’t think you look old. You are older than I am though. Anyway, that’s what it looked like to me.

BK: You saw right. I hate talking to the top of someone’s head. He was feeling down on himself for the back to back fouls and I was hoping to instill the “eye of the tiger” in him. You really can’t do that unless you’re looking eye to eye.

So there you have it. Even among close friends, his story remains the same. The kid was not upset by BK’s actions; the parents weren’t upset; so why was everyone else upset? Cause it was Bobby Knight.

btw, thanks Bobby for dinner. It was superb as usual. Next week it will be at my house.

They're Baaaaaack!

Run for the hills folks! Wait a cotton pickin minute...we don’t have any hills. Well, run for it anyway. We are about to be overrun again.

Yes folks, it’s that time of year again. The Canadian geese are descending upon us again in droves. Just last week I had taken my five yr. old over to a neighbors house (about 10 blocks away) and on Golden Pond, there were only about a dozen or so of these feathery critters...the long term, permanent resident sort of bird. Not three hours later when I went to pick him up, there musta been at least 500 of the “wild” ferocious, untamed, eat all your bread and toddler too Canuks.

An Enigma

Riddle me this?

 

It’s legally of age.

Rarely present.

Completes no work.

Ignores sound advice.

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