Manny

I won't get into all my thoughts about Manny being suspended for PED's because frankly, I'm so disappointed in the the whole thing I don't feel like rehashing it all right now. Maybe in the next couple of days. Needless to say I was really bummed and depressed about it all for most of the day.
The family and I went out for dinner and as we we got into the car and I dejectedly turned on the radio to listen to the Dodger game, the soothing sound of Vin Scully and Charlotte yelled from the back of the car, "Daddy, it's Vin Scully!" The fact that she knew Vin's voice made all the garbage of the day slowly melt away and as Vin said at the top of the broadcast, "No one man stops baseball."

My New Vice...

is eating sunflower seeds in the car. I get in the car and the first thing I want to do...nay...feel compelled to do is grab my bag of sunflower seeds, pop a handful in my mouth, and get a chomping. I then, and this is the worst part, spit the seeds into old Coke bottle I have. I already have filled and emptied that bottle two times. Then I just toss it on the ground until the next time I get into the car. Is there anybody else like me out there? I know I need help, but I just can't get enough of those seeds.

Just some random thoughts

1) Why is it that the nicer the hotel you stay in, the more they charge you for internet use. This weekend we went to San Jose and brought the computer in case we needed to look up an address, find something to do, etc. But it cost $15 for a 24-hour period so that was out. Last year I went to a conference in Ft. Worth at a really nice hotel and it cost $25 for a 24-hour period. Then you go to a Days Inn and you get it for free, no problem.

2) I was just watching the video of the reporter in Iraq who threw a shoe at President Bush. The best part of this is I saw an article with the excerpt that in "Arab culture, throwing shoes at someone, or sitting so that the bottom of a shoe faces another person, is considered an insult."
I find it interesting that sitting with your shoe so it face a person is insulting. That seems interesting and probably specific to the Arab culture. However, I think it goes without saying that throwing a shoe at someone is probably going to be an insult an any culture.

Christmas in July

"Christmas in July" used to mark the half way point of the year and mean Christmas was only 6 months away. But now it seems that is really when people are starting to set up for Christmas. I remember back in the day when stores like Macy's or JC Penny's would start putting their Christmas stuff out in October and everybody would feel really uncomfortable about it because it was too early in the season. But now if you don't have your Christmas stuff up by Labor Day, you're behind the times. Costco has to get there extremely large inflatable displays up because heaven forbid you would buy those anywhere else (an aside: a neighbor of ours has a large inflatable turkey on his roof. Really? We are now putting up inflatable displays to celebrate Thanksgiving? Really?)
We had to return something at the Gap this evening and Santa's village was already set up and Santa was even there trying to get Charlotte to come and take a picture with him. Riverpark has its big display up shouting "Happy Holidays" in festive Christmas colors on the corner of Blackstone and Nees. And we passed a usually vacant lot all ready to receive its first shipment of trees and flock them.
I personally have always been someone who likes to celebrate one holiday at a time. We just got done with Halloween so now let's celebrate Thanksgiving. Only until Thanksgiving is over can we put up any Christmas decorations or listen to Christmas carols. I'm like this in many things in my life. I guess I'm goal oriented in that fashion. When I was in college or optometry school and I had multiple tests during the week, I took them one test at a time. I couldn't begin to study for a test that was three days away before I had completed the next test. (That made for one hellish week in optometry school during finals when I had 7 tests in 5 days). I even used to be that way with food. I couldn't eat my potatoes until I had finished all of my cranberry sauce, although I've become much more relaxed when it comes to that.
Which leads me to a question, "When do you start listening to Christmas music?" As you've probably gathered from this post, I wait until the day after Thanksgiving. I feel that I get about 3 1/2 weeks of solid Christmas music and I don't dilute by starting it before. It gives me something to look forward as well. But I've also heard people who already are playing Christmas music because they love it so much and don't want to only be confined to 3 weeks of it? So which is it? Let me know where you stand by leaving a comment.

Redskins predict winner is Obama

Since the 1940 election (except the 2004 election) if the Redskins win their final home game, the incumbent party wins. If they lose, the incumbent party is ousted. So based on the result of the Redskins getting thumped tonight by the Steelers at home, the Replubicans will have to wait another 4 years to get into The White House.
And for those who have any doubt if Obama will be ready if he wins, look at the extra work he has been doing to prepare him for the job:

Obama Undertakes Presidential Internship To Ease Concerns About His Lack Of Experience

Kute KhildKare Signs

If there is one thing that really bugs me, it is the need for childcare places to use "k" instead of "c" in the titles of their businesses. For instance, there is a place in Fresno called "Kiddie Kare". Really? The English language is hard enough for kids to grab with all the weird phonics rules, but now you are going to intentionally misspell a word in your title because you think it looks cute? Newsflash...It is lame. And why do childcare businesses only see the need to do this?
But today I saw one that really bugged me. I've started working in our Madera office on Monday and Fridays and I was about to pull into our office parking lot, I saw the sign: "Kiddie Kountry Club". What really stands out about this is that they used the "k" for "Country", but completely changed tactics and used a 'c" for "club" . If we're being consistent here, shouldn't it be "Kiddie Kountry Klub"? But of course, when they were brainstorming this genius idea, somebody probably stated you can't do that because then the initials will be "KKK". "no problem," somebody else said. We'll just not use a "k" with "club".
How about this idea: SPELL THE WORDS CORRECTLY!
Are there any others out there? Let me know.

Back to the Blog

I'll save you the classic "it's been a while since I posted, but I hope to post more."  (but it is a true statement).  Anyway, it is Olympics time, which means it's time to watch events that I never really watch until the Olympics roll around (thank you women's sabre and light double scull, both of witch I've watched with interest this weekend).  

I've always been outspoken about my love of the west coast time zone because of the ability to watch all American sporting events and still get to bed at a normal time.  But international competitions are a different beast.  Especially when they are in China on the other side of the world.  The east and central time zones get to watch the Olympics mostly live during primetime events.  NBC negotiated hard to get the time of big events like gymnastics and swimming finals in the coveted primetime slot which would mean early morning in China.  But that would still be too early for the west coast, so they decided to tape delay them here on the west.  10 years ago, that wouldn't have been such a big deal.  But with the internet, it makes trying to avoid results of events so much more difficult.  I can barely even look at my phone anymore without the threat of seeing some results.   I guess that will be challenge over the next two weeks.