Thinking The Lions

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Other, similar hands-on training I've had includes "GI Joe" education and "
2009-04-25 13:37:00
In an uncertain economy, everyone should have a backup plan. Take me: I've got my emergency plan in place. Supposing that I get laid off and can't find new work as a lawyer, and run out of people to sue entirely... if that happens, I would get a job operating a front-end loader, or road grader or some other heavy construction equipment. Maybe a steam roller. After all, I've got lots of training: When I was a kid, I used to play Tonka trucks with my brothers in our yard, so I've run everything from a fire engine (with real working fire hose!) to that aforementioned steamroller. Even with all that experience, it might still make sense to go to heavy equipment training school, I suppose -- just to brush up on the finer points, you know. I could go to Associated Training Services for that; they've got classes on bulldozers, excavators, skid steers, wheel loaders, mobile cranes, the whole nine yards, and they've been training equipment operators for over 16 years. They even off...
More About: Education , Hands , Hands On

Steve From The Cubs Wants a Letter (Take a Book For Charity, 5)
2009-04-25 01:53:00
Steve from the Cubs called me back -- remember, I'd emailed them and then they said to call Community Affairs, so I did, and left a message for Steve.When I got Steve on the phone, he was very polite. I explained to him, again, why I was calling and what it was all about."Well, you know, the players are hard, sometimes to get to sign stuff," Steve told me, preparing me for disappointment.I plugged on: "It doesn't have to be all the players," I said. "Whoever will sign."(Besides, I didn't add but wanted to, Besides, don't you, um, boss them around and can't you just say hey, sign this? But I didn't say that.)"We already do a lot for charity," Steve said. "And we only have so much merchandise we can give away or autograph."So I explained again: "I'm going to send you the books," I said. "You don't have to supply anything.""Yes, that's right," Steve said... agreeing that I in fact knew my own plan."So, what do you think?" I asked."Tell you what. Send us a letter," Stev...
More About: Steve , Charity , Book , Letter

A parenting plan can save hassle, and money.
2009-04-25 01:46:00
Of all the types of legal battles I've helped shepherd people through, none are more harrowing, or more expensive, than custody and placement disputes. Parents who are getting divorced deal with a host of issues involved with learning to coparent and share custody of their kids, and among the hardest is the schedule. With, usually, both parents working, and kids in school and in activities and weekend trips and things, trying to work out a schedule for parents to actually spend meaningful time with their kids -- and kids to spend as much time as possible with each parent -- can be a nightmare.And "nightmare" in legal terms = "big bucks in legal fees."There's some software that can help: Parenting Plan Online (parentingplanonline.com) can help parents work out a Parenting Plan more easily and more cost-effectively. Simply download their software and the program walks you through it, step-by-step, to create a parenting plan that's acceptable, they say, in any court -- and a pare...
More About: Money , Save

The Rum Punch Review: "Chronicles of The Lensmen, Vol. 1" (Part 2)
2009-04-24 17:18:00
Part one of this review is here.Confused about what a "Rum Punch Review " is? Click here.I was this close to giving up on the Lensmen book.It'd been sitting on my nightstand, unread, since I posted the first part of its review, and I hadn't been all that thrilled about picking it up and keeping going. I had left off at the part where the entire history of everything in the universe had gotten up to Atlantis and its destruction (Not a spoiler, given that the chapter is called The Fall of Atlantis and begins with the Eddorians deciding to destroy it and the Arisians letting it be destroyed...) and the book just really hadn't caught fire in me yet.So on Sunday, Sweetie asked if we could go over to the bookstore and pick up some new books. "Sure," I agreed, and said "I might return that Lensman book and pick up something at the store to read."As I discussed in part 1 of the review, that's a step I hate to take, but then again, I hate to waste my time reading a book that I'm not cr...
More About: Chronicles , Part

Is this about gardening? Or politics? You decide.
2009-04-24 17:00:00
Everytime I turn around there's some new threat to what will eventually be my beautiful yard full of trees and bushes and perennial flowers. The latest aggressor? Bambi. Thanks a lot, cute little fawns.We live right near the "Pheasant Branch Preserve," which is great for jogging and walking and nature and junk, but not so great if you don't want a bunch of wildlife wrecking your yard. Between the raccoons that used to live in our shed and eat our roof and the fox that hunted on our front porch, I thought I'd seen it all when it came to animals. But now there's deer eating our plants and ravaging them -- plants that I spent nearly two bucks on. These deer are getting in the way of increasing my property values, which is in turn hampering the economic recovery, so it's clear that the fate of all of America rests in the hands of:Deer Off.Deer Off is the deer repellent I found to use in our yard. I had gone to a site to learn about deer control and see what information I c...
More About: Politics , Gardening

I float like a butterfly, sting like a withering look from a librarian. (I
2009-04-24 16:49:00
It seems there is to be a rematch.I wake up this morning and innocently go to check my email, and there, coiled like a rattlesnake and waiting to pounce, is this missive:Library Overdue Notice Thursday, April 23, 2009 10:12 PM Library records show the following item(s) overdue. Please return them soon so that others may borrow them, and to avoid further charges. Call if you have questions regarding this notice. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - CALL # TITLE BC# DUE DATE - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - MIDDVDJ BABY CHI Baby Einstein. Baby Galileo, disc 051266469 09 APR 2009 At notice printing you have 1 item overdue.Which snapped me awake... because I returned that one, too, and I am sure of it.So now I have to try to convince the library that I returned Baby Galileo, and all I can say is I'm glad I didn't sign up to be the library's friend yet, because they're...
More About: Sting , Butterfly , Librarian

I'm even going to log in the miles I walked going to the vending machine.
2009-04-24 16:42:00
With spring, everyone's thoughts turn to getting in shape for bikini season, and to curing breast cancer.Or they SHOULD turn to breast cancer, because now, with the help of BeeWell Miles you can get in shape AND do something spectacular for humanity by walking to cure breast cancer. All you have to do is (a) Walk (or run), and (B) visit BeeWellMiles.com to log in the miles you walk or run each day. Beginning on April 1, and continuing until October 21, 2009, Bumble Bee Foods will let you log your miles and for every mile logged by a walker or runner, they'll donate fifteen cents. So walk 3 miles today, log it on BeeWellMiles.com, and you've given 45 cents to breast cancer research. Walk that everyday from now until October, and you'll have given...... well, a lot. You'll have given a lot to breast cancer research, and you'll have brought the world closer to a cure and yourself closer to health.BeeWellMiles.com even helps make it better for you -- they'll log your miles,...
More About: Machine , Vending , Vending Machine

It's only a matter of time until they learn to talk and form a great civili
2009-04-22 15:34:00
I keep all my paperclips in a little, weird coffee cup on my desk. I've got both big and small paperclips in there. I never touch the coffee cup, or the paper clips, unless I need a paperclip, in which case I pick up just one. Just one at a time.Yet, despite all those elaborate precautions, every paperclip in that cup is somehow linked to every other paperclip in that cup, sometimes two or three or four combined in one, so that when I want to clip papers together, I've got to go through this elaborate unwinding process to try to get a clip.And I have identified the cause of this problem. Since it's physically impossible for inanimate objects to link themselves together, I have concluded that it is now scientifically proven that (a) paperclips are sentient, and (b) they do not want to be separated. Which now makes me feel guilty that I have, all my life, been separating paperclip families, breaking up paperclip homes, tormenting paperclip moms and dads and kids, and otherwise...
More About: Time , Great , Talk , Matter , Learn

In Las Vegas, there's an Elvis on every corner.
2009-04-22 15:19:00
When we went to Las Vegas five years ago, we stayed at the "Treasure Island" hotel -- a hotel we picked out because it was supposed to be pirate-themed. As it turns out, the "pirate theme" was only really expressed in the gift shop -- and not much there, even.I don't know what I expected. Pirate bellhops? Well, yes. I expected Pirate bellhops. Because why call it "Treasure Island" if I'm not going to feel like I'm on an island with pirates. An island that also has a bunch of people at slot machines, true, but an island.It's not as though they COULDN'T do a whole theme, after all. The Treasure Island is right across from my favorite hotel in Vegas, The Venetian. Talk about a theme: The Venetian's theme is "Venice," and they WORK that theme. The casino outside and in looks like what I'd imagine a building or buildings in Venice look like, all old-world construction and arches and fountains, and then when you get inside, there's a mall and restaurants with canals righ...
More About: Elvis , Corner

Question of the Day: 56
2009-04-22 04:13:00
"What we don't understand is how come his kids have an XBox?"-- Kid at the McDonald's Playland.I took Mr F and Mr Bunches to play at the McDonald's playland near us, a trip that was the result of two factors: 1. Mr Bunches had put his shoes on, and having put his shoes on, he then felt that we should go somewhere, and 2., When I decided to go somewhere, it was raining, and there's not many places to go when it's raining: it's pretty much McDonald's or the library, and I didn't want to push my luck at the library.(The lack of places to go and play with your kids when it's raining or cold led to my having an idea that was simply brilliant, this past winter: An indoor playground-- get a big store and put padding and swingsets and ball pits and slides and stuff, all indoors, and then charge parents for memberships. In the summer, the indoor playground would be open when it rained and when it was nice, we'd take field trips. Like a daycare, only parents have to stay with t...
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Plus, think of the pizza! And REAL Roman Candles!
2009-04-22 04:05:00
I've got a list of places I'd like to see some day, around the world. Places that are exotic or beautiful or fancy or just showing up in movies all the time. And I just may be able to start on that list now that I've found a place that will let me get a Rome vacation rental for cheaper than I thought it could be.I spend a little bit of time, now and then, looking around for ways to take more vacations, or vacations to places I didn't think I could get to now or soon -- places on that list, places like Rome, and that's how I found this "Vacationrentalrome.com" website. (See? While you're illegally downloading "Wolverine," I'm doing something productive with my time.)(Well, more productive than YOU.) I found the site through a search for information about tourism in Rome, an idea I got from reading the "Read.Dance.Bliss" blog, and when I linked over to it, it not only had tourism ideas and things like that, but information on renting apartments or villas or rooms, and so I ...
More About: Pizza , Real , Roman , Candles

(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher (From The Cheesecake Truck To
2009-04-21 16:01:00
Just before I got married to Sweetie, I made a mixtape to take on our honeymoon road trip to New York. The other day, I found that tape and decided to tell the story of our honeymoon through the songs on that tape. This is part 2. Click here for the table of contents.3. (Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher & Higher.I opted, ultimately, to head back the way we'd come -- the way we'd been driving for about an hour. Sweetie noticed immediately. We pulled out of the rest stop and I turned left, back the way we'd come, and she said:"Isn't this the way we came?"I said, "Yeah," and then admitted what had happened -- that we'd missed a turn, somewhere or other, and that we were in the middle of Illinois (as near as I could figure) and that we now had to head back that way to get us out of the middle of Illinois and into the middle of Indiana.Sweetie handled it with good cheer:"Are we lost?" she asked.I assured her we weren't lost, we were just off course, which was a totally dif...
More About: Truck , Cheesecake

Let's invent a new letter! (The Found Alphabet, D)
2009-04-21 15:49:00
Saturday morning, to give Sweetie a break from the Babies and some peace and quiet, I took them with me to pay my remaining $5.00 fine at the library (thus ensuring my victory and ending the feud), then to the park. For most of the morning, Mr F amused himself by going down the "tornado slide" over and over (about 20, by my count) and by trying to avoid the little girl who thought he was cute -- she was 3, and had come over and tried to hug him, causing him to grimace and go hide behind the swings.)Mr Bunches, meanwhile, focused his attention on trying to climb up the ultra-slippery tunnel slide, forcing me to lie on my back in it and serve as a foot-hold -- putting my hands down and having him brace himself on those while he climbed and climbed, hair rising in the static-electricity-filled atmosphere.When he tired of that, he began playing a game where he'd go across a metal bridge and then jump into my arms.The jungle gym that served as the base camp for all the slide and jumpin...
More About: Letter , Alphabet

If only they could put the southern California warmth and sunshine and beac
2009-04-21 15:40:00
It can be difficult to get some fancy things, like fancy dresses, or designer baby clothes, in Madison, Wisconsin.When we went to California about 10 years ago, one of the things that Sweetie and the girls loved more than anything was browsing around at the high-fashion shops that Los Angeles and Southern California are filled with. They loved it: Glamour, glitz, the places where celebrities shop (and ordinary folk like us window-shop). I think they would have moved there just for the shopping.We haven't been back to southern California since then, but I did find a way that Sweetie could have a virtually similar experience: shopping at M. Fredric online. M. Fredric is a designer boutique - -the kind that you don't see a lot of in Wisconsin. They sell high-quality, trendy clothing for men, women and kids: shirts, shorts, jeans, dresses, and those designer baby clothes for that tot that wants to be kept up to date on fashion matters.Here's the GOOD part, though: while the cl...
More About: Sunshine , Warmth , Southern California

I can't Bang My Head Because I've Got A Bad Back (Mixtape!)
2009-04-20 22:45:00
Over the weekend, while the older kids were out at work or social lives or wherever they get to on Saturday nights (I like to know as little as possible about what they're up to. That way, I can't get sued) Sweetie and I were cleaning up after dinner and had ourselves a little MetalFest, playing the greatest heavy metal hits that we'd actually liked back in the 80s, and early 90s.While most-- let's say 99.999% -- of metal is junk, these songs are actually worth listening to, even twenty years later:Once Bitten, Twice Shy, Great White (My pick.) Everytime I hear this song, I think back to those halcyon days of high school when I went to prom -- which I did three times. Not because my prom nights were in any way rock-and-rollish or full of action and fun. No, it's because after one prom, as I was driving home, I heard this song on the radio:"Every Rose Has Its Thorn." Poison. (Sweetie's pick.) Sweetie was amazed that I could sing this song, almost completely by heart -- s...
More About: Back , Bang , Head , Mixtape

Then, you're free if your 2-year-old drops it into the cereal bowl, 'cause
2009-04-20 22:32:00
The problem with new phones, and all these fancy new features everything has, is using them. Take your iPhone. You've got your phone contacts in your iPhone, and your Facebook and email contacts and such on the web or your laptop. Which means you have to constantly have BOTH with you at the same time.Or do you? With IDRIVE Lite's iPhone Backup you can easily share contact information by "Web Enabling" your IPhone contacts, so that you can change your contacts online, then restore them to your Iphone -- and you can also import things like your Facebook account.The service also backs up your IPhone contacts, so if you lose it or it gets broken, they're all set to go without any hassle.
More About: Free , Year , Bowl , Cereal

I wonder what time John Carter got up on Mars? (Keeping My Chin Up 1)
2009-04-20 20:51:00
Two unrelated-to-anyone-but-me pieces of news caught my attention over the weekend that have now prompted me to create a new category of entries here on this blog.The first was that woman everyone's talking about, Susan Boyle, on "Britain's Got Talent." At 47, she got a chance, finally, to sing for someone and as a result, has captured the world's attention.People will say Susan is an "overnight sensation," but she's not really. In 1999, Ms. Boyle recorded a CD track for a charity compilation, having auditioned during a search for unsigned acts.That doesn't make her any more or less great as a person -- it simply means that Susan Boyle has been trying (maybe on and off) for 10 years to be a singer.The other news I heard was that the books John Carter of Mars are going to be made into a movie. The books, by Edgar Rice Burroughs, began as serialized stories in pulp magazines back at the turn of the last century, so while it took about a hundred years, Burroughs' books finall...
More About: Time

We still have the graduation chicken. I stole it back from Oldest when she
2009-04-20 20:39:00
Parents: Your not-so-little ones are graduating in just a few short weeks, and going off to college, and you, like me and Sweetie, are therefore confronted with the question: What should I get him/her/them as a going-away present?When Oldest graduated, we got her a Graduation Chicken and some cash. Now that Middle's graduating, it's time to shop around for this year's animatronic dancing animal, and to give her some money, too, but not cash this time. I'm thinking a Visa Debit card from Vision Premier.With the Vision Premier Visa Debit card, we can put some cash on the card and Middle can use it just like an ordinary, everyday debit card -- withdraw money, pay online, and more -- but without having to carry around large amounts of cash.Then, we can reload it whenever we want, so when she heads off to college and calls home for money, we'll be able to say "Sure," and Sweetie can go online and put some more money on it -- $5, $10, the sky's the limit. Make that $10. $10 is ...
More About: Back

The Cubs May Still Be Cool: (Take a Book for Charity, 4)
2009-04-20 20:18:00
There's a lecture here, and an update. Read on! As I continue trying to get people to Take A Book For Charity , a question arose: Lisa Pepin -- who writes Lost in Provence and reads Proust and takes long walks through gorgeous French countryside (that's right: envy her. A lot) asked how I got involved in this charity. The answer is that I'm not really involved. The Shaws are involved in the charity: they set up their own website to help with fundraising for Mateo and McHale's medical care. The Shaws have, as I understand it, exhausted their medical coverage because of the ongoing medical costs for their boys. -- And, you long time readers will understand my disgust that we live in a country that's rich enough to spend $72 million dollars in a weekend watching Fast & Furious, and yet parents have to beg for money to pay for necessary medical care. -- The Shaws then also set up a second charity to build a handicapped accessible playground in their neighborhood. I ...
More About: Cool , Cubs

"Imaginary blogs with real poets in them." (Sunday's Poem 13)
2009-04-19 15:10:00
Poetry by Marianne Moore I, too, dislike it: there are things that are important beyondall this fiddle.Reading it, however, with a perfect contempt for it, onediscovers init after all, a place for the genuine.Hands that can grasp, eyesthat can dilate, hair that can riseif it must, these things are important not because ahigh-sounding interpretation can be put upon them but becausethey areuseful. When they become so derivative as to becomeunintelligible,the same thing may be said for all of us, that wedo not admire whatwe cannot understand: the batholding on upside down or in quest of something toeat, elephants pushing, a wild horse taking a roll, a tirelesswolf undera tree, the immovable critic twitching his skin like a horsethat feels a flea, the base-ball fan, the statistician--nor is it validto discriminate against "business documents andschool-books"; all these phenomena are important. One must mak...
More About: Blogs , Poem , Real , Poets

You can have a date AND your dignity! Imagine that!
2009-04-19 15:06:00
So you say you're a cougar... and you're not comfortable with the idea of finding romance the old-fashioned way, by going on a reality show with a weird host and a bunch of weirdly-desperate younger guys, but what're you going to do? There's no other way for women over...... how old do cougars have to be? I don't really know...... women over, say, 30, to find men OUTSIDE of reality TV, right? Wrong! With the new cougar dating website, you can meet men without cameras following you around, without having to have that Bruno guy mock you, without ending up as a feature on "The Soup!": You can find love the way women did it in the olden days (2002): Online personals and chat sites. Cougars.net lets you upload photos, chat (audio AND video), keep a little black book, email and instant message, and create video profiles, or check out the hundreds of verified profiles. And it's FREE to join.Stop sending audition tapes to networks, and go sign up online now.
More About: Imagine , Dignity

The Cubs May Be Cool (Take a Book For Charity, 3)
2009-04-19 15:02:00
Have you taken your book for charity yet?I've heard back from my email to the Cubs , and things are looking hopeful. I got an email from them today that reads:Greetings Briane,The Chicago Cubs want to thank you for your email that is a very touching story. As for your inquiry we would suggest contacting our Community Affairs Department by calling --- [I've omitted the phone number ] then asking to speak with someone in Community Affairs. They would be better suited to see if your request is feasible.Thank you,Chicago CubsSo, technically, I now have an email signed by the entire Chicago Cubs' organization. That's a start. I'll let you know what they say when I call.Take a Book For Charity is my program in which I am asking that various organizations do something neat with my book, Eclipse, and then send it to me to auction off, with all the proceeds of that auction going to McHale and Mateo Shaw. Want to take part? If you've got an idea for something interesting to take my...
More About: Cool

Blogging does not waive 5th Amendment rights.
2009-04-19 14:54:00
Back when a raccoon chewed a hole in our roof, we were lucky to find our roofer, and we did it in an unusual way: Our neighbor had been having HER roof repaired, so when I found the raccoon den in our roof, I asked her "How'd your roofing guy work out?" She said he'd done all right, so we got a number and called him.That's not the BEST way to find a roofer, though, and it's not always convenient to wait until your neighbors have roof problems, too. What if it's an emergency? What're you going to do, sneak over in the dead of night and damage their roof so that they have to call a roofer and you can then find out whether the one they call is good?That's a CRAZY idea. Nobody would EVER do that. Which is EXACTLY what I told the police when they came knocking around. A better way is to take the advice of AL Residential and Commercial Roofing, a San Jose roofer who suggests hiring their company, because they not only give a 7 Year Warranty on All New Roof Work (and a 6 Month ...
More About: Blogging , Rights , Amendment

Sweetie's Hunk Of The Week (12, I think?)
2009-04-18 13:40:00
Sweetie's Hunk of This Week is Ryan Reynolds.You/Sweetie Know Him As: If you think he's cute/are a woman, you probably know him as "that guy who was in that movie that ostensibly was about an election, only really he spent a lot of time talking to his kid and meeting other women." You know, the one that was supposed to be sweet but really it was a long-winded way of telling his daughter "I never really loved your mom."I Know Him As: The guy I secretly try to be a lot like. Let's face it: He's the kind of funny/cool that we all wanted to know in high school. Not mean-cool, like some kids were. Ryan Reynolds seems funny in a low-key way, and also like he would have been nice to everyone in high school and gotten elected class president. Also, Van Wilder, which is what I think he's like in real life.Thing That Makes You Go Hmmmm About Him: Supposedly, he wants to play The Flash if a movie is ever made about that superhero. But The Flash was, like, the worst superhero.Reason...

Alligator removal is probably extra.
2009-04-18 13:33:00
Florida really does have it all: Disney World, beaches, alligators (which are cool as long as they're not in your backyard) and even the Orlando pressure washing and green cleaning services offered by Healthy Home Maids.Here's what I think about green cleaning: What good does it do to clean your house, your driveway, your garage, if you get rid of dust and replace them with chemicals that are hazardous to your health and the environment? Not much good at all, right?Healthy Home Maids uses organic, safe, cleaning materials -- so when they clean your home, the dirt is gone and it's not replaced by toxic waste. Hey: That rhymes. I bet they could use that in their ads. "Not replaced by toxic waste." I'm the Shel Silverstein of blogging about home cleaning services.Another thing Healthy Home Maids does? That pressure washing: Pressure washing is cleaning off the exterior of your house and driveway. The dirt and grime and viruses and toxins build up on the siding, brick, woo...
More About: Extra , Alligator

Wasn't How To Make Sense We Were Thinking Of: (Take Stock 2)
2009-04-17 21:02:00
It's easier to do this stealing "Terry's Parent's Refrigerator's" Idea that I saw on Read. Dance. Bliss, so I'm just gonna do that from now on. Here's Take Stock 2: My bookshelf by my bed.My bookshelf sits to my right. I get the right-hand (farther away from the TV) side of the bed, so I'm on the side of the bed Ray Romano warned against taking -- I, like Ray, get my weather with a big toe in it.The little nightstand is actually Sweetie's jewelry box. Shown in this picture:1. Diet Red Pop Soda. Because the more tenuous a food's connection to the natural world, the more I like it. "Faygo" makes a blue soda, but they don't make it in diet, so I haven't tried it yet. They do make a diet Pina Colada soda. That's livin'.2. Spiky Fish Clock. Among the many things I collect are clocks. The spiky fish clock is one of my favorites. If you click to enlarge the photo, you'll see that the second hand is a tiny fish that circles around the spiky fish clock's mouth. T...
More About: Sense , Make , Thinking

It IS a possum.
2009-04-17 20:52:00
Sometimes I look in the mirror and think: Yikes!And those are the good days.I've been around for forty years, forty years of jogging outside, forty years of living in Wisconsin with its icy winters (and icy spring and falls, and too-short summers, too) and for a long chunk of those forty years, I also smoked. All in all, my skin looks as though I've been using it for a driveway for a long time. And not one of those driveways that rich people have, where the only cars that ever drive on them are luxury sports cars with tires made of soft, pliable leather. No, my face/driveway is a lot more like one of those driveways you see in front of bad houses in Alabama, where there are tire ruts and there's the remnants of gravel and ... is that a possum?That's my face.So I am thinking about that and then I come across this add forObagi Clear, a prescription treatment for skin that improves and evens skin tone -- lightening age spots and liver spots and skin unevenness...... which, now t...

It was a moral victory... no, it wasn't even that. (Septathlon 2)
2009-04-17 15:35:00
The Septathlon: EVENT 1:You know you're in trouble, in a basketball game, when your opponent isn't even winded but your eyes are stinging with sweat, you're breathing heavily, you're a little dizzy, and you're somewhat concerned that you can feel your pulse in your brain and that just might be the first sign of a stroke.You know you're in trouble if that happens. You know that you're sunk if that happens... in the first minute of the game.That's where I was at, exactly one minute into the opening round of The Septathlon, the Basketball Round. We decided, since it was The Boy's event, that I'd play him first, then Middle would play him second, each in a fifteen minute game.So The Boy warmed up while I talked to Middle and tied and re-tied my shoe, repeatedly emptying it out, something I had to do because I couldn't find my beloved Starbury basketball shoes -- I think I might have thrown them out after accidentally stepping on a raccoon corpse in them last summer -- and s...
More About: Victory , Moral

It's the only thing that could make baseball more fun...
2009-04-17 15:27:00
If you're going to watch a baseball game -- and this is the time of year to start doing that -- then do it the way it was meant to be: comfortable, fun, relaxed, and watching a historic ball club at a historic ball field.You can do that all in one move by getting Wrigley rooftop seats from the Wrigley Field Rooftop Club. You and your guests can watch the Cubs beat up on their opponents while taking advantage of an all-inclusive package deal from the Wrigley Field Rooftop Club. You'll get great views of the game, and luxury accommodations -- check out the pictures that I've got here to see what you'll be looking at, sitting in, and seeing.Your day begins 30 minutes before the start of the game, and includes complete food and beverage service throughout the gameYou and your guests will sit in the comfort of the rooftop club, looking out onto beautiful Wrigley Field, seeing the Cubs make a march to the World Series -- it has to be this year, right?--You can have climate controll...
More About: Baseball , Make , Thing

Quote of the Day, 23
2009-04-17 15:18:00
"Button his shirt. He's not Bobby Vinton." -- Sweetie, yesterday morning. I was getting Mr Bunches ready for his day, and I'd put his white shirt with the two buttons on him, then was pulling up his overalls, when Sweetie made that comment. So the most current cultural reference Sweetie has for guys who show their chest is this guy: Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions *...
More About: Quote Of The Day , Quote