Things that make you go hmmm.

Thursday, October 04, 2007

I won my fantasy baseball league... is that such a big deal?

I participated in a fantasy baseball league with two of my brothers and each of their oldest sons. I really enjoyed it again this year. It is fun to keep track of your players each day and makes you root for them to do well and makes you a bigger fan of major league baseball. It ended up that only one of my brothers and myself were still actively managing our teams at the end of the season. I was able to keep the lead for a big part of the season and the last couple of months my brother was pretty much keeping pace with me only a few points back. Then during the last week I was checking my stats and noticed I was in danger of losing some points in a couple of

categories to my other brother and the two boys WHO WEREN'T EVEN PLAYING ANYMORE. I ended up only dropping a point and a half at the end and finished still ahead of my brother, but it was close. I hope to play again next year and might have my son play this time since he was very interested this year and has enjoyed watching baseball lately.

By the way, have you seen this sign that they have at Safeco Field where the Seattle Mariners play? Did you know that it is actually also a clock on the Mariners symbol in the middle? I never realized that until recently.

Tuesday, September 11, 2007

Movies that are nothing like they are advertised... in good and bad ways.

Have you ever watched a movie and thought "wow, that was nothing like the trailer advertised it"? This seems to happen for me often and fortunately it is usually in a good way. Often the movie trailers are so dumb or advertise the movie with certain aspects that really don't do the movie justice and don't give a good picture of what it is really about. A recent example is the movie "Bridge to Terabithia". I hesitated watching this movie when it was first released and even when it first came out on DVD because it looked more like a fantasy land story with giants etc. and I didn't think my kids would want to see it or should see it. However, when we were able to request it and get it free from our local library, I figured we would give it a try. I was pleasantly surprised that the fantasy part was really only a small part of the film and it really had a good story and I thought it was really well made. Have any of you seen it? What did you think? Do you have any examples of movies not being like they were advertised in a good or a bad way?

Friday, August 03, 2007

Part-time job ...donating blood plasma

I just recently got a part-time job. I signed up to donate blood plasma twice a week. This is actually a pretty good gig. I get paid $25 cash for the first donation and then $30 for the second one. It only takes about an hour and a half (it could be longer if they are really busy). That is about $18 an hour. A lot better than most real part-time jobs and I can do it after work and/or on Saturdays. I looked into this after I saw an ad in the paper when looking for actual part-time jobs since we need the extra $$. It is pretty relaxing too, they have TVs set up around the room with movies playing. It is kind of a strange place with all these "bed/chairs" set up next to centrifuge machines that separate the plasma from the red blood cells which are then pumped back into your body. The only draw back is that you have to be adequately hydrated which isn't really a drawback since it is good for you to drink a lot of water except you have to go to the bathroom alot more often. I am fairly healthy and don't have any reasons that disqualify me so it was pretty easy to sign up. You see all types there, and it seems pretty safe as they use new packages of everything. Blood plasma must be worth quite a bit, because they have all these workers, all this equipment, a pretty large office, and they have to use new packages of needles, tubes, container, gloves, etc. each time. Plus they pay each donor, and there must be 30 stations in this place and each time I have been they are mostly full. Hmmm, what exactly do they use all that plasma for anyway? Maybe there is something to my son's question he asked me after the first time I donated. I told him I donated blood plasma and explained what it was and then he asked me why they use the same word for the new plasma TVs. : )

Thursday, July 05, 2007

A late post about Father's Day

I know Father's Day has come and gone, but I forgot to post this then and I can't think of anything else to post about. While we were driving to church on Father's Day, my wife asked my two wonderful children "do you have anything to say to Dad" hoping to prompt them to say "Happy Father's Day". These are the separate but simultaneous responses I got. My 4 year old daughter says "thank you" apparently thinking we were getting after her like we so often do to remind her to be polite and say thanks. And my 8 year old son says "sorry" apparently thinking he was in trouble for something he had done although he hadn't. My wife and I just looked at each other and started cracking up.

Thursday, June 07, 2007

Going 50 down the highway... in a wheelchair!

Did you see this story on MSN? Talk about a wild ride!

Monday, May 21, 2007

Trip to Boise

I recently had to make a business trip to Boise for a few days. I

don't usually have to travel that much so this was something out of the ordinary for me and my family. I had to do a few things in preparation for the trip like pick up the rental car, buy sunflower seeds to keep me busy and awake during the drive, pack my bag, etc. In my preparations, I'm sure I mentioned several times to my kids that I was going to Boise. My little four year old daughter even asked where Boise was and why I was

going there. I didn't think anything of it until later she asked her older brother if he gets to go to Boy-see and when he said no she said cause I was wondering if just boys get to go there, and was there a Girls-see for girls to go to. After a second of silence, all of us just started cracking up.

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Snap, Crackle, Pop in your ear!

Have you ever had the fear that some bug or something might crawl in your ear. I have often had the thought of how horrible an experience something like that would be if it ever happened. I have seen something like this depicted in movies or TV shows, and I have even heard about it actually happening only to find out later that it was just an urban legend. Now there is a story on MSN of a boy that this actually happened to. He kept hearing popping sounds "like Rice Krispies" and he ended up having an earache so he went to the doctor. The doctor discovered two spiders that had crawled into his ear and they were walking on his eardrum making the popping sound. The doctor irrigated the ear and one spider came out dead and then flushed it again and the other one came out still alive. They were both about the size of a pencil eraser and were probably feeding off the boy's earwax for the two days they were inside his ear. Ugggggh!

Friday, April 20, 2007

Baby doll that goes tinkle

My daughter got a new doll yesterday I think from saved up money from gifts we never got for her. She proudly showed me this new doll when I got home from work yesterday. It is quite amazing. You feed it water from a bottle and then sit it on this special little potty and it goes "tinkle". Yes those are the words used in the product decription here "The Little Mommy baby will not go tinkle until she is on her special potty seat just like a big girl. Take her off the potty and she stops going...put her back on and she goes again." It is astonishing how realistic the whole process is. I'm just a little scared of what they will come out with next. My girl was telling her grandparents about this doll and said "...no, sher doesn't go poo poo, just pee pee." Thank goodness. It's called a "Little Mommy Potty Training Doll". My little girl has actually been potty trained for a long time now, but she loves being a little mommy.

In another funny, little doll related story, we got a hand-me-down set from a neighbor of little figures that are kind of like Polly Pockets except they are teens. They have a little car that you can put them in. They have magnets that will occasionally set off sounds or lights, etc. When you put one in the car, it says "Hey girls... like, what's up." Like, what's up with that. I guess this is how the young girls learn to talk this way early on.

Monday, April 16, 2007

Extreme sport taken to the extreme

Did you happen to see this story back in February? I saw it on MSN and copied the link hoping to go back to it but the link was no good anymore. I did a search and found the story here from the West Australian. An amazing story of a paraglider who was sucked up in a storm and carried to a height higher than Mt. Everest and she survived. She was pounded by hail, barely avoided lightning, and was covered in ice as she was carried away by this fast moving storm cell that suddenly appeared.

Thursday, April 12, 2007

Sudoku at 8!

I want to take a moment to brag on my son. Actually, I could spend a long time bragging on the little guy as there are a lot of amazing things about him, but I will just pick this one for this post. How many of you have ever played Sudoku? This is not a very easy game in my opinion. It can be quite challenging. Basically, this numbers game is a grid with 9 rows and 9 columns with a few of the boxes filled in with numbers and the object of the game is to fill in the missing boxes with the numbers such that every row and every column has the numbers 1 through 9 with none repeating. The 9 rows and 9 columns are further broken down into 9 squares that are 3 by 3 that also have to have the numbers 1 through 9. My son is only 8 years old and he can complete one of these in about 10 to 15 minutes. He is only 8! I have a hard time even completing this, much less in this small amount of time.

Tuesday, April 10, 2007

Protecting your children is not always good

Whaaaat!! Yes, you read it right. There are certain times that I think we can do more harm to our children, and to others for that matter, by protecting them. Maybe I should use the word "sheltering" instead of "protecting".

There have been several instances recently where I have seen parents sheltering their children from the "evil world we live in" and I think it is to the detriment of these kids and to those in the world. Many, no I guess all of these instances stem from home school parents and their overzealous attempts to shelter their children from influences that can harm their children. I know there are several positives to home schooling and I agree with many of them, but in my opinion these positives are outweighed by the negatives. I'm sure hours could be spent arguing the negatives and positives, but I just want to focus in this post on one of the biggest negatives that has come to my attention recently. This negative is an overriding attitude by some home school moms especially that seems to point to an unwillingness to associate with "sinners" of this world. This attitude can be very dangerous in my opinion. Sounds an awful lot like the Pharisees in Jesus' time.

Such things like not wanting certain kids to come to the youth group because of the way they look and being afraid of their worldly influence. Aren't those some of the kids our youth should be trying to reach in order to share Christ? This has even affected our own church where these home school moms have made themselves into almost a club that looks down on others if they aren't home schooling their children like they are. And we wonder why our young adult Sunday School department hasn't grown. Not that this is the only problem or the only blame, but an obvious division has developed in our church. Many feel they are having a hard time feeling accepted if they aren't part of this exclusive home schooling club. It has even come to the point of an attitude of some of the home school mom's not wanting their kids to associate or play with public school kids out of a fear that they will somehow influence their kids in a negative way. Shouldn't the opposite be the case? Shouldn't our kids be light and salt to the world? I know our son has already taken several opportunities to share Jesus with kids at his public school and is a positive influence for the other kids in how to behave etc.

This negative attitude also comes across in how people respond to people in public. My wife is a great example of someone who shows friendliness and love to the public in her day to day activities. I think she is being a great example of Matthew 5:16. We have witnessed several instances where some of the home school moms we know respond to others in public with almost an attitude of discust.

I almost didn't post this worrying that I might offend, but you know maybe if you feel offended then it might be a good thing to at least be more aware or take a serious look at your own attitude. Also, I figured this is not very likely given the fact that hardly anybody reads this blog anymore. : )

Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Give me a little honey and I'll feel all better

I just read an article on MSN Health & Fitness that says honey can speed healing on superficial wounds such as cuts and burns. I guess "honey acts as an antibacterial agent, rapidly cleaning out and preventing further infection". One study showed that on average, burns treated with honey healed in 11 days which was 4 days less than burns treated without it and it helped reduce swelling and minimized scarring. I guess it has to be a locally farmed product instead of the commercial brands. And hey, it can be quite convenient if you burn your finger while making yourself a spot of tea. Just stick it in some honey and then you can use it to sweeten your tea at the same time.

Thursday, February 22, 2007

FedEx mad at DHL

I left the office the other day and drove past a FedEx truck like this one that had just been to a nearby business and was leaving the parking lot. Just down the street is the DHL office. I can see the FedEx guy in his truck and all of a sudden I see him gesturing towards the DHL office in anger. I wonder if something just happened that made him upset (like the business he just visited said they have switched to DHL or maybe DHL messed up a shipment and they blamed him) or was his gesturing just out of a competitive nature that FedEx employees do any time they see a competitor?

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

We'll be of no help

After the memorial service for our dad, the family was taken into a "welcome center" room where people could come by and offer condolences, etc. Several of us initially didn't want to have to do this, but after it was over I am glad we did. It gave us an opportunity to again see all those who were touched in some way by Dad, or who had a connection to one of us and it gave them the opportunity to show love, etc. One such individual, we'll call her L., came up to me and my family and introduced herself and asked me which son I was. I knew who she was. She has a distinctive look and had not changed that much since the last time I saw her several years ago. I also remember that she was one who would readily give her opinion. L. was assuring us that Mom would have a good support group of the other widows in the church. She then asked, "now where are you from?" After we told her that we lived in the Pacific Northwest, L. immediately said "well you'll be of no help." We started to giggle a little and then realized she wasn't at all joking as she didn't even crack a smile. While it is somewhat true that it will be harder for us to directly help my mom, we hope that we can be of some encouragement and help in ways that we are able, but you have to hand it to L., she came right out and stated the obvious.

On another note, since tomorrow is Valentine's Day I thought I would share a little more related to this love-filled holiday. A guest pastor on Sunday told us what he and his wife do for Valentimes Day. I think I may use this in the future. He and his wife go to the store and each of them finds the biggest, most expensive, gushy card they can find that says everything they want to say to each other and then they walk over to the other and say "Happy Valentine's Day" and they read it and give each other a hug and a kiss ... and then put the cards back. Perfect. You take care of everything with out having to waste... er spend any money.
Did you notice above how I spelled "Valentimes"? My wife hates this after years of previously teaching grade schoolers who say this every year. It's even worse when adults have never learned the correct word and still say "Valentimes".
Anyway, here's my Valentimes wish to my lovely Valentine. I will love you always!!!

Friday, February 09, 2007

Music at a Memorial Service

Have you ever seen a choir sing at someone's funeral or memorial service? I don't think I ever have. Well there was a huge choir from my parent's church that sang at my dad's memorial service. My mom and dad were faithful members of the church choir. Dad had even been "president" of the choir for awhile. When Dad passed away, Mom pretty much left the music up to the choir director to handle. Wow, they did a wonderful job. They sang 3 songs and they were so powerful and almost like a host of angels. I'm not sure how many there were, probably 50-100, and it looked like they had to bring in extra chairs for them. This was quite amazing in itself as this was during the day on a Monday and with not great weather outside. It was also sweet watching some of them and their emotions as the pastors spoke about Dad. They sang special arrangements of two familiar hymns and one other more somber song that the choir had sing on a trip that my parent's went on. It was all quite a tribute and a blessing.

Wednesday, January 31, 2007

Outpouring of love

It has been amazing to see the outpouring of love and sympathy to our family after the death of my dad. Before we left, close friends called to say how sad they were and expressed sorrow for what we were going through. Most of them were friends of my wife that she talks with on the phone quite often. One phone call that meant a lot to me was of one of these ladies who called and talked directly to me and then her husband insisted on talking to me also and expressed his sorrow and offering anything that we needed.

When we flew to Texas to be with the rest of my family, we saw more amazing examples of people's love esp. from my mom's church. She had people coming by in a constant stream. The whole week we were there we had meals provided for us or leftovers that fed us every meal. A few days these meals fed more than 20 family members. There were then many who sent flowers, sympathy cards, and memorial gifts. It was a wonderful testimony of the love of Jesus being shown. I think it also showed the number of people who were touched in some way by my father. There were hundreds of people who came for the funeral even with bad weather and bad road conditions. I'll post more about the memorial service later.

For us personally back at home, we were blessed again by ones who expressed sorrow even though they didn't know my dad. My dad was active in the Gideons and Mom had listed this organization best known for placing Bibles in hotels as one of the memorial requests for people to donate Bibles in memory of my dad. Several at our church did this for us too. Everyone has really been amazing and we really appreciate it.

Well... not quite "everyone". There were a couple of ladies who really had no sensitivity and were plain rude to my wife. We got back late on a Friday night from Texas. On Saturday, we slept in and then most of the day we were recovering and it was really a day when things were quiet and it really sank in for us so we were quite weepy that day. There was a big baby shower that my wife was supposed to go to and even help some with, but she really wasn't able to do that and her friends understood and helped. I didn't have time to prepare my Sunday school lesson to teach, and we didn't really feel like going to church on Sunday. Well, we went to church on Wednesday night and were still struggling with seeing people, not knowing what to say, and trying not to cry a few times. Then there were these two ladies that my wife walked up to that stunned her with their comments. One chastised my wife for being on the phone several times when she tried to call and the line was busy. And she wasn't calling to offer her condolences... no she was calling to brag about herself and something she had just accomplished. Then the other asks my wife when we got back. When she said on Friday, the lady proceeds to say "so why weren't you at the shower on Saturday, and then you didn't even come to church on Sunday????" My wife was taken aback so she didn't have a good comeback as this gal made her feel dumb and like she had to come up with an excuse. How insensitive is that? It is really no huge surprise from these two as they are generally always negative and they wear their true feelings on their sleeve and rudeness often spews out of their mouth and they are often very self-centered and often critical of others and very envious of others and ... well let's just say they are a great example of relying on the Holy Spirit's power to show them love.

Now that I go back and read this, I wish I had made a separate post for the negative because it may overshadow the positive. It really shouldn't. It has been really neat to experience God's love for us during our loss. It also has really convicted us that we need to be sensitive to others when they go through these times and to not hesitate but offer your sorrow and help. It really does mean a lot and we are Christians and know my dad had a relationship with Christ. I think it may be even more meaningful to show this love to those who may not know Christ and to show His love to them in their time of sorrow.

Monday, January 29, 2007

Duck in the fridge

Did you see this story this morning? It is on MSN here. How crazy is this? Not that a hunter shot a duck and put it in the refrigerator. Not that the duck lifted it's head and looked at the hunter's wife after supposedly being dead and in a refrigerator for 2 days. But what is crazy is that they took the duck to a vet who operated on the duck to repair the gunshot wound. And then to top that, the vet had to perform CPR on the duck when it stopped breathing. The duck is now recovering from the ordeal. This, a duck who was originally shot by a hunter who intended to eat it for dinner.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

DAD

My father passed away on Thursday, January 11, 2007. He was just 72 years old. He died of lung cancer that had slowly spread near his heart. He battled valiantly for about 6 months. I think he continued to think he could beat it. I did too, never giving up hope until the final days of his life which went so quickly. I thought about doing a post as a tribute to him, but I feel that I couldn’t put in enough words and in the right way to say all that could be said about my dad. I didn't feel it would really be the right place for it either. I’ll simply say he was a wonderful man. He truly loved the Lord and served Him diligently up until he was called home to be with Jesus.

We spent a week in Texas with my family as we celebrated his life, cried together, remembered him, and tried to take some necessary steps to face life without him. I’m so thankful that each of my immediate family members has Christ as our Lord and Savior and can trust in Him to comfort and guide us and that we have the assurance that Dad is now free of pain and with the Lord in Heaven. I’ll try to post some more about our experiences on our trip when I get the chance.

I love you and miss you Dad!

Friday, January 05, 2007

Boise State's Fiesta Bowl Win

This has to be one of the best games ever. For sure one of the most fun to watch. I loved it. There was the classic "underdog" smaller school who went toe-to-toe with the big boys and won. There was the comeback by Oklahoma in the final minutes including the two-point conversion that required three tries to tie the game. There was the interception thrown by Jared Zabransky (who is from nearby Hermiston, OR by the way) for an Oklahoma touchdown the next play after the Sooners tied it. I seriously was going to be very disappointed if it ended this way. There was the awesome Boise State drive to tie the game again and force overtime. This included the 4th-and-18 hook-and-ladder play that worked out flawlessly with just seconds left. There was the great run by Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson to score a touchdown in the first play of overtime. There was the great play Boise State called on fourth down where the quarterback went in motion himself and it was snapped to another player who rolled out and threw a touchdown pass which was required since Oklahoma scored a touchdown. And then there was Boise State going for the two-points to win the game instead of one to tie to go to a second overtime. Not just a great run up the middle or a leaping catch in the end zone but the Statue of Liberty play again executed to perfection to win the game.
A game to make me go hmmm!!!

Monday, December 18, 2006

God's Love

How awesome and amazing is God’s love? We celebrate the most wonderful expression of His love at Christmas when we rejoice in remembering the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. With this glorious gift of His birth, we are also able to see the best, complete, perfect example of God's love through the life of Jesus and ultimately the supreme act of love in His death on the cross to forgive us our sins, to pay the price to redeem us, and in His resurrection conquering sin and death so that we could have life eternal.

Do you ever really think about how awesome and amazing God's love is, especially when you compare it to our human capacity to love. We had a very good study of this on Sunday looking at "the love chapter" I Corinthians 13. What a beautiful look at how we are nothing without love and everything we do is nothing if it is not done in love. Also what love is and what love is not and how love is eternal. In our human weakness, it is too often easy to display what love is not with our relationships with others. I thought the other day how many times we are selfish and don't care to even listen to others tell of their hurts or difficulties much less to care for them and show them love. How huge is God’s love!! He cares so much for us that He wants to hear our troubles and to help us through them and show His love to us. Multiply this by all those who have a relationship with Him and call on His name. Wow!!

He also wants us to show His love to others. He wants to use us as instruments to share His love. Are you willing to love others with God's love?

Have a wonderful, joyful, love-filled and very merry Christmas!!

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Name that Carol

See if you can guess these familiar Christmas Carols for which the titles have been changed with alternate words with similar meaning. I'll give the answers in the first comment.

1. Ecstasy toward the orb.
2. Hey, miniscule urban area south of Jerusalem.
3. Removed in a bovine feeding trough.
4. The slight percussionist lad.
5. Quiescent nocturnal period.
6. The primary carol.
7. Embellish the corridors.
8. Approach, everyone who is steadfast.

9. I'm fantasizing concerning a blanched Yuletide.
10. What offspring abides thus.

I saw these in a recent men's devotional magazine. I'm sure glad the writers of these songs went with the words we are familiar with.

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Additional comments on the pear ball dilemma

I previously posted about our "ornamental" pear trees and the mess that we had to clean up after a wind storm. I incorrectly stated that all of the pear balls had come down when in fact there are still a few hundred still hanging on in the trees with a few that fall each day. When I was out picking up the few that had fallen yesterday after work, I noticed some pear stains on our driveway and sidewalk and wondered how they could be there since it hadn't been that windy. When I looked closer at these stains, I noticed they were not just random splats, but they had a definite "design" to them. How could that be? Then I realized that these stains weren't splats from the

pears falling off, but they were the prints from the feet of birds that have also been interested in these fallen pear balls. I guess as they trapse through the mess of pear balls looking for a meal they get the gunk on their feet which leaves a mark as they hop on the cement. I would assume these are mostly Magpies which we have seen recently around the trees.

Speaking of Magpies, did you know that the word pie may be from magpie, shortened to pie. The explanation offered in favor or this is that the magpie collects a variety of things, and that it was an essential feature of early pies that they contained a variety of ingredients. Hmmm!

Speaking of pies, what kind of pie do you most enjoy at Thanksgiving? Do you have the traditional pumpkin pie? We usually have pumpkin and pecan. I think pecan pie is one of my favorites. I have decided that I definitely like pie more

than cake, how about you?

Speaking of Thanksgiving, I wish you all a wonderful time

with family and/or friends this week, and I hope you truly recognize that we should be thankful to the one and only true God for His love and blessings.

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Palm trees in the Pacific NW?

If you read my previous post you may have wondered about the picture of the palm tree blowing in the wind. You may have asked yourself "do they really have palm trees in the Pacific NW?" Well, the picture is just a free-use photo I looked up on yotophoto, so it isn't an actual picture of the wind storm we just had, but it made me think of another post of something that will make you go hmmm. We do actually have palm trees here. Actually, we used to. There was a little strip mall parking lot that the owner lined with palm trees. Our climate isn't one that could support palm trees year round like in Florida or SoCal, so the owner of this strip mall would put these palm trees out each spring and keep them out during the summer and then uproot them before the winter and store them in a barn or something and bring them out again the next year. I think he either got tired of this or they finally died, because we haven't seen them there for awhile now.

Update from the cleanup of pear balls. It took me about 2 hours and 21 5-gallon bucketfulls to pick up all the pear balls that were in our lawn yesterday. My back and legs are sore. Now our trash container is half full of them. Glad the trash man comes tomorrow.

Monday, November 13, 2006

Pelted with little pear balls and garbage

Have you ever heard the phrases "what do you want... wicker?" or "they pelted us with rocks and garbage"? For some reason I remember these from many years ago from one of David Lettermen's first top 10 lists of the top 10 new catch phrases. Actually I know why I remember these, because my brother used to say them over and over. I guess they really did become catch phrases for us even though they don't have any real meaning.

Anyway, I thought of the second phrase when I thought about the results of the huge windstorm

we had last night. We had a high winds with gusts I think up to 50-60 mph. We were awake for a few hours around 2 this morning because of the noise and because our little girl woke up scared by the wind noises. Our son slept through the whole thing.

When I left for work this morning, I surveyed the mess that I will have to clean up. There were tumbleweeds everywhere. Our neighbor's trash was strewn all down the street. Another neighbor's trampoline was lifted out of their backyard and landed near the entrance to our neighborhood and with the netting around the edge, it looked like a huge spider waiting for oncoming cars. But, the biggest mess was all the little pear balls that pelted our windows, garage, and house. The splats make our house look like it was used for a paintball tournament. Yes, there were thousands of little pear balls in our "ornamental" pear trees that were nearly all blown off this morning. I know there are thousands because I have picked up hundreds in the past few weeks that have already fallen off. What is up with our two pear trees that are supposed to be "ornamental" pears which means they aren't supposed to produce fruit right? Well ours and our next door neighbors trees do. And they create quite a huge mess. At least they are now all off at once and I should be able to clean them all up once and for all.

Wednesday, November 08, 2006

Are you ready for some football?

Monday, I got to leave work early to pick up my son from school. He didn't ride

the bus home because he had chess club after school. This is amazing in itself as there are like 70 kids in his elementary school chess club that meets every other week. Anyway, on the way home I had the radio tuned to the ESPN sports talk station and they were talking about the Seattle Seahawks and the upcoming game. My son recognized the names Matt Hasselbeck and Shaun Alexander who are injured and wouldn't be playing. He couldn't remember what position Matt Hasselbeck played. I told him quarterback and he said something like "that's one of the most important players on the team right?" and "that's the guy who takes the ball and kicks it..." I tried to explain the position to him and he made another comment that indicated that he really didn't know much about the game. I decided at that point that he and I needed to sit down that night and watch Monday Night Football. He watched and was interested for a few plays, but then he lost interest and was tired and had to go to bed. So what age do most kids start to want to watch sports on TV? I have to admit, I hope that his interest in sports increases and I wouldn't mind his interest in chess club waning a bit over the years.