Drive-thru chuch

I was driving down the highway when a big banner on a church caught my attention: 30 Minute Church Service. That was the selling point. A total of 10,080 minutes in a week, and the selling point is one need devote only 30 minutes, a mere .003% of the week to worshiping?

I was just about to climb on my high horse when I remembered that the church service at my church is only an hour. If the service runs beyond the 60 minutes, people start to squirm, particularly if it's a Sunday when the Cowboys play the early game or the Lady Bears have a basketball game. So while I could spin it to smugly note that we worship twice as long as the people who attend the 300minute service, it still amounts to only 006% of the week. As one of my good friends, who attends church for at least two hours each Sunday, likes to say, we've got that quickie church.

I suppose even 30 minutes (or 60 minutes) spent in worship is better than spending those 30 minutes sleeping, golfing, reading the Sunday New York Times, but there's just something about advertising a particularly short service. What's next? Drive-thru church? Oh wait. That already exists.

Baylor knocks off Amherst! (And Babs is everywhere)

Would this be a reference to football? Basketball? Wii Bowling? No!!!

Jeopardy! Yes, that's right. Geoff Moore, Baylor alum, who during his interview with Alex, talked about being one of the bear trainers for the Baylor Chamber, emerged victorious in today's episode, defeating Amherst student and four-time champion, Ben Bishop. Bishop was a four-time champion who had amassed some $114,000.

Geoff went into Final Jeopardy ahead. Ben, who'd thus far been pretty impressive, missed giving the correct "question", which was "Who is Barbra Streisand?" But the minute Alex announced the Final Jeopardy category--Actor/Directors--I knew that Geoff, now a LA screenwriter, had the edge. And sure 'nuff, he answered correctly and then raised his hand in a bear claw, leading Alex in a round of "sic 'em Bears." Okay, no he didn't, but he should have.

As to Babs, how fitting that the day after she and GW Bush traded "un beso" (evidence that I did learn some Spanish during my recent visit to Granada), she would appear in the Final Jeopardy question.

The Future of labor unions, particularly, the UAW

The Big 3 American auto companies are in desparate financial condition. If GM's CEO is to be believed, GM is at risk of going bankrupt if it doesn't get help fast. So, who's to blame? The anti-union crowd, mostly conservatives, want to blame unions. But the answer can't be that simple. With a companies as old and complex as any of the the automakers, there are too many elements that went into making the companies successful when they were kings of the hill and that have now coalesced to put them on the brink of financial disaster.

Yes, the UAW has insisted on huge hourly wages for essentially unskilled labor. The unions have negotatiated collective bargaining agreements that create specialized jobs that can be done by only certain workers, diminishing the flexibility of the auto companies to simply get the job done.

But the simple fact is that there is plenty of blame to go around: the execs who failed to develop fuel efficient cars or to design and build cars that matched the reliability of the Japanese cars to start. And let's not forget American consumers who demanded their pick-up trucks and SUVs (this consumer included). Detroit gave us what we wanted. Gas was relatively cheap, so that unlike many other parts of the world, where SUVs are a rarity, Hummers and Excursions ruled our roads.

The UAW did what all unions are supposed to do: get the best wages and working conditions they can for their members. It was the UAW's duty to seek top wages and the best retirement plans, as well as the best health care plans and working conditions it could get. To put it another way, the UAW did what every party to a contract does: looks out for its own best interest. That's true of every union--and every executive, who negotiated multi-million dollar compensation packages--and collected their paychecks religiously, even when their companies were bleeding money.

The UAW has already shown signs of granting concessions, as well it must. The future of the UAW is quite obviously dependent on the survival of the automakers, and like any organization, the UAW will experience a paradigm shift to ensure its continued existence. I expect that Congress will work out a bail-out package for the companies and that everyone with an interest in the automakers will have to concede in ways they might have never imagined. In the end, the UAW will survive.

Bye OJ!

Lightning doesn't often strike twice, and it didn't happen here. OJ might have beat the rap on the murder charges 14 years ago, but he didn't beat the rap this time. While the judge didn't exactly throw the book at him, she did send him off to jail for at least 9 years--and that assumes he gets parole when he's first eligible.

"I was stupid." So says OJ. Really?? How pathetic. The man who had everything, personality, athletic ability, looks, and enough acting talent to generate big bucks now joins the ranks of others like him who ended up in jail. Bye OJ. Give my regards to Michael Vick.

The Diamond Anniversary

Prohibition ended 75 years ago. I think that's a cause for celebration. Cheers!

Peace on Earth

Here we go again. The battle over "Merry Christmas" vs. "Happy Holidays." It's bad enough that anyone would spend time on such a trivial matter. It's even worse that Christians would insist on "Merry Christmas" when there is so much Christian work of importance to do, which might actually serve to spread the gospel.

If anyone were to ask me, I'd say, how 'bout just remembering that this is the season for peace on earth, goodwill towards men. Rather than becoming combative about "Happy Holidays", maybe we should seek peace and spread a little goodwill. Just a thought.

Put me in, Coach!

"If my coach says to go in, I'll go in. If he says to come out, I'll come out; and if I forget anything, he'll yell at me." So says BoilerBaby 4, as he gets ready for basketball season. I think he's ready for the big show.

So there weren't any aliens after all

Just another Saturday night at home with the fam, when the loud, low rumble began, and went on. . . and on. . . and on. . . At first, it seemed like just another night of helicopters and planes flying over head b/c GWB was at the Western White House. But the rumble was too steady and stationary to be presidential security. An earthquake?? Nah--no tremors. Unable to identify it, it was pretty bizarre and a tad frightening. I had visions of Independence Day and an invasion by aliens; it was just that weird. I was rather relieved when it ended several minutes later.

I wasn't alone in my my characterization of this odd event. This morning, the freaky event was the topic of post-church chit-chat, as some described how they thought the world was coming to an end or that we were under attack.

So what was it? A rocket test gone awry. At 10 o'clock at night. With a bright glow, visible for miles around. But of course, I knew nothing about the bright light--I wasn't going outside to let the aliens get me. Either way, the company supposedly "warned" people of the test by placing something in the McGregor paper, given that the test occurred there. Unfortunately, not even the people who live there read that paper, and since none of the people I spoke to live there, so much for the warning.

I never considered jumping from my window out of fear of the aliens. But I sure hope that the next time a rocket test is planned, the company would be so kind as to make use of the Trib or any of the local tv stations to give an effective warning. Just a thought.

A Historic Autumn

I haven't written since the Democratic National Convention. So much has happened. There was the rise and ultimate fall of Sarah Palin, starting with her nomination basesd on the assumption that the voters who supported Hillary would automatically support a candidate who shared little in common with Mrs. Clinton in terms of political views, accomplishments, intelligence, or anything else that mattered. Palin had better clothes than Hillary, but so does Paris Hilton. Who knew that Katie Couric would play such a significant role in the demise of Sarah Palin?

There was the economic crisis, follwed by the "suspension" of John McCain's campaign just before the first presidential debate. There were the three debates that occurred, with Obama taking all three according to the populace.

There was Joe the Plumber, I think. I'm still not sure he wasn't a figment of my imagination. He was the GOP's every man? As Time put it, his name wasn't Joe and he wasn't a plumber, but the "the" seemed accurate. That didn't stop him from appearing at McCain campaign rallies and giving his opinion on the fate of Israel should Obama be elected president.

There was the nearly flawless campaign of Barack Obama, in which he captured the hearts and minds of enough of the electorate to result in his election to be the POTUS. This has been even more unbelievable.

It hasn't been three weeks since election night, but the memory of that night will be burned indelibly on my memory. I missed election day, having chosen that time to visit BoilerBaby 1 in Spain. I voted early, as I could proudly confirm to all of the people in Spain who asked upon verifying my status as an American. I fretted all day that Tuesday, wondering if the polls showing Obama leading were accurate. Would people actually show up to vote, especially if it meant standing in line for perhaps hours? Would the votes be counted accurately? Would there be a repeat of the 2000 Florida debacle?

With the time difference in Spain, it was excruciating waiting for voting to even begin. BoilerBaby 1 and I spent that morning at the Alhambra and that night at a flamenco performance, which helped to take my mind off of the election some. But that night, as we turned in for bed, the first returns were just coming in, and McCain was ahead in the electoral count. We set the alarm to awake at 5 a.m. thinking that there might news by then.

I may have waked everyone on the hotel floor when I turned the tv on and saw the "breaking news" that CNN had called the election for Obama. McCain's concession speech was well-written and well-delivered. From the moment Obama took the stage, he looked and sounded presidential. There was no triumphant pumping of his arms; there was no gloating; there was Obama, fully cognizant of that moment in history and fully aware of the challenges that lay ahead. It wasn't about Obama, but about the country.

I was totally caught offguard by the response of the Granadiers to the election results. From the florist to shopkeepers to random people on the street to BoilerBaby 1's host family, there was joy and excitement about Obama's election. One shopkeeper came out of his shop to ask if we were Americans and to shout a gleeful Obama!!! The florist described how he danced around his living room upon hearing the results. It was incredible.

What an incredible time to be alive in America.

DJ Needed. Contact the DRC IMMEDIATELY!

What a slacker I am. But alas, life's busy. I have, however, found time to watch and mostly enjoy the Democratic National Convention. Michelle Obama and Hillary both rocked the house on their respective nights. I liked Kerry's speech. There've been others that were good.

It's been a good, except for the music. What's up with that, especially tonight? I was disturbed when shortly before President Clinton took the podium, I could hear Aretha Franklin's Chain of Fools. What???? Who??? I was a little slow to pick up that the so-called "chain of fools" was the Bush administration, something that had been touched on in the preceding speech. Still, not a wise music choice under the circumstances. Too subtle, by half.

And then came Bill. A decent, not great speech, followed by . . . Addicted to Love. Are you kidding me? Only the first verse played, stopping just short of "you're gonna have to face it, you're addicted to love." But that didn't stop the crowd from voicing the lyrics.

So, note to the DNC: you have four years to really give this music thing some thought.

Thank God, I'm a City Girl

There's a reason we don't live in the country. We're not country people. This past weekend is proof. We had a nice weekend planned. Saturday in Canton, shopping at First Monday trade days, and then hanging out a resort/ranch for some R&R.

Everything went fine in Canton--it's still urban enough that we were in our element, plus it's shopping. What an experience. Part carnival/part flea market times 1000--everything is bigger in Texas. We mostly looked, but found some good bargains.

Getting to the ranch was another story. We got hopelessly lost, spending nearly 90 minutes on what should have been a 15 minute drive. It wasn't totally our fault. Blame Google maps; blame the lady at the ranch; and blame the fact that the county apparently renamed all the little backroads that we needed to take to get to the ranch.

The county renamed all of the roads, ostensibly to make it easier for emergency personnel to find their way around (wonder how that's working). Of course, that screwed up Google maps, but that doesn't fully explain why Google maps was so off. When we googled the name of the ranch, sure nuff, Google brought up an address, with driving directions to get there. Unfortunately, the address was wrong, and the instructions landed us in some back woods some 20 miles from where we needed to be.

Determined to get there, we finally called the ranch to get directions. She gave us directions alright. They would have been perfectly correct if we'd been coming from the opposite direction! Although we told her we were coming from Canton, she gave us directions as though we were coming from Dallas. When she told us to turn right, we should have turned left. She gave us the same [wrong] directions a second time when we called back, still lost.

Finally, BoilerHusband sought directions from some shirtless old guy (he should have kept his shirt on; it wasn't pretty). I was a little worried when BoilerHusband disappeared into Scratchy's garage for a time, since Scratchy (my name for him) could have been typecast in a movie on lynching. But BoilerHusband indeed returned, armed with directions that turned out to be correct.

Voila! Scratchy to the rescue! We found the ranch.

We should have left well enough alone thereafter. Swimming in the pool was fun, but we can swim at home. We wanted to go fishing in one of the many ponds at the ranch. All was well until BoilerBaby2 found a perfect specimen of a praying mantis. The younger BoilerBabies were intrigued, and so was I, until I felt the little stings that signalled that I was standing in a fire ant pile. Aaagh!! I was covered. "Put your feet into the pond," I was advised. Unfortunately, I understood that to mean, put your shoes into the pond. In went one shoe, where it proceeded to float away from the edge, beyond my reach. Now what? No one could reach my shoe easily and I wanted my shoe back. So, into the muddy pond I went, with a big stick, to retrieve my shoe. Success, but I expected to go fishing for fish, not shoes. And my shoe was the only thing we caught.

I'm not even going to recount the golf cart incident. Suffice it to say that it involved a decline, a big bump, and two members of the Boiler Family who were on the golf cart, ending up on the ground.

The whole trip started to feel a little surreal--like we were in some weird show where Candid Camera meets reality tv.

We had a fun trip when it was all said and done, but it's good to be home.

Is this child abuse?

I saw snippets of the new reality show--did we really need another--called The Baby Borrowers. What an interesting premise, a twist on the old high school project where you you had to care for a sack of flour as though it were a baby, ensuring that your bag wasn't damaged and was otherwise cared for according to various assignments. In the show, they used real babies! Imagine that!

As expected, the teens found that caring for a baby is hard work. But as the babies cried and looked distressed, I couldn't help but wonder if this was fair to the babies. Their parents were near by so maybe it was no different than a night out for the parents, but I'm sure if the babies could have talked, they might have said, "Are we having fun yet?"

What a talented child

"You should have heard me. I burped like a dog!" So Boiilerbaby 4 announced.

I'm not sure I've ever heard a dog burp, but no doubt they do. What was just tad astounding was his clear pride at his accomplishment.

Yep. That surely earned him his apprentice Guy Card.

Must do better, must do better

I have been such a slacker about keeping up with this blog. Must do better; must do better. This is supposed to be my musings and record about what's happening at any given time. Must do better; must do better.

So here goes.

I was just reminded about how the circadian rhythyms of a college-aged child differ from those of real adults. Last week, I suggested that since one of the Boilerbabies would be out of the fold on Father's Day, we get up early and all go to breakfast before the official day (key word, "early"). Boilerbaby 1's response, "I have to be at work at 11 a.m.!"

To be that age where 9 a.m. is the equivalent of the crack of dawn.

The best mother's day gift this year

Having a 4 year-old in the house at gift-giving time always makes for a memorable holiday. First, there's the challenge to "keep the secret" about what my gift was. BoilerBaby 4 was about to burst with the secret he knew. He came close to telling me, but managed (just barely) to keep it in. It only took a reminder an hour to not tell. But to make Mother's Day especially special,


BoilerBaby 4 picked the best gift, Frosted Mini-Wheats. My own box! Oh yeah, I'll be living large, enjoying my Frosted Mini-Wheats. Every mom should be so blessed.

The real me???

If you don't know me and wonder what I look like, this is me! If you already know me, this is what I look like without make-up. Didn't know that I wore so much make-up, huh?

I was rather surprised when I found this picture on ZoomInfo, allegedly of someone who shares my name. My name's pretty common, so that wouldn't even be noteworthy except that part of the information provided about this person is my information. According to the listing, she has my degrees and my job, and has served on some of the of the same professional and community boards as I have. There are some "facts" that don't describe anything about me. In fact, if it were describing one person, this would be a very busy person--she has two jobs! According to the site, this info was gathered from 20 references.

Does that mean I shouldn't believe everything I read on the 'net?

Geez, I didn't know that

Schools are generally proud of their alums who enjoy success. So I was rather surprised to learn that Jerry Springer was a Northwestern Law alum. Jerry Springer, that icon of tabloid TV.

I don't know if the Jerry Springer Show is still on the air, but it never ceased to amazed me that people so craved their 15 minutes of fame that they would allow it to be announced to the world that although everyone thought Becky Sue's baby had been fathered by her husband's best friend, with whom she'd been having an affair with the full knowledge and consent of her husband, the child was really fathered by Becky Sue's mother's ex-boyfriend. Everyone should aspire to host such a show.

Maybe that's why Northwestern Law never bothered to send out any updates about Jerry in the alunni news. And maybe that's why the 2008 graduates are less than pleased about Jerry being their commencement speaker, as reported here.

The commencement speaker for my graduation was former Senator Dale Bumpers, also a Northwestern alum, and he gave a very good and inspirational speech. Perhaps the only blight on the day was that somone failed to plan for the fact that my class had 25 more graduates than in past years requiring that there be 25 more hoods. As we approached the end of the alphabet (with me only three or four away from the end), there was a mass commotion on the stage as someone was literally ripping hoods from the faculty and guests who were seated on stage to make those hoods available to the graduates. I am convinced that I actually got Senator Bumpers' hood.

But all that aside, what is going on at Northwestern?

Mildred Loving 1939-2008

By all accounts Mildred Jeter and Richard Loving were madly in love. They had grown up near each other and fallen in love at an early age. First comes love, then comes marriage, so the saying goes, and that's what followed for them. Nothing particularly unusual about that--just an old-fashioned love story. Except that their union was illegal.

Until 1967, the Commonwealth of Virginia had the audacity to criminalize interracial marriages. The so-called Racial Integrity Act made it a felony for blacks and whites to marry, as Mildred and Richard discovered. Mildred, black, and Richard, white, had married in Washington D.C., but returned to Virginia, and the Commonwealth just wasn't going to have any of that race mixing. Police officers invaded the Lovings' home in the dead of night and upon finding them in bed, arrested and convicted them. They were sentenced to 1 year in prison, suspended, if they would leave the Commonwealth. The U. S. Supreme Court overturned their convictions, finding the statute unconstitutional.

Mildred and Richard didn't set out to make history or even to make new law. They just wanted to be married and to live in the community in which they had grown up. That's not much to ask.

Mildred died several days ago. Richard has been dead since 1975, killed in a car accident caused by a drunk driver.

Red letter day

A beautiful day for a jog? Yes it was. And BoilerBaby 3 completed her first 5k, taking first place in her age group. It helped that she was the only female in that age group, but, it was still pretty special for her, especially since our time wasn't too bad. It was a rather tough route--rolling hills with lots of wind.

Finishing the race meant we deserved a good breakfast. Cafe Cappuccino. Mm-m-m.

Not again!

Like everyone else, I anxiously awaited the news of the fate of the Baylor men's basketball team. Would they get a bid to the Big Dance? The suspense mounted as the teams for the other three brackets were announced. When Purdue was announced, I was excited, but it was to be expected. Everyone knew Purdue would get a bid. Nonetheless, a big cheer escaped my lips. And then. . . the news that Baylor would be going also! YIPPEE!!! But then the reality sunk in. My Boilermakers would be playing the Bears. Who should I cheer for?

As BoilerBaby 1 lamented, it's too bad that one of our favorite teams will be out after the first round. Drats!