Tuesday,
September 9, 2008
Hospital Ministry We have decided to suspend
our Hospital ministry. We have been praying about it for some time and have
made the decision to end that part of our ministry. The Jail Ministry is
requiring too much time and energy and we are just getting worn down. We gave
the chaplain notice that the first Sunday in October will be our last Sunday.
We plan to visit other churches for a while and seek God's will regarding how
to serve Him. Until we get some clear direction we are going to continue to
explore other churches learning as much as we can about what makes them
successful, and how we might be of service without getting burnt out. Please
pray for us.
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Monday,
September 1, 2008
Something Observed There are few sights sadder
than a deflated balloon.
-----------------------
Friday, August 22, 2008
Stopping Environmental
Sensitivity
I have always thought the laws about stop signs were not smart. As long as you
slow down enough to make sure nothing is coming, what difference does it make
whether you come to a complete stop or not? There was a guy at work complaining
that he had been given a ticket for not coming to a complete stop. His argument
was that the cops never come to a complete stop. That will not hold up in
court. I did not think of it at the time, but it occurred to me later that he
could go to court and make an Al Gore defense.
It uses more gasoline to
regain you speed after you come to a complete stop. It uses more break pad to
come to a complete stop. Think of the damage to the environment. It wouldn't
hold up in court either, but it would be more fun.
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Wednesday,
August 20, 2008
Wedding Anniversary Today is my parent's wedding
anniversary. They were always very private in celebrating it. Roses for my
mother would often appear in August, but without an explanation to the
children. I forget how I came to know it was their anniversary. It could not
have been due to genealogical research, because I did not really become
interested in that until after my mother died, and I knew it long before that.
Perhaps one of my older siblings told me. It might have even been my mother who
told me.
I do know why I can remember
it. When I first began to travel for training classes with AT&T back in the
early 1970's my parents gave me an old suitcase of theirs. The suitcase had a
combination lock. It was set to 820. My mother may have even explained that it
was their wedding anniversary. Anyway, I did not know how to change the
combination, and since I used it for years, 820 kind of got burned on my mind.
Whatever happened to that suitcase?
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Friday,
August 15, 2008
Halloween in August A bag of
candy appeared on the table next to the printer this morning. This is not
unusual in itself, since this is the spot where such things are put – cookies,
cakes, extra cucumbers from the garden, etc. Those of us, such as myself, who do not mind taking free food from an unknown
source, check there often. However, this candy was in little bags with
jack-o-lanterns on it. As best as I could tell there were no takers.
By lunch time a sign had been
attached to the bag that said, "Last year's Halloween Candy, mostly still
good, but stay away from the bubble gum." Still no
takers. I am encouraged that my co-workers are showing such wisdom and
restraint. Usually sweets, especially chocolate, vanishes
swiftly. I thought about adding a note of my own that said, "Save this,
and use it this coming Halloween, and the little imps will never bother you
again." I decided that as wise as they were, many of my co-workers might
not see the humor in it.
By the close of the day the
candy had disappeared. I'm not sure whether the one who made the offering
retrieved it, the printer table police discarded it, or my co-worker's desire
for chocolate overcame their good sense. So what do you think? Trick or treat?
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Thursday,
August 14, 2008
First Impressions My oldest daughter is
president of the PTA this year at her two youngest children's school. I'm very
proud of her. In some respects it seems very natural. Her leadership and
organizational abilities have been apparent for many years.
On the other hand, those of
us who knew her when she was very young always wonder a bit when she does
things like this. When she was very young she was extremely shy. When she was
in grade school she went to a concert on a field trip with her school. I was
told that she voluntarily went up on the stage for some kind of demonstration.
The people, who told me this, among them herself, were credible people, so I believed
it; I was surprised, but I accepted it as true, or thought I did. Some time later I was informed, that she was in a play at
school. I must not have believed the first story, because I was surprised
again. I showed up for the play and was again surprised. She was the narrator.
I'm not talking about hidden in the corner, read a line or two at the beginning
and again at the end, narrator. I'm talking about, out front, singing her lines
from memory, 30 to 40% of the play was her singing, narrator. Well, I had to
believe it, didn't I, since I had seen it with my own eyes. Evidently
not.
Ever since then she has
demonstrated over and over again, that she is a public speaker who is poised,
confident, and able to read an audience. She has shown strong organizational
and other leadership skills. (Such as now with the President
of the PTA thing.) And yet each time it happens my heart sort of skips a
beat for her. I can not help but believe she is
overcoming something in herself, that makes it
emotionally more difficult for her to do these things than most folks. It just
makes me that much prouder of her. First impressions are hard to overcome.
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Wednesday,
August 13, 2008
Riddles without answers These riddles have no
answers. However, they do have explanations.
What's the difference between
a Catholic and a river that runs up hill? This appeared in a Nero Wolfe book my wife and I were
reading, but it did not give the answer. my wife did
some internet research and discovered that it had bothered Nero Wolfe fans for
years. The author, Rex Stout, after several decades had passed admitted that he
just made it up, and knew of no answer. I decided to share the fun with you and
came up with a couple more like it.
What goes up a hill with
three legs and comes down with four? A blonde and a lawyer are seated next to each other on a
flight from LA to NY. The lawyer asks if she would like to play a fun game? The blonde, tired, just wants to take a nap, politely
declines and rolls over to the window to catch a few winks. The lawyer persists
and explains that the game is easy and a lot of fun. He explains, "I ask
you a question, and if you don't know the answer, you pay me $5.00, and vice
versa. " Again, she declines and tries to get
some sleep. The lawyer, now agitated, says, "Okay, if you don't know the
answer you pay me $5.00, and if I don't know the answer, I will pay you
$500.00." This catches the blonde's attention and, figuring there will be
no end to this torment unless she plays, agrees to the game. The lawyer asks
the first question. "What's the distance from the earth to the moon?"
The blonde doesn't say a word, reaches into her purse, pulls out a $5.00 bill
and hands it to the lawyer. "Okay" says the lawyer, "your
turn." She asks the lawyer, "What goes up a hill with three legs and
comes down with four legs?" The lawyer, puzzled, takes out his laptop
computer and searches all his references, no answer. He taps into the air phone
with his modem and searches the net and the library of congress, no answer.
Frustrated, he sends e-mails to all his friends and coworkers, to no avail.
After an hour, he wakes the blonde, and hands her $500.00. The blonde says,
"Thank you," and turns back to get some more sleep. The lawyer, who
is more than a little miffed, wakes the blonde and asks, "Well, what's the
answer?" Without a word, the blonde reaches into her purse, hands the
lawyer $5.00, and goes back to sleep. And you thought blondes were dumb.
What does, "Uva Uvam Vivendo
Varia Fit," mean? This appears in the movie
(and book) Lonesome Dove. It is a mangled Latin proverb which before it is
mangled means something like "the grapes ripen together." The idea is
that people who hang out together go through changes together. See alkek.library.txstate.edu/swwc/ld/ldex081a1.html for a more detailed explanation.
----------------------------------------
Saturday,
August 9, 2008
Riddles without answers These riddles have no
answers. However, they do have explanations. If you figure them out, let me
know.
What's the difference between
a Catholic and a river that runs up hill?
What goes up a hill with
three legs and comes down with four?
What does, "Uva Uvam Vivendo
Varia Fit," mean?
Next time I post, I'll
explain why they have no answer.
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Thursday,
August 7, 2008
The Lady with the Weapon One of the ladies in my
Greek class had an exciting night last night. She got up in the middle of the
night and happened to notice a suspicious car parked in her neighborhood. They
have had seven arsons in her neighborhood lately, so she decided to
investigate. She went out armed with a cell phone, flash light and shot gun and
got close enough to get the tag number. She went back in and called the police.
She described the situation and soon found herself talking to the watch
commander. He asked, "Are you the lady with the weapon?" Turned out
it was an unmarked police car trying to catch the arsonists.
I can just imagine the
earlier conversation over the radio.
Policeman: "I need back-up. There is a woman approaching the car with a
shot gun."
Watch commander: "Just shoot her."
Policeman: "Are you crazy?! She has a shot gun, and all I have is a
pistol. I might miss, she won't."
Watch commander: "You have a shot gun, too."
Policeman: "I'm undercover. The shot gun is in the trunk."
Watch commander: "OK. We'll send back-up"
Policeman: "Never mind. She is going back in. I'm getting too old for
this."
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Sunday,
August 3, 2008
New Computer I have a new computer. A big
thank you to my son-in-law who helped me select it. A
triple thank you to him for installing it and making everything work. He has it
set up, so I can switch back and forth between my old operating system, Windows
NT 4, and the new operating system, Vista. That way I can gradually learn how
to use all the new gadgets, while still being able to fall back on the old way,
when I need it.
Thursday,
July 31, 2008
Memory
Today is Jimmy Mabry's birthday. He was my best friend when I was very young. I
was about a year older than him. I remember going to his birthday party when he
turned 4. They had it in his backyard. A year or so before that they were
having trouble teaching him bathroom etiquette, so his mother asked me to show
him. He was a good student. When we were five or six, he made friends with a
little girl across the street. I was so jealous I hit him in the face with a
toy truck. We remained good friends until I went to college. He was my car
mechanic in the 70's and early 80's. The last time he was in my house was when
we lived on Ordway Place. The last time I saw him, about five years ago, the scar
where I hit him with the truck was still visible.
Now
my memory does not work so well. I'm not on the verge of Alzhiemer's
or anything, but long ago memories seem to stick better than recent ones. It
requires more effort to memorize things.
Sometimes
people show me their disappointment, when I forget important conversations, or
pertinent information about their children. I'm not talking about missing
appointments. I'm talking about things like some personal trauma someone has
faced in their past and overcome or not overcome; or which of their children
have been baptized, or something like that. I am wondering if I did the same to
any of my elders, but I can not remember for sure. I
may have.
Two
points for you to remember.
(1)
Learn as much as you can as soon as you can. The younger you are the easier it
is, and the longer it will last.
(2)
Getting mad at gray haired people for being forgetful is stupid. Just refresh
our memories and move on.
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Wednesday,
July 30, 2008
Long Beautiful Hair Today I found out that my
local grand daughter grows her hair long and then
gives it away for wigs for children who have lost theirs
due to chemotherapy. I am very proud of her.
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Tuesday,
July 29, 2008
The Joy of Salvation I used option one to come up
with my sermon. I am currently working on a Bible lesson on the Book of Isaiah,
so I am preaching an expository sermon on chapter 12 of Isaiah. Here are my
notes on the chapter. (It only has six verses.)
Isaiah 12 (NASB) 1 Then you [singular
you, just one, thou]
will say on that day, [the day of the coming of the Messiah – see
Chapter 11]
"I will give thanks [thanksgiving, praise, confession] to You, O LORD; [self-Existent
or Eternal; Jehovah, Jewish national name of God -- Jehovah, the Lord.] For although You were angry [literally breathed hard
with a flaring nostril]
with me, Your anger is turned away, [literally turned back] And You comfort [comfort,
ease, also can be translated repent] me.
2 "Behold, God [mighty;
especially The Almighty]
is my salvation [Yeshua - something
saved, i.e. (abstractly) deliverance; hence, aid, victory, prosperity --
deliverance, health, help, salvation, save, saving, welfare – same word
as Joshua, or in Aramaic Jesus], I will trust [literally to hide for
refuge; figuratively, to trust, be confident or sure, be bold, be secure, sure,
carefree, put confidence, make hope, put trust in.] and not be afraid [be
startled, fear, be afraid];
For the LORD GOD [What is translated Lord God here in the Hebrew is
Jehovah twice, once in its abbreviated form and once in the usual form. This is
rarely done and little understood. One good theory is that it is meant to
emphasize His self-sufficiency.] is my strength [strength
in various applications, force, security, majesty, praise, boldness, loud,
might, power, strength, strong.] and song [instrumental music; by implication, praise,
song], And He
has become my salvation." [Yeshua again]
3 Therefore you [plural
you, many, y'all, for rest of chapter] will joyously [cheerfulness, welcoming,
gladness, joy, mirth, rejoicing] draw [scoop up water or some other liquid] water [plural
– waters] From the springs [spring, fountain or
well] of
salvation. [Yeshua again]
4 And in that day you will
say, "Give thanks to the LORD, [all the same as in first
verse except you is plural form this time] call [to call out to (i.e. properly, address by name,
but used in a wide variety of applications)] on His name [shem
- an appellation, as a mark or memorial of individuality; by implication honor,
authority, character, famous, infamous, name, renown, report.] Make known [yada - to know (properly, to ascertain by seeing); used in
a great variety of senses, figuratively, literally, euphemistically and
inferentially]
His deeds [exploits, performance, actions, deeds, doings, inventions,
occasions (as in events in a life) or works] among the peoples[a people (as a
congregated unit); a tribe, troops, attendants; flock, folk, men, nation,
people.]; Make
them remember [to mark (so as to be recognized like to blaze a
trail), i.e. to remember; by implication, to mention] that His name [shem again] is exalted. [to
make lofty, especially inaccessible; by implication, safe, strong; used
literally and figuratively]"
5 Praise [Praise
… in song is a single word in Hebrew, give praise, sing forth praises,
psalms] the LORD
[Jehovah again]
in song, for He has done excellent [excellent things,
lifting up, majesty, pride, proudly, raging] things; Let this be known [yada again] throughout the earth [the earth (at large, or
a particular a land) -- common, country, earth, field, ground, land, nations,
way, wilderness, world.].
6 Cry aloud [to
gleam, i.e. (figuratively) be cheerful; to sound clear (of various animal or
human expressions)]
and shout for joy [to creak (or emit a stridulous
sound), i.e. to shout (usually for joy)] O inhabitant [to sit down (literally
to sit as judge or to wait in ambush, in quiet); by implication, to dwell, to
remain; causatively, to settle, to marry] of Zion [Tsijon (as a permanent
capital), a mountain of Jerusalem -- Zion. Where all of God's
people gather regardless of nation or heritage, Jew and Gentile alike.] for great [great
(in any sense); hence, older; bigger, or better] in the midst [the nearest part, i.e.
the center, whether literal or figurative] is the Holy One [sacred (ceremonially or
morally); (as noun) God (by eminence), an angel, a saint, a sanctuary -- holy
(One), saint.]
of Israel [he will rule as God; Jisrael, a
symbolical name of Jacob; also (typically) of his posterity: --Israel.]
----------------------------------------
Monday,
July 28, 2008
Blogless - Sermonless I seem to be more diligent
keeping up with my blog, when I do not have a blog where I can post the
entries, than when I do. Why is that? Right now I am having trouble coming up
with a sermon for tomorrow night. I take sermonizing very seriously. I try to
listen very carefully to the urging of the Holy Spirit, and preach what He
would have me to preach. Today, I got nothing. It is all quiet on the Spiritual
front. When that happens I have some strategies for dealing with it. I am always
writing lessons for the Correspondence Courses. So, sometimes I just turn
whatever lesson I am working on into a sermon. Another strategy is I just read
my Bible at whatever point I am. I read until I find a passage that is "preachable" and that becomes my sermon. A third
approach is to look at sermons from the past that I have saved, and
"re-preach" one of those. My listeners are constantly changing, so
they probably have not heard it before, if it is older than three or four
months.
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Sunday,
July 27, 2008
|
Censor Our entire married life
one of our most enjoyable activities together have
been me reading aloud to my wife. She will sit and do something crafty like
crochet a blanket, or work on a doll house, and I will read to her. I can not even begin to remember all the books we have read
this way. We have read all six of Jane Austen's novels, some of them more
than once, in the last few years. A couple of years ago we read all three of The
Lord of the Rings books as well as The Hobbit when the movies came
out. That set us on the fantasy genre for awhile. Lately we have been on a
mystery kick. We read a bunch of Perry Mason books, and then some more books
by the same author, Earle Stanley Gardner, while she was making a blanket for
our daughter-in-law's birthday. More recently we have been working on some
Nero Wolfe novels by Rex Stout. We finished up one of those today called The
League of Frightened Men. However, I can not recommend these books by Rex Stout and Earle
Stanley Gardner. They are full of cussing and graphically described violence.
When I am reading to my wife I censor all that out. I believe, most of the
time she can not tell when I do it, or maybe she
just pretends she can not. I discovered long ago
that I can read to myself a lot faster than I can read aloud. When I am
reading aloud, if it is easy material, such as fiction, it leaves part of my
mind free for mischief. Sometimes when I am reading to my wife I make stuff
up, and see how long I can keep it going, before I either run out of
material, or my wife realizes I'm no longer reading what is written. I am not
able to do that with these books. I have to use the extra processing capacity
for censoring. |
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Saturday,
July 26, 2008
|
Chess Victory My oldest local grandson
won a game of chess off me today. Several years ago my wife gave me a chess
set where the pieces are revolutionary war soldiers. I adore looking at it.
The rooks are artillery, the knights are cavalry, and the pawns are infantry.
The king, queen and bishops are officers. One of my older brothers let me
have a red, white and blue chessboard that really goes well with it. It looks
very nice. I do not like to play with it, however. The pawns and bishops look
too similar. The king and queen are almost impossible to tell apart. My grand
son likes to play with it. He asked to play with it this morning. I
said, "No. I can't tell the king from the queen." He reminded me
that last time we had put a sticker on the head of the queen. I relented and
we played with it. I won the first game. Halfway through the second game I
realized that I had been moving both my king and my queen like a queen. I had
no choice but to resign. Lest you think this does not count as a win for my
grandson, remember it is he who wanted to play with that set. He may have
been playing a larger game than me. The third game we played with a standard
Staunton set. |
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Friday,
July 25, 2008
"Awards" Banquet Last night they gave an
awards banquet for the volunteers at the hospital. They usually have them on
Tuesday evening, so we have been able to avoid them because Tuesday evening is
our Jail night. The chaplain coordinator hinted that they changed it to
Thursday just so we could go, and gave us two months notice, so we could not
come up with an excuse. I'm sure he was kidding about moving to Thursday night
just for us, but in the back of my mind there is this niggling little doubt.
Anyway I felt socially obligated to attend, so we did. Next year I will have
other plans which will consist of planning not to attend.
The food was good. Our table
was empty except for us. We know no one, because we go on Sunday, and they all
volunteer during the week. The only person there with whom we have frequent
contact is the chaplain coordinator, and his table was full. It seemed to make
him uncomfortable that we were alone, while every other table was full, but my
wife and I loved it. It allowed me to make snide remarks about the speakers,
and allowed her to pretend to be shocked by them. It was like a date.
The first speaker was the
chief executive of the hospital. He was commenting on how much more the
volunteers here do, than at the other six hospitals where he had worked. My
snide remark: What's wrong with him? Why can't he keep a job? Then he read the
dictionary definition of the word "volunteer." My snide remark: It
must be awful to get up in front of 150 people, and have nothing worthwhile to
say.
The second speaker was the
paid staff member who coordinates all the volunteers. I like her face-to-face,
but as a public speaker she is sadly lacking. I heard the terms
"diversity," "mentor," "raise the bar,"
"excellent customer service," "Olympics," "team
player," and "go for the gold." I have no idea what she was
talking about.
They handed out
"awards." Three guys got baseball caps, a few women got little teddy
bears with gold colored plastic medallions, some other women got some flowers,
(I'm not sure whether they were real or plastic.), my wife and I and forty or
so other people got some little lapel pins for giving 200 volunteer hours. I
would have rather have gotten a baseball cap, but it looks like I will have to
volunteer for several decades, and work for free for tens of thousands of
hours, to get a baseball cap. I'm mulling over how bad I want a baseball cap
with the name of the hospital on it. Everyone got their picture taken by a
photographer, who had a professional looking camera, but used a window to the
day light outside as a backdrop, which does not seem to be professional. Maybe
her camera adjusts for that somehow.
One of the things I have
noticed over the last couple of years is that they hit these volunteers up for
financial support all the time. It is not enough that they give hundreds of
hours free of charge; they also get dunned for money. I guess they know
volunteers are a soft touch. Well, most are. Not me. They mentioned some of the
stuff they spend it on. None of it outraged me, but I could not tell you what
it was. The only one I remember is the scholarships. They had three kids there
from three different high schools, who had just graduated from high school to
receive their scholarships. These are four year scholarships, but they have to
keep their grades up to keep getting the money. Last year they gave almost
$28,000 to eight students, so that works out to about $3,500 a year per kid.
Not enough to pay for everything by any means, but it is pretty substantial.
The odd thing to me is the grade point averages (GPA) of the kids. The one with
the lowest GPA was a 4.0. When I was coming up, that was the best you could
get. Now they award extra points if it is a difficult class, so people end up
with GPA's of 4.3 and 4.72, etc. That poor kid with only a 4.0 must have really
felt stupid. I guess they were trying to make her feel better by pointing out
that she was in the top 10% of her class all four years. Is it really possible
to get a 4.0 GPA, and not be in the top 10% of your class? Were the other two
kids with more than a 4.0 GPA not at the top 10% of their class for one or more
of the years they were in school?
Then they had a business
meeting about the club that all the volunteers belong to by virtue of being
volunteers. They have officers and by-laws and all the trimmings. It was very
exciting. Since we were alone at our table, I ate one of the deserts at one of
the other places, in addition to my own. The second desert was not as good as
the first. Why is that?
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Thursday,
July 24, 2008
Crud Thursday No More! Some time ago I read that
statistics show that people who have more birthday parties live longer, which
suggests that the parties cause the longer life. There was some discussion,
using this as an example, about how statistics could be used to fool people. It
seemed obvious to the writer that it was a clear case of mixing cause and
effect. The truth is, at least in his opinion, that people that live longer
have more birthday parties because the longer life gives them the opportunity
to do so. But I got to thinking. What if he was wrong? How does he know this is
true? So I decided since Thursday is just another way of saying "Thor's
day," that I would make every Thursday a celebration in my honor. This
seemed like a good way to test the theory. If I live longer perhaps it means
that it is the number of celebrations that cause the longevity, not the other
way around.
I have been having trouble
getting the idea off the ground. I can not seem to
get people enthusiastic about my grand experiment. No matter how much I promote
it, my co-workers never wish me Happy Thursday without being prompted. Nor do
they bring me gifts or food on Thursday. This is where you come in. I need you
to take up the slack. You need to start sending me Thursday presents. Get them
in the mail so that they always arrive on Thursday. If you are short on cash
some particular week, I do not mind if you just send me a Happy Thursday card
instead of a present, as long as it is not too often. If you are feeling a
little reluctant to participate, or mistakenly believe you do not have
sufficient funds, remember, my life is at stake here.
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Wednesday,
July 23, 2008
Why we do, what we do From time to time we get
discouraged by the mountain of mail, the difficult to read hand writing, the
endless questions, and what sometimes appears to be an obstinate, intentional,
determination to avoid understanding the obvious truth about God's love for us
all. But God always seems to send us the encouragement we need to continue.
Today we got a letter from one of the inmates. He had accepted Jesus as his
Lord in prison, and was having trouble getting his wife to talk to him about
God. Several weeks ago he asked us to start sending her the Bible lessons. She
has been responding to the lessons. In his letter today he told us that the
nature of their conversations has been transformed. They now talk
enthusiastically with each other about Jesus and living the Godly life. He gave
us, and our lessons, the credit. I know it was the Holy Spirit, but it is still
very encouraging to be included in the process.
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Tuesday,
July 22, 2008
Forgetful This morning one of the men
I car pool with forgot not only his state ID badge, which he leaves at home
about once a week, but this time he did not have his driver's license either.
(Usually if we forget our badge we can go through a ritual with the guards
using our Driver's license, and get into the building anyway.) My carpool
partner realized he was without both as we were going from the car to the
building. I had driven this morning, so being of a naturally sympathetic nature
I told him, that if he needed to go back home to get his driver's license, I
had a bus schedule, I could loan him. He thanked me, but reminded me his wife
was home, and could bring it to him.
When we got inside the guard
called him by name, and made some remark about him forgetting his badge again.
I could not hear the response, because I was getting on the elevator. As I
contemplated the humor of the situation, I ironically forgot he was not with
us, and punched the button for his floor anyway. Partially to divert attention
from my mistake, I pointed out how funny it was that the guard knew his name,
but still could not let him in. It did not work, the other two noticed and
laughed at me anyway. One of them also pointed out to me that the guard had no
way of knowing whether or not our forgetful carpool partner was fired
yesterday. (Why is there no way to turn off a floor selection button after you
have punched it?)
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Monday,
July 21, 2008
|
Dog fight? One morning last week
while I was waiting for the other members of my car pool to show up, I
witnessed an interesting confrontation between two mockingbirds and six crows
in the parking lot of a large church where we meet. I first noticed the crows
eating on something left in the parking lot. It looked like the trash someone
had dumped after not being able to choke down a complete fast food meal. As I
was looking at the crows, a mockingbird suddenly dove at them, evidently
trying to peck one of them as he passed. The crows took to the air to escape
the attack. Then they started working on each other. When both sides were
airborne they avoided each other. When the crows were on the ground the
mocking birds would dive at them, and the crows would fly away. When the
mocking birds would land, the crows would walk towards them aggressively, and
the mocking birds would fly away. Eventually the crows all flew away leaving
the battle ground to the mocking birds. I do not know whether this was
because they really gave up, or because the food was all gone. All this
caused me to wonder why they call a battle between airplanes a "dog
fight." Wouldn't "bird fight" be more apropos? |
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Woman tries to shoot mice
with .44 magnum. Shoots self and
another person instead. Potter Valley, Calif. (AP) -- A Mendocino County woman who
was trying to kill mice in her trailer with a gun ended up shooting herself and
another person.
Sheriff's officials say the
43-year-old woman pulled out her .44-caliber Magnum revolver after she saw the
mice scurrying across the floor of her trailer on Highway 20 in Potter Valley.
But she accidentally dropped
the gun, which went off as it struck the floor. The bullet went through the
woman's kneecap, bounced off the keys sitting on the belt loop of a 42-year-old
man in the trailer and grazed the man's groin before ending up in his coin
pocket.
No mice were injured in the
incident.
I'm not making this up. See cbs2.com/watercooler/Potter.Valley.Mice.2.766121.html
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