Does anyone else think that men's tennis is one of the greatest sports to watch on TV??
It makes me want to run out and just hit the tar out of the tennis ball. Unfortunately, when I get on the court, my grand designs take second place to my ineptitude.
Okay, so I must not have the best hearing in the world. At the Switchfoot concert we went to a few weeks ago, they sang this song, "Happy is a Yuppie Word." Great song. Regrettably, I couldn't understand most of the words during the concert (*no comments, Daddy-o*).
I can't remember right now what I thought they were singing, but it was pretty funny compared to the real words. Remarkably, Angela knew exactly what they were saying.
Nonetheless, there was another song they sang, where the guy kept singing, "I'm standing on the edge..." and he was on the edge of the stage. I was wondering if the song was some weird ballad about almost committing suicide. My mind was a bit fuzzy.
Well, now, I wish I had really listened to their albums before going to the concert. The song is "On Fire" and is a beautiful, almost modern-day hymn of being on fire when God speaks to you, searching the mysteries of God. Now that I've listened (and looked up the words), he's singing, "I'm standing on the edge of me." As in, I'm getting past myself, giving myself up, and I'm burning to understand the mystery of God and who He is. Or, it could be taken to mean, I'm standing on the edge of new horizons, of everything I can be in Christ, those things I've never been but are now possible.
Here are part of the lyrics:
I'm standing on the edge of me
I'm standing on the edge of everything I've never been before.
And i've been standing on the edge of me
Standing on the edge
And I'm on fire
When You're near me
I'm on fire
When You speak
(Yea) I'm on fire
Burning at these mysteries... these mysteries... these mysteries
Ah you're the mystery
You're the mystery
I think you need to just listen to the song. It's one of my new favorites. Another one is coming soon.
Typically around this time in the baseball season, the Yanks and Red Sox are fighting it out for the top of the AL East, with the loser taking the Wild Card spot in the playoffs. But things are different this year.
Not only is the fight in the AL Central, but it's between 3 teams, not 2. You've got the "Where did THEY come from" Tigers leading the division by 5 games. The reigning World Champs White Sox are 5 games back, and the resurgent Twins are 5 1/2 back (1/2 game behind the Sox). Now, we've often seen division races that are close between multiple teams, but that's when those teams are around .500.
The Tigers, Sox, and Twins all have records about .580, better than the division leaders in the AL West, NL Central, and NL West. Three teams- incredible records- fighting for the AL Central title, with the 2nd place likely getting the Wild Card, and 3rd place left high and dry.
31 games left in the season. It should be fun.
I'm not one to utilize the horn on my car very often. My preferred method of displaying dissatisfaction with the driver in front of me is to shine my brights in his rearview mirror. It's more subtle (aurally) and yet typically quite effective (visually)- especially when it's dark. And, it focuses the direction of the complaint upon the one causing the infraction (instead of 13 different people wondering if they were being honked at).
So, I'm fresh from picking up Ang and Mia from the airport, and we decide to hit Macaroni Grill for a nice little "welcome home!" dinner. I'm waiting at a stop light, in the right-hand lane of dual-left turn lanes. Once I turn left, I need to make an almost immediate right into the restaurant park. Our arrows turn green, so I begin my turn. Remember- I'm happily conversing with Ang about her cross-country (almost) ventures.
Imagine my surprise...dismay...complete angst (!!) when halfway through my turn, a huge, white-paneled van comes from my right and is also making a left-hand turn. He came from the "straight" lanes and butts his way into my turn lane. Out of nowhere. With no regard for the oncoming turning traffic, nor for me and my precious cargo.
So I let him have it. Horn blasted for about 2 seconds. Then, after recalling my "complete angst" once again, I lay on the horn for another 2 or 3 seconds. Literally, he came out of my blind spot and just turned right in front of me. What made it worse was his New Jersey tags (nothing against you's guys from Jersey, but you have a reputation - b/c you live near NY, supposedly).
Now he's in front of me. And the right-turn lane comes, and I get in it. He doesn't. I start to say, "If he even thinks of..." and before the words finish, he CUTS IN FRONT OF ME AGAIN!!! This time, ignoring the right turn lane and turning from the travel lane.
And boy, did I let him have it. For like 5 or 6 seconds, I just held my horn down.
Excessive? Yes. Required and justified? Definitely.
You just have to laugh when you read this:
"People were probably wondering: 'If they take away Pluto, is Rhode Island next?' "
--Richard Binzel of MIT
Ahh, the little ones always get picked on, don't they??
Yes, it's official. I have now undergone my first root canal. Contrary to popular opinion, it really wasn't all that bad. The worst part is that it was my very farthest back tooth, so my jaw hurt like the dickens.
**WARNING- Graphic Details of Operation Below**
Besides the jaw issue, I thought the process was really cool. He basically took a tool and I guess ground off the top part of my tooth (yeah, it smelled). Once the canals were accessible, he had all these little needles - about 1 or 1 1/2 inches in length - that he'd basically move up and down in the canal - in a sense, scrubbing it clean. Imagine how you'd take a bottle brush (to use a very pertinent analogy) and move it up and down in the bottle. Same idea.
I have some seriously long roots, by the way. The before and after comparison is quite interesting, as the new "filling" (some rubber material) shows up really well on the X-Ray. So, after much scrubbing, he then took these cool little white things (maybe the composite) and stuck them down in the canals. Those were then followed by some reddish looking mini-toothpicks (there's no better way to describe it).
The best part was, after shoving like 5 of those red things in each canal, he then had is assistant fire up some kind of bunson burner, at which time the Doc would heat up his tool and hold it on the top of the red things, which would then stick to the tool and come out. Pretty wild.
Oh, and while he was doing all the digging in my canals, he had some machine that would beep- supposedly telling him if there's any gunk left in there. At one point, I thought he was done digging around, until he tried to shove the white things in, which wouldn't go in one hole. So he had to do some more digging.
But, I'm none the worse for wear. Just ate some grits, and Ang is making me some Jello jigglers. And I'm starting to feel my tongue and lips again.
Next comes the crown, sometime in September.
...take a guess. It's:
MEN!!
Just heard that one study anticipates that 60% of America's wealth in 2010 will be held by women. So my question is, when will the gov't start instituting programs to ensure that men maintain the ability be wealthy?
While that is partly in jest, it does raise a good question. How do the courts define equality? What happens if a minority (whether race, nationality, gender, etc) becomes a majority? Does the former majority class now get minority status? Does it swing back and forth until it is split 50/50 (or whatever the appropriate breakdown is)?
Today's fortune cookie (thanks to China King):
"There is a true and sincere friendship between you both."
I'm still trying to figure out who it's talking about. Me and the lotto numbers?
...wouldn't be so bad for a baseball player.
But in my case, it's the percentage of days last week that I was at Dulles Airport. For the mathematically challenged, that's 5 out of 7 days.
Quick run-down (hey, another baseball metaphor!):
Monday (the 7th)- due to weather and mechanical, Ang's flight is delayed interminably. I also made a wasted trip back to the airport later that evening, hoping to get her bags back (but they went on to MEM).
Tuesday (the 8th)- Ang and Mia back to Dulles, make the flight fine and connect to Memphis
Friday (the 11th- day after British foiled terror plot)- I arrive at IAD almost 2 hours early, only to find my plane delayed 90 minutes (it's 11:30am, and the flight now doesn't leave until 2:30pm). I stick around until 2:45pm, at which time my 1:11pm departure still had not left (the plane hadn't come in from ATL yet), and things were looking bad.
Sat (the 12th)- Arrive at airport at 4:45am, make my flight and connection to Memphis
Sun (the 13th)- Depart Mem for ATL, leave secure area to hang with my folks for 45 minutes, leave for IAD while Ang and Mia stay in ATL with my folks. And I barely made that flight (3rd from last person to get on).
All in all, I went through security 6 times (twice in Sunday), and probably spent about 13 hours in airports, over those 5 days.
These are some of my favorite "not-so-frameable" pictures.
"But I'm tired of smiling..."
"So, I'll just stick my tongue out instead..."
Mother Theresa in training
I'm supposed to be landing in Memphis right now. But, due to storms in ATL last night that caused flight delays, thus causing crews to need additional hours this morning for rest (it's an FAA reg), thus causing delays today, my 1:11pm departure took off at 4:07pm today. I gave up about 2:30, when the it was clear that the 2:30 departure wasn't going to leave until 6pm or later.
Oh, and this wasn't related to the new security measures. In fact, security at Dulles was a breeze today. Better than I've ever seen it.
Maybe I'll make it in the morning to see my two beautiful girls.
"The U.S. and France said Friday they have agreed on the text of a deal to end fighting between Israel and Hezbollah. As Israeli forces massed along its border with Lebanon, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev told AP that Israel was still open to a negotiated solution. CNN understands the deal would create a 400-square-mile zone from which Hezbollah militia would be excluded." (link)
I think the fact that the US and France agreed on anything is more amazing than the fact that Israel and Hezbollah could come to a cease-fire.
Oh yeah, and isn't it funny how the US and France have decided how best to end the fighting b/t Isreal and the terrorists? It's kinda like some random adults you don't even know coming up to your soccer game as a kid, and telling the two teams how they can agree to tie.
Remember my blog a while back about our difficulties flying back from Memphis on United Airlines?
Well, consider this part deux - except on Delta.
Ang and Mia were headed to Memphis yesterday, and we dutifully showed up early. I was able to get a TSA Security Pass to help Ang through security and to the gate.
And so there we sat. And sat. First, it was a minor mechanical. Then, a monstrouse thunderstorm with serious lightning. Read: ramp shut down, can't fix the maintenance issue. Storm stops, supposedly fix the problem, and plane boards.
Now, at this point, it's about 6:15pm (for a 4:30pm departure). Ang's connection is 8:15pm in Atlanta, so we're getting a bit concerned. In the mean time, the 5:3opm departure is also boarding, and it turns out they push back from the gate first.
Being the good pilot's son, I decide to wait at the gate until the plane pushes back, just to make sure there aren't problems.
Well, problems there were. Some "other" issue popped up, so they deplaned. While 140 people lined up at the counter to get rebooked on other flights, I quickly asked a gate agent if we could just get Ang's bags and go on home (she was flying standby, and there was no way she'd get to ATL, much less MEM). The gate agent told us to see the baggage services, ask them to recall the bags, and we'd be set.
So, off we head to baggage claim, do our duty, and we decide to bring Ang and Mia home and I'll go back to the airport to fetch the bags.
To keep a long story from getting longer, the bags were sent to ATL (and subsequently on to MEM), so we were without her stuff last night. Thankfully, today's flights were wide open, no storms, and no mechanical issues. And Ang and Mia are happily in Memphis.
Whew.....
Did you happen to see the MLS All-Stars take on EPL powerhouse (and yours truly's fav team) Chelsea??
Nice little "friendly" match, a simple preseason warm-up for our friends from across the big pond.
But, blasted Eric Wynalda couldn't keep talking about how the MLS players were really stepping up against the $200 million team, how you'd expect a lot more from a $200 million team, how even though it's preseason they should have scored a goal, BLAH BLAH BLAH! He couldn't let go of the fact that Chelsea is good, the players cost a lot of money, and they might not have been in top form.
Eric- get off it! They've been practicing as a team for a week. ONE WEEK! The MLS stars are in the middle of their season, fully fit, half the team was from DC United, which has lost something like two (!!) games all year (out of 22 played)!!
You think the Chelsea guys are going to approach this like a ManU match, or Liverpool, Arsenal, etc.???
It's like watching the Redskins scrimmage the Ravens- are we going to criticize either team for playing poorly and mainly with backups??
I guess I wouldn't have minded him bringing it up once or twice, but that was the theme of the commentary, and it really got old.
For my favorite fan out in KC, I figured I'd have to write something so he wouldn't be bored at work on Monday morning.
So, I started thinking- you know, having a baby is a really good ice-breaker. Anyone can just walk up to you, say, "What an adorable baby!" and a conversation has started.
Now, we don't often walk up to people and say, "Don't you think our baby is adorable!" and a new friendship has blossomed. But, people aren't shy to come up to us.
In fact, at a picnic we attended yesterday, we couldn't keep a 4-year old named Betsy away from 'Mia. I'm not implying she was our only company (that would have made the entire post pointless), but she was persistent: grabbing 'Mia's legs, pulling out her pacifier, putting hands to her face, etc... It was a mess.
But, other than li'l Betsy, we met some good folk, much to Amelia's credit.
My dad used to tell us about his college days at Georgia Tech (limited though they were), where he would head up to the top of the football stadium seats and just "perch." Sit high and ponder. Maybe he'd study, maybe he'd just stare. But nothing could beat being up high.
That's why I love my office. Sure, it's only Leesburg, and sure, it's only 5 stories tall. But I'm on top, have a huge window, and I can just watch all the little goings-ons down below.
Maybe that's why I also don't mind living in a 3-story townhouse.
http://www.opinionjournal.com/cc/?id=110008742
Think of what Loudoun County could do with $14.7 BILLION ...
'Mia's 2-month check-up:
Weight- 10 lbs., 25% percentile
Height- 23 inches, 75% percentile
Head- 14 3/4 inches, 15% percentile
Watch out, Maria Sharapova!!
"County Government Center evacuated due to bomb threat. Will not reopen for business today. May reopen on a "non-business" status later today after building is secured."
And to think, I was 10 minutes from having my massive mailing ready to send. Oh well, there's always tomorrow.
Soriano stays with the Nats. Good or bad? My opinion comes later.
See story/Boswell's opinion: Nats Make Right Move
Part of my duties at work today is making 420 double-sided copies for a mailing. The duplexer on the copier has decided to give me fits, so I'm babysitting it.
Thought you'd appreciate an introspective look into my life.
