S-C-R-A-B-B-L-E

Scrabble word of the day:



[It was worth 86 points!]

Summer Pics

It is HER car, after all....

It's never a good thing when you receive a call from an unknown area code and it's your wife on the phone saying, "Everything is ok, but...."

[5 minutes earlier]

Ang and Mia were enjoying a nice day on the town, doing some midday shopping. Ang put Mia in the car seat, and Mia had been such a wonderful shopper that when she asked for the "keese," Ang was more than happy to oblige.

[3 days earlier]

Mia was playing in the basement and found Ang's keys in her purse. She picked them up, found the new Pilot key, and started hitting buttons. Imagine her surprise when after a couple of button pushes, the horn honked. And again. And again. She really liked it.

[Back to 5 minutes earlier]

Mia quickly found that same button and excitedly pushed it. Twice. The horn honked (oh boy!). Oh no. It would have been fine, but Mom (Ang) was not in the car with Mia. Nor had Mom left any doors open. She was getting the stroller to put in the trunk (what do you call the back of an SUV?). Surely, it must have been another car. Oh no. It surely was our adorable little genius of a girl.

[Quick meteorological interlude]

After some sweltering days last week, it has cooled off nicely and today was overcast and 75ish. Thankfully.

[Back to "present"]

I jump in the car at work, call AAA, call the Sheriff's Office (AAA suggested it), and head down the road. I'm about 20 minutes away. AAA says it will be an hour (ugh!). Sheriff's Office says they don't carry slim-jims anymore, but in cases of emergency could break the window (hope this isn't an emergency).

Mia, now, is just having a blast. Playing, and happily strapped in her car seat. Ang tries to get her to press "the other button," which she does lightly, but not enough to open the doors.

Then, the fire truck shows up. Drives around, finally finds Ang, who incredulously asks, "Are you here for ME???" (As a matter of fact, yes.) And while they only had a minute or two to try to slim-jim the door open (so maybe they do carry them still), I drove up, clicked the clicker before I even got out of the car, and 30 seconds later the fire truck was gone, ambulance left, and deputy could go back to fighting crime.

And our sweet li'l Mia was just as happy as could be. Who needs OnStar - I am my own OnStar!!!

Barry Bonds

So my sis asked about my thoughts on Barry Bonds. Here's a quick rundown:

1) Did Barry use performance enhancing drugs? Yes
2) Did it help him hit more home runs? Yes
3) Does it negate the amazing feat? No
4) Is Bud Selig a doofball? Yes

Here's my thought. I think Bud realizes that baseball didn't do enough to prevent the use of performance enhancing drugs. Should they have? Maybe, maybe not. Surely the McGwire/Sosa home run race brought baseball back from the dead zone. And there was no condemnation of their efforts, or attempts to curb steroid use after their historic years.

So all in all, I think Bud feels a twinge of guilt. He realizes that he could have stepped up. He could have instituted better drug testing, made earlier attempts to set harsh fines for drug use (as he's done now). But instead, he sat on his laurels (is that the phrase??) and it's now turned into a huge controversy.

Asterisks. Speculation. Air of suspicion.

Thanks, Bud.

Mia's new toy ... er... safety device =)