I Still Like Toys.

So, the holidays are over, and all the purtys have been put away. Friends and family have been visited. Parties have been attended. Folks have been entertained. Money has been spent. And, a good time was had by all -- I think. Of course, my bride does most of the work. I certainly do my part -- by keeping out of the way.

I did treat myself to a new little toy, however. No, not a new flat screen TV, since my old big-box TV is still good. Besides, I can fall asleep in front of my old one just like I could in front of a new one.

I bought a new electric pizzelle baker. My old electric one had seen better days, and I was not going to use the old stove-top baker that I have. My mother and dad used it, but it is labour-intensive, and I am not in to that. For those of you who do not know what a pizzelle is, you should look it up. Basically, it's a thin, crispy Italian cookie -- somewhat like a waffle. They taste good.

I have made one batch already, and another one is due to be made soon.

Happy New Year to all.

Santa Rocks into Town

Once again, Santa came. Amazing. Sometimes I wonder if he really pays attention throughout the year, or if he is just very forgiving.

Grandson got a "Guitar Hero" game. He is really quite good at that game. Late in the afternoon, my bride, my daughter, grandson, and I were huddled around the game -- each with a different part to play -- yes a regular rock "band." Grandson was good. The rest of us were very marginal, but he was very patient with us as we tried to learn. For those of us of a mature age, there is nothing easy about that game

Our renditions of "Hotel California," "Beat It," and "Eye of the Tiger" were just barely recognizable -- at the "easy" level. We actually made it all the way through the last one without getting cut off by the game.

But, we had a good time.

Merry Christmas to all.

An Enjoyable Evening

Last night, our high school freshmen had their end-of-season football banquet. Grandson was among those joining in the celebration.

Eating was done. Some awards were given. A song was sung. An appropriate speech was given. Videos were played. A good time was had by all. But, the best thing in my opinion was seeing the relationship that had developed between the coach and his players. It was pretty good. The kids liked him, respected him, and enjoyed playing for him. The team also won two-thirds of their games.

I am very appreciative of the work that the coaches and players did and the way they conducted themselves.

Good lesson here if only we could see it.

I will refrain from adding to this. I got it from a friend of mine via email.

A young couple moves into a new neighborhood. The next morning while they are eating breakfast, the young woman sees her neighbor hanging the wash outside.
'That laundry is not very clean', she said. 'She doesn't know how to wash correctly. Perhaps she needs better laundry soap.
Her husband looked on, but remained silent. Every time her neighbor would hang her wash to dry, the young woman would make the same comments.
About one month later, the woman was surprised to see a nice clean wash on the line and said to her husband:'Look, she has learned how to wash correctly. I wonder who taught her this?'
The husband said, 'I got up early this morning and cleaned our windows.'

Do I hear what you say?

So, this past Wednesday, I missed a lunch date with a couple of my buddies. I was real sure that the guy who called me said that we were eating at Eatery A on the river. I heard Eatery B on the river. I missed the date.

A few years ago at an out-of-town track meet, we coaches were cleaning up our site after the meet --picking up stuff that our kids (yes, high schoolers) had left behind.

I picked up a shoe box (this piece of information is real important) full of CDs and was carrying it back to the bus. One of our runners came running down the sidewalk and stopped me to say. "Those are my CDs." That's not what I heard. I heard, "Those are my shoes." So, I responded, "No, these are compact disks."

The boy just stared at me.

You Prayin' or Exercising?

First, you have to read this.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27008935/?GT1=43001

It occurs to me that folks can get exercised (no pun intended) about some of the most interesting things. There seems to be no shortage of opinions about anything.

I am sure that there are some folks who really can pray and exercise, work and/or meditate under any conditions. I am not one of those. A priest at the church that I attend once told us that if we didn't believe that Satan existed, that we should try to pray. I can't even make it through a full sermon at church. The shortest prayers challenge my attention span. I guess that I am just too easily distracted to pray well. So, how would I do it during exercise?

It is real difficult for me to view exercise as a religious experience. I gotta tell you. When I exercise, the only thing that I am likely to pray about is that I don't hurt myself during the next repetition.

Pigskin Season

The freshmen football season is over for my 9th grade grandson. I have already congratulated him on a good season -- and it was. All his teammates played well, and they seemed to have a good time.

Grandson has played two years -- beginning last year as an 8th grader. Last year when he began, I'm not sure that he really knew which end of the field was his. This year, he had a bunch of tackles, a bunch of pass knock-downs, a couple of interceptions, a good punt return, a wisely chosen fair catch, and four touchdowns. This last one needs a little more explaining. I did notice that after every TD and reasonably long runs, he always thanked his teammates for their blocks. This is a real good sign.

Now, none of these qualify him for All-America status, and it's much too early to be counting college scholarships. If he is willing to work at the game (and do all that's required), he is now in a position where he may be ready to start learning how to play -- if that's what HE wants.