Time for the Sun(s) to Rise.

As a fan of Arizona sports, it's time to turn my attention to the NBA playoffs. After years of rebuilding, the Phoenix Suns are back, ready to make a serious run at the title. I've been a fan of the Suns for quite a while.

After graduating from college in Indiana, I returned to the desert and lived in Phoenix from 1987-1991. In 1987, the Suns had just finished a horrendous season and missed the playoffs. Things only got worse as several players, including star Walter Davis, were busted on cocaine charges. The team was in major disarray. Ah, but things were soon going to change. The 1987-88 season was unspectacular as the Suns finished next to last and missed the playoffs.

Then things started to happen. New ownership came in, with Jerry Cholangelo now in charge. He brought back Cotton Fitzsimmons, who had coached the team before and had been around a number of NBA teams. Then the players started coming in. From Seattle, came a scrappy center named Tom Chambers. In a trade with Cleveland came a rather unheralded Kevin Johnson.

Then came the draft. Fans booed with gusto when they heard that their first pick in the draft was some guy from Central Michigan named Dan Majerle. Who was this guy? Well, they would soon find out about "Thunder Dan." He quickly became the most popular player on the team, known for his all out hustle and never-say-die attitude. His 2006 equivalent is clearly Steve Nash, as their playing styles are very similar.

Joining Chambers, Johnson and Majerle were other players that never were marquee names but certainly were an integral part of the team. Names like Ty Corbin, Mark West, Andrew Lang, and Eddie Johnson. The 1988-89 season started off with not very high hopes and the Suns didn't draw much attention early on after the previous dismal season. But what a difference a year makes. They ended up winning 27 more games than the previous year. Obviously they were a better team and just making the playoffs was a major accomplishment.

Then, the magic started. First round, the Denver Nuggets fall. Second round, the Warriors go down. Suddenly, the team that was decimated less than a year ago is going to the Western Conference finals against the Lakers. Now, it wasn't quite a storybook ending. This was when the Lakers still had Magic Johnson, AC Green, James Worthy, Kareem, et al. They took the Suns down in 4. But it didn't matter, Phoenix was now hooked on the Suns and that ride through the playoffs was a blast. If you have ever lived in a city that has a team vying for a national championship, it is very exciting, as the whole city just lives and dies by the team during the run.

The next year, the Suns again made it to the Western Conference finals before losing a heartbreaker to Portland. But, this was the year we beat the Lakers! That was a series to remember as the city just went bonkers over that one. This was still the "showtime" Lakers of Pat Riley, Magic and company, so it was particularly sweet.

The next year, they lost in round 2 to Utah. But for those few years I lived in Phoenix, the town lived and breathed the Suns. Their games at that time were played in the Coliseum, an old venue. But it had real character. All the seats were pretty close, and the place got LOUD. I know their new arena is state of the art now, but attending games at the Coliseum really was a lot of fun.

The year I left Phoenix, they made the big trade that brought Charles Barkley to town. That year, they went all the way to the finals. They won game 5 at Chicago in a double-overtime thriller that was the most exciting game I've ever seen. Returning to Phoenix for game 6, they still had to keep winning because they were down 3 games to 2. They led by two points with just a few seconds left. Chicago had possession. Obviously, Jordan is going to get the ball. Sure enough, he does. But wait, he dishes off to John Paxon. Hey, he's behind the 3-point line. Oh no!It goes up and . . . . . SWISH!

. . . .fast forward to 2006. The Suns were never the same after that game. They spent years missing the playoffs or making quick round 1 exits. But they are back, and we'll see what happens this time around. Phoenix will explode if they can win it all. They still have the relocated Coyotes in hockey, the relocated Cardinals in football, and the expansion Diamondbacks (who don't even remotely resemble the 2001 world champions). But the Suns have been in Phoenix longer than any of the other three pro teams combined. So, this is the team that really captures everyone's attention when they make a serious run.

Debugging the House

So Anna comes home yesterday from the doctor and it turns out she has a real, real, real bad case of hair lice. Yuck! We really do clean our house. We have no idea where she got it from. She's evidently had it for a while because the lice weren't just baby lice but adult lice with college degrees.

So, under doctor's orders, we spent all of last night and a chunk of the morning de-licing the house. This involved washing everything that Anna came into contact with, using a special spray to disinfect the mattresses, and vacuuming the whole house. We even ripped up the carpet in our bedroom, which were going to do anyway, but this gave us a good reason to. We finally laid down for a short nap at about 3:00 a.m. Dorene got up to go to work at normal time. I stayed home with Anna until 11:00 a.m., when Dorene's mom showed up.

I would just as soon not have to go through this again.

Easter Service

Yesterday, for the first time in many years, we attended Easter service. Well, okay, it's not like we've not gone anywhere on Easter Sunday all these years, but this year we were in a different church. A small Wesleyan church with about 90 attendees. For the past several years, we've really struggled to find a church with the right fit. As a result, we've ended up in much larger churches than we really wanted to be in. This has then caused us to basically be lost in a sea of hundreds, even though we always get involved in many different ways.

But I emphasize the word "service," because in the past, we were always attending an Easter "performance." You know how it goes, a choir number with some bombastic timpani drum opening followed by a big brass overture, with some deep-voiced narrator intoning "He is Risen." Then the choir launches into their operatic vocals. I guess it's always assumed that as the stone rolled away, the Hallelujah chorus was playing in the background. I imagine Peter and John were quite impressed when they got to the tomb and heard such a stirring symphony.

Nothing all that special at this service. Just a simple celebration of that fact that Jesus rose from the dead on this day after dying for our sins. I think that says it all.

A Case of the Giggles

Last week, I "graduated" from my 8-month long mangagement training series, hosted by Indiana University and held at Bradford Woods, an outdoor retreat south of Indianapolis. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience and the interaction with other higher education professionals in the IU system.

For the final meeting, we did team presentations. We had been divided up way back in October to come up with a "client" to solve problems they were having and make recommendations based on the training we had gone through. So, we had about 6 months to get this ready. The great thing about it? We didn't really start preparing the presentation until mid-March. Yes! I was on a team that didn't feel success was measured by how many times you met or how thorough an outline you had two weeks after getting the assignment. I've been on those kinds of teams before, the overachiever extraordinaires. One of the other teams did indeed meet several times throughout the months and even made a visit to one of the IU campuses. Wow, that's so impressive.

We threw our presentation together towards the end and guess what? We did just fine. How did we measure up against the overachievers? Actually, we did quite well. The parameters were that we present between 15-20 minutes. Ours clocked in at just over 15 minutes. The overachievers droned on for about 45 minutes. They had a lot to share, but hey, I'd give them an F. Not because I thought they were overachievers and felt miniscule in their presence, but because they broke the rules.

So, after 8 months of training, it all came down to the presentations. But during this time, one of the more memorable moments occurred, known only to those team members at my table. As one of the groups was presenting, the chef, an older retired gentleman, was cleaning up after lunch. As he stood right beside us, he, uh, let one rip. I turned my head slowly to one of my colleagues and quietly asked, "Did he . . .?" The other two also came to the realization as to what had happened. Now, you know when you were young and got the giggles in a situation where you simply cannot bust out laughing? Well, this is the situation we found ourselves in. The overachievers were giving their presentation, it would be rude for us to laugh out loud. But my, oh my, how difficult it was. In addition, some very high ranking administrators from IU Bloomington were in attendance, so we really had to behave ourselves.

So, here we were, John (director of business programs at his campus); Brittany (director of financial aid); Leesa (position in information technologies with a direct reporting line to the IU President) and myself (director of student support). All of us mature professionals doing our best to suppress laughter and trying oh so hard not to make eye contact with anyone else and bust out laughing.

Cameron's Polytheism

In church yesterday, I gave both kids a dollar to put in the offering plate. When the plate came to Cameron, he hesitated, not wanting to put it in. Dorene explained that he was "giving a dollar to God." To which Cameron replied, "which god?"

We really have been bringing up the kids in church and given them a solid Biblical foundation. Really, we have.

Life Happens

Sometimes life will take unexpected turns, with the emphasis on the unexpected. Dorene's sister Diane, affectionately referred to as Aunt Dee Dee by our kids, went in for a much delayed mammogram a couple weeks ago. Much delayed in that there was a transition with her insurance or something along those lines that made it kind of a nuisance to get a new doctor. So, she finally went in, and received some startling news. There was evidence of the early stages of breast cancer, which was serious enough to warrant immediate surgery the following week. Dorene and her mom went to Chicago to be with her during what was suddenly a very traumatic time. The surgery went fine, but there was still an issue of whether any cancerous cells had invaded the lymph nodes. Last Thursday, Dorene and both of her parents went to Chicago to be with her during a second surgery. The results were such that there was no invasion of the lymph nodes, which was a huge relief.

It's not all over yet, there may still be radiation and/or chemotherapy involved. But, the early detection has taken place and treatment is underway. Many prayers have already been answered and we're looking for a few more.

It's been a rough couple weeks for Diane, and it's virtually impossible to imagine how she could have made it through without the comfort of her knowledge that God is watching over her. Plus, she had immediate family to be with her and a (fairly new) church family that has been a blessing and have really reached out to her.

Kind of puts the brakes on other so-called worries and troubles we may think we have.

Murrow. Cronkite. Rather. Couric?

Can you truly say those names all in the same sentence and not laugh? Is Katie truly news anchor material? I don't see it. But then again, I, like millions of others, don't watch the CBS Evening News anyway. I think her tenure is going to be short-lived. I guess I don't see the transition from early morning banter with Matt Lauer and Al Roker to being behind the desk informing us of some hard news story. Kind of like Kelly Ripa going to the anchor chair. Look for a wicked SNL parody at some point, with a Katie impersonator delivering the evening news as if she is still on the Today show.

UCLA becomes Gatorade

Wow, what a lousy game last night. UCLA never really put up a fight and Florida had an easy time of it. The game was very boring. Not a great way to end what was overall a very exciting tournament. Now, we turn our attention to, uh, well, I don't know. Oh yeah, baseball season has begun. Woo hoo, yeah, baseball. I'll check in come October.

. . .and somehow, humanity survived.

It was a historic weekend. One of the most monumental events ever to take place in our state. Months and months of intense, heated debate. Yes, we switched to daylight savings time. My big question, "What was the big freakin' deal?" People, it was just a matter of one hour. You hear that, ONE HOUR! 47 other states do this, it's no big thing. I grew up with changing the clocks twice a year, it doesn't take that much effort. I personally love it. Much more daylight. In the summer, it's great for kids because you can spend much more time outside. I can now get off work and still golf 18 holes with my father in law or play with my kids outside basically until their bedtime.

I have never heard such intense debate over a true non-issue. You would think Governor Daniels had proposed seceding from the union or something. I just didn't understand all the fuss.