Catching up with Curt

Last Sunday morning, Dorene and I had breakfast with our nephew Curt. Went to a little hole-in-the-wall place on the south side of Fort Wayne called Spyros, which, by, the way, was excellent.

Curt works many hours at the Fort Wayne airport, so we haven't seen him much lately, so it was good to see him. Curt will always have a special connection with me because he was my first nephew and the one that I was with the most from the day he was born on May 29, 1981. Then, there's the fact that my son Cameron was also born on May 29. I told Curt I had Cameron dressed over Thanksgiving in an outfit he'd appreciate. It was camouflage pants and a "Green Day" shirt. Curt agreed that was pretty cool.

I'm sure his parents are glad Curt is working again at the airport, because they get to take advantage of little perks, such as flying to Maine at a reduced rate (or free, I'm not sure). Curt told us he and him mom were at an airport coming back from somewhere and just decided to randomly go somewhere, and chose Vermont. Curt has been quite the world traveler, certainly been to more countries than me, which isn't saying much since the furthest I've ventured out is Nogales, Mexico.

If you need any gift ideas for Curt, you may want to consider a snake. On the other hand, you may not want to, for the sake of the snake. He keeps losing them. So, I'd watch my step around his apartment.

Hating Holidays

In Anderson Cooper's book, "Dispatches from the Edge" which my freshman class read recently, Cooper talks about how he always hated New Year's Eve, because that is when his father died. So, when it was time to get festive on December 31, he wanted nothing to do with it.

I have always enjoyed holidays and this weekend had a great Thanksgiving, but there were several around me that didn't.

• A friend of my in-laws had a 50-year old son die in a hunting accident the previous weekend;
• A husband of one of our secretaries had his appendix burst on Wednesday, and is still not out of the hospital;
• The 34 year-old father of one of Cameron's kindergarten classmates suddenly died.

I imagine that from this point on, particularly for those who experienced a sudden death (and both of the deaths above were very sudden), Thanksgiving will forever be linked with painful memories.

Anderson Cooper said he volunteered to cover the ball dropping in Times Square just so he wouldn't have to do anything social on New Year's Eve. I imagine that holds true for many who experience a tragedy over a holiday and I doubt I'd be in much of celebratory mood either.

Sesame Street Trauma

I read recently that early seasons of Sesame Street, which were just released on DVD, come with a warning that the characters may be modeling the wrong behavior. Turns out that the Cookie Monster appeared with a pipe in a parody of Masterpiece Theatre. To make matters worse, the Sesame Street folks said it appears that Oscar the Grouch "appeared too grouchy."

Wow, and to think I actually watched this! It's time to get on Dr. Phil and let it all out.

Missed this Election

For the first time in I don't know how long, I didn't vote. I kinda procrastinated and forgot to file a change of address with voter registration, so I had to skip out on this one. I guess I technically could have voted at our old precinct, but figured I'd cause a huge scandal when it turns out I voted fraudently.

The big race up here was for mayor of South Bend, but we don't live in South Bend anymore, so I couldn't have voted for that anyway. The choice was between the 3-time incumbent, Steve Luecke, or my former Sunday School teacher, Juan Manigault, whose kids were on the Bible quiz team we coached for several years. I'll let you take a guess who was the Democrat and Republican in this race. Juan got beaten very soundly, 62%-38%. Meanwhile, my boss, Karen White, cruised to reelection on the South Bend City Council with more votes than anyone, including the Mayor (she kinda liked that factoid).

I Don't Like These Guys

I am really getting irritated at the New England Patriots. I rooted for them when they won their first Super Bowl against the Rams. Thought it was a neat story this Tom Brady guy stepping in and taking them all the way. Kinda was okay when they won again. But this year, they are going the way of the classic despised teams like the Raiders and Steelers.

Do these feelings have anything to do with the fact I'm a Colts fan? Well, kinda. Yes, they lost the big showdown today, although I don't think that's the end of the world. The pressure will now be totally on the Patriots to go for the perfect season. But the controversy with Belicheck stealing signals, the Patriots running up scores (VERY obvious against the Redskins last week) just doesn't set well with me. Today, one of their players went to midfield where the Colts logo is at and spiked the ball very hard when they made the game-winning interception. I just don't like it when players do that. That's an attitude that starts at the top.

I guess this is sometimes what sports needs, a team to really root against. Well, you can include me on the anti-Patriots bandwagon. I'll be rooting against them every step of the way now.