Facing the Penguin

This was a toy that baby Allie received from her Uncle Stu and Aunt Joyce. However, it has since become Cameron's chief nemesis. For whatever reason in the mind of our 7-year old son, he starts off every morning locked in mortal combat with this inflatable penguin.

He always hurries through his breakfast and asks me if he has time to "fight the penguin" before it's time to go to school. So, he marches off to battle. Mr. Penguin gets thrown across the room, slammed, jumped on, and generally pulverized. But he keeps coming back for more (kind of the Weeble effect). It's a pure bare-knuckle brawl, Cameron has yet to get out his light sabers or other weapons of mass destruction.

Why exactly must he fight the penguin? I have no idea. It just started one day and it's been going on for a couple months. I don't think any winner has been declared yet, it's still a draw.

Back on Track with Table Tennis

Had a good night at the South Bend Table Tennis Club tonight. Won all 4 matches, gained a lot of points on my rating, and won my table so I can move up. Beat a guy which frustrated him so much that he broke his paddle. Actually, it's the second paddle he's broken on my account. You know, I have that real intimidating, trash talking persona that brings out the worst in people.

Just Saying Thanks

One of my student workers came by the office today with a petition that is going to be sent to our state and national representatives. Of course, my first thought was, "okay, what cause am I being asked to support?"

But nope, no cause. The petition read, "We're not asking for anything today, just wanted to say thank you for all the work you do." A petition to say thank you to our elected leaders. I think we could stand to see more of that. Come to think of it, that is a good cause to get behind.

Help from a Good Samaritan

This last weekend, Dorene and a friend were shopping when an announcement came over the PA system for the owner of a red Chrysler Town and Country to come to the front. Well, that was our mini-van, so Dorene went to see what it was all about. They went to the parking lot and a man was standing there who was very nervous about what had happened. Dorene could see that the side door was open and the man indicated that he thinks someone had gotten in and ransacked the van. Who knows what they may had stolen. This person was very helpful in reporting this and Dorene was grateful. However, as it turns out, all was well, no crime done.

You see, when Dorene went into the store, Allie's diaper bag fell into the way of the automatic sliding door and kept it from closing. That's why it was left open. As for the van being ransacked? Well, what the gentleman saw was just the normal state of our van with three kids. Yes, perhaps it does need to cleaned out.

I'm sure mom must be so proud.

The Colts Won???????

I went to bed early, figuring the Patriots were headed for a blowout. Should've known better, I guess, although the Colts just didn't look as good.

As for Bill Belichick, that was a choke for the ages. No matter how bad your defense is playing, it's always better to punt it away and make them go 70-80 yards for the go-ahead touchdown rather than gift wrap it for them and start on your own 29.

Not than I have even .0000000001% sympathy for Belichick, because I don't.

Not My Best Tournament

I traveled to Highland, Indiana today for the annual Highland South Shore Table Tennis Tournament. I've had a very good experience with tournaments. I either bring home a trophy or at least add some points to my rating. Well, neither happened yesterday.

The first two events I was in was for those with a rating under 1500 and under 1625. In the Under 1500, I beat one old guy and lost to another. The one I lost too I remember him beating me a couple years ago. He's actually quite good and puts some real tough spins on the ball. In the under 1625, I barely beat one girl and then lost to another after being up 2 games to 0 (Steve, this was Cindy Trykall). Then I lost my final match, which would have advanced me had I won, but losing 3 games to 0 easily prevented that from happening.

For my third event, I did something more for just the fun of it. There was an event called the "hardbat open." This is essentially old school ping pong. You use a paddle with no sponge, just the rubber with pips facing out. Basically the kind of paddle you play with in your garage or church basement, which produces a real "thunk" when you hit it. In addition, the games are best of 3 to 21 instead of best of 5 to 11.

I lost both of my matches in this event, although one I was up 20-18 in the final game and then choked. But it was interesting playing this type of game. For one, it is more tiring. No spin on the ball, so rallies are much longer. Seeing as a regulation game can be 40 points instead of 20, it also takes longer to play a game and there's time to recover from a slow start. You don't need nothing fancy. I got a $5.00 racket from Dick's Sporting Goods and did just fine. I'm hoping that the annual tournament in South Bend next spring has this, because it was fun.

So overall, bad tournament for my rating, but I still had fun. Better luck next time.

Breaking News

I get "CNN Breaking News" alerts sent via email. The one today was, "Fort Hood Suspect to be Charged with Murder."

Uh, yeah, as opposed to . . . . .?