Various Thoughts on a Monday

Beautiful day in Seattle today. Clear, blue skies and a crisp 53 degrees. It's days like this that make you appreciate the sunshine, as they seem to be so infrequent here.

My Dad rolled into town Sunday night. It's great to see him again, it's been over a year. He was amazed at how much the kids had grown since the last time he saw them. Is there anything like children to make us realize how quickly time passes?

Crock pots are great for cooking. I'm convinced you could probably put roadkill in it with chocolate sauce and cat litter and, eight hours later on low heat, have a culinary masterpiece.

Anyone else start getting a little let down at the 10-week point of the college football season? It's kind of like early afternoon on Christmas day. You've got your presents but there's no going back to that magical time when they were still wrapped and under the tree.

Cheezits are addictive. Perhaps the world's most perfect food.

Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey ice cream is #2.

Mix them together...that's not so good. Like peanut butter and salami sandwiches.

First Wrestling Match

Saw the tail end of my sons' first wrestling match tonight. Glacier View Junior High vs. Columbia Junior High (of Fife, not Cola, SC). My younger son William goes down in the record books, registering the first pin in Glacier View Wrestling sports history. Nathan held his own, but ended up getting pinned late in the first round by a veteran wrestler. Very proud of both of them. I see them every day after wrestling practice--both look like they've been put through the wringer. Rode hard and put up wet.

Perhaps Todd Matrix can show them a few moves when he comes out this way for a visit? What's your signature move? I told the boys to pull a "Nacho Libre" and whip out the patented "neeeeple tweeest" or the "anaconda squeeeezzzzzeeee." Don't know if those are officially sanctioned moves or not; maybe they can be the trendsetters.

A Few Items From the Menu

Federal holiday today, so us AF folks had the day off. Sitting around the table with the family for breakfast this morning, we struck up a conversation on various things about each of us. "What is your favorite color? What is your favorite book? What meal would you eat on a desert island if you had to eat the same meal for the rest of your life?" This line of questioning morphed into various strange things that my family has been know to eat from time to time.

For example, my son William's latest creation is the Salami and Peanut Butter Sandwich. Sounds nasty. I've been a trooper and tasted it. Yep, it's nasty. My son Benjamin is fond of his Swiss Cheese and Grape Jelly Sandwich. Nasty as well. They all gag at my strange sandwich: The Banana and Mayonnaise Sandwich. Something magical happens when those two ingredients mix.

Is it just me, or is this sandwich a Southern staple? I remember growing up eating them all of the time. Ask folks around here and you get the deer-in-the-headlights look. They don't know what they're missing.

My Little Businessman

My 100th post. Huzzah! Huzzah! Huzzah! Well, enough of that...

Talking with my son, William, last night, I realize what a budding young capitalist I have on my hands. He's worked out a deal at school where he helps in the lunchroom doing odd jobs during lunch. Whether it's putting out cookies or a handful of french fries in a basket, he diligently serves each and every day. The "deal" is that he gets his lunch free for his services and his mother has agreed to pay him the cost of his school lunch each day. Pretty sweet deal. He's clearing about $15 bucks a week. This is the same son who asked for his allowance in Euros while we were in Germany.

"Five Euros is worth more than $5 with the current exchange rate."

In true Republican fashion, he wants others to be rich as well. A potential self-help book author, he tells any of his classmates that'll listen of his path to riches.

I can scarcely contain my pride, but must admit I was curious of one thing. "William," I said, "aren't you the least bit tempted around those cookies? I mean, don't you sneak one every now and then?"

"No. Well, not in front of everyone. I usually sneak the 'scrub, deformed' cookies and take them back to the freezer. That's where I eat them."

"Executive perks." That's what I call that. Future CEO there...