Saturday, March 29, 2008

Spring Has Sprung

It was 80 degrees in Dallas this week, and I enjoyed the weather there. When I stepped off the American Airlines flight Friday morning in Seattle it was snowing cats and dogs, and snowed all afternoon.

Today was my daughter's first soccer game of the season. It was cold and rained pretty vigorously through much of the game. And the Fireballs lost 7-2. We left the field sodden and muddied, and I had my tax return to finish while Harper went out for pizza.

Welcome Spring!

Sunday, March 23, 2008

Happy Easter!

I watched a bit of The Ten Commandments Saturday night, the Cecil B. DeMille classic with Charlton Heston and Yul Brenner, and wondered how long it has been airing on television the night before Easter. As long as I can remember.

C-17 Daddy (Steve) joined us for church and an excellent Easter dinner prepared by my wife. The sweet potatoes were particularly tasty.

Due to the rain we dyed the eggs and hid them indoors. Afterward, Steve and Harper were locked in an epic struggle of Easter Hangman.

Thursday, March 13, 2008

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Fighting Global Warming


The state of Washington has introduced a bill to combat global warming, and it is a relief to see that our state is taking a leadership position in addressing the perilous course we are on.

What are we doing?

In order to combat global warming, the legislature is moving to introduce tolls on the state's bridges and freeways. And the billions in revenue from the tolls will be used to build new bridges and roads.

With everyone paying their fair share of tolls (yes, even the hybrid owners!) we can save the polar bears from starving to death and keep the seas from consuming our great cities like New York and San Francisco.

With any luck the other states will follow our lead and save the world through the strategic placement of toll booths.

Gnome Stalking Streets


This is one of the spookiest stories I have ever seen:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article902014.ece


Saturday, March 08, 2008

My New Chinese Cleaners

Asians are nice people, but they burn a lot of shirts.

-Don Rickles, Esquire Magazine


I like my shirts crisp and pants pressed, and because my wife is not very handy with an iron, and because I find ironing tedious, I choose to have others take care of my shirts and pants for me.

Back in 2006 I posted a story about a pants issue with my old cleaners which caused me to change cleaners.

My new cleaning outfit was green, environmentally friendly, and the prices were great. Problem was, they did a lousy job with my collars -- they were frequently crumpled. When I finally complained, they replied, "It's the machines. That happens."

So I left them last month, having grown weary of having to re-press my collars.

I have since found a little slice of cleaning heaven not far from the old outfit, a place run by a Chinese lady who is not only friendly but can press a shirt like no other. They're expensive, but the crease in my sleeves is pristine.

And, as an added bonus, they have not once switched my pants or crumpled my collars.

Nor have they burned a shirt.