Sorry, Can't Find Any of Those Here...

Should I be concerned that my site was found by someone searching on Google for this word?

Or should I be more concerned that someone is so obsessed they actually worked their way through the first 500+ pages of search results to get to my link?

Geez, and I thought I was bad...

Creepy Eyes

My Car, My Pal

Remember my car? It's a 2005 Ford Focus (long term readers might recall my run-in with a deer)

I just got an email from the dealer where I bought my car--

--addressed to my car...

Dear Focus:

"Happy Anniversary" from your friends at *Dealership Name*!

I hope you and Barry are getting along well and that Barry is taking good care of you. If you have any bumps and scratches, aches or pains, just come in and see us. We are here to care for you. As always if there is anything I can do, please call me at *Dealership Name* at 865-abc-defg.

I hope you and your owner have an excellent day!

Respectfully,
*Manager's Name*
General Manager

I just thought it was nice my car has a friend out there. Maybe we'll invite him for a sleepover in the garage one day.

I don't know, the van might get jealous.

And Folks Get Paid For This?

Earlier today, a judge rejected a request to throw out the News Sentinel's lawsuit against Knox County and the Knox County Commission for violating the Sunshine Law:

Deputy Law Director Mary Ann Stackhouse had argued that a quorum of 10 commissioners would have been required to meet in secret to violate the act, which is commonly known as the state sunshine law.

Fansler ruled, however, that the act does not require any such quorum in order for a meeting between commissioners to violate the spirit of the law.

Is that correct? I have nothing against Ms. Stackhouse and know nothing about her, but if the Act is that unambiguous...if there is indeed nothing in it that specifies a *minimum number of commissioners needed to satisfy the Sunshine Law....then why bring it up?

Seriously, that's the best defense you can come up with, to make something up about the law and protest it?

Let's say I was caught stealing a television from a local store. What would a judge say if my attorney requested the charges be dropped because the law states stealing televisions is ok as long as it's done on a Tuesday, after 9pm, and only if the defendant is wearing a green shirt. The judge would probably bar the attorney from the courtroom and advise me to seek more experienced legal counsel.

Again, nothing against Ms. Stackhouse - I don't know who's making the decisions in the County legal machine - but if that's the best we can come up with....good grief.

---

* On a related note, I just need to say that the most fun word to type on a computer keyboard, if you're a touch-typist like me, is "minimum". There, I'll do it again. minimum minimum mimnimum. You just type it with one hand, which is cool. Sometimes you misspell it, but that's ok. :)

The Ultimate Item on my Geeky Wish List

And I'm totally serious.

How to create a do-it-yourself Stormtrooper costume

And if I also had a fully-authentic black outfit with the helmet and all the winky-blinkys, I'd make a great Darth Vader...














What? Why are you looking at me like that?

Note To Self

Using "frak" as a mild curse word sounds really cool and sci-fi when you use it in your head, but not so much when you say it out loud.

Examples...

In your head:

"This frakkin' traffic is about to drive me frakkin' crazy!! What the frak are these people doing??" (sounds hip and edgy)


Out loud:

"When the frak did gas go up another 10 cents???" (gets you strange looks from Weigel's store clerk)


I'll just keep that one to myself...

I'm Getting Too Old For This

Last night at softball, I:

• Went 3-4
  
• Scooped up a hot grounder at first, which bounced and hit me in the abdomen. I trapped it and tossed it to the pitcher covering first, but it wasn't in time. I felt like I had the wind knocked out of me, and today I have a softball-sized red spot just below my ribs.
  
• Was standing on 2nd with another runner on 1st when the next batter hit a blooper to left-center. The left- and leftcenter-fielder (in softball there are 4 outfielders) both converged, so I went about half-way. The ball hit the left-center's glove and popped out. I started running for 3rd and noticed him catch the ball in the air with his other hand, barehanded. You could hear the cartoon *scr-ee-ee-ee-ee-ch* as I skidded to a stop and ran back to 2nd. Left-center threw to 2nd to try to pick me off, but I slid under the throw, landed hard, and - once again - bruised my rear end in the same spot as the last time. The throw was dropped and rolled away so I scrambled up and ran on to 3rd. I scored a couple batters later.
  
• In the process of sliding (which is being charitable - it was more like "stumbling with style") I also bruised the inside of my left wrist. There is now a greenish area that looks like I'm about to become a zombie.
  

Some people seem to find this amusing...

In the "Things You Didn't Really Need to Know" Department..

After sliding into third base last night at my softball game, I now have a huge bruise on my butt.



Yep, like the title said...



Anyway, I've played CoEd church league softball for about 7-8 years now and enjoyed every minute of it. Well, except for the final game of the season two years ago when my family came to see me play and the coach never even put me in the game. But other than that...

I played baseball when I was younger and have always loved playing first base - there's something about the potential to be involved in every single play from the plate that's always appealed to me. With my long frame I'm good at grabbing those errant throws that most other, smaller guys can't reach. My arm's improved somewhat over the years, as has my hitting.

This season I'm 4-5 with four singles, a fly out and a fielder's choice (FC doesn't count as an official At-Bat, right dad?). I've got that mid-range to either hit the ball on the ground through the gap between 2nd and 3rd or drop it into short field.

Well, last night after my 2nd at-bat I found myself on 2nd base. The batter hit a slow grounder between the 3rd-base(woman) and 3rd, and she bobbled it picking it up in her glove. Racing to put the tag on me at the base, I slid and knocked the ball away from her glove. When I felt the impact on my foot, I really thought I'd slid into her jaw and broken it. There's a such a terrifying feeling when you think you might've actually hurt someone - it shook me up for a little while and I wasn't able to ascertain exactly what had happened until later in the game. She was fine.

But I have the bruise to remind me...



I've never been in a real fight. Even in school as a kid, the worst tumble I ever got into was a wrestling match with this skinny kid my freshman year. I've never punched anyone, or had any kind of actual physical altercation. With my size, I think I could probably hurt someone if necessary, to protect myself or others. I obviously hope it never comes to that, but I also wonder how much of my heart would ever go into it (assuming my emotions didn't totally take over) because I always care too much about the other person and would be extremely concerned if they were hurt or injured. I guess that's a good thing.