What I'm Reading Now

Becky: The Life and Loves of Becky Thatcher, by Lenore Hart.

I love a book with a really creative concept. In this one, Becky Thatcher of Tom Sawyer fame is all grown up and telling her story. She is married to Tom's cousin Sid and they have two sons before he leaves to fight in the Civil War. She flashes back to her childhood a lot - running around with Tom and Huck and "little Sammy Clemens". ("Little Sammy Clemens" grew up and wrote a really famous book about all of them, but he didn't remember things quite the same way Becky did, apparently.)

I'm liking it so far. My only frustration is that I don't remember Tom Sawyer all that well, and I'm struggling to remember which parts actually happened in that book, and which parts this author is making up. But the later story - Becky on her own during the Civil War - is quite good. Huck Finn has made numerous appearances, as has Jim and old Judge Thatcher. We don't know what became of Tom yet, but he gets mentioned a lot, so I'm expecting him to show up any page now.

Fall Court of Honor

Ben's Boy Scout troop held their fall Court of Honor tonight. Ben earned merit badges in reading, scholarship, and golf. I'm o for 2 on Court of Honor photos - this time I got a lovely photo of the back of Ben's head.

The Uniforms Are Here!

With only five games left to play, the Galaxy finally got their uniforms in. Daniel put his on tonight for his drills. By drills, I mean five soccer drills that he does every other night or so. He is working on the Physical Fitness Belt Loop for Scouts, and one of the requirements is to choose five different physical challenges (like a 50 yard dash, standing long jump, etc) and practice them over 30 days, showing improvement on each. Daniel came up with five challenges to help him with soccer. He runs the length of the house three times as fast as he can, runs the length of the house backward, dribbles a soccer ball through an obstacle course (i.e., the trees in the front yard) as fast as he can, and kicks the ball as far as he can, with both his right foot and his left. He's already improving, and we're seeing a difference in his play during actual games. Everyone wins!

Sarah?

Since some of my blogger buddies have been posting photos of their spouses looking like Sarah Palin, I thought I would get in on the fun:




Uncanny, isn't it? Probably need to work on the up-do.

Sports Update

Ben's team won their first game today! Ben even scored the winning run. They were all tied up 6-6 in the bottom of the fifth. Ben got plunked (right between the shoulder blades - it looked like it hurt) and took his base. Then he managed to steal around the bases and scored to make it 7-6. We kept the other team from scoring in the top of the sixth, and that was the ball game (you only play six innings in little league.)

Daniel's team took their record to 4-3-1 with a 2-0 win this morning. They finally got their uniforms, which gave them a little extra spark. I would have taken pictures, but it was raining and I chose to hold the umbrella instead of the camera. Life's full of tough choices...

New Job!

OK, I've been keeping this on the down low, but I can finally speak freely: I have a new job! I will be working for the same company, but in a different area. I will be moving to our QA lab, doing software testing for our POS (point-of-sale) applications. You know those pay-at-the-pump gas pumps? I'll be testing the software for those. And those little machines in stores where you swipe your credit card? Them too.

This is a whole new thing for me, and I'm very excited about the change!! I start on October 13th. Good times!

My Trip to the Doctor's Office

Late yesterday, I started feeling a stiffness in my lower back. Now, I'm no stranger to back pain, but this was a whole new thing. By bedtime, it was much worse (I had a hard time sitting still during the Heroes premier) and by this morning, I decided I should check in with the doctor. I didn't really think anything was wrong besides normal back stuff, but I wanted to be sure. And I was hoping to get some good drugs out of it. Then the rest of my week would go much easier, and everybody wins. So I made an appointment to see the doctor.

I actually love my doctor. She's a jolly German woman who always answers all of my questions and takes as much time as I need. The only downside is, apparently, she does this for all of her patients, because by 8:15 everyday, she's about two hours behind on her appointments. My appointment was for 11:00, so I was prepared for a wait. I wasn't disappointed.

This time, one of the nurses actually came out and told everyone that the doctor was running even later than usual (someone had come in with some bizarre illness that wreaked havoc on the whole morning) but sit tight, we'll be with you in a minute. Since sitting was much more uncomfortable for me than standing, I opted to stand tight while I waited. Apparently, standing up is the universal sign for "I'm next" because every time someone came in and approached the desk, they looked at me and said "Are you next?" "No, I'm just standing tight."

After a few days, they call me. And I get to wait in a much smaller room. But I stood in there patiently and read every magazine they had (did you know that Amy Grant and Vince Gill routinely have 75 people over for Thanksgiving? or that you can make a wicked sweet hummus out of edamame?) before finally seeing the nurse.

My doctor's office recently started using electronic medical records, which I think is kind of cool. I feel like I'm in sickbay on the Enterprise. So I sit (and stand periodically) and answer this barrage of questions about my pain while this nurse types away. "Does it hurt more at some times than others? Is it excruciating? Does it radiate outward? Do you have any tingling anywhere? Are you incontinent? Do you have any abnormal secretions? ("No, just the normal ones.") And so on.

Then she starts reviewing my history. "It says here you are allergic to betadine?"

"I don't think so."

"Are you sure?"

"Pretty sure. I don't even know what that is."

"So, you are NOT allergic to Betadine?"

"Do they make cats out of betadine? I'm allergic to cats."

"It says here that you broke out in a rash and your throat closed up when you came in contact with betadine."

"Nope. I think I would remember that."

"OK," she says "I'll just take this off." She said it like I was returning a pair of socks I had already worn.

Now, I realize that most of you would be seeing a red flag at this point. But please know - when this office first converted to electronic records, my doctor was covering my history with me and it showed a record of gall stones and herpes. I have had neither. So my doctor said "Oh well, we'll just get rid of those." (I'm telling you, if you ever get gall stones or herpes, go see this doctor.) So I'm not at all concerned that my record shows a betadine allergy (I still don't know what that is.)

But then she continues to ask questions that don't seem quite right to me. Remember the Seinfeld episode where the newspaper reporter was interviewing Jerry, and she thought he and George were gay, and Jerry wasn't quite following her line of questioning? Remember the face he was making? That was me.

Finally, she says "And you're still taking claritin and naproxin?"

"Neither. Are you sure this is me?" (I point to the screen.)

"Do you live at 119 Suchandsuch street?"

"Nope."

"Is your name Ginger?"

"Nope."

"Oooohhhhhh." "I'll be right back."

So she finally finds my record and we go through the incontinence line of questioning again. (I was incontinent at that point, so we had a whole new set of answers to work with.)

Finally, I see the actual doctor, who diagnosed me with standard lower back strain, and who very gladly wrote me a prescription for some good drugs. I'm about to take some, and drift away to the land of rainbow ponies and marshmallows. But can I really rest well, knowing that some woman named Ginger with a horrible betadine allergy no longer has record of that allergy in her medical history? If the drugs are good enough, I bet I can.

Fond Farewell

The Historian - Recap

Well, I finally finished The Historian. And overall, I liked it. Overall.

I will say that I thought it was way too long, and I found the first half extremely confusing. See, the narrator is the 16-year old daughter of a historian (an historian?) And part of her story is retelling the story her father told her. And part of his story is retelling the story a mentor/professor friend told him. So we have three first-person narrators, and I found myself forgetting who was talking more than once. But once we got about halfway through, that cleared up. Then it was this complicated jaunt through European monasteries looking for the final grave of Vlad the Impaler (also known as....well, never mind.) My last complaint is that I found it to be a whole lot of build up to not much climax.

But other than those things.....I liked it. I have to admire the amount of research that went into it, and it was a very unique novel. One of the better points made was questioning the fascination we all have with the evil events in history. Why are we so compelled to study evil people and their evil deeds?

Ultimately, three and a half out of five stars. I wish I could have given it a better read. I'm sure I missed a lot of stuff.

Our Week

Sunday - Teach Sunday School, Church, Mark to back-to-back committee/Session meetings, Ben to baseball game, D to meeting with youth advisor for Scout requirement, Ben and Daniel to youth group
Monday - Work/School all day, DP to soccer practice, Ben to scouts
Tuesday - Work/School all day, Ben to baseball practice, DP to scouts
Wednesday - Work/School all day, come home (Whoo-Hooo!)
Thursday - Completed forgotten science project at 7 AM, Work/School all day, Orchestra Parents meeting, Grocery store

On tap for Friday and Saturday:
Mark taking Ben backpacking with scouts overnight, followed by a baseball game on Saturday; I'm taking DP to soccer games on Friday night and Saturday morning.

The key to happiness: Realizing that in ten years, I'll have all the free time I can stand, and I'll probably wish I'd done more with and for my kids while I could. It may sound silly and stupid, but it's working for me.

Not a Complete Waste of a Season

Unless something really outrageous happens (something along the lines of the Apocalypse,) my beloved Yanks will not be making the post-season this year, for the first time in something like 14 years. This will be the first time Derek Jeter has ever NOT played in October.

But the season is ending on something of a high note - last night, Jeter broke the record for career hits at Yankee stadium, surpassing the mark held by The Iron Horse himself, Lou Gehrig. Yankee Stadium will close for good this Sunday.

Thank you, Mr. November, for giving the fans a little something to get us through a long, long winter.

Tuesday Fun

Heroes

My blogger friend Caryn has asked for personal essays on Heroes. This thrills me to no end. Heroes is one of my all-time favorite shows! And the timing couldn't be more perfect - Season Three kicks off in two weeks. It's a great time to reflect on the show's greatness thus far.

What's that? You don't watch Heroes? Well, first off, shame on you. But second, never fear, I'll fill you in.

Heroes is about a bunch of random people in random places that have random special powers. And I do mean random - one guy reads other peoples' thoughts, one lady can make you see things differently than they really are, one guy can fly, one guy stops time, one girl can shoot electricity out of her fingers. The list goes on. Really unrealistic stuff. But I digress.

Anyway, these people all meet up somehow (as frequently happens on well-written television shows) and share their angst about their special powers.

Why all the angst, you may ask? Well, some of these special people don't want their special powers. They resent being forced to be different from everyone else. Never mind the fact that you can FLY, for crying out loud, the important thing here seems to be not standing out. Never mind the fact that you have obviously been given a gift here. You can FLY! No one else can fly. No one that I'm seeing. Just you. But rather than seeing it as a gift, rather than asking yourself why you, and why this gift, and where did this gift come from, you just complain about the possibility that people might stare at you...

Sorry...got a little carried away with that one. Good television does that to you. Keeps you all wrapped up in the characters and their issues. Even if their issues are totally unrealistic. Imagine real people hiding who they really are so they can be just like everyone else. How stupid would that be? But let's get back to the show.

So, we've got these people with these special powers. And this angst. But despite the angst, they manage to meet up and fight evil. (Except the evil ones - they all meet up to fight good, but that's to be expected.) And this is the actual focus of the show, the fighting evil. Because what good is having a special power if you don't do anything with it? Isn't that what being a hero is all about? Taking the gifts you've been given and using them to make the world a better place? Taking your special powers and helping other people?

Which is why Season Three has a new tag line: Heroes and Villains. See, there's this whole cast of characters who have special powers, but can't be called heroes. Because they use their gifts simply to advance themselves. They don't use their powers for anyone else. That's why they aren't heroes. Heroes aren't selfish. Heroes aren't looking out for number one.

See, it isn't the special powers that make you a hero. It's what you do with the special powers that makes you a hero. Use them to take over the world? That makes you a villain. Use them to pull your neighbor out of a burning building simply because you can? That makes you a hero. To loosely paraphrase Rick Warren, heroes don't think less of themselves, heroes think of themselves less.

So tune in on Monday nights for a brand new season of Heroes. But don't look for any great life lessons. Heroes is a great show, but it's pretty unrealistic.

I Wonder....

When did slapping a plastic bag over a gas pump nozzle become the universal sign for "no gas here"?

This....Is.....Sportscenter.

Da Da Dum. Da Da Dum.

OK, so we spent our Saturday morning at the ball fields. Daniel had a game at nine AM, and Ben had a game across town at noon. I took the camcorder, with high hopes of great highlight footage. During Daniel's game, I did the ole "confuse record with standby" trick that I'm so good at. I think I'm recording, and hold the camera until my arm gives out. Then I turn it on and set it down and get great footage of my feet. I also got a good ten minutes of the sky. At Ben's game, I got lots of footage. Lots of footage of Ben standing at shortstop doing nothing. Then I turn it off and he makes a play. There is no justice.

You'll just have to settle for my post-game commentary.

The Galaxy brought their record up to 2-2 with a 3-0 shut-out of last year's championship team. (I'm all about the kids, and the sportsmanship, and the having fun and all that, but there is something extremely satisfying in shellacking the team that eliminated you the last time you played.) And during the post-game, Daniel won the Galaxy award! His coach gives two awards after each game: the MVP goes to the player who does the best athletically (or has the most skills, as Napoleon Dynamite would say), and the Galaxy award goes to the player who has the best attitude. DP was presented with a king size Reese's cup for his troubles.

Ben's team continued their winless streak. Ben started at catcher, then moved to short for several innings, and then pitched the final inning. He didn't see much action in the field, but he pitched well, retiring three batters and only walking one. He also got to bat three times - one solid hit, one walk, and one K.

Considering I did nothing but sit in a chair all morning and perspire, I'm surprisingly tired. Looking forward to a quiet night at the homestead.