Guess how much I love you...

I have a almost 2 year old niece. She is my older brother's daughter, and since she is the only grandchild/niece at this point, she is spoiled rotten. In a couple of months she's going to be a big sister. Susanna is due in November.

Sometimes I baby sit Leah. We like to play outside, read books, and watch Elmo, Barney, and Mickey Mouse movies. Elmo is a half hour of high pitched squeaky torture for us adults, but she loves him. So, we have Elmo movie marathons complete with popcorn and Diet Coke. (Usually caffeine free for both of us.) Her bestest friend in the whole wide world is her bunny. Bunny is a stuffed rabbit that started out nice and fluffy when Leah was a newborn, but almost 2 years later resembles the lint you clean out of the dryer after washing towels. An indeterminate color halfway between cream and tan with patches of "fur" loved off by hugs and kisses. His head is near falling off because Leah carries him around by the neck all the time.

Leah knows her colors, can count to 12, and can tell you what every animal says. Right now we are working on her ABC's and shapes. (The circle is her favorite because it goes "round and round." She is constantly asking "What's that?" and "What you doing?" But what keeps me wrapped around her finger is when she comes running up and says "Luv U Jo Jo" and gives me slobbery kisses and a big hug around my neck.

I want to be her favorite aunt. (She has 3 other aunts besides me.) I want to be the one that does all the fun stuff with her. Stuff like getting her ears pierced (or a tattoo...,) talking about boys, and taking her driving on the side roads. I enjoy every minute I spend with her. Even it it means suffering through the Elmo and Barney videos, because she is growing up so fast. You blink and you've missed something. I cant tell you how proud of her I was when she stopped me while walking down the drive way so we could stop and look both ways for cars before we walked onto the road.

Well gang, Its time for me to go to bed. I'm babysitting this weekend and even though Leah sleeps through the night, she wakes up at the crack o dawn ready and raring to go.

Real American Heroes!

The dictionary describes a hero as a man/woman of distinguished courage or ability, admired for his brave deeds and noble qualities.

In society today, reported hero's are few and far between. Yesterday, we Americans (And the rest of the world as well) were introduced to a few of them. You can't turn on the TV, surf the web, or even read a paper without news of the trapped miners in Utah. The situation becomes more and more critical as the days pass. Yesterday, men attempted to rescue the 6 trapped miners. They willingly entered a potentially life threatening situation to hopefully rescue their comrades not knowing if the 6 trapped miners are still alive. They knew there was a chance that they could be injured or killed themselves, but they still made the decision to enter the mine to try to get to the trapped men. As it's been reported in the news, 3 of the would be rescuers were killed and 6 injured in a second cave in. Those would be rescuers are heroes!

Anyone who would willingly to risk their lives and well being to attempt to save another is a hero. The US Armed forces are heroes, men and women who put their lives on the line so that we Americans as well as the rest of the world can live free and be safe from unknown dangers. Police and Fire Fighters are heroes as well. Even John (Jane) Q. Public who stops to help a stranded motorist or searches to find a missing child/person is a hero. As witnessed by the people who dove into the water to try to rescue people in the recent bridge collapse. Because of these people, the world is a better place.

I send my thoughts and prayers to the Utah families who have lost a loved one and to those who are still waiting to hear if their loved one is alive. And, also to all the Heroes in the world! May God bless you and reward you for your efforts. Though they may not be acknowledged, they are appreciated.

Feeling my age...

Well, it's official. I'm old.

I recently caught myself yelling at some "kids" (20-25 year olds) to turn down that racket that they call music. "Some of us have to go to bed early to get up to go to work in the morning." That went along with me mentioning that "I remember when gas was only 88 cents a gallon." My joints hurt and I can even feel when the weather is going to change in my bones. (I didn't believe that that was possible until I broke my nose and it I could feel it myself.) Some times I eat prunes. (only in dire circumstances.) And I take a handfull of pills every day. Heck, I'm even driving the posted speed limit.

While there are some pretty significant bad parts about being old, there are some side benefits as well. You get discounts in restaurants, you get the closer parking spaces at stores, and you can wear whatever you want; even if its a housecoat and piggy slippers. If you space out every once in a while, people more than likely blame it on your age vs. you just screwing up. You can take naps wherever and whenever you please. And it's expected that you have something good to eat around you at all times like cookies or candies. And if someone is really annoying you, you can pretend to be hard of hearing.

Another challenging week at work. The other Admin. Assistant is on vacation so I'm virtually running the entire office by myself. It sure is making me feel each of my 30 something years. Hopefully when I get old, I'll be like both my grandmas. Lots of spunk with a quirky sense of humor. I'm already alot like my Great Grandma H. She hated baseball umps with a passion. You could hear her yelling at them while coming down the street to her house.

Well gang, I'm off to take my mid afternoon nap. Us old fogies need to rest alot.

Whistle Blowers?

I wonder.. Are the officials who turn in another referee or other pro sports official for gambling problems considered "whistle blowers?"

I've always believed that pro sports officials had their own agenda when it came to the games they officiated. That they are evil little minions that have a conspiracy to have one team win over another. And recent events in the world of sports seem to be supporting that belief more and more. I'd be remiss in my duties as Ref Hater if I didn't mention this.

Today NBA ref Tim Donaghy pleaded guilty to tipping off high-stakes gamblers with inside information and recommended which teams to bet on. Court papers say Donaghy began placing bets on NBA games in 2003. Starting last December, he began giving gambling associates sensitive information, including which crews would officiate games and how the various officials and players interacted. Before that NHL's Director of Officiating Andy Van Hellemond resigned after Media reports indicated he was accused of approaching members of his officiating staff for personal financial loans to pay gambling debts. It was reported that he had borrowed money from on-ice officials he supervised -- in amounts reported to range from $100 to $10,000 -- raising questions about possible conflict of interest because of the possibility that the lenders got preference for prime playoff assignments.

I'm sure that there have been multiple other instances in the other "Name" sports as well as the two I just talked about (with help from news articles.) I think there needs to be a major overhaul of the system that hires and manages these officials for all the different sports. I'm sure that many a fan can attest to the corrupt officials controlling the outcome of the games more than the players who actually play in the games. And now it appears that us fans were right all along.

PS.. This was on yahoo.com this morning. (8/16) More evidence that all officials in all sports are corrupt.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20070814/sc_livescience/majorleagueumpscallmorestrikesforpitchersofsamerace

Major League Baseball umpires are more likely to call strikes for pitchers of the same race or ethnicity, a new study finds.

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin analyzed every pitch from the 2004 through 2006 major league seasons to explore whether racial discrimination factored into umpires’ decisions to call a pitch a strike or a ball. The researchers found if a pitcher is of the same race or ethnicity as the home plate umpire, more strikes are called and his team’s chance of winning is improved.

"I hate him too..."

Have you ever accidentally hit reply to all instead of reply when responding to an email? I was responding to a friends email and ended up hitting the reply to all. Shortly after I hit send, I got a strange response a few minutes later. Confused as to why I would be getting a "Please remove me from your mailing list" email, I opened it up. A lady who I had accidentally emailed wrote me saying that she didn't know who I was, but didn't want me to email her again. I wrote back and explained that I was trying to reply to my friend who is also her friend and hit reply to all by accident. (Let me add a quick note here.. at the time I had a signature on my outgoing emails that said "From Refhater; It's always the Referee's fault!") She wrote back and had me in tears laughing. She wrote that she understood about the reply to all thing and added at the end, "My husband is a referee and I hate him too sometimes.."

I went out to eat tonight and they had the Tigers game on at the restaurant. I sat there wondering if profession athletes act like they do during a game when they go about their day to day life. Is it like a switch that they turn on and off at game time or is it part of their daily routine? Can you imagine going to the grocery store and seeing someone do a "batters box ritual" before picking out a package of chicken breasts? (Crossing themselves three times, shrugging their shoulders, & walking around with their back pocket untucked.) Or, seeing someone blow their nose by closing one nostril and blowing or spraying their water bottle over their head while they operate the copy machine at work like hockey players do? Do refs/umpires send their kids to their rooms with a "That's it Bobby, You're outta here..?" Do NASCAR drivers go way out of their way on road trips, just so they only have to make left turns? Do NASCAR drivers pump their own gas into their personal vehicles or go to the full service gas stations? Do golfers mow their own lawns?

Next time you watch a sporting event, watch the players and imagine them doing their rituals somewhere like the bank or the grocery store. You'll get a good laugh.

That's all for tonight folks... See ya tomorrow.

Grace is not my middle name!

I've been fighting a headache all day today. Nothing major, just a dull throb. The way I got it bothered me more then the headache itself. Grace is not my middle name. I am what most would call klutzy.

Anyway, back to the story. This morning I reached into the passenger seat of my car to grab my purse and bag to take into the office. As it was crack o' dawn and I wasn't quite awake yet, I misjudged where the car was. I'm sure you could hear the resounding clunk a mile away as I smacked my head into the roof of the car. I am now sporting a lump and a very pretty bruise. Luckily, it's in a spot that I can hide it with my hair and a good make up job. I'll just add it to the inventory of injuries I've given myself.

The earliest injury that I can remember causing myself was around 4 or 5 years old. I was dancing ontop of a table in the McDonalds playground. I proceded to fall and give myself a concussion. I distinctly remember being in the ER looking at an x-ray of my head and one of my parents saying "Hey look, she does have a brain." Then a couple years later, I gave myself 2nd/3rd degree burns on my tookis (twice) by sitting on the hot metal remains of sparklers. (I still blame my siblings for those. Why were they (the sparklers) on the picnic bench instead of the water bucket?) The time I accidently ironed my stomach while trying to iron and watch tv at the same time, the couple of times that I filled my entire foot with splinters that had to be cut out, and we cant forget when I fell asleep on the aluminum dock at the lake and gave myself a 2nd degree burn on my shoulder. Couldn't wear sleeves for months after that. There was the first time I went to the tanning salon and fried myself 2 weeks before my sister got married. I've hit my head on desks, steel beams, and had it slammed into by trunk lids. I've had my hand slamed in car doors and my feet run over by cars. There is more, but this blog entry is long enough as it is already. The only major injury that I didn't cause myslef was the ligament sprain I got from being rear ended by an idiot during an ice storm.

Then there were the other times that I've fallen or tripped with out managing to hurt myslef. The most memorable one being the time when I was trying to get out of a boat and fell into a pile of dead fish. (Maybe that's why I don't like to eat fish now.... hummmm...) I should have a camera crew following me around to record all the thrills and spills. Who knows, I could possibly win on American's funniest home videos or at least have proof that I really did trip over the hanger that was laying on the floor and crash through the antique mirror...

Get off the Road!

Why is it that we all turn into maniacs when we hit the roads? It's like a switch is flipped once we turn the key. (I'm guilty of this myself.) There are those of us who drive like we're in the middle of a nascar race and the car in front of us is the only thing holding up our winning the race. And then there are those of us who must drive 10 miles under the speed limit with our turn signal flashing a morse code message. The age or sex of the driver makes no difference.

As I had previously posted, I spent the weekend at my parents house. Which, is about an hours drive from my apartment. After loading up my now clean laundry and my trusty red backpack, I started out on the adventure that I call the trip home. I should start out by mentioning that there is road construction on my usual route so, I had to follow a detour. Everything was going great for the first couple minutes. Then the fun began... A car pulled out infront of me and proceded to go 40 mph on a 55 mph stretch of road. Ok, the game was on. I passed her and continued down the road where I came to the posted detour to get back to the original road I needed. The light turned green and the car infront of me just sat there and sat there. (8 cars could have turned left in the amout of time that it took them to turn.) While I was waiting for the car in front of me to turn, a car full of teenagers zoomed up behind me. Riding my bumper and honking all the way. This was where things got really interesting. The car full of teenagers thought it would be fun to, "show boat" with me. They alternated tailgaiting me and then speeding up and then cutting me off. Flipping me the bird the whole time. This went on for miles.

Things finally calmed down and I was in the home stretch. One more left turn to make and I was home free. But, alas... I was not so lucky. The car infront of me decided that he wasn't sure that this was the place he wanted to turn and slamed on his brakes mid turn in the middle of the intersection. While there was plenty of time for both him and myself to make the turn, the sudden slamming on of the brakes brought the oncoming traffic uncomfortably close. The other driver finally decided that this was indeed the way he wanted to go and we both made it through the light with seconds to spare. I can't wait for the game to begin again tomorrow morning on my way to work.