Can Summer be Over?
In today's comics: A disheveled-looking guy says to another one, "I couldn't get health insurance because of a pre-existing condition - I'm broke."
Various members of the family have taken up blogging lately. A recent entry described giving away a 15 year-old Honda to charity after the car had gone past the quarter million mile mark. It was accompanied by the poignant picture of the now-empty spot in the driveway. Gets you right here (sob), doesn't it?
California is full of suburbs with Spanish names. Ever heard of Chula Vista? It's south of San Diego. Last week the Chula Vista little league team beat Taoyuan, Taiwan (a city in which I lived doing missionary work almost 40 years ago) and become world champions. I've written before in this space about how I enjoy watching the games at this level. No doubt a great deal of work went into the team's success.
Even so, the team's manager, Oscar Castro, might have laid it on a little thick in the postgame news conference. He noted that San Diego's pro teams, the Padres and Chargers, had come up short in their efforts to win championships, and that he thought his team's win partially made up for that. Whew! Major League Baseball, the National Football League and ...the Little League?
Hats off to Castro and his assistants. But can you imagine what it might be like for him to go back to the office/shop/factory where he actually earns a living? I hope he's prepared to take a quick dive from the sublime to the mundane. And I hope no one says "All right, big guy. Your 15 minutes of fame are over as of now. Take your usual spot on the replacement windows production line. You've got a week to catch up." Doh!
We had no real reason to hold a micro tennis tournament last weekend, but we had one anyway on the two courts located near downtown. I tried to not invite bad players, but when you never know who's coming, it's better to have too many than not enough. So we started with four doubles teams and eleven players, but as the day went on everyone with a little patience got a chance to show his stuff. The draw of partners was random, but we still ended up with a father/son team who were too good for the rest of us. Players ranged from about 20 to around 75 years old, and we even had food on hand. Being unofficial, we paid the city no rent and had no insurance. For their part, the city didn't even provide a restroom key. A few people stayed and watched for awhile, but no one made any sponsorship offers. The trophies were ridiculously cheap, consisting of used balls, plastic ball can lids and a round piece of paper commemorating the event glued to the undersides. Since there was no entry fee, no one complained. My partner and I finished 3rd, which meant no trophy at all, though we did produce a tough "W", which was the whole idea. Next year? We'll see how great the demand is.
Various members of the family have taken up blogging lately. A recent entry described giving away a 15 year-old Honda to charity after the car had gone past the quarter million mile mark. It was accompanied by the poignant picture of the now-empty spot in the driveway. Gets you right here (sob), doesn't it?
California is full of suburbs with Spanish names. Ever heard of Chula Vista? It's south of San Diego. Last week the Chula Vista little league team beat Taoyuan, Taiwan (a city in which I lived doing missionary work almost 40 years ago) and become world champions. I've written before in this space about how I enjoy watching the games at this level. No doubt a great deal of work went into the team's success.
Even so, the team's manager, Oscar Castro, might have laid it on a little thick in the postgame news conference. He noted that San Diego's pro teams, the Padres and Chargers, had come up short in their efforts to win championships, and that he thought his team's win partially made up for that. Whew! Major League Baseball, the National Football League and ...the Little League?
Hats off to Castro and his assistants. But can you imagine what it might be like for him to go back to the office/shop/factory where he actually earns a living? I hope he's prepared to take a quick dive from the sublime to the mundane. And I hope no one says "All right, big guy. Your 15 minutes of fame are over as of now. Take your usual spot on the replacement windows production line. You've got a week to catch up." Doh!
We had no real reason to hold a micro tennis tournament last weekend, but we had one anyway on the two courts located near downtown. I tried to not invite bad players, but when you never know who's coming, it's better to have too many than not enough. So we started with four doubles teams and eleven players, but as the day went on everyone with a little patience got a chance to show his stuff. The draw of partners was random, but we still ended up with a father/son team who were too good for the rest of us. Players ranged from about 20 to around 75 years old, and we even had food on hand. Being unofficial, we paid the city no rent and had no insurance. For their part, the city didn't even provide a restroom key. A few people stayed and watched for awhile, but no one made any sponsorship offers. The trophies were ridiculously cheap, consisting of used balls, plastic ball can lids and a round piece of paper commemorating the event glued to the undersides. Since there was no entry fee, no one complained. My partner and I finished 3rd, which meant no trophy at all, though we did produce a tough "W", which was the whole idea. Next year? We'll see how great the demand is.
posted by Mark at 10:47 AM
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