Stoop-erman!

Let me bring you up to speed on the antics of Sam-the-Man. The boy, who just turned three last Tuesday, has now moved officially into the "SuperHero" phase of development, clearly delineated by Piaget.

This phase appears somewhere between the "sensory motor period" (0 to 24 months) and the "preoperational period" (2 to 7 years). What happens, according to this researcher (me), is that somewhere between two and three years of age, a small boy discovers that it is immensely funny to jump from increasingly higher objects.

Then he discovers that it is even funnier to do so while wearing nothing except training pants and a towel around the neck (as a cape).

Then he discovers that if one jumps, so attired, and also yells, "Stooperman!", his parents dissolve into giggling fits.

And as Skinner would tell you, that's reward enough to encourage the behavior. *sigh*

Where is the Karma?

How is it that good, honest, hard-working, decent people (me and my husband) have to work our sticky buns off trying to make a buck and do things like pay for my son's birthday cake, and yet... Marcus. Vick. can. still. enter. the. NFL. draft?!?!

Let's recap: the former Virginia Tech quarterback was canned by the school earlier this month, after he was spotted stomping on another player's leg (no accident) in the Gator Bowl and was pulled over for speeding and didn't have a valid driver's license. This, after Tech had virtually given him several second chances already. (His reinstatement after a pot/speeding bust and a conviction involving an underage drinking party was contingent on him keeping out of trouble.)

But the younger, dumber brother of Michael Vick (not that he's a saint either) is still going to make more money than I'll ever see in a lifetime, all because he can throw a freakin' ball.

The deadbeat declared his eligibility for the NFL draft after his dismissal from Tech. Today, the NFL approved his bid to enter the draft. What really stinks is, I guarantee you there's some team out there that will take him.

Still, this made me feel better.

Corrupt Local Government Officials Update

I got a couple of responses. The upshot is I pretty much can't do anything except make them sound bad on the air and incite citizens to keep a sharp eye on activities. That said...

My stories and concerns did prompt a citizens' group to form, request city council e-mails through a FOIA request, and as a result at least one meeting has had to be rescheduled because it lacked proper legal notice under state law.

I Will Only Say This Once

You know you're really looking bad on the basketball court when a five foot tall white girl is sitting on her couch telling you to pass. the. dag. gone. ball!

My beloved Cats have sunk to a new low.

First there was this, a mediocre Kansas team that blew out my boys in blue and looked bored doing it.

My jaw felt permanently attached to the floor as I watched, in horror. The guys didn't pass. They didn't dribble. They were barely there at all.

I wrote it off as a fluke.

I can't write it off as a fluke anymore. Vandy beat us at Rupp. VANDY! BEAT! THE! UNIVERSITY! OF! KENTUCKY! AT! FREAKIN! RUPP! FREAKIN! ARENA!

Do you know that's never happened before? The last time Vanderbilt won in Lexington was two years before Rupp Arena even existed, in the early 70's, before I was born.

I officially declare my beloved team kaput.

Somebody please offer Tubby Smith a job somewhere else.

Silence Not Always Golden

I've waited most of the day to post on this, because I really wanted to sort out what I thought. Most of us watched, all day Monday and Tuesday, as the tragedy unfolded in West Virginia. We hoped, against all hope, there would be survivors.

Sometime around midnight Wednesday morning, family members got a phone call that brought them great joy: they were told 12 miners had been found, all alive. This came just a few hours after one miner was discovered dead. It isn't immediately clear who made the phone call, but what happened after is clear: the families poured out of the Sago Baptist Church, dancing for joy and ringing the church bell and spreading the word to anyone who would listen.

Why didn't the mining company stop them sooner to correct the misinformation? They were left celebrating for three full hours before anyone said otherwise to them.

What's more, because most east coast newspapers go to the press at around three a.m., the mining company's delayed response inadvertantly caused hundreds of newspapers nationwide to print a horrifyingly, sadly wrong headline, proclaiming "They're Alive".

Don't get me wrong, I believe it was irresponsible for many in the media to run with the story unattributed - that is, taking the word of family members as official. At the least, it should have been qualified as unofficial. But I think the real tragedy came at the hands of mining company officials, who not only delayed the heartbreak but magnified it by staying silent.

There's No Place Like Home for the Holidays

Fresh off a trip to Home, Sweet Home... and rejuvenated and energized for 2006! Wishing everyone a wonderful new year and showers of blessings.