Drew's Aunt Donelda was in town visiting this weekend and so was the Akdar Shrine Circus. So, off we went to the Tulsa Fairgrounds.

The day provided a number of firsts...it was Drew's first circus, Drew's first taste of cotton candy and Drew and Daddy's first elephant ride.

The circus was nothing less than amazing. There was everything you'd expect from a three ring circus from clowns, acrobats and jugglers to animal trainers and death defying performers high up in the big top (or in this case Tulsa Fairgrounds Pavilion). The acts also included many lions, tigers, bears, camels, horses, ponies and dogs.

There were so many acts, sometimes in all three rings at once, that I couldn't begin to name them all. Incredibly, only one act, the trapeze, used a net despite many performers being high above the cement floor when they entertained the crowd.

With intermission, the performance lasted three hours and gave us all plenty to talk about afterwards.

In response to Muslims recently killing two Catholic priests in Turkey and Nigeria, the Vatican is calling on Muslim countries to be more tolerant of Christian minorities, in other words, practice what you preach.

Pope Benedict XVI stated this week that peace can only be assured by "respect for the religious convictions and practices of others, in a reciprocal way in all societies."

Cardinal Angelo Sodano, Vatican Secretary of State: "If we tell our people they have no right to offend, we have to tell the others they have no right to destroy us."

Archbishop Giovanni Lajolo, Vatican Foreign Minister, stated Christian minorities should be afforded the same rights that Muslims enjoy in Western countries: "We must always stress our demand for reciprocity in political contacts with authorities in Islamic countries and, even more, in cultural contacts."

Bishop Rino Fisichella, Rector of the Pontifical Lateran University: "Let's drop this diplomatic silence...We should put pressure on international organisations to make the societies and states in majority Muslim countries face up to their responsibilities."

Monsignor Velasio De Paolis, Secretary of the Vatican's Supreme Court: "Enough now with this turning the other cheek! It's our duty to protect ourselves."

Better to be late to the game, than never show up to play.

It's only a matter of time before a movie is made about Jason McElwain a Greece Athena High School senior in Rochester, New York. On February 15, Jason, the team manager, was given the privilege of suiting up for the varsity game as payback for his years of service taking care of sweaty uniforms, getting water for the players and cheering on the team. There's nothing unusual in this sort of gesture...until the magic happened!

Oh, by the way, Jason was born with autism.

If you are anything like me, you'll enjoy watching more videos about Jason McElwain.

Thanks Dave.

I'm starting a new type of entry/category: a quip. Short and quick, something I want to post but not put much time into. And, the first one is:

          DREW: Daddy is?
          MOM: He's at work.
          DREW: Again?

I hate talking on my cell phone and I can't stand people who drive while talking on their cell phone. The majority of idiots I see on the road are on their cell phone which means they are in command of several thousand pounds of steel and glass barreling down the road and their thoughts and attention are elsewhere. And no, you are not an exception. Every day idiots everywhere talking on their cell phones cause needless accidents.

A Letcher County woman suffered a horrible injury early Thursday when her arm was severed in a car crash on the Mountain Parkway in Clark County.

Jacqueline Dotson and her six-year-old daughter had to be cut out of their vehicle after the accident in which Dotson veered into the median and over-corrected, rolling her truck over the guardrail and landing upside down after flipping several times.

Her arm was found near the accident still clutching a cell phone.

Studies have also shown, as does simple observation, that people preoccupied with looking cool, often just pretend to be talking on their cell phones. I'd love a law that would require cell phones to look like pieces of poop. Then, maybe, they'd be used as intended, as a tool and not as a fashion device.

With all that said, for a while now I've been looking for an earpiece/headset for my cell phone for those few occasions when I do take or make a call. I've looked at dozens of models and never found one I liked until I found the Jabra C150 headset. I didn't think I'd like the in-the-ear earpiece design but, amazingly, it goes in easily, fits snugly and feels completely natural. I never found an over-the-ear or around-the-ear model that I liked. But, with the Jabra C150, you don't need the additional ear-hugging hardware (although it comes with a snap-on over the ear piece). The Jabra C150 comes with three different size ear pieces, but the one right out of the box works great for me. I chose the boom-mike because the dangly one seemed a little less precise. The comfort and sound quality is so good, I'm thinking of getting a Jabra stereo headset for general use.

In one of the most unforgettable moments of the 2006 Winter Games, Lindsey Jacobellis, while way out in front, thought she had her race won, got cocky and hotdogged (snowboated/showboarded) a jump and kissed the gold medal goodbye. Notice I said, "the" gold medal and not "her" gold medal. This is because she was not competing just for herself in the X-Games or the Nationals, this is the Olympic Games where you also compete on behlaf of your nation. She lost "our" gold medal.

There are different ways to grab a snowboard in the air to help stabilize yourself...some are safe and appropriate for racing and some are fancy and more risky and appropriate for competitions which judge on style or when you're just horsing around with your friends.

Here is Lindsey Jacobellis: (1) using the "Indy," in which she gets in a tuck and grabs the front-side edge between her feet; (2) using the "Truck Driver," which entails grabbing both edges near the front foot; and (3) performing the "Backside Method Grab," in which she grabs the backside edge and swings the board out sideways.

Now, I'm well aware I'm taking this way harder than I should but that's because I so abhor showing off. If a game is about points, then that's all its about. You don't get extra credit for style. The world's most amazing miss can't compare to the most dull and routine make. If it's a race, then time and/or place is all that matters. [And, no, I don't understand ski jumping which measures distance and awards style points. I say chuck the judges, get out the lasers and give the gold to the flopping spaz who can jump the farthest.]

The Times of Trenton columnist Steve Politi said it well:

The real sad part? She doesn't get it. Even hours after her race, as she faced an uncomfortable grilling on a teleconference about her ill-timed showboating, she didn't see a problem with what she had done.

"I was having fun," the 20-year-old from Stratton, Vt., said. "Snowboarding is fun. I was feeling great that I was ahead. I wanted to share with the crowd my enthusiasm. I messed up, and oh well, it happens."

Oh well?

It happens?

This is what happened: Jacobellis embarrassed herself on the biggest stage in sports, and in doing so, confirmed for many the perception that American teenagers who belong to our X Games culture care more about highlight DVDs and video-game moves than winning and losing.
***
Later in the teleconference, she admitted she was going for flash, but didn't understand why it was a big deal. "It's just a race," she said. For some, the Olympics are a dream that burns as bright as that massive torch.

If this is just a race, it shouldn't be in the Games. If Jacobellis feels that way, neither should she.

Attacking the snowboarder culture, Chicago Tribune columnist Rick Morrissey spoke for the 40-and-over crowd:

It probably would be a good thing if somebody explained to the snowboarders that once they decided to sit at the adults' table, they made the tacit agreement to play to win. They made the decision to act like Olympians, which now means to act professional.

I wonder how much of this is the result of our schools and children's leagues no longer keeping score or having winners and losers? Competitors in the most important competition in the world not really caring about winning would have previously been unimaginable to me. I'm also curious to see if Jacobellis' sponsors, Visa, Dunkin' Donuts and Kelloggs, want to associated their products with putting style before substance?

I wish two things for Lindsey Jacobellis, a change in attitude and great success in the future including gold in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, in 2010.

Do you use any of these phrases? If you do, please stop, it's annoying.

Ante Meridiem (before noon) in the Morning
Antilock Braking System System
Alternating Current Current
Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line Line
Annual Annual Percentage Rate
Automated Teller Machine Machine
Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code Code
Computer-Aided Design Design
Certified Certified Nursing Assistant
Cable News Network News Network
Common Task Training Training
Digital Audio Tape Tape
Detective Comics Comics
Direct Current Current
Demilitarized Zone Zone
Disk Operating System Operating System
Digital Video Disk Disk
Employee Identification Number Number
Emergency Medical Service Service
Estimated Estimated Time of Arrival
Government in Nature in Nature
Greenwich Mean Time Time
Grand Old Party Party
Graduate Record Examination Examination
Global Positioning System System
Graphical User Interface Interface
Human Immunodeficiency Virus Virus
High Occupancy Vehicle Vehicle
Hypertext Markup Language Language
Instrument Meteorological Conditions
Individual Retirement Account Account
International Standard Book Number Number
Integrated Services Digital Network Network
Internet Service Provider Provider
John Ellis Bush Bush
Liquid Crystal Display Display
Light Emitting Diode Diode
Network Interface Card Card
Personal Computer Computer
Personal Identification Number Number
Please Repondez S'il Vous Plait (Please Respond If You Please)
Personal Time Off Time
Random-Access Memory Memory
Surface-to-Air Missile Missile
Scholastic Aptitude (Assessment) Test Test
Small Computer System Interface Interface
Standard Industrial Code Code
Ultra High Frequency Frequency
Universal Product Code Code
Very High Frequency Frequency
Vehicle Identification Number Number
Wide Area Augmentation System System

We don't let Drew eat many chips so when he does he gets excited and he got really excited recently when he had his first Pringles. He immediately asked for more "Ringles." We asked, "Do you want more pa-pa-Pringles," trying to get him to pronounce the "p." Drew, ever the literalist, answered, "More pa-pa-Pringles." It was pretty cute, but only lasted a day as the next time we got out the can Drew was content simply asking for "Pringles."

The previous owners of our home, which we moved into five years ago, had Dish Network satellite television. We didn't sign up right away, rather we waited until I found a way to simultaneously use multiple incentives offered by Dish. I purchased the requisite equipment dirt cheap on one offer which did not require signing up for any service...they just assumed I'd sign up. Then I waited a few months until I found another offer of free installation and free service for so many months...with the assumption that I'd be renting or buying their equipment at full price...but no requirement that I do so. That's when I called and scheduled an installation.

When the guy came out to set everything up he called into Dish Network and they were in total disbelief that I already had my own equipment and insisted on charging me for it again! I told the installation guy to forget it, that I wasn't about to pay for my equipment twice. He fully understood and wound up spending twenty minutes talking to Dish Network trying to convince them that I already had my own equipment. The conversation was hilarious and contained such statements by the installer as, "Yes, I'm certain, I'm looking right at it." After the installer convinced some supervisor that I did in fact already have my own equipment, I signed off on the purchase order.

When we got our first bill it, of course, had charges for purchase of the equipment which I already owned. And, thus began our near monthly fee dispute with Dish Network. Invariably Dish would overcharge, make up a charge or make some other mistake which amazingly always resulted in a higher bill and never a lower bill. I'd always convince them of their error and then, most annoyingly, they'd lie and say they couldn't credit my account but could offer me a certain number of months of some added programming that I didn't want and which cost them nothing to give me. No thanks, I want my money back...let me talk to your supervisor. At some point I just got so sick and tired of their attempts to screw me that I cancelled everything and...they tried to charge me a cancellation fee which only resulted in me telling them what they could do with their cancellation fee.

A few months of broadcast only television (no great loss) and a good deal on Cox Communications cable television came along...no equipment needed and no problems getting hit with hidden fees. Sometime around that same time we also signed up for Cox high speed internet. Customer service was great, they even admitted that there installation disc wasn't needed...just plug and play without having to install a bunch of software that I didn't need or want. Uptime was remarkable and the speed was addictive. No one goes back to dialup after having broadband.

Cox has been pushing their bundled services--television, internet and phone--for a while, but I was hesitant to switch our phone to the relatively new VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) technology from the good old standard landline we all grew up with. But, after evaluating what we were spending on everything offered by Cox in their bundled services (including ridiculous overcharging by AT&T long distance) we made the switch. We are now happy Cox Bundled Services customers and are very pleased with the quality and cost of their products: digital cable television, high speed internet, local and long distance telephone (using our existing telephones unlike some other VoIP providers which require use of their phones or adapters). We've stress tested the system by simultaneously uploading and downloading over the internet, watching television and talking on the phone and the system never so much as hiccuped. All that on one convenient bill which is significantly lower than what we were paying for everything separate...and not one attempt yet to stick us with a hidden fee.

I'm sure the 2006 Torino Winter Olympics medal recipients will be so overjoyed with winning an Olympic medal that they won't mind the fact that the medals are simply a couple of AOL discs glued together and spray painted. Kudos to the Italians for coming up with a good use for what would otherwise be another toxic landfill contributor. Anything for the environment.







Put together two AOL discs, some red ribbon and a little glue...and you get a silver medalist!


Judging from his beret, it looks like he's a returning champion.

Tonight the University of Tulsa College of Law, Alumni Relations Committee, held their annual Chilifest Cookoff. 34 teams representing law firms, corporations, government offices, law student organizations, faculty and administration entered an incredible array of chilies. The teams competed in six categories, Best Overall Chili (Res Ipsa Loquitur), Best Traditional Chili - beef with or without beans (Stare Decisis), Best Non-Traditional Chili - other meat, vegetarian, etc. (Inter Alia), Most Creative Recipe (Sui Generis), Best Presentation (Attractive Nuisance) and the Tournament of Champions - pitting past winners against each other. The judges were primarily members of the state and federal judiciary.

The team from my employer went with a Redneck theme.

Our chili was made by my coworker Tony who combined beef brisket, pork and ground beef for an out of this world beanless chili. Besides an incredible flavor, it had a delicious aroma, perfect texture and just the right amount of heat. Click "continue reading" to see how our team fared.

With 34 teams, it was impracticable for each judge to taste each chili. So, the competition was set up for teams of judges to rate 11 or 12 chilies each and then send their highest recommended chilies on the the Appellate Judges who would then determine the winner. Here the judges are being sworn in before the tasting began.

There was pretty huge crowd at the Allen Chapman Activity Center, known on campus as ACAC and affectionately pronounced "ack ack."

Entertainment was provided by a live Mariachi band.

Our team was easy to spot in the crowd.

We won second place for Best Presentation thanks mostly to Ed who, with no prior notice, ad libbed a great tale on stage about our bobcat mascot.

Finally, at the end of the evening out team's chili was announced the winner of the Tournament of Champions! I'm on the left giving Tony his well deserved props. (Click here to see Tony when he won the 2002 Chilifest Cookoff.)

OK, now I'm ticked. I've got other things I want to blog about (Cox Bundled Services, Drew the Master Builder, Pa-Pa-Pa-Pringles), but noooo, the mainstream media continues to get the whole Muhammad cartoon story wrong or reports half the story or, even more frustrating, is trying to compete with the Muslims as to who lives by the greater double-standard. So...

Front page of Al Fagr - note the teaser on the right

Did you know last October, during the height of Ramadan, the Egyptian Newspaper Al Fagr (Al Fager, Al Fajr) published the Muhammad cartoons that had been published just a month before in the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten? That's right, the same cartoons Muslims around the world are supposedly all upset about. And, you know what happened when the cartoons of Muhammad appeared in the Egyptian newspaper...absolutely nothing. There wasn't a single protest. No one was murdered. No buildings were burned. Nadda. Nothing.

Enlarged date: October 17, 2005

Egypt has a population of 77.5 million of which 94% are Muslim and those are comprised mostly of conservative Sunni. Now if they weren't upset about the paper's publication of the imageless "prophet" then this whole Muslim uprising isn't really about the European papers' publishing the cartoons. This is further evidenced by the fact that news of Al Fagr's publication of the cartoons has now gone around the world and no other Muslim nation is calling for a boycott of Egyptian goods or burning Egyptian embassies or threatening to murder Egyptian newspaper editors.

Muhammad Cartoons in Al Fagr

So what is all the fuss really about? Well, don't look for a rational reason. Any rational reason has been disproven. The people who are protesting, committing and threatening violence are irrational. They are driven by hatred, bloodlust, jealousy, ignorance and provoked by religious and political leaders who fear freedom and democracy because they know they will lose their power if such ideals ever took hold.

But, I haven't told you anything you didn't already know because you already heard it all in the mainstream press, ABCCBSNBCCNNPBS, right? Thought not.

So now that we know even in a Muslim nation, it's no big deal to publish cartoons of Muhammad, you've got to wonder why the American media still won't show them. CNN previously made this disclaimer:

"CNN has chosen to not show the cartoons in respect for Islam."

Now CNN makes this updated