I Called It! (plus: Warning! Haley Content)

Aaah, to be loved. This picture was taken during the Easter egg hunt at our church last spring. She had a really hard time that day, for some reason. More Haley content after a brief sports blurb. ---------------- We went to the MSU basketball game yesterday, and let me just say my throat really hurts today. Let me set the stage... We're 3rd in the OVC. A win yesterday guarantees a home playoff game (top four at home). A loss yesterday and tomorrow (which happens to be against #1 Austin Peay) and we could finish as low as 7th. Anyway, we played Tennessee State last, in 7th at the time and victors in our meeting in Nashville a few weeks ago. We come out flat and lifeless and they come out on fire. The ride 68% FG shooting and 84% 3-pt shooting (10-12 from beyond the arc) to a 19 point half time lead. At halftime, as the teams are coming out of the locker room, I look at Kelsee and I say "I feel it. I FEEL it. We're going to pull this out." Her response: "I'm glad you do, but does the team?" Within a minute, the lead is up to 22 points and then It happens. The comeback. By the 9 or 10 minute mark it's in single digits. At the 3 minute mark or so we take the lead and never relinquish it. Final score: 84-76, Morehead. One of the most amazing comebacks I've witnessed in person. And just about the loudest I've heard it in Johnson Arena. Just amazing! And I called it. Sure, some will I was just the overly-optimistic fan trying to psych myself up. But I know the truth. After all, I have been (self-)dubbed "The Great Prognosticator." ------- So music is a pretty big deal in our family, as has been mentioned before here and other places. And Haley already has a clear idea of the music she likes (anything with a good beat, pretty much). I've made her a few CDs to listen to in the car, but we (Kelsee and I) have quickly tired of listening to "Celebration" and "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" and her other music. Anyway, I came up with the idea to do "family CDs". This would contain a combination of songs: one of Haley's, one of Kelsee's, one of mine, one of Haley's and so on and so on. At first, Haley liked the concept, then when her song would end and it was time for Kelsee's, you'd have thunk we'd have plucked her little curls out one by one. She's adjusted, thank goodness, but now a new attitude has arisen. Whenever we're listening to the CD and Kelsee isn't in the car, she gets this little shifty look on her face and says, almost whispering, "Mom's not here. Let's skip her songs." (She does the same thing to my music if I'm not in the car.) It's hilarious. She thinks she's being soooo sneaky. When we get back in the car, she'll taunt us by saying, in a sing-song voice: "We skipped your songs! We skipped your songs!" And then she'll giggle. She's our resident nut. On that note, if you do something that she thinks is silly or weird or crazy, she'll cirle her finger in the air around her ear and point at you. Like she has room to talk. Where do they get this stuff?

My Response to Kally's Post

So Kally has a humorous post about the software that makes up a husband. Here's my response: First, the woman. The versatile multitasking system, but dang complex and not very user friendly. Then, the man. Simple and user friendly, but pretty limited in scope and function.

This Post has No Fitting Title

Just read an interesting article: http://www.wsmv.com/news/15357541/detail.html Must really suck. --------- In other news, we tore off the wall and ceiling paneling in our basement. The good news is none of the studs are damaged from a leak in the corner of our basement. Also, the inside has a water barrier. The bad news is the inside has a water barrier, which means we are probably going to have to dig out our back yard and put some drainage in. We also have a leak under our kitchen sink that has come through the basement ceiling. However, I think this will be an easy fix. You know, since I'm a plumber. On that same note, on our visit to Indiana, my mom stated that my dad had absolutely no skill whatsoever when it came to home maintenance and improvement. Therefore, I do not take the blame anymore. It was inherited. ---------- We enjoyed the total lunar eclipse last night, thanks to God smiling down on us. As I listened to an NPR story about it on the way home from work, I lamented the cloudy sky. When I stepped out of basketball just after 10 last night and saw a clear sky, I was giddy. (Yes, men can be giddy, just not in groups.) Anyway, Haley happened to be awake when I got home, and she and Kelsee had been viewing it from the family room window. We got out my binoculars and braved the frigid night to view it a little closer. We could get a nice view of Saturn (though my binocs didn't show the rings) and the star Regulus. It was very nice. Several times last night, Haley just out of the blue started listing off all the planets, unpromted. She got Mercury ("Mercmury"), Earth, Neptune ("It's really cold"), Mars ("It's red") and Venus. With a little help she got Pluto ("Sounds like Playdough, huh?") and Saturn. She didn't remember Uranus or Jupiter. She also shared with us that she wouldn't want to stand on Neptune without her socks on shows because it is too cold. Keep in mind, during preschool two years ago they had a lesson on the planets, and I read a little book to her about the planets once a long time ago. That's it. Just another example of her amazing memory. She'll say "Do you remember...?" and share some obscure memory. We've ceased to question whether it really occured or not.

Here in my car, I feel safest of all...

Funny Car Accident Old Lady - Click here for more home videos --------- So, I determined it was high time I posted about cars and driving. You know, since 1) a few years ago I came to the realization I was very opinionated, and 2) I really hate other drivers. A great combination indeed. I speed. Sure I do. Most people do. I've received four tickets in my day for speeding. And I've been pulled over at least twice more and warned. On the freeway, I rarely drive less than five miles more than the speed limit. I feel comfortable driving less than 10 miles more. When I'm running late, I will at times go just less than 20 miles more than the speed limit. This also happens when I'm listening to some good music and not really paying attention to my speedometer (a scary thought, indeed). I occasionally tailgate, but that's because I'm provoked. That's it. That's the extent of my potential moving violations. (Don't listen to my wife when she says I don't stop at stop signs. A clear attempt to smear my driving record.) I don't cut people off (usually) or run red lights (on purpose). I don't pass in a no passing zone or fail to use my turn signal. I stop before turning right on a red light (most of the time) and never turn right at a red light if the sign says I can't. I only make U-Turns if there is no sign forbidding it. I try to be curteous when I drive, waving at those who let me out in front of them, ceding the right of way to mergers, and slowing down when someone attempts to pass me. I pull to the left lane when passing a police officer on the right shoulder and slow down to the speed limit in work zones. I think those who don't do the things in the above paragraph are either awful drivers or jerks. Or both. Never has this become more apparent than at the intersection of Rosemont Garden and Nicholasville. Nicholasville Road is a tricky road because of the reversible lanes. Yet there are some things that are very clearly marked. For instance, their are two lanes on Rosemont where it intersects Nicholasville. One always turns left onto N-ville. The other turns left and right or just right, depending on the time of day. This is because in the afternoon/evening rush hour traffic, N-ville has only one lane heading into Lexington. There is one left/right turn lane and four lanes heading out of Lexington. (This is the opposite of the morning rush hour.) There is a sign a couple of hundred feet back from the intersection stating the hours. I can understand missing that. However, clearly visible even several hundred feet before that is a large sign hanging next to the traffic lights at the intersection. The sign is digital. It shows that you can only turn left and right in the mornings and only right in the afternoons. It has a nice bright arrow curving to the right and nothing curving to the left. It's big. And bright. And clearly visible. And bright. Anyway, every afternoon (not to be confused with occasionally) some idiot jerk decides to turn left from that right lane, which means that basically two lanes are trying to dump into one lane. This is problematic on many levels, not the least of which is that every lane on N-ville is full of cars. And the jerks on N-ville are already sitting in the intersection gridlocking (like they didn't know of the high likelihood of the light changing while they sat there.) You can always tell a person knows they are being a jerk because they refuse to make eye contact. If they thought they were innocent or at least clueless they'd be looking at you wondering why you were trying to cut them off. I refuse to yield the right of way to those morons, and have almost forced them into the curb on the side of N-ville. And yet they still don't look at me! Aggrevating. Other driving annoyances: - The guy at the light who refuses to inch forward so cars can get in the right turn lane even though he has half a car length of empty concrete in front of him and the guy behind him is revving his engine and very clearly can fit through with just another inch. - The person who passes in the no passing zone. - Tailgaters in the left lane who are tailgating a person who is already exceeding the speed limit by more than 10 miles an hour. - Drivers who don't get in the turn lane to turn left. (Why else would it be there???) - Drivers who weave in and out of lanes of traffic. I'm stopping because I'm getting frustrated. -------- On a more positive note, here's a good tip I read in e-mail. If you have a remote control with panic button for your car, keep it beside your bed. If your in bed at night and you here a prowler in your house, just press the panic button and pray it wakes the neighborhood. This doesn't apply to people who live in the country and miles from neighbors. You didn't want the neighbors to hear your late night parties or loud music or marital contentions, so you'll just have to live without this nice tip.

Let it snow...

What's wrong with snow? It rocks! Kirk (the guy I carpool with) is from southeastern Texas. He hates the snow. It's cold and wet and stupid. Tim (my boss) is a motorcycle enthusiast. He hates the snow. It's cold and wet and stupid. I, on the other hand, love snow. I love watching it fall. I love seeing the way it shimmers in the sunlight. I love driving in it, playing in it and feeling the cold flakes melt on my face. My only frustration is we haven't gotten very much snow in years. Seattle is practically snow free. And the winters we have been back in Kentucky have been pretty mild. Aren't we due up for another winter "Storm of the Century"? How can I order one of these? Can I do it on the web? Needless to say, for the second year in a row we are heading for a weekend trip to visit my grandmother. In Indiana. Northern Indiana. It's supposed to be in the mid-20s or something this weekend. However, it's not supposed to snow until Monday, but I'm holding out hope that it happens faster and we get snow to drive in on Sunday. Plus, I'm hopping there is still measurable snow on the ground. I'm bringing Haley's sled. We will play in the snow, dangit!

A New Haley-ism

So Haley has discovered the joy of my Palm Pilot. She wants to play games or draw on it whenever she gets a chance. Usually, she just goes to my work bag and gets it out. However, the other day I had taken it out of the bag to use as an alarm clock. Afterwards I placed it on the bookshelf. A few hours later she comes into the dining room where Kelsee and I were playing a game and asks, "Daddy, where is your stylusphone?" Needless to say I think I pulled something laughing so hard. ----- By the way, here are some pictures of Haley and some of her cousins at Kally's wedding.

The Many Faces of Haley

Thoughts on a long weekend...

From Kally and Kris's wedding to an MSU game to the Super Bowl. So much to say... Friday night: - Wedding rehearsal. So Kally decided to have all her little neices and nephews participate in the wedding. Plan was to just have them walk down the aisle in matching dresses (for the girls) and matching pants and sweaters (for the boys). Simple enough. Question was, how to do it. The initial idea was to have Hannah (7), Haley (5), and Kennedy (4) hold the hands of the younger ones (Graydon and Brady (3), Zachery and Harper (2) and Alex (1+)). Problem. Hannah is holding hands of Graydon and Harper. Haley holding hands of Brady and Alex. All the younger ones decide to go in opposite directions. Poor Hannah and Haley, trying to corral the little kids. And poor Kennedy. Zach just cried because he wanted to hold Brady's hand. Sheesh. Anyway, there was a good, albeit humorous, solution (see below). - I substituted for one of the missing groomsmen during the first runthrough. I have a couple of thoughts about this. First off, I've never actually been a groomsman. I attribute this to either the fact that I'm antisocial and have no friends, or the fact that most of my friends are old and/or married (sorry Jeff and Kirk). Not that I'm sad or anything. Far from it. My job was to chaffeur my daughter, my wife and a tree. No worries, no stress and no excessive standing. My kind of wedding. Needless to say, I was replaced after the first runthrough. I wish I could say I was victim of downsizing, but alas, I fear I was fired for poor performance. - After the rehearsal, we went back to Kourtney's house to help find music downloads for the wedding. We found a great hip hop version of "Here Comes the Bride". And while everyone joked about using it, no one had the guts. Wimps. Saturday afternoon: - Family pictures an hour before the wedding? I don't think so. We did get them done just after the wedding. Not only did they want to get all the kids to smile and look forward at the same time, they expected them to sit, on their own, on the step in front of the adults. Ooookay. Of course, even if they had gotten all the kids looking forward, they probably would have gotten all the adults looking down at the kids while saying "Look forward! Smile!" I also noticed they stuck me just behind Kally's veil. What's up with that? - The wedding was beautiful. I can say that. It truly was. It was full of all the sweet things weddings should be full of. Not to mention a little humor. As I said above, they came up with a solution of sorts to the kid issue. Someone come up with the great idea to have the kids just hold on to a navy blue ribbon/rope thing. Very quick thinking, if you ask me. Anyway, so here come the kids down the aisle, all pretty smiles and pretty clothes. Suddenly, Graydon, who was second in line, lets out a "Choo! Choo!", complete with arm motions. A couple of more Choo! Choo!s later and the train arrived at its destination. Had us all in stitches. Pretty cute. And yes, I said cute, as I'm secure in my masculinity. - As I said, the wedding was beautiful. Kally was glowing and, besides the fact that she was first marrying Kirby's wife (Kristin) as opposed to her own intended (Kristian), everything went off without a hitch. It was a brief ceremony, which is always nice. - Mom Kappes's new wedding cake recipe was awesome. However, it's a closely guarded trade secret, so I can't list it here. - The groom's cake was a hit, as well, as it depicted a scene that contained, in Kally's words, "All the things that Kris loves." It was basically a construction site, complete with red pickup, bulldozer, forklift, gravel, block walls and a port-a-potty. Since it supposedly contained all the things that Kris loved, I can only assume Kally was in the port-a-potty. - Speaking of Kally, I was all good until she and Kris were making their exit. I looked over at Dad and his face was all contorted like, complete with tears. Thanks, Dad. Thank a lot. I thought later that Kally was only 12 when Kelsee and I got married, which means I'd seen her grow up. She is more like my little sister, not just my sister-in-law. She's grown up into a remarkable woman, an interesting mix of Kelsee, Kourtney and her own free spirit. I think she's heading in the right direction in her life. - As for Kris, I had two interesting experiences regarding him last week. First off, we were playing ball on Wednesday and he just seemed off his game. At one point he expressed his frustration after a missed shot. Being on the opposing team, I teased him a little, and then excused his game, commenting "Your mind is on other things. You know what's happening in a couple of days." Innocent me was of course referring to his wedding. However, without skipping a beat, he drops the "boom-chicka-boom-boom" generic porn music line. Hey, whatever's on your mind, pal. The other experience involved a discussion between me and Jesse, an employee of Kris's who had come to play ball. We were sitting out a game waiting for our next run and we introduced ourselves to each other. I asked who he came with and he said Kris. He then proceeded to tell me that he had worked for Kris for four years and felt Kris was like a brother to him. "I think the world of him." What greater testament can you have than that? Not that I needed confirmation, but it never hurts. Saturday evening: - We headed to the Morehead basketball game (not Kally and Kris, who took the "get a room" line seriously). Nice win over a clearly overmatched Kentucky Christian team. We got a good glimpse of our key rotation guys next season, assuming we can keep these guys. Let me just say, the last time I enjoyed a team like this was during the Fick-Kinnard-Boardly-William-Majick-Witherspoon days in the mid 90s. Can we just pretend the Macy era never occured? Done. - Morehead is third in the conference at 8-5 and 11-10 overall. We've won 7 of 8. We have two seniors and a plethora of sophomores and freshman who contribute. Look out next season, folks! Sunday morning: - Church. Ivan taught the Young Men, so that was good. Sunday afternoon: - Nice, long nap. Sunday evening: - Super Bowl party. As usual, good food (way too much of it). A couple of good commercials, but nothing spectacular. A phenomenal game, complete with a play for the ages (near sack becomes miraculous catch). - This game might be one of the best SBs I've ever seen. Huge underdog pulls off unbelieveable upset over undefeated team many are tagging with the label of "best ever". - Manning's made the leap. - Super Bowl XLI and Super Bowl XLII, or Manning Bowl I and Manning Bowl II? - I don't care what anyone might try to say, but the Patriot's season IS a disappointment. I rooted the Mariners on in 2001 when they won 116 games (tying a record), but lost in the ALCS. Sure the season was fun, but without a title, they might as well have lost 116. Same thing here. 18-1 just doesn't have much of a ring to it. More of a thud. - Did I mention that the food was good? Sheesh, this is long. I'll leave with this wonderful video...