I had the television on in the background while doing some research on my computer, and looked up just in time to see the name of the law enforcement officer speaking on screen:
Deputy Chad Sheriff
Can you imagine trying to complain about, or commend, that deputy? That would sound just like a repeat of Who's on first...
I guess some people think the news business is exciting, but seeing these guys around town makes me wonder if it isn't actually really, really boring. They're told to drive somewhere in the city to set up their equipment, often in the bitter cold or sweltering heat, and wait for something to happen. Can you imagine that conversation: "Bob, go out there and try to get some footage of him walking to his car."
I think I'll stick with my day job.
I know this is probably a universal problem, but I feel like I can never get a handle on my to-do lists. No doubt I create much of the problem for myself by being overly ambitious when planning what I think I can, or should, accomplish, but at the end of the day I usually feel like I should have done more. When I take an honest look at how I spend my time, I realize that I spend far too much of my free time watching television. It's just that it's so easy to watch a few minutes of news when I get home, and then discover that I've been meaning to get up for the past hour (or more). When I got home yesterday I had a bit of a dialog with myself about the matter. On the one hand, I could try to not watch television for a week or so, but then I immediately began amending the goal. After all, why should I go without the news in the morning? And Friday evenings? Why should I worry about accomplishing anything on Friday evenings when I'm home? That's for relaxing, right? And Sunday mornings, I like to watch Reliable Sources on CNN. That's a newsy program, so that should be okay too, right? Oh, oh, and what about...
Okay, maybe I haven't gotten this all worked out yet after all.
(This won't make sense without sound)
A clean desk may be the sign of a sick mind, but it sure feels good while it lasts.
Several years ago my car was vandalized. I got up on a Sunday morning, took the trash to the dumpster, and saw a bunch a rocks from the retaining wall around the car, before I finally understood that my car had been attacked. Several windows were gouged, as were the roof, left side and rear quarterpanel, rear, and right rear quarterpanel. The car was still perfectly drivable, but as it was only a couple years old, I couldn't help but feeling upset. Adding insult to injury, I had only gotten the car back from the garage a few days earlier--they had been repairing damage done by the thief who smashed the window and hacked up my dashboard and console to steal my radio. I called the police, and as the officer filed the report she asked if I had angered anyone. Could someone have been seeking retribution for something? Not that I could think of, but I couldn't help feeling just a bit paranoid after that.
Later that day (the Sunday afternoon), the vandals returned, apparently emboldened by having gotten away with the attack on my car, and attacked several other vehicles in the parking lot. The officer who responded to that incident did some investigation and discovered that the vandals were 7 and 9 year old brothers who'd had a bit of a lark. I admit to feeling relieved that I had not been intentionally targeted, but though the boys admitted their guilt, the officer told me that the parents were not responsible for restitution to the victims. My insurance covered most of the repairs, but between that and the theft a few weeks earlier, my insurance company dropped my policy.
It's not hard to argue that, morally at least, the parents were responsible for the actions of their children. 7 and 9 year old children should not be allowed to run around an apartment complex unsupervised. The world is not a safe place for a child alone, and they do not have the experience to make appropriate choices.
If you were to argue that parents are financially responsible for damages caused by their minor children, at what age does that responsibility cease? A 7-year old probably doesn't spend much time running loose (at least I hope not), but what about a 16-year old with a driver's license? I'm guessing they're doing a number of things that Mom and Dad don't know about. Should the parents have to pay for damage they could not have reasonably known about and therefore prevented?
What do you think?
This item appeared on the campus police blotter recently:
4:30 p.m. Larceny - A student reported that her vehicle parked on the Hospital Hill campus at 25th and Holmes was broken into between 7:30 and 4:15 p.m. Her wedding ring, cell phone and CDs were taken.
I must confess when I read this I imagined the scene when she explained to her husband why she'd shucked her wedding band for class.
When you shop for bras in a department store, take your purchases to a male cashier. It doesn't matter if you are young or old, beautiful or less-appealing, slender or plush. You can watch the waves of panic wash over him as he realizes that he will have to pick up each item of ladies underwear, ring it up, ask if you want to keep the hangers, and bag it, all without having any thoughts about the fact that there is a woman standing in front of him and he is touching her underwear.
There was breaking news in the Ramsey case yesterday as authorities announced the arrest of a suspect: John Mark Karr. Karr is a 41-year old white male; an American living in Thailand and teaching second grade. Initial media reports indicate that he offered a confession that included details of the crime not known to the public, which sounds pretty incriminating. Obviously I don't have any details about what he said, but I did watch the footage of Karr when authorities in Thailand paraded him in front of television cameras. On camera, Karr said that he killed JonBenet--he loved her, he says, and killed her accidentally, but the whole thing was very strange. His televised statements were exceedingly vague about the details.
The pundits are debating the case on the cable news--some are arguing that he probably didn't do it as there was no prior history of violence in the suspect's background, but until David Westerfield was convicted of Danielle VanDamm's abduction and murder, neither did he.
Karr reportedly fled a California jurisdiction in the midst of child pornography charges, and his ex-wife (whom he married when she was 16 and he was 24) describes him as child obsessed and inappropriately affectionate with children. It isn't a stretch to believe this would be the kind of person who would commit this crime, but it is also plausible that he is an attention-seeker who has just managed to gain worldwide notoriety.
I don't know if I didn't get many gifts when I was a kid or if I was just particularly unappreciative, but I don't remember sending thank you notes when I was growing up. I find them terribly intimidating to write. I struggle to find the perfect words to properly express what I wish to say without sounding trite. Thank you for the pretty doll that cries and drinks water from a bottle doesn't really work...mostly because no one gives me pretty dolls, or even ugly dolls for that matter. And the fact is, most of the time it isn't really the specific item that the gift-giver presented that is truely important. What I really want to say is thank you so much for caring enough about me that you wanted to commemorate whatever occasion that prompted the gift. Thank you for being my friend even when you're not giving me gifts. I can never quite find the words that express that sentiment, however, so I end up putting off the task and then feeling mortified because I haven't acknowledged the gift.
I have these friends who not only send thank you notes, they also send them promptly, and they always say just the right thing. I've decided to look to them as my inspiration and turn over a new leaf. Sending them...the saying the right thing part is going to take more work.
Just, please don't complain if you can't read my handwriting.
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