Friday, October 3, 2008

Random Friday Ramblings

We watched the debate between the Vice-Presidential candidates last night. It was interesting. Biden had a little trouble getting his words straight a few times. Palin winked at me.

The whole experience vs. less experience back and forth is getting more and more ironic. At the top of the tickets we have Obama touting his emphasis on change as over against McCain’s purported identification with the outgoing Bush administration; in the second slots we have Palin touting her relative inexperience as a strength as over against Biden’s long participation in the Senate. The contrast at the top is between the older McCain and the younger Obama; the contrast between the VP candidates features the older Biden and the younger Palin. It’s just weird.

Also, I can’t decide when Palin talks about “Joe six-pack” if she’s talking to me or not. My Diet Cokes come in a twelve-pack. And as for this “maverick” business—which one’s Bart and which one’s Bret? (Note to my young readers—there was a Maverick TV show before there was the movie starring Jodie Foster and Mel Gibson. Note to my very young readers—if you have no idea what I’m talking about, there’s always Google.) Finally, how can we really know how many times a Senator voted for or against something and in what context those votes were cast unless we all read every word of every issue of Congressional Quarterly? Does anybody besides me feel like every vote we cast in every presidential election is something of a shot in the dark?

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Alzheimer’s disease is one of the great scourges of our time. I have worked with so many church members who have become less and less themselves and whose families have had to deal with that painful decline and with the trauma of trying to find an appropriate residence for their loved ones when they can no longer live at home. I believe that the grace of God is operative in such situations and I try to keep looking for it. I can’t help but be grateful, though, for senior adults who are blessed to maintain their own personality and identity until they pass on. We really need to pray for Alzheimer’s patients and their families. How can the church be more proactive in addressing the fact that it can be hard for many families to find good care for their loved ones who are stricken with that disease?

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A mystery I will ponder until the day I die: how could Brad Pitt give up Jennifer Aniston for Angelina Jolie? Personally, though, I wouldn’t give up Debra Ruffin for either of them.

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Last week, a nice Disney employee was asking guests who their favorite princess was; she would then give them a sticker with that princess’s picture on it. When she asked me, I said “Marilyn Monroe.” She gave me a Stitch sticker.

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The Georgia Bulldogs are off this week, which is a good thing. They need to recover from the beating administered to them by the Crimson Tide. Next up for the Dawgs is the Tennessee Volunteers.

My move from Tennessee to Georgia in 1999 boded well for the Dawgs. During my six football seasons in Nashville (1993-1998), UT went 6-0 vs. Georgia. The Dawgs won four straight from 1999 until 2002.

The story is told of two inmates on death row who were to be executed on the same day. When the guard asked one of them for his last request, he replied, “I’d like to hear Rocky Top one more time.” When the guard asked the second inmate, who was from Georgia, for his last request, he answered, “Kill me first.”

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Fall is my favorite time of year for three reasons.

1. The weather turns cooler.
2. College football season is in full swing.
3. The Major League Baseball post-season is underway.

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Speaking of the MLB post-season, I had hoped for a Chicago Cubs vs. Tampa Bay Rays World Series. The Cubs are down 2-0 to the Dodgers in the three out of five series. The Rays are up 1-0 on the White Sox. I’d like to see the Cubs put their century-long dry spell behind them but it looks unlikely. The Rays are just a great story and a fine young ball team with a low, by MLB standards, payroll. It would be great to see them take down all the high-salaried teams.

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Another Lord’s Day is right around the corner. The thought of resurrection still makes me shudder.

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