In No Particular Order

Link of the day
http://www.flashbynight.com/test/
I finished above average, but just barely. Too many questions with numbers. So, how did you do?

I forgot to mention
The dr. said the part of my brain that does short-term memory was also fuzzy.

Not much press
Oil output in Iraq is the highest it's been in the last three years. U.S. military deaths are way down, as are IED incidences. Refugees are returning to Baghdad by the thousands, and club matches (soccer) in the city stadium have just started up again for the first time in years. Anybody hear a politician saying that maybe the surge has worked? 'Cause I haven't. Hmmm.

I'm sorry
Pam had to work again today so she couldn't make our normal Saturday family lunch at Chick-Fil-A. While we were there I noticed a 20-something gal sitting alone in a booth. She looked so miserable. I watched her eat alone, obviously lost in her thoughts. After picking at her food she took a pen out of her purse and began to write on a napkin. Before long she was in tears. A few minutes later she quickly got up and left.
I felt sorry for her. I'm going to guess that a breakup has recently occurred and she was probably the one who got dumped.
I've thought about her all afternoon, and I wish now that I'd gone over to talk to her, just to tell her I was sorry to see her so sad and ask if she wanted to talk. I'm sorry I didn't. Had I done so, my kids would probably have thought I was crazy, butting in, and/or doing something inappropriate. Maybe they'd be right. But one of the advantages of being an old man is that you can get away with stuff you couldn't before gray hair and extra skin under your chin. And if I was 20-something and crying alone in a restaurant I think it would feel nice just to hear somebody say, "I'm sorry you're so sad."
If I could throw my day in reverse I'd go back and do that.
I hate it when I realize I missed an opportunity to be nice.

An equation
Anticipiss = E x SPS x CIC; where E is gas gauge reading, SPS is Slow Pump Speed and CIC is Clueless Inside Clerk who would rather talk to her coworker than get you your receipt.

They just don't get it
Today Andy Pettitte, a very highly paid all-star pitcher for the Yankees and one of the players named as having used HGH in the Mitchell report, today admitted that he used the drug to recover from an elbow injury. In his statement he said, in part, "If what I did was an error in judgment on my part...."
Wait a minute. You just said you did, in fact, take HGH without a valid prescription. What's with the "If"? Are you saying it might not have been an error in judgment? And how 'bout we call it "illegal" instead of an error in judgment? As in, you're a criminal. That's what we call people who break the law.
Pro Athlete confessions belong in some special category of speech, next to those made by politicians.

I'm still thinking about this
I'm trying to figure out how I feel about elaborate church Christmas programs that are advertised as community events and that charge a fee to attend. I know the churches put them on as outreach events, and at the vast majority of them the gospel is presented. People hear the good news of who Christ is and why he came, and some respond, deciding to accept him as their Savior. But something about selling tickets to present God's gracious (i.e. free) provision seems incongruent. I'm sure the response goes something like this: "If we don't charge for admission we can't afford the production costs, and without a quality production like this people won't come, and then we lose the opportunity to tell them about the gospel." I understand that thinking. But something about Christ coming so humbly as to be born in a stable and spending his life among the poor and disenfranchised seems to be at odds with production values and ticket sales.
Your thoughts?

If you have the option
I wrote a letter to Alaska Airlines yesterday about the service my family and I received last Monday. They really did an outstanding job at helping all of us deal with the issues that came up, from the treatement I got on the plane, to getting my luggage back to me, to making that ticket re-usable, to even calling my brother to see if the cell phone they found on the jet-way floor was mine. (It was and they helped get it back to me.) So FWIW, given the option I'll choose Alaska for future flights. Assuming they'll let me near one of their planes again.

Enjoy your Sunday morning. Get up early enough to have a quiet cup of coffee before the commotion starts, and then go worship with those of like precious faith. Is there a better use of that time?