"Education is what remains after one has forgotten what one has learned in school." - Albert Einstein

Someone who lives at our house can never remember which chain controls the light 

and which the fan. Here's the solution!

I promised to make up for last night's very brief post and I'm a man of my word. Just understand that this has been written throughout the day, a paragraph at a time. So if verb tenses seem odd or the flow of thoughts even more random than usual, that's why.

This guy is doing some pretty trick stuff with paper.

The Australian Open is underway. I hate their blue courts but in the middle of winter (here) a tennis major is a tennis major.
Weird terminology. Things like "tied at love" means neither has scored. (think about that)
And "Federer through at Australian Open" means he's still in the tournament.

It's been awhile since I've written about the immigration issue. Relax, I'm not going to now, though I won't make any promises about the future, especially as that debate progresses in D.C. over the next few months. But as one who used to live there I found this PBS program both interesting and insightful. Interesting because the scenes were those we saw all the time as we'd travel around the Salinas valley. Insightful because it shows a side of the debate that too often gets ignored, or obscured by shouts of "No amnesty!" and "Illegals!" We now live in a border state beset by illegal immigrants and the crime many of them perpetrate. But they are not the sum total, not even a significant minority, of those who cross the border illegally.
We've got a mess, and there is a way to sort it out that both protects our legal system and treats fairly those who have been doing some of our hardest work with our "wink and a nod" consent.
Please find a time, if you can't now, to watch this.
Need To Know

I've been following the Alex Rodriguez story, reading the articles and watching the "60 Minutes" segment from last Sunday night. One of the more interesting twists, IMO, is that Monday he included the Players' Union, along with the league in his lawsuit. He says they didn't provide him with the support and representation they should have, and aided MLB's unfair punishment of him.
Now he really is out there by himself. His union certainly won't be coming to his aid when they're named in his suit. And the other players in the league now have to choose between aligning with Alex or their union. Duh! So he shouldn't look for endorsements from his colleagues.
But I did hear that Alex and Lance Armstrong have booked adjoining rooms at a vacation site in the Caribbean.

The use of spray paint in a big city usually means graffiti, but check out this guy.

I had a 7:00 b'fast meeting this morning, and on Tuesdays Pam doesn't have to be to work until 9:00, so I left the house before her. When she starts at nine she doesn't get home until almost 6:00 p.m., so our new system has me fixing dinner those days. That way we can eat shortly after she walks in the door.

On my way out this morning I said, "Leave me a note about dinner."
I came home to find a Post-It in my chair that said:
DINNER
salmon
baked sw. potato
frozen vegs

Clearly she doesn't understand the severe limits of my kitchen skills. Exactly what am I supposed to do with the salmon? I learned last week how to nuke the "sw. potato" but when should that occur relative to whatever it is I'm supposed to do with the salmon? Or are we eating this dinner in courses? And does she really want us to eat frozen vegetables?
This new system has a few bugs to work out.

I'm not sure if I'll post the next two days, and maybe not Friday.
My friend Jim is flying in from Seattle tomorrow a little after noon. The afternoon/evening is about hanging out and talking whatever. We will spend all day Thursday at the Barrett-Jackson car auction. And then we'll spend all day Friday at the Russo Steele car auction before he flies home late that afternoon. Between the two auctions we'll look at over 2,000 classic and collectible cars.

Jim's a car guy, too. We went to Daniel Webster Elementary together, from thence to James Monroe Junior High, and then on to Ballard High School (Ya sure, you betcha!). We knew each other, but weren't friends. We both took auto shop at Ballard - Jim was already a car guy but I didn't know a muffler bearing from distributor fluid - and Mr. Mickelson paired us as shop partners. But again, that was our only contact, and while we were friendly, we weren't friends.

One of the gals who also went through all those schools at the same time organized a reunion for the  Webster 6th grade graduating class, about 24 of us attended, and Jim and I connected. That was four years ago (?) and we've stayed in contact ever since. When I'm in Seattle we meet for coffee and conversation, but exchange emails several times a week. And text during Seahawks games! This will be his first trip to Phoenix, but what better occasion than car auction week?

So if you don't hear from me for a couple of days you'll understand why. And when I'm back...I'll have pics!