Saturday, June 07, 2003

NEEDLINGS

Does anyone really need their backyard? I guess we have to have a yard because we have three dogs, but they're the only ones who use it. Amy and I rarely sit outside and "enjoy the yard". When you narrow down the days or nights when it's not too hot and the bugs don't outnumber the population of Beijing, there are probably about 4 hours a year our backyard is comfortable enough to use. Checking the schedule I see that day conflicted with something good on TV.

While walking today (on my supposed to be daily but is now turning out to be not quite that frequent walk) around the neighborhood I noticed the people I saw out in their yards. All the people I saw outside were "working" on maintaining their yards. Mowing, weed-eating, etc.... I didn't see any kids actually playing in their yards. I didn't see any families sitting on the neatly arranged lawn furniture or any family picnics. I saw a multitude of elaborate swingsets, all missing one component...kids. The only kids that I saw playing were shooting hoops on a driveway.

It struck me how much effort we put into things we don't really need.
==========
Amy has returned from Baylor after trying to assist Lisa in making her final preparations for college. Lisa is at that point in life where she's wanting to assert her independence and not quite sure how to go about it. We've been through this before but it's a hard lesson each time. You feel the kids growing "away" not just growing "up". I try to remind Amy that they'll know where we are "when they need us".
=========
Tiffany drove in unexpectedly last night. She was apparently planning on spending the weekend with Lisa and didn't know Lisa wasn't going to be in town. Tiffany is getting a quick dose of reality now that she's graduated and is living for the next paycheck. I offered to give her money for gas last night and today knowing she could use it, but she is asserting her independence too and refusing to take it.

Before she leaves I'll slip ten bucks in her purse.

Today is one of those days when I know what I need. I need to be needed.


Philippians 4:19

And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main 6/07/2003 02:04:00 PM  

0 Comments

Friday, June 06, 2003

Grr Spurs Grr

Well so much for a sweep. As they say in Jersey, Idontwannatalkaboutit.

posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main 6/06/2003 10:28:00 PM  

0 Comments

SCATTER SHOTS

Spurs and Nets tonight. I'm trying to keep my optimism in check, but I still think the Spurs may dominate these guys. I haven't seen or heard an answer from the Nets yet...but who knows.
=====
Speaking of silence...did you read about this guy? He's going in my Ignatius Reilly file. Doesn't speak for 29 years and his mother takes care of him the entire time.
There's some truth to the adage that children should be seen and not heard...but when they're still living in your house at 51 years old...they shouldn't be either.
=======
Speaking of in the house....
There's an intern in the house..actually I have an intern at my office. That sentence has taken on a new meaning as a result of Bill Clinton hasn't it?

Anyway she's a nice young woman from Illinois who got the pleasure today of seeing what it's like to report to work at 3 a.m. and not have time for chit chat. I told her when she walked in, "This is the worst of times, this is the best of times. It's the worst of times, because it's 3 a.m...it's the best of times because if you really want to work, there's no one here to get in your way."
She got out of my way and after three hours of observing me in the daily frenzy I'm so used to of non-stop writing, audio editing, making calls and anchoring newscasts without getting out of my chair, I turned around and she was still there.
She said, "When do you pee?"

She's a keeper...she knows what's important.
======
Speaking of bodily functions....Aren't you glad you aren't the person studying this fascinating subject?



posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main 6/06/2003 12:05:00 PM  

0 Comments

Thursday, June 05, 2003

A BLOG WE ARE A CHANGIN'

Well, for all of the loyal readers of this blog (both of you), you'll note a new look. I got tired of that mucus green and grey template. I looked around at ways to personalize this a bit more and realized, "Hey, that's way too complicated for me". So I changed templates in blogger to something a little cleaner and a little brighter.

My delightful archive drop down menu caused a bug, so I switched to a monthly archiving system which only took me about a month to figure out how to do (it's amazing what happens if you read the instructions).

On to more important matters....

The Spurs won! Yay! I need to be convinced New Jersey has something else to throw at us or I'm going to start thinking the "s" word....

Get your mind out of the gutter. I was thinking about "sweep".
===

I'm bachin' it for the next day or so. Lisa and Amy have headed up to Waco for Baylor's orientation. This was a frantically arranged excursion, but I'm hopeful once they get up there and talk to some folks, all of Lisa's questions will be answered and we'll all be able to relax and get ready for vacation.

Since I spent all day figuring out the bugs in the blog changeover (yes, most were my doing)...I have no time to write more.

Lucky you.


Go Spurs!

posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main 6/05/2003 05:47:00 PM  

0 Comments

Wednesday, June 04, 2003

GO SPURS GO!

What more needs to be said? NBA Finals are kicking off tonight. There really is no contest here despite all the sports pundits trying to hype the drama. San Antonio is the town of "Remember the Alamo"...New Jersey? "Forgetaboutit!"

posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main 6/04/2003 04:37:00 PM  

0 Comments

Tuesday, June 03, 2003

Let us pause..

For a moment or three of silliness. I revel in days like today. When the world seems to want to focus on the "important" and the ludicrous shouts it down.

Today our President and various officials are hoping to start to find a way to eventually agree on a "road map" to peace in the Middle East. I love that expression: a "road map". I feel like yelling, "When you get to STOP KILLING EACH OTHER you're there!".
This road map has been folded and unfolded for multiple lifetimes. What we need is someone who can stop and ask for directions.
====
Today the Feds say they're going to seek an indictment of Martha Stewart. Martha it seems made an underhanded stock deal which saved her a whopping 60 thousand dollars. 60 thousand bucks is a lot of money to me. To Martha that has to be about as valuable as the amount of dryer lint she'd need to whip up a table decoration for Earth day. It was silly, stupid and yes, illegal... So this has taken about a year and a half investigation to resolve? How many thousands of tax dollars have been spent on this? Martha says it's cost her about a half billion dollars already in the depreciation of her empire's stock price. So they indict her, put her on trial...and then what? No one is going to send Martha Stewart to prison...no one is that silly.

Michael's recipe for Martha
Cop a plea
Pay a fine
Stir gently
Fold in tears during an interview with Barbara Walters.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes or until the public's attention span has waned completely, whichever comes first.
Let cool for a day or two.
Go make more billions.
======
The ultimate story of the day however is THIS ONE. It's like a sequel to "A Confederacy of Dunces". If you don't want to follow the link the Reader's Digest version is: A woman given the task of tending to a dog bequeathed to her by a wealthy woman she cared for, falls to her knees in front of an evangelist at a revival. She needs prayer to determine how much money to demand from the woman's estate. She believes God, with the evangelist's handy assistance, has given her a number. "Fifty, Sister" as in 50 thousand bucks. The dead woman's heirs are complaining, the lawyers are bickering and the dog provider believes Jesus gave her the dollar amount.

I say we resolve all of these issues at once. Send the evangelist to prison. Ask President Bush to host the next revival. Hand the praying woman and her lawyer a road map to Wall Street where they'll obviously fit in. Send the dog to the White House. Order Martha Stewart to pay 60 thousand bucks for the dog's care. Martha should then be exiled to the Middle East until she can cook up a peace agreement.

She should be able to wrap that up before supper.



posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main 6/03/2003 12:20:00 PM  

0 Comments

Monday, June 02, 2003

BYE BYE NEMO

It's empty nest time. Our last little bird has flown away. I had to double check when I got home today so I got on a chair with a mirror and looked inside the nest. I should have known there was no bird in there since I wasn't being squawked at or dive bombed by protective parents. I'm calling our straggling swallow Nemo since we saw "Finding Nemo" yesterday...the name seemed to fit. He's off on a new adventure. I can't really blame him for leaving, after getting a close up look at the inside of that nest I feel much better about our housekeeping. I think we'd be doing the birds a favor if we made them build a new nest each year, the current one reminds me of the places I lived in college.
=======
Our little nest is emptying quickly too. Tiffany is in Kerrville working at a camp while preparing to begin her teaching career, Joey is in Sandusky, and soon Lisa will be headed to Waco. I'm thankful that I can count on the swallows and the children returning.
=====
I will enjoy a little elbow room for a while. Soon we'll be heading to Ohio for our summer vacation. Our annual rest at Lake Erie which also brings back college memories, things like seeing how many people we could cram into a VW bug. We'll shove as many family members into one home as possible, and then add a couple of more. I can't wait actually. Sometimes crowds are comfortable.

It could be worse

posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main 6/02/2003 11:05:00 AM  

0 Comments

Sunday, June 01, 2003

BRING 'EM BACK BOYS!

This weekend I watched an HBO piece about how Saddam's son would literally torture the country's athletes if they lost, if they criticized a referee he liked, or just on a whim. Serious torture, beating them with chains, breaking their bones repeatedly, holding them captive in cells with no water and no ventilation, having them dive into vats of raw sewage.

But we haven't found "weapons of mass destruction."

We've found graves filled with the brittled bones of thousands of Iraqi's killed because they opposed Saddam.

But we haven't found "weapons of mass destruction."

We've found hundreds of millions of dollars looted from the Iraqi people.

But we haven't found "weapons of mass destruction."

We've read stories of how one of Saddam's sons raped a 13 year old girl and when the girl's father complained, he was told his entire family would be killed. Then Saddam's boy insisted the father turn over his younger daughter too....and the father did. The stories of rape and abuse are seemingly endless.

But we haven't found "weapons of mass destruction."

We've found mobile labs that our experts can find no explanation for other than they were designed to produce biological weapons.

But we haven't found "weapons of mass destruction."

If you opposed the war and now want to say, "see we didn't have to attack them" and your entire argument is that "we didn't find weapons of mass destruction" please stand up and take a bow.

Now, all you folks who want Saddam and his sons to be brought back, and given control of Iraq please remain standing. Stand up and be counted.

I'm waiting.

As far as I'm concerned we don't have to find nuclear bombs, chemical warheads, or germ warfare plants. The weapons of mass destruction were Saddam and his sons.

We got rid of them. Thank God.

posted by Michael
©The Main Point by Michael Main 6/01/2003 08:32:00 AM  

0 Comments