RANDOM THOUGHTS

Why do you suppose that almost all professional basketball games are played late at night ?
Although I am not a big fan of the game, when the Houston team got into the playoffs I got
excited and watched all the games at the expense of a decent nights sleep. Children most
likely never get to see these games, much less go to them. By the way, attending games has
become ruinously expensive thanks to the ridiculous salaries payed to the enormous thugs
that we seem to like to watch.

Why do the auto companies think that we need autos that can go from 0 to 60 in 4,5,0r 6 seconds and reach speeds of 130+ miles per hour ? When is the last time you got going that fast that quickly and why did you do it ? Top speeds of 100 mph should be sufficient. How about
0-60 in 12 seconds ? I have noticed that some of the overpowered cars cut out half the cylinders
when cruising at highway speeds. Engines half as powerful but differently geared to allow decent
acceleration would make the cars acceptable. They might use much less gasoline as well.

Yesterday was a good day. My incompetent tax preparers finally got my 2008 return done.
I don't think they did a good job and even I spotted a few errors. Heretofore, I have done my own returns but decided this year to get it done. Big mistake. The other good things : Jan and I
won our duplicate bridge game rather handily. All we get for this is the glory but we feel more
than adequately rewarded. Tuesday is trivia night at the Burlap Barrel and our team came out ahead. Here we won $40.00 of free drinks. I wonder if we are getting smarter or if everyone is getting stupider.

A FEW BAD DAYS

If there is something that can be put off, always do so . Also, never be pressured
by your spouse to do things that you don't want to do. This thing was the continual
complaint about the condition of our back patio which, over the years had developed
many large and unsightly cracks. We (she) decided to fix it.
We got a nice lowball quote and ordered the work done. What the quoter didn't know was that the concrete to be removed was six+ inches thick and had hardened
over the last 40 years. Three days of jack hammering is almost more than one can
bear. A mountain of chunks blocked our driveway for days. The coloring added to the concrete is splotchy. The mess left behind was unbelievable.
Jan was in serious danger when she told me that she hates what they did. I don't care for it too much either but would cut my throat before mentioning it.
The final parting indignity-As they moved the patio table back to the patio, somehow the glass top shattered into millions of tiny shards. I didn't see what they had done to cause this so we took the loss and didn't argue about it. Today we went out and purchased a new table and umbrella. Jan isn't my mom but happy mom's day.
The moral of the story ( if there is one): You gets what you pays for.

WORST NIGHTMARE

Just got a call from Virginia ( sister, not the state ) and she tells me that they had a terrible accident which destroyed their little Prius and bruised the sisters in the car pretty much. Injuries were confined to bruises all over and considerable soreness.
The nightmare part of the story is what might have been. Here we all are, driving about every day and at any moment we can get injured or killed. I think about this often. I don't want any dead family or friend. Do what I do. Drive slowly and carefully
so that if you do crash, you might survive.