Scrabble Lesson

I bought my daughter a game of Scrabble for Christmas a number of years ago. However, after we played it once, it was clear that she wasn't quite ready for this game. So it sat in her closet until one day a few months ago, when she pulled it out and asked to play. Since then, we have played dozens of times and it has been fascinating for me to see how rapidly her skills have advanced, both in terms of strategy and in the array of words that she has come up with. I too have learned something in this time of play, call it my own Scrabble lesson.

When we first started playing Scrabble, I would easily outscore my daughter without taxing myself in the least. However, as she figured out some basic strategies of the game, I had to work to stay ahead of her. The other thing that keeps the scores close, and in fact, has lead to her beating me as often as I beat her, is that when she gets stuck and can't figure out what move to make, she will ask me for help. In these situations I always give her my advice for achieving the highest possible score for her turn, even if this means that I lose the opportunity to score a big word for myself. However, despite the obvious advantage that she gets from such input, I never say anything about this when she does beat me. We celebrate her victories just as if she had done it all on her own.

There is a Biblical principle about honesty and integrity, basically that we should display these traits even when nobody can see us or know what we are doing. I think helping my daughter during our Scrabble games is part of this. It also allows me to encourage her and to strengthen her self image. Now, I don't think that this small thing puts me up for any father of the year awards, not that I am asking for any recognition. I just think sometimes that it is good to recognize how we can put Biblical principles into action in a practical way in our lives and why it is valuable.

A Depends Moment

I recently wrote about the loss that I felt on the day that my computer and I spent separated from each other (see Grind My Gears 33). My laptop needed a few repairs that were necessary due to the normal wear and tear such portable devices incur. Such "normal" wear and tear may have been caused by a heavy thermos bottle doing an elbow drop on the top of the computer screen or possibly a trusted computer carrying case strap developing a case of Alzheimers and forgetting its purpose in life, causing a valuable computer to plummet earthward and making contact with the pavement in a sickening thud.

Now it was bad enough that I had to be separated from my loved one, but I had a truly Depends moment when I went to the repair shop to pick it up after its harrowing incarceration. What is a "Depends moment" you ask? ... Well, it is a moment where you are so scared that you tinkle your britches and you either wish you were wearing adult diapers or thankful that you remembered to suit up on your way out of the house in the morning. What happened was that I was casually chatting with the lady at the register when the tech-dude brought out the assortment of pieces shown in the above photograph. There was no computer in his hands, just parts. When I turned bleach white, he recognized my pathetic condition and assured me that everything would be alright. These parts were just what he replaced. He then led me back to the recovery room where my baby was waiting to be taken home.

Observations 25

My occasional blog series "Observations" was created to be an outlet to share a variety of topics that pop into my field of view as a result of a condition that many bloggers are afflicted with known as "blogger's eyes". In this state we view the world on the constant look-out for topics on which to write about. Today's blog came about from random odds 'n ends of things that I have noticed over the past few weeks.

• The other morning a fancy Lincoln Towncar pulled ahead of me in the next lane and came to a stop at the light. The driver, a pretty young woman, opened the door and spit in the middle of the road. I thought that was mighty disgusting. When I pulled even with her a moment later, I could see that she had a toothbrush in one hand and a hair brush in the other. Oh, so she was just getting dressed in the car as she was late for work.
  
• I live in a town whose name is 8 letters long. Having to write this out on the address line when paying my bills seems like it takes forever. It can put me in a sour mood. Imagine how irascible I would be if I lived in Rancho Cucamonga.
  
• I was setting up to have a contractor come out to my house for a small repair job. When he asked for my address, I drew a complete blank on my house number. The harder that I tried to concentrate to pull it out my mind, the deeper it hid away from me. What will be forgotten next? Hopefully not something vitally important like the Gilligan's Island theme song.
  
• For all of you agnostic or atheistic nerds, there is now a Klingon version of the Bible. Qapchu'!
  
• At 1:45 p.m. the other day I made an appointment with my doctor. At 1:50 p.m. I got a call from my doctor reminding me of that same appointment. Geez, I know I am forgetful, but ... what was I talking about?
  

Odd Thomas

A semi-recent comment on my blog suggested that I check out the Odd Thomas series by author Dean Koontz. Since then I have kept this recommendation on my radar. I recently had the chance to read the first book in the series, Odd Thomas. The story is about a 20 year old man named Odd Thomas. He has complete nut jobs for parents, and although he is by all accounts an average guy, living in a small rented room above a garage and working as a short order cook in a small restaurant in the western town of Pico Mundo, he is a pretty decent and normal man. However, he has a gift that he has shared only with his girlfriend Stormy, his friend and mentor Little Ozzie, and the local police chief Wyatt Porter. Odd has the ability to see and communicate with spirits and other unworldly creatures. The spirits that he encounters linger in this world when most others move on to the next world. Those that remain are troubled or unaccepting of their fate. Some linger around because they have met a a grizzly demise at the hands of another. It is these that Odd tends to encounter most often, and to such as these, he feels compelled to help.

The main story involves a completely repugnant man that Odd encounters in town who is marked by evil. He is accompanied by an entourage of dark spirits that Odd has called bodachs. These spirits show up whenever death and destruction are looming. Odd then begins to learn about this person he calls the "fungus man". The more he learns, the more he gets pulled into trying to figure out why a legion of bodachs has amassed. What could "fungus man" be up to? Just when he thinks he has a clue, fungus man is murdered. The clever hero is then forced to dive deeper, to sift again through the short list of clues that he has uncovered. The lives of thousands of people in this sleepy western town hang in the balance.

I have read scores of novels over the past few years and have a short list of those that have made my list of favorites. I think this book has put Dean Koontz on my must read list. Odd Thomas was an exceedingly well crafted story with an ending that brought me to tears. Filled with intriguing characters, a fast moving pace, humorous dialog and observations, and a very clever approach. In short, this was the work of a completely focussed and professional author on top of his game. I look forward to diving into the second book in this series, Forever Odd.

Salle de Bain

It seems to me that most people work two full-time jobs. The first is the obvious one, where we put in 40 hours per week of labor for our paycheck. The second one, which likely involves nearly as much effort, is the one that keeps us activity monitoring our image. The face or persona that the outside world is allowed to see. The one that we painstakingly manicure and style and pay attention to. The effort to keep up appearances of professionalism, of mental stability, of being calm and in control at all times, as always being upbeat and certain of ourselves, can be more draining than any physical labor that we set our backs to. It's funny that over time we often come to believe that the facade that we have erected is the real us. I think that more often than not, this gauzy exterior is flimsy and threadbare enough, despite our best efforts, that most folks who take even more than a causual glance can see through it pretty quickly.

This post came to me the other day at work when I was sitting in a colleague's office trying to have a meeting at his desk. His office is situated such that it is bordered on one side by a high traffic bathroom. Sitting in that space, every toilet flush shook through the walls. You could hear conversations, folks using the soap dispensers and pulling out the paper towels, and far too many "other" sounds generated in your typical salle de bain. These folks on the other side of this thin wall were going about their "business" believing that they were wrapped in privacy. Yet without even trying I knew exactly what was going on.

iTunes Latest - 12

Back in December of 2011, I finally discovered iTunes on my Mac. This service has really helped me to reconnect with my love of music. One of the things that I really like about music is that so often a given song has a strong association with a time or with a moment in my life. So, I thought that I would share my latest five downloads and a bit about my history with each song.

• Bring Me Some Water - Melissa Etheridge (1988) - This is the only song by Etheridge that I have liked. Bluesy and passionate and bursting with pain that we have all felt. It didn't hurt that she was so beautiful.
  
• Saturday Night - Aaron Carter (2005) - I have never been a fan of the trite bubblegum pop that Carter is associated with. However, I liked the groove of this song and it revs me up a bit when it plays on my exercise mix.
  
• Here's My Heart - Passion (2013) - I first heart this one from my church's music leader Stephen. His version is better than the original, but this is a nice song.
  
• Live is Life - Opus (1985) - I remember how much I loved this song when it came out in the summer after my freshman year in high school. That was nearly 30 years ago, but this reggae infused ode to the necessity of live music for the musician still holds up with time.
  
• You and I - Pat Benatar (1993) - As the 1980s came to an end, the queen of pop/rock quickly faded from public consciousness. She tried her hand with a blues album and it didn't do well. When she tried to come back, the public had lost their taste for her work. However, her 1993 album Gravity's Rainbow is an unappreciated work with some good songs that I have recently discovered. This is one of them.
  

Penetrating the Bureaucracy

I love the scene in The Incredibles when Bob Parr (aka Mr. Incredible) is being dressed down by his boss Mr. Huph at Insuricare. Bob has a kind heart and lives to serve others even when he is forbidden from living his dream life as Mr. Incredible. He takes pity on his clients and helps them through the otherwise impenetrable bureaucracy to see his clients collect what is rightfully theirs when otherwise they would have their
claims denied by the frigid, profit-minded corporation. Mr Huph rages:

"Complaints I can handle. What I can't handle is your customers' inexplicable knowledge of Insuricare's inner workings! They're experts. Experts, Bob! Exploiting every loophole, dodging every obstacle! They're penetrating the bureaucracy!"

As I work for a facility operated by the federal government, I have seen more than my fair share of bureaucracy. I have come across more than a few individuals whose sole purpose seems to be to make getting practical work done as difficult as possible. Just when you are beginning to work your way through the crap to make progress, it is as if they can sense it. They then immediately change all the rules and condescendingly look down upon you as if you have the intelligence of a bowl of Grape Nuts. They seem to purposefully be disingenuous, obliquely rude, and smug, all the while smiling their own special toothy insipid grin. Only when you go over their heads and force the issue then they suddenly act if they are pleased that things could proceed. All the while they look at you with a thinly disguised bubbling contempt. How dare you deign to think that you can do an end around and penetrate their bureaucracy!