Risen From The Debt: The Week In Thanks

Dena read me some facts about the Town of Normal's increasing debt, as part of the upcoming mayoral elections. It gave me reason to recall how fortunate we are to be personally debt-free, with paid-up home, vehicles, and non-use of credit cards.

We enjoyed a couple of low-key days by the U.S.-Mexico border with Darren and Jane. Not only did 75 degree breezes paint our faces throughout, but I got a chance to play an hour of basketball which I hadn't done in over a year. It's a prize to live in this country with a chance to leave the snow behind, and to have the time and resources to get there easily by plane. Not a single flying glitch, like crying infants or germ-spewing adults. And to have a pretty travel companion all the way definitely helps. :)

The Wichita Shockers of the Missouri Valley Conference are in the Final Four!

While driving to the gym to work out the other day I pulled out of a parking garage and prepared to sit at a red light to cross the busy street. It's the kind of light that basically only changes colors when a car drives up and sits there for a while. But on this day it was already green. Here was an unexpected tiny gift. Very tiny. And I thought of how almost every little setback so easily brings out a surge of negative thought, so why shouldn't we take advantage of the opposite? I let out a big whoop and accelerated through the intersection like some type of suburban cowboy. Life is way better as a series of celebrations than sufferings!

The Putnam County Spelling Bee rehearsals are off to a solid start. Our music director has already done this show one time before, and similarly almost the entire cast is already well-experienced with the play so the music is coming along quickly. Last week we did act 1 and on deck is act 2. I've got about 80 percent of my lines memorized.

The fantasy baseball drafts are complete and Opening Night is this evening! I'm in three different leagues and did a fair job preparing. The draft is really about giving yourself a fair chance out of the starting gate. Winners are made by dutiful focus and strategy throughout the season. Fantasy baseball is infinitely more likely to produce a championship than the Cubs' season, so that may be my last comment about the North Siders for ten months. Meanwhile, as the fantasy basketball season charges into its last three weeks I'm holding onto a few-point lead which will go down to the wire.

This last day of the "winter quarter" gives so much richness to think about new beginnings. The baseball season, the spring season, the theater season. New employees at the office, new friends in the community, new contact lenses in my eyes. The rebirth of my own life on the not-so-distant horizon.

Now all I have to do is close out 2012 by finishing Mom's taxes.

May you find a favorable wind this week that reminds you of good days coming soon!

Taking It Slow And Living Long

Taking it slow can benefit weight loss.

Adults sleeping five or fewer hours a night have a 55 percent greater chance of being obese.

Daydreaming also has its upside. Researchers are the University of California at Santa Barbara found that people who let their minds wander for 12 minutes performed 41 percent better on a subsequent creative task than if they hadn't daydreamed.

Willie Nelson: Comedian

A drunk fell out of a second-story window. A guy came running over and asked "What happened?" The drunk said, "I don't know, I just got here." - Willie Nelson

Hungry To Learn

Vegetarian (vej-i-TAIR-ee-un, noun): An old Indian word meaning "lousy hunter."

Attorney For The Better

Jury (JOOR-ee, noun): Twelve persons chosen to decide who has the better lawyer. - Robert Frost

Bill Of Sail

"When I lost my rifle, the army charged me $85. That's why in the Navy, the captain goes down with the ship." - Dick Gregory

Contingency Plan

"It takes forever to cook a potato in a conventional oven. Sometimes I'll just throw one in there even if I don't want one. By the time it's done, who knows?" - Mitch Hedberg