Sunday, December 6, 2009

Our Christmas Song Game

We don't listen to a lot of radio, choosing instead to listen to our commercial free, talk free ipods. However, during the Christmas season, we will turn the car radio to B101, which plays only Christmas songs. When a song begins, each person tries to be the first person to name the artist. Each person only gets one guess. The person with the most correct, wins.

At this point, it is mostly a competition between my wife and I. Sometimes our kids chip in. Yesterday, our 8 year old son knew that Bing Crosby sang "White Christmas", but he said it was Bill Cosby.

On one hand, it should be easy because we hear the same songs every year. On the other hand, it can be very challenging. The variety of artists is amazing. At what other time of the year can you hear songs sung by Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, Natalie Cole, Dean Martin, The Jackson Five, Amy Grant, Mariah Carey, Celine Dion, Gene Autry, Andy Williams, the Carpenters, Taylor Swift, and others? It is a fun game, but can be frustrating when you have heard the song a million times, the name is on the tip of your tongue, but you just can't think of it.

Saturday, December 5, 2009

Thoughts on Tiger Woods

The topic of Tiger Woods has been talked to death in the last week. I only have a couple of extra things to say.

First, I am amazed at how this scandal started. Minor traffic accidents happen all the time. It seems to me that this should have been pretty easy to sweep under the rug. People like Tiger. Tiger wins, so people will overlook his secrets. A minor car accident in the middle of the night should have meant nothing. But this little accident exposed a lot of secrets. Initially, reports surfaced of one other woman. And, then another. And, then another. The story keeps growing. Amazingly, all of these secrets were exposed from just a minor car accident in the middle of the night.

Second, the words of Proverbs 5 are so true. For example, "her speech is smoother than oil, but in the end she is bitter as wormwood . . . her feet go down to death" and "The iniquities of the wicked ensnare him, and he is held fast in cords of his sin."

Monday, November 30, 2009

Finally, a chance to play Rook

During my college years, I played a lot of Rook. I mean a lot of Rook. Pretty much every night until about 2:00 a.m. Since graduating in 1989, I have played very little Rook. It is hard to get a game because few people know how to play and my wife refuses to play with me.

The other day, I was thinking that 3 of my kids might be old enough to understand and play the game. So, on Saturday, I broke out the cards. It took a while but my two oldest daughters and my son learned how to play. After many practice hands, we played our first real game. But, we could not finish it. The kids got carried away with bidding and kept failing to make their bids. It got too late, so we finally said that whoever wins the next hand wins the game. I took the bid and won.

The next day, we played a couple of complete games. The kids are learning more about making realistic bids and how to play their cards. After 20 years, I finally get a chance to play Rook. I am looking forward to many games in the future.