Last Week

Daughter had her State Championship dance competition last Thursday. There were about 20 teams competing. They were divided about evenly between "show" teams and "drill" teams. The big difference is that the show teams had a painted vinyl floor and stage props, whereas the drill teams performed on a bare floor. Daughter danced her part very well. Glencoe (her team) came in fourth in their division, one place better than last year. All kinds of scuttlebutt about the judges and the scoring, but that's the way it goes with these small closed communities.

I was looking through a copy "Inc" (a business magazine) last week while I was waiting for lunch, and I found an article about "Freakonomics" (Freakanomics?). Seems to me it was a recent best selling book, but maybe it was last year. Anyway, it was a big hit and got all kinds of people excited. The book is about economics. One of the assertions the author made, and the one that got everybody stirred up, was his explanation for the drop in violent crime. Seems that during 1970's and 1980's violent crime was on the rise, but that in the early 1990's it suddenly dropped. Of course everyone who was in law enforcement claimed that they had new policies and procedures that were responsible for the decrease. The economist who wrote this book had a different take. He attributed the drop in crime to Roe vs Wade back in 1973. Before that decision, women with unwanted pregnancies carried their children to term. After that women could get abortions, so the number of unwanted children decreased. Twenty years later, the number of unwanted children who were becoming adults was much lower, and so violent crime dropped.

Ross and I went to "V for Vendetta" last Friday night at 10pm. The movie was great, all about freedom, security and fear. The 10pm show time screwed me up big time. I didn't get to bed till 1:30 in the morning, and by Sunday night I was still staying up till midnight.

Johnny and I fixed a coolant leak in the van. We started on Friday afternoon and finished up Saturday morning, but then you have already seen my report on that.

Saturday night Anne and I went to dinner at Stanford's and then to the bookstore. I picked up an $8 science fiction paperback novel. I cannot remember the last time I bought a new mass-market paperback. It is something I have not done for quite a while. Guess I am feeling a little flush since I started getting checks in the mail from Dad's TOD accounts.

The science fiction novel was nothing great, it was about werewolves and vampires in present day Washington state, but it was enjoyable reading. There was an interesting high point. Somewhere in the middle of the book I came across a paragraph that was just crystal clear. I cannot remember the subject, but I remember reading it and thinking, wow, that is really good. I am not sure I would be able to find it again if I looked.

Johnny and I went to "Iguana Micro", a small, local, computer shop, Saturday afternoon. He wanted to get a couple of fans for his computer. I have been paying him $5 an hour to exterminate the black-berry bushes in our backyard and in the swamp in back of the yard. He likes the idea of making money and he has been working diligently at it, and making good progress. He wants to get a new computer, and he sees this as a way to make the money he needs to pay for it. So now he is very excited about.

The company I work for hired a guy to run the company. His name is Larry and he started here about nine months ago. He is a very jovial, plump, at least 60 years old, and enjoys talking. His beginning was not auspicious. He had an attack of appendicitis shortly after he got here. The appendix burst and he was in the hospital for a while. OK. Bad luck for him, and he did recover. But I didn't hear a word out of him for several months. At first I let this slide, figuring he needs time to get his feet on the ground. But months went by and still nothing. So I finally took the initiative, because I didn't want this to go the way it had with the owner. So we started talking and I started attending meetings, which was good because I found out what was going on in the company.

But things did not improve. The owner was still coming in, and he was still jerking us around. Last Thursday there was supposed to be a showdown at the board meeting. Didn't happen. Larry is in Austin, where he would do well to stay. Scott, the owner has been in every day. So there was no showdown, Larry is not in charge, and Scott, the jerk, is still playing around with
the business.

I called in sick Friday, so I got a three day weekend. Very nice. I am going to try and set up a computer at home so I can do some work at home while I look for a new job. I have had it with this one.