Odds and Ends

I guess I have gotten a little lost of late focusing on those mundane, unimportant things like start a plant, make a product, ship it, approve it, get paid for it, so I figured it was time to at least try and catch up a few thoughts bouncing around this bald head of mine …


… I have played - and as usual I use the term “play” very loosely - the game of Yu Mao Qiu (you-mao-cho).
This is badminton. Real badminton. No swinging a racket with your right hand and hold a cold beer in your left hand during a Labor Day cookout while burning bratwurst on the grill.
This is blood and guts badminton. The take-no-prisoners badminton. The stuff Olympics are made of. I wasn’t sure it qualified as a “sport”. Maybe now I think otherwise.

I lost.

Not to a guy; they wouldn’t play with us. They were too good.

To a girl?

No.



I lost to FOUR girls, thank you very much.

Even when they let me cheat (and cheat blatantly), I got trounced, smashed, whipped, beat, spiked, pulverized, and in general smacked around to the highest level.
My arms hurt. My legs hurt. My back hurt. And did I mention no beer?
My daughter says I am sexist, but she’s wrong. A sexist wouldn’t have lost four times to four different women. A sexist would have figured out a way to win to save face. No, I’m just a badminton loser.
We, uh I mean, they also play Ping Pong Qiu. I didn’t even try. I had learned my lesson from badminton. Jeff tried the Ping Pong. These guys and gals are all Olympians. Then we saw the coach’s clinics being conducted around us. Nine and ten-year olds playing like world champions with coaches teaching spins, swings, moves, serves, and drill after drill after drill. Amazing.

… A Walk through “Poets Park”.
It is named in honor not of a Boy named Sue, but a Man named Shu. I think this is him. Nice park. But sometimes you wonder how they keep their lakes and ponds so clean of trash. Simple. You send out the trash scooper.


But if you get the job offer, be sure to inquire about the equipment in advance. Good balance is a job requirement. And maybe, just maybe, it would be helpful to know how to swim. You never know when that skill could come in handy.









It sort of bothered me why his equipment budget was so low, until I realized that they were probably just saving money so they could grow the concrete sidewalk. Yes, that is a sprinkler head embedded in a concrete field.








Oh, so that’s where it comes from.


… I also saw “A House near a Creek and a Bridge”






I was walking down a street and there it was. A house near a creek and a bridge. Why? I have no idea why and no explanation of its purpose. It was just there. It has a sign. It must be something. Beats me. But here's the house. Here's the creek. Here's the bridge.
I have racked my brain and can’t even think of even one funny line to go with it – it was so oddly placed - but I can't. So I invite you guys in the spirit of audience participation programs worldwide to help me out here. It needs a caption. I need a caption.