Relax, it's just intramurals

I will begin my message today with the following thought: People are crazy. Jarom had an intramural basketball game on Saturday that was a classic demonstration of this principle. The team that they played was not very good, and his team was shooting the ball particularly well. This created what is known in the sporting world as a slaughter. It was 19-0 before they got their first basket, and the lead fluctuated between 20 and 30 points from then on. Surprisingly, the losing team continued to talk a great deal of trash. Their fans were equally obnoxious, and two young women had to be asked to leave the area, something that would undoubtedly make Nate proud. With about 8 minutes left in the game, there was a sequence where one of their players got blocked on 3 consecutive layup attempts. All were clean, but there was a foul called after the third one, at which time the blockee shoved the blocker in the chest. Words were shared between several players on each side, and a fight was requested. Thankfully, cooler heads prevailed, the game was called since the outcome was no longer in question, and the teams were asked to leave in a staggered fashion so as to not cause undue traffic congestion upon their departure (or something).

Lixi made the comment that she is sure glad that Jarom doesn’t ever lose his temper, because it is a little embarrassing to see adults act like 7 year olds. Obviously nobody likes to lose, and anyone who has played sports knows how frustrating it can be to get blown out, but to totally lose control and start shoving people and looking for a fight? It is just intramurals, people! Unfortunately there are many people who never got that memo. They act as if the fate of the known world hangs in the balance. Fortunately it does not. I hope that the meathead who caused this ruckus never has the fate of anything important in his hands, because he will surely destroy whatever it is.

In other interesting news, some dude won $2 million after placing a $1 bet on the outcome of 8 consecutive horse races. The winners were all 7 to 1 or longer. As Kevin from The Office says, “If someone gives you 10,000 to 1 on anything, you take it.” Or in this case, 2,000,000 to 1.

I hope everyone enjoys this week and has a wonderful leap day on Friday. I am lobbying congress to make it a national holiday so that it really is an extra day instead of just another day of the week. I plan on catching up on some of the sleep that I have missed over the last four years. What will you do?

Light at the end of the tunnel

This is the shirt that Lixi got Jarom for Valentines Day. What is she trying to tell him?

It snowed again yesterday, but it seems like winter's deathly cold grip is starting to slip. The sun is rising earlier and earlier, and we are starting to have some pretty nice days. This is wonderful news as Jarom begins lacrosse practices again in the coming week. Jarom and Alixa each had recent intramural basketball games that did not go so well. Lixi's is playing basketball for the first time since she was about 16. Although she did seem a little rusty, she played well. Her major offensive limitation is that she can only dribble right. And I don't mean that she can only dribble with her right hand, I mean that she has an irresistable urge to dribble with her right hand and move to her right, until she runs into a line. So she got herself stuck on the baseline a few times, but we are going to work on that. After hanging close during the first half, the team fell apart in the second and ended up losing by about 40. They have nowhere to go but up now!

Jarom's team had a game this week, and due to a clerical error was forced to play with only four players throughout the entire game. They handled themselves quite well, and were actually only down by two points with about 4 minutes left in the game. At that point one of their players was injured after a hard foul and could no longer run up and down the court. So he stood on the defensive end and they played 3 on 5 on offense. It was just too much to overcome, and they ended up losing by about 10. Jarom did have four fouls, much to Alixa's delight. If he could have hit a three pointer or two, maybe they would have been able to win.

Alixa is really starting to like her job, which is great. She loves her coed class, even though the boys confuse her. It feels like every day she comes home and tells me that they played dodgeball again. She can't understand why they love that game so much and never get tired of playing it. Jarom is just jealous and wants to come in one day to play with them. He can't figure out why anyone wouldn't like dodgeball.

Jarom had his phone interview with West Virginia last night, and despite Alixa's worst fears, it went well. It wasn't very long, but he is optimistic about his chances. We should hear back from them in a few weeks, during which time Alixa will constantly worry and panic about the outcome while Jarom tries to get her to relax.

I read a book this week that I recommend to all of you. It is titled Good to Great, and is primarily a business book, but contains principles that can be used to improve any organization. There were some good tidbits on how to improve personally as well. One of my favorites was that we should focus a little less on to do lists and write a not to do list. As easy as it is to let our lives get overcrowded with junk, I found this to be a simple yet profound piece of advice. I think that there should be more new years resolutions that involve stopping things that we don't need and fewer about starting up new things, some of which we also probably don't need. There's my $.02.

Global Warming

Here is why global warming is such a tough sell. During the summer months it is possible to convince people that the world is heating up. During July and August, everyone is receptive to that message, for swelteringly obvious reasons. But the season will change, summer turns to fall turns to winter. And all of a sudden people are looking at freezing cold temperatures and snow and sleet falling from the sky. And then it doesn't matter if the science is true or not. I think most people accept that people have a negative effect on the environment, but it is just too hard to get them to care enough about it to alter their lives. And in the winter, most folks (myself included) would welcome a few more degrees of heat. That's why people move to Vegas.

It has continued to snow all week long, which has made life a little more difficult for Jarom. Alixa has been kind enough to take him to work every day, but that means that Jarom has to get out of bed and be ready to go by 6:45. Those of you who know him know that it is nothing short of a miracle that he is still alive. He sure is lucky to have a great wife like Lixi to get him up and drive him so he doesn't freeze and die in the snow.

Yesterday was Alixa's 23rd birthday. She is getting pretty old. But she still looks like a 21 year old. They went up to Salt Lake City to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner, and she had the best meal she has ever had in her life. For her birthday, Jarom got her a flight home to Cleveland to visit her family over spring break. And he is such a great guy that he even got her a first class seat in one direction. She also got a pretty new red phone. That phone was ringing off the hook all day on Saturday, when she received more phone calls than she had in the previous two months combined. It was fun for her to be the center of attention for once in her life.





This is me playing with a new friend of mine, Blake. He is on Jarom's basketball team.

I would also like to say congratulations to the New York Giants for beating the New England Patriots 17-14 in the Super Bowl. I can't tell you how happy this makes me. I have gotten pretty tired of watching all the praise in the sports world go toward the city of Boston. Theirs was definitely the worst 18-1 season ever.