DaughterGeeding is a third-grader and this weekend participated in her first school-related competition. I’ll be damned, she and her team came in first place and are now going to state.
At the beginning of the school year, a parent of a classmate approached us to recruit DaughterGeeding to be part of their Destination Imagination (DI) team. We were skeptical since we never heard of it, but after some research realized it was a legitimate and well-organized activity and agreed she could participate if she wanted to. It reminds of something I participated in back in middle-school, Odyssey of the Mind, and focuses on teamwork, creativity, and STEM concepts. Their challenge was a medical mystery.
Her team worked hard and spent a lot of after-school hours together. A few of us parents joked we were glad the competition was this weekend and was ready for all of this to wrap-up, none of us had any expectation for them to come in first to be eligible to go on to state competition. After all, this is the first year their school has competed in DI, as third-graders they would one of the youngest to compete (it’s open to grades 3-5), and they were competing against 12 other teams. Some of those teams were from impressive schools from some very well respected school districts.
Speaking of school representation, there were a lot of teams from Decatur. Wise Country was very well represented.
The competition was an all-day affair and it was one of those moments I looked back at my childhood and could appreciate all those times my parents sacrificed their weekends attending my events. It was held at Flower Mound Marcus High School. Just walking the halls was an out-of-body type of experience since the school shares the same colors as my high school. A plethora of high school memories came back yet, I never been inside that school before. Sure, my high school used the letters MWHS and they used MHS, but it’s all the red and black colors and seeing the phrase “Go Big Red” everywhere made me feel like I was a teen in Mineral Wells again.
I watched a few of the other teams DaughterGeeding’s team were competing against and was very impressed. I thought her team didn’t stand a chance and already had an idea what to say to her about how it’s important to just compete and what you can learn from losing.
Each team chooses its own name. One team made entirely of South Asians played off the book and movie Crazy Rich Asians and called themselves “Crazy Smart Asians”. I thought DaughterGeeding’s team name was a little prosaic, “DI Einsteins”.
At the awards ceremony where the winners are announced, medals are awarded from sixth to first place. As you’d expect, they start with sixth place and work their way to first. When second place was announced, I felt bad that her team didn’t even place in the top half. But on the off chance the might win, I quickly pulled out my phone to video record their reactions if they won. And I’ll be damned, they won. And man, my back was aching after that long day and sitting in bleachers without any back support.
Huh, that’s now two weeks in a row I’ve posted a picture of DaughterGeeding wearing sunglasses indoors while performing at a school event. I’m making her out as if she’s a free spirit and very out-going, but I’d actually describe her as being reserved and shy. All my photos are to the contrary.
Jerry Jones has now owned the Cowboys for 30 years. If someone told me at the time the new ownership would win three Super Bowls in that time period I would have been very satisfied. It’s well documented that when Jerry bought the team, he had the lights turned on at Texas Stadium to walk the field and to lay down on the star on the 50-yard line. What I didn’t know until last night’s CBS11 broadcast that it cost $2,500 just to turn Texas Stadium’s lights on at the time. Adjusted for inflation, that’s about $5,212 today. But now there’s a new stadium with bigger lighting, which probably operates a bit more efficiently. I reckon it’s still more expensive to turn the lights on at AT&T Stadium than Texas Stadium, even with the big HDTV turned off.
I think the way Jerry let go of Tom Landry was respectful. He flew down to Austin where Landry was and personally told him. I guess some people didn’t like the idea of interrupting Landry’s golf game was tactful. I think if anything, Jerry’s enthusiasm at his first press conference as the new owner looked insensitive and too giddy.
My pastor will retire soon. He preached his second to last sermon yesterday as the founding pastor of the church that’s been around 30-ish years. It was beautiful and most likely the one I will remember most. I’ll share more thoughts and details about it later this week.
”Don’t Forget Me (When I’m Gone)” was already a damn good song, but the surprise Bryan Adams backup vocals puts it over the top. Heck, Bryan Adams isn’t even in the official music video.
Was Burgess Meredith better as The Penguin in the ‘Batman’ television series or as Mick in the Rocky series?
Anytime Minneapolis is referenced I immediately think of it being shouted in Janet Jackson’s “Escapade”.
ESPN.com – The Year of Bo – Thirty years ago a run of events happened that would turn Bo Jackson from a brilliant enigma into an international icon. Jackson was known before 1989, but in 12 months, everything changed.
And I said, “What about Breakfast at Tiffany’s?”
She said, “I think I remember that film
And as I recall, I think we both kinda liked it.”
And I said, “Well, that’s one thing we’ve got.”
Truman, by then the president and running for re-election, was joined by Bacall, Bogart and actor Ronald Reagan – still a Democrat at the time – at a rally at Gilmore Stadium in Los Angeles. At some point, the president and Bogart made a bet over what the gender of Bogart and Bacall’s first child would be. “Truman bet that it would be a boy and it was, so Bogart sent him the check,” Sowell said. The correspondence is, to this day, kept on file at the Harry S. Truman Library and Museum. Writing to the president, with the check enclosed, Bogart made an ask: “Would appreciate it if you endorse it and cash it so I may frame it for my son who will undoubtedly run for President on the Democratic ticket in 1999 unless you still hold office.” Truman replied by mail two months later. “I am returning the check which you sent me endorsed to Mr. Bogart, Jr. I hope you will buy him a Savings Bond with it and put it in his educational fund with my compliments,” the president said. “It is a rare instance when I find a man who remembers his commitments and meets them on the dot.”
I like to think I stay well-informed of current events and significant matters related to my state and family’s well-being, but I never heard of the Texas Department of Insurance until last night’s ‘CBS Evening News‘ – “The Texas Department of Insurance sets up mediations between insurance companies and out-of-network hospitals to resolve surprise medical bills.”
In the news segment, an insured Austin area teacher had an emergency and visited an out-of-network hospital for three hours which resulted in a $6,720 bill. A few weeks after contacting the Texas Department of Insurance hotline, a contractual adjustment was made and brought her bill to zero.
WifeGeeding is reading the 2014 New York Times #1 bestseller The One & Only, a novel by Emily Giffin. The book is fiction but includes a lot of Dallas references, but none more notable to me than something TICKET related:
Texas insurance surprise bill CBS news
Non-Spoiler True Detective tidbits:
This Vanity Fairarticle states eagle-eyed viewers would have caught a glimpse of the actor who played the shadowy billionaire owner of Hoyt Foods.
This other Vanity Fair article compares the fictional chicken tycoon and with his the real-life inspiration, Tyson Foods C.E.O. Don Tyson, also of Arkansas.
Steven Spielberg and John Williams composing the score for E.T. This is filmmaking…truly wonderful. https://t.co/aTTBoV4MXd
BoyGeeding turned seven-years-old on Saturday and had a Minecraft themed birthday party that WifeGeeding put together in the most imaginative and excellent of ways. Since a lot of the party occurred in our backyard, I was required to do yard work for the first time this year to spruce things up.
The popular toy with BoyGeeding and friends are Beyblade Burst top spinners. They use a plastic strand with alligator teeth to get them spinning in a plastic tub, the last one to stop spinning wins. Spinning tops seem like such an antiquated toy, but it’s neat to see how toy companies have made them cool again.
DaughterGeeding has a brave soul and I hope she doesn’t lose it. She and a friend entered their school’s talent show by writing their own rap song and performing it. It was an afterschool event and I’d say there were close to three hundred people in attendance when you include parents. She didn’t seem to be nervous. It cracked me up she asked for my sunglasses before we got out of the car.
That talent show was held inside a gymnasium. Sitting on bleachers for about two hours will test your back. It wasn’t easy but it gave me an idea of what additional muscles I need to strengthen.
Most people call today’s federal holiday as “Presidents Day”, but the official designation of the federal holiday observed on the third Monday of February is, and always has been, “Washington’s Birthday”. So, with Washington in mind, I thought I’d share this shower thought from Reddit – Due to coin flips, George Washington still makes decisions to this day.
Not too long ago I mentioned Wade Phillips wearing his father’s old jacket. I guess old jackets are the new thing because Steph Curry recently pulled it off. I’m certain I had the same jacket. I wonder if he and his father had matching sets and his father kept his, or if he had it specially made.
Love that Steph is wearing the same style jacket as the one he had on at all-star 1992 pic.twitter.com/jpwACyJbdL
