This was the first weekend of classes for the class I am taking this semester. Most of this weekend was taught by Peter Robinson of Pepperdine. His enthusiasm for the subject matter is fun to experience. More and more, I am beginning to think that a certificate in conflict resolution will be my goal. The program is changing soon and a few of m professors have indicated that the Master's program might not be very productive. It seems that if one is not seeking to teach there is not much to be done with a Master's that is not possible with a certificate. We'll see.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Well, here we go. Baseball is on. Well, officially we can't practice until the 17th, but the draft was today. Connor will be a Ranger this year. His coach is Rob Beckham. If you were reading Mike's blog before he pulled his entry on the local Ditrict 71 race you may know who that is. If the way he said he would vote is any indication, Mike probably won't be rooting for us if he comes to any Dixie games.

I have heard that they may be working on interleague play with another league here in town. Both leagues only have four Major League teams so maybe that would be a good idea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Lately it seems like every time we turn around there is another marriage from among those we know that is going up in flames. What is the best way to be an effective volunteer fire brigade? What do we do to help relationships rise from the ashes to soar again? Or, is it possible that expecting marriages to soar is so far removed from reality that marriages are cursed from the very beginning? Why do we ever suggest to those poor saps at the front of the church that the fairy-tale of their wedding day is something representative of a lifetime together? Why do we perpetuate the notion that our lives are perfect by refusing to be real with one another? Don't get me wrong. I feel so enormously blessed to be married to Kendra. But I would be lying if I said I always understood her. Not only that, she would definitely be lying if she were say I was consistenty fun to be around. She deserves some type of medal for sticking with me for over 13 years. I love her deeply and have to say that overall we get along better than I would imagine possible. Of course, I must admit this is primarily due to her patience and grace. (Fact is, I married way over my head.) Anyway, a common fixture in my prayers lately is the state of marriages. So many seem to be under heavy attack.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Can we please do something about all of these award shows for people who already think they have won life's lottery? The opinion that so many of these people have of themselves is plenty high. Do they really need us to pile on? "Hey everybody! Look at me. My poor taste goes beyond this outfit that Joan Rivers is analyzing as we speak. You should see my body of work. The millions of dollars you throw at my crowd to support or crap- excuse me- craft, just isn't enough. We need to have approximately 7,000 awards shows. Can't we make it 7,001?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

An exercise I have been working on lately for a class is to list 50 personal interests and assign to each a points value. The total should come to 10,000. This is much harder than it sounds, and frankly I thought it sounded pretty hard. I am taking the approach of interests for which I strive and not necessarily those borne out in my behavior. Still, even though it is a challenge I think it is probably a good activity to do and review.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm shutting up now.