Sgt. Barry Sadler is my Home Boy

Ok, most of you know I am a bit of a sports geek. My darling wife is a literary, music type of girl so when we play Trivial Pursuit it is pretty much a battle of attrition. I get Yellow, Blue, Green and Orange (History, Geography, Science and Sports), she gets Pink, Brown, Green and some Blue/Yellow (Entertainment, Arts and Literature and the others).

So tonight, partially because we were horribly bored with the same old same old (scanning Tevo), partially because of the writer's strike and partially because we just plain need to spend more non TV/Internet time together we decided to play Trivial Pursuit.

The first game was rolling along in typical fashion. I was doing well rolling all over the board looking for Roll Again and Orange Sports Spots to keep my turns going, till inevitably I had five pies and needed Pink to fill the pie and then of course to win I would have to answer another pink.

Then fate Smiled on me with the following two questions in succession on Pink (And Nathan will love the first one):

Q: What artist had a 1966 hit with Ballad of the Green Berets?
A: (And I love this song) Sgt. Barry Sadler

and then...even better....

Q: What name was given to the genre of Italian Cowboy movies (or something like that)
A: Spaghetti Westerns.

For me it doesn't get much better than that on Pink in Trivial Pursuit. Maybe something about Snoopy....what was Snoopy's buddy bird's name or something. So Barry Sadler, this Bud's for you. Oh and I lost the second game so the Ramsey family ended 1-1. BTW, watch out for us as a team, we won't lose. 8-)

Couldn't have one without the other

Jenn and I went to BW3 for dinner the other night after grocery shopping. After figuring out that we were standing at the maitradee stand instead of just ordering we were greeted by a quite competent girl working behind the counter and training a new but challenged employee.

The competent girl had two necklaces, one with the star of David and one with three crosses on it. I found that a bit odd. The Jewish people I know wouldn't wear a cross and the Christian people I know wouldn't wear a star of David. So knowing me, ya'll know what came next.

Bryan: So you have the Star of David AND crosses. What's with that? Couldn't decide?

BW3 Girl: Well, just thought you can't have one without the other so I have both.

Hmm....can't have one without the other. Christians might say that since they know Jesus was a Jew. Jews however might not agree. In fact my boy Baer chuckled out loud when I told him this story. In my honest opinion Judaism could exist and does possibly exist without Jesus and Christianity. They don't need us, but we need them so to speak.

So to my friend at BW3. I love your ambition, but you could be mistaken. Just a bit, maybe.

Childhood nutrition

I remember one trip to my Aunt Jo's house where I chewed a Ham sandwich bite or several bites maybe for the entire road trip to my Aunt's house. She lived in Orlando. We lived in Kissimmee. I believe it is about 30 miles, maybe more. That was the story of my childhood nutrition. I was picky and stubborn. I assume my parents just gave up trying after a certain point.

However, I think they missed the point. They never gave me the options the kid I saw in Mieneke Car Care this morning. I'm sitting there minding my own business waiting for my car to be finished and a girl, maybe 8-to-10 years old comes in with her mother. She sits down at the table I am at with a bag from Taco Bell and a bag from Wendy's. My kind of nutrition. So a couple of bites into one of her tacos, she lays it down and proceeds to dig into some fries from Wendy's. Moments later he mom says, "No more fries till you eat your taco."

I had a double take because when I was a kid it was no more dessert till you eat your veggies or no more something good till you eat something bad. This kid was getting no more fries till she ate her taco. I used to eat those Tacos and trust me they are both good tasting and bad for you. Hmmmm. I'm probably 60 pounds over weight right now. Imagine if I had those options as a kid. Good job mom!

US Postal Service, neither rain nor snow...

So the other day I go to the mailbox as is typical when I get home from work. I would say about 1 time a month or maybe less we get a piece of mail for one of my neighbors. I don't think that is a bad amount.

The most recent takes the cake.

Come to find out about 5 houses down from me lives someone who retired from the U.S. Postal Service.

So when I check the mail, in it is an incorrectly delivered piece of mail from the U.S. Postal Service Retirement Organization. If there was one piece of mail you would think they could deliver correctly, it would be mail to former compatriot about their retirement. So I enjoyed that little moment of irony. That the US Postal Service is not discriminating about what the don't deliver properly.