Ellie's Nine

Happy Birthday to Ellie, who turned nine today. She and I enjoyed the last Hawks game of the season together and we had a delightful time, which was made all the better by the fact that the Hawks actually won the game. They beat the Pacers 118 to 102 and had four players with over 20 points. Wow! Now if only that had happened about 10 or 15 times more during this past season we would be headed for the playoffs instead of the showers. In fairness to the Hawks management, they did answer my email and we agreed I would wait awhile before finalizing my decision about not renewing my season tickets. They indicated that there would be some changes made and asked me to wait a few months. I guess they are holding my seats until that time, but given where I've been sitting I suppose they reckon they can always sell them to someone else if required to do so.

Anyway, Ellie had a fun time and managed to get a Hawks sweat shirt to go with her Hawks bear. It was after all her birthday and sometimes it's okay to spoil them a little bit.

Could not watch anymore coverage on the Virginia Tech tragedy........so many angles being played out with the gun control lobby using it as a platform for pushing their agenda while the NRA pushes back and reminds us that "people kill people, not guns". I think we we ought to be focused on the victims and not the lobbyist in DC pushing political agendas. But as long as it is on the burner, my position remains the same. We need very strong national standards for registration and a wait period during which there is an actual background check conducted. I might even go as far as to say that there should be an interview conducted by someone from the local authority to ensure a person wanting to purchase a handgun is eyeballed by someone other than the guy trying to collect his cash. How someone can walk into a store and walk out with a 9mm and 50 rounds of ammunition is beyond me. "He didn't say why he wanted the gun" is what the store owner said when interviewed. I don't know folks, sometimes don't ask, don't tell isn't the best strategy. Bear with me here. I'm not saying we should ban handguns, but we should be very prudent about the acquisition process and do our best to understand who is buying them and why. Finally, I think the "people kill people" thinking is probably right, but giving those people easy access to guns just facilitates the act and doesn't make sense.

Well, just after midnight and I promised myself I would start going to bed a tad earlier than I have over the past few weeks. I often find myself reading at 3:00 a.m. and wonder why I'm tired in the morning. I need to find a more engaging role for myself so that my days are more fully occupied; i.e.: I need to find a job. It has been interesting working on my own, but not very satisfying financially.

Mom had a good visit with the Doctor yesterday and seemed to be somewhat more alert and cheerful today. I think it will take her awhile to recover and they need to get her meds sorted as well. We have a family reunion planned for early August and everyone is hoping that she will be well enough to attend. These family gatherings have become a tradition over the past decade or so and Mom enjoys seeing her grandchildren, great grandchildren and her great-great grandchildren. It's a treat when we have five generations sitting around the garden enjoying the feeling of belonging to the clan. I know we won't have her around forever, but we pray that she will be with us as long as possible.

Hope everyone has a wonderday day tomorrow.