February 4, 2012 Still Feels Like Christmas

Most years at Christmas, my mom gives me a poinsettia.  I do my best to keep the darn thing alive until New Years.  Sometimes I'm successful.  Sometimes, not so much.

This year, clearly, is one of the successful years.  Look at the gorgeous plant - - it's real and it's nearly 2 months old.  I can't say that our time together has been without it's drama, though.

One day I glanced over and realized that I had not watered the poor thing in way too long.  I rushed it into hydro-intensive care and BOOM! it came back to it's full glory.

The other reason it feels like Christmas today is because I took Luke shopping for the career fair which is Tuesday at Kansas State.  He needed a dress shirt and since he is a weight lifter, we can't just wander into the local Men's Clothes R Us and buy him a shirt.  We headed to Topeka and got him a couple of shirts and a couple of ties. 

I asked the wonderful woman who waited on us if men still wore blue sports coats.  I remember my dad wearing one a lot and I always thought it looked so smart.  She told me that no man should be without one, so I coaxed Luke into trying one on.

It was like magic.  He put the jacket on and he stood up straighter and walked with more confidence.  He had to have that jacket!

We had a great time together and Luke is ready, in more ways than one, for the career fair.  If you think of him on Tuesday afternoon, send good vibes his way, okay?  If there was ever anyone who deserved a break, it's Luke.

Well, we covered a lot of distance from my Christmas poinsettia to Luke's career fair, didn't we?

And still ended up where we started.

February 3, 2012 Road Show

I have a great presentation that I give to international students.

While I am entertaining without any props, I am off the chain when you add a power point to my effervescent personality!

Combine all that with a room full of international students who may or may not speak my brand of English, you get quite a result!

You may not know this about me, but sometimes I pick up speed as I go, and can leave those poor international students in the dust.

I know this has happened when their eyes glaze over and they start to drool. At that point, I pause, take a breath, and slow down.

Just so there is no mistake: I admire these kids a great deal. I could not have left home and traveled half way around the world when was 19 like many of the international students I speak to. Their English is 1000 times better than my Chinese/Spanish/ French/German.

I do have feeling, however, that after each one of these presentations, there's a kid who goes back to his room, calls his parents and tells them that there's a crazy woman on the KSU campus and would it be okay for him to come home!

February 2, 2012 A Fun Request

There I was, sitting in my office, minding my own business (like always) when my friend, Andrew, popped in to see me.

We chatted about Christmas Break, about this being his last semester and having a bad case of Senioritis, about his fraternity, about lots of stuff.

There was a bit of a lull in the conversation at one point.  I figured Andrew would make a break for it. 

But he didn't, he said he had something to ask me.

"Go ahead", I said.

"Well," said Andrew, "I was wondering, do you have a picture for your blog today?"

I told him that I didn't. 

He sort of smiled and asked if he could be today's picture.

Of course!  Naturally!  You bet!

So, here's my buddy, Andrew - - and not for the last time, I'm sure.  He frequently shows up around lunch time....

February 1, 2012 Proof

Believe what you see on the internet. It was SIXTY-THREE degrees in Manhattan, Kansas, at 1:56 this afternoon. February 1, 2012.

Unbelievable. Totally unbelievable.

Just like climate change.

A complete myth.

Of course, CB was on the golf course while I was tootling between the office and city court.

On days like today, I long to have a couple of things:

1. A window that opens.

2. An office with a deck.

3. A bank account that dictates my hours and would most assuredly insist that days like today be spent in the company of a good book, on a bench, in the sun.

Remind me of today's photo when I post the one showing a gigantic negative sign and complain about freezing my ass off!

January 31, 2012 Reunion Project

The Barnes Smith Barr Reunion and Tribunal is in a little over a week in Port Aransas, Texas. This is a busy time for me because I bring a lot to the reunion table.

Of course there is my stellar wit and uncanny handle on the affairs of the world; not to mention my unmatched cooking skills and ability to leap tall buildings in a single bound.

But for the reunion, I have much more important things to do as I am the Official Scribe. In that role, I am responsible for the yearly scrapbook, the minutes of the last Tribunal, the agenda for this year's Tribunal and organizing (and binding) all the emails from the past year.

For some reason, which I can not explain, I am ahead of the curve this year. The scrapbook from last year is done, the agenda is a work in progress (it can't be completed until the Judge sets the deadline for submitting agenda items), the minutes from last year's Tribunal have been typed and included in the minutes notebook.

This is all very organized and official. Can you just imagine what I could do if given a real event to organize?

Anyway, all that's left for now is getting all the emails in order and putting them in a notebook. Because emails are printed in reverse chronological order and I am a perfectionist, I go through each email chain, cut them apart and put them in the order they were written. Printing them is a pain in the ass - we write a lot of emails throughout the year. In order to get in this stack of emails, the content of the email must be of interest to the Tribunal and either related to politics or KU sports. You'd be amazed at the amount of time a group of well read, highly educated adults spend on complete bullshit!

We spend hours every year reading the emails and looking at the scrapbooks. This year is #7 so we are getting quite a collection.

And to think that this started as an opportunity to impeach that no good, lying, war monger, piece of shit, Dubya Bush. Even though Bush is out of office, we figure that he was so bad for so long, we could impeach him every year for the rest of our lives and still not address all of his impeachable actions.

Our dads would be so very proud!

January 30, 2012 Bath Day

Things to keep in mind:

It's January.

Its the end of January, as a matter of fact.

It's winter.

Today, the high temperature was 68 degrees.

SIXTY EIGHT DEGREES.  Outside.  Today.

CB and Buddy went for a long walk this morning.

CB played golf this afternoon.

Buddy got a bath when CB came home.

A bath outside on the deck.

In January.

In the winter.

But, climate change is a myth.

Ask Sarah Palin.

Go ahead, ask her.  I dare you.

Crazy bitch.

January 29, 2012 Happy Kansas Day!

A Kansas story:

In 1926, my dad's dad, my Grandpa Judge, ran for Attorney General of Kansas.  He was Assistant Attorney General at the time and was a good friend of William Allen White, the newspaper publisher from Emporia.

Before the Republican primary (that's right, folks, my grandpa was a Republican, but he was the good kind.  The kind that is really a Democrat.  A voice for the poor, the working class, the disenfranchised.  That was my grandpa.), he got this letter from William Allen White.

On August 3, 1926, William Allen White wrote my grandpa, and my brother framed the letter and gave it to my dad.  Somehow I ended up with it.

Here's what it said

"Dear Bill Smith:

The show is closed, the tents down, and the performance goes to the next town.  I want you to know that the Kansas newspapers have been particlarly generous in printing my stuff about you, and a dozen of them have taken three articles which were as convincing as I could make them.  Win or lose,  I am proud to be with you but I think you have got a fair chance to win.  You don't owe me a thing on earth, least of all gratitude.

If you are elected, go ahead, make the best attorney general you know how, and if you are defeated, shake hands with yourself and thank God you are a free man.

Sincerely,

W.A. White"

The letter was addressed to "Captain W.A. Smith".  Grandpa Judge was in the Kansas National Guard and was a captain. 

I love this letter.

Many, many times, I have decided to shake hands with myself and thank God I am free.  And I remember White's words as each polictical campaign ends:  The show is closed, the tents down and the performance goes to the next town.

Kansas is Kansas because of my family.

Well, not the Kansas of today.  The Kansas of today is screwed up.  And my grandpa would be pissed.

Seriously pissed.