Ryan was one of the greatest competitors I’ve ever known and I’m so thankful for his inspiration.
Ryan Davidson, a member of the USC family, passed away today on his 16th birthday. Very sad news . . .
Ryan Davidson, 1993-2009
Nerds
Someone left a box of Nerds on a cubicle wall in the IT department. (The door in the back left is my office!)
What is that supposed to mean? We are not (just) nerds!
The Chicago Tea Party
This is America! How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor’s mortgage? President Obama are you listening? How about we all stop paying our mortgage!
I’m rolling over in my grave, as the gentleman from Chicago has already noted. Count me in for the Chicago Tea Party!
A little revolution now and then is a good thing; the tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.
I’ll bring Samuel Adams along. Not the beer, you yahoos, the patriot! He has experience with this sort of thing.
P.S. Medary.com has provided a Chicago Tea Party broadside, or whatever you call them nowadays.
A Lesson in Trust
The dog has a stuffed bear he likes to sleep with. Unfortunately, it’s now bedtime and we don’t know where the bear is.
“Have you seen his bear?” I ask my wife.
“I think he had it upstairs,” she says. “Either in our room or Casey’s room.”
“Upstairs” and “bear” are two of the words the dog recognizes so he’s already charged upstairs and waiting for me on the top step.
I walk up and ask him, “Where’s your bear?”
He runs into my room. We look around in there and can’t find it so we go down the hall to the boy’s room where he’s sitting on the bed doing homework.
I say to him, “Where is it, you bear-stealin’ varmint?”
He gets up and walks out of the room.
“Thanks for the help,” I call after him. “Come on, Lightning, we’ll conduct the search without him.”
A few moments later, the boy walks back in with the bear in his hand.
“How lame are you?” he asks.
“Where was it?”
“I walked downstairs to the sofa, lifted up the blanket and it was right there,” he says. “Why couldn’t you find it?”
“I didn’t look there because Mom said it was upstairs. See, that’s what you get for trusting people.”
Living on the Edge
I’ve just poured myself a Diet Pepsi when my son announces that diet sodas are unhealthy.
“They add things to the diet sodas so they’re even more unhealthy than regular sodas.”
I ask him, “What do they add?”
“I didn’t get that far into it,” he says, “The article started to get boring.”
“In that case, I’m going to go ahead and drink this thing.”
A Trade, Not a Steal
We were watching the NBA All-Star Game yesterday when someone — Marv Albert, I think — said that Pau Gasol was acquired in a “steal” by the Los Angeles Lakers.
My son takes exception.
“That wasn’t a steal,” he says. “It was a trade. Javaris Crittenton is a very capable player.”
I Got a Passport
I got my first passport yesterday. I can go anywhere! The world is my oyster!
Although I really don’t like to travel . . .
Some people get annoyed with me when I say that, including members of my own family. It doesn’t make sense to them. My mom, for example, has been to like 30 countries. Maybe 50, I can’t keep track.
For me, I start out thinking I’d be happier somewhere else but after I’ve spent all the time and money to get there, I realize I’m still the same person with the same problems I had at home.
Not to mention the possibility of being drugged, robbed and killed, or hit by a tsunami.
I’m not saying there’s nothing positive about travel. It’s just not worth the investment . . .
Don’t Tase Me, Bro
Physicist who invented the Taser gun dies
Come to find out, the guy who invented the Taser lived right here in Orange County, in Mission Viejo!
I’m shocked!
Happy Valentine’s Day
Who knew Carrie Fisher has a blog? —
I happen to be the possessor of a very big personality . . .
When I date someone, I generally have about three months of a personality available and then I finally come to the end of it. I need to refuel, I short-circuit. And then whoever I’m with shows up, and a lot of the times I don’t like him so much.
Now wait, I just got a little quieter and what’d you just say? You didn’t read this? You’ve never seen that? You don’t know who that is? You really think that about me? He bothers me – not that I’m so great, but the enchantment wears off, and then the sleeping giant wakes up and says, “Fee-fi-fo-fum, I smell the blood of someone dumb.”
Happy Caturday
A cat in Seattle is having a photo exhibition! I have to admit that a couple of the photos are pretty good.
I don’t have a camera. 🙁
— Lightning 
The Art of the Possible
The role of the economist in discussions of public policy seems to me to be to prescribe what should be done in light of what can be done, politics aside, and not to predict what is “politically feasible” and then to recommend it.
Take out the references to economics and public policy and you can probably apply the “what should be done in light of what can be done” approach in your own work. It’s the art of the possible . . .
To Live and Die in Irvine
IRVINE – A group of solemn people sat around tables at a fast-food Chinese restaurant off Jeffrey Road on Wednesday night after a man was shot and killed while sitting in a white Lexus parked behind the eatery.
At least he died in a nice car. It’s Irvine, Jake!
This happened a stone’s throw from my house. Well, more than a stone’s throw but let’s say a hard 5-iron with a good bounce off Trabuco Road.
I’ve been to that Chinese restaurant many times. (It’s a dine-in restaurant, not a fast-food place, despite what the Register says.)
Don’t worry about me though. Irvine is still the safest city in the country.
That guy must have gotten himself mixed up in some kind of trouble . . .
Happy 200th Birthday, Charles Darwin
Separated at Birth?
Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Morgan Tsvangirai and that guy from the Miller High Life commercials . . .
25 Things I Didn’t Want to Know About You
From TIME magazine
A Lack of Foresight
It’s chilly tonight in Orange County — temperatures in the low 40s — but the dog still needs to go out for a walk so I ask my son to please take care of it.
“It’s kinda cold,” he says.
“It’s okay,” I reply. “He’s got fur.”
“I don’t have fur.”
“You should have thought of that when you asked for a dog.”
Another Reason I Like to Just Stay Home
Thomas Jefferson on the Stimulus Package
The situation could not be more serious. It is inexcusable and irresponsible for any of us to get bogged down in distraction, delay or politics as usual while millions of Americans are being put out of work. Now is the time for Congress to act.
Bah-loney. The American economy will bounce back as it always has, as surely as day follows night, no matter what anyone does or doesn’t do.
The only urgency in passing a stimulus bill (which doesn’t work, as I’ve explained previously) is so President Obama can take the credit for the recovery when it occurs . . .
Why Parents Do What They Do
And I know a father who had a son
He longed to tell him all the reasons for the things he’d done
This story needs a quick setup . . .
My son’s two-year-old birthday party was a festive event. The whole neighborhood was there!
We had a bounce house, a clown . . . the only thing that marred the day slightly was that as everyone sang “Happy Birthday,” his mom lifted him up so he could see the cake, and he stuck his finger out and touched a lit candle.
It wasn’t a bad burn but he did cry for a while.
We have a video of this. That’s why he remembers it.
So — we’re having a late lunch today at Souplantation. A kid who looks about four years old runs down the aisle, turns the corner and runs back up the next aisle over.
I ask, “Why is it a good idea as a parent to let your kid run through restaurants?”
My son, totally off topic, says, “Why is it a good idea to let your kid stick his finger in a candle?”
I say, “I don’t know. You didn’t do it again though, did you?”
His mom says, “Maybe you shouldn’t have a birthday party at all if you want to complain about it.”
“A two-year-old shouldn’t have a birthday party?!” he asks in disbelief.
I say, “Mom makes a good point, if you’re just going to stick your finger in a candle and ruin it for everybody.”
Working on Some Moves
My son’s dribbling a basketball in the family room, working on some moves. His mom comes in and tells him to knock it off.
He responds by posting her up and backing her down . . .