Leap Year

This is my 366th post. One for each day of an olympic/election/leap year.

For no reason, the phrase "rassin' frassin'" got into my head today. Everyone I shared this with was under 25 and had no idea what I was talking about. I initially associated it with Yosemite Sam. A quick Google search, only 1010 results, revealed that it might also come from Snidely Whiplash's dog and the Wacky Racers.

Another thing I learned today, when my Google Reader recommended I subscribe to my own blog, is that I have 9 subscribers. So I thank each of you, and I'm sorta delighted that I could conceivably host a party at my apartment for all of you. I might have to make two pies, but that wouldn't be a problem. (I'm also sorta thinking I should have a Summer membership drive like my local community owned radio station.)

Speaking of pie, Saturday I made my rhubarb custard pie with cardamom instead of nutmeg, and it worked pretty well. Later on Saturday, Marcy, Michael Thurber, and I went to a David Sedaris reading/book signing at the UNL bookstore. I was fortunate to get my book signed before the reading. While he was signing my book with a wonderful drawing of a turtle with a human head that wore a top hat and had an Abraham Lincoln type beard, he asked me questions.

DS: Are you a student?

DM: No.

DS: What do you do?

DM: I working in a shipping department as an order coordinator.

DS: Do you have a home?

DM: Nope, I'm in an apartment.

DS: How much is the rent?

DM: 630 a month.

DS: That's not too bad. Is it clean?

DM: Nope.

DS: You don't clean your apartment?

DM: Well, I clean the kitchen when I bake. I made a pie today.

DS: Really, I wouldn't have guessed that. (Shares with helper woman that I'd baked a pie.) I wouldn't have picked you as the person who made a pie today.

Hurm.

I've subscribed to the hoekstraisameme.com site so that I won't miss the next clever take on Pete's tweet.

But I have some complaints about many of the submissions. My opinion is that a hoekstra meme should be a comparison of personal minor suffering/inconvenience/discomfort to historic tragic injustice. I think this is a fine example. However, I've seen a lot that are comparing minor personal accomplishments to monumental feats. I feel this positive take on the meme undermines the initial intent to ridicule Hoekstra for not properly recognizing his rung on the ladder of human suffering. The memes I laugh the most at are those that attack the most revered martyrs.

Hat tip to Michael through Facebook. I agree that these are funny metaphors.

Marcy's dog, Lincoln, put its wet nose on my foot, now I know how Siegfried and Roy feel.

Big Weekend

Last weekend I went to Stillwater, OK for my Uncle Dennis' National Wrestling Hall of Fame induction. There's some pictures here too. Here's an interview that he did for the USA Wrestling website. So you have some context, it was taken after a hot windy morning of golf for him. I haven't seen the video yet, but there it is.

My favorite part of the weekend was seeing both sides of these legends of their sport. For example, I got to meet Dan Gable and most of the conversation centered around how he was going to pay for all of his daughters' education. Apparently, being a wrestling legend doesn't pay for Master's Degrees.

Then there was my introduction to Greg Strobel by my Uncle Duane. At a wrestling exhibition in North Carolina, Strobel was responsible for a group of wrestlers that were either blind or deaf. And at some point he came up to my uncles asking if they'd seen the blind and deaf wrestlers because he'd lost them. Later in the evening, I went to a feature on the Lehigh wrestling program which is celebrating its 100th season this year. And as the historian was talking about the different coaches who'd brought Lehigh success he mentioned Strobel, who'd returned them to prominence after a down period and now serves as Assistant Athletic Director at Lehigh. Funny, I knew him as the guy who temporarily lost a bunch of deaf and blind wrestlers and now he's in charge of 25 varsity sports programs.

The rest of the weekend was spent at Silver Dollar City on Sunday and meeting Allison's family on Monday before driving back home to Lincoln. A little over 1200 miles of driving all told.