Oxymoron

Ashley, Bode, and I were at the pool the other day. There is no smoking in the entire facility. Fortunately (for the smokers), there is a smoking area right out front. Personally I'd like the smoking area to be on the opposite side of the parking lot...perhaps I'll propose that measure for the ballot next fall. Anyways, there was a family of five. Mom, Dad (looked no older than 30 a piece), and kids from two to six-ish. They looked like the stereotypical American (trailer) family, complete with mustache, mullet, and tattoos. Mom and Dad were busy applying sun-screen to the kids. Good parents--gotta protect the little ones from the sun. However, as they were doing this, Mom and Dad each had a cigarette dangling from their lips. And you could tell this wasn't their first cigarette, as they were able to smoke and talk simultaneously without using their hands (which were busy putting on that sun-screen). If I were more like Larry David from Curb Your Enthusiasm, I would have said something. It would be comical if it weren't so tragic for those kids. Our pediatrician has told us ninety percent of the kids he admits to the hospital have a parent that smokes. Ninety percent. Of course, those cigarette tax dollars were probably used to help finance the pool so maybe I should have thanked them instead... :-)

Bode, Auburn, and I are flying solo this week. Ashley is off on some extravagant trip to...somewhere in Missouri. It's not a big town. It's about two hours from St. Louis. I checked googlemaps, and was told she's in the middle of nowhere.

One of Bode's favorite songs is the Elephant Song by Eric Herman (check it out on youtube). Here we are watching it. I can't yet tell if Bode looks like me or Ashley (or neither). I was out running this weekend when a guy on foot approached me wanting to know how to get to a certain street. I knew the street he was talking about and gave him directions. He was about three miles away, and he headed off. About half hour later, I realized I told him the wrong way to go. I started him in the right direction, but told him to turn left when it should have been right. I'm sure I have some bad karma coming my way because of that...

Pleasant Tuesday to you all.