Led Zeppelin Meets the World's Lamest Sport

I dare anyone to say synchronized swimming is boring after watching this masterpiece.

Think Blue

If I don't do this now, I might lose the chance to bask in the glow of the Dodgers being a good team.

I was very excited for this baseball season, because it finally looked like the Dodgers would have a good chance to go deep in the playoffs. They have been very good this year.

They lost their star player, the best offensive player in the game for 50 games. It has had an impact. Their winning percentage is down by .124 since Manny had to leave.

That being said, the Dodgers have held it together with a 21-14 record since. If they had Manny, they probably would have had 25 wins in that same time period, and it's not out of reach to say that Manny could have won 4 out of 35 games for them.

When he comes back, there is potential for a tremendous season. Lets hope they keep it rolling.

And for those of you who say the Dodgers play in a weak division, consider that since Manny has been out, they've played 6 games vs. the Phillies, and 3 vs. the Rangers, both leaders of their respective divisions. They are a combined 6-3 giving them a win percentage of .667, which is better than their overall season win percentage.

Since I'm a fan, I'm going to go ahead and look forward to the World Series. The one team in the AL I wouldn't like to see the Dodgers face would be the Tigers, so there's a feather in your cap, Brett. Sure, Boston, New York, and Texas all have more wins right now, but the Dodgers just beat Texas in Arlington, Manny would have something to prove against Boston, and does anyone think the Dodgers would have trouble hitting it out of Yankee Stadium. That place is a launching pad.

So the NL had better go out and win the All Star Game, and the Dodgers better stay away from devastating injury and make it to the World Series. I have some chickens that I've counted that haven't yet hatched.

You may all go on with your lives.

Bubsywood

PS. Tyler and Jackson and all other Braves fans, when are you going to see the light and root for a cool team? My brothers are beyond hope, but I gave you guys more credit for choosing cool teams. Guess I was wrong.

A Decade

One of the most common questions my students ask me is: "How can your wife stand you?" The answer is simple, I take out all my vitriol and venom on my students, so by the time I come home, my wife thinks I'm a functional human being. (By the way, did anyone else think that people were saying "human bean" instead of "human being" when they were growing up? I remember when I was like 12 finally figuring out that people weren't comparing humans to a legume.)

And so I'm proud to announce that today is my 10 year anniversary, which I think means I'm supposed to give her something made of tin. Hopefully she accepts synthetic fibers instead.

I will now make a list of things that Ange has had to endure throughout our ten year marriage. In no particular order (keeping in mind that all numbers are approximates unless denoted by an asterisk)...

220 Platypi games

220 scabs on my knee from sliding

3,653* nights of me talking in my sleep

7,306* trips to the bathroom

10 Christmas Vacations up to Idaho

95,622* way funny jokes

7 inappropriate, non-funny, or off color jokes

5* computers

7 cell phones

5,220 glasses of chocolate milk

4,221 socks to pick up

120 BYU football games

3 trips out of town because of work

1 little boy who loves to learn

1 little girl who loves her shoes

2 little kids who love their daddy's ipod

The list could go on. I hope it does. Ange could not be reached for comment.

Psalms 145:9 "The Lord is good to all: and his tender mercies are over all his works."

When I reflect on the "tender mercies" that the Lord has shown me, the majority, begin or end with my wife. Ange, of course, has a different point of view... I'm pretty sure she's with me because she feels sorry for me.

I just think this picture's funny. I don't know what it has to do with anything.

In non sappy news, Lagoon in June is this Friday. Courtney, or more specifically, Terek had better come down, since Lincoln has been talking non stop this last week about going on rides with Terek. (Sorry if I didn't spell his name right... I'm sure you all understand.)

For all those Idaho people, Friday is supposed to be the best weather day the entire week. Which means it should only rain a quarter of the time. The high is supposed to be like 72 degrees, which means about thirty degrees warmer than the water at Lagoon A Beach. You've been warned. I'd bring a nice waterproof jacket.

Sports Saturday

So Lincoln is playing soccer. He's always really excited to go play soccer, but it's a total crap shoot what's going to happen once we get to the park.

He did a good job yesterday, he got to kick the ball several times, and once he took it from his own end line past midfield, running past the opposition as he kept kicking the ball. He was eventually stopped by his own teammate. She's 5 to Lincoln's 3, and a much faster runner. She caught him, kicked the ball away from him, and tripped and fell. Lincoln, upon seeing someone fall down, decided to pile on.

Above is photo proof of the episode I described. The girl to the right is the one who caught him. I was talking to her mom later on, and she said that they give her a dollar for every goal she scores. I noticed after that, that she seemed a little more selfish. Plus, her mom said that one week, they had to pony up $27, one for each goal her older daughter scored.

Paying kids for scoring goals... probably not a good idea.

Later on in the day, Lincoln had a free ticket to a Real Salt Lake Game. Real Salt Lake, for those who don't know is Utah's MLS soccer team. Real means "Royal" in Spanish, so their name means "Royal Salt Lake". And they play in Sandy.

Anyway, the facility is really nice. One of the nicer stadiums I've been to. The individual seats are even contoured to accommodate your back. I'd like to see a football game there one day. As for the soccer game that happened while I was there, it didn't change my mind much about soccer. Following is a list of problems I have with the worlds most popular game. Keep in mind, I've actually tried to like soccer. It's true. Just ask my family.

• They need to change that insane offsides rule to be a fixed point on the field, instead of defenders that can move. Like Hockey.


• Rules only seem to be occasionally applied, making newbies like me scratch their heads as to when a foul should be called, and when it shouldn't.


• To help apply those rules, there should be more than 1 ref to make calls out there. Basketball has a much smaller court, and manages to have 3 refs... and they still miss calls.


• Fans should not be allowed to throw urine bombs under any circumstances.


• People should stop trying to make me like soccer.

I don't want to make anyone defensive... I'd just like to know how a die hard soccer fan justifies the above list.

In the end, our royal Salt Lakers lost 2-0 to the Kansas City Monarchs. No word if they are also royal, or just a butterfly. In any event, a 2-0 loss in soccer, is like losing 133 - 0 in real (English definition) football. I think I might spend $10 or so a seat to watch a soccer game again. The stadium was great, the atmosphere was incredible, and the drummer played the drums throughout the entire game. Maybe if my team scored a goal once in a while, it'd be more exciting.

Finally, a gratuitous Ellie picture.

That's her with Ange's cousin Lynsie, or as I call her "bug eyed glasses lady".

So you had a bad day...

I'm minding my own business at work, eating a nice pizza for lunch when Ange calls me up and tells me that our basement has once again flooded. We spent $4000 or so last fall to keep water from flooding from the outside. This flood came from the inside. The pipes had backed up, and water had come through the drain into our newly finished downstairs family room.

We spent the rest of the day dealing with the flood. We had a plumber over to try to clear up the blockage, but he couldn't help and referred us to another company that could. They unclogged the pipes, and said they were blocked some 70 feet from where they were.

The cleanup company came and cut out our carpet and put fans to dry everything up. Since there was a possibility that it was sewer water, they told us we had to cut the carpet out, and we had to depart with 10 year old towels that were given to us as a wedding present. They were old, of course, but I don't usually buy towels until they're absolutely necessary.

Everybody left, and we went on with the two hour project of getting the kids in bed. At about 10 pm or so, the kids had eaten and were down to sleep, I look and Ange and tell her that it's finally time to get to bed, and put this horrible day behind us.

Then Ange says "I think I smell natural gas."

Of course, she did smell natural gas, so we called the gas company, woke up the kids, got them out of the house, and waited for the nice gas man.

There was no leak. As most of you probably suspected, the chances of having main water line backup and a gas leak on the same day are astronomical, and so the problems were probably somehow related. So it was. The fans blew out the pilot light to our water heater, and gas seeped out for a couple of minutes before it shut off.

Our little family was very tired the next day.

In the end, our insurance company (in the long run, us) is paying for brand new carpet for most of our downstairs and upstairs, which is nice, since we need new carpet. I think it goes to show that there is usually a silver lining to most bad situations... except having a two year old.

Make your picks

So I made a little place in yahoo where we can pick some brackets for the upcoming ncaa tournament. You can get there and make your picks by following the following link:

http://tournament.fantasysports.yahoo.com/t1/register/joinprivategroup_assign_team?GID=167900&P=ericdavis

or by going to yahoo fantasy sports, looking for group # 167900 and using the password: ericdavis

The winner gets Preston's go go puppy.

That be all

Yellow and Blue make go!

I like Village Inn.

I don't know why.

Could be the yummy skillets, or random shootings.

It was the first place I went to eat after my bout with what I assume was foot and mouth disease 12 or so years ago. (I had cankers all over my mouth, and couldn't eat solid food.) That trip turned out to be a waste of money, because I still couldn't eat solid food.

It was the first restaurant that I took Ange on what could be considered our first date. She wore a "Friends" shirt... I didn't take the hint. (She insists she wore it because of the pretty colors.)

It was the site of Stiel Family breakfasts (Ange's family) for a couple of years.

So, there is quite the history. Today I took Lincoln at the crack of dawn, and we went to get the car inspected. There's a Village Inn nearby, so we went there to pass some time. Lincoln likes waiting at restaurants, because he gets to color with crayons. Today, he got a yellow and blue crayon, which meant I had to combine them to get his favorite color, go. (green) Thanks to Blue's Clues, he knows how to combine colors and make new ones.

I ordered an artery clogging double ham, double bacon skillet. (So good.) Lincoln wanted some pancakes. I looked at the kids meal section and had to choose between smiley face pancakes and chocolate chip pancakes. The smiley face description said that they were three large pancakes, where the chocolate chip description said they were 5 small pancakes. So we went for the "small" chocolate chip pancakes.

They were huge, they covered an entire regular sized plate a couple of times over. Lincoln was only able to down two and a half. I'm trying to figure out what size a child would have to be in order to eat that many "small" pancakes.

This is an actual picture of the dish, minus one pancake.

This could be why we are so fat as a country. I'm not making fun of anyone, because I'm leading the list. Back when I was playing basketball everyday, I was considered obese. Now, the government probably considers me clinically dead.

The perfect solution is for the government to revise their obesity standards.

In other news, I heard that a new study shows that whenever a fast food restaurant opens in a neighborhood, everybody in that area automatically has a 1% higher chance of a stroke.

Good to know.

The Messenger

Quotes from the Bubs

Some people may wonder why I don't make my blog look nice or update links like everybody else does. Those people will have to wait 'till summer. When summer's over, and I still haven't done it, I'll have to think of another excuse.

Lincoln has been so good going to primary. We were really worried, because we thought it would be hard for him to sit still since his favorite thing is to bounce off walls. But when he goes in primary, he's reverent, listens, sings, and is very respectful. I caught him in the halls walking with his arms folded. He saw me, and just carried on like usual. His teacher is Sister Walker, and she does such a good job with him and the 7 other three year olds in the class. Today, he told me that they sang "Follow Prophets".

We have been worried about sending Ellie to nursery, because there is a pretty mean girl in there that picks on everybody. We saw her put the ol' choke hold on one of the boys, and thought it would be better to steer clear for the day. So, while Ange was trying to get her to sleep in the mother's room, she threw up. We did our best to clean it, but when I checked on it at the end of church, it still had a lingering smell. Ange and Ellie went home, because we thought that after being covered in throw up, they had earned it.

I usually don't comment on the teachers at my school. I've actually sat on this story for a few weeks, but I can't help it. A few doors down from me is a teacher that some consider a tad pompous. I think he's a nice guy, but he only ever says 'Spencer' when I see him walking by me in the halls.

Anyway, I was in his room the other day, and he has all these quotes/sayings blown up on his wall. There's quotes form Ghandi, Jefferson, Washington, Martin Luther King etc. Then I notice that there is a quote in which he has cited himself. I thought that was pretty funny, so I asked a few students about it, and it's true. In fact, he has two quotes hanging up in which he's cited himself. Either this guy is a comic genius, or he's nursing a huge ego.

So, I told my students that I wanted a quote on my wall from myself. My students took matters into their own hands. After a few minutes of working on the computer, I noticed the following quote on the wall: "Shut your little gobs and get to work" - Spencer Millburn. Very nice.

Weekend sickness

Last Wednesday (now almost a week ago) Ella threw up for the first time in a while. The first time was when I went to get her out of her crib after a nap. She had created a lake in her crib. I was lucky because I got to clean the girl, while Ange cleaned the sheets. Two hours later, her second barf came all of a sudden. She just spewed curdled milk all over the place. I knew it was throw up because of that acidic smell. Ironically, this all happened exactly 800 days after my last throw up.

Ella was not the only person who decided to ralph. Lincoln was next. We went to the open house of the Draper Temple last Saturday. It was nice, but seriously crowded. We went with my dad, who decided to bail when he saw how long the line was, Matt, John and his fiancee, Cassie. The tour ended in one of the smaller sealing rooms of the temple. While the nice man was talking, I was holding Ella thinking of all the explainin' I'd have to do if Ellie just let it rip right there.

After the 4 hour temple trip, we decided to go to Wingers to have some food. Just after we ordered, Lincoln coughed and some throw up came out. Ange was very quick thinking, and grabbed the popcorn bowl, which Link filled in 5 seconds. He seemed done, so I took him to the bathroom to clean up. He was not done. On the way to the bathroom, he throws up again, and catches it with his hand. This happened in front of strangers eating their meals. We cleaned up in the bathroom, cancelled our order and got out of there.

Matt's parting shot to us was "Wingers appreciates your business." That pretty much sums up our relationship with Matt. Scratch that, that pretty much sums up every one's relationship with Matt. I don't even know what that's supposed to mean.

Anyway, on the way home, Ange got a little sick, and she threw up. So I'm thinking how the only good that's going to come of this is I'm going to get out of my Elders Quorum lesson, but alas. Everyone was feeling quite well come Sunday morning.

Then on Sunday night/Monday morning, Ange threw up again. So my four day weekend was one giant bummer, with a cool, but long temple trip mixed in. It should also be noted, that I'm the only one with the streak still alive.

In other, less gross news, the results are in, and "Triple Play" has been voted (50%-33%) as the best phrase to use when describing the incredible feat of downing three hot dogs at a baseball game.

Sunbeams

I remember being a sunbeam... at least I remember singing the associated song. Lincoln is now a Sunbeam. The very first day of class was difficult. Partly because he couldn't go play in nursery anymore, partly because there were 7 other 3 year olds running around in a 10 x 10 classroom, and partly because it was like 55 degrees in said classroom. Ange sat with him, and he did fine.

After a little protesting the second week, he went in, but took his blanket Linus style. He was supposed to give the prayer, so it was going to be interesting. He doesn't exactly talk (but he's trying). Ange stopped in to help him out ten minutes before church was over, only to find him sleeping with another three year old on his teacher's shoulder. Very tired boy... Ange just gave the prayer.

Ella is now in nursery herself. She goes in pretty well as long as we get her interested in a toy. They are now back to their school/daycare at the University of Utah. During lunch yesterday, Matt called me up to inform me that he had seen Ella at the U. He said he didn't think she recognized him, but when I asked her if she saw Uncle Matt, her eyes lit up and she said "Yes". Take that with a grain of salt, if I asked right, I'd get her to say "Yes" to just about anything.

I went to pick up Ella at her daycare, and stopped to just look through the window. I was in time to see her 'share' a ball with another girl, then steal said ball and blast the other girl in the face with the ball, which sent her flying. Since nobody cried, the worker just looked the other way. Seriously, why can't kids just play nice?

And finally, I'd like to note that one of my teeth constantly hurts. I think I popped some of my dental work out during a sled collision, or maybe that time when Matt buried me with 5 feet of snow and rock. I finally relented and made an appointment with the dentist. If he uses any other word than spectacular to describe my teeth and tooth brushing habits, I'm not going to be pleased. Hopefully he'll just fix the tooth that's the problem, and not go poking around for any more trouble spots.

The End